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But we are proud to say that Laurie Ford contributed 235 entries already.
Closure conversations can be used at anytime, they don’t have to be used only at the end of a project or an accomplishment. Jason, a hospital administrator in a Columbus hospital, used a closure conversation at the beginning of his interviews for a new job at a different hospital to reduce anxiety and address an […]
The July 10 issue of Dilbert (shown below) provides an excellent example of two types of unproductive talk: gossip and complaining. Disparagingly talk about the work of others is gossip and contributes to animosity, bad feelings, and conflict. Complaining (also known as BMW = bitching, moaning, and whining) is a morale killer and contributes to […]
Did you know that there are two kinds of talk in an organization? One kind of talk is the kind that is needed to get things done. We call this “productive talk”. Productive talk is needed for people to know what they are working on and why, understand what they need to do and handle, […]
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 […]
According to John Kotter, one reason organization changes fail is because leaders don’t develop a vision for the change and “communicate, communicate, communicate” it to their organziations. Well, a study in Human Resource Management Journal* indicates that vision is not the only thing leaders fail to develop. They also fail to develop the change agents […]
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 […]
All of us have failed to keep a promise we made to someone. It might have been we forgot to make a call, failed to get something done on time, or only did part of what we said we would. And even though we may have a good reason for breaking our promise, there are […]
Leadership occurs in communication, both verbal and nonverbal. Verbal communication, however, does not mean just talking. Talking is not the same as communicating and not all talking is equally effective. If it were, all of us would have a much easier time doing the things with other people. One aspect of leadership communication is creating […]
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 […]
Have you ever wanted to reduce, if not end, unproductive complaints? One way to do that is to implement a policy that people only complain to those who can do something about the complaint. Complaints are prevalent in organizations. People complain about the weather, about their work, about their coworkers, and about their boss(es). Although […]
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