You haven’t really lived John Kotter’s 8 steps for leading change until you’ve experienced Step 6: Generating Short Term Wins. If you haven’t experienced it, let me share a bit of what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like. You open your e-mail to find your inbox a buzz with messages darting back and […]
Many organizations stop their changes too early. Someone writes an instruction and the boss signs the instruction then the task is done and everyone goes back to life as usual. Did that instruction create change? Could you see a difference in the organization’s behavior because of the new instruction just by it being signed? Probably
Seeing the difference Read More »
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein As you look toward this week, don’t be disheartened by those around you still clinging to driving people to change. Driving people to change: using some coercion (e.g., orders, fear of negative consequences, removal of positive consequences) to externally compel someone to
Defeating the violent opposition Read More »
In my last post, “Life Outside the Fences” I introduced you to the concept of an organization made up of sheep, wolves and a new addition: sheep dogs. Tonight I want to elaborate on that concept and dive into the minds of the wolves. First, how do you define who is a wolf? You can’t
The Wolves Are Afraid Read More »
In organizations there are often only two groups of people; the sheep and the wolves. The sheep are the people fenced in by their boss’ orders and their job descriptions, held fast in their pens by the roving wolves who are ready to bite at the ankles of any sheep that tries to do something
Life outside the fences Read More »
Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – T. Vince Lombardi In organizations I too often hear the stories of individuals (ladder climbers, attention seekers) versus the team or the organization. These individuals too often have convinced all the
Individual Commitment to a Group Effort Read More »
If you tell me you’re doing team building exercises with a team you have just formed from a group of strangers or loose acquaintances, then I think you’re going to get some benefit. But, if you are doing team building exercises with a team that has worked together for a long time and is dysfunctional,
Team Building? You may need some Team Deconstruction Read More »
Someday someone is going to ask you what you accomplished in 2011. If they ask you later this year, you may remember without the need of a list, or files, or paperwork piles. But, what if they ask you in 2014? Will you still remember then? Using whatever method works best for you (e.g., a
Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions.” – Ronald Reagan Do you ever feel like you don’t have the right to question? Are you waiting for someone
Are all active sentences commands, e.g., “Go pick up your room,” or “Mechanics shall dispose of their batteries in the blue containers”? No. Are most (if not all) of the active sentences you hear at work commands? Probably. After my post on Tuesday, Write for Action, Mike P wrote: I’ve been thinking about this and
Write for Action (Part 2) Read More »
