communication

Leading Cultural Change

  Is your organization currently going through (or recently undergone) a major cultural transformation? If so, you’re like more than half (56.8%) the organizations that participated in a survey by I4CP, a leading human capital research firm. On the one hand, I’m surprised to see the number that high. After all, transformational change is really…

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The Pitfalls of Biased Data

  It’s been months since the presidential election and I still haven’t recovered. Regardless of which party you align with or which candidate you supported, it’s hard to argue that this was one of the most uncivil, polarizing elections in our country’s history. The rhetoric and biases we saw on both sides of the political…

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Are Dumb Rules Killing Innovation in Your Company?

Innovation is the process of coming up with new ideas and/or putting together existing ideas, products or services in new and different ways to achieve value. In order to do that, we sometimes have to first get rid of the obstacles that are getting in the way. One quick and simple method for eliminating barriers…

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How to Suck at Leadership

Have you ever woken up in the morning and said to yourself, “I’m tired of being a good leader. Today, I want to suck at it.”? Well, today’s your lucky day! As someone who strives to keep up with the latest in leadership, it recently occurred to me we have tons of books, videos, blogs,…

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The Third, Fourth and Fifth Most Powerful Words in Business

When was the last time you got stuck, I mean really stuck, on a problem in your organization? The kind where you not only couldn’t find a solution, but weren’t even sure why you were stuck in the first place. For example, you’re way behind your annual sales goal and no one seems to know…

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How to Give Four Generations Feedback

I had one of those defining moments in life the other day. I went to the doctor for a minor ailment, and for the first time I noticed that the person wearing the stethoscope was younger than me! My prevailing view of the world says that authority figures – doctors, judges, teachers, etc. – should…

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Slow Down Your Strategic Planning So You Can Go Fast

Bias is defined as “prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.” In the business world, this definition also applies to concepts and ideas. As business leaders we like to think we’re impartial, open-minded and objective in regards to new ideas,…

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Is There A Gorilla In Your Market?

Is there a gorilla in your market? I’m not talking about the proverbial “800-lb. gorilla” that dominates a market. Almost every industry has one of those. I’m talking about the gorilla we don’t see. There’s a well-known experiment in which a researcher shows a videotape of six college students standing on a basketball court. Three…

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Expose Yourself! Get Better Results by Making Your Thinking Visible

Expose yourself? No, I’m not talking about trench coats or the number two activity on the web (porn is BEHIND social media these days!). I’m referring to common communication challenges that can be easily overcome by pausing to bring others along in your thinking process. When we present ideas to other people, especially new ideas,…

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Have You Done Your 1st Quarter Checkup?

Spring has sprung (according to the calendar, anyway) and April is upon us. For those who operate according to the calendar year, that means its time for an end-of-quarter checkup in regards to the strategic plan. More specifically, it means we should begin asking questions like: Are we making progress towards the goal? Is it…

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Are You Engaging? Funny, smart, and easy to dance with is not enough these days

You may be funny, smart, and easy to dance with, but if you are not engaging employees on an ongoing basis, all of your work in developing a strategic plan will be for naught. In my last two blogs, we talked about informing and inspiring employees during implementation of the strategic plan. The last piece…

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How to Avoid “Hitting the Wall” in Your Strategic Plan

I focus a lot of my time and energy on helping clients remember the importance of ongoing communications as their strategic plan unfolds. Keeping employees informed on a regular basis helps to keep the finish line in sight and ensures that everyone runs the same race. But getting from where you are now to where…

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