Complaints are a reality of working life. Whether they come from a customer, a colleague, a supporter or any other key contact, we are never going to get it right every time.
Sharpstone SkinnerApril 24, 2019
(or how to think big even if your team, department or organisation is small) If you are a leader in a smallish organisation you know you need to be a master of many trades. You are expected to handle high level strategic and low level operational tasks with equal flair. You may burn the midnight oil preparing a pitch that…
Sharpstone SkinnerFebruary 25, 2019
here are many myths around motivation and many misuses of the term, which can be very confusing when we feel we’re a bit lacking in that area and would like to give ourselves a boost.
Sharpstone SkinnerJanuary 17, 2019
We all know that group work starts with an ice breaker, expectations and ground rules. It is an important section to warm everyone up and get us all agreeing to how we will work together. On the ground rules someone will often mention putting phones and laptops away. For us this is common courtesy yet for some teams we work…
Sharpstone SkinnerMarch 19, 2018
Part of being a great team is the ability to have a good old argument. Except that arguing is not everyone’s cup of tea, even the word sends shivers down some people’s spines whilst others rub their hands together with glee. Yet teams that don’t have a constructive level of conflict are boring to be in, keep doing the same…
Sharpstone SkinnerJanuary 8, 2018
Volatile times are creating an environment where organisations are constantly confronting new business challenges, undergoing profound change, and being asked to pivot to meet new and tougher expectations. Like many buzzwords before it, ‘pivot’, is gaining traction and likely to be the most overused word in the workplace for 2017. When people use the word pivot what they really mean…
Sharpstone SkinnerOctober 16, 2017
This month we spoke at a conference on one of our favourite subjects – getting relationships right. Better than right – getting them excellent. Whether you’re aware of it or not, when you show up in a communication, whether it is at a meeting, within a group, in a one to one conversation, even on an email – you bring…
Sharpstone SkinnerJuly 17, 2017
We should be so good at doing feedback nowadays. Most companies hope to create an environment where two-way, constructive feedback can sit comfortably. It doesn’t always happen. We start with the best intentions – to give regular feedback and be open to receiving it too – yet when the pressure is on, we forget to make it a priority and…
Sharpstone SkinnerFebruary 1, 2017
At Sharpstone Skinner we have spent years coaching teams to attain and maintain high performance. We have developed a process to take teams through so they give of their best and achieve great results. Some teams get there quickly, some get distracted. There are many reasons why this happens. One of them is a set of bad habits that can…
Sharpstone SkinnerJanuary 18, 2017