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1). A Lesson on Halloween Halloween never has been my favorite holiday. As a kid, growing up on the farm, trick-or-treating meant getting in and out of the car (often on very cold nights) and wearing coats over our costumes. I certainly liked the candy, but it never made much sense to me. As a father, I must admit I have warmed to the holiday, but I still have ... 2). After Katrina - Seven Things You Can Do If you are like me, you are living some distance from the devastation wrought by Katrina. If you are like me you not physically impacted and can watch the plight of others on television in the comfort of your home. And if you are like me, you are wondering what you can do. I believe the answer to that question is an important one. It c... 3). Creating a New Standard of Excellence – Six Things You Can Do Recognizing that the time had come to replace our hot water heater, my wife called our plumber to schedule an appointment. She placed the call at about 11 a.m. When the agent asked, “Would you be available between one and three?” Lori asked, “Which day?” The agent replied “Today of course.” Hearing a strange noise coming from our furna... 4). Creating Successful Team Charters How many times have you been on, or heard about a team that got frustrated? Or felt like they weren’t making progress? Or weren’t completely clear on what they were expected to do? Or didn’t feel like they had support from those above them? If you are like me and most people I know, you are nodding yes to one or more of the questions ... 5). Developing the “Both and” Mindset Clients often share a situation or challenge with me and as their consultant they ask me to advise them on a course of action. Often during the conversation, the Client will identify two distinctly different courses of action - that may at first seem to be in opposition. The question is basically formatted as an “either or” question – “Should I do ... 6). Eight Ways to Generate More Ideas in Groups The scene is repeated in meeting rooms around the world every day. A problem has been identified and a group has gathered to solve the problem. When ideas are needed, the group decides to brainstorm. And all too often this exercise leads to a short list of not-that-creative ideas. We know that if we generate more ideas we have a better... 7). ESCAPE the Holiday Productivity Blahs It’s that time of year again: the time of holiday parties, Christmas cards to write, shopping to do (even online…at work!), vacations, family commitments, and more stress. It is no wonder that a recent survey by Accountemps found that 44% of executives feel employees are less productive the week before a major holiday. While this may b... 8). Five Questions to Ask Before Forming a Team A project or challenge comes up and many people, without thinking, immediately form a team to research, solve the problem and implement the solution. Teams can be a very powerful way to solve problems and implement massive improvements. But teams aren’t the right answer to every situation. To get the best possible results from the reso... 9). Five Reasons to Bring your Heart to Work Take a minute right now. Get yourself a sheet of paper and a pencil or pen. Yes, do this right now before you read on. Then draw a tree. When you have finished your tree, you can read further. Having done this with groups before I can tell you with some certainty what you see in front of you. If y... 10). Five Reasons to Make Meetings More Fun The average person spends more time in meetings than they’d like to. The average manager spends the majority of their workday in meetings. Given these facts, it isn’t surprising that you can read lots of books, articles and tips about running and managing meetings more effectively. Seldom will you read that you should make your meetings more fun. 11). Four Questions About Leadership I hear four questions asked about leadership often. This article gives a short answer to each of these important questions. Why Does Leadership Matter? Parents universally hope that their children develop leadership qualities. They know that leaders are people who are effective in what they do, are respected by othe... 12). Four Reasons to Set Group Goals Collaboratively One of the tasks that come with being a leader is setting goals. Goals for ourselves, to be sure, but often we need set goals for our groups/teams or the larger organization. While we may instinctively know that we should include people in the creation of goals they will be working to achieve, too often the press of time and the lure of expediency ... 13). Fun and Learning – A Deeper Connection For 15 years I’ve taught trainers and leaders and instructional designers the importance of making any learning event more fun. I’ve given them reasons and ways to do it. I’ve written about it many times including All of the things I have taught and techniques I have used are valuable and helpful. And they aren’t enough. 14). Getting Past Major Learning Barriers Tom stepped into the meeting room, but from his perspective it might as well have been a jail cell. He was a prisoner in his own work day. Why? The PowerPoint slide projected on the screen said it all. “Welcome to our Refresher Training.” Refresher training might be needed for some people but Tom already knew all this material . . . but the trainin... 15). Going Beyond Goal Setting I just Googled the phrase “goal setting”, and found approximately 3,600,000 web pages that relate in some way to that phrase. This shouldn’t surprise us, because conventional wisdom is that goal setting is an important skill. It is easy to document both through anecdotal evidence as well as through research that setting goals can help... 16). Have Yourself an Awful Little Christmas Words are very powerful. In fact, vocabulary has a remarkably high correlation with IQ scores. We use words to communicate our thoughts and feelings. Internally, we use words to think. For both reasons - thinking and communicating - having a strong vocabulary is valuable, and improving our vocabulary is a worthy self-improvement goal. ... 17). How and Why to Start a Business Book Club Book clubs have been quite a rage over the last few years. Fueled in part by Oprah and others, the concept of reading a book then gathering with others who have read the same book has become “cool” again. The reasons people have found them valuable include: - a great way to have meaningful conversation. - a wa... 18). I Wonder Where the Wonder Went I was a fifth grader the first time I flew on a commercial flight. I remember being amazed that I could get all the soft drinks I wanted for free. I remember the wonder of looking out at the clouds and the topography far below. I remember watching us land. The entire thing was a great adventure and I was full of wonder. In college, as ... 19). In the End, the One Thing That Matters If you are reading this article, however you found it; I know something about you. You have an interest in your own improvement, or the improvement of those you lead. You have a desire, perhaps even a burning one, to assimilate new information in hopes that the new information will improve your results. If you are reading this you are ... 20). It Takes More than Effort to Get Results Read the title again, carefully. It doesn’t say “it takes more effort to get results.” It says “it takes more than effort to get results.” Ah, the difference a word can make. In the world I grew up and live in, hard work is considered a high virtue. I’ve read children's books that spoke of the value of hard work. I grew up on a farm an... 21). It’s Your Move: The First Step to Accountability Every place I go, if I’m in an organization long enough, I’ll hear people lament about the lack of accountability. Specifically, I hear things like: “They just don’t seem to care enough, I guess.” “Those action items never get done – I don’t know why we even identify them.” “I have trouble getting people to be committed to achieving the things they... 22). Lead by the Right Example We’ve all heard that leaders should lead by example; that people pay more attention to our deeds than our words. This is completely true. What is implied by this truth, but not always articulated, is that people will follow whatever example we set. To be a remarkable leader then, we must make conscious choices to set the right examples... 23). Nine Reasons Why Mentoring Matters to You There are many roles we play or hats we wear in our lives. We are professionals, family members, brothers, sisters, co-workers, leaders, coaches, friends, parents, and neighbors to name just a few. While you may not wear all of the hats I listed, you can likely add several more that I left out! Many of these roles are a given – we don’t have much c... 24). Nine Ways to Get Your Productivity Up! We’ll all been there. Ballplayers call it a slump. Some call it a lull or a funk. These are the times when you don’t seem to have as much energy or passion for your work. You can’t seem to get as excited (or excited at all) about the tasks in front of you. You are less productive, and you don’t feel as good about your work either. Beyond that, the ... 25). Personal and Professional Development – What’s the Difference? When people ask me about my business, I tell them I’m in the learning business – that we help organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential through learning. This is a fine statement and it does describe the breadth of what we do, but it often leads to the follow-up question like . . . “Do you do personal development stuff or just busi... 26). Praise Matters In working with businesses and organizations of all kinds, I hear the same concerns everyday: How do we increase productivity? How do we improve Customer service? How do we keep people actively engaged in their work and with others on their team? How do we reduce turnover? How do we i... 27). Seven Reasons Organizational Culture Matters We spend 40 . . . or 45 . . . or 50 . . . or more hours at work each week. Many of us spend more time with those we work with than we do our families. For us to be content and fulfilled people, that time must be valuable for more than a dollar. . . We want to be engaged in our work. We yearn for work that is enjoyable, meaningful and e... 28). Seven Ways to Enhance Organizational Culture As a young employee I was transferred to work in an office tower in downtown San Francisco. I wasn’t the only person to arrive in this new office space – the group had changed significantly due to reorganization and many of us were working together for the first time. My boss, the Marketing Manager, asked me to help him with some unus... 29). Seven Ways to Make Your Customers Feel Important Two important pre-reading notes: Before you chose to read or not read this article, let make two things clear. Everyone has Customers. Even if you work in an internal staff department in a large firm, you have Customers. They are the people you provide work to. And second, don’t be put off by the term Customer. Maybe you call them Clients, Students... 30). Ten Things to Do Before Year End We attach significance to the turning of the calendar, and when the calendar turns to a new year, it means more than learning to change a digit when we write a check – we’ve started a new chapter. It is instructive for us to think about how we can get the most from the end of chapter 2005. Here are my ten recommendations for you:... 31). The Power of a Pen Every leader, supervisor, coach, team member and parent has been told of the value of giving positive feedback. We’ve heard reasons why. We’ve heard we don’t do it enough. We’ve learned all of the basics about giving positive feedback successfully: make it timely, make it specific, and when giving positive feedback consider sharing it publicly. 32). The Words Do Matter Air Canada Flight 154 I was boarding a flight in Edmonton, Alberta, bound for Toronto after a long day. As I handed my boarding pass to the Air Canada gate agent, I asked her if she was having a good day. Her response has been in my mind for nearly two weeks. She looked at me, smiled, and said, “All the better for you asking me,... 33). Top 7 Reasons Why Team Charters Improve Team Success Thousands of teams are formed in businesses around the world each day. And most of those teams flounder unnecessarily for too long and some flounder forever). There is one simple practice that can improve the results of most any team, whether formed for a short project or as a new working unit. That practice is team chartering. The tea... 34). What Katrina Can Teach Us About Leadership Over one week ago a major disaster hit part of the Gulf Coast of the United States. I have been reflecting on the disaster, the response to it, and what lessons we can draw about leadership. Don't worry this isn't a political piece... Lesson 1 - Leadership is important. Much has been made that areas weren't as prepa...