“Coaching” at work is not a four-letter word

Adapted from, Intersections: Four Deliberate Actions That Help You Create Solutions And Achieve Results. Dave Fleming. c. 2017. Coaching is Your Friend Golf swings, musical instruments, exercise regimens and hundreds of other activities. It's no big deal to get coaching for any of them. You're not a failure if you do, get coaching. You're seen [...]

“Coaching” at work is not a four-letter word2017-07-11T21:10:32-04:00

Generate more solutions with these two types of thinking

Adapted from the book, Tribal Alchemy: Mining Your Team's Collective Ingenuity. c. 2016. Dave Fleming.   Explore and evaluate combinations of ideas through divergent and convergent thinking In order to be successful, your team needs to consistently create real-time solutions and results. The solutions you need come, in part, from insights you generate through your [...]

Generate more solutions with these two types of thinking2017-03-20T07:56:02-04:00

Yes There Is an “I” In Team

Adapted from my book, Tribal Alchemy: Mining Your Team's Collective Ingenuity.   (2016). Dave Fleming. A Tribal Alchemy Resource.   The “I’s” Matter When I was growing up, there was a game in my house that I loved to play. It consisted of a round plastic plate, on top of which were approximately 15 individual plastic, bubble-like [...]

Yes There Is an “I” In Team2017-01-12T07:41:59-05:00

Coming Early Summer 2017: Intersections of Ingenuity

Close your eyes and picture an intersection. Make it one that you either walk or drive through on a regular basis. Got it? Now try and put yourself at the moment where you intersect with others. Imagine that you’re walking down the street— or driving in your car. The intersection, with all the people and [...]

Coming Early Summer 2017: Intersections of Ingenuity2017-01-09T12:14:16-05:00

Increase Collective Ingenuity Through This Practice

This is an excerpt from my book, Tribal Alchemy: Mining Your Team's Collective Ingenuity. The excerpt explores one quality of collective ingenuity: how a group behaves when they "circle" a challenge or opportunity.   How You Enter and Behave in the Circle Matters I live my life and do my work in the shadow of a simple [...]

Increase Collective Ingenuity Through This Practice2016-12-27T09:26:47-05:00

I Am Not So Smart. And No Offense But Neither Are You. Understanding Cognitive Biases. Pt. 2

In part one of this article we explored what a cognitive bias is and how they can wreak havoc on our thinking and living. In part two we'll look at how cognitive biases infect groups and I'll give you a four-step process to reduce the influence of biases.   -- What Do You See?   Take a [...]

I Am Not So Smart. And No Offense But Neither Are You. Understanding Cognitive Biases. Pt. 22016-12-12T12:10:52-05:00

Don’t Just Generate Ideas, Weave Them Together

Yesterday I sat with a team that had to make a pressing decision. The decision was fraught, as many decisions are, with "if-then" possibilities. You know how these conversations go, right? "If we do A, then B could happen. But if we do C, then D might happen." And of course, none of the possible [...]

Don’t Just Generate Ideas, Weave Them Together2016-12-09T07:13:04-05:00

The Reason Humility Matters

Setting The Stage   This excerpt is from my book, Tribal Alchemy: Mining Your Team’s Collective Ingenuity. It comes at a point in the book where I discuss personal practices that increase collective ingenuity. Throughout my coaching and research, I’ve discovered that high performing teams are populated by individuals who are vigilant about their own self [...]

The Reason Humility Matters2016-12-07T07:27:17-05:00

I Am Not So Smart. And No Offense But Neither Are You. Understanding Cognitive Biases–Part One

Distorted Thinking I'm currently reading, You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, an d 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself , by David McRaney. The book explores the many cognitive biases that plague our thinking. A cognitive bias is a fallacy we apply to [...]

I Am Not So Smart. And No Offense But Neither Are You. Understanding Cognitive Biases–Part One2016-12-05T05:35:59-05:00

3 Strategies To Help Dial Down Emotional Reactivity (Part 2)

Get Scaffolding That Supports You   This post is the second part of a two-part series on emotional reactivity. You can read part one, here. -- It's our responsibility to reduce the severity and frequency of our negative reactions to emotional triggers. We do this by developing a set of strategic supports (scaffolding). This scaffolding creates [...]

3 Strategies To Help Dial Down Emotional Reactivity (Part 2)2016-11-07T06:36:19-05:00