Any department of sufficient size will have responsibilities and roles that involve many aspects of team work. In any given organization experiencing low morale, most likely an atmosphere of poor teamwork exists. For these organizations, this lack of quality teamwork will be counter-productive, thus making goals much more difficult to achieve. In the book…… Continue reading Book Review: The Five Dysfuntions of a Team
1. Use Actions as your Voice The essential outlook from Batman’s point of view is to use actions instead of voice to achieve a vision. Too many people often speak a great deal, and wing up doing very little. While stating visions to others is very important, failure to follow up with action may make…… Continue reading Leadership Lessons from Batman
John Wooden is perhaps the greatest coach in all of sports history. Sure many can argue for a coach here or a coach there, but for every debate, John Wooden will be among the final choices for the greatest of all time. Wooden is perhaps best known for his span of ten national championships over…… Continue reading Book Review: Wooden on Leadership
Previous posts to my blog have argued for organizations to promote from within whenever possible. I feel this will have a tendency to reward loyalty, thus creating an espirit de corps within the ranks. One of the leading innovation and efficiency killers is having a staff of workers with low morale. Producing revenue from services…… Continue reading Loyalty Should be Rewarded
In today’s business world, news reports and magazine articles contain numerous accounts of executive corruption and mismanagement resulting from poor business decisions resulting from excessive greed, or downright theft through embezzlement. While reading an article the other day, I saw some common leadership mistakes compared to the biblical seven deadly sins. I found the article…… Continue reading Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership
W. Edwards Deming was most known for his arguments for organizations to embrace continuous improvement plans for their processes. Although specifically geared towards the manufacturing sector, the concept of continuous improvement can and should be practiced by all organizations. The basic concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) is basic in its premise but can be powerful and…… Continue reading Plan – Do – Check – Act
Far too often organizations are plagued with a mentality where the employees are not encouraged to think critically. Mandates and directives come down from the top, and cannot be challenged. Alternatively, the existing management may not entertain ideas and solutions provided by their subordinates because they may not be viewed as qualified enough to contribute. …… Continue reading Encourage Critical Thinking
In my first semester in graduate school at Colorado State University, I had to take a business leadership class as part of the MBA curriculum. “The Leadership Challenge”, by James Kouzes and Barry Posner, was the book we read and studied as part of this class. Within the book, Kouzes and Posner identify five principles…… Continue reading Book Review: The Leadership Challenge
Disaster planning can be easily compared to data management for people who work in offices, where computer usage is a routine part of their job. In my experiences working in the IT sector, I have seen so often where our end-users experience panic and shock when they encounter a PC problem that jeopardizes their data. …… Continue reading Succession Planning IS Important
A general concept in the business world is the concept of it is not what you know, it is who you know. Everybody wants a promotion or to be recognized when an opportunity presents itself. As a manager, there are things I look for in future staffing plans. Normally I prefer to promote from within…… Continue reading Qualities That Lead to Growth and Promotions
Deep Thinking 