At points in life, we are all called to care for family members. This has been my role for the past five weeks and will be a part of my focus for the near future.

I love checklists. Airline pilots use them. Surgeons, nurses, safety professionals, quality engineers, and individuals in every high-stakes profession use them. Thank goodness. But what about managers? What’s on your checklist? 

While listening is essential for successful communication, the behavior that sets the stage for Fierce Listening is artful and empathic questioning. Our use of questions—type and tone—controls the direction of the dialog.

You don’t have all the answers. No one does in a crisis. However, your behaviors go a long way to gaining the collective support of your team members in pursuit of one answer and solution at a time.

Wishing you all the gifts of health, peace, and prosperity in this holiday season. And for those of you who celebrate, a Merry Christmas to you and yours!

The absence of quality feedback on the tough performance and business issues is one of the most significant maladies inhibiting performance in our workplace today. Whether it’s boss to employee, vice-versa, or peer to peer, we have to be able to talk openly about individual and group performance and cut through the noise to drive positive change. Our online, on-demand course helps you and your team solve this problem to strengthen performance.