Organizational Excellence

The Case of Jasmine and the “Yeah But” Solution

Procastination in the Face of Tough Decisions

Jasmine (not her real name)  had been the director of a unit on the campus of a nonprofit university for less than two years.  Over the last year, two department  managers retired when Covid-19 expanded, and had not been replaced. Work had been redistributed “temporarily”  six months ago while she delayed in recruiting for replacements because, “it is so hard to hire virtually when we usually operate face-to-face.”

Examine your Story for Productive Dialogue

Motive Matters

In a previous blog post we shared how motive really matters in tough conversations and the 2 important steps to uncovering motive. To recap, first look at the situation to understand what the root of the problem might be. Next, ask yourself some questions to discover your motive. That will get you ready for the conversation and help you to return to your motive if you get sidetracked. If you missed it, you can go to that post here.

Teams. . . Care and Feeding Required

When teams are new, they are as wide-eyed and enthusiastic as a young lion cub. But when they get older, watch out. . . they can bite. All too often, organizations birth a team to take on a particular project or to reorganize work generally without realizing that teams need constant care and feeding.