By Jeffrey Ford, on May 12th, 2010
How often have you heard (or made) one of the following complaints (or some variation thereof):
We have a real communication problem here.
They don’t tell us anything, and when they do tell us, it’s not much.
They never give us enough information.
The absence or inadequacy of communication is one of the most frequently voiced complaints in the
Continue reading Effective Workplace Communication Requires Using the Right Conversation
By Jeffrey Ford, on April 21st, 2010
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” which refers to the use of any kind of visual graphic created to display information to
Continue reading What Name Tag Will He Wear?
By Jeffrey Ford, on February 1st, 2010
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 increasingly successful everywhere except with his boss. Apparently Paul’s boss doesn’t realize how he is undermining himself.
Here is what
Continue reading Is Demanding “Now” Undermining Leadership?
By Jeffrey Ford, on January 27th, 2010
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 call him Roy – whose company had completed a series of employee satisfaction surveys. It turns out that although Roy’s unit scored
Continue reading Conversations Can Lower Satisfaction
By Jeffrey Ford, on December 14th, 2009
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 could be provided, one that has recently caught my attention is the role of common ground.
I was recently at a holiday dinner
Continue reading Common Ground and Performance
By Jeffrey Ford, on December 4th, 2009
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 recently had a conversation with a manager who was disturbed by her inability to meet the
Continue reading Convert Expectations into Agreements
By Jeffrey Ford, on November 3rd, 2009
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, What Can Be Done.” In the article, Kolbert talks about how, and why, in the face of the quadrillions of
Continue reading Listening to the “Other” Side
By Jeffrey, on October 22nd, 2009
While flying home from a weekend visit with my son in Houston, Texas, I got a flash of insight into why it is so difficult to train managers to be more effective. I was reading “The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making” when I realized managers make a fundamental error in their understanding of what
Continue reading The Fundamental Error in Managing Others
By Jeffrey, on October 9th, 2009
If you read my earlier post on Incentives Don’t Work, then you know that Dan Pink’s TED video raises some interesting questions about incentives. In particular, he raises questions about the role of external incentives and their impact on non-routine, creative, or innovative work performance. His point is well made. Research has long known that
Continue reading Incentives Don’t Work? Part II
By Jeffrey, on October 1st, 2009
On September 29, I started my MBA class on Leading and Managing Change in Organizations. Unlike my prior classes, this is a mix of working professional and fulltime students. One of the questions I asked them was “What’s important to you? What do you really want out of this class?”
Although there were a variety of
Continue reading Motivating Others Is Easy IF You Stop Trying To
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