Standing Out From the Crowd

Herd Behavior, Useless Meetings, and Solomon Asch

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…

3 Activities to Build Virtual Team Spirit

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…

3 Ways to Put Life Into Deadly Virtual Team Meetings

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…

What motivates you at work? Here are six possibilities

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…

Innovators—3 ways to invite others to your next big idea

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…

How do you deal with emotion at work?

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…