21

Feb

5 steps for better presentations

2 comments

3coze

debate, listening, Nick Morgan, presentations, presenter, questions, strategic planning

About teams, Communicate, Contribute

There are almost infinite posts in the blogosphere about how to give better presentations. If you want good ones, try www.PublicWords.com by Dr. Nick Morgan. Today, I’m dedicating this space not to giving presentations but instead to receiving them. While I would give most presenters at least a passing grade, I would fail most teams […]

read more

07

Oct

Wasted time in meetings

1 comment

liane

detail, disempowerment, in the weeds, inefficient meetings, listening, meetings, micro-management, waste of time

About teams, Be a better team leader, Be a better team member, Horror Stories, How to fix teams, Right Words to Say

  Teams, and especially executive teams, spend way too much time in the weeds. It’s a colossal waste of precious time together and, in my experience, the main reason why people are so fed up with meetings. Team time should be spent on the issues and discussions that require the team. (Oh if only this […]

read more

08

Apr

5 busy person mistakes to avoid

0 No comments

liane

busy, busyness, communication, communication breakdown, listening, multi-tasking, overwhelmed, overwork, priorities

Be a better team member, Communicate, Horror Stories

  I bet you’re a busy person.  Don’t believe me, see for yourself…Does your task list equate to more hours than you have in the day? Do you routinely have to finish work in the evenings or on weekends just to keep your head above water? Are you often wanted in two places at once […]

read more

15

Feb

One trick to turn a useless meeting into effective communication

0 No comments

liane

authenticity, candor, communication, hearing, issues, listening, meetings, speaking, talking

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

How often do you meet with your team without actually communicating with them? For one team I worked with recently, that kind of meeting was commonplace. Now they were offsite with an opportunity to dig deeply into some of the most pressing questions facing the team. Three hours into the day, one of the participants […]

read more

28

Jan

How to work with emotional data

0 No comments

liane

alignment, beliefs, conflict, conflict resolution, debate, decision making, disagreement, Emotions, facts, listening, values

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

  In my previous post, I focused on the importance on factoring in the emotional aspects of an issue when your team is struggling or experiencing conflict.  If you didn’t read that post, start there first. Once you are convinced that emotions are data to be understood and deliberately factored in to business debates, try […]

read more

16

Mar

Short-circuiting Conflict

1 comment

liane

communication, conflict, disagreement, diversity, healthy conflict, listening, productive conflict, strive to understand, understanding

Be a better team member, How to fix teams, Personal Development, Right Words to Say, Success Stories

This is the second part of a post inspired by a guest post I did for Tanveer Naseer’s blog.  The guest post and the first and second installments of this post explore how your biases and prejudices about your team members affect the quality and tone of conflict.  If you haven’t read the first half, […]

read more

13

Nov

Book Review: Conversational Capacity

1 comment

liane

book review, communication, conflict, conversations, Craig Weber, dialogue, listening, Team Dysfunction, team effectiveness, understanding

Book Reviews, How to fix teams, Personal Development, Right Words to Say

One of my clients was kind enough to give me a copy of the new book Conversational Capacity by Craig Weber. I’m sharing it with you because the core idea of this book is powerful and when practiced will fundamentally transform the quality of any team. One of the reasons I’m particularly fond of Weber’s […]

read more

28

Oct

Liane’s Back to Basics Listening Drill

2 comments

liane

active listening, beliefs, communication, conflict, facts, feelings, listening, objectivity, paraphrasing, questioning, teamwork

Be a better team leader, Be a better team member, Communicate, How to fix teams

How well do you really listen? Listening is one of those skills that you might think is easy. In reality, creating a high fidelity connection is difficult in a one-on-one conversation and darned near impossible in the ruckus of a team meeting. These continual poor connections have drastic consequences.  Without effective listening your team is […]

read more

18

Aug

Turn the complainer into the contributor

2 comments

liane

communication, complainer, listening, pessimist, team building, Team Dysfunction, teammate, whiner

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

When we at Knightsbridge conduct a Vital Teams intervention™ with our clients, we pair a group dynamics expert with an expert in individual behavior.  This tag team approach moves teams ahead by eliciting more effective behavior from each team member and by improving the interaction among team members.  You get to hear my group psychology perspective all the […]

read more

12

Jun

Surprising things that suggest you are on a high performing team

1 comment

liane

conflict, healthy team, listening, productive team, signs your team is healthy, Team Dysfunction, teamwork

Success Stories

You might be surprised to learn what I look for to know if a team is healthy.  Some of these are obvious signs of the health of your team, some are less so.  How is your team doing? You spend precious little time together and you relentlessly focus that time on issues that you can […]

read more