Tag Archives: organization development

Do & Review, Finance Matters, Manage to Lead

Four questions an organization needs to ask every performance period in order to perform, learn, and grow to its full potential.

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It is impossible to control what you cannot, and what you do not, measure. For every important thing that the organization does, decide what is most important to monitor and then watch carefully to know how things are going.

If what to monitor is not known then:

  • Watch everything and whittle away what turns out to not be useful and keep watching what turns out to be useful.
  • Study similar organizations to learn what they track.
  • Look up industry analysts and market researchers to find out what they watch.

Continue reading Four questions an organization needs to ask every performance period in order to perform, learn, and grow to its full potential. →

Get Loose, Manage to Lead

Why it is important to get off of auto-pilot and how to do it.

Most people find it is hard to connect all nine dots in the figure at left with four straight lines, without retracing any lines, and without lifting their writing implement.

The reason it is hard to do is because in order to solve the puzzle a person has to think and operate in ways that are different than normal; or outside the box, as they say.

Before reading further, follow the instructions to solve the puzzle yourself; first with four lines, and then try to solve it using only three lines.  Finally, try to determine how many ways the puzzle can be solved with Continue reading Why it is important to get off of auto-pilot and how to do it. →

Get Aligned, Get Clear, Manage to Lead

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

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:

  • Collect and consolidate input from each leader.  Note points of alignment and departure.
  • Convene a Core Leadership Group session to share and discuss collected input.  Encourage leaders to iterate to a consolidated articulation; possibly over several sessions.
  • OPTION: Submit consolidated statement for review and comment by select certified IntelliVen students, clients, and followers by filling out and submitting theabove template.
  • Share consolidated articulation with Management Team.
  • Edit to reflect refinements based on input from managers.
  • Review with All Hands in written and stand-up presentations to inform, guide; solicit reaction and collect suggestions for improvement.
  • Revise as appropriate after review with Core Leaders and Management Team.
  • Finalize and publish for use in internal and external communications as a constant reminder, and to re-enforce clarity about, what the organization does for whom and why as well as to be clear about what the organization does not do.
  • Review and revise annually to reflect updated and expanded thinking in the face of experience

See also:

Manage to Lead

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

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 the context for thinking about where specially trained resources fit in an organization, it may help to consider how other emerging competencies have evolved to fit in organizations.  Consider what has happened with information technology (IT) for example. Continue reading How to think about where competencies that generate great value fit in organizations as they evolve. →

Manage to Lead, Plan Change

How to Run a Great Strategic Initiatives Offsite Work Session

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changeMany 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 best hosted by a trained outside facilitator and that pre-meeting data collection and preparation are key to success.

What follows is a POAD that has been used hundreds of times Continue reading How to Run a Great Strategic Initiatives Offsite Work Session →