Month: December 2015

Tell people you’re not qualified

If someone asks for feedback, one of the #1 reasons why you want to ask them what type of feedback they’d like from you, is to ascertain if you feel qualified to give the feedback. For example, if someone asks me to tell them what they think of a pie, and I probe a bit further, I might find out…

Contentment is not complacent

Unchecked desire is a never ending quest to attain an always bigger boat. Ironically, once our needs are met, having more is not found in acquisition, but rather in deciding that you would like the peace of mind in not dealing with the consequences of pursuing further material acquisition. At some point, for all of us, contentment is the greatest…

Vote and move on

If you’re part of a board, or committee, you need to become adept at recognizing polarized issues. It’s not rocket science, yet for some reason it seems to trip up people on boards and committees. I’ve never understood holding open discussions about issues that people will never agree about, when the people who will ultimately decide have already made up…

Delegating authority isn’t an abdication to faith

The first step in being a more effective manager is to delegate decisions about how work is done, to those that are doing the work. Let them decide the right way to work. If you do this, you can focus on results and stop worrying about why people aren’t doing things exactly the way that you would do them. But,…

How to escape the feast-or-famine business mentality

If you routinely experience down turns in your business and you’d like to end the pernicious cycle, consider the following: Breaking out of the cycle simply requires a shift in mindset. You can chose to believe that this is the nature of the work you do, or you can take responsibility for it and believe that you can work to…

How to motivate people

The real challenge isn’t motivation, it’s dissuasion. Discouragement is a pernicious saboteur. It only takes one ill-advised remark to dismantle years of enthusiasm. This is most likely to come out of your mouth when something goes wrong. And you’re not likely to notice what you said either, in fact you’ll probably feel justified. For example, say your company conducts surveys…

Certification instructors have no moral compass

You can’t make this up. I just listened to someone that is a professional trainer talk about preparing people for certification exams. He said you have to be ready to give the “Microsoft” answer even if it’s counter to real world experience and what you would really do. At what point does someone taking this exam perhaps double check their…

How to deal with never ending meetings

For whatever reason it comes as a surprise to people that long meetings don’t tend to proceed well. The longer people sit in meetings, the less self-control they’ll exhibit. This is basic human psychology, we all have to exhibit self-control in situations that aren’t pleasant. And self-control is like a battery, it eventually becomes depleted. So the solution is simple…

Be flexible with personal issues at work.

If an employee comes to you for help with a personal issue (a death in the family, time off for having a baby, a sick kid, needing an advance, etc), consider the following before you react: Dealing with personal issues boils down to conflict resolution 101. If there isn’t a clash in helping, don’t fabricate a problem. Just help out,…

Giving one the benefit of the doubt

Giving someone the benefit of the doubt isn’t for them, it’s for you. It’s far too easy to have come to the wrong conclusion about another person. It’s far too easy to have told yourself a story that’s only in your mind. It’s far too easy to have missed the kind things someone has done for you when you’re upset.…