I’m reading the book The Power of Respect by Deborah Norville. She cites a very interesting study from the journal Motivation and Emotion. In this study, a group of researchers from Reed College in Oregon studied whether one form of praise was more effective than another. The researchers used two different types of praise: “mastery”,…
Team Effectiveness
The TMI of Leadership
The other day, I was having a discussion with a training manager named Sally. Her staff designs training for her company’s field sales force. Sally works for a large organization that has a reputation for promoting from within. Here’s what we were discussing: Leaders higher up in her organization have noticed that when the sales people…
The Sweet Spot for Mentoring
Note: this blog post is a collaborative effort between Jennifer V. Miller and Lisa Rosendahl. We’ve each taken a different perspective on the topic of mentoring. Lisa’s post explores what attributes Human Resource/Talent Managers look for in potential mentors. This blog post explores mentor readiness from a personal perspective, asking: “How do you know you’re ready…
Boo or Yay Manager?
One of my favorite experiential activities for management training is an oldie but goodie called the “Boo/Yay” exercise. In it, two volunteers separately try to guess a per-determined task such as walking to the front of the room and picking up a marker. The audience is instructed to give the volunteers feedback to help them…
Bully on the Track Field
So I’m reading Bret Simmons’ post When the Bully Boss is Female . . . There’s a slight whooshing sound in my brain and all of a sudden time sort of shifts. It’s the 1970’s and I’m in 8th grade. A new family has moved from Chicago to our tiny farming community in Michigan. They…