Management

Nov
15

Tell Me a Story

Storytelling can be very useful in a variety of organizational settings.  You can tell stories for presentations, managing staff, motivating colleagues, and training. In our Effective Utility Management workshops, we have a structured training module to help you learn about this powerful tool for communication and influence. Your position as a manager and leader can […]

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Aug
16

Characteristics of Great Leaders

Recently we’ve looked at the skills needed to be a good manager – the foundation of leadership.  Today we are going to look at what’s involved in making the leap from being a good manager to becoming a great leader. Our goal here is to highlight some of the most important characteristics while recognizing there […]

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Aug
09

3 Skills of a Situational Leader

To become an effective situational leader, you need to master three skills: Diagnosis Flexibility Partnering for Performance Diagnosis To be an effective situational leader, you must determine the development level of your direct report.  The key to diagnosing is focusing on two factors – skills and motivation. Skills Skills are the sum of knowledge and […]

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Jul
26

Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Teamwork is essential in most organizations.  And most organizations, find that their teams exhibit one or more of the five dysfunctions identified by Patrick Lencioni in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. In our last installment, we identified the five problems that all teams must overcome.  Today, we’ll share some of Lencioni’s ideas […]

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Jul
19

Five Problems All Teams Face

In his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni  identifies the five major problems all teams must overcome in order to become a high performing unit.  Today we’ll take a look at the five dysfunctions model to get a good understanding of these issues so you can identify any that may be present […]

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Jul
05

How Do You Deal with Conflict?

Conflict is defined as a difference of wants, needs, or expectations.  The workplace is filled with people who have differences of wants, needs, and expectations.  Naturally, conflicts will occur.  These conflicts can be an asset to the organization. If managed correctly, they may be opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and improvement. 5 Conflict Management Styles So, […]

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Jun
28

How to Manage Change and Transition

Effective leaders consistently embrace and manage change in order to improve organizational effectiveness. According to William Bridges, author of Managing Transitions, change is the event and transition is the psychological process one goes through when experiencing change.  Even if the change is perceived as a good change, there is still a process we have to go […]

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Jun
22

How Do You Lead Change?

A critical expression of leadership is the ability to produce change within an organization. Caretaker managers can keep things going on a steady path, but leaders are required if the organization is to pursue a new path or rise to a significantly higher level of performance.  A primary competency of leadership is the ability to […]

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