Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
When I ran Human Resources for the drug distribution side of McKesson , prying 15 minutes from a distribution operating shift for employee communication basics was like taking bear cubs away from their parents.
Why is this important to you? Because the lessons McKesson supervisors learned should inform the communication practices of anyone who manages people from senior execs to first line supervisors.… Read the rest
Eight United States teams – four men’s and four women’s – of sweaty, baggy-shorted collegiate basketball players will be running up and down a wooden court that is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide trying to claim the winner’s trophy in what’s known as basketball’s Final Four over the next few days.
Basketball, more than any other sport, is the ultimate team experience: nothing else comes close in the way five players must play well together and the lessons for business are endless.… Read the rest
Land O’Spin is an occasional set of writings focused on best practices in coaching and assessment: how do take what you observe, know what it means, and draw conclusions about what outcomes will occur in the future.
There is nothing quite like a plumbing tract infection to cause you to slow down and lay low. One minute you’re watching March Madness, and the next moment you’re piling on the blankets to ward off chills that alternate with hot flashes – still with the TV as “company”.… Read the rest
I am no speechwriter nor am I a speech analyst: I stick to my knitting coaching teams and execs. But a “lite” version of an exercise I utilize I call “Road Trip” was one of the things my son learned at school Tuesday, January 20th as he and all the other kids from the lower grades watched the inaugural speech of a new President of the United States .… Read the rest
My dad, who passed away at age 96, referred to life in his later years as “Mike raising father.” From the land of what goes around comes around, my son Traylor seems to be inspiring the same type of learnings for this pop.
After lunchroom / playground duty with fellow volunteer parents Erica and Billy at the new school , I got to see a couple of my son’s classmates apply simple pragmatism to recess.… Read the rest
Yale professor and statistician Ed Tufte has crisply detailed the unfortunate trail of missed information that led to the death of astronauts and the failure of the Challenger spacecraft mission. In brief the issue was not that NASA lacked the relevant information to make a correct decision: they had the information – they just didn’t understand it.
My coaching work with start-up and leadership teams shares a similarity with Tufte’s work with the Challenger episode: how do you surface the most important information and act on it?… Read the rest