“If I’ve told him once, I’ve told him a thousand times: do NOT leave your damp sports kit on top of the washing machine!” This happens in business. We seem constantly to be re-issuing and re-inforcing the same set of… Read More ›
Conversations which work
Interactions with people, action-oriented conversations, use of words
Seven reasons why people ask questions – and only one of them is because they want to know the answer
In business, we expend a lot of energy answering questions. Much of the time, this energy is wasted. The person who asks the question is not necessarily interested in the answer. Often, they simply want to know is that there… Read More ›
Prepare for conversation
If you have an important business meeting coming up, how are you preparing? The chances are that you are preparing a presentation. However, alongside the presentation, if we are to make progress, there must be conversation. How are you preparing… Read More ›
Real Decisions
Sometimes, it’s difficult to get a decision in organisations. Action lists from meetings are too often open to interpretation. We pore over the minutes of the steering group, and wonder what was decided. If we are trying to get something… Read More ›
Hearing No
Well-organised and well-motivated change programmes fail if someone says ‘no’ and we hear ‘yes’. This happens more often than you might think. We say: “Please communicate the following important information to all your direct reports by Monday.” We get the… Read More ›
Military metaphors: images of destruction
“This killer app is the latest weapon in our arsenal.” “We aim to make a bridgehead in the SME market then launch an attack to capture the rest of the market and destroy the competition within 12 months.” “Our target… Read More ›
Feedback conversations: make it a snack not a sandwich
I just read a really interesting article by Roger Schwartz showing that the “sandwich” approach to giving feedback undermines the effectiveness of the conversation. The sandwich approach says that if you have a piece of negative feedback to give someone, then… Read More ›
Disagreement Success
Many conflicts cannot be resolved. Therefore, to avoid disappearing into violence and chaos, we are going to have to live with difference and disagreement. We can disagree well, or we can disagree badly. It is a good idea to cultivate… Read More ›
Was that a good question?
Earlier this week, someone said to me: “That’s a good question, Jane” and went on to explain why they couldn’t answer it. I wondered if it really had been such a good question, and if not, how I could… Read More ›
How to make change happen in meetings
We’ve all been in meetings where something has actually happened – we signed a contract, we set our budgets, we agreed the basis of collaboration – and in these meetings we get a real sense of achievement. We made… Read More ›
Making Change Happen 