collaboration

Whoever You Are

We’ve seen it before. The story isn’t new. Alex demonstrated phenomenal capability as a software developer; outstanding work, great results, best on the team. So “they” made Alex the team lead, or the team supervisor, or promoted Alex into a leadership role, outside of the developer role. Unfortunately, at that critical moment, Alex wasn’t offered any training, coaching, or...

They're Socially Contagious

It wasn’t quite 6:30 in the morning, and she was smiling. What? It’s been several years now since that remarkable morning, but I’ll never forget her navy blue sedan, facing west, stopped at a traffic light as I was facing east, stopped at that same light. She had her turn signal on, and appeared to be headed to an office building. And she was smiling. And not a...

Three Things to Keep in Mind When You Encounter Difficult Behaviors at Work

When dysfunctional behaviors rear their ugly heads at work – whether we’re trying to get things done, whether we’re in meetings, or whether we’re making decisions – keeping these three things in mind as our first line of defense can be useful.

Who's in Your Meetings?

By Boosting Creativity 

January 24th, 1975, Köln, Germany. 17 year old Vera Brandes was desperate. Months of work arranging a benefit concert by the great jazz pianist Keith Jarrett suddenly came undone. Jarrett’s preferred piano had failed to be delivered to the opera hall. When he arrived, sleep deprived and with a backache, he saw the dilapidated rehearsal piano and stormed out, refusing to...

Deciding to Put Others Ahead of Ourselves

I grew up never really knowing what professionalism was. I came from a blue collar family that was more about living and acting in the moment according to the culture. We didn’t always consider our actions and how we should behave or what we should or shouldn’t say around others.

3 Things Essential to Being Essential

As we are moving or continuing to stay virtual, it is important to stay connected with your team. You can become and remain an essential team member, even if you’re not rubbing elbows with your colleagues. Think of people you enjoy working with, people who you know have your back whenever you're on a project together, or things are getting busy at work....

Since leadership is always a hot topic, we wanted to share this spot-on article from Inc.com about leadership--we put our own little spin on it, but it was too good not to pass along.

What's most important on this project: scope, time, or cost? Will Vendor A or Vendor B be a better fit for our organization today? Should I escalate this risk or issue? What do I want for dinner? What color should we paint the front door? Who should I vote for on November 8th?

If you're like just about every other working American, you need to make, or help your team make, good decisions from time to time. That's probably your favorite part of your job, right? Who doesn't love collecting the data to make an informed decision, corralling the team, laying out your options, and reaching consensus? Ok, so maybe decision making isn't so easy peasy...but what if YOU could...