Category: Organizational Transformation
Organizational Transformation
Most organizations would like to be an innovation factory constantly producing new products and a steady stream of process improvements. Most experts agree companies must produce the right culture as well as the right structure to make that a reality. Established companies often struggle when the desire for new and improved meets the need for stability and scaling their current operational approaches. While innovation is often presented as motivating and exciting, the high risk of failure and the resulting criticisms often prove to be a larger influence on behavior, especially in larger organizations.
Michael…
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Organizational Transformation
Treating adults like adults doesn’t sound particularly revolutionary. Yet, the companies most often cited for innovative management approaches are basically doing exactly that. Netflix takes their turn in the spotlight in No Rules Rules written by founder and CEO Reed Hastings and business professor Erin Meyers. The company’s desire to limit or eliminate policies and processes that restrict individual decisions, rather than promote innovation, motivated their leadership to do away with strict guidelines on items like vacation time and business travel expenses. Hastings learned from his previous startup experience that scaling produces greater controls, resulting in less innovation. He…
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Organizational Transformation
Great, almost super human, decision making is the universal desire these days with the world in crisis. Leaders are being asked to make decisions that are outside their experience and beyond their skill level. Although the bar for decision making doesn’t get lowered much when we are just trying to compete and survive in our complex and fast moving lives. So, when you spot a book title, Think Like a Rocket Scientist, it is hard not think “this might help.” Rocket scientists are on that short list of most admired occupations for being really really smart. They combine analytical…
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Organizational Transformation
To solve most of our big problems before they happen would seem to require some form of time travel. And it would produce a wonderful world. Chip Heath of Heath Brothers fame has challenged us to do more than dream about that world in his latest book, Upstream. Similar to his previous works on communication, change and decision making, this book provides more a pathway to follow than an exact formula. Most of Heath’s examples come from the social sector trying to solve the big problems of our day like healthcare, climate change, poverty and education. These are the…
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Organizational Transformation
“Grow or die” seems to be the mantra for most organizations. The vast majority of companies use some form of comparative metrics in order to see if they are making progress compared to their past efforts. Top line growth (revenue) has often been enough to provide the next round of financing, a larger bonus, or consideration for a better position. Growth implies positive movement and momentum towards achieving potential. The good news is that companies can choose a number of paths to achieve growth.
In Growth IQ, Tiffani Bova, identifies ten different approaches available to organizations looking to grow. Bova cites…
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