Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, which once again causes me to evoke the late, great Leonard Cohen’s lyrics, “who knows where the time goes?” And, for those of us who live in (so-called) sunny southern California, the normal gray May, has slipped into June gloom, in preparation, no doubt, for another record-breaking…
Harvard research found that 70% of meetings keep employees from doing productive work. The same study also shows that cutting back meetings by 40% increases productivity by 70%, with a corresponding increase in employee satisfaction by 52%. WOW.
With all of those statistics, why so many meetings?
One might ask what “The No Surprises Rule,” and “The Power of Apology,” have in common. The unifying thread is yours truly – the author of this post. When I begin a series of leadership facilitations, I typically say “I made a lot of mistakes as an employee, a supervisor, and leader; the good news…
Like most things in life, the advent and proliferation of the Internet has been good, and not-so-good. With access to the world at our fingertips, the ability to stay in touch with loved ones from afar, and, the convenience to purchase our daily needs online (for prompt delivery), these and other Internet-based activities have all added to the betterment of our lives.
Gerald Rosen, a Contracts professor at Loyola Law School used to say “if you can’t get them on the swings, get them on the merry-go-round; if you can’t get them on the merry-go-round, get them on the slide; if you can get them on the slide, get them on the monkey bars.” Having heard those words lo these many years ago, I haven’t a clue as to…
“How many supervisors like to give performance feedback?” When this question was posed to over 500 leaders in one of the nation’s largest municipal water and power companies, a scant few raised their hands. When asked to explain why, the answers boiled down to three responses: “Because I don’t want to hurt their feelings,” “She’s my friend; I don’t want her to feel bad,” and “I don’t want to deal with the anger.”
In their 1992 book The Language of Love, Gary Smalley and John Trent, Ph.D. distilled this thought into what I’ll call five “sub-languages:” In this post I apply their top five to shape my own top 5 list to improve the way we communicate with those around us.
“The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.” “When people talk, listen completely. Most never listen.” Those two timely bits of sage advice could have been made within the last year, month, week, or even day. Any guesses?
The first quote, from William Hazlet, is attributed to his selected essays written between 1778 – 1830…
As the year comes to an end, it’s time for reflection, renewal, and commitment, often through pledging to New Year’s Resolutions. Next year, why not take a quote from an admired historical figure that informs communication? After all, it’s something we do 24×7, whether we want to or not, and whether we intend to or not. By focusing on how we communicate, we may have more successful results.
Like the vast majority of us, my 12th-grade English teacher asked our class to write an essay entitled “What I Want to Do (when I grow up).” I’m not sure whether I was trying to be cute or rebellious or perhaps prescient, so my essay turned the question on its head. I asked why adults ask us what we want to do, rather than what we want to be.