Great article this ... some of the tips are predictable, though no less useful, but I especially liked "Be a good listener", "Be willing to confront" but "Postpone evaluation". You can read it here => http://bit.ly/9cXicy
Tag Archive for: management
Business literature is packed with advice about worker motivation—but sometimes managers are the problem, not the inspiration. Here are seven practices to fire up the troops. From Harvard Management Update
So, I'm trying to lose some weight. And I notice that the days that I declare to myself, "No sugar today," I end up eating sugar earlier than ever. I actually forget that I have even made myself this promise...usually until just a moment after the sugar is melting from my tongue.
Can you relate? Maybe not in this area, but we all have places where we do not keep promises to ourselves. Where do you do this?
Not following through on commitments is a form of resistance. You can probably see clearly how this resistance might sabotage my efforts toward my goal.
My resistance is brilliant. It continually takes new and different forms and is quite good at disguising itself and finding new ways to outsmart me. Your resistance is brilliant, too.
Resistance will keep us from achieving what we want and need. Worse than that, resistance has the power to sending us and our businesses careening in exactly the opposite direction.
Whether you are a leader in an organization or in your own life, anytime you find yourself in a change situation, you will find resistance. If you don't, you are not looking hard enough. It is the way of things. You will resist. Your staff will resist. Your boss will resist. Your clients will resist. Potential employers will resist. Your family will resist. The higher the stakes, the more resistance you will find.
If we are not aware that resistance is at work, resistance wins. But only 100% of the time.
Your only hope of overcoming resistance is to expect it. But even that isn't enough. You also have to value it and embrace it. You have to work with your resistance, not against it.
You have to get intimate with resistance. And that starts with recognizing it. Here's what you want to look for:
Obvious resistance is easy to spot:
Refusal
Arguing
Disruptive behavior The most powerful forms of resistance are usually much more subtle:
Not being available
Not getting started
Getting distracted and not completing
Offering misleading information
Bringing up other issues
Becoming very busy with something else
Getting sick
Anger
Irritation
Frustration
Confusion
Criticism
Silence
Feigning acceptance, without asking necessary questions or working out the details
Finding reasons to be removed from the task
Surfing the web
Compulsively checking your BlackBerry or iPhone
Oh yeah, and forgetting.
Which of these do you do? Which do you see the people you work with doing? Which do you see in your clients? Start noticing the signs of resistance in you and the people around you.
Remember resistance is very creative.
Next time, we'll talk about a few ways to work with your resistance.
Sharon Rich works with organizations and people approaching major change. Just look at the spectacular corporate failures of the past decade to see that talent and intelligence aren't enough to create success. Sharon helps leaders to get the specific tools, skills and perspectives they need to create successful change and make it stick. For more information and to get a complimentary copy of her article "6 WAYS LEADERS SABOTAGE CHANGE and 5 Principles Change Leaders Need Now," go to http://www.leadershipincorporated.com/Free_Stuff.html
“In a poor economy, companies should take care of the people who survive layoffs and end up staying in stressful jobs,” says epidemiologist Diana Fernandez. “It is important to focus on strengthening wellness programs to provide good nutrition, ways to deal with job demands, and more opportunities for physical activity that are built into the regular workday without penalty.”
... Read more
This is a great article ....
The ideas are simple, but powerful, and they apply as much to public speaking as they do to conversation.
Some of the headings are:
Express your thoughts clearly:
The effective communicator has empathy:
Be "truly present"
.
Be a good listener:
... and more - you can read the article in the Pivotal Magazine
As your organization gears up for 2010, here are 50 ways to ensure that it's culture is conducive to innovation. Commit to a few of these today and begin to work your magic.
http://bit.ly/4rTFYK
Influencer
by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
The power to influence others is probably the most important skill in management and leadership. Unfortunately, its development is nowhere near as advanced as it should be. In this interesting, easy-to-read guide to building one's ability to influence others and to thereby create constructive change, the authors provide an essential toolbox for all of us. Building upon the work of Albert Bandura, Stanley Milgram, and other psychologists who specialized in social learning theory, the authors of Influencer: The Power to Change Anything went hunting for people, all over the world, who were able to accomplish major tasks by influencing people to change their behavior. The authors then analyzed what these expert influencers did, so as to give the reader ideas on how to exert influence in more effective ways. The authors also included several examples of major efforts to bring about change that failed dramatically, and gave their view of what was missing in those change campaigns.
Learn how some of the world’s most powerful influence masters have risen to the top by employing a relatively simple set of practices and attitudes. Eric Conger takes us easily from Bangladesh to San Francisco and South Africa, deftly placing us in the presence of some of the finest change agents of our time. His charming and authoritative voicing amplifies the intrinsic power of this work.
So, what did the authors find? Most persistent problems that seem immune to change efforts, have one, or both, of two factors in common: the people involved do not feel capable of making the change; the people involved do not feel that the proposed change would be an improvement. In other words, the factors are ability and motivation. The authors also looked at three different levels, for each problem: the individual, the social group, the environment of the situation. Thus, if you want to influence people to make a change, there are six basic loci for change input: individual ability (i.e., skill training), individual motivation (e.g., incentives), group ability (e.g., increase networking), group motivation (e.g., modeling and healthy competition), environmental assets (e.g., make the necessary components more readily available), and environmental feedback (e.g., improve the consequence system for success and for failure).
In order to explain how these six different modes of, or targets for influence, can be affected, the authors use a handful of examples to illustrate what they mean. They keep returning to these examples, and the reader gets to know them well. The two best ones are probably the Delancey Center in California, where oft-convicted drug-abusing felons are helped to step out of that way of living and, with a high success rate (according to this book) become employed, law-abiding, drug-free citizens; and the Carter Center's efforts to eradicate a horrible parasitic infection that was once widespread in Africa and Asia, called the guinea worm. By repeatedly returning to these examples, the reader not only understood the complexity of the approach needed, but also how it was done, without tremendous cost, using all six of the influence factors.
The book is written in a friendly, almost familiar, conversational tone. While that might not fit every non-fiction book, it worked well here, as another example of how to present information in a listener-friendly manner. It was also quite clear that the authors believe in what they say, passionately.
“Far and away one of the best business books of the year.”
