Understanding your strengths doesn't mean you stop doing things you're not good at. It means you look for ways to use your strengths to accomplish difficult tasks.



One of the things I've always found difficult is "small talk." I suck at it. I've missed good opportunities over the years by ducking out of business/social situations because I felt so uncomfortable. I'll go, grab a plate of goodies and then stand in the corner looking for someone to chat with. If there's a bartender or… Continue

Interesting and important tidbit of information I've been knocking about. Did you know that the brain does not hear the "not?" When I say "Don't think of flying monkeys", your brain only hears "Think of flying monkeys." Did you know that? (You may have just had the experience of it: what colour are…

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How can I play up my strengths at work without looking like I’m showing off?

 

Your instinct to let people know your strengths is a good one. The more we can all get comfortable talking about our…

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"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand."

~Woodrow…

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The language we uses creates our reality. That’s one of my firmly held beliefs. It’s also a firmly held belief of Appreciative Inquiry practicioners. AI is a change methodology that posits that what we focus on expands, so look for what’s working in a system and learn why it’s working to inform your way ahead. By seeking what’s working in the system and shining a light on it, you also crowd out what’s not working.  If you go looking for problems, you’ll find them. There’s no doubt about…

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I realize the benefits of focusing on strengths, and I most definitely want to do that with my team, but I'm still not clear about a few things. If I'm not supposed to emphasize weaknesses, how do I give my team criticism? Can I talk about weaknesses and poor performance at all, or is that focus going to undermine everything else? Also, if people are supposed to stop doing what weakens them, what do I do if…

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If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

~John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach…

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Hey all

This week, I'm working on a plan for a strategy setting meeting I'm leading next week. Anyone out there recently create "misson, vision, values" stuff? There's a lot of TIRED information, I'll tell you. SWOT = BLAH.

But here's a cool re-take on SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,…

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"I shouldn't be here to talk to you. Why am I here? I'm here because of the dedication of a group of people in the control center in Houston that used their qualities together to make what was almost a near-certain catastrophe a successful recovery."



Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell…

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"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is." Albert Einstein

I am reading "Appreciative Coaching" (Orem, Binkert and Clancy). The authors are basically marrying Appreciative Inquiry and coaching - pretty simple. Very powerful. If you're not familiar with AI, essentially: instead of problem solving, study what works. Instead of focusing on what is not working, explore what gives life to people and their…

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It probably won't surprise you that one of my least favorite parts of being a manager is having to terminate an employee. Obviously, in cases of misconduct or similar situations, there is no choice and it has to be done. But I especially dread it when it's simply a matter of a mishire or a changing situation meaning someone doesn't seem to be suited for the job. I would really like to be able to never have…

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"Never grow a wishbone where your backbone ought to be." 

~Helen Keller…

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I serve on the board of a small private school in my town and because of some previous non-profit experience I was asked to help with the task of creating a new Employee Manual. During one of our committee meetings, someone joked that, "when we finish with this, we get to tackle job descriptions." To which, everyone else groaned.



Job Descriptions and their ugly step-sister, the Performance Appraisal, are two of the most vexsome tasks on any manager's list of "why I get… Continue

A while ago I purchased a new SLR camera, and recently I got around to taking a simple class on...well, how to use the thing. 

Armed with my new "official beginner technical knowledge" I put together this silly little video around my neighborhood - playing with focus and depth of… Continue