Guide
Psychological Safety
Why psychological safety is the foundation that constructive conflict-handling is built on.
TKI® resource library
From instinct to intent.
Keep building what you started. Nine resources on the TKI® assessment, free to download.
No sign-up needed. Every download is a direct PDF link.
Go deeper on the TKI® assessment
Research, field-tested practice, and sessions with the people who built the instrument
Start with the guide on psychological safety, then work through the research and the practical tips. The case study and the author sessions show the assessment at work in real situations, and give you more ways to use it. The data sheet covers how the assessment works and how to bring it to your organization.
Guide
16 Tips for Using the TKI® Assessment
How to choose the right mode for the situation, plus how personality type, organizational culture, and self-assessment bias factor in.
Research
The Psychology of Conflict in the Workplace
How psychological and personality insights, from fight-or-flight to the five conflict-handling modes, help with task, relationship, and value conflict.
Research
Conflict at Work: A Research Report
A 271-person survey on how people really handle conflict at work: what it costs, what causes it, and how it connects to conflict-handling mode and personality type.
Paper
The Strategic Advantage of Effective Conflict Management
Five ways to make conflict management a core competency, and what it does for decision making, collaboration, engagement, and retention. Kenneth W. Thomas and Gail Fann Thomas, 2024.
Case study
brrr°: Using Constructive Conflict to Leverage Growth at an Innovative Textile Company
A 21-person team across Atlanta, Taiwan and Shanghai used the assessment to keep growth from turning into destructive conflict. Covers the one-hour workshop, the individual and team profiles, and what changed afterwards.
Navigating Hard Conversations with Managers, Peers, and Direct Reports
Gail Fann Thomas on the conversations people avoid: disagreeing with a manager, giving a difficult performance review, raising a minority view. Covers the three types of conflict underneath them, and how to help people work through them.
Ask an Expert: TKI® Authors Answer Your Toughest Conflict Questions
Ken Thomas, Ralph Kilmann and Gail Fann Thomas work through real conflict situations and how they've used the framework on them. Recorded for the instrument's 50th anniversary. 58 minutes.
Overview
TKI® Assessment Data Sheet
The full rundown: 30 questions, about 15 minutes, no certification required, and how to bring it to your organization.
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