How to start over in a relationship

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

This is the seventh of the blog posts based on the top ten most read Straight Talk Tips that go to my clients each month. The tips are free and you can sign up for them here
How to start over over in a relationship
Relationships can get stuck. Conversations end in argument; the same buttons get pressed; [...]

What makes a high performing team?

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

This is the sixth of the blog posts based on the top ten most read Straight Talk Tips that go to my clients each month. The tips are free and you can sign up for them here
What makes a high performing team?
There is a lot of talk about high performing teams: but talk is cheap. Building [...]

This is the fourth of the blog posts based on the top ten most read Straight Talk Tips that go to my clients each month. The tips are free and you can sign up for them here
Importance of managing emotions in difficult conversations
Conversations about performance or behaviour have many starting points but all have an underlying [...]

Make a plan - speak up

Monday, September 5th, 2011

This is the third of the blog posts based on the top ten most read Straight Talk Tips that go to my clients each month. The tips are free and you can sign up for them here
Make a plan - speak up
Re title: Tips for holding difficult conversations
At one time or another we all face [...]

Moving Targets

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

This is the first of the blog posts based on the top ten most read Straight Talk Tips that go to my clients each month. The tips are free and you can sign up for them here
Moving targets re-title: How to set realistic objectives
Conventional wisdom holds that when you want people to perform at their [...]

Everything you say in a meeting can be categorised into one of three types of behaviour. You can put forward new ideas; you can give support to, or disagree with, what has been said; and you can make sure that the information in the meeting is managed so it is clear and understood by everyone. [...]

How to chair a meeting

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

The role of the chairperson is critical to the success of any meeting. There are three roles a chairperson can play.

Plan, structure and arrange meetings so everyone knows their purpose, what is to be discussed, and why.
Create an atmosphere during [...]

How to get accountability

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

If you want to build a high performing team you must know how to hold people to account for their performance. In general however, people are more skilled at avoiding accountability than others are at holding them to account. There are three tactics that are most commonly used. For each, there is a specific behaviour [...]

Be careful when you set goals

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Common sense and research show that setting goals, targets, outputs or key performance areas is a necessary and effective way of focussing people’s attention and driving their performance and motivation. We put our trust in stretch objectives, challenging KPAs and BHAGS – Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
But like all prescribed remedies, there are side effects. One [...]

Performance appraisal revisited – again

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

The majority of organizations today claim they have a performance appraisal system in place.  The procedures and documentation are carefully designed and circulated every quarter or half year. Managers line up interviews with their staff. Sometimes people are asked to complete self assessments before their appraisal interviews.
Afterwards, the data is collected and analysed to identify [...]