Archive for the ‘Performance’ Category

Strategic Agility: Adapting to Now & Next

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

What is Strategic Agility? There’s ample evidence that, no matter how much analysis and planning is done, strategic planning is inherently flawed, quickly out of date, and rendered ineffective due to slow and incomplete execution. This post gives examples as well as an overview of three consultant perspectives highlighting principles of strategic agility and execution including tactical choices for competitive advantage.

Goal: Finish Line & Beyond

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Are your goals strategic? This is the third of three posts in the MCG series focused on the goal stage, after “membership” and “control.” At this stage, teams are fully fit and ready to act, if there is a commonly understood goal and a plan to achieve it. As some leaders struggle in defining clear and strategic goals, tools and approaches are offered.

Control Issues in Teams: How Do You Take Charge?

Monday, October 12th, 2009

People don’t resist changes, they resist being controlled… The second of of the MCG series in helping leaders and teams develop skill in order to meet changing goals. Also includes “change AND die,” the Leadership Control model, and “resistance is a resource” references.

Status Quo Shakedown Meets Right Action

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

There’s comfort in friendship and community. There can also be blind spots and status quo problems inherent in comfort-based systems, sometimes tragically so, when the blind spots are very large.

Only Connect! Leaders and Tough Times

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon.
Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted,
And human love will be seen at its height.
Live in fragments no longer.
Only connect…
–E.M. Forster, Howards End
Forster characters illustrate the tensions and challenge of making connections among different social classes in the period that preceded the [...]

Leadership during Turbulent, Complex Times

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

For this post, I’m featuring a leadership focus tool from Mike Jay. Mike suggests that any leader can focus on 5 things and be successful in trying circumstances, no matter what the situation. His Big Five use acronym IMULL. Turbulence is life force. It is opportunity. Let’s love turbulence and use it for change. — Ramsay Clark

Voice of the Tribe & Community

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Two UM examples of Tribes and Community are cited, while referencing higher education culture and the new book, Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization.

Competency Work–Top Down, Bottom Up, & Middle in Higher Education?

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Competency programs and models seem to be picking up speed in higher education – which may be connected with the impact of social media and the career development aspects of competencies.

“My current thinking on competency models is to consider them more as an ‘intermediate stage’ in the evolution (of capability building efforts) rather than as the final stage.” — Prasad Kurian’s blog post, and Alltop HR blog on HR, OD and Personal Effectiveness

Change, new Talent Management Report

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

References a new study by Hewitt Associates and the Human Capital Institute. Very few of the companies studied are executing their talent management strategy successfully. In short, plans on paper don’t translate to reality in the workplace when it comes to recruiting, developing and retaining talent.

Talent Management Choices: Who is the Star, the Individual or the Organization?

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

An original longer article citing two approaches: Talent Management Choices: Who is the Star, the Individual or the Organization? Used to launch my first blog at the University of Michigan. Still relevant in helping you build an appropriate talent management choice today.