Friends, it’s good to see you here!  Here is an excerpt from a “Message from the Chair” about to be broadcast via email … making the point that we would benefit from increased communication among us.  I very much want for us to exploit the collective expertise in the Division!

Are you wondering how to “grow your political savvy” ?

Quite aside from your technical expertise, have you ever had the following thoughts when you read an email or a document, watched an interaction at a meeting, or otherwise observed someone else’s actions in the workplace:

Wow – that was tactful. I would have struggled to find a non-hurtful formulation.

What a good way to convey how the proposed initiative is in everyone’s interest?

A great solution to what seemed like an intractable problem – how did she come up with that?

I’ll have to adopt that technique next time I present in front of a group!

I, for one, have those reactions at times in my condo corporation board meetings!

Skills in leadership and management come naturally to some people … or so it seems.Great leaders and managers may in fact say “Oh, I learned that the hard way”. Personally, I look way back at my very early career and recognize that on occasion, while I meant well, I did not have the ballast of experience to counterbalance my youthful eagerness. (I’m thankful for that experience now and take every opportunity I can to share it.)

Are you wondering how to go about systematically broadening and deepening your “soft skills” so that you could …

• take on roles focusing on “moving the organization or department forward”?
• enhance your persuasion skills?
• participate in, or lead, new initiatives in terms of getting the necessary stakeholder buy-in?

This blog is all about letting us help each other.  What a good new device for the Division … let’s use it!