Category: Communication

A participant in a critical thinking class I taught recently suggested a solution to a problem I’d posed to the group. “Let’s do a PMI analysis,” I suggested, expecting the class to be familiar with the tool. None were. The tool can be a very productive way to frame a discussion. What is a PMI […]

Writing clearly and effectively is difficult — in fact, there’s no chance that you’ll get it right the first time….which is why you get to rewrite. Rewriting isn’t about fixing your mistakes, rewriting is about adding excellence. Here’s a three-part plan for doing rewriting right.My buddy Mal Stiefel once said he was never at a loss for words […]

In the end, team success isn’t about the abilities of the individual team members — it’s about how well the team members can work together to leverage each other’s abilities. And, for team members to work together well, they all need to be experts at four skills. There are four skills that every team member needs for the team […]

A conflict involves two people: you and somebody else. The key to successfully resolving those conflicts often comes down to recognizing two things — First: Realizing that you have several options available to you, and Second: Ensuring the other person understands you. In Learning Tree’s course on conflict management and resolution, we look at a conflict from three perspectives: […]

One of my favorite tools to use when I am facilitating a meeting is PO, which is short for provocation operation. Edward de Bono coined the word PO for use in the lateral thinking process. The idea of PO is to help move thinking or a discussion onward by allowing out-of-the-box thinking. It is used to introduce an […]