Why We Don’t Put Deadlines into Our Requests  

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Is it pushy to ask for what you want? Not if you’re pleasant about it. In fact, you might be doing them a service.

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The Hard Work of Making Good Requests: Part II 

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The first rule for getting what you want is to Pay Attention to spelling out exactly what you want. Then make a request for it.

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The Hard Work of Making Good Requests: Part I

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Help people give you what you really want by making complete requests that use all 6 “journalist questions”.

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Integrity and Reliability – They’re Related

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A local college teacher called last night and asked if I had another recommendation for a technical support person to help with his Public Speaking class, because the first guy I recommended wasn’t working out. Here’s how that dialogue went… Me: “What happened to Ed? I thought he was your guy for that?” Teacher: “Ed […]

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Time to Talk? Efficiency vs. Effectiveness

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Improve both efficiency and effectiveness with a clear and complete request.

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Getting Other People to Do Stuff

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A recent review of manager comments on their workplace communication was very revealing: they didn’t get the idea of dialogue. Two-way talking was not recognized as a tool for getting things done on time and on budget. Here are two samples of their management “conversations” for getting people to perform: “I think we need to get […]

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Big Change, Part III: Em-Powerment

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Matthew, the CEO of the company that is closing a regional office and laying off 11 staff members, talked with the HR manager. Her name was Emmeline, and everyone called her Em. She is tall, smart, and lovely, and she knows her business. When I told her I wished she had been at the first […]

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The Myth of Silos, Fences, and Boundaries

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A great teacher once asked me to take 15 minutes and make a list of all the things I am ignoring in my life. I did it: the list included a basket of mending, a rude neighbor, and the funny noise my car made when I went over 50 mph. Then I read the list […]

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Agreements for Change

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Last night was the final class on “Leadership and Implementing Change”, and graduate students reported the most valuable things they learned. Their #1 tip – Make agreements, track agreements, and follow up on agreements. Each student had done a semester-long project to define and implement a change in their workplace, applying the latest class lessons […]

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