Executives, managers, and individual contributors familiar with the day-to-day workings of their organizations undoubtedly know or have contrived the reason for ‘why things are the way they are.’ Beyond this understanding, sometimes at an unconscious level, these individuals will perceive one or more drivers to these organization shaping whys. What remains unseen and unthought-of are the tertiary and lower level drivers to why the business performs as it does. It is here that truly useful insight can be gained; insight enabling the foundational changes needed to alter the organization’s direction and propel it to the next level.
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Several other StrategyDriven best practices work in concert with Three Whys Deep to ensure assessment teams reach insightful, value adding, and robustly supported conclusions including:
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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.
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Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Leadership Conversation!
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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Properly 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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Subscribe to the StrategyDriven Insights Library
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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.
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/.
Business Performance Assessment Program Best Practice 6 – Three Whys Deep
/in Business Performance Assessment Program, Premium/by StrategyDrivenExecutives, managers, and individual contributors familiar with the day-to-day workings of their organizations undoubtedly know or have contrived the reason for ‘why things are the way they are.’ Beyond this understanding, sometimes at an unconscious level, these individuals will perceive one or more drivers to these organization shaping whys. What remains unseen and unthought-of are the tertiary and lower level drivers to why the business performs as it does. It is here that truly useful insight can be gained; insight enabling the foundational changes needed to alter the organization’s direction and propel it to the next level.
Hi there! Gain access to this article with a FREE StrategyDriven Insights Library – Sample Subscription. It’s FREE Forever with No Credit Card Required.
In addition to receiving access to Business Performance Assessment Program Best Practice 6 – Three Whys Deep, you’ll help advance your career and business programs through anytime, anywhere access to:
Best of all, it’s FREE Forever with No Credit Card Required.
Additional Resources
Several other StrategyDriven best practices work in concert with Three Whys Deep to ensure assessment teams reach insightful, value adding, and robustly supported conclusions including:
StrategyDriven Leadership Conversation Episode 1 – An Introduction to Leadership Effectiveness
/in Management & Leadership, StrategyDriven Leadership Conversation/by StrategyDrivenStrategyDriven 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…
The 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.
Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Leadership Conversation!
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Recommended Resources – An Interview with Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky, authors of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
/in Management & Leadership, Recommended Resources/by StrategyDrivenThe 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.
Read more
Business Performance Assessment Program Best Practice 5 – Seek Local Participation for Context
/in Business Performance Assessment Program, Premium/by StrategyDrivenProperly 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.
Hi there! Gain access to this article with a StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription or buy access to the article itself.
Sign-up now for your StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription for as low as $15 / month (paid annually).
Not sure? Click here to learn more.
Don’t need a subscription? Buy access to Business Performance Assessment Program Best Practice 5 – Seek Local Participation for Context for just $2!
Problem-Solving Success Tip: Measure
/in Decision-Making/by Jeanne SawyerMeasure.
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/.