"Turn the wheel a bit slower, Lucy," my driving instructor repeated. "Slower... slower... SLOWER!" "I am turning it as slow as I can," I shouted back, as the car bumped into the one behind us
If you've never heard the expression "Death by PowerPoint," then I'm sure you've experienced it. It's that presentation that never seems to end; the presenter going on and on… and on. You stopped listening half an hour ago. That's when you began paying more attention to the clock ticking slowly down to the end (which you […]
In the United Kingdom of the 1980s, there was a television drama called Boys From the Blackstuff, in which one the main characters would regularly deliver the line, "Giz a job. I can do that." Yosser Hughes's tragi-comic plea for someone to offer him work was fiction, but it echoed reality for millions of people in an era of […]
"Knowledge is knowing the right answer. Intelligence is asking the right questions." – Unknown. The History Teacher I grew up in an environment where I wasn't encouraged to practice critical inquiry. It was a typical conservative household where children had to be "seen and not heard." At best, I was allowed to ask questions that didn't […]
We've come a long way since email was first invented. In fact, did you know that the first email was sent in 1971? That's right, we've been using email for nearly 50 years now! So, you'd think we'd be old pros at writing effective emails by now, right? Wrong! Poor Email Etiquette Can Escalate According to a […]
The world of politics attracts regular media attention but, in recent months, the spotlight has been focused more than ever on it due to various political contests on both sides of the Atlantic. For a profession that’s so focused on performance, it's odd that politicians belong to one of the few employment areas untouched by performance management (PM). Since […]
There's little doubt that the more expert knowledge a colleague demonstrates, the more respect he or she receives. Someone with an excellent overall understanding of a process, and a good grasp of the details, will be appreciated by co-workers as a valuable member of the team. But, problems can arise when a colleague who is supposed […]
Career Skills, Communication, Leadership, Team Management, Uncategorized
One of the ways my colleagues and I used to pass the time during interminable and dreary meetings was to amuse ourselves with a game of "Buzzword Bingo." The rules were simple. We'd appear to be listening intently and taking notes as the speaker droned on, but we were just marking off the inevitable buzzwords […]
When I meet new people, I want their respect but it takes time to earn this "feeling of deep admiration… (of my) abilities, qualities, or achievements." In some situations, such as a job interview or joining a new team, we try to manage the impression we make on people because important decisions about our future […]
Part one of this "Creating Influence" blog post was published on February 24. It outlined two main ideas from Dan Pink's book, To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. First, today's workers spend almost half their time influencing, persuading and convincing others of their ideas – and this time is the most […]
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