All Blog Posts (600)

Last time I addressed the questions "What is a manager?" and "What does a manager do?" Today I would like to take a look at the question "How do I identify high performing managers?" This is a much more controversial question, because the definition of performance differs depending on who you talk to. For example, some people define performance in terms of direct output, or in the case of a manager, the output of the unit. Others define performance for managers as functions of how well they…

Baldwin County Lean Government

Published: Friday, January 27, 2012, 8:21 AM

By Connie Baggett, Press-Register Press-Register…

Gulf Shores Lean Government

BY JOHN MULLEN

theislander@gulfcoastnewspapers.com | Posted: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 12:00 am

GULF SHORES, Ala. – David Peleschak had seen this before. Or at least he thought he had.

The city had signed up for a nine-class program called the…

Extreme Toyota identified six contradictory forces Toyota on the move. It relentlessly pits these forces against each other to realize continuous innovation and constant renewal:

1. Moving gradually but also taking big leaps.

2. Cultivating frugality while spending huge sums.

3. Operating efficiently as well as redundantly.

4. Cultivating stability and a paranoid mindset.

5. Respecting bureaucratic hierarchy and allowing freedom to dissent.

6. Maintaining…

Last week I introduced my multi-part series on managerial work and managers. Hopefully, I provided ample evidence to support the idea that highly effective managers are critical to the organization's success, so the next logical question is how do I select and develop managers for greater effectiveness? Before we can do that, we need to address two fundamental questions: (1) What is a manager? and (2) What do managers do? 

What is a manager?

If I were…

When you travel on a commercial flight, the safety briefing always includes a discussion of the exits.  When you go to a movie, the safety briefing includes, "The exits to the right and left of the screen have been checked and are clear exits from the building in the event of an…

Two recent events reminded me of the importance of celebrating. One involved a friend whose Army son was promoted from Captain to Major. My friend beamed as he described the ceremony in great detail. He talked about how his son’s commanding officer, with great eloquence and without notes, described his son’s character and recited his accomplishments. The military knows how to celebrate and bestow honor…

Over the last eight to ten months, I have been fascinated with the work of managers (so much so that I have chosen this topic for my dissertation, but that's another story, see below ). Good managers are essential to organizational success. In fact, every organization can benefit from good managers because, like superior technical employees, they bring qualities and characteristics to the organization that can help it obtain and sustain competitive advantage. In fact, there is a long history…

So you have almost wrapped up your performance appraisals for the year, and are getting ready of the holidays. Congratulations! But what about next year? As you move into the new year, do you have the right people in the right places to meet your organizational goals? Is there any way to organize your employees based on their performance that will help you see who can contribute the most and who needs to go? 

Kathryn Tyler, in the August 2011 HR Magazine, discusses an…

Recently a colleague of mind, Walker Jackson, sent me an email with the headline "Why Didn't I Think of That?"  After opening and looking through the message which consisted mostly of pictures, I asked myself that same exact question.  Then I was reminded of a recent meeting I had with several economic developers (connectors) where I explained the need for the Innovation Engineering Management and JumpStart System to define,…

http://issuu.com/auburnuniversityoutreach/docs/bafall2011/1

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Recently I had the privilege of participating in the 6th Annual Construction Product Development Exhibition at Auburn University.  Wow!  I was impressed with the students and the innovative and creative energies that were showcased.

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Has the poor economy in the US relieved CEO’s, VP’s and other managers from working to keep the “Bright Stars” in their organization?  What is a “Bright Star” (BS)?  A  BS is an employee that is making significant contributions to your organization to aid you in achieving the goals you have set for the organization.  In addition, he is an employee that will commit to taking on additional projects (over and above his present job) to assist in defining other opportunities of potential…

The August 2011 HR Magazine featured an article titled, "The Care and Feeding of High-Potential Employees." In this article, the author, Robert Grossman, identifies 14 ways to retain these employees. I found all of the points he makes to be pretty solid recommendations (at least in terms of the research supporting them) and worth reading. What Grossman doesn't do in his article is give much guidance on how to select which employees are high-potential. And that is what I would like to focus…

Are you going to make any New Year’s resolutions for 2012?  Most of the time, we make resolutions that we don’t really think that we will achieve.  However, if you don’t plan to improve; you will typically repeat what you did last year or maybe a little worse.  Therefore, without resolutions, 2012 will be the same as 2011 or slightly worse. 

This is not very exciting for 2012 and really seems negative.  Basically, I am a positive person.  I want to improve at least a little bit each…

In every class I teach, sustainment is always a concern.  Folks want to know how to sustain improvement activities, usually focusing on techniques.

A better first question might be, “Who holds the key to sustainment?”  Many researchers found a lack of management commitment to be…

A comedian once said, “Shoot first, then call whatever you hit the target.”

My duties with the Auburn Technical Assistance…

A comedian once said, “Shoot first, then call whatever you hit the target.”

My duties with the Auburn Technical Assistance…

With the end of the year coming up, it's not uncommon for many organizations to be engaged in end-of-the-year performance reviews. I've already written several posts regarding performance management, and one thing is clear from the articles I have read and blogged about, performance management is LOTS MORE than the performance review. But the review is a common if not totally necessary part of the process, so this post I thought I would pass along some advice on doing building a better…