http://www.ChacoCanyon.com Tips, techniques, insights and inspiration on topics like person-to-person communications, project management, workplace politics, and workplace conflict. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/images/life-at-work-logo.gif http://www.ChacoCanyon.com Tips, techniques, insights and inspiration on topics like person-to-person communications, project management, workplace politics, and workplace conflict. 72 141 en-us Business/Management Copyright 2008 Richard Brenner http://backend.userland.com/rss Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT At times, we need to end the current conversation. It's going nowhere, or we have something important to do, or we just don't want to deal with the other person. Here are some suggestions for ending conversations. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080507.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080507.shtml Business/Management/Communication_Skills Business/Human_Resources/Employee_Relations/Conflict_Resolution rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 07 May 2008 04:30:00 EDT Much of the difficulty between people at work is avoidable if only we can find ways to slow down our responses to each other. When we hurry, we react without thinking. Here's a suggestion for increasing comity by slowing down. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080430.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080430.shtml Business/Human_Resources/Employee_Relations/Conflict_Resolution Business/Management/Communication_Skills rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:30:00 EDT The hands-on project manager manages the project and performs some of the work, too. There are lots of excellent hands-on project managers, but the job is inherently risky, and it's loaded with potential conflicts of interest. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080423.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080423.shtml Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:30:00 EDT When organizations suffer painful losses, their responses can sometimes be destructive, further harming the organization and its people. Here are some typical patterns of destructive responses to organizational loss. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080416.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080416.shtml Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:30:00 EDT Facilitators of synchronous distributed meetings (meetings that occur in real time, via telephone or video) can make life much easier for everyone by taking steps before the meeting starts. Here's Part III of a little catalog of suggestions for remote facilitators. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080409.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080409.shtml Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:30:00 EDT Projects never go quite as planned. We expect that, but we don't expect disaster! How can we get better at spotting disaster when there's still time to prevent it? "How to Spot a Troubled Project Before the Trouble Starts" is filled with tips for executives, senior managers, managers of project managers, and sponsors of projects in project-oriented organizations. Check it out! http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/products/troubled-projects.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/products/troubled-projects.shtml Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT Facilitators of synchronous distributed meetings -- meetings that occur in real time, via telephone or video -- encounter problems that facilitators of face-to-face meetings do not. Here's Part II of a little catalog of those problems, and some suggestions for addressing them. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080402.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080402.shtml Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:30:00 EDT Conflict can be destructive — or creative. If it's destructive, you can make it more creative, if you know how. You can do something about making your organization or your team more conflict-aware and more conflict-capable. Check out my Workplace Conflict Awareness Month Kit at http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/wcam.shtml . Special savings during April. Sorry, this offer has expired. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/wcam.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/wcam.shtml Business/Human_Resources rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT Whoever facilitates your distributed meetings -- whether a dedicated facilitator or the meeting chair -- will discover quickly that remote facilitation presents special problems. Here's a little catalog of those problems, and some suggestions for addressing them. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080326.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080326.shtml Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:30:00 EDT Perhaps the most significant difference between face-to-face teams and virtual or distributed teams is their potential to develop from workgroups into true teams -- an area in which virtual or distributed teams are at a decided disadvantage. Often, virtual and distributed teams are teams in name only. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080319.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080319.shtml Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:30:00 EDT Catch my presentation "Organizational Politics for People Who Hate Politics" March 18, 2008, at the Jacksonville Marriott on March 18, 2008. Have you ever felt powerless to implement an important new idea? Have you ever been "blind-sided" at a meeting? Have you ever lost two good employees because you could find no way to keep them from attacking each other? These are some of the issues of organizational politics. Many of us have become enmeshed in them from time to time, but we've also known some people who seem to be able to engage and prosper. How is that done? We'll inventory the challenges of organizational politics, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is *practical* -- attendees learn concrete techniques for dealing with the problems that arise in workplace politics, while keeping their integrity intact. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/products/101secrets-politics.shtml http://pmi-nefl.org/pmi-neflorg/events/ Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT Workplace threats come in a variety of flavors. One class of threats is indirect. Threateners who use the indirect threats aim to evoke fear of consequences brought about not by the threatener, but by other parties. Indirect threats are indeed warnings, but not in the way you might think. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080312.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080312.shtml Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations Business/Human_Resources/Employee_Relations/Conflict_Resolution Business/Human_Resources rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:30:00 EDT To become more agile, organizations have taken on riskier projects. That's why leaders must be more receptive to guidance from subordinates. This program helps people in subordinate roles learn how to say no to power, and helps people in super-ordinate roles learn how to hear no when it's said. Rick Brenner will be speaking on this topic to the Northeast Florida chapter of the Project Management Institute, in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 17. Read more about this program at http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/workshopsseminars/saynotopower.shtml . http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/workshopsseminars/saynotopower.shtml http://pmi-nefl.org/events/ Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT When solving problems, groups frequently get stuck in circular debate. Positions harden even before the issue is clear. Here's a framework for exploration that can sharpen thinking and focus the group. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080305.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/080305.shtml Business/Management/Communication_Skills Reference/Knowledge_Management/Knowledge_Creation/Problem_Solving rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:30:00 EST Links to articles from Point Lookout that touch on Ethics at Work. http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/ethics.shtml http://www.ChacoCanyon.com/pointlookout/ethics.shtml Business/Human_Resources/Employee_Relations/Conflict_Resolution Business/Human_Resources Business/Management/Ethics Business/Human Resources/Employee Relations Business/Management/Organizational_Change Business/Management/Project_and_Program_Management Business/Management/Communication_Skills Computers/Internet/E-mail Computers/Internet/Etiquette/E-mail Reference/Knowledge_Management/Knowledge_Creation/Problem_Solving Science/Science_in_Society/Skeptical_Inquiry/Critical_Thinking rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com (Rick Brenner) Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure Wed, 07 May 2008 04:30:00 EDT