This is a follow-on to my recent rave against the time-wasting, dysfunctional debating society events that masquerade as meetings in many corporate settings. My drive to momentarily stay on my "effective-meeting" soapbox was galvanized yesterday, when I spoke with a good friend who had just started a new job. Her first day coincided with an operations meeting that she described as an all day rugby scrum where everyone got bloody, but no one scored.
How to Improve a Dysfunctional Meeting Culture Without Removing the Chairs
April 17, 2008 By 1 Comment
The Seven Leadership Levers that Shape the Working Environment
March 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment
The best leaders understand that one of their principal responsibilities is to shape the working environment that determines how their team members communicate, collaborate, innovate and problem-solve. Don’t confuse my phrase: working environment with the physical characteristics of the workplace. I am talking more about the overall atmosphere that exists within a team and between team members than I am about the furnishings and office color scheme.
If you’ve ever worked on a team where the chemistry was so good that you felt that together you could accomplish anything you set your sights on, you can relate to an effective working environment. High performance teams tend to be led by individuals that intuitively understand how to identify and develop the right people and create the conditions and setting for these individuals to excel.
Leader-Are You Willing to Admit and Showcase a Mistake?
January 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment
The January 22, 2008 Wall Street Journal included an article in Jared Sandberg’s weekly Cubicle Culture column, entitled: Why Learn and Grow on the Job? It’s Easier to Feign Infallibility, that fits nicely with my recent posts on leadership decision making. In his column, Sandberg focuses on those individuals that we have all encountered, that masterfully and deliberately avoid taking blame or responsibility for any mistake. He states: “At work, some people just won’t admit to making a mistake. They have a gripping fear that it will indict their character, attract more work and invite more blame.” How true (the existence of these people) and how sad.
The question of the moment is how do you deal with your own mistakes? Are you a leader that works hard to distance yourself from your mistakes or those of your team members, or do you embrace mistakes as learning experiences and place them in full view? How you deal with mistakes says a lot about your character as a leader.
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