Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Workplace Conflict

The new book by Karin Hurt and David Dye is a great resource guide for leaders to enable them to lead well amongst conflict they face everyday in the workplace. The chapters on Rising Above, Managing Up when your Feeling Down and Communicating with Difficult People provides practical and easily applicable tips and phrases for handling conflict and leading today's diverse work teams. Kudo's Karin and David!

I don’t usually review this kind of book as it is outside my area of expertise. However, I recently endured nine years of a job with extremely poor management. This amazing book would have helped me immensely in dealing with that situation. Powerful Phrases contains an array of verbal strategies for handling a wide variety of difficult situations in the work place. The book is well-organized and easy to navigate. My favorite parts of Powerful Phrases include the Expert Insights, the 12 GOATS (you gotta get the book to understand), Chapter 5 (Harnessing the Power of Body Language and Tone for More Productive Conflict), Chapter 8 (What to Say When You Need To Say No (Even to the Boss)), and Chapter 24 (What to Do if Your Boss Thinks You’re Too Negative). This book would be a valuable addition to anyone’s library!

If you are working on a classic car, your best friend is a Haynes manual (Chilton’s people—I’ll fight you!), but if you’re trying to deal with workplace conflict, Powerful Phrases by Karin Hurt & David Dye is your best friend. That’s exactly what this book is: a repair manual for broken workplace relationships. The first few chapters lay out some basic theoretical groundwork, some of the hows and whys for understanding workplace conflict: why people get into conflicts, the parameters that govern conflicts, and the authors’ twelve GOAT phrases for managing conflict. This is like the introductory chapters in a repair manual, where they lay out all the regular maintenance you need to keep your car running in top shape. And just like those maintenance steps, if you read and master these first chapters, you’ll be able to cruise your way happily through most workplace conflicts until something serious breaks. When you’ve got a workplace conflict that you’re having trouble resolving, it’s time to flip to the later chapters of the book, which are dedicated to specific conflicts like “When your team can’t get along,” or “When your boss takes credit for your ideas,” or “How to deal with lazy coworkers.” What I love about these chapters is how they start with a detailed description of what’s likely driving the conflict from the perspective of each person involved. It’s like an exploded-view parts diagram, and it really gives you a good idea of what’s gone wrong in each interaction. Then the chapter gets into the powerful phrases that you can use to work your way through the conflict to restore your relationships to good working order. Of course, there are a few differences between Powerful Phrases and a repair manual. The biggest difference is that Powerful Phrases is full of humor and heart—they don’t stick too many jokes in a repair manual. This makes this book an enjoyable read straight through, even though it’s not intended for you to approach it that way. The second major difference is that Powerful Phrases is full of insights from dozens of additional experts, who help add some nuance, philosophical background, or a slightly different approach from the main authors. I have seen the positive difference that these authors’ work can make when deployed in the workplace. I feel that this book will make a similar dynamic impact, improving the lives of workers at all levels in organizations of all sizes. Heck, I bet that you’ll find yourself using some of these phrases to navigate conflict in your personal life, too, and—spoiler alert!—they work there, too.

Powerful Phrases for dealing with Workplace Conflict delivers just what the title promises. It’s a how-to-guide for what to say and do, when you don’t know what to say and do. Tired of missing your kids’ sporting events, the words to have that conversation are here. Trapped in a workplace conflict but don’t know how to resolve it? The words are here. When so many resources tell us what to do, Powerful Phrases shows us how. One of the best things about the book is that you don’t need to read it cover to cover. Choose the pages that provide solutions for the problem you’re trying to solve. Powerful Phrases is practical and easy-to-use. It’s my favorite type of book – helpful. Highly recommend.

The expanse of conflict possible in the workplace has never been greater, so the need for this fantastic resource of a book from Hurt and Dye has never been greater. Whether you’ve got to sit down with the boss or have a tough talk with a co-worker, over 200 proven, powerful phrases stand ready to help. Hurt and Dye infuse the guide with their trademark abundance of clear examples, explanations, and research to back it all up. The writing is punchy and memorable, with content presented in a way that makes it “stick,” like the GOAT phrases for dealing with conflict. I can’t wait to share a few choice phrases with a few dysfunctional teams I know of, and with a few friends that are ready to strangle their less than “go-get-em energy” co-workers. Whatever your conflict is, you now have a conversation guide to help you. The copy you buy WILL be dog-eared and marked with post-it notes in short order.

From the introduction, David and Karin use their innate abilities to draw you in to the material. “When it comes to navigating workplace conflict and fostering collaboration, the stakes are high for you, for us, and for the world we are building for our children. In this turbulent changing world with its messy, imperfect humans, you can’t always predict what you’ll show up to, but you can always choose how you show up… This Book gives you choices so you can be more confident, show up with curiosity and have conversations that matter.” As great as other material and books about conflict resolution have been in the past, you begin to wonder if the material is relevant for the workplace of today. You begin to wonder if it’s still effective. And while this review isn’t to downgrade any previous written books or taught material, this book is refreshing. This book is for the now.

While this book is written specifically for workplace conflict, I found the the powerful phrases translate easily into everyday life. The book is written in a very conversational way that makes it easy to understand and use. They address the difficulties of navigating the post pandemic world and acknowledge that there are ongoing ramifications from that time period. This book gives you the tools to help navigate the post pandemic workplace and learn how to effectively communicate whether you are in person or still working remote.

If you're looking for an insightful guide to navigating workplace conflicts, this is a must-read. This book has been a breath of fresh air, providing practical advice that's easy to implement. I've already felt a weight lifted off my shoulders and can't wait to use the recommendations in my daily life. Their clear examples and explanations make it easy to see how simple changes in phrasing can transform interactions. I feel lighter already and am excited to put these practical recommendations to use.

This was a practical, relevant book with a focus on hosting difficult conversations with ease. Would highly recommend this book to anyone challenged with managing conflict in a positive way.

Conflicts at work can be so damaging to team spirit, ethos and performance. David Dye and Karin Hurt’s excellent book is full of helpful and straightforward advice based on their years of experience and an understanding of the literature. Written with warmth and good humour I found it to be of great value.