Kristen Piombino reports that subscribers to the Harvard Business Review rated the ability to communicate “the most important fact in making an executive promotable.” They even ranked in more important than ambition, education, and hard work. But what exactly does the “ability to communicate” mean? We have found that most people believe they are communicating, […]
A manager in a recent Four Conversations training session approached me and asked, “One of my employees frequently fails to accomplish the things I delegate to him. Do you have any suggestions for improving his performance?” “Sure”, I replied, “but first, when you say he fails, what do you mean? Is he late, is the […]
Wayne LaPierre, the head of the National Rifle Association, made a fundamental mistake when responding to the massacre in Newtown CT last week. He used an understanding and an initiative conversation when he should have used a closure conversation. Rather than use a closure conversation to acknowledge the magnitude of the tragedy, appreciate the shock, […]
A program director in one of the colleges here at Ohio State is paying the price for not having the appropriate conversations with his boss, the dean of the college. Kevin, as director of programs, is responsible for admissions into the undergraduate and graduate programs in his college. In a recent conversation, he pointed out […]
One way to effectively manage a boss is to give her a deadline when she doesn’t give you one. One of the complaints I frequently get from managers in my MBA classes is that their bosses rarely say by when they want something done. Bosses say things like “when you get a chance”, “this week”, […]
Have you ever noticed that people could be much more effective if they would just ask for clarification? A student of mine came up after I had handed back an exam and said “I don’t see why I lost these points (pointing to his score on a question). I didn’t really understand this question, so […]
One way to become more effective is to work on what is real, not on what you made up. I recently showed the daughter of a good friend around the Ohio State campus. She is interested in going to college, so I took her around OSU so she could get a feel for the. As […]
I recently talked to Jeremy, a staff member whose organization is changing from one type of work structure to another. Prior to the change, each work unit in the organization made recommendations on how the allocation of work in their area, who should do the work, and the timelines that should apply. According to Jeremy, […]
Whose responsibility is it to communicate? Does a manager’s responsibility for communicating an assignment absolve the employee of their responsibility for finding out what the assignment is? A student approached me at the beginning of class to inform me that, “I didn’t read the case assigned for tonight. I wasn’t here last week and they […]
Successful change depends on the use of the four conversations. I recently led an MBA course on Leading and Managing Change to a group of practicing managers in which they were required to produce an “impossible change” – one that was currently well beyond their position and capability to produce. In other words, they couldn’t […]
Awarded "Best Management Book" by 800-CEO-READ.
Rated #5 "Best Business Book" by The Toronto Globe and Mail.