My mother read me lots of books and taught me how to read before I went to Grade One. I loved reading so much that I read anything I could find. I recall the Bobbsey Twins as a favorite book series. The story I remember most from my childhood is Dr. Goat by Georgina. Later, […]
Read post »It’s bacckkkkk. Despite numerous studies showing return-to-office mandates don’t work — and often backfire — the federal government is the latest of way too many organizational bosses to spew management double talk. The Ottawa Citizen reports that Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council Christiane Fox argues “in-person work is necessary for team building.” She […]
Read post »Periodically our three adult kids get together with Heather and I for dinner. This helps us reconnect outside of the joyful energy and jubilant chaos of all fourteen of us at family events. Heather and I feel so fortunate that Chris, Jen, and Vanessa are raising their families (each has two kids ranging from 4 […]
Read post »As I reset and rebalance with summer R & R (relaxation and rejuvenation), I am giving you some blog R & R (reusing and recycling). Many of this summer’s blogs are past favorites. May you use them for your own R & R (review and refocus). Hope these R helpful! P.S. – What’s a pirate’s […]
Read post »As I reset and rebalance with summer R & R (relaxation and rejuvenation), I am giving you some blog R & R (reusing and recycling). Many of this summer’s blogs are past favorites. May you use them for your own R & R (review and refocus). Hope these R helpful! P.S. – What’s a pirate’s […]
Read post »As I reset and rebalance with summer R & R (relaxation and rejuvenation), I am giving you some blog R & R (reusing and recycling). Many of this summer’s blogs are past favorites. May you use them for your own R & R (review and refocus). Hope these R helpful! P.S. – What’s a pirate’s […]
Read post »My last few posts drew excerpts and scenarios from the fictional story of Pete Leonard in Moose on the Table: A Novel Approach to Communications @ Work. Pete’s story showed how he avoided, discouraged, and finally encouraged courageous conversations. These difficult discussions identify and address the problems that are reducing a team or organization’s effectiveness. […]
Read post »As I was writing Moose on the Table, I facilitated a retreat at a ranch resort in the foothills of Alberta’s beautiful Rocky Mountains. This was a group of 21 managers and supervisors in a mid-sized family business. They were highly participative and keen to improve their leadership skills and further strengthen their company […]
Read post »During a media interview after publishing Moose on the Table: A Novel Approach to Communications @ Work, I was asked if there was any one incident that led me to write the book. Good question. I don’t recall my response. However, since my comebacks usually come back well after the discussion, I later reflected on […]
Read post »Yet another article on the leadership and culture mess at Boeing was recently published in The Guardian. The article reports, “Boeing’s largest factory is in ‘panic mode’…with managers accused of hounding staff to keep quiet over quality concerns. …one mechanic at the complex, who has worked for Boeing for more than three decades, has claimed […]
Read post »Authoritarian leadership seems to be resurging. The Oxford Review Encyclopedia of Terms gives this definition; “Authoritarian leadership refers to any situation where a leader keeps hold of as much power and authority as possible. Also known as coercive or dictatorial leadership, authoritarian leaders, tend to keep all the decision-making authority to themselves and make […]
Read post »In Working with Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman reports on a study by the Center for Creative Leadership of top American and European leaders whose careers derailed, “the inability to build and lead a team was one of the most common reasons for failure.” He goes on to quote a highly successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist, […]
Read post »As Yogi Berra would say, “It was Deja vu all over again.” Five years earlier, we’d conducted introductory service/quality improvement workshops for senior management and head office staff of a large company. Culture and feedback surveys gathered input before and during these follow-up workshops. The company clearly had problems with low engagement, faltering customer service, […]
Read post »Accountability is a mess in many organizations. Often good performers are put into bad processes within systems that subvert rather than support them. “The 85/15 Rule” emerged from decades of root cause analysis of service/quality breakdowns. This showed that roughly 85% of the time the failure is caused by the system, processes, structure, or practices […]
Read post »Doesn’t it drive you nuts to watch a video where the lips don’t quite match the audio track? According to Vocabulary.com, “The verb sync, an abbreviation for “synchronize,” appeared in 1929 to describe the matching of sound and picture in the new ‘talkies.'” Some managers are badly out of sync. For example, a manager once […]
Read post »I’ve just completed a two-day retreat with a fast-growing leadership team. They scored themselves at the lowest levels we’ve seen on our Team Dynamics Survey. Rarely do we see a leadership team as dysfunctional as this one. Their unique products and growing revenues were papering over many huge cracks and barely holding them together. […]
Read post »A scout leader was trying to lift a fallen tree from the path. His pack gathered around to watch him struggle. “Are you using all your strength?” one of the scouts asked. “Yes!” was the exhausted and exasperated response. “No. You are not using all your strength,” the scout replied. “You haven’t asked us […]
Read post »Accountability is highly subjective. Its meaning depends on whether we’re at the giving or receiving end. Many of us have been lashed with the accountability whip wielded by a blundering manager playing “gotcha games.” Often, accountability is a search for who to punish. The Blame Game and finger-pointing turns problem-solving and performance issues into […]
Read post »An Ass found a Lion’s skin left in the forest by a hunter. He dressed himself in it, and amused himself by hiding in a thicket and rushing out suddenly at the animals who passed that way. All took to their heels the moment they saw him. The Ass was so pleased to see […]
Read post »Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to reflect on the power of love and purpose. As mentioned in my top ten life lessons, I’ve written book chapters and about 200 blogs and articles about love. One of those, posted exactly 12 years ago on Valentine’s Day, was Love is at the Heart of Strong Leadership. Highly […]
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