Communication

We’re big fans of Scott Adams’ comic strip Dilbert here at The Latimer Group. Adams consistently offers a funny (and often WAY too accurate) depiction of office life. A colleague of ours recently sent us this one on distracting communication in the workplace. We’ve written about Dilbert before on this blog, and also about how […]

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council, August 2019. Many of us likely want to become better communicators, whether your goal is to speak clearly, concisely or persuasively. As individuals, we can work to improve our own communication through preparation and practice of a few crucial underlying skills. We can set out to know our audience, hone […]

Clients of The Latimer Group have heard me say, many times, that the hardest thing for any organizational leader to do is to change the way his or her people actually behave. If you want to reinvent your organization, you can add or subtract business units, product lines, services, locations, etc, etc, etc. You can make yourself […]

Stereotyping… I thought we weren’t doing this anymore? I thought that as a society we had realized that making broad generalizations about a person based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, or demographic was no longer acceptable. Well, I guess Good Morning America host Lara Spencer didn’t get the memo. Or at least, the version […]

Great communication does not just happen. It requires thought, preparation, practice… and it requires a philosophy. There are many philosophies out there in the 21st century business world. But here is what works for us (and our clients tell us it works for them as well): Great communication requires a few key ingredients, which are the basis […]

In our coaching and training, we end up discussing the interview process all the time. Many of our clients interview regularly for promotions within their company. And almost all of our clients have to conduct interviews with others, for positions they are trying to fill on their own teams. Part of our coaching process is to ask […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Director of Assessment & Advancement at The Latimer Group. When tackling big questions and conversations, we often need to get out of our normal routines and surroundings. Amidst the clutter of our busy desks and with the frequent interruptions of our typical office flow, it is hard to […]

We write and speak frequently on the importance of being a good listener. But most of our content is usually focused on listening tactics — how to listen better. But today I want to write about why it is so important to listen well. Listening, at its most basic level, is essentially a commitment to two-way […]

In my last post, I used Chief Brody’s character from Jaws fame as an example of how our fight or flight system is triggered. Its manifestations run from sudden dry mouth, sweaty palms, flushed neck, butterflies in our stomach, and a brain that sputters like an old Fiat rather than performing like the Porsche 911 […]

In so many organizations, we see discussions around problem solving go wrong. To be an effective problem solving organization, there has to be a framework of questions that will lead towards full alignment on the issue. Once we have that alignment, then we can have a serious conversation around legitimate solutions. In a world where everyone […]