Effectively diffusing conflicts at work or at home begins long before the point of volatility. With better understanding and proven strategies, it is well within anyone’s capacity to offset bad behavior so that it never reaches the boiling point. Now, conflict resolution expert Susan Mendoza Beller draws from decades of successful mediation in How to Get Along with Anyone: 63 Strategies for Success, a how-to guide to gain the insight to preempt volatile situations.
In any given workplace or home, there is always the possibility of encountering personality traits that may foster detrimental behavior. To successfully address a person’s Achilles Heel, blind spot, or poor judgment, it is necessary to identify that trait. In sixty-three chapters, Dr. Beller’s well-considered and crystal clear analysis of these characteristics provides readers with an informed perspective so they can best navigate interpersonal dynamics well before an escalation.
In addition to highlighting these characteristics, each chapter includes an anecdotal example; a strategy to successfully manage a possible conflict; and a group activity to apply that strategy. Incorporating methods from psychology, philosophy, science, and mythology, this indispensable resource will help readers devise workable solutions before the situation gets out of control.
The title of Susan Mendoza Beller’s How To Get Along With Anyone makes a big promise - and Beller, an international mediation expert, fulfills that promise admirably with sixty-three specific strategies to deal with even the most difficult personalities. For each strategy, there’s a relevant quote, an introduction, a sketch of a fictional person to illustrate negative behaviors, suggestions for how these behaviors can be modified, an activity that can be performed as a group, and discussion ideas. Each chapter is, in effect, a self-contained miniguide that offers a well constructed problem-solution approach to understanding another’s point of view and resolving conflict. It is an impressive feat for Beller to have identified so many different personality traits and then boiled them down into distinct chapters. Beller writes in her conclusion that the book is a journey into the minds of many diverse personalities, and an activity adventure in team building. As such, How To Get Along With Anyone is sure to make for enlightening reading. Barry Silverstein, ForeWord Clarion Review
