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Building a Brand

Commuting Article from globe and Mail

Fred didn’t believe in volunteerism. He’d rather spend his time getting just the right logo image communicated in all the social media. The question about the brand lay in which approach was more effective.

Crisis Management

Living with conflict is the hardest team skill to learn. Avoiding it means we fail to be the best.

Goals and Promises

Setting goals – easy.
Maintaining goals – challenging
Ignoring goals – expensive to everyone

Four Communication Keys

Valentine Excepts

To quote Candice Gottlieb-Clark of www.MediatingSolutions.com “Arguably the lifeblood of any business or organization, communication is key to teamwork. Basic communication ensures that all members of the team know what they are doing, why they are doing it, as well as when and how to get it done. Other essential elements include communicating about problems with the project, or conflicts on the team. With clear communication problems are discussed and resolved.”

Managers do not a Leader Make

Leading and managing are different talents. Confuse them and chaos triumphs

Stories and Planning – adversaries or allies?

Pursuing personal dreams can hurt the team dynamic unless it is well handled. That takes the craftsmanship of a risk taker. Pete was that guy but it was not without the challenge of a skeptical product manager and the raw truth of a keen research analyst.

Rumors, gossip and damages; a three legged stool

Rumors are like California fires, they spread so fast it takes a team to put them out. They will happen and only skill will address them.

Always look for the white elephant – it will be in the closet

Gwen loved Christmas parties. They were one of the few opportunities she had to show off her skills as a planner and organizer. This year everyone was excited to attend. The company had strong profits and rumors about bonuses being handed out at the party made it an event to include on the calendar. The [...]

The Team Bully – When a Song Isn’t Enough

Weasels - 'nuff said

Good teamwork skills include dealing with the team bully who occasionally joins. Great project managers can surprise everyone.

Before You Go, Say Goodbye

Process improvement has risk; to customers, the team and to you. Take it! Clare knew to get her performance report in before Friday, the day of yet another corporate reorganization. The HR team needed to set benchmarks for call center performance and managers needed to approve bonuses for those who met or exceeded their targets.  [...]