With more text-based communication as we work from home there is more room for misunderstanding and stress. Slack, Microsoft Teams, and the like allow communication without the subtleties of facial … Continue reading Assuming the best intent
Transformation as a game of chess
Last week I spoke to my friend Kevin Gohil, and he introduced me to the phrase “adaptive operating model”. Many people talk about a “target operating model”, which is what … Continue reading Transformation as a game of chess
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
It’s good tactics to start with the goal
Recently I wrote about the need to state the problem for any solution—that is, when proposing or discussing some kind of approach or thing to do, it’s really important to … Continue reading It’s good tactics to start with the goal
Stimulating disagreement produces better solutions
When I create workshops there is a type of activity that’s common to many of them, which is people writing ideas on sticky notes and then putting them into categories. … Continue reading Stimulating disagreement produces better solutions
The human bug report
The other day I was speaking to a friend about having conversations with colleauges when you’re unhappy with something they’ve done. It’s important to be clear, and it’s important be … Continue reading The human bug report
Editing down for clarity
While reading Kim Scott’s Radical Candor recently, I was struck by this (on page 93 of my paperback revised edition): The next time you spend 2 hours helping somebody edit … Continue reading Editing down for clarity
