Yes, Raise That Red Flag
“You can’t manage a secret. We can’t solve problems we don’t see.” So Alan Mulally (legendary past CEO of Ford Motor) has said. Yet, no one likes to be the bearer of bad news. There are myriad reasons that issues, even significant ones, often don't get communicated to...
Helping Employees Deal with a Job Change
30% of workers experienced SIGNIFICANT job changes in the past 12 months. — PwC, Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2024. Couple this with myriad challenges associated with people's non-work environments, and that's a lot for anyone to shoulder. I've coached a...
The Importance of Behavioral Change
People deceive themselves when they assume that they always make free and deliberate choices. In fact, a range of studies have found that at least 43% of our behaviors — and in some cases far more — occur not by conscious thought and intention, but automatically,...
Learning to Say No
"No" is such a small word and yet so hard to say. Often we don't want to say no, even when that's the right thing to do, because we don't want to risk appearing incapable, unappreciative, or disrespectful. We don't always act as we even know that we should. Many...
Book Summary: “Change or Die” by Alan Deutschman
Talk about a book title that grabs your attention! Quite a few colleagues have recommended this book to me, in part because they know that meaningful change is difficult to achieve for so many people. The basis for the title "Change or Die" is that numerous studies...
Leadership: Flexible vs. Wishy-Washy
The concept of flexible leadership is increasingly relevant in organizations. Flexible leadership, however, is not the same as wishy-washy leadership. The former represents a strategic and adaptable approach to leadership while the latter suggests indecisiveness and...
Coaching Someone Who’s Hesitant to Get Help
When we discuss coaching someone, it is typically presumed that the person is open to being helped. But as managers and HR professionals know, that’s not always the case. There may be a hard-working employee who could grow much faster with a bit of support but is...
11 Commandments for an Enthusiastic Team
In cleaning out some old files, I came across a sheet of paper with a typed list entitled "11 Commandments for an Enthusiastic Team." I couldn't recall its source, but a Google search led me to a book by Ian Percy of the same name (subtitled Collaborating with Purpose...
Process Excellence: Pitfalls and Best Practices
Starting any process improvement initiative can be challenging, and it's not uncommon for organizations to encounter various errors and oversights. Here are ten of the biggest mistakes often made by teams in their early stages of process excellence initiatives: Lack...
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