How to handle criticism
October 2, 2011
Steven K Scott wrote that every criticism contains water, sand and gold. The water is the ‘noise’ in the criticism – the words that carry the message but don’t say much in and of themselves. The sand is the bit that stings – the part of the criticism you find virtually impossible not to take [...]
Read the rest of this entry »How to be assertive
September 25, 2011
Assertiveness is not about getting your way at the expense of others. Assertiveness is about standing up for your rights without violating the rights of others, and without feeling bad about doing so. Where do you start? Here are the three basic and essential steps… 1. Listen and show understanding 2. Say what you mean, [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Things charismatic people believe
September 18, 2011
There are different ‘ingredients’ to charisma but underpinning them all are the beliefs you adhere to as you live your life. Your mind-set, which is made up of your beliefs and assumptions, makes you who you are. So what do charismatic people tend to believe that contributes to their charisma? Here’s one… “Holding a clear [...]
Read the rest of this entry »The doorway to understanding
September 11, 2011
Do you listen in order to understand? Or do you simply listen in order to reply? Do you even realise how you listen? Think back to a recent conversation. How were you listening? Did you interrupt or wait impatiently for your chance to speak? How much of your attention was on the person speaking? Do [...]
Read the rest of this entry »70:20:10 misunderstanding
September 7, 2011
I read a recent paper on informal learning and social media tools. It was disappointing to see in the first paragraph the common misunderstanding of 70:20:10. This is NOT a recipe for success and saying that 70% of organisational learning “should” be informal is just plain wrong. The ratio arose out of several studies as [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Four powerful coaching questions
September 4, 2011
You will have heard by now how important coaching is as a management skill. Truly excellent managers are good coaches. Here is a very simple and easy four question coaching model you can use. 1. What’s now? (brings out the current situation) 2. What’s possible? (or, what is the best possible outcome in an ideal [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Context – do you need it or not?
August 29, 2011
People talk about contextualising learning so that it relates to actual operational issues. That will definitely help with transfer. This concept is something I have been mulling over with regards the difference between eLearning and eReference. eLearning is ‘just in case’ so needs the context for the learning to be embedded in the course if [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Thinking about stakeholders
August 28, 2011
Who are your stakeholders? Anything you do has stakeholders. Stakeholders are people who are affected by what you do, and therefore have an interest in it. They have an interest in what you do, how well you do it, when you do it, and if you care about them while you do it. So who [...]
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