WEBLOG Archive October 2008

WHO HOLDS YOU ACCOUNTABLE?

 Jamie and I did a presentation at the ODNet Conference in Austin, Texas earlier this month, and since we were there, I took the opportunity to pop into a session about employee engagement being presented by our friends and fellow Berrett-Koehler authors Dick and Emily Axelrod.

During the presentation, Dick and Emily asked us to engage in a few mini-conversations with our neighbors. My conversation partner was a young woman who  began working as an HR manager eight months ago after earning a master’s degree in Organization Development.

During…

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Oct 27, 2008 2:14 PM

IF YOU LOOK, THERE IS ENCOURAGEMENT

A hectic schedule has kept us from blogging, and we’re happy to get back to it again. We’ve set up alerts to topics we find relevant and interesting, and they often provide inspiration for this venue. Much of what we read, packaged as “advice for leadership”, reinforces our belief that too many organizations still rely on manipulation and parent-child conversations as a strategy for managing people at work. The themes, so familiar that people don’t even stop to think about them any more, center on:

√     How to do a better job building employee…

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Oct 25, 2008 10:55 AM

REFLECTIONS ON A RETREAT

As mentioned earlier, we recently spent a beautiful long weekend at Sunrise Springs, a resort outside of Sante Fe. We were there to attend the annual Berrett-Koehler authors retreat, an experience so enriching, rewarding and fun that we are already planning for next year's event. We were going to blog about this, but my shoulder surgery has made it difficult to type. In the meantime, a couple of our compadres and new friends, including Roberto Vargas and Amy Lenzo have written about their impressions.

We think you will enjoy them.

Roberto is…

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Oct 8, 2008 11:36 AM

A DIFFERENT KIND OF OFFICE POLITICS

We work at home, together, so we don't really worry about offending anyone at the office when we start spouting off our political opinions. For those who work in more traditional office settings, however, it is worth keeping an eye on that line where authentic conversations leave off and political browbeating sets in. That is why we are feeling downright giddy after Lisa Belkin at The New York Times mentioned our book in her Life's Work column on Tuesday. Please check it out: Talking Politics in The Office.

U.S. voters will be making a huge…

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Oct 3, 2008 3:51 PM

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