Have you ever found yourself in a situation where someone in your team is frequently less proactive or busy than you? Every time you look over at their computer screens, they’re surfing the web, catching up on the sports results, or sharing photos on social media. All the while, you’re frantically working on your own […]
All Posts, Communication, Problem Solving, Stress, Team Management
Picture the scene... I'm standing on a table in a conference room, arms wrapped around myself, eyes closed. Someone is holding me firmly by the shoulders, tipping me forward. A small group of colleagues (or, should I say, former colleagues) are gathered around me. "Now, just let yourself fall," says my captor. "Trust your team […]
All Posts, Communication, Creativity, Decision Making, Problem Solving, Team Management
I don't have much experience of writing press releases, but I certainly have a lot of experience of reading them! In my previous job, I used to write company case studies on different areas of HR best practice for an online publication. This meant I regularly had to find examples of organizations that performed well […]
Last year I did an introductory counselling course. I thought counselling was about giving people advice, but it's not – it's mostly about listening, and using certain techniques to help draw out information from people to help them resolve their issues themselves. One of the counselling techniques I learned is called paraphrasing – repeating back to […]
Business jargon is made up of words and phrases which - out of context - don’t make a lot of sense. Anyone who has worked in a big company will know what I’m talking about! Honestly, I’ve heard it all. I’ve had to “think outside the box,” indulge in “blue-sky” and “helicopter” thinking, and “pick low-hanging fruit” […]
Ask Dr Bob Tobin where he lives and he'll tell you "heaven." That’s Japan, to you and me. Tobin moved there from California, where he had what looked like a great life - a house by the beach, a good consulting practice, a BMW - but which, in reality, wasn't so great. "I didn't really […]
What’s your gut reaction when your boss says you’re going on a team building day? My heart would probably sink, because my experience is that they tend be ineffective. You spend a day playing various games in the guise of boosting team morale and productivity, when – more often than not – the activities are […]
Imagine that your company is about to be taken over by its largest competitor. You’ve read the press release on the Internet, but executives have been eerily quiet about what it means for you and your team. The rumor mill is predicting job losses, but you have no idea how many or for whom. Instead of […]
Storytelling is a very useful skill when it comes to communicating ideas. Here at Mind Tools, we’ve talked to a lot of storytelling experts, including Ty Montague, Paul Smith and Annette Simmons. It was great to hear Bill McGowan's contribution to this rich vein of advice. For him, every story should have three components: the setup, […]
Some years ago, I worked for a multinational that struggled to move fast. While our competitors responded quickly to changing markets and embraced new technologies, our leaders hesitated, unsure of what their next move should be. By the time they settled on their response, the company had lost a lot of ground. But we were […]
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