Here are the 10 questions we are asked most often by participants in the classroom, prospective clients, or suppliers. The answers we've given are quick and to the point. For longer, fuller explanations on some of the issues, join the readership of Management Perspectives, our quarterly publication. You can sign up by clicking on the Register button below.

Question: How do you pronounce your name?

Answer: It's LIVE Consultants ... the LIVE rhymes with give. Think of "LIVE like your life depended on it" or "LIVE on the edge, learn with abandon." And yes, the letters of the name did stand for something when we started in 1974. Now LIVE is known for developing and delivering practical learning experiences.

Question: What makes you different from other management educators?

Answer: Just like individuals, just like organizations, we are like others in many ways but distinctive from others in some specific ways. And predictably enough, what we may think makes us distinctive may not be what others see in us. So here's what our clients tell us.

• We meet the commitments we make.
  
• We provide solutions that are practical but always theoretically sound.
  
• We create fun, creative learning programs and processes.
  
• We tell the truth about what will work and what won't.
  
• We are passionate about improving the quality of an organization's knowledge asset.

Question: Why are you located in St. Jacobs?

Answer: The first question we asked when we were starting the business was, "Where do our clients want to meet us ... in their office or ours?" The answer, of course, was theirs. That brought us to the conclusion that we didn't have to locate our office in an expensive downtown office tower. We then asked, "Where can we locate that is close to our clients and still gives us a positive quality of life?" Our answer? St. Jacobs, Ontario.

It's a village of 1,500 people in the heart of gentle rolling countryside ... a place we can return to and put life's challenges in perspective.

Question: How do you manage a group of which you were once a part?

Answer: Here are our suggestions:

• Shift your point of view from friend to friendly. It becomes too difficult to balance the role of friend with the role of manager. This doesn't mean that you should become distant or aloof. Far from it. Working relationships ought to be friendly, warm, encouraging environments. Behave in a friendly way that creates that environment.
  
  
• Give others time to adjust their perception of your new role. Some will make the adjustment readily. Others may take three or four months. During that time, resist rubbing other people's noses in the fact that you got the promotion and they didn't.
  
  
• Stop, look, listen. Stop making quick decisions ... look at what is going on from your new perch ... listen to what others are telling you. Take a thoughtful, considerate approach that communicates you will be fair and reasonable.
  
  
• Focus on what is right and not who is involved.

Question: How do you get someone else to change?

Answer: You can't, you don't have that control, so don't try.

The only person you can ever change is yourself — so focus on how you might behave differently. In turn, the change in your behaviour might cause the other person to make other choices in how they deal with you or with others.

Question: Why do talented people fail to perform?

Answer: There are three fundamental reasons:

• Don't know,
  
• Can't do, and
  
• Don't care.

They don't know what the job expectations are and so they can't meet standards they aren't aware of; they are missing skills; they don't see the goals or the activities as being important.

Your analysis will determine whether you communicate, coach, or counsel.

Question: How do you disagree without starting an argument?

Answer: The first step is to ask the person why they hold the point of view that they do. Taking the time to understand the other person, minimizes the amount of time you'll end a dialogue with, "I think we're saying the same thing." Asking why also lets you understand their needs and perceptions so you can position your point of view in such a way that they can hear it.

Then value the point of view they have expressed with something like, "I can understand why you hold the point of view that you do." If you have taken the time to hear them out, this isn't an empty statement or a set-up; it's an honest expression that says I respect your perception. This might encourage the other person to do the same for you.

Finally, state your point of view. This can be done with phrases like, "I've found ..." or "I have discovered ..."

Question: What are the biggest mistakes in management development?

Answer: Biggest? That's difficult to assess. However, here are the ones that subvert success:

• Offering training and not education. Programs, seminars, and workshops that only do skill building are of limited value. They are useful as long as the world stays the same. And that never happens. By contrast, education implies that learners increase their knowledge base and develop the appropriate supporting attitudes.
  
  
• Failure to link learning initiatives to the strategies of the organization. All too often the needs analysis process ends once the prospective learners have been asked what they need. That's only half of the needs analysis task. The needs of the organization also have to be part of the mix.
  
  
• Failure to tie learning processes to other systems. Learning to be seen as worthwhile must tie to the organization's selection, performance management, compensation, promotion, and career development systems.
  
  
• Using a singular development strategy. Seminars are but one way to learn. Other learning strategies — from coaching to mentoring, from multi-media to implementation reviews — must complement classroom experiences.
  
  
• Focusing only on the development of individuals. Teams and organizations, like individuals, have to learn how to learn or they will act to discourage change.
  
  
• Failure to reward learning. Changes in performance are the last step in improvement. Learning requires that knowledge acquisition, early attempts, and experimentation be rewarded.

Question: Why do you work so hard at making learning fun?

Answer: To paraphrase McLuhan's observation, "If you think there is a difference between entertainment and education you know very little about either." People learn in environments that are fun. However, fun isn't doing one joke after another. Fun is created when challenge is provided, when we laugh at ourselves, and when everyone is encouraged to tilt at windmills and test assumptions.

Question: What are the responsibilities of a leader?

Answer: Each organization needs to define that for themselves considering the environment they are in. Having said that, here are some of the more important core competencies for today's leader:

• Plans and organizes
  
• Thinks
  
• Makes change
  
• Develops people and teams
  
• Knows the business
  
• Inspires
  
• Earns respect