Asking the right questions is an underlying theme of my workshops and writing. This isn’t an earth shattering or new idea. Many people have written about the power of questions. Yet it seems like leaders are starting to come around to the value of questions. I usually have one or two people approach me after …
A guy is walking through the woods. He notices that almost every tree has an arrow shot into it. Every arrow is planted dead-center in a target. He is amazed. He passes over a hundred trees – all of them with perfect bulls eyes. Finally he sees a frail old man crouching down to pick …
I went to a convenience care clinic yesterday. My regular doctor was on vacation and I thought that I might have strep throat. As I sat in the examining room something struck me. It was the word “EXCELLENT”. It was everywhere. One sign read: EXCELLENT SERVICEOur goal is to provide you with EXCELLENT service.Please let …
Read more “Hitting your targets without reaching your goals is bad business”
Are you a Smart Ask? Do you have one in your organization? A “smart ask” is a person who pushes the organization by asking tough and insightful questions. The Smart Asks helps you find holes in your thinking or challenges your deeply held assumptions. Smart Asks are a valuable asset for an organization. Yet, they …
The Question of Leadership has a new name. When I first started this blog, I thought my focus would primarily be on answering the question of what leadership is all about. When I look back on many of the entries in this blog and reflect on the leadership work I’ve done with organizations, I realize …
Do you treat your people equally? Do they want to be treated equally? Conventional wisdom might say they do. But I’m not so sure. I think that people want to be treated fairly and often that means treating them differently. In “Getting to Yes”, Roger Fisher tells a story that illustrates the difference between equality, …
Lately I’ve been pushing leaders to stop having their teams walk them through their analysis and just start with the conclusion. I’m finding that many people are uncomfortable with this. Leaders don’t want to make decisions based on bad data. Even more, they don’t want to send bad data to their boss. So how do …
Take a look at your process metrics. Are you using any mean scores? If so, you might be missing performance problems. More importantly, you are reducing your ability to make decisions and take action. For example, suppose that your help desk has a goal of getting issues resolved within 90 seconds. It resolves resolving half …
Read more “Are you hitting your targets but missing your goals?”
I recently purchased a Blackberry Storm. After setting up the essentials (contact list, calendar, etc.), I copied my music. My last phone didn’t have an MP3 player built in. I was excited that Iwould no longer have to carry both a phone and MP3 player with me.I decided that it was only appropriate that I …
Demonstrating the amount of effort you’ve put into your work is an interesting challenge in the post-industrial age. In the past, we often had some big (or not so big) thing that we produced. That thing became a symbol of our work effort. It was hard to argue that someone didn’t put in a good …
Read more “How to really show that you’ve been working hard”