I was in a teambuilding session earlier this week, leading an exercise in “balancing inquiry and advocacy”. If you’re not familiar with the work of Peter Senge, this concept involves getting people to balance two crucial dialogue skills: 1. Asking questions and actively listening in order to understand the perspective of others on an issue (and to understand them from their own frame of reference rather than our own, as in Covey’s “seek first to understand”). 2. Clearing explaining your reasoning and intent in order to advocate for your own position on an issue. For many of us, it’s the skill of inquiry that is often lacking and so that’s where I tend to focus during a workshop. This group was interesting. I asked them where they thought we needed to focus, and they said, “We need to get better at advocacy. We need to be more persuasive when communicating up the chain.” …
I was in a teambuilding session recently, asking the participants a question about their group norms, and one of the newer members of the team said, “I’m still…
I was a ski instructor for about six years, and one of the first things I learned to tell new skiers was, “Your skis want to go where your eyes…
Sometimes people challenge me about being a diversity awareness trainer, especially on the specific topic of generational diversity. They say that talking about various types of diversity is…
I’ve seen a lot of blogs and articles and Linkedin discussions about gossip over the past six months. Most of the articles I’ve read focus on the destructive power…
I spent this past week facilitating a series of meetings for a government group of scientists who were going through a reorganization. Most had been based in regional field offices…
Never heard of adventure racing? It’s the best metaphor for corporate teamwork that I know. A group of people, usually four, must travel from point to point to…
I don’t think I’ve ever worked in a organization where people didn’t complain that meetings were boring and they hated them. (Unless it was because meetings were adversarial…
It’s a cliche, but it’s true: there’s nothing like suffering through a rough experience together to help team members connect and “bond” with each other. Assuming the organization survives…
When you ask someone to list the characteristics of an effective team, most will come up with a fairly standarized list. An effective team has a mission and…
I’d like to think that I have always fought the good fight when it comes to “corporatese”, the disease that makes managers think using complicated language and a sterile…
Gervase Bushe, in Clear Leadership: Sustaining Real Collaboration and Partnership at Work lays out such a convincing image of the interpersonal mush that derails most organizations that I…
We all talk about the many ways to motivate our teams: recognition, workplace perks, a feeling of connection to the mission and vision, etc. But isn’t there really…
A thought-provoking article by Chuck Shelton in Diversity Executive Magazine, “Engage and Equip White Men to Lead Diversity,” makes the point that our diversity efforts have often not included white…
I was a member of Linkedin for a long time before I finally learned to use it. But that was the least of my hurdles. I was downright…
Sometimes teambuilding just doesn’t work. We’ve all had this experience. What’s interesting is to realize how many different explanations for the failure we might need to look at;…
There are two things in life that I find annoying: people who leave dirty dishes in the sink, and discussions about “work-life balance.” It’s not that I don’t…
I read an interesting article recently by Gervase R. Bushe, called Managers Want Tribes Not Teams: an Invitation to Rethink Teambuilding. Bushe says that people identify with groups that…
When I first became a “corporate dropout” and went out on my own in 2001, friends were alternately envious and incredulous. They wondered how I could give up…
I did battle with an enduring stereotype in generational diversity workshops this week. Hard to say whether I was successful or not, but when I put up this…
I was leading a workshop in generational diversity for a group of Generation Y military interns last week, and my PowerPoint presentation began to act up, advancing slides on…
I remember working for a hotel management company and applying for the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list every year. I suspect I did what most…
When my pager went off this Sunday and I heard the call for an injured hiker on Quandary Peak, the natural reaction would have been to groan, curse, and…
I worked with a dysfunctional team recently that had a remarkable ability to self-diagnose. One of the team leaders, early in the session, said, “The problem is simply…
I always ask candidates in an interview to describe the best team they’ve ever been on. One answer from a few years ago sticks in my mind: a…
The best lessons in teamwork usually come from unexpected places–places outside the classroom, beyond the traditional workplace walls. For me, they’ve come from my volunteer search and rescue…