StrategyDriven Podcast Series

StrategyDriven Leadership Conversation Episode 1 – An Introduction to Leadership Effectiveness

StrategyDriven Leadership Conversations focus on the values and behaviors characteristic of highly effective leaders. Complimenting the StrategyDriven Management & Leadership articles, these conversations examine the real world challenges managers face every day that are not easily solved with a new or redesigned process and instead demand the application of soft leadership skills to achieve a positive outcome.

Episode 1 – An Introduction to Leadership Effectiveness introduces the concept of leadership effectiveness by exploring what leadership effectiveness is, the characteristics and behaviors exhibited by effective leaders, and the impacts of organizational culture and situational conditions on leadership effectiveness.

Final Request…

StrategyDriven Leadership Conversation PodcastThe strength in our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us and sharing your perspectives regarding the StrategyDriven Leadership Conversation podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Sharing your thoughts improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

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Recommended Resources – An Interview with Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky, authors of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World
by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky provides guiding questions, worksheets, and exercises to help business leaders make progress even under the toughest circumstances. Readers learn to focus on adaptation rather than execution, orchestrate conflict rather than resolve it, and nurture interdependence rather than self-reliance. Using these tools, leaders build adaptive organizations that are able to thrive an ever complicated world.

Additional Insights: An Interview with Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky, authors of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World

StrategyDriven contributors recently interviewed Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky, authors of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership; receiving many invaluable, beyond the scope of the book insights.

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StrategyDriven Business Performance Assessment Program Best Practice Article

Business Performance Assessment Program Best Practice 5 – Seek Local Participation for Context

StrategyDriven Business Performance Assessment Program Best Practice ArticleProperly performed self assessments provide business leaders with deep insights as to what is working well and opportunities for improvement within a business function, area, or process. These insights become even more beneficial when the practices and results of top performers are used as a reference or benchmark for the evaluation. Best practices, however, are not always relevant to every situation or circumstance. Therefore, it is important to consider local context when evaluating performance against accepted best practices.


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Problem-Solving Success Tip: Measure

Measure.

The first key question to answer in starting a problem-solving project is, “How will you know when the problem is solved?” Answer this question in measurable terms before you start trying to solve the problem. As you begin defining your problem, these success metrics help set clear expectations about what will be different when you finish. At the end of the project, the measurements will demonstrate that the difference has been achieved, i.e., the problem has been solved.

To be useful, success measurements must be simple in concept and connected so clearly to the problem that you can remember them easily. As with the description, somebody who doesn’t already know about the problem should be able to read your success criteria and understand them.

The objective in setting success metrics for a problem-solving project is to define the minimum necessary to solve the problem. This is completely opposite to the way we usually set goals. In problem-solving, we want to do everything necessary to solve the problem, but nothing extra.

Once you decide what your success metrics will be, check them with real data. This not only verifies that you really can collect and report the measurements, but also lets you establish baselines. Measure exactly what your performance is before you start analyzing the problem and taking corrective action. The baseline measurements let you confirm that there really is a problem and sanity checks the performance levels you’ve defined as success. You can make corrections if necessary, before you start down a wrong path.

Measure to determine that the problem is solved, but also use measurements throughout the problem-solving process. Measurements can also help you test assumptions, verify root causes, assure tasks are completed properly and report progress.

Bottom line: if you don’t measure, you won’t know for sure. Use measurements to learn and portray the truth – the real truth, not what you wish were true.

Copyright 2009. Jeanne Sawyer.

Article Source:
http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com
http://business-management.bestmanagementarticles.com


About the Author:

Jeanne Sawyer helps her clients solve expensive, chronic problems, such as those that cause operational disruptions and cause customers to take their business elsewhere. These tips are excerpted from her book, When Stuff Happens: A Practical Guide to Solving Problems Permanently. Now also an ebook, find out about it and get more free information on problem solving at her web site: http://www.sawyerpartnership.com/.

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 17 – An Interview with Garry Ridge, co-author of Helping People Win at Work

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 17 – An Interview with Garry Ridge, co-author of Helping People Win at Work explores the Partnering for Performance management system and how it engages employees to assess and improve their performance to unprecedented levels. During our discussion, Garry Ridge, President and CEO of the WD-40 Company and co-author of Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called “Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A” shares his insights regarding:

  • the importance of building a “tribe member” versus an employer-employee relationship with organization members
  • how the Partnering for Performance system engages tribe members to develop their own performance assessments and take responsibility for their own development
  • benefits of eliminating the manager developed performance assessments, forced rankings, and bell curve performance distributions of traditional performance management systems
  • steps needed to move an organization, particularly its culture, to embrace the Partnering for Performance system
  • quantified improvement in bottom line results achieved after implementing the Partnering for Performance system at the WD-40 Company

Additional Information

In addition to the incredible insights Garry shares in Helping People Win at Work and this special edition podcast are the additional resources accessible from his The Learning Moment website, (www.TheLearningMoment.net). Garry’s book, Helping People Win at Work, published by FT Press can be purchased by clicking here.

Final Request…

The strength of our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us on iTunes by clicking here. Rating the StrategyDriven Podcast and providing your comments online improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!


About the Author

Garry Ridge, co-author of Helping People Win at Work, is President and CEO of the WD-40 Company, the San Diego, California based maker of the ever-popular WD-40, as well as the Lava heavy duty hand cleaners, Carpet Fresh, and 2000 Flushes household cleaning products. Garry teaches leadership, talent management, and succession planning at the University of San Diego’s Executive Leadership program and in 2003 was named Director of the Year for Enhancement of Economic Value by the Corporate Directors Forum. A native of Australia, he has served as national Vice President of the Australian Institute and the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association. To read Garry’s full biography, click here.