“Couldn’t you be doing something more productive with your time?” This is one of my favorite sayings. It is such a mantra around my house, that my daughter actually wrote one of her college application essays on possessing a “productivity gene” that wouldn’t allow idle hands or an idle mind. If I’m not asking it of […]
Do you ever wonder why the person you meet in a job interview somehow disappears right after the interview and their unskilled, sloth-like, Doppelganger-with-an-attitude shows up for the first day of work? One of the answers lies in Behavioral Interview Questions. Sharon Maaz, president of the Association of Business and Professional Women, wondered the same […]
This week’s blog post is a guest post about conflict resolution by Rob Pennington, Ph.D. Dr. Rob is an educational psychologist who specializes in helping executives improve team performance through a balance of authority and collaboration. He is also an organizational consulting, executive coach, speaker, and award-winning author. The insights and wisdom he shares represent a […]
When my brother and I were teenagers, we used to fight . . . a lot! I’ll admit that most of our fights were ones that I started and were probably unprovoked. In one particularly “lively” incident, I found myself trapped on our back porch, with my brother telling me that under no circumstances was […]
There are a lot of myths surrounding the subject of nonverbal communication. The biggest being the oft quoted statistic stating that nonverbal communication is 93% of communication, leaving verbal communication only 7% of our interactions. Despite the myths, I will agree that nonverbal communication is very powerful for many reasons, but two reasons really stand […]
Think about the last time you tried to get a refund at a store, get an extension on a deadline, or even asked a child why he didn’t complete his chores? It’s unlikely that the response was something you wanted to hear. As such, we go into such discussions defensively as if we know conflict […]
This weekend I saw a news piece about a video that’s gone viral on YouTube. “Every Opportunity,” published by the Atlanta Speech School, contains a powerful message about how adults talk to children. In some instances, the adults in the video ignore the communication efforts of the children and we can see how dejected they are. Sometimes, it’s not […]
Whether an actual letter, a card, or even a short sentiment written on a piece of scrap paper, there’s something very personal and meaningful about taking the time to communicate with someone using pen and paper. First, a handwritten note takes time to produce. There’s no spell check and no backspace key. You’ve got to get […]
When it comes to communicating a message, we have a lot of channels to choose from: Face-to-face Phone Text messaging Email Skype/Facetime/GoToMeeting And more! With so many options, we sometimes choose the wrong channel for our message, resulting in miscommunication and sometimes conflict. In fact, we’ve become so reliant on written forms of communication, such […]
Since today is Independence Day in the U.S., I’ve been thinking a lot about the things that hold us back in life and keep us from being truly free, especially things over which we have 100% control. If you’re tired of suffering under the tyranny of technology, being ruled by bad relationships, or being held captive by […]
