4 Ways to Improve the Health of your Organization

For some time now I have been a big fan of the Crossan, Fry and Killing - brilliant strategic thinkers! In their 8th edition of 'Strategic Analysis and Action' they include measuring operational performance  and organizational health.  Think about the areas of Learning, Enthusiasm, Boundaries, and Sustainability when looking at Organizational Health and I ask that you expand from the qualitative headings and ask yourself the following questions.

1.  Are "Lessons Learned" captured?  How do the people in the organization currently learn from each other?

2.  How do your employees feel about their work?  How enthusiastic are they?  How often do you survey employees?

3.  Do individuals stay in small sub-groups?  Or are teams created that enable "openness"?

4.  How much capacity does your staff have?  Or Are the "tanks empty"?

In the following weeks I will explore each of the areas in more detail.

Rhonda

Recognize the Power Shift and How

Executive Leadership Requirements are Changing

Working in the social era requires leaders to embrace: team work, shared leadership, thought development and innovation by unlikely contributors – Are you prepared to enable them and drive power up versus down?

The so called: “Bosses” need to recognize that their true power lies beneath them on the organizational chart.  Real power comes from your ability to harness the resourcefulness of others by collaborating, sharing authority rather than dominating it.  People, your people, are connected and it is in those networks where problems are solved much more rapidly than in the past.  Understanding this shift may have a direct and positive impact on how you serve your staff and customers – This can be a Bottom-Line Booster and Competitive Advantage so why do some managers, leaders, supervisors… people in position of responsibility, hold on to the old paradigm?  Title?  Ego?  Both, I suspect, yet new organizations are throwing out the old titles:  the head of Honest Tea is the “TeaEO” – Seth works at all levels. 

What’s really in a title?  http://www.banffexeclead.com/AcumenPDF/Leadership%20Articles/Leadership%20Acumen%2027%20V10%20Job%20Titles.pdf

It’s worth the read and when you are done, think about the “network”, not vertical or horizontal alignment, or the “matrix”, but rather the social era and how today’s young leaders are tossing out the old paradigm of top-down.

Client Success for Community Consultants 2012

I often write about the sadness that I feel at the end of the semester when my consultancy students complete their client engagements and are eager to graduate.  From September to December I witnessed firsthand how a rocky team dynamic can shape and better a team in the end.  I saw clients both grateful and amazed at the work that had been done.   And, I sat proudly during a presentation where the message was a difficult one – ‘You Must Change’.

Each year the communityconsultants seem to take the program to new highs – for that I am grateful to all who taught these men and women before me and to the consultancy students for they allowed me to stretch them even further.

Well Done and Thank You!

The Hype Cycle

Gartner’s annual maturity assessment of technologies and information technology trends (Gartner.com) is something I like to follow- the cost is crazy but if you can wait, it will find its way to analysts who write about these companies and their technologies.  Organizations can use the Hype Cycle for decision making that will maximize impact and value.  Looking at a “smart phone” hype cycle, the makers of Black Berry can clearly see that what lies ahead of this organization maybe too steep to conquer (my opinion).  The makers of BB are in need of a name change, and technology insertion that is in keeping with future technology needs (note – “future”); but lets stay with understanding impact of "hype".

The “hype” today is BB10, BB10 – What happens when a product is talked about in anticipation of a launch?  The expectation goes up.  What happens when it fails to live up to the excitement?  The “trough of disillusionment” follows and then it is likely over.  I am sure the makers of BB10 are worried about whether they do in fact have the “technology trigger”, that… one thing that will launch BB back into technology-respect or if it will hit the trough, the downward slippery slope.

Rhonda....

Managing to a Manic Market and Low Volatility

I am starting to see a change in tmarket condition, couple that with a low volatility and there is an opportunity for the market condition to change.

My Business Partner and Economist, Mike Tucker, purports that there are nine market conditions based on, of course, Supply & Demand fundamentals and what then happens to Price and Quantity demanded can be the difficult question to answer.

So, business leaders….  It is time to be on your toes for the next quarter.  Low volatility in a manic market (up/down) and recessionary global activity has me concerned that the market (1 of 9) may be about to change and Leaders need to recognize and respond accordingly.

I am looking at a change in Demand (reduced), where supply remains robust – Price will go down and quantity demanded will be questionable.  Another market condition is a change in Demand (reduced) and supply follows; Quantity demanded will go down and Price becomes questionable – can the market hold its asking Price?

Remember, low volatility is the clue here….

Today, at some point... give pause to those who died on 9/11; having spent more than a decade working in aerospace and defence I am grateful to those who serve in uniform and who provide services and equipment.

Hey….Come Down from the Cheap Seats for Better Decisions

Over the summer break from teaching my work in my private practice has seen a few repeated mistakes from clients, which has me commenting about the macro environment conditions.

For example, it is no secret that the Euro-zone is struggling but it is also not to anyone’s surprise either so why then are companies trading at such a discount and near or below book value?  Too much emphasis is being spent on what I call the “cheap-seats”.  You know the ones…. Way up high in the rafters where you cannot see the specific plays unfold.   Apply that scenario to business and you will see we are making decisions from too much macro data – and now we have a problem.   

Do this one simple thing:  When you are reviewing or creating your strategic plan look at the micro economic information first then complete your situational analysis and better business decisions will result.

And 1 more thing:  Happy Birthday to my business partner - Mike Tucker - an economist that makes economics interesting! 

Executive Compensation …..

What is wrong?

Like you I have been watching and listening to how much bonus money is, and has been, paid to the big bank executives and executives in general.  And like you, I am getting more and more annoyed with their respective boards because clearly “big money bonuses” are incentivizing the wrong behaviour!

You do not have to look far to see that corruption is all around corporations.  Corporate governance needs to take a step back and revisit this now.  Sure it is a very complex structure – align pay with performance etc. but it should be capped – just my opinion but a worker-bee is a worker-bee and if you look back 15-20 years an executive compensation use to be 10-1 now it has gone to the ridiculous! 

So let’s take step back to where real risk-reward lies and that is with the entrepreneur.  The lady or gent who worked 7 days a week to make a dream come true and to ensure payroll was met and who was the last to be paid….  They deserve the wealth.

Cheers to the Entrepreneur!