There is so much we don’t know about our colleagues. We often know very little about their personal lives and interests, let alone about their childhood and teenage years. When I learn something about someone’s early life it often gives me a new perspective and appreciation for who they are and what they value. The people we are closest too …
If you ask a team what their biggest challenges are, most will talk about communication issues. And, if you peel back another layer, they often talk about misunderstandings or differences in the way team members communicate with each other. I love using the DISC Communication Styles model with teams because it gets to the root of many issues team members …
GUEST BLOGGER: Stace Williams, Executive Coach & Facilitator Think-Pair-Square-Share (TPSS) is remarkably simple and is best for groups of 9 or more. Use TPSS when you want to generate ideas or get the group’s responses, and always start with a problem or goal in the form of a question. When teams are large, it can be difficult to gather and …
Part 2: Simplify Your Workload In Part 1, I shared a technique you can use to periodically de-clutter your work areas. It feels so good to work in a clean, organized and de-cluttered space. (Click here to read Part 1) In this blog, I’ll share with you some ideas to simplify your work load. If you ever feel overwhelmed with …
Part 1: Simplify Your Work-Space Every now and then I realize that my office looks like a disaster zone. It happens gradually, until one day I look up and think – how did this happen? And, I feel cluttered and stressed and overwhelmed. At some point, I decide, today is the day and I clean, purge and organize… and wow …
Have you heard the buzz about employee engagement? It seems to be everywhere. It’s such a hot topic because study after study shows that engaged employees are more likely to stay with the team, they are more innovative, and they go the extra mile. Bottom line – “engagement” is good for the bottom line. But engagement is not just good …
GUEST BLOGGER: Jinnie Lee Schmid, Performance Improvement Specialist Here’s a team activity that is pretty targeted in it’s purpose – to help team members recognize and reward each other – but ticks all these other marks, too: easy, inexpensive, short, creative, tactile, interactive, and possibly physical. I’ve used this successfully with both intact, internal teams, and teams of seasoned external consultants. …
This energizing activity is useful in a meeting or training where you want participants to have an opportunity to brainstorm or list ideas about a topic and then narrow down the most liked responses. Some benefits of this activity are that it gets everyone up moving around the room, talking in pairs, learning new ideas and networking in a unique …
GUEST BLOGGER: Gerri Vereen, Executive & Team Coach Are you afraid your team will implode if you go on Vacation? Have you ever planned a vacation and then became so stressed out about leaving work behind, you wished you had never planned it? Several years ago, my husband and I planned a 10-day Alaskan cruise, which took several months to …
A team’s willingness to be vulnerable usually begins with the leader. The behaviors of the leader encourage or discourage vulnerability. When trust is high, team members are more willing to be authentic and vulnerability because they feel safe. Here are some observable ways vulnerability shows up in teams: Team members are willing to take thoughtful risks without fearing the repercussions …
