Pollyanna writes about the damaging effects of gossip on team performance: “Work place gossip (like gossip in any situation) undermines relationships. A successful team is built on solid healthy relationships which are built on trust. Trust disintegrates rapidly in a culture where gossip is the acceptable norm. What […]
In late 2009, Rajesh pondered why some smart people are reluctant to share, with the key insight being that “knowledge” becomes obvious to them, and (a) they think other people already have it, and (b) it becomes part of them (internalized) rather than something they can put into […]
This morning I traveled from Christchurch to Wellington, on Air New Zealand flight NZ404. Given the situation with the ash cloud over the country, and that other carriers have suspended their flights (especially trans-Tasman), you can imagine that some people on board the plane would be worried. In […]
In Knowing the Drill: Virtual Teamwork at BP, Don Cohen looks at the benefits that accrued to BP from virtual teaming approaches and technology in the 1990s. My summary notes: – The “wow” story is how drilling engineers in the North Sea in 1995 resolved a problem with […]
The problem with Nicholas Bate is he writes such good stuff that it’s impossible to do justice to the thoughts that arise as a result of pondering what he writes. His recent book, How to Be Brilliant, is a little gem. It is little (literally) – A5 sized […]
My next post on The BrainYard was posted today – A Collaboration Strategy for the Change-Averse: “I’ve been in a couple of meetings recently with IT leaders who are trying to get their companies’ employees to work in new ways using collaboration tools. Rather than address their companies’ […]
Kent shares five lessons he learnt at college. His 5th lesson is: “(5) Cluster classes (and like projects) For the most part, I believe people work best in bursts. Not only may we enjoy the benefits of mental rhythm and flow, but we also minimize unrelated interruptions. At […]
In his Learning TRENDS newsletter from November 2010, Elliott Masie shares the following story about tug boats on the Panama Canal: “I visited the Panama Canal this week for the first time in 20 years. One big learning lesson happened while taking a 1/2 day transit of this […]
A lot of business is conducted via email. But as with any use of language, especially in times of limited time and an overwhelming abundance of email, being clear about what you are saying (and what you are not saying) is critical. Lack of clarity leads to misunderstandings, […]
Nick Milton is the author of The Lessons Learned Handbook: Practical Approaches to Learning from Experience. He shares some of the initial research for the book on his blog, including a list of key success factors to get right: “It seems that effective lesson-learning contains many elements, each […]
Michael Sampson 
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