Technology has given us the ability to measure everything, and we’ve become hooked like addicts. Is all this measuring helping us or hurting us? The paradox in measuring is that you can see measured improvement when you stop measuring. But how will you know?
One of the things that makes leadership such a tricky subject is that it is all about behaviour. It is about what you do every single day.
What you say matters but if it is undermined by your behaviour it becomes irrelevant.
This is why I am a strong believer in the concept of leadership by example.
It is the behaviour that is demonstrated by the leadership and the behaviour that they tolerate amongst their people that creates the organisation’s culture.
You’ve probably heard it said that change is the one constant in business currently, and that’s true, it’s also true for our lives outside of work.
Many people will say they don’t like change, it makes them uncomfortable or it’s something they fear, but if you break things down a little, you’ll find that we all deal with change on a daily basis.
Would you rather have an employee move internally or move out of the organization?
Over the past 6 months I have seen many instances where organizations have failed to take advantage of opportunities; lost market-share; put their brand at risk; or wasted resources; resulting in loss of revenue and/or additional costs.
Given that August is a quiet month, it has provided me with time to reflect on some of the problems that I have experienced and them with you so that you might learn from some of these outcomes.
So here goes:
Change is hard but there are levers that can make it easier. Using a network of the right people to act as your change agents is one of those levers. I am a huge believer in getting employees to drive change, but the design is key as Change Agent networks are often implemented badly. Here is the usual chain of events.
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to work at a summer camp you’ll know it’s one of the best “jobs” you’ll ever have. I use the word job in inverted commas intentionally because more often than not it doesn’t feel like work at all. There are deep and meaningful conversations with people who start to feel more like your family than your colleagues. There is the cold embrace of a dip in the lake after a late afternoon game of capture the flag that always gets a little too intense. There’s the jaw-ache you get after laughing too hard for too long at some silly in-joke.
The two biggest issues faced by organisations today are the changing business context and the changing people context.
The changing business context
How is Brexit currently mirroring most corporate change?
Theresa May and her trusted team (the Board) are currently spending a lot of time behind closed doors, with little outcome. The people (your people), know that change is on the horizon, they know it needs to happen by a certain date, but nothing is happening. People want to know how it might impact them, their work and their families, but nothing.
Nowadays the term Lean Management (LM) is widely used and mostly understood. However, implementing a proper LM program requires some expertise to guide you through the different stages and fully achieve the desired results. Here's a quick guide of what you need to consider in order to successfully implement such a program.