Bridgeman’s Principle (most productive day at work)
“A person is most productive the day before they go on vacation” – Bridgeman’s Principle “A person is least productive the day they return from vacation” – Bridgeman’s Corollary These principles were postulated by Bill Bridgeman, Vice President Commercial Sales, Bestbath, and a former senior partner in Portland Consulting Group. Having just returned from vacation, […]
Oasis
Most of us are scheduled wall-to-wall with appointments, deadlines, etc. I had a gift Tuesday afternoon – an appointment finished 30 minutes early. I had nobody and nothing clamoring for my time. I had an unexpected oasis in my schedule. J Too often, I use the oasis to power forward, starting work on my next […]
Drama and disagreement – the reality of organizations
Organizations would run SOOO much better if they didn’t have all the drama and disagreement that people cause! Even small organizations (think of families) can have underlying tension, disagreements, or outright hostility. That is the human condition. And, unless we have an organization with only one person, that’s the reality we get to live in. […]
Are people robots?
A typical job description defines the duties and responsibilities of a role, sometimes in great detail. This type of job description is a checklist to insure that a person performs the tasks that are listed. It creates a standard so we can judge right/wrong. Written in this manner, job descriptions do not inspire; they do […]
Honoring: A Trait of Effective Leaders
What does Memorial Day have to do with effective leadership? Quite a bit, actually. Memorial Day honors people who have died. But on Memorial Day, we should not honor their deaths – we should honor their lives – what they stood for, how they made their corner of the world a better place. We should […]
Compliment Sandwich is BAD Practice!
A “compliment sandwich” is a widely accepted practice of delivering bad news that a person’s performance needs improvement. A compliment sandwich starts with praise, then adds criticism, then finishes with praise. It’s supposed to make the listener more receptive and leave them feeling better. In fact, the more praise at the beginning and end, the […]
Life to the Max!
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly worn out, and screaming, ‘Woo hoo, what a ride!’” Plaque in the window of Found Objects, McMinnville, Oregon. When I […]
Reviving a Failed Implementation
How do you revive a failed implementation (assuming that you want to)? Whether it’s a new system, Lean, sustainability, makes almost no difference. If the failure was not caused by issues with technology (which can be fixed for a re-implementation), the real issues are the damaged morale and the strained relationships. Morale – when a team […]
S’mores
That favorite campfire dessert, S’mores, get their name from “Some more”, as in “I want some more”. This term can apply to our career and our life as well as our dessert. Each person is born with certain gifts, talents and proclivities. Our inner compass encourages us to use these gifts, talents, and proclivities. When […]
Gerbil Wheel
24/7, pedal to the metal, flat out. Were trapped on a gerbil wheel no matter how fast we run, the world wants us to run faster. Were wired into our work and our networks; we talk (but hopefully not text!) on our phones while were driving, we talk or e-mail on our smart phones while […]