Life at Work: People, Projects, Politics and Pressure

• Exploiting Failed Ideas
  When the approach you've been using fails, how do you go about devising Plan B? Or Plan C? Here are some ways to find new approaches by examining failures.

• Why Don't They Believe Me?
  When we want people to believe us, and they don't, it just might be a result of our own actions or demeanor. How does this happen?

• The Politics of Meetings for People Who Hate Politics
  Catch my presentation, "The Politics of Meetings for People Who Hate Politics," on August 3, 2010, at your phone (it's a Webinar), sponsored by the Memphis Chapter of the Project Management Institute. There's a lot more to running an effective meeting than having the right room, the right equipment, and the right people. With meetings, the whole really is more than the sum of its parts. How the parts interact with each other and with external elements is as important as the parts themselves. And those interactions are the essence of politics for meetings. This program explores techniques for leading meetings that are based on understanding political interactions, and using that knowledge effectively to meet organizational goals.

• Wacky Words of Wisdom
  Words of wisdom are so often helpful that many of them have solidified into easily remembered capsules. We do tend to over-generalize them, though, and when we do, trouble follows. Here are a few of the more dangerous ones.

• Seven Ways to Get Nowhere
  Ever have the feeling that you're getting nowhere? You have the sense of movement, but you're making no real progress towards the goal. How does this happen? What can you do about it?

• How to Undermine Your Boss
  Ever since I wrote "How to Undermine Your Subordinates," I've received scads of requests for "How to Undermine Your Boss." Must be a lot of unhappy subordinates out there. Well, this one's for you.

• This Is the Only Job
  You have a job. Even though you liked it once, those days are long past, and a return is improbable. If you could, you'd hop to another job immediately, but economic conditions in your field make that unlikely. How can you deal with this misery?

• Stalking the Elephants in the Room: Part II
  When everyone is thinking something that no one dares discuss, we say that there is "an elephant in the room." Free-ranging elephants are expensive and dangerous to both the organization and its people. Here's Part II of a catalog of indicators that elephants are about.

• Stalking the Elephant in the Room: Part I
  The expression "the elephant in the room" describes the thought that most of us are thinking, and none of us dare discuss. Usually, we believe that in avoidance lies personal safety. But free-ranging elephants present intolerable risks to both the organization and its people.

• Communication Traps for Virtual Teams: Part II
  Communication can be problematic for any team, especially under pressure. But virtual teams face challenges that are less common in face-to-face teams. Here's Part II of a little catalog with some recommendations.

• Communication Traps for Virtual Teams: Part I
  Virtual teams encounter difficulties that rarely confront face-to-face teams. What special challenges do they face, and what can we do about them?

• Managing Your Boss
  Links to articles from Point Lookout that touch on Managing Your Boss.