Part 4 – Leading Better Meetings: Identifying Problem Behavior
People don’t hate meetings because they are inherently horrible. They hate meetings that are poorly led – especially when it comes to tolerating problematic behavior. I define “problem behavior” as a pattern of participation, often unconscious and habitual, that distracts from the purpose of the meeting and undermines productivity. How often do you see the […]
Part 2 – Leading Better Meetings: Only Meet for the Right Reasons
How many times have you found yourself sitting in a meeting and silently asking: “What the hell am I doing here?” “Does ‘this’ actually justify being in a room together?”Maybe it’s a standing weekly meeting that no longer serves its original purpose. Or, a promised status update that has turned into an endless presentation with […]
Part 1 – Leading Better Meetings: Why Good People Have Bad Meetings
I’m not sure I need to convince you that there is an endemic dysfunction afflicting our workplaces – terrible meetings. Regardless of whether they are virtual or in-person, meetings can be really bad for a variety of reasons: Meetings aren’t taken seriously. People show up distracted and underprepared. They are skeptical about whether anything of […]
Creating a Culture of Appreciation
Many of us work in organizations with high-achievement cultures and are ourselves driven by achieving meaningful goals. However, there is a shadow-side to the high-achievement mindset: First, it often focuses on perceived deficits – where did we fall short? Second, those of us who are achievement-oriented are prone to quickly move on to the next […]
Make Your Strategic Vision a Call to Change
A strategic vision is meant to articulate the preferred future of your organization. But visions are too often written as broad, idealistic statements that don’t explicitly convey change. So, several years ago I developed a tool called the “Change Trajectory Chart”. It assists you in framing your organization’s strategic vision as change. Creating a Change […]
Resources for Building Bridges Across Divides
Lately I’ve been yearning for reasons to feel hopeful. Our country feels more polarized than ever and, regardless of political affiliation, people seem less interested in listening, more self-righteous, and quicker to dismiss and label the “other” as the “enemy” or “idiot”. I’ve seen this dynamic spill over into families and even the workplace. So, […]
Six Countercultural Declarations
An excerpt from Parker Palmer’s book, Hidden Wholeness, chronicles the ways in which blizzards – like life – can be overwhelming and disorienting. It’s a reflective piece about how swirling events and social forces can pull us farther and farther away from authenticity, integrity, and the things that nourish our souls. Consider these six unrelenting […]
Ten Ways to Be an Exceptional Facilitative Leader
In our work and volunteer lives, meetings tend to get a “bad wrap”. But, bringing people together in person – and virtually – is still the most powerful way to accomplish shared goals. When we participate in meetings, we want the time spent to feel important, productive, and energizing. After gathering with others, we want […]
Dancing With Surprises
Several years back I had the opportunity to work with a co-op founded by a group of artists who had all formerly experienced homelessness. I was invited to facilitate a strategic planning meeting involving the entire co-op membership. We met in their rented warehouse on Skid Row in Los Angeles. One key question facing these […]
Making the Case for Change
When it comes to organizational change, sometimes it’s hard to know how to begin. How do you assess if people are ready? How do you identify potential resistance? How can you motivate people to commit to a new direction? How might you engage them in shaping the future? People resist change for many reasons, including: […]