Most people are not at their best under pressure. Put a group of highly pressured people together, and unhealthy workplace behaviour can quickly become the norm.

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman is joined by leadership coach Kate Franklin to explore why workplace relationships become so difficult—and why a challenging boss is not necessarily a bad person.

They discuss how stress changes the way we communicate, why relational skills matter just as much as technical expertise, and how leaders can create the conditions for trust, honesty and high performance.

In this conversation:

• Why poor workplace behaviour has become normalized
• How pressure affects leaders and their teams
• Why relationships are a critical part of performance
• How to give honest feedback to your boss
• The difference between intention and impact
• Why complaints are more useful when turned into requests
• How leaders can discover the impact they are having
• Why caring about people and expecting strong results are not opposites
• How much agency we really have to improve difficult workplace relationships

Most difficult workplace relationships are not beyond repair. But improving them requires courage, curiosity and a willingness to remember that the person across from you is human too.

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Follow Kate Franklin:
LinkedIn: @Kate Franklin
Instagram: @coachkatefranklin

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#Leadership #WorkplaceRelationships #WorkplaceCulture #ManagingUp #LeadershipDevelopment #EmployeeEngagement #WiredToWork