How bureaucratic is your company?
Everybody loves to hate bureaucracy. We love the cartoons and jokes that make fun of people who follow the rules, even when the rules make no sense. We hate the clerk who shrugs and says that he or she can’t make an exception to company policy. People have probably hated bureaucracy for as long as it has been around and that’s a very long time. In the Ancient Middle East, scribes administered the rules laid down by kings and emperors and pharaohs. The basic definition of a “bureaucracy” is the same today as it would have in Imperial China or Ancient Sumer....
Read MoreWhy People Hate Performance Appraisals
Suppose you had a service that, with subtle variations, was offered by nearly all of your competitors. And suppose that despite your best efforts, only five-percent of your customers were satisfied with the results that got from using it. Would you continue to offer it just because your competitors did? Those statistics are not about any particular service. They were actually taken from a study done on the use and effectiveness of performance appraisals. And if truth be told, these evaluations probably cause more angst than any other in organizations. In addition, they are ineffective...
Read MoreClosing the management skills gap
The headline on the Forbes article says it all: “CEOs are Terrible at Management, Study Finds.” Here’s a quote that sums up the headline. “The researchers say that CEOs need to reach beyond numbers and care about people management. Two other statistics from the survey that underline how disengaged CEOs are from concern about employees: When asked about their CEOs’ greatest strengths, 70% rated ‘decision-making skills’ at the top. At the bottom: 27% said ‘compassion/empathy,’ 23% said ‘mentoring skills/developing internal...
Read MoreAgile Leadership: Same Coat; Different Color
In the 1960s, it was non-hygienic factors. In the 1990s, it was High Performance Indicators, or HPIs, as they became known. And now, 20 years later, it’s called agile leadership. It’s true that whatever goes around, comes around. But no matter what you call it, it all amounts to the same thing: People matter; a lot. And organizations that truly recognize that they contribute a lot of value, are not only more productive, but are also more profitable than those which don’t. It then begs the question: If we’ve known how important people were to the success of organizations...
Read MoreFive Dimensions to Compare Top Executive Candidates
Choosing a candidate for a top executive position is a high stakes game. Make a good choice and you’ll reap the benefits for a long time. Get it wrong and the consequences can be fatal. You can improve your odds of making a good choice by comparing all the candidates in five key areas. General management performance: How has the candidate demonstrated the level of general management skills that the position requires? Strategic skills and performance: What strategic challenges has the candidate met? How do those challenges compare with what he or she will face in the...
Read MoreHow to Lead From Any Position
There was a time when organizations had essentially one leader that the rest were expected to follow; and for many, this still holds true today. In large companies, however, the prevailing strategy is to have a board of policymakers who are separate from those who implement their decisions. This approach was created by Alfred P Sloan when he reorganized General Motors nearly 100 years ago. In recent years, however, the effectiveness of this model has declined. Rather than having just one leader, or even one policymaking authority, these responsibilities have been devolved down to the team or...
Read More
Recent Comments