Why Could You Possibly Need a Strategy 02/17 by Business Advisors | Blog Talk Radio.
Join us as we explore what a well conceived strategy can do for any organization whether business, agency, or NGO. From its conception to its implementation, what gives impetus to a strategy is whether participants are fully engaged with it. A strategy cannot simply be a document that people read for information, it has to be a common agreement that makes it clear to all involved what the ultimate objective is, what each one will do to contribute toward that outcome in their day to day decisions. As Michael Porter, the Harvard University strategy professor, said: “The #1 purpose of strategy is alignment.”
Join us on February 2nd, 2012 at 2 pm EST on Blog Talk Radio
What is Rational Leadership 02/02 by Business Advisors | Blog Talk Radio.
What should a leader focus on? Sticking to the facts? Avoiding emotional time-wasters? Keeping on task?
A family-controlled business can readily outperform public companies by taking advantage of family cohesiveness, depth of business understanding, and personal commitment that family members accumulate since childhood.
Many family businesses fail to achieve that potential, however, because they stumble over a few predictable issues that are very hard for boards and especially their leaders to overcome alone. Continue reading →
Join us January 16, 2012 at noon EST on Blog Talk Radio
Fear and Self-Protection the Seeds of Team Failure 01/16 by Business Advisors | Blog Talk Radio.
We sometimes hear that fear is a powerful motivator. It may be so on the battlefield, but in organizations, fear, and the accompanying need to protect oneself, is actually what brings teams to fail or under-perform. Continue reading →
Whether instituting a whole new 3-year business strategy or streamlining the existing service line, the bottom line for leaders and teams alike is for such changes to bear results as rapidly as possible. Our observations and experience over the last few years have been that bringing plans to successful implementation essentially comes down to attending to three team practices:
- Keep checking into what the group’s mindset is about the situation they’re working in at the moment;
- Check for shared reality on the work tasks;
- Keep checking for true agreement on assignments in as visual a manner as possible.
Continue reading →
Most leaders are aware of the importance of culture to their organizations, but very few spend much, if any, of their time thinking about the subject. We see companies that start with positive cultures run surprisingly quickly into issues. Start-ups are often in that situation and provide an invaluable lesson on how your organization’s culture can become out of sync with its own success. Continue reading →
A major challenge to leaders is how to foster both high collegiality and a high level of accountability in their organizations. Leaders often experience the challenge as the difference between being a nice boss and a hard-driving one. On the receiving end of the equation, i.e., from the staff point of view, collegiality and accountability are also experienced as opposite extremes, the trade-off between a friendly supportive culture and a hard-nosed, results-oriented culture. Continue reading →
Handling Emotional Conversations Productively 11/29 by Business Advisors | Blog Talk Radio.
Are you avoiding the conversations that are potentially emotional? Or are you repeating the same angry unproductive exchanges? What is it costing you personally and your organization? Is there a path other than fight or flight?
Join us on Wednesday 9 at 1 pm EST
Is a fun culture key to a company’s success 11/09 by Business Advisors | Blog Talk Radio.
Technology start-ups pride themselves in having the type of fun culture that attracts young talent. As the companies grow, they experience that newcomers don’t necessarily have the same view of what fun is, and that, as new concerns emerge, new skills and new practices are required. We explore what people value in a workplace, and what are the elements of a “fun” culture that are worth keeping.
