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 September 23, 2011 — entitled “Ten Things Only Bad Managers Say”. So let me start [...]
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EVALUATING SOMEBODY’S PERFORMANCE
June 19, 2011
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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 at the end of the process. So at the risk of repeating myself somewhat, here [...]
Read moreMISSION, VISION, & VALUES
April 23, 2011
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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. The worst of these exercises generally involve excessive debate about the right wording — usually [...]
Read moreTHE APPROPRIATE FOCUS OF MANAGEMENT CONTROL
March 27, 2011
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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, end up creating a stifling work environment and failing at a manager’s most important responsibility: [...]
Read moreMOTIVATING A SUBORDINATE
March 24, 2011
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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 already know how much I would dearly love to engage in that long overdue action. [...]
Read moreMANAGING WITHOUT “MANAGING”
January 18, 2011
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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 realized he was referring to the challenges that accompany managing a workforce outside of a [...]
Read moreIS ANYTHING EVER GOOD ENOUGH?
October 8, 2010
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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: “what happened with this B”? The really sad part of this tale is that all [...]
Read moreBALANCING AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
September 29, 2010
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Three company case studies provide rich insight into effective organizational management in Gary Hamel’s marvelous book “The Future of Management”. I have referred to this work elsewhere in this series of articles but here, I wish to draw attention to what we can learn by looking at what Hamel’s comparison of W. L. Gore, [...]
Read moreSTAND STILL AND STAGNATE
September 27, 2010
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A recent Businessweek article (September 24, 2010) explained the recent fall from prominence of Finland’s mobile phone manufacturer Nokia this way: “Nokia clung to the idea that mobile handsets were mainly for phoning people. That was a disastrous call”. By comparison, Apple and others had better ideas and today a whole generation would rather use a [...]
Read moreTOP MANAGEMENT, THIS ONE’S FOR YOU
September 1, 2010
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Over the years, I have had the occasion to review and evaluate the Employee Orientation and Management/Leadership training programs of a variety of organizations. My reviews have included the curriculum for both programs, the substantive content, the core messages, and the instructors that deliver it all. Sadly, in my view, what is often missing in [...]
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