How do you become better in a particular field as an individual? Let’s assume, you want to master an instrument, and your vision is to one day play a solo in the Elbphilharmoie in Hamburg. You will practise, focussing on different elements such as rhythm, the accuracy of pitch and length of the notes,...
When I introduce a new technique or concept to a team, it is sometimes difficult for them to fully see how practice can be beneficial for them or in their context, even if I use games or metaphors. In this case, it is useful for the team to gain an alternative view, i.e. other team members explaining...
When people attend a workshop, they invest time or money or both. Thus, it should be in the interest of the organiser, trainer or facilitator to provide this value. To find out if the expectations of the participants are met, their feedback is invaluable. Thus, often the facilitator hands out a feedback questionnaire at...
What motivates people? Scientists found out (see appendix) that extrinsic motivators, such as payment, bonuses or promotions only have a positive influence on repetitive mechanical work. When it comes to tasks where creativity, decision-making, and cognitive skills are necessary, these extrinsic factors might even lead to lower performance. Dan Pink illustrates this in his...
Quite often, I encounter situations where no clear responsibilities are defined between two entities, such as a manager and a team or between two teams. They kind of figure it out when a situation occurs. They prefer to avoid general commitments. This can lead to confusion and misunderstandings, which in turn lead to dissatisfaction...
How does it make you feel when someone remembers personal facts you once told them, e.g. “How is your son Mateo, did he like the Lego Avengers you gave him for his birthday?”. I feel appreciated, that someone has an interest in me and even remembers details I told them. Even though this person...
Each member of a team has their set of skills that contribute to the overall skillset of the team. However, quite often, these skills are not aligned with the skills that are necessary to develop the future product or service. To determine and to subsequently decide how to close these gaps, the so called...
As mentioned in an earlier post, most creative thinkers are driven by intrinsic motivation. Some of these motivational factors are the approval from teammates or the relatedness with their team. One way to achieve this is by (positive) feedback from teammates. A way to express this feedback can be either on a personal level...
A while ago a client was working on an internal product. This tool is used to measure the SEO-Performance of one of the largest online shops in the world to subsequently derive actions that boost SEO performance. It seemed to me that the team had lost its direction. Their product vision sounded very general, vague...
What is Management 3.0 is all about? Jurgen Appelo explains the background in his videos and blog posts. Some years ago, he was working as a manager at an organisation that had just adopted agile practices. Most of these frameworks or methods do not define the role of a manager or something that has...