Recall your worst day at work, when events of the day left you frustrated, unmotivated by the job, and brimming with disdain for your boss and your organization. (more…)
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As Elton John eloquently put it, “Sorry seems to be the hardest word”. Why is it difficult for some managers to admit mistakes, learn from them and move on? (more…)
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How do you become good at something? Most psychologists agree it’s repetition that makes something easy for us to do and that’s borne out by a study of our brain, which fires neurons in a repetitive way, called habituation. But when we do something so…
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Have you ever done something that you know didn’t live up to your personal values or standards? Duh, well yeah, of course! If you have, how have you explained away the reasons? What’s really interesting about humans is when we try to explain something unusual…
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How often do you proactively initiate feedback from your team members? I don’t mean the ad-hoc, daily discussions that are necessary for getting work done; I’m referring to the type of feedback that gives you direction, vision and strategic information to help you run your department…
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You know that the best way to influence another person is to build rapport first. The best way to do this with integrity and honesty is through a process called Matching. Matching is the process where you adjust the same aspects of your external behaviour…
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As a manager, how do you discover what people expect you to do? What feedback do you want that will help you improve your game and create opportunities for expansion in the future? The best way yet found to increase knowledge is to ask questions.…
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Who wouldn’t want their team to exhibit excellent work? The main reason I see managers complain about the quality of work produced by their teams is because we rarely talk about what excellence looks like and how we would know if it actually occurred. People…
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Henry Mintzberg’s book ‘Managing’ has received excellent reviews, and it’s got a good slot in my bookcase. The management guru talks about popular but false views about the nature of managerial work, separates fact from myth, and provides the best information yet published on what…
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Meetings can be testing, even for the most prepared manager, and most people will agree that the amount of time wasted in meetings could be drastically reduced if several steps are taken. And those steps are fairly simple and straightforward. (more…)
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In a recent article on FOCUS, we outlined the five ways that focus can gain effective results. By aiming specifically at a goal, it’s like aiming a laser beam at a target; you go straight for the heart of the matter and identify how the means will achieve the…
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On one of our programs, a manager remarked that he had a team member who, no matter how he gave directions of what should be done, always failed to comply. It wasn’t a matter of competence or illiteracy…they just failed to do what was asked…
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