Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
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.
Employment testing is (back) in vogue, and with the recession in place it’s likely to continue: the news, similar to an old adage about dogs, is that some employers use employment personality testing for hiring purposes because they can.… Read the rest
A little experience goes a ways, and a lot of experience goes even further. It may not mean you know the answers to the future, but it provides a data set that is significantly greater than those who are newly initiated.
I remember Todd Wanerman from the preschool our son Traylor attended (and on whose board I still sit) assuring us that despite my son Traylor’s fierce declaration – “I’m going to wear pull-ups until I’m five!”… Read the rest
From the headline of Tom Abate’s story in the San Francisco Chronicle “Roche-Genentech deal called close, with offer raised”, folks at 1 DNA Way in South San Francisco should take a look across the bay at Chiron’s former campus in Emeryville to see their likely future.
As noted elsewhere (see the “Land O’Spin series on best practices of assessment on this blog), one of the best predictors for future behavior is to look at past patterns of behavior.… 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.
The news came in different ways about different people but the intersection was all mine: addition by subtraction was at play.
The sports news channels were filled with the predictable dispatches about Terrell Owens ‘ release from yet another National Football League team – this time the Dallas Cowboys.… Read the rest
Having had the fortune to live and work through four recessions , the dynamics of the employment market and how most companies approach these sorts of times have gotten in better focus than when I first graduated – and encountered my first working-person recession in 1974.
Based on first-hand experiences with those recessions, as well as a personal temperment to be optimistic when I can see a reasonable path being laid for recovery, I expect that I’ll see another four or five recessions before my working days are done.… Read the rest
In the earlier two posts [Land O’Spin] two things were covered regarding assessment basics: 1) Watch and note behaviors (what did people or organizations do), and 2) when assessing something, what sort of behaviors, actions or characteristics are you looking to see demonstrated or evidenced?
In my coaching work, whether with individuals or teams, the first thing I start do is observe: what’s going, what do I see, what other actions or behaviors are triggered, etc.?… Read the rest