You have a problem. Coworkers come to work, aren’t really involved, and generally feel themselves unappreciated. The work environment is characterized by complaining (especially amongst one another), general negativity, high absenteeism, and a large brain-drain of valuable employees who seek better opportunities elsewhere. And because they’re interesting candidates, they’re the ones who’re easily snapped up by other organizations, leaving you with the leftovers. And this while your formidable organization is innovative, offers excellent salaries and the best perks! What the heck is going on??? Seems like you’re suffering from a neglected organization . . .
Continue reading “Do You Suffer from a Neglected Organization?”Stepped decision-making: Every decision at the right level
In a previous post, I explained why you should trust the competence of your colleagues. In this post, I go a step further and discuss stepped decision-making, or delegating responsibility for a certain task, role, or function to the lowest possible hierarchical level in the organization. Continue reading “Stepped decision-making: Every decision at the right level”
Excellent interpersonal communication and trusting others’ competence
You don’t generally select new employees on obedience, but on what they’re competent at (or potentially capable of doing) together with their ability to collaborate. In this post, I delve deeper into encouraging trust in others’ competence, or allowing people to get on with what they were hired for. Continue reading “Excellent interpersonal communication and trusting others’ competence”
Feedback Loops for Excellent Interpersonal Communication
Good performance is good for the organization; it promises quality results in the future. It’s about more than only the outcome: how the result was attained in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and collaboration is equally important. Performance feedback entails it all: information on how and how well a task has been executed. In this post I deal with how to let coworkers know their effort is meaningful, good, or excellent. Continue reading “Feedback Loops for Excellent Interpersonal Communication”
Excellent interpersonal communication requires a safe environment
Colleagues need to feel free to tell each other what they observe and from their expertise make critical comments, without chopping heads off or having their own heads chopped off. Safety also lays the basis for positive relations with one another. So how do you create safety?
Continue reading “Excellent interpersonal communication requires a safe environment”
Never, ever sandwich your feedback!
When you order a sandwich, is it about the two slices of bread or what’s on the sandwich? The sandwich technique for feedback is a way to package something unpleasant: First start with something positive, then the criticism and round off with something positive. The negative stuff is sandwiched between the good stuff. Sounds good, so why do I say: Never, ever use this technique. Continue reading “Never, ever sandwich your feedback!”
Achieving Excellent Interpersonal Communication
Without communication, no organization. An organization’s achievements are directly and indirectly influenced by interpersonal communication. This is true in all three directions: top-down, horizontally, and bottom-up. If you want an excellent organization, you will need excellent communication and, by extension, excellent interpersonal communication. But why? And what do you need to do to implement it? Continue reading “Achieving Excellent Interpersonal Communication”
Using Resistance to Lead Effectively
If you truly understand resistance, you seldom need to deal with it: You manage its cause before it even manifests itself!
Understanding resistance
The leader understands the source of resistance and deals with it adequately. Some typical sources are: Continue reading “Using Resistance to Lead Effectively”
Anxiety, Communication and Leadership
In my post Once You Understand Emotion, Motivation Is Easy, I laid the link between Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory and current emotions.
In this post, I will briefly expand these ideas and then focus on a specific emotion from a communication and leadership point of view: Anxiety. Continue reading “Anxiety, Communication and Leadership”
Once You Understand Emotion, Motivation Is Easy
One of the most powerful theories on how to motivate people on the work-floor is Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory. In my post ‘Effective Communication Is About Understanding Emotion’ I dealt with the idea of Observational Listening and how that way of listening focuses on emotions people are currently experiencing. These two concepts together make a powerful combination in which motivation takes current emotions into account. Continue reading “Once You Understand Emotion, Motivation Is Easy”