One of the things I’ve noticed about the organizations I’ve served in more than 20 years in business, is that the organization’s “conflict culture” is almost always a direct reflection of the dominant conflict style of the organization’s leader. If the conflict style is weak or negative, it becomes a cancer in the organization, destroying […]
How many times have you been in a situation when a person’s mouth said one thing, but everything else about them seemed to be saying something else? For example, when you ask your boss if she has time to discuss a problem, and she looks at her watch, lets out a heavy sigh, and says, […]
I recently hired a contractor to do some work at my house. He was supposed to arrive at 10 am on Wednesday. At about 9:45 I closed my cats up in the bedroom and put my dogs in their crates, anticipating his arrival. 10 am came and went. Then it was 10:20. I called him […]
I recently received an email from a manager asking for help. She works in a medium-sized organization and struggles with delegation, even when the things she’s delegating are in her employees’ job descriptions. She feels guilty and finds herself apologizing for asking or reminding people to do their jobs. I can tell you she’s not […]
The other day I was in a doctor’s office waiting room when a woman sitting across the way said LOUDLY to the man next to her, “What time was your appointment? Mine was supposed to be more than 30 minutes ago.” The man replied, “I know, I’ve been here for more than 45 minutes!” The woman’s comments […]
As a communication fanatic, I may be biased, but I think it’s time people stop taking communication for granted and start adding up the cost of poor communication. Too many people assume because their mouths work, their ears work, and they can read and write, that means they’re communicating. To a certain degree, they’re right. They […]
This week, I’m heading to the biggest conference of the year for professional speakers, the National Speakers Association’s Influence 2017 and I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones. As a professional communicator, you’d think starting a conversation with a new person is easy for me, but it’s not […]
Let’s face it, most people would rather have a root canal than add another meeting to their calendar. With the average business person attending about 62 meetings a month and finding that over 50 percent of meeting time is totally wasted, it’s no wonder that most people hate meetings. However, there are a lot of […]
In my “Monday Motivation for Performance Communicators,” email this week, I wrote about why we need to stop doing so much whining. But what if you’re not the one whining and instead, you find yourself being the sounding board for others’ gripes and complaints? How can you make it stop? Of course, I’m not talking […]
Women represent 50% of the population, 60% of college degree earners, 47% of the US workforce, and hold 52% of professional jobs. However, when it comes to leading organizations, women only hold about 14% of leadership positions. There are a many reasons for this leadership gap, from over-emphasis and under-valuing of gender differences, to the […]
