One of the most common rules for workshops is “Candour”. “Speak your mind!” But this is often the most difficult to practice. To understand this reticence let’s consider our growth process and development from dependence. We grow in cycles. On entry into the world we see ourselves as part of our mother, “me and mom [...]
Fear of change can take us by surprise 'Callanish' is the story written by William Horwood about eagles in a zoo, tended by a keeper who had survived Sobibor. The old eagle Minch talks about freedom… “Here we are very safe,' said Minch, and we cannot be hurt. Our food is brought to us, and [...]
Brainwashing is a powerful way to get people to change their perceptions. But each one of us has a mechanism that constantly floods us with information affecting our view of reality. The Reticular Activating System in our brain processes all incoming data and deletes information not congruent with our current beliefs, presuppositions and, assumptions. In [...]
Delivering in self managing teams depends on a clear, authoritative direction. In fact effective self-management is impossible unless someone in authority sets the direction for the work to be done. This may be a team leader, or project manager, an outside person who engages the team or the team itself in the case of boards [...]
When I left home my mother advised me to get a good job with a big company, letting my boss look after me. This, she promised, would lead to a fulfilled life. As a student she was told she was South Africa’s next great concert pianist. Instead she chose to teach. Growing up, I watched [...]
Five Dysfunctions: Trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, results You have the right people, you have a challenging project and a supportive organisational environment, but still there is hesitation. How do you initiate delivery? J Richard Hackman, professor of social and organisational psychology at Harvard University, shows that developing interpersonal relationships alone has no effect on team performance. Sirota [...]
There is no single personality-profile for the best sales person. Forget what everyone else is like. You have the perfect profile for you. So let’s get on with this business of marketing and selling.
Have you designed your place of work to say back to you, "You Matter"?
increase your success rate in negotiating with your peers
What interventions do you use to engage your teams? And when do you do them? J Richard Hackman author of ‘Leading Teams’, describes three levers for effectiveness and three key milestones in a team life-cycle when intervention can have the most impact.
