Communication and Clarity
Productive communication is critical in every organization. Some of the essential aspects of communication include: listening, building trust in relationships, being honest in every interaction, and dealing with conflict effectively. Great team communication must be engaging, motivating and authentic. It must help the team to see the path and the destination. The larger the organization, the geometrically more complex communication becomes. With one-on-one communication, we can watch body language, hear tone of voice and create an immediate feedback loop. With […]
Surviving Success and Watching Failure
Have you ever seen a problem coming and not done anything to fix it? Was it someone failing at a project? Perhaps someone was ruining a relationship? A project where the team was not resolving the main issues? Someone was in great pain? Too often we see cultures in organizations where everyone stays in their own “box” very tightly. When they see an issue or problem coming, they do not say anything. (This is the “it’s not my job” or “not my […]
Are Your Employees Truly Engaged?
Engaged employees are more likely to be high performers, drive action, and participate in achieving the organizational goals.  Find out what your workers are thinking and how to motivate them, in addition to avoiding costly turnover in the year ahead. Consider this: 34% of employees say they plan to leave their current role in the next 12 months (Mercer) 51% of the U.S. workforce is not engaged, costing organizations between $450 and $550 billion annually (Gallup) 68% of the human […]
The Talent Drought
Written by: The Challenge In the past, as employers we could look for employees that had certain types of training.  When they came aboard, they could move quickly.  Today, most employees we hire do not have the training or experience.  If they have the experience, we have to unwind some of it since we may do it differently.  Some organizations get so desperate that they simply need bodies and hands to be able to even be able to handle work […]
Are You Ready For The Homerun?
Each of us has an opportunity every day to live each moment to the fullest and make each and every interaction one that is memorable and impactful.  In order to do that you must make a concerted effort to make each interaction a homerun. Once you make up your mind that this is how you want to lead your team, drive your organization forward and live your life to the fullest, here are a few tips that can help. Review […]
Relationship Coaching: Advice on How to Attain Your Goals
Executive coaching isn’t just for executives anymore.  Every day, we all engage with other people to accomplish things, whether at work or at home.  The principles that apply to business world coaching easily translate to other types of relationships. All relationships come down to a few basic factors, the biggest of which are trust, honesty and dependability.  In other words, each of the parties clearly states their needs and wants, knows the other person will work hard to help them […]
Effective Communication Skills for Business Success
  In this “Drive Through With Don”, he discusses two different teams and the effect communication had on the success of the businesses. One team was struggling and frustrated and they communicated very poorly with each other.  Poor communication damaged relationships, created mistrust among the team members and any efforts to turn this around were either blocked or given very little effort.  Once a team becomes ineffective it bleeds over to customers and suppliers and before too long, the problem […]
Effective Communication and Better Listening Skills
When most people think of communication, they think about talking and passing along information, advice or opinions.  Effective communication also involves actively listening, knowing when to speak and when to stay silent.   Keep in mind that 85% of what we communicate is nonverbal so in addition to being patient, your face and actions must also be considered.  All organizations maintain that they value open communication, but few listen to their staff, customers and suppliers effectively.  Listening, like any other skill, […]
Business Coaching for Effective Communication
Communication is key in any organization, and employing the right communication strategies allows your team to focus on what they do best.  Ensuring that the right people have timely information means that the ultimate “audience” – your customers – get what they need and want.  If your sales team isn’t communicating to  R&D that the marketplace is clamoring for a specific solution, how can it be developed and promoted?  Conversely, if your customer service team doesn’t know that product X […]