When was the last time you heard an employee say “Wow, the implementation of that new program (system/process/idea) was smooth!” My guess is you’ve rarely (perhaps never?) heard that. There are oodles of reasons why the launch of a new system goes awry— competing values, unclear objectives, unrealistic deadlines, budget constraints and so on. Here’s…
Expectations
Praising Mastery
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”,…
What’s It Hurt To Ask?
I just returned from conducting on-site meetings for a new client. The CEO of this company hired me to help his employees make the transition to a new organizational structure. We’re doing a series of input meetings, SWOT analyses and informational interviews. Something that one of the employees said this morning is really sticking with…
When OK is The Best We Can Expect
The other day I was exchanging emails with my friend Kathleen who has extremely diverse interests. She’s an accounting software trainer/working artist / gallery owner. (How’s THAT for variety?!) It had been awhile since we’d talked and I inquired—“how are you?” Kathleen emailed back, “I’m fine…well, OK. But ‘OK’ is the new ‘Fine’, right?” After…