Posted: February 12, 2016 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building

When I help companies coach their teams to higher performance, there are four pillars that must be solidly in place:  Ownership, clarity, and accountability.  These pillars rest on a solid platform of trust.  Without this foundation, the three pillars crumble.

Just yesterday one of my clients asked me, “If we need to build more trust on our team, how do we do it?”  I hear this question more than any other.  While there are many things we can to strengthen trust, let’s start with three “bomb-proof” fundamentals that have stood since civilization has begun.Read More…

Posted: January 5, 2016 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

If you are a boss or a leader, one of your main jobs is to build others and make them more successful.  Sometimes we need to re-direct our subordinates when they are falling short or simply being too complacent.  The question is:  How do we do this without creating resentment? Read More…

Posted: December 10, 2015 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building

When I was in my late 30’s, I was attending a 6-week leadership seminar and learned a valuable lesson:  Be careful when you tease.  The subject was teamwork, and the instructor brought up the topic of teasing.  He said, “Teasing can be one of the most subtle forms of cruelty.”  He went on to say, “Have any of you ever been in situation where someone said something to you in jest, you chuckled, and then later had second thoughts?”  “You may have thought to yourself, “I wonder what he meant by that”.Read More…

Posted: November 25, 2015 | Categories: Management, Team Building

Have you ever worked in a culture where there was constant whining, finger-pointing, and excuse making?  If you have, you know how such behavior affects team performance.

A few years ago I had someone in my management class who was struggling with a negative team environment.  People would continually come up to him and complain about other people not doing their job.  They often had a complaint, but seldom proposed a solution.

As we discussed this challenge, I introduced him to the 4 problem solving questions I have spoken of before.  These were developed by Leon Shimkin nearly 100 years ago, and have stood the test of time:Read More…

Posted: September 8, 2015 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

I want to share with you one of my favorite examples from all my years of facilitating leadership and management classes:  Several years ago, one of my class members was relating a childhood incident that they believed to be a defining moment in their lives.  It was when they were a toddler, and they accidentally knocked over a glass of milk.  It spilled all over the floor, and was quite a mess.  Mom was nearby, of course.  Read More…