Leadership

Leadership, Talent Management

Most Companies Fail at Innovation – But Here’s What to Do Instead

by on May 20, 2013, 7:00 AM  |  No comments yet
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What’s the most powerful word in business today? Innovation.

Read any blog, any news source, any prospectus and you will quickly stumble over “innovation” — how the company pursues innovation, how innovative the products are, and how “innovation” is a core value of the company.

And this is all well and good because innovation truly is what propels industries and markets ever forward.

But the real question smart companies should be encouraging every employee, in every role, to ask is: “What can I do, in what I do every day, to be more innovative? How can I innovate our product, our service approach, to better serve our customers, change the market, or push the company forward?” Read more…

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HR Insights, Leadership

Survey Says Helping People, Not Profits, Is Primary Driver for HR

by on May 17, 2013, 9:05 AM  |  1 comment
HR is all about showing the executive team the value you bring.

I was chatting with some talent acquisition leaders at the recent ERE conference when I mentioned an innovative application being demo-ed by one of the vendors. It uses automated voice analysis to screen and help select customer service reps.

Almost instantly came OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) and EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) objections, and near unanimous declarations of opposition to the tool. This is before anyone knew much about it.

What reminded me of this conversation was a report I came across a while ago. HR professionals chose their career, the report says, primarily because they “want to help people grow and develop.” Next, and way down the scale, was business growth and development as a career choice driver. Read more…

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Leadership

What We Can Learn About Leadership From the Google Glass Experiment

by on May 15, 2013, 11:30 AM  |  4 Comments
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I haven’t tried Google Glass but I’m intrigued.

As James Rivington writes in Techradar’s Google Glass: What You Need to Know, Google Glass is defined as:

An attempt to free data from desktop computers and portable devices like phones and tablets, and place it right in front of your eyes.

Essentially, Google Glass is a camera, display, touchpad, battery and microphone built into spectacle frames so that you can perch a display in your field of vision, film, take pictures, search and translate on the go.”

Are you ready for Google Glass? Read more…

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Leadership

The Key to Work Success? Don’t Try to Do Everything and Die Trying

by on Apr 25, 2013, 10:20 AM  |  No comments yet
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I was recently looking at my book RISE on my Kindle to see what people were responding to, by checking out the “view popular highlights” feature.

The most highlighted passage was:

Think of your job as figuring out a better way to deal with all this stuff than it is to DO all this stuff and you’ll be on the right track.“

I wanted to expand on this a bit, as it is such a key concept.

The key to success is not to try and do everything and die trying. The trick is to figure out how to deal with an overwhelming workload, and give yourself a fighting chance to get the most important stuff done. Read more…

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Culture, Leadership

No, a Strategy Is Not Enough — You Need to be Able to Implement It, Too

by on Apr 24, 2013, 7:00 AM  |  11 Comments
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Business heroes are often the innovators and the visionaries that set the next strategy. Yet, 90 percent of strategies fail because of execution.

We’ve heard this surprising statistic for a few years. Surely, we’ve changed our ways.

Ron Johnson, the former CEO of JC Penney, is a case study in a strategy not realized – or at least not realized fast enough.

Johnson had a bold strategy to not only redefine JC Penney, but the entire department store concept. His goal was to change everything from store design, marketing, promotion and reinvent the brand. All at once. Read more…

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Leadership

How New Leaders Categorize Their New Employees

by on Apr 18, 2013, 7:00 AM  |  No comments yet
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It’s a pretty common phenomenon for new leaders to turn over most, if not all, of their team when they take over. It happens all the time!

It’s a primary reason while you’ll see senior leadership take way too long to change out an ineffective leader – the fallout really sucks.

Let’s take a look at how most leaders take a position. It usually happens one of two ways: Promotion or Termination. The old leader gets promoted up or gets canned, and then the organization finds a new leader (internally or externally) to come in and take over. Either way, the team has a new leader. Read more…

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Leadership

Leadership 101: How to Help Your Team to Be More Productive

by on Apr 9, 2013, 11:30 AM  |  1 comment
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In some situations, the concept of taking accountability for productivity and performance extends beyond your own job — especially when you find yourself in a leadership position — and team productivity becomes paramount.

In situations like these, doing your job well also means helping others do their jobs better and more efficiently, so their performance dovetails with yours in a satisfyingly synergistic way.

Carefully cultivated, the result can be a fruitful cycle of productivity, forming a positive feedback loop that expands into all aspects of the workflow process, making work life easier for all involved.

As a manager, you must constantly refine your organization’s workflow processes and streamline your systems. Actively pursue opportunities to eliminate nagging time bandits, frustrations, and productivity-sappers from your office systems every day. Read more…

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Leadership, Talent Management

Engaging Employees: Don’t Overlook That They’re Your Greatest Experts

by on Apr 8, 2013, 7:00 AM  |  No comments yet
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“We need to have a discussion on your work ethic.”

This message was the response sent in reference to an email that was mailed at 9:20 pm on a recent evening. The receipient was still at her desk toiling away. The sender, her boss, was already home.

When I saw this woman a few days later, I asked her to tell me about the work ethic conversation her manager mentioned. She said, in a matter of fact manner, “Oh, she does not want me working that late every night.”

Nothing was mentioned about the department being short one person, or, that the one person they were short had left because of long hours. Read more…

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Culture, Leadership

Horrified by Something in Your Culture? Better Look in the Mirror

by on Apr 5, 2013, 8:00 AM  |  8 Comments
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We see media coverage nearly every day about horrific behavior, a rogue employee or deeper criticisms about the culture of an organization.

This week is no different as we prepare for college basketball’s Final Four.

Rutgers University fired their basketball coach Wednesday after a video of his incredible behavior shoving players, throwing basketballs at players and downright degrading his team was shown on ESPN’s Outside the Lines and later went viral.

It followed initial notification about this behavior to their management last summer and a suspension for three games in December that’s put their Athletic Director on the hot seat for not administering a more severe punishment — now that the video is public. Read more…

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HR Management, Leadership

How Unilateral Control Can Damage Teams and Working Relationships

by on Apr 3, 2013, 11:25 AM  |  1 comment
Smart Leaders Smarter Teams

By Roger Schwarz

Effective leaders want productive relationships inside and outside their team. Effective teams improve the way they work together over time.

But when team members operate generally from unilateral control, working relationships deteriorate over time instead.

When your team doesn’t have strong working relationships, then members try to minimize working as a team or collaborating with other members. They see the team as a hindrance to accomplishing their goals. They see team meetings as wasting their time, and so they disengage, figuring it’s the leader’s job to come up with any group-wide answers. Read more…

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