management

Do people leave managers or do they leave companies?

My last few posts have focused a bit more on culture and leadership (or lack thereof); in today's post, I'll continue the trend with a focus on management sins. I found three separate items that I wanted to share with you, all quite interesting, some with overlap.

How well does your decision-making process work for you? Are you able to go from decision to solution to action with ease?

Have you adopted a decision-making process that works well for you?

If you have, I'd love to hear about it. If not, read on.

As a leader, your next best action is based on making a decision as to what that action will be. How do you arrive at that decision?

Throughout my career as an executive coach, and mentor of young people including fresh MBAs, creative designers and motivated managers, there has been one common piece of advice that I always give: Don’t try too hard. Of course, this seems contradictory to what we usually hear, especially when the greatest B-schools and D-schools in the world are encouraging their students to try their best and push beyond their own limits. Every day they are asked to try harder, to achieve excellence and perfection. That’s the academic world.

The very idea of ‘management’ itself is changing and many core concepts are becoming irrelevant. According to Henri Fayol (father of modern management methods) management is to forecast, to plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and control activities of others.” It seems the what has not changed, but the how has. The way we work is changing and machines are slowly taking over making or at least influencing important management decisions for us.

“Managing without soul has become an epidemic in society. Many managers these days seem to specialize in killing cultures, at the expense of human engagement.” That’s what management guru Henry Mintzberg recently wrote about the current state of corporate culture on his blog.

Has your growth stalled? Do you struggle to become more innovative? Do you think you’re losing control of your brand? Are you concerned you haven’t figured out your new business strategy? …your customer experiences? …or your employee morale?

In the 25+ years I’ve been helping business leaders address significant challenges like these, I’ve discovered that there is one quality that distinguishes those who are able to thrive and grow despite the headwinds of a tough economy, aggressive competitors, and changing markets.

The next digital industrial revolution is already well under way. But it is not happening where technology visionaries or capital markets are generally looking. It is not a revolution just in technology, machinery, software, or speed.

2015 has been another year where I have found myself at the coalface of organisational change: digital transformation, customer experience, CRM and marketing automation….  What is the key ‘thing’ that has struck me?

All companies go through some kind of crisis at some point but what does it take to get out of it? There aren’t many successful turnarounds in large companies and the bigger the company and the longer the history, the more difficult it is for any turnaround and its success rate is lower.