You’ve likely heard the expression, “What gets measured, gets managed.” And companies have improved their capability to measure dozens, or sometimes hundreds of data points that reflect how the business is performing. Unfortunately, managers are falling into the trap of “teaching to the test” which means that they harp on the metrics without coaching the […]
Tag: “process improvement”
Conflict and change coexist
When you hear the word conflict, it has negative associations with words like argument, war, battle, and disagreement. In reality, conflict should be embraced as being essential to a healthy organization. The majority of employees (and many supervisors and managers) avoid conflict because of the assumption that conflict is destructive. Conflict is expected and desired […]
Misdirected by metrics?
You’ve likely heard the expression, “What get’s measured, gets managed.” And yet, if you pay attention to the wrong metrics or measurements, it can distract both management and employees from desired behaviors. Metrics provide management with the key information needed to make decisions and assess performance in the business. Paying attention to the wrong metrics or […]
What about the followers?
Over a coffee with a colleague, she shared with me an interesting trend emerging in followership. For decades, most training and development has been focused on executives, managers and front line supervisors with the justification that improvements made at those higher levels will be reflected in the behavior and results of the staff at the […]
Evolution or Extinction?
During our vacation this summer we spent a few days in Chicago and spent one of our days at The Field Museum. As we walked through a great exhibit on evolution a couple of quotations caught my eye along with a couple of observations of how successful species who are better at adapting to their […]