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Cultivating Connection
Cultivating Connection
Here are some helpful articles related to this topic. You can also search via keyword at the navigation bar on the right or by the tagged bullets below. Enjoy! If you find something you like, please leave a comment. Thanks…
Where are you on your journey from Good to Great? – by Jim Collins. A 2006 Diagnostic Tool that includes comprehensive worksheets to share with your team and excel as an organization in the long run.
Criteria for Performance Excellence – by Baldridge. The 2006 assessment and review tool by Baldridge National Quality Program. This document is 68 pages and a great resource for organizational development work.
A Manifesto for Mavericks: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win – by Taylor and LaBarre. Why being innovative, unique, and investing in the people of your company is the best way to succeed.
A Manifesto for Mavericks: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win – by Taylor and LaBarre. Why being innovative, unique, and investing in the people of your company is the best way to succeed.
The Ultimate Use for 360-degree Feedback: Measuring Individual Performance Improvement – by D.Coates. The assessment, training, measuring, and reinforcement behind a 360 review.
Peer Coaching-Learning Partner Overview – by Marshall Goldsmith. Peer Coaching was originally developed as a cost-effective way to provide quality coaching to mid-level, high potential and emerging leaders. The process was originally developed by Andrew Thorn who later partnered with Marshall Goldsmith to extend many of the benefits of the Goldsmith Coaching Model. Marshall Goldsmith’s personal involvement and extensive experience of helping successful leaders get even better gave energy and momentum to this unique process.
Peer Coaching Overview – by Peter Cole, Cole Consulting. In peer coaching, two leaders come together, share in conversations, reflect on and refine their professional development, usually immediately upon observing & participating in a shared team meeting. Their relationship is built on confidentiality and trust in a non-threatening, secure environment in which they learn and grow together; therefore, peer coaching is always an intentional, even exchange.
Peer coaching model – a collaborative model by Peter Cole, Cole Consulting. Peer coaching provides the opportunity to share ideas and techniques that have been effective in building relationships and creating a meaningful dialogue. Everyone is able to impact the performance of their peers by modeling behaviors that increase authentic communication!
Peer Coaching Process Agreements – by Peter Cole, Cole Consulting. A template for getting started (feel free to use and/or edit).
The Answer’s Yes… What’s the Question – by John DiJulius. Why the word NO should be stricken from our vocabulary; especially in the field of customer service, we should seriously take a look at why we are using this word within our organization and how to prevent it.
Difficult Conversations Summary – by Douglas Stone. What is a difficult conversation? Conversations we dread, and often handle clumsily as a result, are part of all our lives: in boardrooms and family rooms, across the negotiation table and the dinner table. Now, Difficult Conversations teaches us how to handle these dialogues with more success and less anxiety.
Difficult Conversations Prep Sheet – After reading through the summary, use this sheet to help organize your thoughts and prepare for a difficult conversation.
Difficult Conversation Assumptions and Goals – Helps identify the assumptions and goals of three different types of difficult conversations: The “What Happened?” conversation, the Feeling conversation, and the Identity conversation.
When You Absolutely Positively Should NOT use Email – by David Shipley and Will Schwalb of ChangeThis. Just because email is good for some things doesn’t mean it’s good for everything. Take a look at what the author’s think is a good list of the times and occasions you absolutely, positively should not send email.
The Power of Passionate Creatives – by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison of ChangeThis. All too often those who are passionate about their work are frustrated with their employers and bosses. They are not satisfied. Far from it. They want to do more, but they feel held back. This manifesto is for them—the “passionate creatives” of the world.
Stories, Storytelling, Story-Selling in Business – by Thomas M. Nies of ChangeThis. Stories inspire, engage and initiate change through their telling and re-telling. What will be your company story be in the decade to come?
Story Listening – A Skill for Leaders – by Elliot Masie. It’s critically important that leaders have the ability to tell an authentic and well-constructed story. Equally important is learning how to listen to stories from employees while encouraging, honoring and actually hearing what is being communicated.
Presentations: Boring To Bravo – by Kristin Arnold of ChangeThis. No one wants to be boring. And no one wants to listen to a boring presentation. In the ChangeThis Manifesto, Arnold shares 15½ of the simplest techniques to take your presentations from boring to bravo—so engaging that your audience will be inspired to take action.
The Talent Myth: Are Smart People Overrated? – by Gladwell. Telling your kids they are doing their best has been proven more effective for success versus telling them they are very intelligent. This article proves this to be true, but not just for your children, for your direct reports and your organization as a whole also.
Accountability: Effective Managers go First – by Maister. In any organization, regardless of its purpose, scale or location, there is great power that comes from creating a culture of accountability. When people in an organization can depend upon the fact that everyone else will keep their word and perform the duties and tasks they have accepted, more will get done with less explicit oversight. People will feel a heightened sense of responsibility and will act on it.
Difficult Conversations Summary – by Douglas Stone. What is a difficult conversation? Conversations we dread, and often handle clumsily as a result, are part of all our lives: in boardrooms and family rooms, across the negotiation table and the dinner table. Now, Difficult Conversations teaches us how to handle these dialogues with more success and less anxiety.
Difficult Conversations Prep Sheet – After reading through the summary, use this sheet to help organize your thoughts and prepare for a difficult conversation.
Difficult Conversation Assumptions and Goals – Helps identify the assumptions and goals of three different types of difficult conversations: The “What Happened?” conversation, the Feeling conversation, and the Identity conversation.
The Talent Myth: Are Smart People Overrated? – by Gladwell. Telling your kids they are doing their best has been proven more effective for success versus telling them they are very intelligent. This article proves this to be true, but not just for your children, for your direct reports and your organization as a whole also.
Comparing Versatility to Emotional Intelligence, a Tracom tool – Based on our levels of assertiveness and responsiveness, we can all learn to expand our emotional intelligence in order to strengthen our versatility in the workplace.
Determining Social Styles to Reduce Conflict by David Collins – Tracom’s Social Styles and Versatility model is utilized often by Cole Consulting. Read this quick article to better understand your team and co-workers “style’s” to avoid conflict in the workplace.
You can also watch this video to help understand social styles and versatility better: SOCIAL STYLE model
Social Style and Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni – This article outlines five common pitfalls that prevent teams from achieving their full capabilities.
Social Style and Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler – How to spot a crucial conversation and know yourself well enough to navigate through it with integrity, control, and empathy.
Are we making progress? A message to leaders – by Baldridge. A 2008 assessment tool for you and your company. A 2008 assessment tool for you and your company. “In today’s environment, if you are standing still, you are falling behind. Making the right decisions at the right time is critical. Following through on those decisions is challenging. In a survey of a broad cross section of CEOs, the Malcolm Baldrige Foundation learned that CEOs believed deploying strategy is three times more difficult than developing strategy. If deployment is so challenging, the questions are, Are you making progress? How do you know?”
Talking Strategy – by Chip Heath and Dan Heath of ChangeThis. The Heath Bros. walk the walk in this manifesto about three straightforward ways to make your strategy work. They preach the power of concrete language and stories to communicate your strategy effectively.
A Mind for Selling: Brain Science is turning management on its head – by Jacobs. How to lead by example in the fast-paced business world. “Rather than attempt to manage behavior with reasons or rewards, we’ll be more effective if we manage the ideas that drive behavior. As one experiment has shown, an idea can change not just how we think, but how we feel.”
Being Strategic: The antidote to Fear – by Andersen. This is the essence of what I call being strategic: doing a clear and accurate assessment of the current situation, then articulating the possibility of a successful future. And at that point, when you see clearly where you are and where you hope to go, staying strategic means making core directional choices about how to achieve that future you’ve envisioned.
Come on in – sit in our library and look through our searchable tools and resources. Pull up a chair at our virtual 'kitchen table' and join the conversation.