In our blog series addressing meetings, including the Meeting Before the Meeting (MBM) and the Meeting After the Meeting (MAM), we recently addressed the topic of horrible meetings.

It’s easy to be down on meetings, but there is hope, and I have proof. Here it is.

I recently attended an ALL-DAY meeting that startled – kind of even shocked — me. Here’s what happened:

• Nobody checked out, interrupted, texted, surfed, Tweeted or otherwise attempted to multi-task.
• People listened. Deeply and attentively.
• People shared their honest thoughts – their truths. No holding back, false diplomacy or honesty after the meeting

… Read the rest

A couple of weeks back I wrote about one of the biggest questions that most of us face at some point in our careers – are you ready to take on the responsibilities of being a supervisor?  If you haven’t done so already, you might like to spend a couple of minutes taking the survey to see where you fit on the supervisor readiness spectrum.

In looking at the results I found that there were clear divisions in the results between areas where respondents were comfortable with what would be expected of them as supervisors and areas where there was … Read the rest

It was an exhausted Friday night and, full disclosure, the only fuel left in the tank was directed to channel surfing. I came across a rockumentary on Iron Maiden and noticed a comment by one of the band members that on tour inSouth Americathey had to play “at 150%.”

This was striking because 24 hours earlier in a coaching session the client made a reference to working “at 150%.”

Questions of synchronicity aside, what is going on in the workplace? We used to hear about giving it 110%, and so like inflation maybe it’s just gone up over time. But … Read the rest

There is an old metaphor in the world of systems thinking that if you drop a frog in hot water, it will hop out right away. But put one in room temperature water and then turn up the heat very slowly and the frog won’t realize what’s happening. Voila. Frog’s legs for dinner (if you like that kind of thing.)

Such is our state today with organizations, work and authority.

All around us, the world is changing very fast – scary fast. Information and personal mobility, a new generation of workers, the continuing shift from industrial to knowledge economies, globalization, … Read the rest

Imagine this scenario – it could be a comedy. A family is sitting around complaining about having to mop up the wet floor once again. They had to do it just yesterday, and then a few times last week. They keep mopping up, and then the floor gets wet again.

This is because there’s a hole in the roof.

This metaphor may help us to understand the latest results from the Partnership for Public Service’s Best Places to Work survey.

The main message is that while it is hardly anything to crow about, perceptions of supervisory effectiveness are better … Read the rest

Another item in the ongoing – and looking set to go on for a long time – GSA saga has been the $75,000.00 bicycle-building exercise designed to promote team-building.

You could practically feel the eye-rolling in the readers’ comments around this.  Why do people have to build a bike or engage in any other ropes, wilderness or managed survival activity apparently unrelated to real work to “get” what teams are all about?

To start to answer this, let me share that in one instance of such a simulation, one participant actually “shushed” another. In another case, one person ‘took over’ … Read the rest

I was working from home today and at midmorning heard a steadily growing roar as an airplane flew closer and closer. It was unusually loud, and I had the usual fear of the thing crashing into the house, but it wasn’t loud enough to prevent me from hearing my wife yell, “Mark. Look outside the front door right now!”

She had seen the final flight of the Discovery Space Shuttle, being transported on top of a 747 to its final resting place here in Washington.

I missed it, but I immediately Googled on video to see if someone with a … Read the rest

For nearly 40 years, Management Concepts has led the way in helping federal employees, supervisors, and leaders become more effective.  In 2012 we’re renewing that commitment to help federal leaders foster their supervisors’ skills and talents.

Our main effort is the Professional Government Supervisor Program (PGSP), which just launched.  It pairs Management Concepts’ supervision experts with government agencies to determine the knowledge and skills supervisors most need to perform in ways that will inspire their employees to deliver at the highest level.

We are also launching this blog.  GovSupervisor will bring together thought leaders from Management Concepts and from across … Read the rest