It’s that time of year again, the annual contemplation of character flaws and failures that culminates in New Year’s Resolutions. Now, taking some time for self-reflection and making achievable, concrete plans for improvement is indeed a useful enterprise. But sometimes I wonder about the resolution or two that reappears year after year…how realistic is it […]
Comments Off on Superhero Resolutions
I recently read Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why after watching this TED talk…later that week, walking through the hall at work, I saw Sinek’s diagram on another person’s whiteboard! Talk about serendipity! Sinek’s key point is that WHY you do whatever you do is more important to your target audience or customer than WHAT […]
Comments Off on Start With Why
A common complaint that I hear from my intentional community clients as we prepare to work on a vexing issue is, “We talked about this same issue LAST year!” There is a great desire to be DONE with it already, to set it to rest, to come up with a final solution or policy that […]
Comments Off on Let’s Dance!
When I am asked to help an organization improve its meeting culture, one of the “symptoms” often cited is a lack of participation – according to the meeting planners, not enough people are showing up. In another client organization, one of the stated problems is too MANY people showing up to meetings in which their […]
Comments Off on Getting the Right People in the Room
As a facilitator, I have often worked with groups in the process of clarifying their common values. Inevitably, there is someone in the group who questions the value of this exercise. It is true that there are a lot of generic, meaningless values statements gathering dust in drawers across the nation. So how do we […]
Comments Off on Getting to the Core
Since I began my journey into self-employment, I have been working out of our spare bedroom. While the ten-foot commute has certainly been convenient, it also has come with some unanticipated challenges. Time management and motivation has been one of the biggest issues for me. It is oh-so-easy to wander out of the office and […]
Comments Off on A New Venue for Collaboration: Coworking
As I wait for the shipment of my new book on apology to arrive…two excellent pieces on this very topic floated through my digital inbox. Yesterday, Forbes columnist Erika Andersen discussed the role of apology in leadership. I was particularly struck by the connections she makes between respect, responsibility, and courage. She and I are […]
Comments Off on The Role of Apology in Leadership
Since communication and conflict resolution are what I do for a living, I am expected to excel at both…even when I am officially “off duty.” Some days I consider this an advantage; I am continually pushed to improve myself. Other days I find it exhausting, as my natural state of being is somewhat cranky and […]
When we try to improve or invent a product or process, we often get stuck in negativity: “Oh, no that won’t work!” Part of the problem is that we need to separate out IDEATION from EVALUATION. These are two different mental processes, using our right and left brain hemispheres, and we can’t do them both […]
Comments Off on IDEATION versus EVALUATION
My last post looked at a variety of methods for closing a meeting. Now let’s take a look at openings. As meeting participants arrive, they bring with them the remnants of whatever they were doing or thinking about before they walked in the room. Each person needs to make a shift in focus, and how […]
Comments Off on Beginnings