People Styles at Work and Beyond: Making Bad Relationships Good and Good Relationships Better

Robert Bolton and Dorothy Grover, cofounders of the leadership coaching and training firm Ridge Associates, present a guide to interpersonal communication and behavioral styles. The book offers a self-assessment tool to identify your own communication style and teaches readers how to recognize the styles of others around them. Using this framework, readers learn to identify how they come across to coworkers, interpret others' body language and behavior, make adjustments to improve interaction quality and productivity, find common ground with different people, and respond less defensively in difficult situations. The authors argue that understanding these behavioral styles helps in relating to others more effectively, including difficult coworkers. The book covers applications in work, home, and everyday situations. It includes material on personal relationships and parenting, offering practical strategies for avoiding conflicts and strengthening important relationships across different contexts.