08

Sep

Optimists, Skeptics, and Cynics

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jeff

decision making, emotional, optimism, optimists, pessimist, skepticism, skeptics

Be a better team leader, conflict, Contribute, How to fix teams, Right Words to Say, Strategy & Planning

It’s easy to be attracted to optimistic thinking and turned off by cynicism, but both optimistic and cynical decision-making is lazy. Use this approach to improve the rigour of decision making in your business.

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10

Mar

The First Steps to Create a Productive Conflict Habit

jeff

alignment, conflict, decision making, disagreement, diversity, The Good Fight

About teams, Announcements, Be a better team leader, Be a better team member, conflict, Exercises, Right Words to Say

Building a productive conflict habit is critical to having a high performing team. But don’t go from 0 to 60 overnight. Use these 9 techniques to introduce low impact conflict on your team.

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06

May

Prevent resistance before it starts

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3coze

conflict, decision making, downsizing, fire, firing, resistance, termination

Be a better team leader, conflict, Horror Stories

First off, apologies for posting so infrequently for the past while. I’ve been on the road for most of the past two months and I’ve devoted all available writing time to my new manuscript. The great news is that I just submitted Chapter 9 and that means only one more chapter to go! I am […]

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25

Feb

Is ‘Success Theatre’ Masking Rot in Your Organization?

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3coze

Board of Directors, conflict, decision making, GE, General Electric, Jack Welch, Jeff Immelt, success theater, Wall Street Journal

About teams, Be a better team leader, Headline News, Horror Stories, Strategy & Planning

I read an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal this week entitled “How Jeffrey Immelt’s ‘Success Theater’ Masked the Rot at GE.” In it, authors Thomas Gryta, Joann Lublin, and David Benoit describe how the Immelt and his top leaders, “projected an optimism about GE’s business and its future that didn’t always match the […]

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21

Jan

9 Easy Ways to Improve Decision Making on Your Team

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3coze

assumptions, cognitive biases, contingencies, decision making, decisions, disagreement, groupthink, implications, strategic planning

Be a better team leader, Be a better team member, Communicate, conflict, Exercises, How to fix teams, Right Words to Say

You know that your team is conflict avoidant. You know it’s preventing you from surfacing issues, thoroughly discussing them, and getting them resolved effectively. You really want to make it better, but how do you start? The people on your team (and maybe even your boss) are seriously unwilling to broach any subject that might […]

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12

Nov

3 Forms of Indecisiveness

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3coze

bad leader, decision making, indecisiveness, operational plans, process, strategic planning

About teams, Be a better team leader, Be a better team member, Contribute, Horror Stories, How to fix teams

I’m working on a new keynote speech and a new book. To accelerate the process, I enrolled in a 4-session, 16-day public speaking program to hone the big idea, write a compelling speech, and learn how to deliver the speech in a way that will knock your socks off. The mantra of the program’s instructor […]

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01

Oct

8 Quick Tips to Shorten Your Meetings

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3coze

agenda, decision making, Executive team, fewer meetings, shorter meetings, waste of time

Be a better team leader, Communicate, Contribute, Exercises, How to fix teams, Success Stories

I was facilitating an executive team meeting last week. Although the meeting had been scheduled as a full day, four people started the day saying that they needed to leave early. (I’ll save my rant about that for later). Four of the team members needed to be gone by 3pm, so we decided to move […]

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29

Jan

I beg (you) to differ

5 comments

3coze

alignment, clarity, contingency, debate, decision making, disagreement

Be a better team member, Communicate, conflict, Contribute, How to fix teams, Right Words to Say

When the same issue comes up three times in completely different contexts in one week, I know it’s time to write a post. This week, it’s the implicit contract teammates have with one another that no one will criticize, or even challenge, one another, especially when the boss is present. It’s time to change the […]

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07

Dec

One Thing Not to Delegate

3 comments

3coze

decision making, delegate, delegation, priorities, prioritization, trade offs

Bad Leaders, Be a better team leader, Contribute

I’m usually the one urging managers to delegate more. Too often, you get way into the weeds and cause all sorts of damage. There is one important exception to that rule. It’s complete abdication of your responsibility as a leader when you delegate prioritization to the people below you. Make the hard trade-offs to get […]

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09

Oct

Fast or agile: Which are you really looking for?

4 comments

3coze

agile, agility, competition, decision making, disruption, execution, implementation, sense of urgency, Speed, strategy

About teams, Be a better team leader, Contribute, How to fix teams, Strategy & Planning

I was listening while a group of executives spoke about how to make their organization more agile. What was interesting, was that most of their comments referred to the speed they needed to move, rather than to their agility. I think it’s important to understand the difference between speed and agility because they serve different […]

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