Photo by Ragnar Singsaas

What if this year’s Nobel Peace Prize committee members worked in our organizations?

Our work worlds would be paradise—well, at least we wouldn’t be wondering what fresh hell or other rabbit hole we had fallen into.

In this fantasy world, recognition would be regular—or at least once a year for major acknowledgements. We’d also appreciate people for their potential, their hopes, and their inspiration.

Even more basic, we’d remember to recognize people in a timely fashion instead of routinely forgetting to thank them.  The belatedly—and sometimes begrudgingly—thanks for prior year’s accomplishments would be an outdated artifact.

We’d have a culture of appreciation, which would make our work environment more enjoyable, enriching and motivating.

I can dream, can’t I? This vision came to me after two dramatically different events happened within days of each other.

First was the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, which caught everyone by surprise. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Harvard Business School professor, told her blog readers that “prizes are now increasingly popular as incentives for innovation and change instead of rewards for what is already established.”

She wrote that we should interpret this year’s Nobel Prize as a sign that the “Nobel Committee wants to influence U.S. politics by giving Obama a booster rocket” that she “presumes they hope will help get his agenda enacted.”

Second was my participation in IABC’s Pacific Plains Regional  2009 Exchange Conference, which featured the session The Carrot Principle: Recognition Changes Everything. Chris Kendrick of the O.C. Tanner Company, gave a high energy talk about the black hole of workplace recognition.

“Recognition is America’s most underused motivational tool,” he explained while throwing carrots and other rewards to audience members who correctly answered his quiz questions. Research has shown the tight link between appreciation and engagement and how recognition drives results.

Yet recognition is sadly lacking in organizations worldwide, especially in terms of frequency. For example, 88% of workers cite lack of acknowledgement as their top work issue. Gallup’s research has shown that people in high-performance cultures—regardless of what motivates them— want some form of recognition or praise once every seven days.

Recognition feels good to the recipient and the receiver. And especially in these tough turbulent times, why can’t we remember to take a few moments to recognize people? For basically little time and no money, we can get huge benefits and relieve some of the crabbiness in the workplace. (See “Crank Out the Crabbiness” in July’s The LEAN Communicator.) And furthermore, why can’t we appreciate both past actions and potential behavior?

In other words, in addition to paying it forward, recognize it forward!

Be a visionary leader/manager/colleague and look around the corner to catch someone about to do something right. Then call them on it—showing your sincere appreciation.

The workplace—and the world—will be a better place.

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Yes, it should be "It's about Trust!"

Looked in a mirror lately to make sure you’re presentable? Or at least conveying your preferred image? Hair combed? Teeth clean? No clothing malfunctions?

Probably yes, considering how few truly slovenly people I see. But I keep spotting bad writing everywhere I look.

Why can’t people be vain about their printed words? Carelessness about poor grammar, misspellings, and word misusage is running rampant. And it can hurt your image, just as much as fashion mistakes or strong body odor.

For example, I’ve been hit over the head with the following just in the past few weeks:

Wrong word in a document by an employee of an admired Fortune 500 company: “We work with them to ensure that they’re presentations and publications….”

Misspelled word in a personal email message from an outsourcing company of a highly-respected Fortune 500 company: “Thank you for the informaiton you already provided.”

Weird page numbering from another outsourcing company for yet another well-known Fortune 500 company: “Page 5 of 4.”

Yes, everyone (including yours truly) makes mistakes. But we have tools, such as spell check and colleagues to help us. And whether you’re providing proof points, requesting action, or telling a good story, you need to proof your work.

After you use spell check, try these five ways to check your writing.

1.  Put it aside for awhile and then re-read it.

2.  Even better, read it out loud.

3.  Print it out and read it. (Yes, this isn’t a green solution, but it’s better than littering with bad grammar.)

4.  Ask someone to read it for you.

5.  Read it upside down or right to left.

Errors can tarnish not only your reputation but also those who are associated with you. For instance, the outsourcing company manager who misspelled “information” also mangled the spelling of my client’s name, deleting about 30% of the letters.

I offered to buy him some vowels once I get paid for my work. I also said if I didn’t know his company better, I’d be questioning whether I wanted to be connected with an outsourcing firm as sloppy as this one.

Yes, I’m a snob. I think it shows respect to your readers to use correct grammar and spelling. It also saves them time when you write and spell properly.

For example, consider “lean” versus “learn,” “it’s” versus “its,” and “our” versus “are.” Change the word, change the meaning.

What do you think?

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Photo by PHLAIRLINE.COM

“A 300-lb man has gone berserk toward the back of the plane! …. And he’s taking off all of his clothes!”

 That explained the loud ruckus  I heard on my early morning flight, Southwest Airlines 947 on Aug. 20 about 30 minutes outside of Oakland en route to Las Vegas.

I suddenly realized I needed to be awake, alert, and prepared …for almost anything… especially since I was sitting in the exit row a few rows in front of the action.  

As the co-author of Leading People Through Disasters , I’ve experienced my share of crises, either first-hand or vicariously. But never anything like this incident. A man exposed himself to a passenger. She screamed. He  punched her, and then he stripped off all of his clothes.

Even though I’m sure no playbook existed for this exact situation, Southwest’s flight attendants and pilots handled everything extremely well. For example, they:

Mobilized help fast from available resources. The flight attendants quickly enlisted several big male passengers to provide them with back-up support. These volunteers were ready to help subdue the wild passenger. Others stood guard in front of the cockpit door.

Adjusted their communications to fit the situation. The pilots and flight attendants chose not to use the PA system to make any announcements. They did not want to do anything that might further agitate the naked man. Instead, they went up and down the aisles speaking in soft voices saying we were returning to Oakland and asking us to stay in our seats. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked as everyone cooperated.

Acknowledged that the crisis you plan for is seldom the one you face. As I later learned, Southwest had removed all of its blankets on board as a precaution against spreading swine flu-related germs. However, the blankets would have been a handy tool for wrapping the naked passenger when escorting him out the rear door of the plane.

Delivered support before asked. While law enforcement interviewed the immediate witnesses, the rest of us stayed on the plane. Those of who had missed our connections in Las Vegas, the plane’s first scheduled stop, were then able to get off the plane for rerouting. Ground crew members helped us get new flights. They also provided us with vouchers for future travel with no questions asked. Then the  next day, I received an email from Southwest’s Assistant Manager of Proactive Customer Service Communications (What a title!) thanking us passengers for our patience and cooperation as well as letting us know Southwest values our continued patronage.

And as a participant in this strange situation, I recognized the importance of going with the flow and also depending on the kindness of strangers. I was trying to fly to Philadelphia; however, Southwest had no more empty seats that day. I thought I could fly into Baltimore and then take Amtrak from the Baltimore airport station to downtown Philadelphia. But since I seldom travel the Northeast Corridor any more, I wanted to validate my travel plans with people who might know. I asked some travelers who were from the East Coast if my plan made sense and they said yes.

So I traveled to Philadelphia by plane and train, arriving at my hotel more than six hours late. But at least I hadn’t spent the night on the tarmac. Plus, I had a great story to tell my meeting colleagues.

This incident also reinforced the importance of being prepared for emergencies. And while it’s important to be lean and act just-in-time most of the time, it helps to have “just-in-case” emergency supplies.

Now’s a good time to prepare and plan. September is National Preparedness Month  in the United States.

 How ready are you for a crisis, naked or fully-clothed?

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2007 steam pipe explosion at 41st and Lex, NYC by sebinnyc's

Experience can be an excellent tool. You can save time by cutting to the chase. You know what to do. Been there. Done that.

But what if you discover you’re chasing the wrong things (or not doing the right things)—thanks to the biases of your past experiences?

I recently realized some very old experiences were getting in my way. To help you avoid my problems, I’m sharing three examples here.

1. Asking good questions. In a recent LEAN Communications workshop, I was making the point that you can improve your listening by asking powerful open-ended questions. I shared my favorite questions and opened up the session to discussion. One individual immediately asked, “I always like to ask, ‘What do you think?’ It’s interesting that you don’t show that as a good question.”

She’s absolutely right! And the back story is that I stopped asking that question long ago when I got the answer, “Well, I don’t think anymore.” (For the full story, check out Think! An Effective Communication Technique.)

So now I’ve put that question back in my repertoire along with the other 18 questions the group and I developed. “What do you think?” is short, to the point and can elicit helpful data.

2. Respecting privacy. Even though 20 years have flown, the August 19, 1989 Gramercy Park steam pipe explosion, which dwarfed the 2007 incident, remains my defining New York City story. The asbestos dust coating my neighborhood has long settled and been cleaned up. And I’ve since sold my co-op apartment and moved west to California. Vivid memories remain though, as well as my predisposition to prefer openness over confidentiality.

I chose to cope with the uncertainty of the situation by deciding I wouldn’t care about my loss of privacy. For almost six months, while my neighbors and I lived in hotels and vacant apartments around New York City, a variety of workers cleaned our apartment building and the individual units inside and out, including rummaging through all of our possessions and helping themselves to trinkets they liked. My stress level fell with my attitude, but so did my acknowledgement that others may prefer to keep secrets.

To compensate, I try to be very discreet and confidential with information that others entrust with me. Just recently, though, I had to remind myself that many individuals and companies have very good reasons for keeping a number of issues confidential, and I need to respect and honor that. It helps to listen well, both to what’s said and unsaid, as well as ask good questions.

3. Setting and protecting boundaries. In reflecting on the 20th anniversary of the steam pipe explosion, I realized another unintended consequence, which is hurting me financially this year. One company’s big mistake 20 years ago is now benefitting several Fortune 500 companies in small ways.

Here’s how. Con Edison, the utility company,  was responsible for the steam pipe blast that caused three deaths and a health care emergency for hundreds of others. Con Ed agreed to do the right thing, after much pressure from our co-op board of directors, city government and the city, state and federal Departments of Environmental Protection and with the New York media breathing down their neck. Con Ed cleaned up the neighborhood, our building and our apartments and paid for our expenses while our homes remained inhabitable.

As victims of a man-made disaster, we didn’t hurt financially. In fact, I was able to stash away savings during that time because Con Ed paid many of my expenses, including hotel room, food and clothes. Years later, I counted on that reserve when I started my firm, Connect Consulting Group.

Now fast forward to this year’s economic crunch. Many of my clients are intent on preserving cash so they’re lengthening the process it takes to qualify consultants, issue purchase orders and pay invoices. What had been a 45-day process a couple of years ago has now extended into 120-180 days for some clients—generally under the banner of complying with The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Yet, my client contacts are eager for me to start work once they approve my letter of agreement. This means I’m often working months before I get any money for my labor. It’s rather ironic that as a small business I am serving as a bank for several Fortune 500 companies.

This time around, I don’t have the government, media and community watchdogs to safeguard me. I’ve got to stand up for myself and point out the hypocrisy of the situation. Do these same companies expect their customers to use their products for several months without purchasing them? I don’t think so.

I also don’t know the best course of action for solving this problem. I’ve learned a lesson but don’t know how to avoid repeating it.

Ideas, anyone?

Also, what’s in your past that sometimes hinders, not helps, your progress?

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Want to improve your chances of winning one of the top three prizes in the 2009 LEAN Communications™ contest?

Follow these three simple, yet tricky guidelines that have tripped up past entrants. These guidelines also can help you with your regular work.

(As background, this annual contest, which is FREE again this year, is designed for LEAN Communicators who are working smarter. The contest recognizes individuals who achieve outcomes, not outputs. Your work doesn’t have to be pretty, complicated, or multifaceted. Instead, it needs to fit a need and get results.)   

1. Be brief. Use just one page to write up entry, as required. Spare the air and get to the point. As one of my clients used to say, “If it takes a staple, it’s too much information.”  

2. Be bright. Crisply describe the direct results and value you achieved with your communications. Remember, your goal is to get measurable results, not to undertake activities. Your customers care about what you’re doing FOR them to add value, not what you’re doing. So out with outputs and in with outcomes.

3. Be gone. Email the entry form to contest@leancommunicator.com by the Aug. 14 deadline with a custom file name. Last year, 50% of the entrants sent in their application with the original file name: “2008contestentry.doc”. They were dependent on the contest administrator to rename, store and recover their documents accurately.

As a good rule of thumb for all situations, think before you name your files. If you and your organization don’t have a file-naming process (and you should!), consider what naming convention makes the most sense. Will you and others know what the file is? Can everyone easily store it? Can everyone find it? (For all the problems with bad document names, see my rant about the importance of having customer-centered document names.)

And special thanks to Margaret Lahey, Integrated Marketing Coordinator, MailerMailer. Last year, she won  second place for MailerMailer’s e-mail newsletter process redesign. She and her team demonstrated to her customers – e-newsletter publishers – how to create an e-newsletter efficiently and effectively and maximize its value. She also volunteered her team to create the LEAN Communications™ contest seal pictured above.

Good luck to all you contest entrants!

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Congratulations to Gustav, who passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen®  test on his first try. In this 10-point test, 2-year-old Gustav (now Gustav CGC) showed that he has good manners at home and in the community.

The CGC program is a two-part certification program that stresses appropriate conduct for dogs and responsible pet ownership for their humans. As I was taking the pledge to attend to Gustav dog’s health, safety, exercise, training and quality of life needs, I started wondering….

What if we had a companion program for humans, a Corporate Good Citizen Program? Yes, many companies have their own formal codes of conduct programs in which employees agree to do the right things. They often are requested to read the code, become familiar with it, and then complete a paper or online form to acknowledge they’ve paid attention. Does the content really stick? And does it apply to all situations?

The beauty of CGC for canines is that they have to show they can do the right things (10 mini-tests) to an impartial evaluator. Some of these tasks don’t translate to humans all that well, such as sitting politely for petting.

However, some of the other canine items could work. Consider:

1. Accepts a friendly stranger. (CGC #1, dog doesn’t growl or bark.)
2. Appearance and grooming. (CGC #3, dog is presentable and doesn’t bark or growl when groomed.)
3. Reaction to another dog. (CGC #7, two handlers with dogs approach and exchange pleasantries and dogs show casual interest to each other and the humans but don’t bark, growl or jump up.)
4. Reaction to distractions. (CGC #9, dog doesn’t panic or show aggression when facing distractions, which can include unusual, loud noises)
5. Supervised separation. (CGC #10, dog doesn’t panic or yelp when the handler leaves the dog alone with the evaluator)

Specific tasks to evaluate humans could include:

1. Keeps promises.
2. Asks questions; doesn’t assume.
3. Keeps learning.
4. Contributes to the community.
5. Recycles, reduces and reuses.

For these actions to constitute good behavior, you have to do them repeatedly and consistently—which makes it more challenging for an evaluator to test you.

But hey, this is just a start to define what we humans need to do to be good in a bad world, or at least be good, trusted citizens in the corporate world.

In the spirit of the wonderful article, Why Doing Things Half Right Gives You the Best Results (which does not apply to ethics!), I’m just throwing out the idea right now. And I’ll trust that some creative, thoughtful people can add to and shape the test.

After all, when you’re short on time and resources as most LEAN Communicators are, we need to channel Tom Sawyer and his tactics to get all of our work done well.

Meanwhile, as a responsible dog owner, I’ve got to take Gustav out to play. I’ve also promised not to allow him to infringe on the rights of others.

And I hope I haven’t infringed on you, my gentle readers either. However, I would appreciate some ideas for a Corporate Good Citizen test! Thank you!

What behaviors do you want to recognize and reward to earn that “CGC” behind your name?

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To call or not to call. That is the question.

Why the silly paraphrase of the Hamlet’s Soliloquy: “To be or not to be”?

Well it’s no laughing matter to me, who usually can find some humor even in sober topics. In fact, this subject is almost on the verge of tragic…not to be too melodramatic. Here’s why.

First some background. “Call the question” has two meanings in business settings—primarily meetings.

The first one I learned was to call the question to stop debate during meetings, generally those following Robert’s Rules of Order. For those not familiar with this book, now in its 10th edition, it’s the authoritative rule book for deliberative societies. That is, those groups with 25 people or more.

The second type of “call the question” is a more abstract concept. It’s a technique to ask if the people in the meeting are discussing the most salient issues rather than chit-chatting about less important topics. In other words, is the group confronting the core of the issue? Or are they nibbling at the edges?

So what’s my problem? There are two of them.

In my experience, many groups are eager to end debate before it’s even started.

They and even the groups that enjoy a healthy discussion frequently sidestep around the big, important issues without ever getting to the heart of the matter. Yes, they’re debating, but they’re not addressing the most meaningful issues.

Both situations contribute to organizational dysfunction. So what to do?

The debate closers are easier for me to manage. That’s because I use my knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order to trump them. I tell them that deliberative societies protect the rights of the minority while respecting the wishes of the majority. This means everyone deserves to be heard if they want to speak. This generally shuts up the control freaks and opens up the conversation.

The tip-toers around the issues are more challenging, especially since this situation is endemic these days. Is it because work is so complex, so uncertain, so chaotic? Or, do people prefer to play it safe and avoid all the possible landmines of workplace politics? Or have we lost our ability or willingness to confront one another in a constructive, productive manner?

Through trial and error, I’ve found two methods that work, one serious and one somewhat humorous.

On the serious front, you can be direct, yet diplomatic. Say something like, “We’re talking about X. Is that the real issue, or is it Y?”

On the humorous front, I introduce my Silent, Sugarcoated Moose®,  both the concept and a stuffed moose. When you hold a stuffed moose in your hands and give permission to talk about its silent, sugar-coated features, people can start to realize that they are circling around issues, rather than talking about them directly.

These actions help improve your meeting mojo, which is the focus of several of my LEAN Communications tools.

So what are you doing to improve your meetings, including putting tough topics on the table and discussing them openly?

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Maroon Bells, Aspen, CO

In the rarefied air of Aspen, Colorado in late April through early May, I listened to a number of great, inspirational speakers talk about several aspects of leadership. They and almost 100 colleagues gathered for our annual CCM (Council of Communication Management) Conference.

From a LEAN Communications perspective, the speakers said leaders need to:

1. Give up control (which will help us gain power) Several speakers talked about the necessity for professional communicators to create collaboration instead of disseminate information. We also need to acknowledge that employees are our organizations’ best ambassadors and we should help them, not hinder them, in that role. We also have to recognize that employees will soon demand to be participants in the conversation, if they aren’t already.

2. Aim for progress not perfection. With limited resources, we must focus on the “must” issues, not the “nice to have.” For example, 80% done and out is better than 100% finished and delayed. Also, evaluate whether you should translate everything into all the languages your employees speak, especially if you’ve declared one language (generally English) the language of business. Long-time CCM member Angela Sinickas, who’s known by some of us as “the queen of measurement,” suggested that we encourage employees to use Google’s translation feature. That’s a great LEAN Communications tool!

3. Support literacy, education and re-education. In our “reset world,” as one speaker characterized the times we’re working in, education is the foundation not only for our work world, but also for our global society. For that reason, we should all strive to increase literacy. We also should recognize for ourselves and others that education means life-long learning. In today’s complex, ever-changing world, we cannot stop our education when we complete school.

This conference was rich in content. For education junkies, it was akin to mining gold. As an added bonus, the speakers not only knew their stuff, but they were also engaging and entertaining in their delivery. For example, David Arkless, President of Corporate and Government Affairs of Manpower, who spoke about the global talent and skills gap that exists today, was as gifted as a speaker as the TV veteran journalist Greg Dobbs.

By contrast, the conference format didn’t stand up to with the quality of the content from my viewpoint as someone who will participate in at least six national conferences this year and also does meeting planning for smaller groups. We’re still using lectures–or as some refer to it “the expert/idiot model” in which a knowledgeable speaker talks to a group of  ”dummies.” And these speakers were so eager to share their deep knowledge that we had minimal question and answer time.

We did perform one enriching task at the conference related to education–assembling back packs that included school supplies and basic hygiene items for orphans and vulnerable children in need. Thanks to fellow board member, John Jensen, World Vision organized this conference event as a way for CCM to give back. It was great to get out of our chairs and do something useful.

In the spirit of continual improvement–which is the heart of LEAN–I offer these three suggestions for next year’s conference, which will be May 5-7 in Philadelphia:

1. Make the conference more interactive. For a group that calls itself the “best minds in the business” and helps our internal and external clients with meetings, we’ve been too slow to recognize and adopt cutting edge meeting design for ourselves.

2. Be more personal.We pride ourselves on being a collegial, supportive community of senior-level colleagues. So when we get together once a year, we should take a few moments to have everyone introduce themselves so we can put a face together with a name. Nametags aren’t enough.

3. Be greener. We should follow the cue of other groups and doing more to recycle, reuse and reduce. For example, the 2009 CA FBLA State Leadership Conference, for which I served as a judge for one of their competitive events, encouraged participants to go green. Many participants wore green ribbons for unplugging electronics when not in use, recycling papers, conserving water and turning off lights and air conditioners when leaving rooms.

As a board member of CCM, I’m committed to helping the organization and our members succeed. Except for our part-time executive director, we’re a volunteer organization. So it’s not easy to do everything that CCM needs when we’re all working full-time jobs.

What else is new though? We all need to think LEAN about our meetings and conferences and make sure we’re providing value.

What are you doing to ensure your participants value their meeting experiences and want to keep coming back for more?

Photo by Bradley Newman

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You can’t choose your relatives. And if you’re a LEAN Communicator who’s short on staff, budget and other resources, you seldom can select your co-workers. You must work with your current colleagues; you can’t hand off the responsibility to others.

So what if you’re paired with someone who’s really difficult to work with? Such as a human Border Collie? Human Border Collies—just as the four-legged dogs—are intelligent, energetic and intense. They thrive on herding people and objects, watching them with an intense gaze known as the “eye“. The AKC calls Border Collies “the workaholics of the dog world.” These can be admirable traits in dogs and humans.

However, if you’re trying to juggle multiple tasks, support many leaders, and manage your schedule tightly as so many of us LEAN Communicators are required to do, you’re bound to have challenges working with a human Border Collie. When you’re in a Border Collie’s herd, you’ve got basically no time for rest, respite or rejuvenation—or your other responsibilities. They’re watching you, on your case to follow through on their particular orders.

Unless you adopt some specific coping mechanisms, you’re always on the move, jumping higher and higher. If you’re like many of us, it’s often easier to succumb to their wishes rather than disobey their commands. And if you don’t watch it, you could start to let your other work suffer, especially if your other projects and teammates are less hyper than the Border Collie.

Over the years, I’ve been paired with several Border Collies. Through trial and error, I’ve discovered five ways to work together for a peaceful, effective co-existence. These are:

1. Work virtually. As much as possible, try to work away from the herding eye. Some of this is “out of sight, out of mind,” although Border Collies have excellent memories and follow-up techniques. On your own, you can at least get your work done without them physically circling you. Then try to volunteer status reports before you’re asked. And certainly respond quickly when they ask for updates. That will keep you on their good side. And you may be able to stay on your long leash indefinitely.

2. Give them work to do. Border Collies like to work non-stop. The human kind never seems to want to declare a document, process, or project finished, even for the night. (For example, one of my Border Collie co-workers recently asked me before she got on an airplane to print a dozen copies of a document that we’d work with the next day. When I saw her 13 hours later with the printed documents, they were obsolete in her mind. She had revised the document four more times on the plane ride.) Based on that and other experiences, I now consider all of my work with Border Collies to be very iterative. This means I share first drafts that are 70 – 80% finished, rather than taking the time to perfect them from my perspective. I know the Border Collie will work them over thoroughly, so why expend my time and energy? While my work may not be up to my full potential, it’s a good starting point for the Border Collies to chew on and develop.

3. Fill in the gaps. Quietly, almost stealth-like, pick up the loose ends to help them, the project and you keep on track. For instance, some of the Border Collies I work with are herding so many different groups that they sometimes forget about the basics. For instance, they neglect to keep people informed about who’s doing what, explain their system for managing all the document versions, and schedule necessary meetings and events for the upcoming weeks. If you can do this behind the scenes, you can keep everything moving without any stampedes or other problems.

4. Recognize them. “(Good work on INSERT SPECIFIC)” instead of “Good dog.” They may not start eating out of your hand or cut you much slack, but they will appreciate you in return.They like knowing that you are fully aware that they’re working hard.

5. Co-exist, don’t compete. Or, at least don’t compete with them head-to-head in their sweet spots. You’ll be able to reserve your energy and resources for your important actions and avoid any dog fights or tussles. (The late Tomas who was a process master, was an expert at this. When his friend Fergus the Border Collie came over for dinner parties with his humans, Tomas stayed under the table and watched for food to drop to the floor to grab. He totally ignored Fergus who always cajoled dinner guests into rolling a ball for him around the house. To Tomas, finding delicious food was a more important priority than chasing a ball.)

Border Collies are kind, charming, and friendly—in addition to being overachievers. (This describes Jake, pictured above, who provides the Good Solutions legal team with “hard-core, Border Collie assessment and critical thinking.” You can reach Jake at jake@goodsolutions.com

)

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit a client told me after a recent offsite that she “appreciated my gentle herding of their team.” But I knew when to stop because I’m not a purebred. And I still got the job done with everyone happy at the end.

What types of challenging colleagues/breeds do you work with? And what successful coping mechanisms have you adopted?

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