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decision making

How Great Facilitation Leads to Better Decisions, More Revenue and Less Waste

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Leadership and management (general) /

No doubt, making go/no-go decisions for billion-dollar projects requires careful consideration, but this was getting ridiculous. Marc’s 20-person Engineering team, scattered across multiple time zones, was on the hot seat for recommending large-scale exploration projects for this European-based global oil and gas leader. For many of these projects, time was of the essence. This was […]

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If you really want to be inclusive, here’s how to walk the talk

1 Comment / Newsletter: Essential communication and collaboration skills for virtual teams /

“Employees tell us that we’re not doing a great job when it comes to creating an inclusive workplace. Is this something you can help us with?” (Chief Human Resources Officer) “What does inclusive mean in this context, and why is it important to people?” (Us) “I suppose they mean they want us to treat everyone

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Stop Agonizing Over Tough Decisions to Save Your Sanity (and Maybe Even Your Pup!)

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

I came this close (holding thumb and index finger ¼” apart) to returning our pup, Honey, just three days after we adopted her from a shelter a year ago today. (And believe me, I am no novice when it comes to raising dogs from puppyhood. Honey is my fourth.) So why did I feel that adopting this little

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When There’s No Going Back, Decide How to Move Forward

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

“When the dust finally settles…” “As soon as we get back to normal…” When we hear comments like these from our wishful-thinking clients, we tell them that try as they might, there’s no going back. There’s no such thing as “normal” anymore (and we’re pretty sure there won’t ever be anything resembling a static workplace

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How Asking for Help Beats Magical Thinking Every Time

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

It was just three nights before we were headed to NJ for our week-long Christmas vacation. As my daughter crept across the floor to her bed in darkness, she cried out: “Oh, no! I stepped in that wet spot again!” (“What wet spot? What does she mean, again?”) Maybe she’d spilled something? A roof leak from all

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The Virtues of Failing Fast, in a Forward Direction

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Leadership and management (general) /

A friend’s daughter just announced her family’s sudden decision to pack up and move several states away, with no jobs, no residence, three school-age kids, one dog and two cats. My friend is agonizing over whether to try to talk her daughter out of it (“How will you live?  Where will you live? What about health insurance?

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When Things Fall Apart, Principles Can Bring Them Back Together

1 Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

My daughter Kira recently lost a client due to a lack of principles. It’s not that she didn’t have principles, and nor was her client lacking principles. It’s that they had never agreed to principles up front on a vital issue. And therein lies the rub. Here’s her story: Kira recently caught a cold from a toddler

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Now That’s Radical! Build a More Collaborative, Productive Team With More (Yes, More!) Meetings

1 Comment / Newsletter: Planning and leading engaging virtual meetings /

You’re sitting around the table, listening to one person after another drone on and on about topics that you find irrelevant and frankly boring, while the work you really should be doing has to wait until this interminable meeting is over. Adding to your frustration is the fact that earlier in the day, your boss blew

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Create a 12-Month Plan in Just Two Hours, With a Little Bit of Magic

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Planning and leading engaging virtual meetings /

There’s something about the start of a new year that makes it a perfect time to get your team together to lay down plans and set priorities for the next 12 months. But try getting them to hunker down in a meeting room for a couple of days when their “day jobs” are so demanding.

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For Insightful Conversations, Learn How to Ask Great Questions

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

Judging from the nodding heads, you see that a deep state of ennui has settled in around the table. (And this is just 15 minutes after break!) You have three hours left of this interminable day, with lots of  ground still to cover.  You know that the usual tedious process of asking everyone to take

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Can’t We All Just Disagree? Reviving the Lost Art of Civilized Disagreement

1 Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

Imagine you’re part of a group coming together to agree on a make-or-break decision. Which of these scenarios would you prefer: 1) After an amicable (and blessedly) brief conversation, everyone easily agrees to go along with the majority or 2) A heated debate ensues, with people from opposing viewpoints passionately arguing their respective positions? If

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Wait, What?! and 4 Other Essential Questions that Expand Thinking and Spark Conversation

1 Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

If anyone appreciates the value of asking really great questions, it’s a facilitator. After all, my job is to stimulate thought, encourage reflection, generate conversation, and help people make important connections. To do this, I need at least a few essential questions to insert into the conversation at just the right time. Crafting these “perfect”

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Make Better Decisions with Less Pain, Virtually

1 Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

People across the organization are counting on your team to meet an absurd deadline that you reluctantly agreed to. It’s become apparent over the last day or two that you made a promise that you simply cannot keep. You’ve called an all-hands meeting with your virtual  team to make a critical decision: Do you let

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Combat Rude Behavior with Radical Civility

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

Everyone knew that Jim was a real jerk. With an arch of his brow or the curl of his lip, this senior VP could reduce anyone to tears. And he did, frequently. As a junior staff writer at the time, I was a frequent target of Jim’s scathing derision. One day I decided to confront

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To Get People Talking, Try Asking the Right Questions

1 Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

It’s happened to all of us: You pose a carefully-worded question, pause and wait for someone to respond. Anyone. Please? And then you hear nothing, other than an awkward, prolonged silence. You start to panic and make assumptions like: “They must be multitasking! Maybe they’re all on mute. I guess no one cares about this

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Avoiding the High Cost of Ambiguous Decisions

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

Imagine this: You are leading your weekly team meeting, and you have just five minutes left to galvanize people around a critical decision that will affect thousands of people. After quickly summarizing the various positions, you declare that you believe the group has decided to move ahead. When you solicit final comments or concerns, not a

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How to Prevent ‘Unfair’ Decisions from Tearing Teams Apart

Leave a Comment / Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

Nearly everyone in town breathed a sigh of relief when our selectmen recently voted to cut off conversations with the big gaming company that had its eye on building a casino here. Those of us who had helped to create a Facebook page and online petition to mobilize the opposition felt especially pleased with the

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Magic Numbers for Successful Teamwork

Leave a Comment / Newsletter, Newsletter: Leadership and management (general) /

People often ask me: What’s the ideal number of people to have on any given team to produce the best results? My answer: It depends. Several factors go into coming up with that magic number, such as: Clarity of goals and objectives, time available to get it right, ability of participants to work face-to-face versus

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To speed decision-making, get rid of the noise

Leave a Comment / Articles, Facilitation Skills Training, Newsletter, Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

To be, or not to be? Not all decisions are as profound as Hamlet’s, but some team decisions can be real game-changers. Making tough decisions can stress out members of any team, but when you’re working as a geographically-dispersed team, the decision-making process can be especially draining. Why?  Simply put, the decision-making process for virtual

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6 Essential Guidelines for Making Better Decisions, Virtually

Leave a Comment / Articles, Newsletter, Newsletter: Decision making, consensus building, conflict resolution and productive conversations /

Let’s face it. We’ve all made some pretty poor decisions. Sometimes it’s because we feel we have to keep moving, in any direction. Other times we just don’t want to have to think too hard, so we make the choice that requires the least scrutiny. When we make a bad decision that has fairly minor

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