My son, when he was 8 years old, asked me, “Daddy, what do you?” I smiled and said: “I work with groups.” Since this shed little light, I tried to explain. “Sometimes groups need help and I help them have good, productive discussions.” I imagine my son, even today, still wondering what his dad does. …
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I am writing this on Labor Day 2020, thinking about the work our firm does to build high-performing organizations. I want to address two questions: Why does building a high-performing organization matter? And what’s the connection between that work and Labor Day? Philosophers would argue I should start with the end itself – the intended …
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One of the greatest benefits of developing a framework of core values is that decision making can be decentralized.
Developing a high-performing company starts with defining its organizational core values – the actions and behaviors essential to the organization’s success. To do this successfully, you must engage your employees in a series of conversations about what it means to be a values-driven organization, what behaviors support the core values, and how important employees are …
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I work with a lot of Boards of Directors for public agencies, corporations, nonprofits. Typically, my focus is on helping these Board develop a high-level performance scorecard that the Board can rely on for measuring the organization’s performance. This, in turn, will accelerate the organization to attain higher levels of performance. The important thing about …
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This tool is useful for visualizing the steps in a typical strategic planning process, from the initial environmental scan to the narrowing of strategies and developing of related performance targets. Managers and leaders can use this tool to communicate their planning process to other managers, employees, board members, and other stakeholders. This tool is best …
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Once you’ve defined your corporate core values, you can reinforce them by incorporating them into your performance appraisals and organizational assessments. In order to do that, you need to identify the specific behaviors associated with each core value. For example, “being flexible and adapting to changes in customers’ needs” might be a core behavior associated …
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In high performing organizations, company core values are linked to “we statements” that list the specific behaviors needed to support each core value. These “we statements” can be used for recruiting, hiring, promotions, and performance appraisals. In this way, all the work of the organization is tied to the core values. The following sample set …
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This is a balanced scorecard example tied to an organization’s core values. Each core value has at least one performance measure. Core Value: Reliability Goal Statement: Provide timely, accurate, and cost effective products and services the first time, every time. Performance Measures: Percentage of individuals who receive products, benefits and services without adjustment. Percentage of …
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Business core values are the activities essential to the success of the organization. In healthy organizations, people share a clear understanding of what these core values are and how they are measured. This tool helps people identify and develop core values. It is best used in conjunction with the “Six Rings Model: Integrated Strategic Planning.” …
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