26: Eliminating Toxic Workplace Dynamics with David Emerald Womeldorff

Have you ever been in a conflict with someone and came out feeling like a victim? Or do you find yourself in dysfunctional relationships where communication between each other is difficult? Whether at work or at home, you might find yourself trapped in the dreaded Karpman drama triangle. In psychology, it is used to describe a cycle where we can find ourselves in one of these 3 common roles the "victim," "persecutor" or "rescuer." In this episode, our guest David Emerald Womeldorff will dive into how you can learn to escape the Drama Triangle and feel more empowered in your communication and relationships.

David’s biography:

Drawing on over 30 years of experience in in leadership development, leading through change, self-leadership, and employee engagement, David is the author of 2 best-selling books, The Power of TED (The Empowerment Dynamic), as well as 3 Vital Questions: Transforming Workplace Drama. Both of his books draw on his extensive experience in the field, and David also served for 20 years as a senior consultant for The Leadership Circle and as an Executive Coach at the University of Notre Dame's Executive Leadership Program. He shares his frameworks to inspires individuals and organisations to reach new levels of collaboration through empowering relationships and work from an outcome-focused and passion-powered orientation. In this episode, we dive deep into answering the following thorny questions:

0:00 - Intro
2:25 - How did David get started?
5:35 - What is the difference between victimization and victimhood?
8:00 - What is the karpman drama triangle?
9:55 - How can you break free of the drama triangle (The Empowerment Dynamic)?
13:00 - Why focusing on outcomes instead of which version of current reality is correct is key.
15:40 - What are the 3 vital questions to end workplace conflict?
18:45 - How can you shift from a reactive response to problems to a more empowering response instead?
24:35- What are the common causes of workplace drama?
26:00 - What are the 3 reactive strategies to challenges that are unhelpful?
29:20 - How can you stop yourself from being reactive to problems?
31:30 - How to create more positive relationship dynamics
34:07 - How do you develop leaders in the workplace
38:35 - What are the characteristics of high performing leaders?
42:50 - How to give constructive feedback from a growth mindset?
45:15 - What happens if the person receiving the feedback is being defensive
48:40 - How can individual employees create psychological safety in their workplace culture
52:10 - When is conflict at work unhealthy
55:00 - Are there generational differences to consider in workplace drama
56:55 - How can you effectively lead those who are neurodiverse
59:00 - What is David’s one wellbeing practice?


Learn more about David:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-emerald-womeldorff-bab4494/

Helpful resource:
https://theempowermentdynamic.com/about/