The Art of Waking People Up - (J-B Warren Bennis) by Kenneth Cloke & Joan Goldsmith (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In The Art of Waking People Up authors Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith draw on more than thirty years of practical experience with hundreds of organizations-- from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies, schools, and nonprofits-- to reveal new ways of giving and receiving feedback that maximize personal and organizational change and foster lifelong learning. They show how organizations can develop the systems, processes, techniques, and relationships that affirm, rather than undermine, the intelligence and humanity of their employees. This important resource is filled with the necessary tools, interventions, and strategies managers can use to encourage their employees to speak, hear, absorb, and use the information they need to improve the way they work.

From the Back Cover

The overwhelming challenges created by today's new work requirements -- endless technological innovation and increasingly complex organizational issues-- cry out for feedback, mentoring, and coaching processes that promote self-reflection, self-corrections, and improved performance.

In The Art of Waking People Up authors Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith draw on more than thirty years of practical experience with hundreds of organizations-- from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies, schools, and nonprofits-- to reveal new ways of giving and receiving feedback that maximize personal and organizational change and foster lifelong learning. They show how organizations can develop the systems, processes, techniques, and relationships that affirm, rather than undermine, the intelligence and humanity of their employees. This important resource is filled with the necessary tools, interventions, and strategies managers can use to encourage their employees to speak, hear, absorb, and use the information they need to improve the way they work.
Unlike other authors who describe a discreet mentoring process or coaching technique, Cloke and Goldsmith provide managers with a new paradigm for workplace feedback and ways of giving and receiving information that maximizes personal and organizational change. The Art of Waking People Up includes information on how to

• Create work relationships that are more honest, open, respectful, and effective
• Analyze the structures, systems, processes, and cultural practices that limit personal and organizational growth
• Identify the behaviors that suppress awareness, creativity, and initiative
• Target the information to pass along that will help develop creativity, flexibility, leadership, and responsiveness
• Implement strategies for encouraging the development of democratic organizations

In addition, this book contains value-added tools, interventions, and solid strategies that will go a long way toward waking up people up in any organization.

About the Author

Kenneth Cloke is director of the Center for Dispute Resolution and a mediator, arbitrator, consultant, and trainer. Joan Goldsmith is an organizational consultant, coach, and educator specializing in leadership development and organizational change. Cloke and Goldsmith are coauthors of five previous books, including The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy and Resolving Conflicts at Work: A Complete Guide for Everyone on the Job, both published by Jossey-Bass.