Partnership/Team Effectiveness

The Benefits of Over-Communicating

Posted by on Jun 4, 2011 | 1 comment

When in doubt about who’s doing what, OVER-COMMUNICATE. Ask questions. Air assumptions. Clarify, clarify, clarify. Frequent, direct communication prevents you from assuming that your colleague is going to do something, only to find out when it’s too late that he thought you were responsible. (Remember the old saw that when you ASSUME it makes an ASS of U and ME? It’s true.) Over-communication of this kind also prevents you from stepping on your collaborator’s toes when you take action that you thought was obvious without discussing it with her first. Explicit...

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In Praise of Partnership*

Posted by on Jun 21, 2010 | 0 comments

  I’m not sure when “partner” became a verb, and truth be told, my inner lexicographer probably winced the first few times I heard it. But now I have adopted it whole-heartedly. So much so that today I partnered with a terrific coach and consultant, Leigh Marz, to interview for an exciting consulting project involving three non-profit entities that are — you guessed it — partnering in service of a shared mission. Partnership offers so much more than going it alone. For Leigh and me, partnering provides complementarity of skills and experience. Our...

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Learning from the Seventh Circuit — the Art of Being Influenced

Posted by on Apr 22, 2010 | 0 comments

  The New York Times’ recent article about Seventh Circuit Judge Diane Wood, a “left-leaning woman in a world of right-leaning men,” highlights her ability to influence her colleagues — most notably conservatives Judge Richard Posner and Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook. Her skills as a persuader make her an attractive potential Supreme Court nominee to Democrats like me seeking to replace retiring Justice Stevens with a jurist who can influence Justice Kennedy to side with the more liberal wing of the high court. Enormous credit is due the extraordinary Judge Wood,...

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