Facilitating Good Customer Service
Do you deal with a lot of consumer complaint situations? I’m talking about the ones where you’re the consumer and you’re complaining. I’m a magnet for lousy customer service. Almost every day,...
View ArticleIntervening on Non-Verbal Behavior: Rolling Eyes, Folded Arms, and Quiet Sighs
When I was helping a group of managers use the Mutual Learning approach, one of the managers asked me “How do you deal with nonverbal behavior in groups? You know, when people roll their eyes, fold...
View ArticleGiving Feedback Without Making People Defensive
Consultants have written volumes about how to give feedback effectively. Of course, they’re usually talking about situations that include some negative feedback. Most of them recommend that you give...
View ArticleHow to Think Less Judgmentally
“But That’s HARD!!” Our best clients say this (or something more colorful) when they get what we’re asking them to do. They thought they were (simply) signing up for leadership development, or...
View ArticleCoaching With Curiosity Builds Commitment
A client – call him Frank – recently called because he was frustrated trying to use his Mutual Learning skills to coach one of his direct reports. Frank said that his subordinate, Bill, was an...
View ArticleTest Your Assumptions and Inferences
Assumptions trip us up even when we’re acting in the best of faith. In the O. Henry short story “The Gift of the Magi,” Delia and Jim Young are a young married couple with very little money. On the day...
View ArticleFacing Your Inner Critic
We all have an inner critic living inside us who speaks up at times, in varying degrees, negatively evaluating our own actions and those of others. As leaders we have many opportunities to deal with...
View ArticleHow to Deal with Dilemmas
A dilemma is a special kind of problem. When you are in a dilemma, every alternative solution is unacceptable. For those of us in the United States, we are watching a large-scale economic dilemma play...
View ArticleFocus on Mindset, not Decision Rules
When people first learn about the Mutual Learning approach, they often assume that they will need to make decisions by consensus. It isn’t so. The difference between being a Mutual Learning leader and...
View ArticleThe “Sandwich Approach” Undermines Your Feedback
Once again I’d like to share with you my blog that was posted today on the Harvard Business Review website. Is the topic relevant to you? If so, I encourage you to add to the conversation by posting a...
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What Stops Leaders from Showing Compassion
Here’s my latest post, which was published on the Harvard Business Review website. Most good people want to act compassionately at work. And recent research suggests that compassion also creates...
View ArticleClumsy Feedback Is a Poorly Wrapped Gift
Published on the Harvard Business Review website People on your team offer you gifts – not just at special occasions, but all year. These gifts aren’t tangible, and they’re not wrapped up in lovely...
View ArticleHow to Design an Agenda for an Effective Meeting
Here is my latest post, published on the Harvard Business Review website. It is an expanded version of my January post and it includes an agenda example and a template you can download for effective...
View ArticleWhen to Give Feedback in a Group and When to Do It One-on-One
Published on the Harvard Business Review website. If you’re like most leaders, you’re probably reluctant to give an individual feedback in a team meeting. You’ve probably learned to praise in public...
View Article8 Ground Rules for Great Meetings
If you want your team to be effective, you need meeting ground rules — and you need agreement about how to use them. Many teams that have ground rules don’t regularly use them. But having rules in...
View ArticleGetting Teams with Different Subcultures to Collaborate
The term “organizational culture” can obscure an important truth: An organization often contains many cultures. This is true even if your organization is located entirely in one country, or even at one...
View ArticleIs Your Team Coordinating Too Much, or Not Enough?
Effective teams don’t just happen — you design them. And two of the most important elements of that design are a.) the degree to which team members are interdependent — where they need to rely on each...
View ArticleHow Offering Confidentiality to Group Members Undermines the Group and Your...
This article is adapted from the new third edition of The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators, Coaches, and Trainers. (Jossey-Bass, 2017) When you’re a...
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