The Square Wheels wagon rolls forward. Not smoothly, but it rolls… There are all sorts of issues and frameworks and anchors to how things really work, but this one should help explain a… Continue reading
Teams and teamwork and team building. A pretty funny thing that seems so simple but that involves so many bits and pieces. Teams want to form naturally. Put a group of four or… Continue reading
It IS a rat race at times, although one seldom hears those words these days. Rat Race. Guess it is partly because people don’t watch rats race much any more and horses and… Continue reading
Finally, enough was enough and the performers found that the pin had actually HIT the balloon and all things went “POP!” That happens, you know. But I guess the good news is that… Continue reading
The painter sees a different reality than what presently exists. It is a caterpillar no longer in thought. You can read a LOT more about Teaching the Caterpillar to Fly by clicking on… Continue reading
I started doing a whole big bunch of haiku poems for business process improvement. This is one of the first. I’m having fun with these. And if you want to embellish or improve,… Continue reading
At least 25 years ago, I came across this. Never did see a source. But it is an obvious classic insofar as how it describes how things really work in large organizations. I… Continue reading
My friend Lisa Marshall passed this along in an email and I thought it was really well done. Taylor Mali talking about, well, like, you know… Click on and watch this 3-minute video… Continue reading
Let’s make improvements to how things work. Why? Because it would impact the puppies, of course. and this one is similar to this one: Yeah, we CAN improve the rolling forward of the… Continue reading
Okay – the basic and simple question is this: Would people care more about improving how the wagon rolls if the cargo were a load of cute puppies? Inquiring minds want a discussion… Continue reading
Yes, the Square Wheels do roll both forward and backward and just may be more useful than round wheels when descending very steep hills or for helicopters or cooking hot dogs. But for… Continue reading
So many of our interactions with others in our daily management could focus on potential. Most of us have that ability to be more than what we are if we only felt more… Continue reading
So much of our life is about potential, both having it as well as helping others achieve theirs. As part of that, here is another post on the theme of caterpillars and butterflies… Continue reading
For the past few weeks, I have been playing with my illustrations and pictures and the themes of managing and leading change and improvement. So much of it has to do with unrealized… Continue reading
What is it about caterpillars? Is it because they are so grounded? And what it is about the butterfly — why are they often so attractive? A lot of it seems to be… Continue reading
One of my most favorite quotes about change, visions, potential and style: Managers can fly more better faster if they just look at their styles and see the opportunities for better involvement and… Continue reading
This is about potential. After all, caterpillars do make the transition to butterflies and it is about potential. It is also about accepting change and becoming more and better. Change is what we… Continue reading
This is about people and performance, about dreaming of possibilities and it is about the reality of improvement. Dream to Fly! For the FUN of It! Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of… Continue reading
I was reading some quotes and saw a quote by Emerson that I thought to reframe around teamwork and the choices we make. Again, I will anchor it to my Square Wheels model… Continue reading
Motivation and engagement are two critical factors for workplace improvement. So, I ask you, “What’s wrong with this picture of how things really work in most organizations?” What choice have probably been made… Continue reading
On the theme of: “Don’t Just DO Something, Stand There!” we have this kind of thought about choice and choices: So much depends on simply seeing what are called “considered alternatives” instead of… Continue reading
Every year, Joan does some kind of Christmas Poem around Santa and Square Wheels or Lost Dutchman and this year is no different. It seems like Santa is getting older and losing it… Continue reading
I got to looking at some stuff on “empowerment” within the past hour. One was about an “empower camp” where they claim that by attending the camp, kids will leave with, well, empowerment… Continue reading
I posted up a comment on a magazine article about a friend’s blog and it reminded me of a cartoon and a poem that I have not used in a while. The issue… Continue reading
I read a Zig Ziglar quote “Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” and it got me thinking that I can do something similar with the cartoons. So, I… Continue reading
As I continue playing with the main design aspects of my new teambuilding game framed up on the theme of trust, three illustrations just seemed to appear, so I took the time to… Continue reading
My associate Robin Speculand just sent me an email with some factoidal stuff and some of his really solid ideas on implementing strategy. You can find his website here. I thought that a… Continue reading
The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine game has the theme of mining gold, and we put the tabletops into the context of collaboration with slides that talk about “WE” — but what teams hear… Continue reading
Reflection is a primary way to identify new ideas and opportunities. Too often we continue to do things the same way expecting things to change. One of my favorite quotes is from the… Continue reading
After delivering a team building session, things can be rather confused as you may have discussed those things that are not working well and need to be improved but you have not yet… Continue reading
Our team building exercise, The Search for The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, is about generating and benefitting measurably from collaboration and alignment. When people share information and resources, the entire group optimizes its… Continue reading
Christopher Columbus — there is a lot of controversy over the man and his accomplishments and how history is representing things. Supposedly, nearly everyone knew that the world was not flat in the… Continue reading
In our Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine game, one of the metaphors is mud, that gooey stuff that makes progress difficult. In the exercise, it is a factor that costs a team extra fuel… Continue reading
We need good tools to generate more behavioral change following our team building efforts. For this, I am starting to build a whole library of illustrations, poems and questions that can be email… Continue reading
I have always thought this funny since the idea was first shared with me 30+ years ago: The Christopher Columbus Award. So, I had my artist, Roy Sabean, draw up something, which I… Continue reading
This was one of those Statements of Truth that I read in “The Dilbert Principles,” a book by Scott Adams. Can you say this anyways better? All good companies have one. Yep.… Continue reading
Activity is not the same as action, and focused actions are a key way to build teamwork and collaboration, improve communications, and increase intrinsic motivation. Ya think? We need to do more things… Continue reading
One of the main focus of my work for the past 25 years has been on the general theme of people and performance, often around the concept of managing and leading change. This… Continue reading
Many people have fears. I show that here as the Fear of Change from my Square Wheels illustrations on workplace improvement. They are afraid of what the Wave of Change will do… Continue reading
Sometimes, we get so focused on rushing and running around that we lose sight of the reality that things can be improved. Here is a little ditty on just that: Racing to the… Continue reading
On my blog, I have written about the issues around people “going postal” and about the many different ways that they might sabotage workplace performance. You can find that article here. And I… Continue reading
We often think of making structural changes to improve performance. Sometimes, that works. Sometimes, it just confuses things like working relationships, measurement systems, and the tools to get the job done may now… Continue reading
I’ve always liked our “Muscles” series, since they represent people who have improved their personal strengths through training and development (as opposed to through coaching and development, but what the heck, it IS… Continue reading
Some simple thoughts on what makes people commit to doing things differently. What is intrinsic motivation all about? Why do people implement change when they often have no support from management? Sometimes, simply… Continue reading
We use the metaphor of Teaching the Caterpillar to Fly for a lot of our work on individual and organizational change. The concept is simple: Getting people to understand that change is inevitable… Continue reading
Mentoring is seeing potential in others and then acting to paint and share a picture of what they could become. So much is about simple perspective. Sometimes it is about choice. Often change… Continue reading
Yeah, sometimes things get rough and tough, and some people have had enough. Sometimes we could choose to do, something that might just be new. Round Wheels roll better than Square Ones, for… Continue reading
Here is one reason why some things do not change: our self reflections may be biased and we may not see things as they are. It is that old frame, “We judge ourselves… Continue reading
I have a series of cartoons that focus on reflecting about how things really are. There are 6 of them, each with the theme that you can possibly see new things if you… Continue reading
I had an interview for a blog this morning. It was on managing change and dealing with resistance, which is a good subject for me since I have played in this arena for… Continue reading
