Our Blog Posts
Seven Keys to Effective Leadership
When I developed my curriculum for teaching conflict resolution, I identified 7 negative feelings that underlie conflict. They are what turn a disagreement into a conflict. In a conflict, one or both parties feel at least 3 of the following feelings: Disrespected...
Engaging Board Members
In an earlier post about recruiting board members, I noted that it’s important for people to see concrete results from volunteer efforts – that something specific was accomplished. They should also feel valued and appreciated for their efforts. Key to this is board...
Dealing With Your Own Emotions When Dealing With Difficult People!
Difficult people are highly skilled at pushing your buttons. They often push buttons you didn’t even know you had! So the first step is get to know yourself. Think about what gets you rattled, angry, frustrated, discouraged. You can dig deeper into why that is and...
Bosses Who Demotivate
Originally published in the Association Resource, the newsletter of the Empire State Society of Association Executives (ESSAE) Many leaders have good intentions, but get overwhelmed or have never received training in being a good leader. As a result even with good...
The Monkey Mind Part 2
I’ve been continuing to explore my monkey mind. When I’m under stress, it visits me all day, so I’m well acquainted with it. 🙂 Each time I compete a task, it returns to remind me of the very many things I have to do, how difficult they are and...
The Monkey Mind
When I’m under pressure my monkey mind is in high gear jumping from one task to the next, never digging into anything for long. When I tried to meditate to quiet the mind, I had the following internal dialogue: Zen mind: Breathe deep, relax, let thoughts...
Managing Interruptions to Build a More Focused Environment
Interruptions come in 3 forms: in person, by phone and by email. This post is about the in person ones. We’ll address the other two in future posts. How often are you deep in thought, focusing on a knotty problem when someone pops in for “a quick question”? It’s...
Giving feedback to a difficult person
In our first blog on dealing with difficult people we talked about how to respond when someone confronts you. However, sometimes you have to confront the difficult person and that’s even more challenging! Here are some ideas: Start by listening to them if they start...
Board Recruitment: Where to Find Them
Implementation In our last post we talked about developing a strategy for recruiting board members. Once you have a plan, where do you go to find your pool of prospects? Some suggestions are: Asking current board members and staff for recommendations. Your clients...
A simple idea for managing a complex to do list.
Creating a to do list should not become a huge daily task! However, I do recommend taking some time to create your initial to do list using an excel spreadsheet. Once it’s set up, it’s easy to maintain. The first step is to do a brain dump. Write down everything you...