Electronic communication is our way of life and unfortunately oftentimes our primary method of communication. The same words can be read and interpreted several different ways, especially when all words are uniform (no bold, italics or emoticons). For instance, how … Continue reading
Sarcasm or Intentionally Forcing Happiness?
Remember this scene from “The Sound of Music” … It’s Maria’s [Julie Andrews] first evening dinner with the Captain and the children. Earlier that day the children placed a frog in her dress pocket. Instead of chastising them, she took … Continue reading
Defensive fuel to flame fires
Think of the last conversation you had that escalated to a more intense level than you would have liked. Your ‘Amy/Andy’ felt threatened. When a threat is sensed, defenses rise. As a result, conversations become power struggles. You may toss … Continue reading
Helpless or helpful?
Excellent customer service is very much a set of buzzwords. Do companies really know their level of customer service? I recently had two separate ‘customer service’ experiences — one was a delight and the other was, well, it just was. I … Continue reading
What? Feedback doesn’t work?
Author Charles Jacobs states in his article, Why Feedback Doesn’t Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science*, “Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI as it’s known in the field, scientists are now able to watch the … Continue reading
Collaboration without Egos?
One of my doctoral class topics that somehow gets integrated into subsequent classes is Collaboration. I have tried in the past to collaborate with others and frankly was not very successful. I believe there were two primary forces working against … Continue reading
Just your ego peeking through?
Has this ever happened to you? Your conversation begins normally. Next thing you know words are flying and you are in the middle of a heated argument. How did you get here? What went so terribly wrong? When we get … Continue reading
Tossin’ and Turnin’ All Night …
The studies have finally caught up with what we all know: business owners are losing sleep because of the economy. Anyone that owns a business with less than 99 employees, is an executive for a company with less than 99 … Continue reading
Stressful Busywork is NOT Productive
I had a stark realization today – that when I get stressed, my ‘flight’ reaction is to immediately change direction and begin running the other way. Even though I cannot literally do that, my mind chooses that path to take … Continue reading
Layoff Survivors = Victims?
There is a study out stating that those employees that survive layoffs are considered ‘victims’. They are victims because they are still employed and they have to do more work than they had to do before —- to make up … Continue reading
