You’ve read a lot on this blog about feedback and how to give it. I’ve often reiterated how the old “compliment sandwich” is tired, transparent, and holds the possibility of backfiring. First, let’s review what a compliment sandwich is and isn’t. The compliment sandwich is an attempt to give tough feedback between two bits of … Read more
My sixteen-year-old daughter made an observation during a trip to Disney World that may be helpful to you. She believes the phrase “you too” is a frequent automatic response to parting words from service people. Some phrases, however, don’t work well with this automatic response and leave the customer feeling awkward. Examples of accidentally awkward … Read more
When presenting the Four Levels of Maturity as a way to adopt an others-focused mindset, I often joke that traffic is a great place to observe these levels in self and others. Maybe, though, it’s time to take it from a joke to a tool. For example… Level One is the person recklessly weaving in … Read more
In a recent team-development session, we made some important growth happen. Growing as a team isn’t arbitrary, and it doesn’t happen without real, hard work. And it especially doesn’t happen when the team lacks vulnerability-based trust. As with building trust in any type of relationship, trust doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, building trust is a … Read more
New to conference calls? Intimidated by the video that went viral a while back? Seven tips for better conferencing. First, restrict small talk to the first few minutes and be ready to get down to business. Second, outline the agenda with quick bullet points. Identify who will take the lead on each topic. Third, early … Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I was challenged to provide five minutes of content that would make a difference for leaders. Because of the power of questions, I decided to come up with three questions that are easy to explain but would have a lot of power. Here’s what I presented: Leaders move fast and … Read more
In The Effective Manager, Mark Horstman shares data on the value on one-on-ones. In their research, which has been replicated multiple times, they found that results and retention improve by about 10% when managers implement weekly one-on-ones. Another finding is that managers who are consistent with one-on-ones with their people tend to get promoted at … Read more
I was re-reading the outstanding Flawless Consulting by Peter Block and appreciated how he outlined the issues underlying phrases like: “These people” OR “Those people” (followed by) “don’t understand” OR “need to understand.” WHAT THESE PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND… So, what’s wrong with this? It separates the leader from the people they lead, diminishes a leader’s … Read more
Rubrics are such a nice way to organize and prioritize. But I’ve changed my mind about one thing since I wrote the first blog post on rubrics over four years ago. Now, I like a four-point rubric for most decision-making and prioritizing, instead of a 3-or- 5 point rubric. For my purposes, it usually looks … Read more
Last week, I introduced you to Chris McQueen, current Head of Community—Created Content for ServiceNow, former Google employee. This week, I want to share something else from McQueen that I think you’ll find helpful. Any time you cite a problem, turn it into a question that starts with these three words: How Might We… First … Read more