The fastest way to learn is to discover a person or group which reaches totally different conclusions to your own when looking at the same reality. Robert Theobald All too often, we suffer from an acceptance of ignorance. Whether we are talking about organizations, nations, political parties, religions, communities or individuals, the tension and conflict … More Say What You Need to Say
Throw out all your change management books and methodologies and theories. Burn every PowerPoint presentation filled with diagrams and flow charts and tools and templates. Delete your change project plans. Forget agonizing over deliverables that your change work team must produce. Fire every project manager or internal auditor or procurement specialist who minimizes your change … More Reality Check for Change “Managers”
Sometimes the best solutions are the most obvious, and unfortunately, the ones least considered. Organization change is hard because leaders and project teams forget to do the simple, but important things, while spending extraordinary amounts of effort in the glitzy and complex. Technology projects focus on the technology. Outsourcing focuses on cost analysis. Mergers focus … More Mastering the Obvious
As Ed Roland and Collective Soul express so well, great results happen when you begin to listen. In the late 1980’s, the economy in Japan was strong, and everyone was making money, trading stocks, investing in real estate, and busy buying assets throughout the world. Behind all the luxury and pleasures, however, lay the realities … More Listening, Health and Employee Engagement
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and … More A Revolutionary Case for Change
Orchestra conductors must exercise a unique style of leadership. They must listen intently, and without saying a word, draw out strong performances from their orchestras. This requires that they learn to be the ultimate collaborators, understand the unique capabilities of each musician and decide how best to blend them into a coherent whole. In this … More Lead Like a Great Conductor
Viktor Frankl addressing the Toronto Youth Corps in May 1972 Business has become incredibly sophisticated. We have phenomenal technology and analytical tools as well as proven frameworks and methodology. Our ability to use science and reason has taken a significant amount of guesswork out of decision-making. In addition, the number of college graduates in the … More I Want to Take You Higher
The other day I was explaining the results of a change readiness assessment to an executive and shared a piece of news he found disturbing. He believed that everyone wanted the change that he was leading because when he spoke with others in the organization about it, they all told him it was a great … More Making Change Fun
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, tells us with his adman’s great hilarity, that we can be much more effective creating behavior change if we focus instead on changing perceptions. And that’s about more than selling the benefits of something new. It about tinkering with the way we define the symbolic, subjective and … More Sex, Potatoes and Smiley Faces: The Keys to Selling Change
You better start loving up your employees. As we begin to recover from the economic downturn, organizations will be relying on their workforces more than ever to help them return to stronger financial performance. But with recent studies showing that fewer than 1 in 3 employees are engaged and as many as 55% are passive … More Now What? Managing Well After Layoffs, Recessions and Other Corporate Stressors
Erik Van Slyke 