I’ve written before about having difficult conversations, and when working with a team it’s often just a matter of time before we all face a choice between ignoring a people-problem … Continue reading Tips for difficult conversations
Category: General management
Focusing on the outcome (in composition)
The other day I was listening to an interview with Christophe Beck, who composes film and television music—the scores to Ant Man and Wanda Vision are among his works. It … Continue reading Focusing on the outcome (in composition)
Motivation through user appreciation
Most teams I’ve ever worked with are full of individuals who are intelligent and dedicated. But sometimes there is a concern from (often senior) people outside the team that there … Continue reading Motivation through user appreciation
Having solutions ready to go
My wife occasionally talks about a manager she once had. Once in a while she would approach him with a problem—a paper needed to be written, a process needed to … Continue reading Having solutions ready to go
Toeing the line in public
One Friday, many years ago when I was working with a web agency, one of our designers sent round a company-wide email. This was before the days of Slack, and … Continue reading Toeing the line in public
Using experience
Over many years I’ve had the good fortune to work with a number of very experienced people, and more recently I’ve been working with senior leaders, each with a stong … Continue reading Using experience
Society inside companies
Last week the small but influential software company, Basecamp, made some internal policy changes. You can read their (much-amended) public announcement, as well as some well-informed background and a follow-up. … Continue reading Society inside companies
The relevance of psychological safety
I’ve never given too much thought to “psychological safety”. It’s something I’d read about, and did see as probably interesting, but many of my day to day concerns seemed to … Continue reading The relevance of psychological safety
Practise being wrong
When locked in debate it’s easy to dig in and entrench our position. This is my position, if I explain it enough to you then you’ll come round to it. … Continue reading Practise being wrong
Companies taking a stand is basic humanity
In recent days a number of high-profile US corporations have publicly criticised lawmakers in the US state of Georgia for implementing voting laws that particularly penalise voters of colour. The … Continue reading Companies taking a stand is basic humanity
