We have all been there. We open an e-mail and there in block text with no paragraph breaks is a full page of words. Since we are viewing the preview page,  the entire note cannot be seen, but we do know it goes “over the horizon” onto who knows how many more pages.

What baffles me is that the people writing these tomes actually think they are communicating. Rubbish, they are just preparing a garbage plate special of words and expecting the world to eat every morsel. Of course they are wrong.

Learn how to get people to format and size e-mail notes so thay actually have the intended  impact in the real world.

http://www.leadergrow.com/AvoidGarbagePlateE-Mails.pdf

We get so many e-mails, we may not be aware of how much impact the first few words of an e-mail can have. The opening of an e-mail sets the tone for what is to follow.

It is well know that the first few seconds after we meet a new person, we instantly form an opinion that is hard to shake. The same goes for the openings of e-mails, yet many people do not realize the damage that can be done with a poor opening.

There are many first phrases that can bode well for good commication and several that can create formidable obstacles. Make sure your notes start out right.

The attached white paper is a short description of what to write and what to avoid.

http://www.leadergrow.com/E-Mailopenings-MakeThemWork.pdf

We have all worked in dysfunctional teams at some point and know the agony and frustration associated with them. Most of us have experienced some teams in our lives that were a joy.

There are hundreds of rules for getting teams to work better together. They all work if you can get the teams to really do them. I have two favorite rules that really make a difference in the quality of teamwork. They are:

1. Never make jokes in a team environment at the expense of one of the members
2. Develop a Team Charter with specific consequences for Social Loafing.

The attached white paper gives the rationale for these rules and how to accomplish them.
http://www.leadergrow.com/TwoRulesforImprovedTeams.pdf

Unfortunately, many organizations need to downsize people from time to time to remain viable. We all know these are not happy times for anyone. Trust almost always suffers during a downsizing. It takes a great deal of energy and planning to stage a successful downsizing event.

Most companies become myopic and do things that end up costing them dearly.  The damage done to the organization can be mitigated if HR and Line Managers could truncate things they believe are helpful but in reality backfire in the real world.
Read the entire white paper for symptoms and the antidote.

http://www.leadergrow.com/DownsizingDynamics.pdf

If we want more of a specific behavior, the best way to get it is to catch people doing it and reinforce them. Positive reinforcement is a really important management tool that can lead to better performance. Unfortunately, reinforcement can be a mine field for several reasons. Here are four ways reinforcement can lead to the opposite of the desired result.

1. Overdone tangible reinforcement
2. Insincere reinforcement
3. Not perceived as reinforcing
4. Reinforcement perceived as unfair

Learn why these 4 practices lead to disastrous results and also the antidote that will lead to the expected improvement in performance.

http://www.leadergrow.com/UbiquitousReinforcement.pdf

We tend to think of trust in one dimension, but there are several different ways trust plays out in organizations.

My favorite definition of trust is that when I trust someone, it means I believe he or she will always do what is thought to be in my best interest (even if I do not particularly appreciate it at the time).

We can contrast some dimensions of trust by considering what it is like to work in an organization with high trust versus one with low trust on several dimensions. Here are some of them:

1. Solving problems
2. Focus of thought and action
3. Communications
4. Customer Retention
5. Morale and Motivation
6. Productivity
7. Need for the leader to be perfect
8. Development of People
9. Reinforcement

In each of these areas, the contrast between working in a high trust environment versus a low one is dramatic. To learn more, check out this white paper..
http://www.leadergrow.com/TenHallmarksofHighTrustOrganizations.pdf

The ROI for improving peer relationships is immense. Yet, in the hubub of everyday organizational life, we often get caught up in petty squabbles that can sap relationships. Here are 13 ways to keep peer relationships healthy.

1. Use the Golden Rule with peers.
2. Make peace, not war.
3. Support the peer’s position.
4. Go the extra mile.
5. Foster stronger relationships.
6. Bond in social settings.
7. Negotiate with integrity.
8. Practice fairness.
9. Aviod blowing in a peer.
10. Don’t play the e-grenade game.
11. Never belittle a peer.
12. Admit your mistakes.
13. Offer real help.

These are just 13 out of hundreds of opportunities to improve working relationships between peers. Learn the logic behind these and print out a check list for people in your organization. Go to…
http://www.leadergrow.com/ReducingConflictBetweenPeers.pdf

We have all heard the phrase, “All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten.” Actually, in the working world this is true. Here are 5 rules we learned that can be applied to help working teams perform better if we would only practice them in the adult world:

1. Share everything
2. Play fair
3. Don’t hit people
4. Say you are sorry when you hurt someone
5. Take a break for cookies

To read the short white paper explaining these rules in the working world, go to http://www.leadergrow.com/TeamsandKindergarten.pdf

Much has been written about the characteristics of great leaders. I have found 13 characteristics that hold true for the great leaders I have known. There are other ingredients to excellent leadership, but if you have all 13 of these characteristics, you are probably one of the elite leaders.

Great Leaders:

1. Operate from a set of values
2. Are Congruent and live their vision
3. Are passionate and infect others with that passion
4. Value Transparency
5. Have high Emotional Intelligence
6. Never stop learning
7. Believe work is play
8. Balance the needs of stakeholders and don’t worry about popularity
9. Foster great followership
10. Make large trust deposits
11. Practice ubiquitous reinforcement
12. Do better in a crisis
13. Develop others

To read the details of these 13 dimensions, see my white paper   http://www.leadergrow.com/ThirteenGreatTruthsaboutLeadership.pdf