Last week we talked about celebrating as teams. This week, I need to finish the conversation and let you, my team, celebrate with me. On Saturday, July 14, in front of 1400 of my peers at our national conference, 50 of my colleagues and I received our Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation. Our designation makes us […]
The town I live in opted to forego 4th of July fireworks this year, replacing the annual event with end of the fair fireworks on July 8. What I noticed over the course of the 4th was that something felt like it was missing. When we settled in to watch the fireworks several days late, I put […]
.Ooh, doesn’t the Spiral of Silence Theory sound intriguing? It’s a term used in mass communication (i.e. media) education. The spiral of silence theory basically describes how those whose voices are viewed as the most popular, often voices from the majority view, get repeated and retold. While those in the minority of opinion, become silenced […]
Some days I feel like the old Dunkin’ Donuts commercial where the donut maker gets up at the crack of dawn and recites, “It’s time to make the donuts.” This happens day in and day out. Until one day he’s so weary, he meets himself in the doorway and meets himself returning from work saying, “I […]
“I thought we made a decision about this, but here we are in the same meeting, deciding the same thing again two weeks later! Why?!” If you’ve ever thought this, you aren’t alone. Most of us have been part of teams or organizations where you feel like you simply spin your wheels and never move […]
Proverbs 27:17 reads, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs are wise sayings And this particular proverb reminds us that we need one another to sharpen one another, to hone ourselves, our skills, our decisions. When an iron sword is sharpened, it’s scraped against a rough surface to scrape off excess and […]
My husband has a fantastic question he asks young people who come to him to learn more about the engineering field. When he asks them what kind of engineering, and they reply, “I don’t know,” he asks this simple question. “When you walk into a room, what do you notice and see?” Graduates, this simple […]
Once a year I lead a Time Management session at a nonprofit conference. Every year the same themes surface – having too much to do, living with constant interruptions and trying to keep too many plates spinning in the air. What struck me as participants talked was this frustration was as much an organizational culture […]
Many of you have been there. You mention a cultural reference from your youth and the other person has no clue what you are talking about. This happened with a friend when I mentioned Dana Garvey as, “You know one of the guys from Wayne’s World.” Her look was an immediate indication of my age, […]
Last week I wrote about the danger of dandelions in our yards and on our teams. In our teams, dandelions are unresolved conflicts that appear innocuous, but which spread quickly when left alone. Last week we focused on dealing with the dandelions that pop up so they don’t spread, but there’s a larger issue at […]
