One of our consultants recently facilitated a day of team-building for a client. Her goal was to help the team members understand one another better, build trust, learn the habits of effective teams, and develop operating principles to communicate and work together more effectively. Marcia started the day with an hour-long Straight Talk® workshop. Its purpose was …
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How can understanding communication styles benefit you? If you’re like me, you work with groups of people all the time. Maybe you’re a manager; maybe you’re involved in a volunteer group; maybe you’re part of a sales team or a product development team. The reality is, most everyone works with at least one group or …
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Watching President Obama in the first months following the election, I’m impressed by how much more confident and clear he is in his communication. Without question, the election cycle helped him rediscover his voice. He was decisive and bold this week, for example, in explaining his strategies to reduce gun violence. Perhaps he took a …
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Any organization undergoing transition is in the process of managing change. To manage change effectively, the organization’s leaders should look forward and ask themselves important questions, including:
When a major disaster looms, the prepared executive knows exactly what to do. They’ve planned for different scenarios. They have different responses at the ready. At stake is nothing less than the fate of your organization. Even a relatively small crisis can cost your organization dearly if handled poorly. Your crisis management planning should include …
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I was working last week with a team of executives in Napa County, California. Our day-long meeting was the culmination of a process that led to redefining the agency’s purpose statement, core values, and vision. We spent much of the day articulating the specific “we statements” that support their core values of Integrity, Service, Excellence, …
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This is a story of what is good customer service – and how the small things matter. Ultimately, it’s a story about trust. What is Good Customer Service? I recently bought a new Nissan hybrid. As part of the deal, I turned in my previous Nissan, which I had leased. The sales manager at the …
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David Pogue, the New York Times columnist, writes in Scientific American this month about the “hostile media effect.” This is a cognitive phenomenon where people who hold strong opinions about something perceive that media coverage of that topic is prejudiced, no matter how neutral the coverage actually is. The same phenomenon happens in groups. People …
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In a world where change is accelerating, where new products and services are developed in ever-faster cycles, the quality of decisions is ultimately the most important test of leadership. Ironically, many managers and leaders are still working with Old World decision-making skills, even while their companies are trying to succeed in a Light Speed world. …
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An article in this week’s New York Times poses the question: What’s the biggest source of stress on the job? Hint: It’s not your paycheck, or the repetitive nature of what you do. Answer: It’s your immediate supervisor. The article, titled “Time to Review Workplace Reviews?,” focuses on a growing body of evidence that shows …
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