These blog posts are original content.
“The long and winding road” Could it be? All kidding, and references to The Beatles aside, success really is a long and winding road. The simplest and most direct successes, perhaps like winning some kind of competition, still follow a winding road. As the success becomes more complex, the road can become even more winding. …
Controlling others is what people that don’t have real power think power looks like. Have you ever wondered how some people have such a great ability to impact our world? Is it because they can control events and other people? Or is it because they behave in a way that puts them in a position …
Do you think criticism has a good chance of being well received? Have you ever tried to offer some constructive criticism and received a response that was somehow less than you had hoped for? Have you considered how people normally react to criticism, even if it is sincerely meant to be constructive? When someone is …
It is simply not possible to inspire others without being a great communicator. So what does that require? When we think of communicating we likely think of what we learned in the classroom. We are trained to focus on spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and the like. As a result, we tend to concentrate more on crafting …
Your number one game changing spark is your attitude. It has the power to change the future, for better or for worse, so choose your attitude wisely. Picture anyone who has achieved success. You can be sure that at some point they had to overcome something, which almost certainly required a good attitude. This is …
Reframing and leveraging stress is simple, that is after you get past all the tricky parts. Put simply, stress is a feeling. A feeling is an emotion. And emotions are our body’s natural biochemical response to something we perceive about an experience. For example, imagine you’re on a plane and there’s some sudden turbulence followed …
Culture, especially corporate culture, tends to be misunderstood. Culture is organic. It grows among people. And it is influenced by leaders. Leadership’s role is to lead by example with messaging reinforced by behaviours. Team members’ role is to echo management’s lead with their own reinforcing behaviours. And that is what many organizations struggle with, the …
Employees everywhere are quiet quitting. Opting out of the enthusiasm that organizations need to thrive and grow. The cause is primarily a combination of accumulated stress and an employee perception that they are just names and numbers. The solution is a combination of demonstrating that you are interested in your employee’s wellbeing, that you understand …
Is ego good or bad? That depends on who is using it, and how, and why. So perhaps a better question may be, is ego useful? Yes, it is, in that it can serve a useful and necessary purpose. It is after all a part of the basic survive and thrive instinct. But what about …
You said what you thought was the best way to express what you meant. Could it be that what you meant was less clear than you thought it was? They heard what you said and filtered it into what they thought you meant. Could it be that they heard something other than what you intended …
Your message matters because how people react to your message matters. And how people react to your message is what determines your impact. Both words and context are important parts of your message, they lead to the listener’s perception, ultimately influencing their frame of mind as they respond to your message. That’s why people’s responses …
Communication culture is what you need to turn your corporate culture statements into reality. When you hear the term communication what do you think of? Is it your words? Is it your body language? Is it what other people hear? Or is it all of the above and more? Communication culture is what creates corporate …
What is a problem and what is a symptom? In the context of communication culture, the problem is what is motivating the response and the symptom is the response itself. A physical example could be a broken arm. The fall that caused the broken arm is the problem. The broken arm itself is a symptom …
Disruptions, distractions, and irritants are all around us, almost every day. And the accumulated impact on performance is significant. Whether you’re focused on them or not, you are experiencing these performance impacts. Although you cannot always change the source of the problem, you can always change the way to choose to react. That choice is …
Leadership is a skill, and it’s hard. It’s the difference between knowing how to motivate self and knowing how to motivate others. It is worth noting that more than 50% of employee departures are not about people leaving their job, but about leaving what they experience as a caustic culture. And culture always occurs as …
This is important. When building culture, corporate or personal, you need to keep certain cornerstones in mind. One of those cornerstones is responding versus reacting. Reacting is quick, instinctive, and natural. It feels like the way we should operate. Responding is a little less quick, a little more managed, and also natural. It is how …
Here’s a promise. If you take the time to read this article you will have a far greater understanding of what is causing much of the tension in the world today. You will also have a strategy for managing that tension within your sphere of influence. First, let’s define the source of tension, people’s hot …
How Your Hot Buttons Work (and what you can do about them) Read More »
Oh my, that’s funny, using a cartoon to help illustrate a point. Gary Larson has an unusual sense of humour. And, perhaps a little ironically, this cartoon captures the root of my company’s mission. That is, to inform people about how hot buttons work and how to manage them. So when I saw the cartoon …
It is about building. Building bridges. Building ideas. Building consensus. Building common ground. Building something better than what was before. So, ironically it is about winning. Just not about winning alone. But rather, winning together. All human achievement has been a result of sharing and building upon ideas. How about offering a thumbs up and …
First a quick review: Part one’s focus was on the central impact of your communication culture chemistry on your organization’s results. (Central line down the middle) Part two’s focus was on leadership and how your leaders influence the chemistry of your communication culture. (Top left quadrant) Part three’s focus was on power struggles and the …
