This article was first published on April 19, 2006. Over the years I’ve written several pieces on the need for more frequent, creative, and sincere recognition. No matter the time, place, or location, if you survey employees about what sits in their craw, people routinely point out that they aren’t given enough recognition for their …
Dear Crucial Skills, I can’t believe I’m asking this question, because it seems antithetical to everything you talk about in your books, but is it ever possible to have a crucial conversation over the phone? So many of us are working in “virtual” companies, where much of the day-to-day work is done in conference calls …
Dear Crucial Skills, I was wondering if you could share your insights on a perplexing issue: How can I devise a plan to creatively/effectively communicate with workers on shift (those who can’t attend regular face-to-face meetings with supervisors, all-hands meetings with plant managers, etc.)? Our managers/supervisors are finding it hard to have crucial conversations with …
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, Influencer, and Change Anything. READ MORE Listen to Kerrying On via iTunes In the spring of 1958, in my seventh-grade Civics class, Mr. Edwards introduced a classroom full of slack-jawed students to the mysterious field of epistemology. Between …
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, Any advice for those of us caught in the role of “moderator” (willing or not) of a crucial conversation? Both as a manager of a team of high performing …
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, Influencer, and Change Anything. READ MORE Listen to Kerrying On via iTunes I write today’s Kerrying On to budding entrepreneurs, company owners, and everyone else who has worked in or managed a work team in an ever-changing business …
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, Influencer, and Change Anything. READ MORE Listen to Kerrying On via iTunes It’s a miracle my wife ever ended up marrying me. Her first experience with my family was at best awkward. Despite the fact that my mom, …
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Change Anything, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer. READ MORE Dear Crucial Skills, After initiating a crucial conversation effort, how do you evaluate outcome of the effort? What objective outcome assessment do you utilize? Signed, Curious Dear Curious, Over the years, we’ve …
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kerry Patterson is coauthor of four New York Times bestsellers, Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, Influencer, and Change Anything. READ MORE Listen to Kerrying On via iTunes For nearly three decades I worked on a variety of corporate-change projects. Every year during that time, the HR departments of most of the companies I …
Dear Kerry, In Master My Stories II, the Humanizing Question is “Why would a reasonable, rational and decent person do this?” Asking this question is often helpful in turning villains to humans and assuming the best in others. But what if the answer to the Humanizing Question is that this is not a reasonable, rational …
