I was listening to a client this morning as she described how she planned to manage her new team. She has a number of relatively new managers, people with great technical skill but, typically, little management expertise. As best as I can remember, she put it like this.
“They avoid conversations. They let small things slide [...]

There’s scarcely a family that, at one time or another, has not had to deal with a squabble between family members. As the holiday season approaches and more family gatherings take place, there is a danger that these squabbles can become full scale wars.
The classical problems with in-laws are probably the most well known, and [...]

How many of us are in relationships where something is not being said?
It may be at work where someone’s lack of energy or commitment is driving you crazy but you have not said anything. Or it could be a colleague who complains continually about his or her personal life and you put up with their [...]

That’s the question we would all like an honest answer to!
But how many of us feel that we get it; and how many of us as supervisors and managers can say that we truly and without exception, give our people honest answers?
Managers dread the annual performance appraisal interview. It’s time consuming. It can involve conflict. [...]

As managers, many of us do indeed talk straight. We identify problems, decide on solutions, allocate responsibilities, communicate it all to our people with standards and deadlines … but the job doesn’t get done! Managing would be easy if only people would do what they have been told to do. And they have been told. [...]

It’s fascinating how much one can learn about people and the culture of their organisations by listening to the conversations they hold.
There’s the manager who has been around for a while, knows his job and can see a mistake at ten paces. His conversations are short, sharp and one way. Don’t look to him for [...]

Difficult conversations happen to everyone. The more emotion that is involved, the more likely it is that the conversation ends in a blame game, wild accusations, tears and anger. Everyone retreats into silence, only to have the whole thing erupt at some later timewhen emotion gets the better of us again. There is a better [...]

We face difficult conversations every day. They can be with our children, our parents, family members and spouses; with colleagues, employees and with the boss; with friends and neighbors; with tenants, landlords, business partners, and in the sports team. Sometimes these conversations are about the “big” issues of race, religion, gender and politics. More often [...]