Are you absolutely certain?: When another person asserts something that sounds like it is enacted by law, it is called ' stubbornness '  and ' slanted certainty '. Very few people enjoy encountering bias . In fact, I would argue (with some alacrity) that one can react to skewed confidence, stubbornness and alacrity in 3 ways: You can go with it (accept it and agree with it). You can go against it (- with an equally steep claim). You can escape from it (to avoid more steeps). An unmistakable statement Sometimes the bias can be comical. Then it's okay to laugh at it, for example: 'I saw an episode of Doc Martin the other day. Clint Eastwood starred in a minor role. You might not spot him, but you can rely on me.' or In reality, we drive the wrong way into a roundabout. We should turn left if we were to do it correctly. None of these examples are seriously dangerous or catastrophic. They are just verbal assertions that are unwaveringly certain and also a litt...

In this article I will describe an age old paradox - the individual against the community. You will encounter a new and surprising message. Hold your horses.   You and me and all of us The situation is that everything is part of something bigger. A drop of water is part of a lake. An ice crystal is part of an ice cream cake . A resident is part of a residential area. Five dollars is part of a monthly salary. An employee is part of a team. A center forward is part of Real Madrid . A singing voice is part of a choir. Seven examples that are clear and understandable. But even so, they can be deeply complicated when the harmony, the balance, the power, the agreements or the balance of power shift. What exactly is a community? A community is a group of people who are connected by something they have in common, something they agree on, something they have the same point of view on or, for example, something that interests them. Community can also be togetherness. In all communities, both...

How to design a pep talk plus bonus: The one-minute pep talk generator for leaders :  Follow this recipe and deliver a pep talk Prepare your total pep talk - from start to finish. Follow the link and choose with sincerity from the 3 lists of Proclamations , Adjectives , and Team Descriptions . Once you have delivered your prelude, you can elaborate on it: 'When I choose the word (adjective)… it is because… and with the team description… I want to emphasize the importance of us being…'  With this 'generator' you have 15,625 different options for preludes. You can then choose to include one or more of the following 7 ingredients. The order of the ingredients is arbitrary. Remember to explain why you have called your team in:  □ Say something about the original reason What did originally set it in motion? What was the vision? What was the target?  □ Say something about the importance of the group Without YOU we will never succeed. Which competencies, experiences and sk...

But what is a democratic conversation really?:  When it comes to describing what a democratic conversation is, it can very easily become both nerdy and long-winded. The article here should be read by everyone and especially those who geek out on conversations, examine them from all angles and evaluate them individually and compare them to other selected conversations. A. A place to start might be to begin by delineating what a democratic conversation is and is not. For example, it is not a soliloquy , a monologue , a lecture , a one man show , a TV programme, a film, an opera, a play, a radio newspaper . These one-way soliloquies do not allow for dialogue and feedback. B. A conversation takes place while you are fairly close to each other, in the same room, in the same car, each on his own phone. C. A conversation consists of strings of words that both or all understand. The words are pronounced clearly and unambiguously and without too many repetitions. D. A conversation includes...

Enjoy a one hour workshop full of active learning:  Try out a handfull of dialogue-focused tools ( Thumball , picture cards , dialogue cards , coaching carpet ) with your team. Book a one-hour workshop with Michael Meinhardt . He will guide you and your team through various methods and tools and involve everyone for weeks to come. A tool must be tested before a manager or a teacher can achieve a valuable benefit. Some tools are easier than others to invite to to introduce to present to involve in to let the participants use to facilitate  to review to end on a high note. Therefore, you are invited to try 4 great team tools in 60 minutes - either in your team or in your management group. The focus is on achieving a useful dialogue with the tools Thumball (icebreaker ball), picture cards (Dialoogle), dialogue cards (Icebreaker) and The Team Coaching Carpet. The trial trip with these 4 tools will be combined with several different methods for each tool. Order this workshop 'Testd...

DIY group-workshop ‘Safe at work’:  When you are at work, at a leisure activity, with family and friends or in a place where you have to work with several people, it is paramount that there is a sense of security so that the words that are said and the body language that is used , does not create fear but rather a psychological safety . It is important that we humans can act together and work in practical harmony. So everyone dares to say what they mean, think and feel. All for the benefit of our lives and our development, and the projects we work with and the solutions we try to find. Now you can present your team to an internal workshop : Talk, investigate and decide The best technology out there is talking about it. Talk about fear. Talk about violation. Talk about bullying. Then everyone understands the whole thing much better. We will listen to each other. We will examine the contents and ingredients. We get closer to the words and their effect. And from this point, on a more ...

Bring this ball to your next meeting and throw it:  This is how it works: One throws the ball. Another catches it and reacts to the panel under the thumb. That's why it's called Thumball . Facilitation Tip 1: Explain ... To develop as a team, the group sometimes needs to step back and reflect on their relationships, their communication and their way of working together. Tailor your Thumball activity to meet your needs: Option 1: Have participants respond to the panel under their thumb, then throw the ball to the next person. Option 2: After the first participant has reacted to the panel other participants can also share their reactions or discuss how they can work together more effectively. Facilitation Tip 2: Formulate interaction rules Explain that conversations about the group's way of working together can become emotional. The goal of the Thumball activity is to raise the important questions and have the necessary conversations in a positive environment. In order for ...

The leader can create chaos or create order:  It is actually so true. It is entirely up to the leader whether she or he wants to create chaos (and enjoy asynchronous employees ) or wants to create dynamism (by synchronizing the whole group). It may sound both technical and difficult. But just read on. It's as easy as scratching your neck. A few years ago I arrived for a workshop at a major American education fair . In the doorway stood a friendly man with a basket over one arm. He welcomed me and offered me some of the contents of the basket. What he offered me was something as strange as a rhythm egg . I accepted it and entered the room where approx. 250 people were already seated. They all sat and shook the rhythm egg in the same way and in the same rhythm. It actually sounded pretty amazing. I sat down and 'rhythmed' along. Only several years later did I find out what it was I was a part of and what significance the rhythm egg had on the workshop, on the participants and...

Are you our new Head of Motivation?:  Your 'chair' is brand new. You will report directly to me. I am the company's managing director. You will be tasked with managing engagement in our company. By that I mean that all managers and all employees are interested in the job and are committed to doing it. Your new title will be 'Head of Motivation'. Your task will be to keep track of the commitment of all our managers and employees. They have earned it. And it's not something I just write for fun. I mean it so emphatically that you must follow the commitment so closely that we know the level on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Then nothing gets behind us. Our employees must be committed every day and all day. You will monitor this and alert the managers so that they can motivate timely and properly. Let me start with a few examples. First, example #1 One Saturday I stood in a queue at a checkout in a supermarket. The belt was full of goods. The front customer had ...

Individuality kills the excitement:  Four out of five employees are disengaged. One of these four is even hostilely disengaged . The manager can do something about it. When work tasks are to be solved, it requires teamwork. The leader must ensure that the entire group succeeds through collaboration. However, the manager takes a myriad of individual considerations into account from recruitment, salary negotiations, review conversations and retention. These considerations are misunderstood and kill employees' commitment to collaboration. Two Danish business consultants have mapped what goes wrong and what goes well when the manager stands up in front of the group of employees to engage them in the common cause. Business consultants Mette Berner and Michael Meinhardt have taken their 15 years of course work as their starting point and have used all their experience to design a practical model for Strategic Motivation . 'The model means that motivation no longer happens spontaneou...

Paramount attitude in Stolpegård Kindergarten:  Stolpegårds Kindergarten is a delightful experience of the very rare kind. Marie, Maria, Mette, Maj, Michelle and Tina are an exceptional team who gets the best grade in written and oral FISH! It started as an ordinary workshop with a short welcome, a short exercise where the participants got to try talking to each other in a new way with some dialogue cards in their hands. Then I told about the fish shop Pike Place Fish in Seattle and the way the 12 fishmongers work together. Then they saw the film called FISH! and afterwards each one found out which scene they liked the most. We did that because it's insanely interesting to find out what you like. The film must not be reviewed. The film's individual scenes or sequences should not be criticized. But the scene that the individual thinks is good must be highlighted. The scene you like is also what you like to give to colleagues and customers. And this is also what you like to ...

Rush on from your first reaction to your second reaction:  Yabadabadoo . This is how I react when I win the Lotto or receive other surprising and happy news. This reaction can be more or less juicy. But you probably get the point. Ouch and shit ... This is how I react when I am told that we have to reorganize the office and move to building H. The reaction can easily be more or less juicy. But you probably also understand this meaning. Two understandable reactions These reactions can last from a few seconds to several years. From 'Yabadabadoo' to 'Shit'. Quite human, in fact. And now comes my point: From  Yabadabadoo  to Shit We need to move on to a second reaction as soon as possible after the first one. The first reaction is 'Yabadabadoo' or 'Shit'. The first reaction lets the steam out of the container. First reaction dumps a whole lot of words on the floor. The first reaction is sometimes shrill and violent. First reaction is an animal reaction that...

Inspiration for leaders in the use of dialogue cards:  There are many different types of dialogue cards . One thing they have in common - they create energy and they create great conversations.  The time has come to put together a mini-university about dialogue cards. Here are 7 lessons: When you want to create energy in the team and break the ice and get the participants to talk to one another, you must invite everyone out onto the floor, out onto the lawn, out into the parking lot or into the drying loft . Then you stand there. Now you distribute or let them choose one or more dialogue cards for each participant and then you instruct them in the procedure. Perhaps you show what a 'transaction' looks like by borrowing a participant and showing it. Also explain that you will probably have to make a sound when they have to pause or stop. This is how you can start an energetic dialogue card exercise . More variants to follow! Dialogue cards control the dialogue At the same time...