WEBLOG | Have you had an AUTHENTIC CONVERSATION today? | Maren Showkeir and Jamie Showkeir

POSITIVELY HIGH-PERFORMING

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:32:44 -0700

If you can personally commit to:

* Seeing others as free to choose and being accountable for outcomes

* Using language for disclosure and engagement

* Choosing accountability for the success of the whole

* Forgoing compliance for consent and commitment

* Grieving and letting go when necessary

And when you conduct yourself by:

* Sharing your point of view truthfully and with goodwill

* Taking the other’s person side

* Owning your contribution to a difficult situation

* Framing choices for yourself and others

* Acknowledging doubt, concern and failure

then…

A CONVERSATION THAT'S ALL WRITE

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:17:53 -0700

As I contemplated a career change a few years ago, I figured the writing and editing I had done as a newspaper journalist would be valued transferable skills no matter where I landed. As a consultant, teacher, author and blogger, they have come in handy almost every day. But I had an insight about these skills while working with clients last week — the rules of good writing can apply to managing authentic conversations as well.

Writers are often advised to consider their stories through these three lenses:

· Who cares?

· Show me,…

TRUTH, TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:36:56 -0700

In honor of Halloween, here are some scary numbers from Leadership IQ, a Washington DC based training company who surveyed 3611 employees in the US and Canada:

· 70% of American employees say a good, trusting relationship with their boss is the foundation of job satisfaction

· 53% of American employees are suspicious that their boss is dishonest

A Globe and Mailarticle, “Why bosses aren’t trusted,” quoted Mark Murphy, chairman of Leadership IQ, saying, “When times get tough … focusing on spreadsheets seems a lot easier than talking to…

STOPPING THE PRESSES

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:12:05 -0700

The New York Times made an announcement this week that another 100 jobs will be going away and the conversations about the future of newspapers are roiling once again.

As a 25-year veteran of newspaper journalism who left the business a few years ago, it’s been like being witness to a slow train wreck as hundreds of my friends and former colleagues get laid off. A few survive, many don't make it.

Every time another announcement is made, the forums and the conversations in the blogosphere heat up again. Not long ago, I was reading the comments…

PEOPLE: THE 'I' IN ORGANIZATIONS

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:34:15 -0700

It may be less than humble to say “great minds think alike” when one of the bloggers we admire most posts on a similar theme — on the same day no less — as we did. But we're going to say it anyway.

CV Harquail, an organizational identity and reputation scholar whose blog Authentic Organizations we recommend highly, yesterday wrote this:

When managers and leaders are considering their organization’s strategy, its core competencies, and even its identity, they often forget that organizations are composed of people.

The people who compose this…

NAMING THINGS AND THE POWER OF LABELS

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:07:47 -0700

By naming things, we create a reality. People and things become what we name them.

The very moment that we assign names and labels to people and things, we breathe independent life into them, quickly forgetting that we created them in the first place. We project power on our creations and allow ourselves to be defined and ruled by them. We become convinced we are what we are named. We become convinced that others are what we have labeled them, oblivious to the danger that comes with exercising our genius for using words to create truth. …