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Entries Tagged as 'Expectations'

Can’t versus Don’t Want To

April 6th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A recent experience with a customer-service organization illustrates how much of today’s “can’t” is merely “I don’t want to.” The topic of this blog is nothing new. That is one of my frustrations as this is an old habit that I wish and wish had gone away in today’s world of inter-networked […]

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Tags: Expectations · Life · People

Selling a Program, Keeping it Sold

March 9th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips To gain approval for an endeavor, you must “sell” it to those who decide such things. Then, as work progresses, you must continue to engage those who decide and keep the project “sold.” I hate this topic. That is because one of my worst experiences in my career was due to my […]

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Tags: Change · Communication · Expectations · Management

Performers, Predictors, and Punishment

February 23rd, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips When a performer doesn’t perform as predicted, the predictor is in the wrong. Too bad that we usually fail to recognize that. I write this the week after all the big tech companies posted their quarterly financial reports. Some companies didn’t perform as expected, i.e., as predicted. The result was that the […]

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Tags: Competence · Estimation · Expectations · Judgment

Tell Them it is Normal

January 29th, 2015 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Life is full of challenges and frustrations. Some of these are normal. When encountering normal with a person who has not encountered it before, explain to them that it is normal. I once tutored a young man through a frustrating process at work. In the middle of the pull-out-your-hair and smash-your-head-through-the-wall day, […]

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Tags: Communication · Consulting · Education · Expectations · Learning

Two Unspoken Requirements

November 24th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Many projects make no sense. They are driven by two unspoken yet paramount requirements. I have seen many projects that were driven by two unspoken but paramount requirements: The project must cost a certain amount of money—no more and no less You have to look like you are trying to do something […]

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Tags: Culture · Expectations · Magic · Management · Requirements

Too Close for Comfort

October 27th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips For many of us, being close shows us the details, and those details make us sick. I give to several non-profit organizations. One of them is based ten thousand miles away. Another is based five miles away. I see many details of the one that is five miles away. I don’t like […]

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Tags: Competence · Expectations · General Systems Thinking · Problems

Descriptions and Predictions

March 17th, 2014 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips A description portrays what is now; a prediction estimate what may come. Sometimes we confuse the two at our peril. Some words are predictions. We use to them to portray our estimate of the future. Few of us are satisfactory as predictors of the future even though most of us think we […]

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Tags: Communication · Estimation · Expectations · General Systems Thinking · Reframe

The Most Important Project in a Person’s Life

November 18th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips I cannot overestimate the importance of starting well. What a person does on the first project of their life is out of proportion in importance. This is quick and simple: The most important project in a person’s life is the first project. Why? Because the new person knows nothing about real-world projects. […]

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Tags: Expectations · Management

Reverse Psychology

September 16th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips People used to use the phrase “reverse psychology” more than they do now. I suppose I act out reverse psychology a lot these days. I don’t, however, of it in those terms. I think of my actions in vastly different terms. People used to say the phrase that sits atop this post. […]

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Tags: Communication · Expectations

It’s Interstate All the Way

April 18th, 2013 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Whatever the era, we have our phrases that indicate convenience. And we crave convenience. When I was a kid, way back in the 60s of the 20th century, my family took long trips in the car. The “worst thing in the world” was to be driving a curvy, two-lane road. You would […]

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Tags: Culture · Expectations