Have you ever had to choose between performing a task alone or with others? If you have, you’ve probably been torn thinking: –If I do it alone, I can make decisions quicker. I don’t have to sort through alternative ideas. I don’t have to persuade people to change their opinions. I don’t have to wait…
Ask people how they feel about meetings. Most people hate them and feel they are a waste of time. Monster.com and Time magazine agree—both list meetings as the #3 biggest time waster at work. We all know leaders aren’t perfect. But why do they continue to hold those interminable, aggravating, and results-free “walks in the…
“I’m sorry, we need to let you go.” Oomph! Those words feel like a punch to the gut of the employee on the receiving end, and for the leader delivering the bad news, those words create anxiety and many sleepless nights leading up to that difficult conversation. No leader likes to see an employee fail…
The more that virtual teams become our normal way of working, the more we realize how difficult it is to build the positive relationships so critical for team success. A face-to-face meeting for team building is best, yet most teams can’t afford that luxury. So how do you build team spirit when you can’t have…
Have you ever played the game where you sit in a circle and one person whispers a story to the person on their left, who shares the story with the next person, and so on, until the story is retold to the one who started it—but it no longer resembles the original story? That is…
Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, is being scrutinized and second-guessed for her decision to not allow employees to work from home starting in June. It’s easy for pundits to take pot shots from afar, but speaking as a manager who has struggled to find the right balance with this same issue, I’ve learned there isn’t…
Ever had this experience as a virtual member of a face-to-face team meeting? You dial into a conference phone. You can’t hear what people are saying. You can’t see the documents, slides, or whiteboards people are referencing, and there is no easy way for you to get the group’s attention to ask a question or…
In a recent webinar on A Closer Look at the New Science of Motivation, best-selling business author Susan Fowler opened with an interesting question for attendees, “Why are you here?” And it wasn’t just a rhetorical question. Fowler wanted attendees to take a minute and assess what their motivation was for attending. Here’s what she…
Innovation requires passion. It takes a lot of energy to develop an idea and implement it successfully in an organization. Fortunately, innovators have passion in abundance. Innovation also requires collaboration. Very few ideas can be successfully implemented without the cooperation and buy-in of others. Unfortunately, innovators often struggle in this area–especially if they fall in…
Scott Blanchard, principal and executive vice president at The Ken Blanchard Companies calls it the new “F” word—feelings. And it is something that managers and organizations struggle with on a regular basis. Should you ask people to repress feelings and “check them at the door” or should you encourage people to bring their entire selves…