Professional Skills Blog Magnusson Training & Consulting LLC

We sometimes create our own difficult clients by not creating, setting and maintaining realistic expectations from the very get go. Disconnects in customer communications and understanding can happen at a number of points throughout the engagement. They can happen: During the sales process During project kickoff On change requests On status calls and in stat […]

Fast-growing companies can often be chaotic places to work. As workloads increase exponentially, approaches which have worked well in the past start failing. Teams and people get overwhelmed with work. Previously-effective managers start making mistakes as their span of control expands. And systems start to buckle under increased load. While growth is fun wh […]

We all know people who seem to spend their lives embroiled in conflict. These people probably are doing exactly what they need to do, given their perceptions of reality. Conflict can help to clarify issues, strengthen relationships, solve problems, and enrich our lives. However, conflict also can be unproductive and destructive. Following these guidelines ca […]

Critical thinking is about being both willing and able to evaluate your thinking. Sometimes our thinking might be criticized because we don’t demonstrate that we have all the relevant information required or because we make unjustified inferences, use inappropriate concepts, or fail to notice important implications. Our thinking may be unclear, inaccurate, i […]

There are over 200 national cultures in the world. Is it possible to classify them into types?  One classification is the Lewis-model, whose main categories are Linear-Active, Multi-Active and Reactive cultures. A rough guide to global cultural variations can be seen in this triangle, where countries are placed according to their dominant characteristics, or […]

In practice, even the best project managers can find it difficult to plan major projects without missing important activities, and without failing to spot all significant risks and issues. What’s more, once you’re immersed in the detail of project planning, it’s hard to keep site of the big picture: What are you trying to achieve […]

Goal setting is a powerful way ofmotivating people, and of motivating yourself. In fact, goal setting theory is generally accepted as among the most valid and useful motivation theories in industrial and organizational psychology, human resource management, and organizational behavior. Many of us have learned – from bosses, seminars, and business articles – […]

Have you ever tried to learn something fairly simple, yet failed to grasp the key ideas? Or tried to teach people and found that some were overwhelmed or confused by something quite basic? If so, you may have experienced a clash of learning styles: Your learning preferences and those of your instructor or audience may […]

Here is a great post from “Sources of Insights” on productivity personas Some people are natural “starters.”  They live for the creative beginning of projects, but not the day-to-day execution or the detailed follow up and follow through.  Some people are natural “finishers.”  They like the day-to-day work and the routine execution. When “starters” and […] […]

In today’s market place where so many services are viewed as a commodity, the ability to add value to our service is an absolute necessity. There is no doubt that in the absence of value-added components virtually any service can be driven down to the most bottom line – price. Let’s take a look at […]