Tag: collaboration
How to Focus on Tasks, Not Emotions, to Save Money on Conflict
“Conflict costs businesses a ton of money,” management guru Steve Caldwell observed while interviewing me recently. Caldwell is a team leadership coach, the author of Manager Mojo: Be the Leader that Others Want to Follow,... Continue reading
How to Make a Small Tweak in Communication for a Surprisingly Big Change
When I interviewed a group of highly experienced technical employees at a client company last week, one of the things I asked them was what consistently made them nuts on the job. They told me... Continue reading
8 Ways to Prevent Participation and Innovation
Employees can be such a headache, especially the proactive ones! They’re always asking questions, wanting things to be either some new way or the way they used to be, or else they’re making suggestions and... Continue reading
Why Your Silos Are More Important Than You Think
Last month, a longstanding client brought me in after reviewing some recent customer research. The company provides a relatively complex service, and one of their most common and unprompted customer complaints was that the company’s... Continue reading
2 Never-Fail Rules to Make Change Initiatives Successful
Last week I facilitated a senior staff meeting that focused on silo-busting and improving cross-departmental collaboration. The group leader wrote to me afterwards to say he was very happy with how things went, and asked... Continue reading
What Happens When Leaders Divide to Conquer
Working with teams or leaders in conflict is a crucial part of many of my assignments -- even when it was not included in the original scope of work. Sometimes these disagreements arise because individual... Continue reading
Accountability: Be Careful What You Wish For
“Why is no one ever held accountable here?” A vice president was fuming at me, and not for the first time. “Why do we always act like everything’s fine instead of holding people accountable?” I’ve... Continue reading
How to Find Agreement When You Come from Opposite Sides
I’m very lucky to experience much less disagreement or outright conflict on the job than most people. Although my clients’ views may differ from mine in many ways, it’s implicit in our relationship that we’re... Continue reading