When you hear “conflict,” do you a) think of healthy and open conversations around ideas, issues, and concepts? or b) recall disputes between and about people? Do you have a) interesting meetings where big tactical and strategic issues get disagreed about, but … Read More
Do you have “meetings after the meetings?” Can you see people holding back their true thoughts the first time around? Would you face resistance if you asked people to be open and vulnerable with one another? In The Five Dysfunctions of a … Read More
If you’re short on time, and need to check a team response to an idea, action item, or new direction, but you detect that a simple “show of hands” won’t tell the whole story, try this – Ask for their response … Read More
I was visiting with a seed scientist once, and I opened the conversation with a simple “So, how was your week?” “Oh, Alan,” Dr. Kim said. “I worked on the Acme project this week. And I learned a lot. There were … Read More
Communication. Always a concern. Two areas that get the best of us are: Speed of response Method of communication One team I worked with recently was typical: There was a broad range of expected response times. When we surveyed the … Read More
A very common transgression that starts small, then grows when not addressed, is lateness. Whether it’s late delivering on a deadline, or late to meetings, it needs to be addressed early and directly. How? Let’s start by addressing meeting lateness. … Read More
There’s a funny episode from The Office in which Michael thinks that if he makes his office more like Google, then people will be happy and work harder. He goes all out, installs a Nerf hoop, gets a beanbag chair, … Read More
Know you need to evaluate an event/campaign/project/quarter, but don’t have time? This quick, simple tool will be a major asset to you and your team for future project improvement.
A while back, I wrote a post describing the idea T=r+d: Trust equals reliability (meeting expectations) plus delight (exceeding expectations). How about a story describing precisely the opposite? I actually wrote this post about a restaurant experience my family and … Read More
A fellow consultant and I once worked with a small services firm that had some retention and engagement problems. At first, everything seemed in place – the people were good; the quality of their work was sound; the CEO and … Read More