When CEOs Fail to Implement Change - and What To Do About It

Change starts at the top. However, as the CEO or leader of your organization, introducing change – any type of change – is never easy. A myriad of things can go wrong: the idea is flawed, the timing’s not right, people won’t buy into it, they’re afraid of change, there’s no inherent sense of urgency, etc. Based on our research and field testing, we find that many CEOs are simply spending too much time “running the business” vs. “changing the business”. They’re focused on the operational and

Setting Up and Managing Expectations from the Next Generation!

What is the first thought that crosses your mind when you hear the word, “Millennial”? What about Millennials in the Workplace? We’ve all heard it. Conventional wisdom considers the Millennial generation to be self-absorbed, distracted and unlikely to stay in the same job for a long period of time. I’ve had numerous discussions with clients, some who even consider Millennials to be a threat. The concern they have is that they invest resources and time to helping develop these individuals who

Focus on the Journey

Thousands of organizations around the world use the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Framework (MBNQA) as a guide to assess and improve their organization. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) is awarded to U.S. companies that have successfully implemented quality management systems, based on achievement and improvement in seven areas, known as the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.  Implementing the criteria is often referred to as a journey, because it can be a

How to Build Leadership - Part II

In Part I of this article series, we discussed the critical importance of developing leaders in your organization.  It is not just the top few people in the organization but literally every individual has some form of leadership responsibility.  The bottom line is that skills and competencies need to be built, refined or enhanced. These skills will help change the behaviors that are the basis for improving the performance of any organization.  They are truly foundational and fundamental and are

How to Build Leadership

In a previous article, I shared the critical importance of developing leaders in your organization.  It is not just the top few people in the organization but literally every individual has some form of leadership responsibility.   It is important not to confuse managing and leading.  The late, Peter Drucker once defined the difference between management and leadership as follows: “Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things.” It is a misconception that organizations

Establishing Your Organization’s Rules of Engagement

Organizations often struggle with operational areas of the business.  In fact, the majority of our consulting efforts are with clients who are trying to gain improvements in operational functions such as quality, delivery, sales performance, profitability, customer service, hiring and retaining employees.  Yet none of these areas can truly improve unless effort is placed on how the members of the organization work together.  Leadership teams are often dysfunctional because they lack the common