By Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2005 In today’s business it’s obvious…or it should be, that each of us has only a part of the expertise or information we need to get our jobs done. As a result, we are more dependent on each other than our “American” independent spirit may want to acknowledge. We were Read More >

By Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2006 A colleague of mine from Australia, Geoff Taylor, recently wrote a great piece on managing virtual teams. I’ve included most of it below because I think it dovetails nicely with my recent briefing, “Prospering in a Flat World.” My additional comments are at the end. Geoff Taylor: In these Read More >

By Carl Robinson, Ph.D. copyright 2007 In the book, Coaching for Leadership: How the World’s Greatest Coaches Help Leaders Learn, Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan describe a practical team building approach that is effective, empowering and highly focused. Called, Team Building Without Time Wasting (TBWTW), their approach offers the specific steps and the insights needed Read More >

by Carl Robinson, Ph.D.  © 2008 When the economy is down, some bosses regress when it comes to being effective leaders.  Because they are afraid, they focus too much on “demanding” higher levels of performance rather than inspiring and leading the way. They stop thinking about motivating and slip into “command and control” mode and Read More >

Are successful leaders going to excel, regardless of the times in which they lead? Some may say yes. After all, Jack Welch lead General Electric through both solid and turbulent times, right? But hold on a moment. Many executives have been stumped stumped (and many of them have later failed) when trying to maneuver through Read More >

The trend toward an organizational “no complaining” rule is gaining popularity, so in this issue we will look at how and why companies are enlisting this rule as the bedrock of cultural change in their organization. Why do people complain? Usually for one of two reasons: (1) because it has become a habit and (2) Read More >

Teamwork. We hear about it all the time. Our business-speak is littered with “team” jargon. The term “teamwork” is so overused that it has all but lost its meaning. In your organization the word team may describe the entire company, self-selecting groups of individuals, or subsets of key individuals who have been identified to solve Read More >

High levels of Trust and Productivity are intricately linked. You can have one or the other independently, however to maximize team performance you must have both. And it’s not just a matter of trusting one another. Every team member must “buy in” to the mission of the team. Why is this particular group of individual being asked to work Read More >

Talent Audits Team talent audits are usually done during team formation, but they’re perhaps an even more effective tool to use when a team has gone stale or floundered in its mission. Effective teams need to capitalize on the strengths and weaknesses of members as those capabilities relate to achieving the goals of the team. Read More >

A few years ago, a client of mine was leading the marketing department of a major financial services firm: high profile, internationally respected brand.  Many of his people worked long hours and some traveled quite extensively. Yet, no one ever seemed to mind. In fact, there was always an energetic buzz about them. The group Read More >