Last Friday (November 4) I delivered a very fast paced and information packed 60 minute presentation by webcast. My goal was “culture change in an hour!” I tried to stuff the major learning from our thirty years of working with hundreds of organizations and the latest research on culture change into 60 minutes. We had […]
Read post »Here are especially vital findings and powerful observations about just what it takes to build a peak performance culture. These are drawn from Harvard Business School professor, James Heskett’s new book, The Culture Cycle: How to Shape the Unseen Force That Transforms Performance: “Culture really matters. As Lou Gerstner wrote, reflecting on his experiences in […]
Read post »John Kotter and James Heskett’s classic book, Corporate Culture and Performance, is an organization development classic. The book provided solid evidence of the payoffs that come from adaptive cultures and the negative power of unadaptive cultures. Adaptability is absolutely critical today. As change tsunamis relentlessly sweep the globe, adaptive organizations are getting stronger and unadaptive […]
Read post »Author and futurist Alvin Toffler’s powerful phrase “hinge of history” is an apt descriptor for our times. Our highly integrated global village is going through huge and massive shifts. We’re now in the midst of a major pivot point. The “Shift Happens“video (my last post) vividly illustrates these dramatic and accelerating changes. History teaches that […]
Read post »Many organizations are implementing significant overhauls of their IT systems. But many of these projects are poorly implemented. This leads to sizeable cost overruns, missed deadlines, disrupted operations, unhappy customers, and stressed out employees. This month’s issue of Harvard Business Review carries an article entitled Why Your IT Project May Be Riskier Than You Think. […]
Read post »Work overload, 24/7 availability, stretched work weeks, and overflowing in-boxes are overwhelming most professionals and managers. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can be the less stressed out exception. You can Lead, rather than Follow or Wallow. Linda Duxbury, a professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University was recently […]
Read post »Organizational culture development is a complex topic with many intertwined leadership components. Establishing a peak performance culture in what’s sometimes called a “green field” situation has different challenges than changing an established culture (sometimes called “brown field”). In response to my July blog, RIM/Blackberry is at a Critical Leadership Crossroad, a subscriber sent me this […]
Read post »Culture change continues to be a hot topic because it’s vital to successfully implementing change and improvement efforts. It’s one of the key factors in the 50 – 70% failure rate for programs to increase safety performance, service and quality levels, Lean/Six Sigma, productivity, innovation, leadership skills. As I prepare for a series of webcasts, […]
Read post »The training firm Development Dimensions International (DDI) has just released their Global Leadership Forecast 2011. It’s billed as “the biggest study of its kind, involving over 2,600 organizations in 74 countries. Nearly 1,900 HR professionals and 12,500 leaders participated.” This is the sixth biannual forecast they’ve completed since 1999. The forecast conclusions are very useful […]
Read post »Last November I began delivering a series of half-day leadership development workshops (part of their ongoing "management forums" series) for City of Guelph supervisors and managers. This is a rare treat to work with a group of learning leaders just 30 minutes from my home in Kitchener, Ontario. Given our close proximity we pulled out […]
Read post »We often hear the axiom that "perception is reality." When it comes to assessing the service/quality levels delivered by our teams/organizations just who’s perception of reality are we using? Reinforcing this month’s four-part series of blog posts on The Three Rings of Perceived Value, here are key perspectives on using our customer perceptions of their […]
Read post »Fourth in a four part series on The Three Rings of Perceived Value. Years ago author and speaker on organizational excellence, Tom Peters, declared, “we can no longer afford to merely satisfy the customer. To win today, you have to delight and astound your customers — with products and services that far exceed their expectations.” […]
Read post »Third in a four part series on The Three Rings of Perceived Value. Today’s external customers or internal partners are looking beyond the core product or service (First Ring) to broader levels of support. The Second or Support Ring encircles a huge array of services and factors. Basically it includes anything an organization does to […]
Read post »Second in a four part series on The Three Rings of Perceived Value. The 18th century English potter, Josiah Wedgwood, once declared “a composition for cheapness and not excellence of workmanship is the most frequent and certain cause of the rapid decay and destruction of arts and manufacturers.” That’s as true today as when he […]
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 »The company is at a critical leadership crossroad. As with many fast growing startups, their pioneering product development and marketing power made them a major international success. Now Lazaridis and Ballsillie face the critical entrepreneurial growth test: can they shift from building the business to building an executive team that builds the business?
Read post »The CLEMMER Group has been purchasing our computer equipment from Dell since we began in 1994. We like their technology, customizing equipment to our needs, value, and next day onsite service. That may change. I just got off the phone from a painful hour of experiencing Dell’s inward focused bureaucracy as Gary, our IT support […]
Read post »I just returned from a visit to Karachi, Pakistan for follow up work with the very extraordinary Aga Khan University. Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed working with a fascinating group of exceptionally energetic and determined leaders providing vital services in tough circumstances. To read about my first trip when my work with AKU started, go […]
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 »It’s a classic good news, bad news story. Consumers are willing to spend from 7 – 22% more for better customer service. But 60% believe organizations haven’t increased their focus on providing good customer service. That’s slipped from 55% in 2010. And 26% of this group feels organizations are paying less attention to service. The […]
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