Are You Coaching? Or Just Waving Your Arms?
A lot of what passes for coaching -- in workplaces, in homes, even on kids’ sports teams -- is really just a lot of exhortations and fervent repetitions of normative statements. It doesn’t help the... Continue reading
The Customer Cares: Good Design, Poor Design
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I care a lot about how it feels to work in my office. (See The Pleasures of the Office.) My extensive collection of... Continue reading
A Positive Charge for a Negative Employee
How do you handle a perpetually negative employee? You may get an idea from this bit of conversation that I had with a distressed client about a pivotal but consistently negative staff member we’ll refer... Continue reading
The Surprising Steps to the Dance of Disagreement
At a recent meeting, I observed as team members wrangled over what should have been a straightforward process discussion. Not only did their disagreements about “the way things are supposed to be done” get heated... Continue reading
Re-Minding Ourselves for (Workplace) Effectiveness
At the third annual Wisdom 2.0 Conference in Silicon Valley last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Dr. Dan Siegel, executive director of the Mindsight Institute and clinical professor of psychiatry at the... Continue reading
Is It Really So Hard to Nail Down Customer Loyalty?
I’ve gone to the same tiny nail salon for a number of years. My visits depend on my work and travel schedule, but no matter how many weeks apart, I’ve always gone on a Monday... Continue reading
Can You Lead the Way Out of Bad Behavior?
In any organization -- and it only takes two people to make an organization -- you’ll be exposed to bad behavior from time to time. This is true in all kinds of settings: at school,... Continue reading
2 Powerful Steps to Improved Customer Service
The Customer is always right, comes first, and is King! And Service is our middle name, with a smile. These are lovely slogans and declarations of intent -- but truthfully, people tend to pay more... Continue reading