Archive for October, 2007

Team Building Activity: Creating a Teaming Environment

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

Organizations seeking the collaborative spirit of teams without the structural upheavals should consider attacking their existing non-collaborative culture hammer and tongs.
The way to create a collaborative atmosphere or “teaming environment” is neither mysterious nor expensive.  You begin by sending a simple but unmistakable signal through the organization: you stop rewarding destructive, competitive, one-up behaviors, and [...]

Leadership Skill: Rebalancing the Stress Load

Monday, October 22nd, 2007

There used to be only two schools of thought about increasing groups’ acceptance of change: Pummel and Pamper. Pummel’s attitude about what workers were feeling was basically: Who cares? Pamper went to the opposite extreme, taking responsibility for everything happening in the individual worker’s head.

Leadership Skill : Find a Culture You Like and Copy     It

Friday, October 19th, 2007

I frequently get calls asking about organizational culture. These questions usually arise from either a real or imagined crises resulting from some form of merger or acquisition. Whether between departments merging within a shrinking company or between companies joining forces, the issues are similar. Shouts of “I want everyone to be singing from the same [...]

Leadership Skill: The Accidental Partner

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

The economy has stalled. Smaller companies are either being gobbled up or cobbled down. Larger companies are undergoing the largest merger-fest in U.S. history in order to stay globally competitive. Business strategies have been painfully twisted and squeezed to bolster the bottom lines of too many companies with too few customers. The result of all [...]

Leadership Skill #3: How to Set Expectations

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

Setting Expectations:  Before you, as a leader, can hold people accountable for outcomes, you have to let them know what success looks like and what you     expect to see as a result of their efforts.  This sound bite gives insights into the reason for the need to set the bar high, when to set them [...]

Leadership Skill #2: How to Motivate Others

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

Motivation:  You don’t have to do cartwheels down the hallway or have pom-poms hanging in your office to motivate people to get the outcomes you want.  This sound bite gives you a quick and easy strategy to use to get people motivated “internally”.  Hint:  remember all those “to do” lists you complain about…but do?

Leadership Skill #1: How to Hold People Accountable

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

Accountability:  One of the issues I hear about regularly from people in leadership roles is “how do I hold people accountable for outcomes”.  This sound bite gives you an explanation for the two reasons people don’t do things and how to hold their feet to the fire to get the outcomes you require.