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One way to become more effective is to work on what is real, not on what you made up. I recently showed the daughter of a good friend around the Ohio State campus. She is interested in going to college, so I took her around OSU so she could get a feel for the. As we Continue reading To Be More Effective, Stop Making Stuff Up  To keep the support of their sponsors, black belts and other specialists will do well to manage the agreements they have with sponsors. The director of a lean management program recently approached me with a problem he was having with program sponsors prohibiting students from implementing their lean projects at work. According to the director, each Continue reading To Keep Sponsors, Keep the Agreement Influencing others – having an impact on their ideas, opinions, and actions – requires using different types of conversations and not recognizing this limits our effectiveness. I recently read an article in which the authors maintain that effective leadership requires influencing others and that leaders can influence those others through five different influence styles. The authors Continue reading Influence Requires Using Different Conversations This is from Laurie, even though it says the author is Jeffrey. I see why performance conversations are such a confront: saying publicly what I’ll do and by when would be fine if I was sure nobody was listening! So, I have created a timeline for getting my “management is missing” summaries – including solutions – out Continue reading Performance Conversation – Requests and Promises for Agreements I led a program recently for project managers and saw their biggest challenge is that most people don’t see the “bigger picture” when they are at work on a project – or any work assignment, for that matter. Most of us tend to focus on what’s in front of us (the desktop, both computer and Continue reading New Initiative – Identify my Performance Circle The June 12th Dilbert comic strip (below) gives a good example of the difference between an understanding conversation and a performance conversation. Dilbert, probably like many of us, assumes that explaining what is needed to someone who’s job it is to do it should be sufficient to get it accomplished. He is wrong. If you Continue reading Did You Ask? Having authority can contribute to the very problems managers believe are solved by that authority. Why, because when managers have authority they don’t think they need to communicate as much. This is particularly true when managers confront threats to the successful completion of projects they are managing. Years of research indicates that managers who have authority Continue reading Does Authority Lead to Reduced Communication? Do you use deadlines when you make requests? Deadlines are one of the most powerful tools for accomplishment you can use. They give people information that allows them to organize and prioritize the work they have. Without due dates, people aren’t sure when they should work on things. As a result, work gets postponed, no Continue reading Deadlines – A Powerful Tool for Accomplishment How often have you heard (or made) one of the following complaints (or some variation thereof): We have a real communication problem here. The absence or inadequacy of communication is one of the most frequently voiced complaints in the Continue reading Effective Workplace Communication Requires Using the Right Conversation Effective performance conversations depend on people keeping their agreements and doing what they said they would do. Encourage people to respect the idea that keeping agreements matters. Keeping agreements is the foundation for effective performance conversations. Every time we say Yes to a request, we have created an agreement with someone. It might be as Continue reading Be Zealous About Keeping Agreements |
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