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Do You Resist Change or Being Changed?

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Because of my work as a consultant, trainer and coach I deal with change and people’s reactions to it all the time. When a Client decides to work with us, they are recognizing that some sort of change is needed. After all, if they want more effective teams, better Customer Service, higher creativity, more effective […]

Queasy about Conflict?

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Why are we so nervous about conflict in the groups we facilitate? It is the anger, emotion and personal attacks in conflict that make us uncomfortable and that are debilitating to groups. Conflict is a normal, natural part of human interaction and sooner or later it is part of virtually every group’s experience. When acknowledged […]

Six Remote Management Mistakes

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How do you manage people you rarely see? Though the same basic management principles apply to virtual teams that work for “live” teams, we sometimes assume the attitude, “out of sight, out of mind,” when it comes to managing people at a distance. Read about some of the common pitfalls of managing virtual teams below […]

Shrink Marathon Staff Meetings

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Most staff meetings are information sharing or reporting sessions. As a general rule, they are one of the most misused types of meetings and are better used to clarify information already provided. Much of the reporting typically done in information sharing meetings should be done one-on-one or in writing. Often these meetings are just for […]

Facilitating Project Planning

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What is Planning? Planning is setting the direction for something — some system — and then working to ensure the system follows that direction. Systems have inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes defined as follows: Inputs to the system include resources such as raw materials, money, technologies and people. A Process is employed on these inputs […]

Be a Model of Truth Telling

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We don’t mean to deceive ourselves but we’re all so accustomed to doing so with others that it can become an unconscious reflex. Embellishing or withholding our whole truth becomes a habit. This habit is reinforced socially (as in “I’m just trying to be nice”), politically (as in “politically correct”), and personally (as in “I’m […]

Operating from Center as a Facilitator

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We are all basically ordinary. None of us has more than one brain, is free of the need to take time to eat and breathe, or goes through life without any conflicts. Einstein flunked math, the Wright Brothers were simple bicycle mechanics, and Mark Twain never took a high school English Course. What is extraordinary […]

Getting Grounded With Ground Rules

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What are Ground Rules? Ground Rules, also referred to as Operating Norms or Operating Agreements (we’ll use this latter term from now on), form the boundary of a group’s process container. In a world where many of our ways of communicating are habitually dysfunctional, creating, committing to, and following good operating agreements is a huge […]

Modularize Your Workshops

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People learn and digest information best when it’s delivered in “bite-sized” chunks over relatively short periods of time. Dividing lengthy trainings and workshops into modules of one hour or so in length facilitates both the learning achieved by your participants, but also the design of the workshop itself. Refer to the following tips when modularization […]

The Abiline Paradox: The Management of Agreement

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That July afternoon in Coleman, Texas (population 5,607), was particularly hot – 104 degrees according to the Walgreen’s Rexall’s thermometer. In addition, the wind was blowing fine-grained West Texas topsoil through the house. But the afternoon was still tolerable – even potentially enjoyable. A fan was stirring in the air on the back porch; there […]