Healthy Teams Engage in Productive Conflict
In fifth grade I volunteered to be a part of my school’s conflict management team. This was a group of students, whose sole purpose was to walk around the playground and look for kids in conflict and then walk them through a process for resolving their differences. When I entered zookeeping, I quickly learned thatContinue reading “Healthy Teams Engage in Productive Conflict”
The Terrible Ten
This month we are discussing a difficult topic; Critical Incidents. The World Health Organization (WHO), describes a critical incident as an event out of the range of normal experience, one which is sudden and unexpected, involves the perception of a threat to life and can include elements of physical and emotional loss. They go furtherContinue reading “The Terrible Ten”

Small Approximations to Create Big Change in Animal Care Work Culture: Overcoming A Toxic Environment
According to a recent study, there are five behaviors that create a toxic workplace environment. The study found that while an organization may have a good culture overall, toxic individuals or teams of toxic individual’s aka “pockets of toxicity”; can have a profound impact on workplace culture. Knowing how to spot these behaviors in oneself and our team can help our industry transition into an industry known for valuing the welfare of the people working as much as it values the welfare of wildlife it cares for.