blog.
Thriving or Surviving?
What is your worst case scenario? What will you do if: (a) you are unable to prevent it from happening, or (b) you are unable to mitigate the outfall from its actual occurrence?
What if the worst possible thing happens during your project, in your company, in your life? What will you do if you cannot prevent the thing you thought you could prevent?
It’s true. Sometimes even the best thought-out plans and prepared-for scenarios are beyond our control.
Kaizen to the Rescue
Successful organizational improvement initiatives depend on successful follow-up and maintenance. To this end, a very effective continuous improvement approach is Kaizen—“change for the best” or “good change.”
Kaizen is a Lean methodology that includes a set of activities applied continuously to all functions in an organization. What sets Kaizen apart from other improvement methodologies is that it involves all employees in the organization—from the CEO to the front line workers.
And it is easy to apply in any type of organization and to all processes within the organization.
The Problem with Problems
Have you ever had one of those days when everything seems to be a problem? Your children are late for school, you miss the bus, and as you arrive at work, you realize that you forgot your meeting notes at home.
On top of that, two of your employees call in sick and before you get a chance to browse your e-mail inbox, your spouse calls asking if you can pick up your son from school because he’s sick. OMG, right?
If you determine that the above scenario qualifies as a problem(s) (i.e., one of “those” days!), you are using what experts call “deficit thinking.” That is, by focusing on problems, our plans of action will be concerned with fixing the problem or correcting the “deficit.” This kind of thinking can be seen not only in our personal lives, but in our organizations, as well.
Resistance is Futile
For Star Trek fans, the title of this blog will feel familiar. The show’s alien species, the Borg, made the saying “resistance is futile” famous in popular culture. The saying is a core concept in the Borg’s quest for perfection through a forced assimilation of individuals.
These forced assimilations have no place in the real world, but sometimes organizational change initiatives might feel like the Borg is in control. It does not have to be this way.
Managing Energy to Manage Time
Did you know that the higher your energy, the better your ability to manage your time? It’s true. Since there are no limits on our energy, we can use our energy within available time to produce more. The trick is in understanding our individual limitations on available energy. Let me explain.
Motivating for Change
Conventional organizational change usually fails. That’s because you and your employees look at things differently.
In traditional organizations, employers expect employees to do what they are told (i.e., their jobs for which they are paid). Some leaders still believe that the way to motivate people to change is to tell them, or persuade them. This stems from an early age of having expectations imposed on us—first by our parents and teachers and later, by our employers.
But times have changed.
Peak Performers: Not Always Good for Business
Are you a peak performer? According to organizational psychology, the five fundamental peak performance proficiencies are…
The Problem with Collaboration
Why would anyone think that collaboration is a problem? After all, aren’t we all supposed to be playing nice in the sandbox? Maybe; but what most people don’t realize is that overuse of collaboration (“over-consultation”) can lead to underperformance and low productivity.
Measures of Control
Several recent experiences force me to the same conclusion: Organizations that place many controls on their processes do so because their processes are flawed in the first place. Let me give you an example…
Preventing Projects from Going Sideways
Your project is humming along when, without warning, the scope expands. In the consulting world, this may or may not be a good thing. Within organizations, however, scope creep can be a real problem—usually hurting the bottom line.
The secret to controlling scope creep is to control it from day one of the project. This means ensuring that you thoroughly understand the project’s deliverables and carefully tracking that all efforts go into only those deliverables. As soon as you notice work being done outside of the scope, stop the project. Examine why things are off track and work on re-focusing the project.
Customer Service
Organizations exist to serve customers. That's obvious. What may not be as obvious is that organizations in turmoil often forget this fact.
When an organization’s focus shifts from serving their customers to serving their own needs instead, problems arise. For instance, if your staff is exerting great effort to try and get customers to follow the organization’s internal processes, this is a problem. Typically starting in one area of the organization, this problem can permeate like a mushroom cloud throughout the organization. The results can be disastrous.
The Key to Productivity
Do you remember the last time you were faced with a task that you didn’t particularly enjoy? Do you remember what you did? If you completed the task, it’s because you started working on it and didn’t stop until the job was done.
“Starting” is the key to productivity.
Mastering Productivity
Productive organizations share a common trait—highly productive leaders.
Highly productive leaders create a climate in which people go the extra mile to perform at remarkably high levels. This is because when leaders set the example, staff willingly put extraordinary discretionary effort into their work.
It’s true that not everyone is born a great or productive leader. But it’s also true that everyone can grow their leadership skills to those of greatness and productivity.
Not all Priorities are Created Equal
Many clients ask me how I manage to juggle so many competing priorities—they seem to think that I’m always multi-tasking. My response is that not all priorities are the same and you can only work on one priority at any given time. Let me explain.
The Truth About Happiness
What makes you happy? I mean, really happy? You may be surprised to learn that the happiest people are those that continuously seek risk rather than reward.
According to recent studies, activities that make us feel uncertain, uncomfortable, or even guilty are the most enjoyable experiences. In fact, engaging in activities that seem counterintuitive to happiness are activities that provide us with the most happiness. How can this be?
Interpersonal Communication and Productivity
Stephen Covey got it right—Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Many of us forget the importance of truly trying to understand the speaker before offering up our comments. Without this understanding, we set ourselves up for ineffective interpersonal communication.
What happens when we don’t understand the message? We jump to conclusions and we misdiagnose. This is like diagnosing symptoms as problems, rather than getting to the root of the symptoms to find the problems. Our tendency to rush to fix what’s on the surface can get us into trouble. This is why communication is so important.
Rating Records Management Program Maturity
A records and information management (“RIM”) program that is effective and efficient allows you to do the following…
Letting Go
When was the last time you tried something new? How did it make you feel? If you’re adventurous, you probably felt thrilled. If you’re fearful, you are probably still wondering if the experience was worth the risk. So it is with organizations. Adventurous (or proactive) organizations thrive; the fearful (or reactive) survive—just barely.
Organizations (and individuals) that cannot let go of “dead ideas” are doomed to failure. Think about how many processes your organization manages every day. How many of these processes are preventing you and your staff from being maximally productive? Why aren’t the processes updated? Is it because everyone is so overworked that there is no time to address the issue?
What Keeps Leaders Awake?
In a recent risk management survey by Aon Global Risk Consulting, organizations cited 50 concerns that are “keeping them awake at night.” The top three are: the economy, regulations, and competition
Time and Money—An Organizational Focus
Poorly run organizations waste time (and time is money). This inhibits the company’s ability to hit markets at optimum times. Allow me to give you an example..