Communication – Page 22 – www.exkalibur.com

Change is exhausting!

Many of us accept that the only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. Our world is buffeted on all sides by change … kids grow up, technology abounds, friends move away, the list is endless.
Dan Heath at Fast Company describes a recent experience with subjects who were offered either chocolate chip cookies … or radishes. (If you’ve even been cut from a sports team, you’ll know how the radishes felt!). You can also see a short video there explaining the experiment. (more…)

It’s not the person

Fast Company recently carried a brief piece which described how what appears to be a personal shortcoming may obfuscate a problem situation. In psychology, they call it the Fundamental Attribution Error but the example they used is particularly poignant for many situations we've all seen.Have you experienced situations that seemed…

Do we need a Federal Escrow Fund?

I’m sure this will be a popular post … but set aside your emotions for a moment about the BP disaster… and consider the insistence by the federal government that an independent agency take over the claims resulting from the oil spill, purportedly overriding BP’s authority, and that of the other 12 entities on board the oil platform, in those matters. The suggested prototype is the independent examiner appointed to handle claims resulting from the events of 9/11 … but recognize that those events were NOT directly caused by a legal entity with rights and responsibilities and shareholders, or that was subject to a myriad of legitimate national and international governing bodies.
Who should decide how much to pay whom for oil spill claims?
What I wonder is whether BP … in most cases, any corporation … shouldn’t have some rights and control over the claims paid from funds ultimately belonging to their shareholders? Take special note that in BPs case, a powerful example of the global economy in which we live, 18 million British citizens own stock in BP, many of them retirees.
Emotions are running high and many people would prefer to see BP hanging from the nearest rafter. At the same time, shouldn’t a company be allowed to settle claims in a fair and reasonable manner? There are plenty of ways in which individuals and organizations can seek redress if they disagree on the results, either through appeal or in claims or civil courts if a reasonable settlement cannot be made.
What paperwork? (more…)

Any control freaks out there?

Those of you who are willing to admit … or deserving … of wearing this crown have probably stumbled down the staircase more than once trying to exert your control over every fiber of the carpet beneath your feet.
Researchers have found that when test subjects are even subliminally exposed to the name of a person they believe is “controlling”, they unconsciously do the OPPOSITE of hard work. It seems that people value their freedom “so much so that even an unconscious memory of a controlling person stimulates a behavioral reaction.”
Combine this with The Productivity Paradox and the work done at Sony Pictures to focus more on employee energy management rather than time management, (more…)

Conference Calls not working so well?

Fast Company recently published a blog post called 10 Rules for Effective Conference Calls, which sounds about right … and I think you’ll agree that you’ve heard … or did … or thought … these same things yourself.

OK, now let’s move to slide 5. Can everyone see this slide?

(Slide with 12 rows of text appears. Jill proceeds to read all 12 lines of text.)

(Dead silence – everyone is on mute, reading mail, playing Solitaire or checking news, sports, and weather…)

How about this one? (more…)

Email Overload. Really?

No news flash here ... except that many of us share the frustration over the relentless flood of email that washes ashore 24/7. There is a nugget somewhere in various ideas companies are trying to dam the waters, particularly with internal email. This Wall Street Journal article summarizes some of…

Hypnotizing Chickens?

I must admit that's a new phrase to me ... but it's a kissing cousin to "Death by PowerPoint", it seems. You'll enjoy the recent NY Times article about the U.S. military use of PowerPoint slides and how numbing it's become ... witness the slide that accompanies the article and…

People are still – and will always be #1.

Many of you are familiar with my interest in the Corner Office articles appearing in the New York Times on a regular basis. These articles, by Adam Bryant, focus on varying approaches taken by CEOs to lead their organizations.
A recent interview with Fuse founder, Bill Carter, reminds me of two critical variables that are easily lost in our haste to always move to the next issue. First, above all, having the best people is the only antidote to business mediocrity. I’ve said it time and again, and virtually everyone knows this deep down (but very few put it into practice) … that the organization that excels identifies the best people, makes certain they are properly rewarded, and never stops looking for top talent. (more…)

Vol. 60: Creating a Responsible Culture

Last time, we discussed how to create a responsible culture where each individual accepts accountability for their actions and decisions.
In our discussion of this subject, we’ve ranged from the baseline of personal accountability to a broader organizational culture, to the battle-tested power of after action reviews.
So, if the power of an accountable organization is so obvious, why aren’t we all doing it?

Victimization has a stranglehold on American business

In “The Oz Principle,” a book by Craig Hickman (recently reissued in a revised and updated edition 10 years after its original publication), the overgrown roots of a victimization mentality is chronicled as one of the most corrosive forces in American business.
[pullquote]The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.~ Lou Holtz[/pullquote]
Mr. Hickman pulls no punches in deriding the plight of victimization that he believes has a stranglehold on American industry.
How many of these lines have you heard during your business career?

* “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
* “That’s not my department.”
* “Someone should have told me not to do that.”
* “Why didn’t you ask me?”
* “Nobody’s followed up on this. It can’t be that important.”

[pullquote]Victimization is a corrosive force in American business[/pullquote]
It’s fodder for a Saturday Night Live skit, isn’t it? (more…)