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Consistent Improvement: Four Ways to Take Your Team from Good to Great

Posted on 06/26/2014 by ·
Consistent Improvement: Four Ways to Take Your Team from Good to Great by Laura Stack

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."— Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer and philosopher. While perfection may not be possible, there's no reason not to strive for it—as long as you don't focus so tightly on that goal you can't actually accomplish anything. Instead, by continually improving your systems, processes, and productivity over time, you’ll go from mediocre to superior. I realize some readers might look askance at this idea, since just about every CEO in America has read Jim Collins' 2001 book Good to Great. If upgrading from good to great were easy, then why do everyday companies still outnumber the great by a factor of hundreds to one? Surely, if the process worked, we'd have seen a flood of great companies by now—and clearly, we haven't. But … [Read more...]

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The Danger Within: Internal Risks to Look Out For in Your Team

Posted on 06/24/2014 by ·
The Danger Within: Internal Risks to Look Out For in Your Team by Laura Stack #productivity

“Many people overlook inside risks— possibly because they are risks for which they themselves are responsible." -- Michael Bruch, British business writer. Sometimes failure is an inside job. As much as we worry about external dangers like the economy, global competition, technological change, financial crises, and a host of other outside factors in our assessments of business risk, we humans are just as likely to cause the problems that bring down our organizations. We don’t do it on purpose of course, but the worst aspects of human nature do sometimes overwhelm our better nature. Yet too often, those of us tasked with leadership simply can't see the internal risks due to our focus on the external. In a sense, you might say we can't see the weeds for the forest. A few years ago, … [Read more...]

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Cleaning House: Identifying and Rooting Out Team Weaknesses

Posted on 06/17/2014 by ·

"Over the years, I've learned that a confident person doesn't concentrate or focus on their weaknesses—they maximize their strengths." –- Joyce Meyer, American speaker and author. As the old saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This principle applies to business "chains" as well as the mechanical kind—and sometimes I’m surprised to see the weak link high on the chain of command. It was the top execs at oil transport company Enron who ruined that company back in the early 2000s, taking the auditing firm of Arthur Anderson down with them. More recently, Hewlett-Packard canned career exec Leo Apotheker for his poor communications skills and bad choices—including the decision that HP would stop making computers—that put them on the verge of mortally injuring their core … [Read more...]

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Increasing Your Team’s ROI: The Benefits of Consistent Training

Posted on 06/12/2014 by ·
Increasing Your Team's ROI: The Benefits of Consistent Training by Laura Stack #productivity

"Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you're not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were." -- David Rockefeller, American banker. Great managers understand that in order for your team members to be productive and do a great job, they need to have the right tools. Some need blazing-fast computing power; others require smartphones and tablets that let them do their work on the go; still others might require specialized instruments to maximize their performance. Whatever the case, all of them need consistent training, undertaken as often as necessary to stay ahead of the changes roiling through the business field even as I write this. No one wants to spend money when we can avoid it, especially the funds … [Read more...]

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Thinking Outside the Box: Five Behaviors of Successful Leaders

Posted on 06/05/2014 by ·
Thinking Outside the Box: Five Behaviors of Successful Leaders by Laura Stack #productivity #leadership

"I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out." -- Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. If I had to pick just one piece of business advice that's become pure cliché over the past few decades, I’d select "think outside the box." I’ve heard this so many times in business circles, I have to resist rolling my eyes when I hear it. However, the intent has merit. Although overuse has run it into the ground, the lesson remains valid: don't let your preconceptions, habits, lack of information, and narrow-mindedness keep you from considering all possible aspects of a problem. Get outside your own mental constraints and consider all the information at your disposal, allowing yourself to see beyond your … [Read more...]

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The Power of Gratitude: How Saying Thanks Contributes to Your Bottom Line

Posted on 05/29/2014 by ·
The Power of Gratitude: How Saying Thanks Contributes to Your Bottom Line by Laura Stack #leadership

"Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude." -- A.A. Milne, British author of Winnie-the-Pooh. Shortly after Robert Eckert joined the ailing Mattel toy company as CEO back in Y2K, he convened a large meeting of all its employees to thank them all for their fine work—and for the even finer work they were about to do. Eckert firmly believed that most people go to work willing to over-deliver. From that foundational belief, a culture of gratitude sprung forth, allowing Mattel to become the envy of the manufacturing industry. While it took several years to turn the company around, Mattel made Fortune's list of the “Best Companies to Work For” from 2008 through 2013. Adding the Attitude of Gratitude to Your Business … [Read more...]

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Rebuilding SWOT: Turning Threats into Opportunities

Posted on 05/27/2014 by ·
Rebuilding SWOT: Turning Threats into Opportunities by Laura Stack #productivity #execution #leadership

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -- Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister. You may find it hard to believe, given its powerhouse status now, but the music recording industry came very close to dying before it ever got started. The potential for recording music became obvious immediately after Thomas Edison perfected his phonograph in 1887; in fact, Edison founded one of the very first recording companies. But many performers and managers viewed the technology as a threat to their traditional business model. If fans could purchase recordings of their favorite performers' music, they argued, no one would come to their concerts when the performers came to town. We all know how accurate that prediction turned … [Read more...]

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Getting it Right the First Time: The Art of Communicating Expectations

Posted on 05/20/2014 by ·
Getting it Right the First Time: The Art of Communicating Expectations by Laura Stack #productivity #leadership

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright. In general, people like to talk more than they like to listen. This causes enough problems in the normal course of human affairs, but in the workplace, poor communication can result in a loss of time and money. Consider this minor example. A technical writer explains to his editor that the client wants to use an archaic spelling for a specific word on a report's cover. Nevertheless, she changes it to the accepted modern spelling. The report goes to the printer, and 400 copies come back perfect -bound. The client rejects the report because of the spelling of that one word, and the company that prepared the report not only has to deal with the embarrassment, … [Read more...]

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Who’s Up Next? The Value of Succession Planning

Posted on 05/13/2014 by ·
Who's Up Next? The Value of Succession Planning by Laura Stack

One aspect of leadership that’s often overlooked is succession planning—the process of providing for future leadership in an organization. Few of us bother to think about what will happen after we've exited the scene, and frankly, many leaders don't care. But succession planning is crucial to any organization's long-term success. Some companies that have been around for centuries, such as Lowenbrau and the Hudson's Bay Company, have excellent succession planning traditions in place, which is in no small part a reason they have lasted for so many generations. As practiced in the modern business arena, this process essentially boils down to "buy or build." Either you hire proven leadership from outside as needed, or you cultivate new leadership from within. The second option provides … [Read more...]

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The Teamwork Triangle

Posted on 05/06/2014 by ·
The Teamwork Triangle by Laura Stack #productivity

Building a reliable workplace team requires you to guide loyalty and productivity through a careful process. To help team members learn to work together effectively and fruitfully, I propose a three-point Teamwork Triangle: 1. Mutual trust and respect. Everyone must trust the other team members to do their jobs, respectfully considering their opinions, ideas, skills, and talents. When a software designer points out something won't work because the team lacks the right hardware, don't brush off their concerns. Buy what you need or modify your plans. 2. Results. If you can't achieve your goals, nothing else matters. Who cares how great your code-monkey is if he never delivers his work on time to the writer who produces your technical manuals? Sure, spring into action, staying flexible … [Read more...]

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