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Showing posts from November, 2009

COMMAND & CONTROL: INNOVATION NEEDED!

Many executives have the command & control management style. That is the dominant style which they have learned (and copied) from their bosses and that is the style with which they grew up in the organization. Although many would say that they are not applying that style, the day-to-day practice proves otherwise. That is quite natural. In times of a crisis we fall back to the behavior with which we are most comfortable. However, both command and control are totally not working anymore in the modern workplace. Most workers are knowledge workers, so it is an illusion that a leader or manager can tell them what to do and in what way. With the rapidly changing markets and the huge amount of information available, it is even hard for the experts to stay up to date on a certain subject. So, it would be wise to develop a more coaching oriented leadership style, which is much more suited for the knowledge workers in your organization. Alan Webber in his book Rules of Thumb says

HOW TO GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS-AS-USUAL TRAP.

 One of the main constraints that managers and executives face is time and related to that priority. The day-to-day business and its challenges, small fires and other problems are consuming all their energy and time. They are always so busy and their agenda’s are fully booked. There is hardly any time left to get lunch or even to go to the bathroom. These time constraints prevent you also from having new ideas and new perspectives. They do not take time to detach, to reflect or to use others as sounding boards. Because of this behavior they are trapped in the trap of doing business in a way that it has been done for a long time. But.. Today’s changing environment requires a different approach and different perspectives. Otherwise you will not be the frontrunner, not even the survivor in your business. So, what is needed is to plan a fixed time of minimal one hour in your agenda, every week! This is your holy hour, this cannot be changed, not be touched. Please feel free to use

REFRESH YOUR BUSINESS PARTNERS

Most organizations do have a fix set of partners. They cover many area’s: -        Accountants -        Consultants -        Project managers -        Security -        Catering -        IT -        Telecoms -        Recruiters -        Coaches -        Advertising -        Etc The challenge for new potential partners is to be put on the preferred supplier-list. In many cases is Purchasing the owner of the list. This list tends to be rather static, i.e. it is hard to get on the list, but easy to stay on it. Given the urgent need for change and innovation, there is a problem with this practice. The longer these partners are on the list, the less they will have a fresh look. They become one with the existing culture and way of doing things. There is hardly any difference between the perspectives of partners and regular employees. Also these partners become less and less critical, as they are afraid to be excluded from the list. These longstanding partners are not very s

CHANGING? YOU FIRST……….!

 It is an open door to talk about all the change that is necessary and all the change programs that are work in process. However, there is also plenty of evidence (McKinsey, IBM) that the majority of the changes do not deliver the required results. There are two main reasons for this issue. most leaders think that their people (managers and employees) should change, but not themselves. And the (middle) managers and frontline workers think that they are okay, but that the leaders should change. Most change programs cover only the professional/business aspects of change. They forget the crucial aspect of personal/behavioral change. The solution is quite straight forward: change is non-discriminatory, everyone should be open to change and personal change is equally important as professional change. Remember ..... when you point your finger towards someone else, there are always three fingers pointing at yourself! Please find here an overview of the ProPer Chan