Effectiveness

The Skill of Being Alone

The Skill of Being Alone

Solitude makes it possible to find connection.

In a 2012 TED Talk, Sherry Turkle shares her insights about why and how technology interferes with our ability to be by ourselves. Writing that sentence just now I find myself thinking, “Of course technology gets in the way of us being alone. It’s all about being connected. Duh.”

A Framework for Mastering Challenging Interactions

A Framework for Mastering Challenging Interactions

Five steps toward coherent conversation and authentic exchanges.

We humans come together in different ways whenever we want to accomplish something. This is called organizing and it puts us in a relationship with one another. These relationships are built on, moved by, and sustained through conversation.

More Evolved Thinking About Organizations

More Evolved Thinking About Organizations

These are exciting and encouraging times, if we can find the courage to allow them to be.

 

Almost since the time I entered the field of organization development I have been driven by the desire to help people bring more of who they are to the work they do. Nothing irks me more than hearing people talk about being one way at work and another way altogether when at home or with friends. Invariably, these people report that they leave some, often significant, part of themselves at the door when they enter the workplace.

How much are we missing out on and how much is lost because we don’t feel like we can be who we really are at work?

Clarity on the Golf Course

Small talk leads to a breakthrough insight

 

A few days ago I was on the golf course, and one of my playing partners was asking about my work. On the 5th tee, he pushed me to go past the usual bland commentary and asked why he might hire someone like me.

That got me thinking.

Uncertainty, Fear, and Learning

Fear is a signal you might be about to learn something

 

In an earlier post, I wrote about the connection between uncertainty and learning. There I tried to make the point that uncertainty is a condition that is pre-requisite to learning, and that the present moment is the most uncertain place we can inhabit because we never know what is going to happen next.

There is another aspect to uncertainty, one that has to do with our reaction when we find ourselves confronted by it.