Early in my career I was asked to be on an “advisory committee” sponsored by a state agency; the group met quarterly under the guise of advising the state agency on specific issues. But in the years the committee was in existence, the sponsoring agency was never advised on anything, though that was supposed to […]

When groups are unfocused, have fuzzy boundaries, unclear roles or no accountability, interpersonal conflicts appear as a result. Not only does this cause unnecessary personality conflicts, it can also create challenges with coordination, motivation and competition. When these problems exist, personality conflicts can overshadow everything else. There are two types of conflict and it is […]

If you’ve sat on a committee, you’ve probably noticed that sometimes they have a hard time figuring out where they fit into the world. It is a misconception that they struggle because they lack a clear purpose. In our experience, they often have a decent purpose or mission but get confused about what type of […]

There is a restaurant where I live that slips your check into a fancy journal so you can write comments while you pay the tab. It’s a clever marketing trick but not a great way to generate authentic feedback on what could be improved upon. There is something about being handed the nicely bound journal […]