ro8ertjohn

Can you think of a time when you chose not to ask a question at work for fear of looking silly or not wanting to bother someone? By avoiding asking clarifying questions, we run the risk of miscommunication, conflict and potentially longer-term resentment. Here's how this plays out in real situations: Take a manager of a small group of freelancers. They want to find out whether they are available for an upcoming project. One of the freelancers doesn't reply. The manager hesitates. Should they...

As facilitators (and more generally, human beings), we tend to judge our work on how much it goes to plan. Running an improv workshop on Saturday, I had a simple exercise mapped out that I thought of as I was driving to the venue. Its main function was to randomly put people in pairs: famous two-word band names (Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac) split onto separate pieces of paper. Everyone picks one at random, shouts out their word and finds their partner. Easy. And more interesting than just...