The Drama-Free Office: A Guide to Healthy Collaboration with Your Team, Co-workers and Boss

Consultants Warner and Klemp have made a career out of working with leaders and professionals in large and small settings to help keep different personalities working together peacefully. Drama-prone associates sap energy from the organization, and the authors have created a program to "diagnose the drama disease," manage it, and cure it. Through the framework of a fictional Riva Corporation case study, they track a team leader dealing with her boss and four difficult team members. Each of the drama queens displays one of the four sabotaging roles%E2%80%94the Complainer, the Cynic, the Controller, and the Caretaker. They recommend becoming drama-free yourself, first, then developing more effective relationships with each personality type and at all levels%E2%80%94superior, peer, and subordinate. The book's tone is conversational and clear, but its real advantage is in its practicality and breakdown of actionable steps%E2%80%94the authors delineate the seven steps of dealing with office divas, given any of the various drama types, and provide scripts for carrying out the steps. An excellent handbook for wrassling workplace drama to the ground before anyone goes postal. (July)