Customer Reviews

The Big AHA!: Breakthroughs in Resolving and Preventing Workplace Conflict

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
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This is a goldmine for all to mine and benefit from. As an academic I found help in dealing with colleagues, administration, students and the general public as well as my own family and extended in-laws (and out-laws). Well written with wit and wisdom and great insights.

Gerald E. Jones PhD. Author of ANIMALS AND THE CHURCH.

The author makes a very good point - we judge people initially and then subsequent experiences of those people are filter through the way we have judged them. He calls it "telescopic vision." The book offers good insights into why we do it, the damage it does in organizations, and that we should avoid it. But that's the book. A lot of words are spent giving examples and waxing on this point. There is so much more to conflict resolution than this.

This is a "what they didn't teach you in MBA school" type of book. Extremely valuable for students learning how to resolve and prevent workplace conflicts, but perhaps the Big AHA is best understood by those that can draw from real life experiences. I found myself saying the next time I recognise this situation I'm going to shift my thinking. Thanks BIG AHA

For those of us that provide client service - lawyers, accountants, public relations professionals, The Big AHA is a transformational business book. The art of communicating with people (clients, colleagues, your child for that matter) by truly listening, keeping an open mind and putting aside (shutting-off) preconceived perceptions (conclusions) of people and their abilities is brought to light by Bill Wiersma. It's a fast read, with descriptive stories of situations that everyone can relate to. As professionals, we often get caught up in the day-to-day grind of producing results and turning around deadline-oriented client work. In turn, we plow through conversations with colleagues and clients, get frustrated when things aren't being done "our" way and start pointing fingers if the ball gets dropped. By applying Wiersma's concept of taking off our lens / blinders "telescopic view," I've personally found my communication with people (professionally and socially) to be far more effective and meaningful. It's far too easy to get sucked into categorizing people. The Big AHA is a must read for all of us!

I read this book, loved the simplicity (great stories!) and the applicability - not just to the workplace, but to family life as well (makes sense - sometimes the office can seem like a second family, no?). As I read the book and related to all the stories of office strife (who hasn't been either on the giving or the receiving end of somebody's "telescopic view"?), I continually found myself comparing the examples to things that had happened at home or with friends. Imagine my "big aha!" to think back on certain times of dysfunction from my youth - at the time they left me baffled and insecure ("Why is this person treating me this way?") - and now, years later, to recognize the machine at work! A universal human tendency revealed in plain and simple terms.

When I first started reading it, my perspective was defensive: I recognized ways that others had wronged me - "Hey, that happened to me once!" But by the end of the book, I had turned to look back at myself, and recognized some of those abusive behaviors in my own actions. I expect that most readers will have a similar sobering and enlightening experience. Highly recommended.

>
> "Having worked with people all my life, I thought
> that there wasn't a lot I
> hadn't understood about how to be effective with
> people. I guess this old
> dog can learn a few new tricks after all!"
>
> "The book, in general, explains so much about many
> unique (and troubling)
> aspects of human behavior. And while the subject is
> a terribly complicated
> topic, it's been made extremely straightforward.
> This has been
> accomplished, in part, by the quality and depth of
> the books' stories."
>
> "Two things, in particular, stood out for me. The
> first is the terrific
> explanation of how the unconscious mind (with it's
> susceptibility to
> emotions) too frequently overrides the conscious
> mind. The second is the
> emphasis on professionalism in helping to overcome
> tendencies towards
> telescopic views. This is a topic that I found was
> seldom, if ever,
> addressed sufficiently in many years of graduate (or
> corporate) education."
>
> "I've recommended this book to many friends and
> former colleagues...it's
> terrific!"
>
> Gary Carver
> Psychologist
>

"The genius of a truly great business book is its ability to: 1) influence
peoples' thinking in highly pertinent areas with which they can personally
identify, 2) make the complex simple and therefore applicable and 3) move
people to action. With Bill's interesting, yet penetrating style, this book
does all three.

This book is long overdue. It's understanding human nature at a much deeper
and sophisticated level without getting all `wrapped around the axle' in
traditional psychological methodologies. It is little wonder that Bill has
received such accolades from respected business leaders as well as from
prestigious academic circles. I wish I had read it years ago, it certainly
could have saved organizations I have worked with so much trouble."

Jack R. Buchanan, PhD
Author and former Professor at Harvard Business School

The truth indeed does set you free - and this book facilitates seeing how deceptive you can be with yourself, resulting in self-defeating behaviors. I confess to doing the things Bill describes. Without being pedantic, Bill has helped me see the error in some of my ways, and provided some tools to help me change them.

The book is outstanding in its read and its teachings.

As Human Resources professionals we have advised our clients to separate problem behavior from the indiviudal exhibiting it; the difficulty is that you never know when you have done that successfully.

This book answers that important question.

As management professionals, I'm sure we've all taken our share of professional improvement courses and read the books executives seem to be reading. For me, though, most of these experiences have been fleetingly relevant at best, and have not gotten me ahead.

This book, however, is one of those minor miracles that dig into the psyche, and turn over the soil despite our resistance. Out of a freshened view of ourselves and our basic humanity grows a new fecundity of thought and action. AHA is real, visceral, direct, and never easy, never formulaic with solutions. It will get you from the gut, and the insights will change you.

There is no escape made here for intellectualizing. The methods are derived from powerful stories intutively woven into the the themes of the material. The principles will become embedded in your "DNA", and you and the world you see will operate differently.

if I had understood these principles at the beginning of my career rather than near the end, I have no doubt that I could have risen at least one and maybe two levels higher. I'm enabling things almost effortlessly now in our department that could not have been pulled off beforehand. Historically difficult relationships we've had with other departments have improved markedly using AHA's insights, and as a result our performance metrics have significantly improved.

As I began, I'm not usually lavish in my praise, but this book is worth your time. Jack Welch, move over...