The key to being an effective leader or manager is working with people. And for better or worse, the venue where most of us work with other people is in meetings. I find that most leaders and managers conduct meetings by pulling people together and starting a conversation about a particular topic. They may make good use of tools like agendas, but otherwise rely on the collective dialog skills of the group to achieve results. Following are three simple techniques that I believe any leader or manager can add to his or her toolbox and apply in a meeting. Read More...

Tags: Artful Leadership, Taking Care of Business

Does the future success of your organization require ongoing innovation? Let me ask another way, if you keep doing things exactly as you do them today will you be just as successful in five years?

If your organization is dependent on knowledge work and professional competencies it’s highly unlikely the winning formula will remain unchanged. Innovation is essential! The challenge is that leading a team or organization for continuous innovation requires different structures, processes, and culture than managing for continuous high-performance operations. Read More...

Tags: Accelerating Innovation, Artful Leadership

Question...so why care about playing well with others? Because it’s a key to success, whether defined in terms of career, money, or a meaningful life. Hands down, people competency is the most distinguishing feature of top performers. By ‘people competency’ I mean emotional intelligence, interpersonal effectiveness, and team related skills – in short, playing well with others.
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Tags: Collaboration & Teamwork

Never have a meeting without a PURPOSE! And the worthwhile purposes for having a meeting are alignment, attunement, and action. Here’s what to do, and here’s what to avoid... Read More...

Tags: Collaboration & Teamwork

If you aren’t paying attention to the company culture, you might be missing a powerful means to accelerate productivity, profitability, employee retention, and customer satisfaction – in short, your organization’s success.

My working definition of culture in organizational settings is what people do when the boss isn’t looking. Organizational culture is the behavior, attitude, and atmosphere that happen by default unless there is disciplined intention and action to do otherwise. Your organization’s culture either advances or inhibits success. When the norm of an organization’s culture is people both valuing their organization and making extra effort to advance its objectives, the culture itself becomes an asset that increases the value of the company. I call this an appreciative culture. Read More...

Tags: Taking Care of Business