Benjamin Zander’s web site describes him as a conductor, teacher, and dynamic world-traveling speaker on management and leadership issues. While I have never had the pleasure of attending in person one of Mr. Zander’s leadership talks, I have had the opportunity… Read More ›
Motivating Top Performance
A SIMPLE ASSESSMENT OF YOUR ORGANIZATION’S HEALTH: THE HUMAN DIMENSION
Anything quantifiable — that is, reducible to numbers — is obviously a potential measure of how well an organization is doing. So profits and/or productive output, for example, are usually one valid measure of organizational performance. But numbers do not give… Read More ›
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH DIVERSITY
I feel obliged to begin this article with a disclaimer. I am certainly not an expert on the behavioral differences between the genders, nor am I a leading authority on the many topics that comprise “diversity” issues. What I do… Read More ›
GET MORE IDEAS OUT OF YOUR TEAM
Recently, I heard from a new subscriber who asked if I had any thoughts on “how to get more ideas out of a work team”. He also drew attention to a recent “BusinessWeek” article by Liz Ryan — Corporate Provocateur… Read More ›
EVALUATING SOMEBODY’S PERFORMANCE
I have touched on this subject at various times in this blog. But I continue to have rather serious discussions with both managers and non-managers about how to evaluate somebody effectively and how to avoid creating a victim of ham-handedness… Read More ›
MISSION, VISION, & VALUES
Over the years, as a manager and consultant, I have had the opportunity to participate in numerous Mission, Vision and Values exercises, involving both large and small organizations. Many have been fun, some just OK, and some downright tedious. … Read More ›
THE APPROPRIATE FOCUS OF MANAGEMENT CONTROL
Most of us at some time have experienced the downsides of over-controlling management. Micromanagement discourages subordinate initiative, damages organizational morale, and inexorably leads to less than optimal subordinate performance. Managers who try to exercise control over everything their subordinates do,… Read More ›
MOTIVATING A SUBORDINATE
Samuel Culbert who writes for the New York Times recently had an article listed as one of the weeks best in “The Week” (p. 48 March 18, 2011) entitled “Time to Shred The Annual Review”. Regular readers of this blog… Read More ›
MANAGING WITHOUT “MANAGING”
Recently a good friend and former boss of mine and I were exchanging emails. The subject of management came up and he suggested that I write a blog about managing without “managing”. As I read on in his email I… Read More ›
IS ANYTHING EVER GOOD ENOUGH?
We all know a version of the tale where a child brings home a report card filled with As and one lone B. Beaming with pride he of she hands the card to a parent and receives the following response:… Read More ›