Because We Can Breathe
Like many people, I’m deeply outraged and upset about the recent grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers who killed unarmed black men. And like many others, my perceptions and concerns are shaped... Continue reading
How Skillful Is Your Response When You Get Feedback?
It can be even tougher to accept feedback than it is to give it. It’s never easy to hear that your idea, behavior, or effort didn’t have the desired effect or wasn’t well received. When... Continue reading
How a Restaurant Disappoints When Service Is Not on the Menu
When does self-service become a barrier rather than a boon? Back at JFK again recently, I returned to Due Amici, hungry for lunch. Now that I knew the drill for ordering off the iPad at... Continue reading
How to Deepen Feedback and Foster Improvement
The real problem with feedback is that, regardless of how skillfully it’s given, people often don’t know what to do with it. Neuroimagery research by Richard Boyatzis at Case Western University suggests that focusing on... Continue reading
How to Emphasize Praise for Feedback Success
Last week’s post, This Is the Truth About Workplace Feedback, discussed the significance of having a generally positive relationship with an employee before asking the employee to take in and apply critical feedback. A positive relationship... Continue reading
This Is the Truth About Workplace Feedback
Why do so many folks hate feedback so much that they resist giving or receiving it? Most people in the workplace categorize feedback as an uncomfortable, even painful part of work life because of the... Continue reading
4 Practically Proven Ways to Disagree Productively
Disagreements and conflicts occur in every organization, no matter how high-functioning the team, how clear the mission, or how lovely the people. As we’ve seen in the last two posts, conflict-averse executives who don’t share... Continue reading
When Leaders Avoid Conflict, They Hurt Their Teams
In last week’s post, an exec who didn’t wish to appear picky or small-minded missed the chance to address difficult and inappropriate situations created by her subordinate Xerxes when they were still small and potentially... Continue reading