Communication, which occupies approximately 70% of our wak­ing hours, is what many leaders find the most frustrating. Many of us were never taught to communicate in ways that lead to postive out­comes. Rather, we tend to experience annoyance, anger or just give up on the per­son or the situation. Here’s how to communicate better to …

As with the basic capital campaign, you must start with the knowledge of where the commitments will come from to achieve your dollar goal … only this time you are not limiting yourself to a relatively few major donors. This time, in addition to the major donors, you will need specific sums from different segments …

Part 1 of this series is What Do Consultants Do?, which defines a consultant (as Peter Block puts it) as someone who is trying to change another person, process, or organization, but who has no direct control over what they are trying to change. That post also listed numerous roles that a consultant might play. …

Working with Human Systems In my last post, I emphasized the importance of complex human systems–we live and work for our whole lives in and as part of them. I suggested model building, practice, and reflection on our practice as effective ways to understand them more effectively. Finally I described how the model we will …

“How can I sell this idea to my boss?” That’s a question I often hear as a career coach. It usually comes from someone seeking to lead from the middle. Influencing up to obtain additional resources, or to impact a staffing decision, or to extend a deadline, or whatever requires both a business rationale and …

It is clear that for executive onboarding efforts to be successful, they cannot simply take the shape of a glorified employee orientation process. One of the most important factors of transitional success is for the incoming executive, and those assisting with his or her transition, to have an advanced level or understanding of three things: a) The unique aspects of the organizational culture; b) the dynamics of the teams the executive is entering (whether as a leader or colleague); and c) the personality, knowledge and leadership skills of the incoming executive

Passionate Interaction: Key to Effective Training As a way of introducing myself to the Training and Development world, I’ve included the bio below. While a variety of skill sets take us in many directions, my strength has been as a passionate communicator. I apply my social psychology background and my verbal skills to my “day” …

This post examines some of the differences in thinking between managers and directors. It explains how to assist when a novice director needs help in making the required changes to their thinking.

A basic concept of grants for capital campaigns is that you shouldn’t need to go beyond the smallest number of major donors necessary to reach your goal. Referencing Tuesday’s posting, however, the decision you must make is what you want to accomplish with your campaign. If you want to keep it simple, and all you …

Have you lost that “loving” feeling? You’ve survived the layoffs, cut wages, reorganizations and other company changes. You‘re stressed out, fed up and ready to bolt. On the other hand, the economy is going nowhere, the analysts aren’t sure if we’re in recovery, recession or something in-between and you’re being told “you have a job, …