Blog

Maximizing the Value of Review Meetings

By Peter DiGiammarino

Periodic reviews are critical for keeping important initiatives, functions, and projects on track in an organization. However, maximizing the value from these review meetings takes thoughtful effort from both the reviewers and those presenting their work (the reviewees). Too often, one or both do not put in the necessary preparation, resulting in an unproductive meeting. … Continue reading Maximizing the Value of Review Meetings

Gain the Ultimate Leadership Edge: The Art of Helicoptering Up

By Peter DiGiammarino

As an emerging leader, you’re likely facing a number of high-stakes situations – important meetings, presentations, negotiations, and other career-defining moments. In these pressure-filled scenarios, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, reacting instinctively rather than consciously guiding your actions toward your desired outcomes. This is where the leadership technique of “helicoptering up” … Continue reading Gain the Ultimate Leadership Edge: The Art of Helicoptering Up

Emerging Leaders: Mastering Group Process for Success

By Peter DiGiammarino

As an emerging leader, the ability to effectively navigate group work is a critical skill. Too often, we find ourselves in situations where groups become mired in the easy tasks, neglecting the more challenging but equally important aspects of the work. In this post, we will explore key strategies to help you and your teams … Continue reading Emerging Leaders: Mastering Group Process for Success

Launching the First Cohort of the Enhanced “Manage to Lead: The Path to Breakthrough Performance” on Maven

By Peter DiGiammarino

We’re thrilled to announce that IntelliVen’s flagship course, Manage to Lead: The Path to Breakthrough Performance is about to debut on Maven with significant upgrades and enhancements. Since it was developed for American University in 2010, the 10-module MtL course has empowered hundreds of leaders and their teams to achieve breakthrough  improvements in performance and growth. … Continue reading Launching the First Cohort of the Enhanced “Manage to Lead: The Path to Breakthrough Performance” on Maven

Balancing Act: Navigating the Complex Interplay Between a Portfolio CEO and Private Equity Managing Directors

By Peter DiGiammarino

This post is based on remarks IntelliVen CEO, Peter DiGiammarino made about what Private Equity Operations partners do for portfolio CEOs at a National Private Equity International Operating Partners Forum Panel Discussion in Sentry Center, New York City. Panel Topic A view from the portfolio company CEO on: Management autonomy and sponsor inclusion; striking the right balance. … Continue reading Balancing Act: Navigating the Complex Interplay Between a Portfolio CEO and Private Equity Managing Directors

Scaling User Engagement: Implementing Community Strategy for Business Growth and Loyalty

By Breanna DiGiammarino

Once there are more users of your company’s product than you can keep in touch with individually on a regular basis, it is likely time to implement a community engagement strategy. The primary objective of a community strategy is to engage a high-priority subset of users in a forum that enables them to connect with … Continue reading Scaling User Engagement: Implementing Community Strategy for Business Growth and Loyalty

Dual-Track Goal Setting: Harmonizing Management Ambition with Stakeholder Assurance

By Peter DiGiammarino

The best approach to setting annual performance goals for an organization is to simultaneously pursue two paths, one for the management team and one for the board, investors, and lenders as outlined below. Stakeholder Plan: The Under-Promise-Over-Deliver Approach Target Audience: Board, Bankers, and Investors Objective: Manage downside risk while maintaining credibility. Strategy: Present conservative, achievable … Continue reading Dual-Track Goal Setting: Harmonizing Management Ambition with Stakeholder Assurance

How to Find a Job

By Peter DiGiammarino

It is a job to find a job … and most of those who are Open-to-Work do not do it well; in part because there is little time to find a new job while employed and, when unemployed, a sense of despondence, depression, or desperation may make it hard to perform at peak levels. Three … Continue reading How to Find a Job

How to Sync Your Leadership Team’s Skills with Organizational Growth

By Brent Green

If you are a CEO or a senior leader of a growing organization, you know how critical it is to have the right mix of skills, knowledge, and behaviors among your top team to drive growth and performance. How do you adapt your team’s composition and dynamics to match the needs and demands at different … Continue reading How to Sync Your Leadership Team’s Skills with Organizational Growth

Beyond the Paycheck: An Employee Guide to A Dream Job

By Briana Hilton

Employee satisfaction is influenced by factors well beyond the paycheck. Research highlights the crucial role of elements like company culture, leadership quality, opportunities to advance critical skills, and career advancement opportunities in influencing workplace contentment across various income levels. As Open Sourced Workplace notes, organizational culture, leadership behavior, skill development, and career advancement are intertwined, … Continue reading Beyond the Paycheck: An Employee Guide to A Dream Job

How to give employees feedback while also showing they are known and appreciated.

By Peter DiGiammarino | January 17, 2013

In order for an organization to grow, it is important for each person who works there to get and stay on track to career success. Towards that end, an annual appraisal process evaluates each employee’s performance and growth and provides employees feedback, guidance, and direction for development. Less experienced leaders may count on managers to … Continue reading How to give employees feedback while also showing they are known and appreciated.

How Core Leaders get clear about what problem their organization solves for whom.

By Peter DiGiammarino | January 6, 2013

Core Leaders who all describe the problem their organization solves for whom in the same way are apt to provide more consistent guidance and direction and so increase the odds of better performance across the board. To get clear or to test for clarity, invite each Core Leader to: Read and reflect on background related … Continue reading How Core Leaders get clear about what problem their organization solves for whom.

How to think about where competencies that generate great value fit in organizations as they evolve.

By Peter DiGiammarino | December 19, 2012

The application of behavioral psychology to organizations over the past 60 years or so has given rise to Organization Development tools, methods, and principles.  University programs and training labs have taught thousands of professionals in the rapidly evolving discipline.  Many of those trained wonder where they fit in the organizations that employ them. To set … Continue reading How to think about where competencies that generate great value fit in organizations as they evolve.

Growth is Good and Money Matters

By Peter DiGiammarino | December 3, 2012

Some students preparing to enter the work force and some early-stage professionals launching their career seek lines of pursuit that steer clear of what they believe to be the seamy, cut-throat, greedy world of business. A course of study in, for example, Organization Development that leads to a career in Human Resources for a non-profit, … Continue reading Growth is Good and Money Matters

How to decide what problem to solve.

By Peter DiGiammarino | November 13, 2012

An organization exists to solve a problem for people that have that problem. Organizations that seek to perform and grow are wise to be thoughtful about what problem to solve. Specifically, it is easiest for an organization to grow if the problem it solves is Important, Pervasive, and Persistent. It also helps if the solution … Continue reading How to decide what problem to solve.

How to increase the odds of successful high-stakes behavior change.

By Peter DiGiammarino | November 5, 2012

One way to get people to behave differently than they are used to doing is to tell them what to do and expect them to do it (as suggested by Figure-1). Clearly communicating target behavior is a good first step

How to Run a Great Strategic Initiatives Offsite Work Session

By Peter DiGiammarino | October 31, 2012

Many organizations embrace the need for their leaders to convene offsite, for a day or two, in order to advance their ability to achieve a desired future state and to improve group performance by crystallizing and preparing to launch one or more Strategic Initiative.  The best organizations know that to achieve optimum results such a session is … Continue reading How to Run a Great Strategic Initiatives Offsite Work Session

How organization leaders can make important changes while also developing the next generation of leaders.

By Peter DiGiammarino | October 22, 2012

Every organization has room to improve.  Most organization leaders know improvement is needed as well as how specifically they would like to evolve but do not have the time or energy to bring their clear ideas to fruition because they are short on leadership capacity. There is almost always a great deal of untapped capacity … Continue reading How organization leaders can make important changes while also developing the next generation of leaders.

How to find free, simple, and effective ways to optimize employee performance.

By Peter DiGiammarino | September 27, 2012

Jose Luis Romero, who lives and works in Mexico and who is an expert in the area of Employee Performance Optimization, teaches middle and upper level managers free, simple and the most effective ways to optimize employee performance. Jose Luis’ content is interesting and useful. For example, see his collection of mission statements and subscribe to his “Leader Newsletter” to receive … Continue reading How to find free, simple, and effective ways to optimize employee performance.

How entering executives can increase the odds of successful transition.

By Peter DiGiammarino | September 14, 2012

Fast-growing and otherwise successful organizations often outpace the rate at which they can groom and grow senior executives to keep up with the need to guide and govern increased scale and complexity of operations. Consequently, they bring top talent in from the outside. As outlined in a previous IntelliVen post, a senior hire is hardly … Continue reading How entering executives can increase the odds of successful transition.

How to talk about leaders and organizations for success.

By Peter DiGiammarino | September 2, 2012

Those in charge of any organization for success — no matter how large or small — and those who aspire to hold leadership roles, are wise to use terms and phrases in precise ways in order to be clear about what they think, say, and do.  This post compiles a number of such terms in one … Continue reading How to talk about leaders and organizations for success.

How to use meeting ground rules to shape behavior and improve performance.

By Peter DiGiammarino | August 29, 2012

High-performing leaders act intentionally. Meeting ground rules help a team consider and decide how they want to behave with each other in meetings and in general. Meetings become a place in which to establish and work on target behaviors. Meeting Owners (see: How to Run a Great Meeting/) on their own, with their team (see: … Continue reading How to use meeting ground rules to shape behavior and improve performance.