Yes, and … But
Using “Yes, and …” in a business context can create the same type of creativity and collaboration as it does in theater. At the very least, it’s not a blocker to conversation like “No” or “Yes, but …”
Sometimes One Is Greater Than Three
What would it look like for your organization to examine all of your 3Ps and remove as many as possible in pursuit of permission? How much and what types of energy could be shifted from bureaucracy to creativity?
Call Them Anything But Soft
They encompass a set of skills that contribute to workplace success within a specific social context. In other words, they are skills that enable us to play nicely with others. And in today’s highly complex and interdependent workplaces, they are essential even in traditional “hard skills” jobs like finance, engineering, and software development.
5 Non-Traditional Definitions of Leadership
“Did you notice that none of the questions dealt with being or becoming the boss? That’s because leadership isn’t about being in charge. Titles may come with rank and authority, but they too often come without leadership qualities or the knowledge of what good leadership looks like. Simply being in charge is assumed to be enough.”
I’m a Failure and I’m Damn Good at It!
"One of the best ways to do that is to create a culture of experimentation and fast failure, where work occurs in small batches and failures are less consequential. In a culture like this, learning is the primary goal. Questions transform from 'How do we not fail?' to 'What’s the next thing we can do to learn more about our product, our customers, our organization?'"
3 Agile Ways to Make Silence Golden
As an agile coach, scrum master, or facilitator, silence can be one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox. That may seem counterintuitive given the necessary focus on collaboration in agile ways of working, but here are three ways to use silence to improve communication.
How to Say Yes and No
It’s inevitable. Whether agile teams or not, whether Scrum or not, whether teams or individual contributors, someone will always show up with a “small request” or “just one more thing” or my personal favorite, “Can you do me a favor?”
Enough Already
I have a personal mission of helping people to not hate going to work. I attempt to fulfill that mission by helping organizations become more agile and helping teams and individuals become more resilient and deliver awesome products. These last seven bullets are just the tip of the iceberg of things I care about in trying to do this work. What are the things you care about?