Workplace investments are most easily measured in terms of bottom-line financial performance. Money goes in, money comes out. We also know there are aspects of workplace investments that are not directly monetary, such as energy, time, emotion, effort and skill. We can measure the return on our investment into workplace activities by defining the currency we are using to accomplish our activities. Sometimes, it is strictly monetary. Other times, our currency is energy, time, emotion (more)
I recently had a conversation with someone who asked me to explain the concept of the Lean Enterprise. I quickly pitched my best elevator speech on the virtues of waste and value, to which he sarcastically responded, “Yeah. That works great…..if you want to turn everyone into robots.” It was then that I realized 2 things: I need to work on my elevator speech. There’s still an enormous gap in people’s understanding of waste & (more)
It is quite clear that most organizations do not produce good leaders. The leadership crisis is openly and widely discussed in many circles, and has been for quite some time. Nonetheless, there is still an outcry over the lack of quality leaders and those who demonstrate leadership capability. Unfortunately, the way we have structured our organizations may very well be the reason we don’t create good leaders in the first place. Consider the typical organizational (more)
Once upon a time. I worked with a manager who had 2 employees: Employee A he absolutely could not work with, since employee A was a complainer. Employee A saw multiple problems in the status quo, and in the decisions of his management to overcome the status quo, and would seek out alternative means of approaching problems beyond what his management had implemented. Although Employee A was very talented at seeing problems, he needed to (more)
Ever since it was reported a couple months ago that many recruiters are not considering individuals who are currently unemployed, any number of bloggers, pundits, commentators and others have sounded out about the short-sighted in justice that this policy seems to represent. Many HR pros, however, have responded that the real problem is time: Time to sort through the dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes – many from desperate applicants who aren’t qualified for the (more)
Whenever I hear someone ask a question that goes: “How do we get <insert person or group here> to do <something>?” I only have 1 answer: “Why aren’t they doing it already?” Seems so simple, and yet it is so powerful. It seems most people are looking for a solution without understanding the problem. Unfortunately, it simply doesn’t work that way. You need to understand why something occurred in order to know what to do (more)
My last post on Healing the workplace generated some interest. As I heard from people who enjoyed the post, I was asked if I could offer some advice on how to arrive at a diagnosis. As with the practice of medicine, there are plenty of diagnostic tools available for determining what the source of a problem is in the workplace: Brainstorming sessions with affinity diagrams, mind maps, Fishbone diagrams, morphological boxes, personality assesments, etc. Just (more)
When trying to overcome a person, team, or even an entire company that is not performing up to snuff, there is almost always an effort to find a one-time, quick fix that solves the problem. At such time, consultants are brought in, or experienced internal personnel are reassigned, so that the problem can be dealt with quickly. There’s a belief that any problem can be solved with an injection of wisdom, or best practices, or (more)
Have you ever found yourself stuck with a dilemma and wishing you could just start all over again? If you’ve ever felt that by going back to the start, especially if you knew then what you know now, you could avoid all the pratfalls and emerge in a much better spot, you need to ask yourself a question: What will I do the next time around? Truth is, most things occur with some degree of (more)
Everyone wants to be dedicated to something. It gives us, as individuals, a sense of purpose. Organizations look for dedication among their members – dedication to the organization’s purpose. Unfortunately, when individuals dedicate themselves to what they believe is worthwhile, it may run counter to what the organization values. You may work alongside, or work for, or have people who work for you that are dedicated to pursuing an ideal. They want the right things (more)
