Many reports state that organizational change strategies fail 70% of the time. The New York Times reported that over the past 10 years, 41% of large federal information technology projects failed completely. Over half were either delayed, over budget or fell short of user expectations.  While there are many reasons for this, one factor to…

  High performers have a significantly higher business impact than the average performer. The top 5% of the workforce produced 26% of the output – or more than 4x more. While this ROI is great, these employees are generally paid less than 20% above an average worker in the same job (Personnel Psychology). Louisville-based healthcare…

Do you describe your work as a “job,” or as a “vocation” involving key responsibilities? Your view is probably shaped by your organization’s culture…whether an employee is considered a means to an end, or the end. You probably have a job if you are at a company similar to a certain car company, whose leader…

As companies expand geographically, there is a more deliberate effort to identify responsibilities for the regions versus the central office. Companies yo-yo back and forth between a centralized vs. decentralized model, with the in-between solution being a more federated model. The organization design must translate the company’s strategy into a value-creating operation. Usually, the central…

  Every individual (internal personal expectations) and every company (system/organizational/situational) understands boundaries, even if not explicitly communicated. In sports, there is an explicit “out of bounds” (as well as instant replay) that communicates to all players where the activity is. At organizations, it is not as clear – yet required. At an organization, the organization…

  Honeywell unexpectedly lost the leader of a $12 billion business unit last year…and announced his replacement in 1.5 hours. Do you have a succession-ready culture where the next-in-line is “job ready?”  During one leader’s annual performance review, the CEO asked what her career aspirations were. The CEO was surprised that she was content at…

  Every day, for 18 years straight, 8-10,000 Americans will turn 65.  There are two implications: Companies are losing institutional knowledge; Retirees, with better health increasing their longevity, are seeking encore careers. These could be new endeavors, changing the world for future generations, reinventing self, combining personal meaning with social impact, and continuing income. These…

One of the largest challenges of managing a team is understanding that each employee has different strengths, different aspirations, different motivators, etc.…as a manager, you must understand that you: Vary productivity and pace Can kill a self starter with micro-management, yet need to hand-hold others Need to let an employee go who does not fit…

  Once a company identifies its vision and mission, it can then start building towards a future-state culture. The key impact area for this is at the supervisor level, which is ironically where the least amount of training and preparation occurs. Here it is a balance between management and leadership. Management is focused and result-oriented…delegating,…

  A healthcare CEO once told me that most corporate behavior is irrational. While this caught me off-guard at first, I then realized I was in agreement. A paycheck, regardless of the amount, represents our job that emotionally provides us purpose, stability, and shared mission. Human behavior is influenced by incentives, social norms, framing references,…