You transmit and receive meaning through a communication system that uses tools, such as words, sounds, tones, rhythm, touch, movement and so on. Words are a powerful tool within the system. They are used more consciously than any of the other tools. This entry is the first in a series of blog entries about word choices, I will focus on two … [Read more...]
Tell Him?
It's ironic that the Baseball Writers Association of America named Joe Girardi the National League's 2006 Manager of the Year. Giardi was recently fired by the Florida Marlins despite managing a young, low-rated team into contention. It seems his problem wasn't performance but rather communication. Baseball reporters speculate the Marlins fired … [Read more...]
Clarify the Story
Jake tossed and turned. He looked at the bedside clock. 3 AM. "I need sleep," he thought to himself. But sleep would not come. Only worry about tomorrow's meeting. Edmund, Jake's manager's manager, enjoyed probing managers in his organization to discover how well they were doing. He expected his managers to lead people so they wanted to follow. … [Read more...]
Go Dark Loudly
The answer is "X has gone dark". The question is "What frustrates me?" I don't like feeling frustrated. As a member a geographic team, I communicate with my teammates by either email or phone. Sometimes teammates go dark—they completely stop communicating. Paul went dark recently. Attempts to contact him by email received no reply, … [Read more...]
Influencing Management
In response to my post entitled Check the Box where I suggest that you choose not to argue with your manager about doing a task whose primary purpose is the furtherance of a PR campaign with their manager, my colleague Bob Lee writes "How much Fantasy Experienced As Reality is building up above?" It depends on your point of view, Bob. For Susan, … [Read more...]