IN MY TOOL BAG: The Power of a Project Charter
Your project team, task force, or committee got off to a fast and enthusiastic start but lately, it’s struggling to make progress. For every step forward it feels like the team takes three steps backward. You keep hitting bottlenecks and having to revisit decisions you thought were made. Team members are becoming frustrated with one […]
FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Fierce to Fire, Two Books for Mastering Candor
My last two blogs were about building a team culture of candor and courageous listening. But to do both well, what teams really need is a culture of skillful candor. Communicating with candor without skillfulness can be experienced as attacking, unloading, or showboating. It can be hurtful and drive people back into avoidance masquerading as […]
ON MY MIND: The End of Niceness: Building a Culture of Candor
There is a problem with your team. It’s niceness. I’m not referring to treating people with civility and kindness. I’m referring to an inauthentic politeness that involves withholding important critical feedback and avoiding difficult conversations. Niceness in the way I’ve defined it above gets in the way of your team’s learning, improving, and building true […]
IN MY TOOL BAG: Picture Card Decks
Using picture card decks in my work has made me a believer in the adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” I have seen how visual images can elicit new insights, invite people to tap into their emotional selves, and reveal previously hidden aspirations. That’s why I always travel with a deck of […]
IN MY TOOL BAG: The Meeting Scorecard
More often than not, when I ask leaders, “How’d your meeting go?” they look at me sheepishly and answer with something like, “I’d like to think it went well. Nobody complained.” Despite the fact that meetings are an important business process in most organizations, “nobody complained” or “we made it through the agenda” are not […]
IN MY TOOL BAG: Proposal Feedback Poster
One of my specializations is designing and facilitating meetings in which people with diverse interests can tackle complex challenges, like how to aid refugees or how to innovate next-generation solar technology. During these gatherings, people typically generate dozens of ideas. So keeping people curious about each other’s ideas is a key to success for these […]
ON MY MIND: What Google is Learning about Superb Teamwork
What makes teams successful? Google wanted to know the answer, so the company conducted interviews with more than 200 of its employees across more than 180 active teams. The bottom-line conclusion of the research team was surprising. As it turns out, there is no magical algorithm for picking the right mix of team member attributes, […]
Relationship Repair (Part 3)- Reset the Contract with Your Team Mate(s)
A skillfully expressed apology might be sufficient to repair a relationship. But more often than not, a second kind of conversation is required. It is the conversation about what you and the other person need from one another to work together effectively in the future. I call this the “relationship reset” conversation. A relationship reset […]
Relationship Repair (Part 1) – Go in with the Right Mindset
If you work on a team it’s inevitable that at some point you will disappoint, frustrate or anger a colleague. You will fail to keep a promise. You will take an action or make a decision that negatively impacts others. You will react during stressful moments in ways you later regret. In these moments repairing […]
IN MY TOOL BAG: Jenga with a Team Building Twist
Recently, I was planning an offsite retreat for a team with a significant number of new members who didn’t know each other very well. The first goal was to help them learn about one another beyond their public resumes and job descriptions. The second goal was to play and laugh together. When people feel seen […]