Criticize with Care – How to get action instead of acrimony

Ever notice that criticism gets a bad rap, generally speaking? Not the "you're ugly and your mother dresses you funny" kind, but the constructive kind that portends to improve performance. The problem is that

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SITREP Your Way to Greater Success

Ever experience this? Question: "Hi, Honey, welcome home. Please tell me about your day?" Reply: "It was fine. The boss was in a grumpy mood. Had lunch with the team at work. Closed the

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How I failed as a leader … and how you can avoid the same mistake

Once upon a time I failed as a leader... Okay, so it happens regularly, but let's just focus on one of them for now, okay? Here's a story of a leadership failure, what I

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How Leaders Quickly & Effectively Improve 2-way Communication

Orange, TX, September 13, 2008 -- Members of Texas Task Force One and Two come together for a quick field briefing. Both teams conducted search and rescue efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

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Stepping On or Stepping Out? Rules for Classroom Etiquette.

When I first started instructing for a living (versus as an occasional sideline), I was eager and intensely interested in sharing what I knew. Every moment was a teaching moment! On one hand, that’s

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How and When to Reward People and Teams … and When NOT to.

... Or should we even reward folks at all? After being bombarded with the 'everyone earns a ribbon' strategy, a little balance may be in order. First, here are some simple formulas: 1E=1R ($1

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Building Trust By Doing 1 Simple Thing

Building Trust Having someone's trust is kind of like having a winning lottery ticket ... either you have it, or you don't. Here's a simple jump start to building trust, especially when you're new

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The 5 Best Questions to Earn the Best Results

Some leaders command, but great leaders communicate. For whatever leadership role you currently hold (remember, everyone is a leader), ask these questions to subordinates and other leaders to engage, to inform and to inspire

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Is it Too Soon to Establish Your Legacy?

How soon is it too soon to start thinking about your legacy? Are you going to wait until you near the end of your career and then try to cram in a bunch of

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The Future of Training

What’s the future of training?  How long will professional instructors be relevant in front of a classroom? One could argue (me included) that: the personal touch of classroom instructor has no equal. it’s blasphemy

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