“Listening Man” by The Bees I love this video! As anyone who reads this blog knows, it is an ode to one of my favorite themes. The song is by The Bees, an English band from the Isle of Wight, and the terrific actors are Mathew Bayton and Emily Fields. The poor guy listens patiently, … More Listening Man
Industry Week published a terrific article yesterday called Outsourcing Point/Counterpoint that captures the key challenges of the industry over the past decade. It questions whether outsourcing should be the automatic solution it has become and offers strong suggestions for those considering its use. In the US alone, the industry has grown to an estimated $500 … More Listening to the Results of Outsourcing
Will Smith I believe in the power of New Year’s resolutions. New Year’s resolutions represent our desire to be better than we are, to grow, and to improve. They represent our dreams, our hopes, and our aspirations. No matter whether they are big goals like changing our life or career direction, or more focused objectives, … More Inspiration for New Year’s Resolutions
Ronald Heifetz As Ron Heifetz states, “people in authority are under tremendous pressure to provide easy and decisive solutions to problems.” This is true for government leaders, business executives, and project managers. Unfortunately, some problems don’t have easy technical solutions. They are what Heifetz refers to as adaptive challenges, and they require very different kind … More The Practice of Adaptive Change Management
Listening is an organization’s most critical capability whether we are trying to deepen customer relationships, engage employees, improve team performance, resolve conflict or lead organization change. … More The Value of Strategic Listening
John Kotter It is a big deal, as John Kotter suggests. The reason so many change initiatives fail is that they rely too much on fact gathering, analysis, report writing, and presentations—the logic—instead of an approach aimed at grabbing the feelings that motivate behavior change. This reason for failure can be best understood with a … More More on the Importance of Emotion When Leading Change
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I enjoy the gathering of family and friends and look forward to the feast, especially the leftovers. More importantly, I love the reason for the day itself. It is a time to express gratitude for the abundance we have in our lives. Thanksgiving also is a change manager’s holiday because … More The Practice of Gratitude
http://video-api.wsj.com/api-video/player/iframe.html?guid=81170054-35BC-45E5-B46B-F051A9AD0963 Duke Energy CEO James Rogers One of the basic principles of most change leaders is that we can use rational discourse to influence the motivations and desires of people. Present employees with a sound, logical line of reasoning and they will develop a broader understanding of a situation and make both the … More The Power of Stories During Times of Change
I am often asked by executives and project leaders to share the results of the latest research studies on change management. Sometimes they are interested because they want to understand the risks associated with not budgeting to address the human side of change. Other times they know the risks all too well and are looking … More Statistics, Studies and Denial
Creativity. Innovation. Change. These words represent the standard demands of our current workplaces. Organizations have spent millions of dollars and countless hours attempting to infuse employees with the mindset and techniques required to live and breathe these values. But the very fuel that feeds these familiar mandates, however, inevitably produces conflict. Individuals develop new ideas … More Managing The Balance Between Conflict and Creativity
Erik Van Slyke 