Over the last few decades research on the key elements of top performing organizations has dramatically increased. When I wrote Firing on all Cylinders, organization effectiveness frameworks focused on service and quality improvement and were just being developed in Canada, the U.S., Japan, Europe and other countries. The book’s “cylinders” framework draws from that research […]
Read post »At this fall’s Canadian Society for Training and Development conference I am delivering a full-day pre-conference workshop on November 11, Powerful New Approaches to Building Extraordinary Leadership and Coaching Skills, and a 90 minute conference session on November 13, Revolutionary Leadership Development that Doubles Learner Motivation. In their eNewsletter CSTD shone “the Speaker Spotlight” on […]
Read post »Today’s organizations are spanning geographic and departmental boundaries. Increasingly people — especially white collar professionals — are on teams whose members don’t all work in the same location. Telecommuting and cross-functional/regional/country collaboration are adding to this growing trend. The international training company, AchieveGlobal, has just published a study looking at leading virtual teams. Among its […]
Read post »First in a four part series on The Three Rings of Perceived Value. Customer service and continuous quality improvement have always been important. As organizations struggle to grow revenues and reduce costs in our challenging economic times, service/quality is becoming even more critical. It’s where organizations thrive, survive, or nosedive. The June 30 blog post, […]
Read post »Persuasion and influence skills have always been a big part of leadership effectiveness. In today’s complex and matrix organizations these skills are central to our success. There are many people and situations that we don’t have direct control over. This could be upward to more senior leaders, outward to our peers and other departments, and […]
Read post »Peter Drucker was often called the father of modern management thinking. Warren Bennis has been described as the father of leadership. I’ve long been a reader of Warren‘s books on leadership, change, and team/organization dynamics. I’ve often quoted his study findings and leadership wisdom in my books, blog, and presentations. When he said my book, […]
Read post »Many organizations today are striving to increase their customer service or product quality levels. Legions of executives are declaring themselves "customer-focused" or "customer-centric." Yet customer service levels are slipping and many of us are frustrated by attitudes of indifference, navigating technological mazes ("press one to hear that your call is very important to us"), or […]
Read post »I am getting better at enjoying the task of writing for its own satisfaction. This year as I immersed myself in writing my newest book, I was often in the magical state of “flow.” I learn at such a deeper level through researching, conceptualizing, roughing out, and then writing on a topic. A good example […]
Read post »Last week we sent out the Improvement Point below to subscribers. “Despite all the talk – passionate speeches, glossy brochures, clever ads, high tech videos, convincing sales pitches, snappy slogans, strategic plans, and solemn annual reports – the service and quality action delivered by most organizations is mediocre at best.” – from Jim Clemmer’s article, […]
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