The Power of Partnering (POP) is a half-day event where women entrepreneurs, business leaders, corporations and procurement professionals come together to train, network and create matchmaker opportunities to help create and reach procurement and business goals.
Each agenda includes educational resources from thought leadership and subject matter experts and the opportunity to showcase your capabilities statements in a meet the buyer setting or matchmaker sessions.
TeKay Brown-Taylor MBA, CMT, CDP, PHR, SHRM-SCP is the Owner/President of Brownstone Mediation Services (BMS), a human relations (HR) consulting firm intent on helping organizations fix work while fixing “their own stuff” through strengthening workplace conflict capacity.
She is a PROUD St. Louisian and native of the “Show Me State” having relocated to beautiful Augusta GA in 2012. Prior to starting her own business, she held the role of HR Business Partner with one of Fortune 500s leading human capital management firms; while there received the “Women Making a Difference” peer and staff-selected company award.
As a self-proclaimed “Conflict Mechanic” with assumed superPOWERS as a gifted and experienced authority on human relation issues, TeKay has coached and advised thousands of employees and leaders on workplace related issues. She has developed and delivered innovative interventions for organizations of all sizes and disciplines across both academic, non-profit, corporate, and military settings.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Management and Organizational Behavior and an MBA in Human Resource Management; along with certifications in human resource management, diversity, equity, and inclusion, military equal opportunity, equal employment opportunity (EEO), and as a conflict coach, among others.
TeKay is a high-energy and forward-thinking HR Architect with more than 18 years of successful experience helping organizations leverage human capital and diversity to create and strengthen inclusive workplace environments. She is a long-time SHRM National member, past Chapter Board member, and current SHRM GA District Director responsible for fostering state council leadership and HR support to SHRM Chapters across the state.
She prides herself on the unique perspective she brings set out to dismantle the outdated “that’s the way we’ve always done it” thinking and challenge leaders and HR professionals to create new ways to drive better workplace experiences.
Connect with TeKay on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open For Business. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, broadcasting live from GWBC Power of Partnering event at the Georgia Power Headquarters. I’m so excited to be talking to my guest, Tekay Brown Taylor with Brownstone Mediation Services. Welcome.
Tekay Brown Taylor: Hi. How are you, Lee?
Lee Kantor: I am doing well. Tell us about Brownstone Mediation Services. How are you serving folks?
Tekay Brown Taylor: How we’re serving folks? Well, we are an HR, Human Relations, and ADR, Alternative Dispute Resolution, management and consulting firm. And we help organizations by identifying where conflict is showing up to help them drive better workplace experiences. And so, that’s how we’re going into organizations and helping them work through and grow their people, their processes, their policies, and their practices, how are they doing things to identify where conflict is showing up.
Lee Kantor: So, now, is your work kind of triaging situations where there is a disagreement and they need mediation? Or is it kind of proactive in that you’re teaching people how to communicate clearly and more effectively?
Tekay Brown Taylor: It’s both, and.
Lee Kantor: It’s an and.
Tekay Brown Taylor: Correct. We want them to be proactive, and so that’s the people, the policies, the practices. So, if we can get in and do some work around those things, our idea is to prevent them from needing mediation, but ideally doing mediation as an alternative to doing things like the grievance process and litigation.
Lee Kantor: So, what’s your backstory? How’d you know you’d be good at something like this?
Tekay Brown Taylor: Well, I’ve been an HR 18 years exactly, and so I’ve been doing this work for other organizations for quite a long time, whether corporate, military, nonprofits, serving on many boards.
Lee Kantor: Always in mediation and always —
Tekay Brown Taylor: In HR.
Lee Kantor: In HR.
Tekay Brown Taylor: My background is in HR. And working across those mediums, one thing I identified is conflict being the consistent theme, and most leaders and most employees, individuals being conflict averse and not comfortable with conflict. And so, oftentimes, we don’t know what conflict is costing us because it’s usually not tangible. We can’t see that the person that is taking leave is taking leave because they don’t want to work with Tekay. And we automatically equate it is because we think they’re sick.
Lee Kantor: Now, is conflict really communication?
Tekay Brown Taylor: I love that, Lee, because that’s what I say often, is that conflict is a great thing because conflict says that Lee cares about it, he values it, it’s important to him as well as Tekay. And so, we just have to identify how we can use conflict in meaningful ways. But too often we use it – well, we’ve been conditioned to think of it in very harmful ways. And so, it really boils down to the human relations, the interaction, all that is really just communication, how individuals communicate and interact with each other.
Lee Kantor: Now, do you find that just people haven’t been taught kind of these basic communication skills on how to listen and not talk for a second and let the person express themselves, and then say something, rather than just immediately kind of knee jerk react to whatever is being said?
Tekay Brown Taylor: That is a huge part of it. It’s also the confidence because, again, most are adverse because we haven’t been taught. You don’t see human relations, interactions, interpersonal, intrapersonal skills being taught in primary school. Unless you focus on that in communication in the collegiate level, it’s not being taught. And so, we – because I’m a part of it as well – having acquired those skills through formal education, and so that’s a big part of it. But the other piece of it is the confidence, and the other piece of it is the capacity, and then certainly the skills. So, I always say, when we do any type of conflict, work the skills, capacity, and confidence.
Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of the GWBC community? Where did you see the opportunity there?
Tekay Brown Taylor: Oh, wow. You said the key word opportunity. When I learned of the GWBC as well as the WBE and all the work that they were doing not only for women, but specifically for small business, and myself as a growing small business and a woman-owned small business, the work that they’re doing in connecting and collaborating, I have been in business six years and I am only where I am as a small business competing at the statewide level – we took us two years to get there – we are competing with organizations like Huron Consulting, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and Touche as a small business owner. And I’ve only been able to do that because of relationships and teaming, and I’ve only been able to do that because of programs like GWBC.
Lee Kantor: Now, any advice for our listeners or maybe some low hanging fruit on communication and conflict, any kind of do’s and don’ts you can share?
Tekay Brown Taylor: Ooh, I can go a ways. The first I would say is silent because you mentioned the word listen, and that’s a big part when we start talking about conflict. Listen is spelt silent backwardly. And oftentimes, when we start talking about conflict, I would really say what I said first, is, being reconditioned about how we think about conflict. Conflict is a good thing. But when we get into the skill side of it, some of the practical things, that one is huge, is just being listening.
Tekay Brown Taylor: Individuals are not willing to do any work until they feel like they have been listened to. And so, disagreement is always going to be your perspective, my perspective, your interest, my interest, your position, my position. And we’re always going to have a barrier or something preventing us to get to an agreement because of the listen word. You’re not going to listen to me until you feel listened to.
Lee Kantor: So, it’s something that if you do that well, you might be saving yourself some conflict, or even if you have conflict, it would be handled more effectively.
Tekay Brown Taylor: Handled more effectively, and also know that it’s a muscle. It’s something that has to be —
Lee Kantor: Right, you got to practice.
Tekay Brown Taylor: You have to practice, build it, develop it, grow it. And don’t be afraid of the professional. Oftentimes, we think professionals have to even continue to do work on that. We do a lot of group work with other professionals, learning, training, development. And so, if we’re doing all this work as professionals, as skilled experts, we don’t expect for just the general employee or leader to automatically have these skills without the training practice in hyper focus on conflict resolution, skill capacity, and confidence building.
Lee Kantor: So, if somebody wants to learn more, connect with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?
Tekay Brown Taylor: Our website is brownstonemediation.com. We are also on two social platforms, that’s LinkedIn and Facebook. And you can also contact me directly and or my team at info@brownstonemediation.com.
Lee Kantor: Well, Tekay, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.
Tekay Brown Taylor: Thank you for allowing me to spend time with you. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.
Lee Kantor: You got it. All right. This is Lee Kantor with GWBC Power of Partnering.
