It’s fun to research, assemble, and try out your own personal bag of tricks to be applied to relationship and career issues. I love finding new rules, maxims, and tools to consider. However, you do run a risk when you find new practices to try. If you try something once and it works, there is […]
BURNING BRIDGES EFFECTIVELY
We’ve been told that burning bridges is not wise. This refers to irreparably harming key relationships and opportunities as a part of a rough and hasty exit from a difficult situation. This can be accomplished by unexpectedly abandoning your responsibilities, intentionally damaging work products, treating key people with whom you work negatively and harshly, etc. […]
STUCK HAPPENS
One minute things are flowing and the group is killing it. The next minute it seems as if you’re all slogging through a field of thick mud. Progress slows or stops. Stuck happens. You might find yourself stuck as a team due to long hours, seemingly impossible tasks, never-ending changes demanded of you, or some […]
INNOVATE LIKE YOU MEAN IT
A lot of organizations talk about learning and innovation, but it’s just hot air. They like the ideas, but not the inherent risk and hard work. We all fawn over the maverick of the month in the business press, but are we really walking the innovation talk? Highly effective organizations get past the rhetoric and […]
UNSTUCK
To be stuck is the state of feeling that your brain has hit a mental wall when trying to work on a problem. It’s like walking in two feet of wet cement. Over several days, you’re getting it done, making progress. Then it hits you. Indecision. Confusion. A lack of focus. Hey, it’s normal. It happens weekly or monthly for most of us. Add […]
THE SUCCESSFUL DEVIANT
There are two major approaches to creating organizational change. The first is to utilize organizational politics: favors, horse trading, and coalitions. This is the more popular, accepted, and successful approach. The second approach is deviance: be a maverick, go to the mat, fly under the radar, break rules, and subvert the system all in the […]
HAMMER, MEET NAIL
[Here is a short one. A simple idea with a big impact. It was originally posted at HRExaminer a few days ago (http://www.hrexaminer.com/hammer-meet-nail/). Great site with tons of great advice. Check it out!] It’s one of the most common workplace mistakes: applying the wrong solution to a situation simply because you went with your […]
YOU DON’T NEED A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
People often cope with life through the use of delusions, instead of squarely facing reality. One of the most famous delusional shortcuts is the New Year’s resolution. I don’t need to fix the issue now! No, I’ll start fixing it at that designated point in the future. Welcome to intentional personal neglect. In theory, a […]
SELFISH AIN’T ALL BAD
Sometimes our thinking is entirely too simplistic. Just because one thing seems right does not mean the opposite is wrong. Nonetheless, this type of black and white thinking is quite common – and it’s not productive. Witness the rise in popularity of servant leadership over the last few decades. It’s an amazingly useful idea. We […]
THINGS YOU NEVER HEAR AT WORK BUT SHOULD
I believe we need far more honesty and candor at work. When I share this idea, most people agree. It’s funny though – if you ask people to embrace the idea, they stumble. It’s like asking someone if eating healthy is smart. They say yes, and they mean it. Then they eat a box of […]
