leadership

Are you ready for ongoing performance management?

The past few years have put a spotlight on the one “human resource” process that is both the most important process, as well as the most hated. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to move from static, snapshot-based annual review to frequent two-way conversation. It’s the right time; with today’s operational and human complexities, we need to be communicating up, down and across to make sure that everyone is working toward the same end.

But this isn’t a simple “flip the switch and tell them to do it differently.”  A change such as this is major organizational change, and this kind of change needs a holistic plan, a purpose and goal, and a change process. We know the statistics: 70% of change initiatives fail (Google: 70% of change initiatives fail) (more…)

Employees don’t know if they’re performing correctly? Huh. That’s a problem…

infrastructureHave you ever heard the old saying “hope is not a strategy?” Hope may, in fact, lead to success or it may not. If it does lead to success, the chance of repeating the success isn’t very good unless you know exactly what you did to achieve it.

In my email this morning was an article from Mark Murphy of LeadershipIQ. I like his stuff; it’s research grounded and generally practical.  The research he presented this morning was a survey of 30,000+ employees who were asked to rate “I know whether my performance is where it should be.”  I guess it’s encouraging that almost 30% said “Always,” and another 14% responded “frequently.” But that’s still less than half of a humongous research sample.

So if over half of a group of employees are not sure if the work they are doing is meeting expectations or not, you have to ask the question, “Is it?” And if it isn’t, is it costing more than it should to duplicate work, correct mistakes or go down the wrong path? Probably. (more…)

Could your boss use your help?

the_office_54745-500x375cI am unhappy with my boss….he doesn’t give me feedback…..when she gives me feedback, it’s really vague and unhelpful….he doesn’t do what he says he’s going to do….she doesn’t tell me what is expected of me…..he [insert your personal complaint here…]

I have been hearing this a lot lately, even from smart and accountable people. Leadership is so important, and organizations struggle to hire and develop strong leaders. Employees seem to have very high expectations of leaders, and not a lot of tolerance for imperfection.

I just started watching the TV show “Lost,” (As usual, I’m woefully behind on popular shows) and it made me think about leadership.   If you don’t know the show, a plane crashes on a deserted island, and the survivors begin to make sense of their new world order. (more…)