7-38-55. It may sound like I'm a Quaterback calling numbers but it's actually an important rule when it comes to the communication of emotions. When you're having a conversation with someone, what are you paying attention to? Their words? Tone of voice? Body language? Facial expressions? Psychology Professor Albert Mehrabian's research into nonverbal communication developed the 7, 38, 55 rule in relation to the communication of emotions. It states that only 7% of meaning is communicated through words. This means if you're only hearing the words someone is saying, you're
Person
What Strengths Based Development could do for your team
Do you wish your team understood and leveraged each others strengths more? Imagine if your team consciously leaned into their strengths and each others. If they knew that this person was great at getting things started and that person was great at coming up with ideas. Imagine if, as a team, you knew that you all preferred to move to action instead of thinking things through thoroughly, or that you were all great at coming up with ideas and focusing on the future, but that no one was great at the implementation or reviewing or learning from things you've done in the past. I know it
Skill vs Will
Ever work with someone who has the skill to do their role but doesn't try? It's probably one of the most frustrating things a manager has to deal with because it just feels like a waste of energy. Max Landsberg developed the skill vs will matrix to assist managers in deciding the best approach to develop their team. The matrix helps you answers 2 simple but very important questions about the person you're evaluating; How much can this person rely on their skill to complete the task? How much does that person really want to complete the task? It's important to note that this
The next right thing
Taking action can often feel daunting and overwhelming. We think about the end goal or all the big things we need to do and then we procrastinate or give up all together. A great question to ask yourself or your team is, "what's the next right thing?" I first heard this from Glennon Doyle, but when I googled it I found that it was originally traced back to the psychiatrist Carl Jung. His thinking was, if you do the next right thing, you'll always be doing something meaningful. I want you to think about something you're working on, a challenge you're facing or something you're
How to improve the quality of work on your team
Would you say your peers are committed to doing quality work? About 1 in 3 people in an average team strongly agree to that statement. If you feel that the team is free of 'deadwood', those strongly agreeing will be 1 in 2. Here's the catch though, if you feel someone is dragging their feet and letting the team down, it drops to 1 in 5. How you feel about that statement is highly sensitive to the presence or absence of 'slackers' - someone who has the ability but doesn't try. People who feel part of a solidly committed team are safer, better with customers, less likely to quit,
