If you want a team to spend an inordinate amount of time on something, tell them Maybe to a suggestion. Maybe is the most dangerous word in any language. It carries with it the implication of “Yes, this is almost close enough to move forward” but also “There are things you need to fix but…
Tag: managing
Arguing against a position you support is an effective weapon for process improvement and preventing groupthink.
One of the traits I picked up early in my career is a desire to poke holes in whatever I was working on. If I did not challenge my own thoughts and deliverables at the start they would make it through and get caught later by others. Sometimes that later would be too late to…
Empowerment means encouraging others to tell you no.
I love the idea of empowerment. Selfishly, it means that I get to use my own judgment to decide the best course of action in my own world. Terrifyingly, it means letting my team use their own judgment to decide the best course of action in their worlds. [As an aside, my team is fantastic…
This is a message for all the mentors in this world who do not know that they are mentors.
I have been blessed in my career to have a number of managers and leaders that I have been able to look up to and learn from. Most of these individuals probably never even realized that I was learning from their actions and behaviors. Some of them may not even remember me at all. But…
My thoughts on desk booking systems for managing space and occupancy (hint: I don’t like them)
Desk Booking has been the hot item in “PropTech” for over a year now. Sure, most of the systems pretend to be something like the “OS of the Workplace,” but that’s just fancy sales window dressing. The reality is that any time a company begins contemplating having fewer desks in their office than people assigned,…
Requiring people in the office seems to be the “Idea of Year 2023” based on headlines.
My first post of the year was about the fallacy behind “needing people in the office.” Unexpectedly to me, the idea that employees must be in the office a set number of days every week has grown momentum. I have been forced to step back and look at this idea from a fresh angle just…
Hybrid Workplaces require teams to reimagine their cultural dynamics when not together as often.
While no one agrees on what hybrid working means in practice, it is universally agreed that it means less often in the office than in 2019. A very small percentage of people are back as often as they used to be, some people are now only 1 day a week less in the office, and…