L.R. Leigh Lyons’s business book Leadership Composure instructs readers on how to practice effective conflict resolution and remain calm when dealing with workplace issues.
Drawing on her professional experience as a leadership and human resources consultant, the author notes that maintaining composure will better motivate teams, help leaders communicate more clearly, and defuse tension at the workplace. Teaching skills like emotional intelligence and understanding, the book serves as a roadmap to building trust and a flourishing company culture in which teams can handle pressure and disagreements.
Among Lyons’s advice, she suggests leaders perform a “reasonable person test.” This is when leaders in a work situation ask themselves, “would a reasonable person observing the same interaction, conclude that the conduct was hostile, threatening or outside the boundaries of a normal workplace disagreement?“ The author also advocates for active listening and cultivating empathy, as well as collaborating to avoid conflict, modeling ideal behaviors for one’s team, and practicing respect and professionalism.
The narrative offers regular points of reflection, such as, “What strategies can you use to resolve conflicts with your team that shows empathy?” and action steps at the end of chapters.
Lyons introduces readers to academic frameworks like the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument and the Johari Window and often illustrates her points with hypothetical stories. The writing overall is professional, using straightforward language to make its points.
The narrative treads familiar ground, however, including quotes from usual suspects like Jack Welch, and its insights can be broad and obvious; for example, noting that it’s just as important to understand an organization’s hierarchy as it is the operations or that not listening to employees can alienate them. Additionally, the scenarios used to make such points often seem too pat, with fictional dialogue that sounds wooden and unnatural.
Regular readers of business books won’t find much fresh material here, but despite Leadership Composure’s drawbacks, those new to the genre should find useful information in these pages.
Also available as an ebook.