Book excerpt: “Maravelas is the best source on workplace irritability and tension.” —Matt Villano, New York Times The human longing for respect and dignity is deep and pervasive. Yet, while resolving more than 300 workplace conflicts, author Anna Maravelas has met thousands of individuals struggling with tension and mistrust. Creating a Drama-Free Workplace contains strategies to avoid and reverse these troubling trends. Learn why trust and connectedness slip through our fingers despite our yearnings for workplaces that are grounded in collaboration and success. Stop common missteps before they walk out the door with your most valuable assets—trust, morale, and productivity. You can create the environments you desire and deserve with these proven skills grounded in neuroscience. In this book you will learn how to: Take the drama out of disagreement and enhance your ability to problem solve. Eliminate the 5 root causes of workplace tension. Be hard on the problem and soft on the people and create lasting alliances. Preserve your integrity by talking to people rather than about them. Replace bitterness about the past with a shared responsibility for the future. Knowing how to transform conflict into collaboration affects the outcome of every interaction, challenge, and opportunity.