We were recently opening a Leadership workshop, and we felt that we needed a quick activity to focus the group on the topics of leadership, communication and trust. I had seen the following activity a few weeks before and decided to give it a try. A real winner! See what you think.
Goal: for partners to communicate and cooperate to successfully transfer water from one cup to another.
Props: one plastic cup per person; water source
Set Up Steps (Choose to word these steps in whatever way matches your style. Just make sure that these essential points are covered.)
Potential Debriefing Questions
The Three Critical Management Inputs to Employee Performance
Picture This: you come around the corner and, without intending to, observe Joe, one of your direct reports, in his cubicle hanging out on Facebook. You’ve spoken with him (with everyone, actually) about the fact that your division is lean and how everyone needs to “pick it up a notch.” You are pretty certain that he is aware of the recent “cease and desist” memo from corporate about unapproved online use.
How does this scenario make you feel? What would you do?
Situations like these put many managers on edge. They know that Joe’s behavior right now is an issue, but “it’s not all that bad.” Many managers will avoid situations like this one. Unless and until Joe’s behavior is “over the top,” they reason, “it’s not worth the effort.”
We’re not here to judge any manager’s decision in the moment about which behaviors merit addressing or not. All too frequently, however,
Continue reading »
What to Look For, What to Look Out For, How to Add To
I received notice from another nationally recognized training company yesterday inviting me to their one day seminar for “transitioning into leadership.” As best I can tell, it is designed for front line employees who have recently been promoted to a supervisory role. A “Supervisory Skills 101.”
In terms of topics covered, there were some of the usual suspects: leadership vs. management (I’ve expressed thoughts before on the usefulness of the leadership vs. management discussion … moving right along …), communication, delegation, conflict resolution, building your team, and four or five other “people skills.”
Two general observations, without knowing anything further about the course.
Continue reading »
