Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category
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People are predictable…especially in times of relentless change. Fact is human beings need context. Simply put we won’t move, decide, confront or embrace change…unless we have a reason to do so. Think about it. Everything you do has purpose behind it. From how you choose to drive to work in the morning, to how you choose what clothes to wear or why you just chose to cut 15% of your operating budget. Everything requires a reason. Consciously and unconsciously our brains are continuously asking the question, “What does this mean?” And if the answer is not provided our brains will access the data (often from past experience) and decide on its own, often based on faulty assumptions. In other words we “MAKE SH_ _ UP” (MSU)
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Oct
10
Not sure why, but today if you’re serious about competing and winning globally putting in place a matrix organizational structure is an inevitable reality. Every one of my clients lives in this reality and continues to find the “matrix-management operating model” frustrating (to put it mildly.) Actually I do understand the business rationale for matrix reporting structures, the challenge is how can one perform well when they spend much of their time serving multiple masters, searching for key experts and resources, and struggling to figure out who has the authority to make decisions.
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I am not sure how we arrived here as a nation of mainly dependent, irresponsible, entitled and un-empowered citizenry. But I am going to guess that along the way our leaders forgot the 3 fundamentals criteria that should guide the development of every policy, rule, law, process or procedure.
These criteria apply everywhere: in Washington, in the halls of business, and in the home. Ask or consider the following criteria before finalizing what you believe to be the next great policy.
1. Will this policy inspire personal responsibility or trigger blame or entitlement?
2. Will this policy lead people to become more dependent or independent?
3. Will this policy empower people to act or trigger deference?
Consider these criteria … look in the mirror and be dirt-honest about the consequence of your decisions and rules … You will be amazed at how it reframes your leadership … wherever it is you lead from!
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Sep
09
When dealing with driving a change in an organization, leaders will always face this moment … the moment when people say, “I’m in…” or when they say (rarely to your face). “Over my dead body … you can’t make me.”
Too often leaders assume that by simply informing people about the change, buy-in will come soon thereafter. Not true. When people are faced with change and a must-choose to commit, they will always ask three questions before they step across the line and declare, “I’m in!”
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Sep
09
Private Sector company and employee relationships certainly have changed over the past 25 years. Best described by many as moving from a “Loyalist Era” through a “Careerist Era” to now what is often cited as the Era of “Mutual Self-Interest.” Read more