Speedlinking on culture… Michael Hyatt tackles the unanswerable question “Which is most important to your organization—mission, core values or vision?” using the metaphor of an orange. You can distinguish [an orange’s] shape, its color, its size, and its smell and taste. However, you can’t do away with any of these attributes and still have an…
Archive | Culture
The Downside of Downsizing
Years ago, I took a class called “Managing With Influence” from Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University and author of the book subtitled “Profiting from Evidence-Based Management.” During the class, Professor Pfeffer claimed layoffs do not improve financial performance – except in the very short term. He based this on a careful analysis of…
Change Management
Why is change management so hard? I believe it’s because most humans fear the unknown. Change jeopardizes daily routines, modifies inter-personal relationships, and – most of all – forces us to deal with the unknown. The classic Who Moved My Cheese? tells the story of four creatures in a maze and how they react when their…
2010 New Year’s Resolutions
I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions as the once-per-year goal settings usually come with unrealistic targets. Without reasonable goals, resolutions take a back seat to day-to-day realities. In fact, a recent Marist poll shows half of Americans make resolutions but only about 1/3 of those who do keep them for longer…
Healthy Living in Hard Times
A few weeks ago I got a chance to listen to Geoff Colvin talk about his new book, The Upside of the Downturn. Geoff, a long-time editor and columnist for Fortune Magazine, is an engaging speaker and he peppered his opening comments with headlines from that morning’s newspapers. He also made the intriguing claim death…
Lawn Activities, Yard Outcomes
Performance management continuously invades my personal life, whether it’s on airplanes, during mentoring, or at Thanksgiving dinner. Here’s another example: Not long after I moved into my previous house, a friendly neighbor came over to welcome me to the block. Amid advice on local stores and restaurants, he pointed out that my front lawn wasn’t…
Dilbert on Goals
One last parting shot on MBOs and the proliferation of goals: Note to all vendors of software packages that support goal tracking (including my employer): It’s only a joke. I do know that there’s value in using technology to solve these problems.
Target vs. Goal
While most people don’t distinguish between goals and objectives in every day conversation, I find that performance management practitioners sometimes use the word goal when they really mean target. This potential confusion between objectives and targets explains why I usually recommend against using the term goal when establishing a standard performance management terminology. From my…
Fourth of July factoids
In case you didn’t see it, the U.S. Census Bureau issued a Facts for Features release (note: destination page has been removed) in observance of The Fourth of July 2008. It’s full of unusual holiday-themed factoids you can share at your picnic. My favorite is that the baked beans you eat likely came from North Dakota; the state produced 42%…
Holiday week ramblings
Some performance management ramblings to kick off your holiday week: (A) Barry suggests Four Questions To Ask When Building Your First Strategy Map: What’s the advantage that differentiates us from our competitors? What are the three most important things we need to measure to drive that advantage? What are the three most significant gaps or barriers…