Think back to the last few times you’ve found out about a problem at work. Which of these statements did you hear: Option 1: We’ve assigned a team to fix the problem Option 2: We’ve found volunteers who’ve formed a team to fix the problem Option 3: We’ve assigned a person to fix the problem […]
Samuel Johnson said, Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.” There a studies that say you should do puzzles to keep your mind sharp, while other studies say wine is the answer. Puzzles and wine might help, but I happen to believe that Dr. Johnson was on to something
I find myself in need of a new post category: Rant. I’m borrowing from Dennis Miller when I say, “I don’t want to get off on a rant here, but…” …today I find myself deeply frustrated observing sloppy user of what I consider a precision instrument, the Think Reliability cause map. I think it’s the
A Rant – Sloppy Use of Precision Instruments Read More »
If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.” – James Collins and Jerry Porras, citing a 3M phrase My thanks to Kenneth Thomas for citing this quote in his book, Intrinsic Motivation at Work: What Really Drives Employee Engagement. Too often in our fervor to make our expectations
Back in March, after spending a week confined with my son to his hospital room, I wrote in my journal/blog idea notebook, I’ve now learned that prolonged stress, confined conditions and sleep deprivation shut down my interest in transmitting knowledge. I only have the energy to receive information. I cannot will myself to create anything.” Today
Years ago when I dined at a Capitol Hill eatery under the watchful eyes of the Democrat photos lining the walls, I learned the hard way to, when it matters, always ask twice. As I started my lovely dining experience I looked at the bread and wondered, “Is this bread topping a mixed grain blend
I’m waiting in a pediatric ICU room for the hospital staff to bring back my son from his emergency MRI. I can’t do anything to speed up when he returns. All I can do is wait. There are some things in life you must wait for whether you like it or not. Yet all around
You’ll save yourself hours of effort and years of frustration if you publish minutes for all your team meetings. Minutes include: Who attended What topics you discussed What decisions you made Who will take action (and by when) When you’ll meet again [I like to use a standard format, with a fixed font and set
…and I’m sticking to it. This one is simple: Publish an agenda for every meeting and follow your agenda every time. Even if you include a portion in the agenda for open discussion/final thoughts/last nuggets, have an agenda! You’ll think you don’t need an agenda because everyone knows the order of your meetings. You’ll think
Nothing so sharpens the thought process as writing down one’s arguments.” – Admiral H.G. Rickover At work we use a lot of Plans of Action and Milestones or POA&Ms to track our work. If you’ve never seen one before, a POA&M is a typically an Excel spreadsheet listing actions, who will do the action, when
