How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help. Part 2 of an Interview with Dr. Ed Schein

In our last episode I started an interview with Dr. Ed Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus at MIT and author of fourteen business books, including The Corporate Culture Survival Guide. Make sure to listen to that episode if you happened to miss it.

In this second part of the interview, we turn our attention to Ed's seminal yet highly practical book entitled Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help. Ever wonder why some people find it difficult to ask for help, even when they are "spinning their wheels" with the project tasks? Or why some people just won't take you up on offers to help, even when it's desperately needed?

In this interview Ed helps us understand the surprisingly complex dynamics around giving and receiving help. I strongly recommend you get a copy of Ed's books we discuss in these two episodes.

I invite you to join me next time when I interview Dr. Allen Cohen, author of the acclaimed book Influence Without Authority. Part of the complexity of projects today relates to the fact that many of us have the responsibility to deliver the projects yet don't have authority over all the people we must depend on. Increasingly project success depends on relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders, and our ability to influence those people—even when we don't have authority over them—is critical. I look forward to sharing that interview with you.

Thanks for checking out our new podcast website at www.peopleandprojectspodcast.com. I invite you to let me know what you think about it! Thanks for joining us for this episode! Have a great week!



Download the episode

Labels: communication, employee engagement, leadership, productivity, project management, relationships, teambuilding

posted by Andy at 9:32 AM

Getting More Done with Less Stress, with guest Jason Womack

"I don't have enough time!"

It's a common refrain. Whether from participants in a workshop or over a cup of coffee with a coaching client, I'm constantly working with people who are struggling to stay on top of their commitments.

Though I help others on the topic all the time, managing my own time is a continual challenge. The interview you'll hear in this episode was recorded a month ago. It's taken until now for me to carve out enough time to bring it to you.

It's a universal challenge for most professionals today: How can we get everything done when there's just not enough time to do it?

When I'm looking for insights on managing my time, I head to my friend and colleague Jason Womack. Jason is a great source of inspiration and fresh ideas for me when it comes to personal productivity.

To learn more about Jason, I invite you to visit his website at http://www.jasonwomack.com/. Or just Google Jason's name and you'll find helpful articles and videos online.

At the end of this cast you'll learn how to save 50% on our e-learning offering entitled "5 Keys to Getting More Done with Less Stress". Just use the coupon code "E-TIME-50" when you checkout.

Thanks for listening to the People and Projects podcast! Contact me at andy@i-leadonline.com or toll-free at 866-884-5323 for ideas on how to help you and your team get more done with less stress.

Getting More Done with Less Stress, with guest Jason Womack

Labels: multitasking, podcast, productivity, time management

posted by Andy at 2:26 PM

The Myth of Multitasking, with guest author Dave Crenshaw

Clearly we are a culture of jugglers.

Whether working with my executive coaching clients or talking with participants in our keynotes and workshops, without a doubt most people are feeling overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough time to do it.

So we multitask. Or so we think.

One of my favorite books from last year is Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, by John Medina. I'm a card carrying geek in a number of categories, one of which is learning about how the brain works.

Just think how much better we could learn, communicate, influence, and more if we really understood how the brain operated. That's what Brain Rules is all about.

One of my favorite lines from the book says, "If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle!" Though you can find plenty of pundits that will pontificate about the collaborative benefits of cubes, I've yet to find a brain expert that backs that up!

As the subtitle of the book states, Brain Rules has 12 principles to help people better understand how the brain works. The 4th rule is Attention: We don't pay attention to boring things. Dr. Medina discusses how we are better at seeing patterns and abstracting the meaning of an event than we are at recording details. He also illustrates how emotional arousal helps the brain learn--emotions help keep our attention and burn the memory in.

But Dr. Medina's discussion on multitasking is what really caught my attention. Bottom line: the brain's attentional spotlight can focus on only on thing at a time. There is no such thing as multitasking.

You and I might argue, "How can this be? I'm multitasking all the time!" Dr. Medina goes into all the brain scientist geek material to back up his assertion. And here's why it all matters. Studies show that a person who is interrupted takes 50 percent longer to accomplish a task. Not only that, he or she makes up to 50 percent more errors.

I say this fully aware that you might be listening to this cast while you're driving. Be careful as it's not just cell phone calls that distract you while driving!

Whether in the car or in the workplace, distractions are taking their toll. As someone who is passionately interested in helping people get more done with less stress, this whole topic strikes a nerve with me.

Which leads me to another recommended brain book entitled The Myth of Multitasking, written by Dave Crenshaw.

Dave is our guest on this cast and shares insights on why multitasking actually hurts our productivity. During the interview Dave encourages you to take a free multitasking test on his website at:
http://www.davecrenshaw.com/andykaufman

Don't miss the free offer at the end of the cast! Here's to a very focused day for you! Thank you for subscribing to the People and Projects Podcast!

Episode 03: The Myth of Multitasking, with guest author Dave Crenshaw

Labels: brain, multitasking, podcast, productivity

posted by Andy at 11:52 AM