Every day at most companies, somebody gets in somebody else's face. Sometimes they stay there, barking and biting until one or both run out of energy or initiative.

Whether it's the anxiety of worker-to-work animosity, the hand-to-hand combat of boss-on-boss turf battles or the daily disruptions of annoying customers, a lot of companies and workplaces have become citadels of drama.

"Everyone understands drama," says Calloway-Campbell, a lawyer at Freking & Betz and founder and president of Elite Consulting Inc., a West Chester-based market research consultancy.

IF YOU GO

What: Don't Let the Drama Drain You, an eWomenNetwork event Where: Bankers Club, Fifth Third Tower on Fountain Square, Suite 3000. Cost: $45 ($35 for eWomenNetwork members) When: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Thursday

"Drama equals conflict. When you call somebody a drama queen, that means something. In the workplace, drama is whispering and gossip. It means something is stirring, and it's unproductive time.

"When employees are unproductive for a small business, that could bring failure," she said.

Calloway-Campbell, who has nearly two decades of experience dealing with conflict through her time as an attorney and business adviser, thinks peace-seeking is the only way for supervisors to effectively drain conflict.

She is the featured speaker at the monthly meeting Thursday at the eWomenNetwork's "Accelerated Networking" luncheon at 11:30 a.m. at the Bankers Club downtown.

Calloway-Campbell thinks companies and workers need to give peace a chance.

Her approach focuses on appealing to the self-interest of employees to show how drama can be eliminated. Ignoring drama is risky. Emotions tend to snowball, gather force and blast through anything in their path. It can lead to poor morale

She suggests a multi-step approach and all steps need buy-in from employees:

• Evaluate the drama and find self-interest in resolving it.

• Figure out what you've done or not done that led to the ill will.

• Make a commitment to fix what's broken.

• Ask for help in understanding the other individual's perspective: what went wrong, why it went wrong and how it can be made right.

She will offer examples of the most common drama at work (and it's not comedic relief unless you happen to be a bemused co-worker immune to rants and ravings from the cubicle down the way), how all workers can be brought into the peace approach and why the culture of peace is so important, particularly at work.

E-mail at jeckberg@enquirer.com