How do you accelerate the level of trust in your organization? The short answer: with lots of reciprocity. People feel trust because they are rewarded in many different forms of currency: customers with excellent service and follow-up communication, employees with recognition for a job well done and interesting opportunities, to name a few. But those …
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Several trends are making competence in communication more important today than ever before. First, the need to respond quickly to market changes creates the need for a less rigid and bureaucratic work environment. Information must quickly flow up, down, and across traditional channels. No longer is it enough to have a few skilled communicators at …
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There’s a concept of community in South Africa that’s called “Ubuntu.” It emphasizes the interdependence of each member of the community. It recognizes a person’s status as a human being, entitled to unconditional respect, dignity, value and acceptance. But it also entails the converse. Each person has a corresponding duty to give respect, dignity, value …
Boards of directors clearly have ultimate decision-making authority for everything under their guidance. But in actual practice, many boards don’t exercise that authority. Staff often drafts a recommendation and brings it to the board to ratify. This may be efficient, but it casts the board in the role of “rubber stamping.” Over time, this erodes …
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One of the biggest reasons that big initiatives fail is because people have failed to assess the hidden costs of change. The benefits of pursuing a given course – launching a new product, or expanding into new territory – may be outweighed by hidden costs that motivate certain people to cling to the status quo. Unmasking …
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Decisions can be very difficult to manage in settings where people aren’t used to accepting responsibility – or where the structure works against it. Position accountability (what the position is accountable for) and responsibility (what the person actually can do) can get wildly out of synch. This often is due to what we call “nichifying.” …
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The genius of the reciprocating engine lies in the cyclical action of the piston and cylinder. Each downward stroke exerts force on the piston rod while the upward motion draws fuel into the cylinder for the next cycle. The genius of learning organizations is in creating an engine of accelerating change. The downward stroke, if …
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Bureaucracy is the force in direct opposition to emergent intelligence. Fostering creative flow means constantly battling bureaucratic “creep.” Bureaucracy begins because a manager feels he or she has to exert control over something. So a “checkpoint” is installed to monitor the quality of a particular decision – say a customer service decision that has minor …
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Good leaders maintain a healthy work-life balance. They communicate that this is something they value in others, too. They establish a pattern for their personal life – whether it’s being home for dinner four nights a week, attending choir practice, or being a part of their kids’ school activities. They provide opportunities, whether through flexible …
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The key to highly effective meetings is not what you do during the meeting, but what you do before and after the meeting. Here are four of the practices that we teach: 1. Take ownership of the agenda. Before the meeting, decide what outcomes you want, what decisions need to be made, the time required, …
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