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Listening to the “Other” Side
I recently read The Things People Say, a column by staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert for The New Yorker in which she reviews Cass R. Sunstein’s book “On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them,...
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“High Priority” Isn’t A Deadline
Laurie and I recently conducted a training program on The Four Conversations for a group of project managers. Since most of the managers were from the same organization, they all encountered the same...
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Convert Expectations into Agreements
Don’t risk being held to account for things you don’t know about. Take the time to find out what people really expect you to do, and what they expect you to deliver. If they don’t tell you, ask. I...
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Common Ground and Performance
Why don’t people perform the way we expect them to? Perhaps you have asked yourself this question, or participated in a discussion with others related to it. Although there are many answers that...
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Conversations Can Lower Satisfaction
If you want to increase satisfaction at work, talk about the things people like. If you want to increase dissatisfaction, talk about what makes them unhappy. I recently talked to a manager – let’s...
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Is Demanding “Now” Undermining Leadership?
I recently got an email from – let’s call him Paul – a manager updating me on his attempts to interrupt the “high priority” manipulation that is so prevalent in organizations. Turns out he is becoming...
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What Name Tag Will He Wear?
How do you synchronize work when you can’t talk to each other? What allows people to know who you are and what you are accountable for if you can’t tell them? One way is through the use of “signage”...
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Accountability Requires Feedback
Building accountability requires giving honest feedback on how people perform. If we want people to provide high quality work on time, telling them when they succeed and when they fail at doing so is...
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Manage Agreements, Not People
Many managers focus on managing people as their leverage for getting things done. Since it is people who will perform the tasks and lead the projects, this focus seems appropriate. However, there is...
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Displays Support Accomplishment
Are you finding that some projects are not moving as fast as you need them to? Do you have some projects that are ‘behind’ and need to be accelerated? Are there people around you who are notoriously...
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