Dr Flavius Akerele III's The E Team Education blog

At some point, we have to realize that we are no longer communicating, all we are doing is data dumping. Everyone thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong. We are divided into tribes that hate each other for no other reason than they believe in something slightly different us. We spend hours trolling each other on social media to the point that social media is no longer social. How do you expect to find common ground if you cannot talk about simple stuff? How do you solve problems when you cannot define the problem? At some point, we will need to work together to solve things; at some point, we have to remember we are all under the same flag, constitution, and it supposed to be equal under the law. Reject the labels, rejected the memes, and for Pete’s sake stop deflecting bad things to innocent people! Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam

Saying what you mean, and meaning what you say; that is something we should all be striving for in life. It is even more important when you are hiring people, writing recommendations, mentoring people, etc. I have said it before and will say it again, everyone’s time is valuable, including the person applying for the job. What kind of relationships are you building with a non-caring attitude? This is more than just communication (which many people do not truly understand), this is about effective communication. Lessons from an MBA program. Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam

Let us look at this sentence: “I don’t like because of color”. If inserted into the wrong conversation in the right way, all of sudden you have an argument about racism. The whole sentence was really: “I don’t like this couch because the of the color” , a significant difference. When people alter, or omit words from sentences, it can have a profound effect on a conversation, when leaders do this, it can have a devastating effect in general. Leaders who consistently keep their employees in the dark are fostering a culture that thrives on rumors because we all know that information gap will be filled by something. It is even more sad when the information that was withheld was not even vital! If you want “buy-in" from your employees than you need to give them something to buy; if you want to have civil conversations then you need to check your sources before you quote. The standards of using references that are peer reviewed and reliable is not just for academia. A le...

One of the most common reasons people fail at a job is because expectations and details of the job were never clear. This happens from front line workers all the way to CEOs. When people have to get fired, “under performance” is often put as a reason. Maybe you write, “they were not good at their job” or “they did not have the right skills”, etc. However, whose job is it to make sure that your employees are ready to the job? Whose job is it to make sure they are making progress throughout the year? The managers and HR. I recently wrote about unprofessional behavior by the HR departments and hiring managers during the interview stage. The general consensus is that it has become a common occurrence for companies to simply ignore candidates who are not chosen after a professional interview. Some people are of the mindset that maybe the candidate was not “properly prepared” and did not “set the right expectations”. However, at some point we have to acknowledge that it had nothin...

Leaders all make mistakes, but hopefully we learn from our mistakes, especially when it comes to our businesses. What mistakes did you make in 2016? Have you corrected them or is it business as usual? Will we be having this same conversation five years from now? ·          Did you let those employees know they were valued? ·          Did you take the time to do one-on-ones with your employees so they can have a real performance review? ·          Did you give credit where credit was due? ·          Etc If it can be documented (your word is not enough) that you did all these things, congratulations! If this is not part of your normal practice, why isn’t it? Do you realize the message you are communicating to your staff by not doing these simple things? 2017 could be just another year of many, or you can ma...

If we think about it, we can probably find shared experiences for every human being throughout the world. However, just because we have all experienced something, it does not mean we all experienced it in the same way. High school for some was a glorious time full of fond memories and future promise, yet for others, it was a time of despair, survival, and a time to be forgotten. The same could be said for going to the grocery store because depending on your neighborhood, it could have been a fun trip or you were running a precarious gauntlet. In business (and in life), the first step to proper communication is to recognize that our experiences and our motivations are different (remember different, not better nor worse). As a manager, in order to understand why your staff comes to work every day, you must make the effort to know who they are as people. Common ground can be built from knowing who your people truly are. Be careful not to casually dismiss someone else’s reac...

This is a real message sent out to employees in regards to a holiday party: “Please RSVP by COB Friday, December 9th. Holiday Party RSVP The Coleman University Holiday Party will take place on Friday, December 16th in Hopper Hall from 6-10pm. The event will include games, raffles, and a dance floor. The cost to attend is $5 per employee and you can bring one guest at no cost. Please pay at the front desk and RSVP by COB Friday, December 9th . We ask employees to provide a dessert item, employees bringing dessert will get one raffle ticket (only one).” Never mind the grammar issues in the message, never mind the acronyms that are not necessarily clear: you are charging your hardworking employees for a Christmas party! If money is an issue, perhaps just have a potluck, or maybe no party at all? The little things are what matter, it is the little things that get noticed, and these little things...

As employer and as a leader, you are going to get negative emails from employees from time to time because life happens. How you respond to those emails can be the difference between solving a problem and creating new one. By the way, not responding at all is a negative way of responding because every person wants to know that their point has been heard. Try and see the issue from the point of view of the employee, if you cannot, ask questions, and ask the employee what they would like to see happen. You might be able to fulfill their wish, but maybe all they wanted to do was vent; venting can be cathartic for people. There are too many people in authority who feel they must defend and counter every argument, rather than listen, understand, and try and help a person get through the issue. Leadership often means you must put the needs of your employees ahead of your own ego. So before you hit that delete button, before you decide to ignore that person, ask you...

Not an easy question to answer and many institutions are trying to answer this. Emory University : “Casually ask faculty members at Emory how they define faculty governance, and two themes emerge. First, most seem to focus on faculty governance at the departmental or the school/college level, in which their appointment is housed. Second, they view faculty governance as a mechanism to oversee the curriculum and guide decisions about the promotion, and if applicable, tenure of a colleague. From our perspective, the need for engaged faculty governance at the university level deserves at least as much consideration, though. Such attention is especially essential during this era of the rapidly shifting landscape in higher education”  http://www.emory.edu/ACAD_EXCHANGE/issues/2014/Spring/stories/sterkwagner/index.html NEA: Faculty Governance in Higher Education: “ Faculty members in higher education should have primary responsibility to: 1.    ...

For the last 16 years, I have watched a steady decline in political discourse, and have seen an increase in political fighting and trolling; especially with the rise of social media. The vitriol is currently at an all-time high, and it is so bad that nobody’s message is getting through; and I mean the real message. Let me also so say that this is not a political message, I am not connected to any political party. I do not believe in labels and I do not fit into any category specifically. In 2000, when George W Bush was elected President, there were several people who I knew running around shouting, “he is going to be the anti-Christ”, there was crying, anger, etc. During one particular tirade I remember, when I routinely declined to let people know who I voted for (I got accused of all kinds of stuff because I was not agreeing with these folks), I asked a simple question: “what specifically are your issues with him”? Note the word specific… Fast forward to the electio...

The days of pounding pavement, going to an office and filling out an application are done, for better or worse electronic applications are the norm. There is a certain convenience to them obviously, especially not having to decipher peoples’ handwriting, and being able to electronically store applications. However, it is my belief that a little of the humanity has gone out of the job search, which in term causes great frustration for applicants.  Here are some of the issues I have identified: ·          Applications are being pre-screened by computers, and while there are many so-called experts out there who are willing to give you advice on how to “write a winning resume” (for a nominal fee of course), there are no guarantees that good and qualified candidates resumes are ever going to be seen by the decision makes. The “blackhole” effect, can cause qualified people to stop looking for jobs. ·     ...

Active listening is a skill that must be practiced regularly when you supervise people because it is skill that can easily rust as one gets complacent. It should be said that there are many supervisors out there who have never possessed this skill at all. When an employee comes to you with a problem, to vent, or just to talk, it is all about that employee; your personal anecdotes and stories have no place in that conversations unless you were asked to share . It is amazing how often this mistake occurs. Trust and confidentiality is an important factor here as well; a private conversation told to you by an employee should stay private (unless a life is involved). It is amazing how rumors get spread by the people who are supposed to look out for your best interests. Seems simple correct? Then why is this not actively practiced in so many organizations? Retain your most valuable assets, your staff; and it starts by being engaged in their lives. It is not abou...

There are so many modalities of communication nowadays, and in business you can get plugged into so many of them to the point that it is overwhelming. But what good are all those modalities if you never get back to people, or if people can never reach you in a timely manner? The answer is that they are useless. Here is a useful tip for emails specifically, which seem to have the most volume: ·          Answer back immediately (or set up an automatic message to answer for yourself) just to acknowledge you received the message and will get back to them as quickly as possible; and make sure you do. The person who sent the message will appreciate the acknowledgment, and it buys you more time. It is amazing how some emails never get returned, or get returned so late that you wonder if the person is joking. Lesson from an MBA class…. Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam