Persuasion and influence skills have always been a big part of leadership effectiveness. In today’s complex and matrix organizations these skills are central to our success. There are many people and situations that we don’t have direct control over. This could be upward to more senior leaders, outward to our peers and other departments, and […]
Read post »The messenger must be the message. The most effective communication is face-to-face. But the most believable communication is behavior. We would all much rather see than hear a sermon. Many well intentioned managers lead change or improvement efforts that are all about changing everyone else while they carry on pretty much as before. They’re preaching […]
Read post »Failing to understand, believe, and share a sense of urgency for why higher levels of customer service – or other organizational transformations are needed – is a major reason the failure rate for change and renewal efforts hovers around 60 – 75%. Today’s younger generations of workers have an even higher need to buy-in to […]
Read post »My last blog post (The Why Generation) argued for investing much more time and effort in getting today’s younger generations of workers to understand and buy-in to why changes are needed in the programs, products, or services they support or provide. Strong and continuous education and communications is critical. If you’re leading efforts to improve […]
Read post »There’s lots of talk these days about effectively leading Generation X, Y and other demographic groups in today’s workplace. While each group has varying needs and interests, a very common need is understanding why team or organization changes are needed. Parents and teachers from “The Boomer Generation” spent more time than their parents ever did […]
Read post »Most people want and appreciate a boss or work colleague who is direct and to the point. But it’s about the way that’s conveyed. We’ve all found ourselves resisting someone else not because of what they are saying, but how they are saying it. They may strike us as arrogant, unfeeling, rude, or overly critical. […]
Read post »Credibility, trust, and integrity are becoming ever larger issues with management teams at all organizational levels. People are looking for more from their leaders. As they fail to get the leadership they crave, a large credibility gap is opening up. In many cases, it’s becoming a chasm. For example, nearly fifty percent of people don’t […]
Read post »Many managers are great at supplying information, but they’re not so good at communication. In this “information age,” our organizational lives are overflowing with e-mails, voice mails, phone calls, newsletters, books, articles, manuals, and web pages. Like the sailor marooned in a lifeboat on the high seas, we have water, water everywhere, but not a […]
Read post »Build a repertoire of teachable stories. Collect and catalogue the best examples of your organization’s key principles in action. Circulate those stories inside and outside your organization through the media (where appropriate). Write up collections of case studies illustrating tough decisions, trade-offs, outstanding performance, dealing effectively with changes, etc. Embed the stories in training and […]
Read post »Most managers are doing far too little to mitigate the destructive and wasteful effects of e-mail misuse. Like a B-movie, the e-mail monster keeps growing larger and consuming more time and resources (“E-zilla: The Insatiable Beast”). Some of the more common abuses I hear about in my workshops are: CC-ing the World” – far too […]
Read post »“The universe is made of stories, not atoms.” – Muriel Rukeyser, American novelist, poet, biographer, and screenwriter “Wherever a story comes from, whether it is a familiar myth or a private memory, the retelling exemplifies the making of a connection from one pattern to another: a potential translation in which narrative becomes parable and […]
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