Meetings can take up a large portion of anyone’s working day and for many of us, demands on time in the office are already high. So in an ideal world every meeting should count, with specific objectives and results making the time invested worthwhile. All too often though, meetings – even during and afterwards – …

Development is, by definition, the process of creating and enhancing relationships with (potential) donors. It is the introduction of (prospective) donors to a non-profit organization, building their interest in the organization’s mission/services, developing in them a passion for the mission and a commitment to the organization’s future, getting them to make-the-gift, and maintaining the relationship …

I live in the Kansas Flint Hills. It’s ranch land, no more than 4 people per square mile. (No surprise, then, that I do most of my coaching by telephone.) But we are a community. And we have no shortage of issues requiring leadership. Leadership is not the same as Authority. As we blog about …

Everything in coaching hinges on listening – it is the key to the coaching session. Listening is also essential for personal and professional success. Even though we know listening is important – active listening is not always a common practice. Active listening shows respect and that you desire to learn and understand the speaker. Here …

A common misconception with employees and managers is that of the “paper trail.” It is believed that in order to make a termination decision, a manager must create this “paper trail” of documentations until they have enough evidence to satisfy the Human Resource (HR) Department. Unfortunately, this very notion typically brings great frustration to everyone …

There’s just no way to avoid it. You might fail with your social enterprise. Lose your shirt. Wish you’d never started it. There’s no safety net for social enterprise, and there never will be. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that half of business startups with employees are gone five years later. Social enterprises probably do …

What’s the difference between a code of conduct and a rulebook? A rulebook certainly sets outer parameters as what is unacceptable behavior. However, since most behavior is within those legal parameters, does (and should) a code of conduct dictate how employees should in fact conduct themselves at work? Imagine if a supervisor asks an employee …

Throughout the whole of my career, I have come across a few great project managers. These are people who actually deliver a project, which is very much a success, and broadly gets delivered within the key mainstream delivery targets. But, the key question in my mind is why are they great project managers? What makes …

We’re Tom Vaughton and Dan Collins from team performance experts Fresh Tracks, who run team building events, team development programmes and staff conferences, and we’re the co-hosts of this blog. You can read more about us next to our pictures in the sidebar. This blog will be about various aspects of team performance, team building …

Welcome to Crisis Management in the 21st Century and to Internet: The Ultimate Medium. A cross between tabloid journalism and a gladiator competition, between Pollyanna and Pandora, where minds meet and merge, clash and clamor, and where you can get more of anything you want than was EVER available at Alice’s Restaurant. The Internet has …