Improving Relationships at Work

I recently had the working managers in my MBA class on execution (as in implementation, not hanging) undertake an exercise to improve relationships with the people with whom they work.  In particular, we were interested in whether or not they could improve their affinity (liking) for people they currently did not like very much.  They

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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 increasingly successful everywhere except with his boss.   Apparently Paul’s boss doesn’t realize how he is undermining himself.

Here is what

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Just Tell Me Why

I recently participated in a book group discussion about The Four Conversations with the managers of COSI, the science museum in Columbus Ohio.  Our topic for this session was Initiative Conversations, which are used anytime you want to propose or recommend a new idea, project, or undertaking that involves others.  Initiative Conversations tell people what

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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 could be provided, one that has recently caught my attention is the role of common ground.

I was recently at a holiday dinner

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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, What Can Be Done.” In the article, Kolbert talks about how, and why, in the face of the quadrillions of

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The Fundamental Error in Managing Others

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

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