Have you ever had an experience that you never want to go through again? On the flip side, do you recall a time when things couldn’t have gone any better? Performing a postmortem is a vital discipline for either minimizing the chances of a significant failure re-occurring or positioning us to optimally replicate a success. As…
Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great”, discusses the importance of having the right people on the bus, and in the correct seats. This is no-more-true than at the top of the organization. We need to have leaders on our teams who have the correct skillsets for their roles, but who, just as importantly, embody the values,…
I recently asked this of a client who was questioning where they were going. We had established the steps that were needed to move them forward financially. The anticipated results were not quick-coming, and they were getting nervous. In life and in leadership, we will always encounter situations that, at times, feel hopeless. We know we’re doing…
Have you ever worked for an organization whose cultural walk didn’t match their talk? This can be a maddening experience. You may have been attracted to the team because of the values they publicized or the awards they received. Your personal values and culture probably resonated with the team you were joining, and you were anticipating…
Establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) is a great start. Now, the hard work begins. Are we reviewing our KPI’s regularly? Weekly and monthly should be our consistent rhythm. Have we chosen KPI’s that embody what it means for our organization to be successful? Do we have 5 to 15 that can be tracked accurately? Are we…
We all have a performance superpower at our disposal. It’s not a performance-enhancing drug or a recent self-help book. It’s your attitude. There are many things required to excel in your vocation and life…..smarts, hard work, self-analysis and deprecation, teamwork, a positive attitude. Having a positive attitude may be the most important. Invariably, we will face obstacles…
I have a client that is currently limited in how much they can grow because they do not have the correct talent/skill-set mix at the top of their organization. The structure at the top of an organization may be the most important factor in determining if a business will be successful. It is imperative that we have…
This is true for us personally and professionally. People learn in different ways. In a classroom setting, we may be a visual learner, an auditory learner, or a written or reading learner. When we personally experience challenges, we become an experiential-learner. We may be living the consequences of our own or other’s bad decisions, or we…
Yes, this may be a bit of an overstatement, but there’s a bit of truth to it as well. If you work in a large organization, you most likely have established procedures for many of the typical tasks required of the team. If you are in a startup, you’re throwing things against the wall to see…
I have a Mechanical Engineering degree, so I can make fun of engineers. Engineers are gifted at finding new and better ways of doing things. There is pride in innovation and continuous improvement, which is all fine and good until great gets in the way of good. They can be afflicted with NIH (Not Invented…