Over the years I’ve authored literally hundreds of articles on a variety of topics from finding a therapist to improving employee engagement. It’s a bit hard to find things because of the volume of material, so here’s what is available on THIS site. As we continue to centralize our web presence, more and more material…
Welcome to our 2024 Edition
Welcome to our 2024 version of The Bacal & Associates Personal and Work Store. It’s more than a store, since we’ll have tons of free material on all kinds of topics, both work, and personal development. As you can see, everything is under construction and will likely not be completed until the end of January,…
Important issues with assertiveness and listening use in the real world
While in theory, the use of assertive skills and various forms of active and reflective listening should work in real life, the reality is that they often do not work the way the experts contend, or the books teach us. You should know about this before you jump in to learn and use assertiveness and…
Producing Hassle-Hunters – Every Employee A Quality Specialist
Want Employee “Engagement”? Start With Hassle Hunting, A Value Added Process Contrary to what many executives think, the information essential to improved productivity and efficiency does not reside in the executive suite, but in the minds of the people who actually do the work and interact with the customers. The theme of this is simple….
Credibility: Knowing The Difference Between “Understanding From The Outside” and Understanding From The Inside
Communicating Credibly Understanding From The Inside – Understanding From The Outside We all think we know how government works. I thought that, at least until I joined the government as an organizational and development consultant some years ago. I’d always had an interest in politics, being reasonably educated. However, I quickly realized that my first…
Understanding Leadership Ideologies and Models
Best Leadership Strategies Are Pragmatic Rather Than Based On Ideology If you want to learn more about leadership, or become a better leader, you have a wide range of leadership models, theories, and “expert opinions” to draw upon. That’s both a gift and a serious challenge, since you’ll often find conflicting opinions. Why is that? First,…
The ONE Thing, And The ONLY Thing We Know For Sure About Leadership Effectiveness
After hundreds of years, research, books, we know remarkably little about what effective leadership is about There are dozens, if not hundreds of leadership models that “explain” what constitutes effective leadership. And hundreds of books. However, if we step back a bit, what do we really know for sure about effective leadership? Actually, almost nothing….
The Importance of Leadership In Managing Change
Summary: Leadership is important in most aspects of organizational health, but it’s even more important when it comes to a) creating and implementing planned change, or b) reacting to pressure for change that comes from sources external sources. In this article Robert Bacal explains how leadership plays a determining role in managing change from beginning…