Leadership, competitiveness and best practices on business management
Workplace Survey, Findings 1.Workers are struggling to work effectively. When focus is compromised in pursuit of Collaboration, neither works well. 2. Effective workplaces balance focus and collaboration. Workplaces designed to enable collaboration without sacrificing employees’ ability to focus are more successful. 3. Choice drives performance and innovation. Employers who provide a spectrum of choices for when and where to work are seen as more innovative and have higher-performing employees.
A competency-based development program provides the framework for aligning employees’ job performance with the organization’s goals. Essentially, goals –both for individual employees and the organization- became the key to individual an organizational success.
A competency program is designed to help employees understand what they need to know and to communicate clear job expectations. They're also intended to provide a framework for performance assessment, management, and improvement. Many competency programs struggle to stay on track. They start with the best of intentions but veer off course as they evolve. Organizations begin with a few strong "core competencies" that soon devolve into a list of vaguely defined items that can't be measured.
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If you want to solve a problem effectively you must first change yourself. If you want to change yourself you must first change your perspectives. In his research, Stephen Covey found that people today operate from a different paradigm, or pattern of thought, than people did 200 years ago. People used to operate from the paradigm he calls the character ethic. This is a paradigm that emphasizes things like honesty, integrity, justice, patience and modesty.
Read more...The new business environment will favor those companies able to execute innovations faster, and to move their organizations forward more nimbly
Think about organizational agility in track-and-field terms. High performance for a sprinter depends on bursts of speed and strength. Long-distance runners, by contrast, require energy over a longer time, enabling them to keep going when others fatigue. Triathletes must have both attributes—and more: not only the endurance of the long-distance runner and the speed of the sprinter but also the ability to react quickly to the changing demands of running, swimming and cycling.
In an analogous way, agile organizations must excel across different kinds of activities. They must have the staying power to drive their core businesses over the long run but also the ability to shift focus faster to multiple kinds of business portfolios and to execute quickly when the time is right to pull ahead of competitors.
Read more...Traditionally, there has been a clear separation between the processes of strategy creation and execution. Only 5% of employees understand their company's strategy. This makes successful execution nearly impossible. So how can you help frontline employees not only understand but get behind your organization's strategy?
Even the most brilliant strategy is worth nothing if it isn't executed well, especially by your front line — the employees who interact daily with your customers. Unfortunately, these employees are regularly asked to execute strategies that others developed and that they may not understand, never mind feel committed or connected to. In fact, according to Robert Kaplan and David Norton, the founders of the Balance Scorecard, only 5% of employees understand their company's strategy. This makes successful execution nearly impossible. So how can you help frontline employees not only understand but get behind your company's strategy?
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By 2020, leaders will need to integrate visible minorities into every part of the workplace, including at the top. Leaders will also need to be “intrapreneurs” who can nurture and stimulate their staff to be innovative
Leaders are facing challenges from three powerful mega-trends—globalization, population aging and diversity, and technological innovation—that are transforming every element of the world of work. Individuals in leadership roles who want to ensure that their organizations successfully meet and overcome these forces must address two great challenges, according to a Conference Board of Canada (CBOC) report released this year.
First, they themselves must have or develop the skills and understanding to lead their organizations through turbulent times. Second, they must recruit or develop the next generation of leaders and ensure that they have the full range of skills required to be successful in 2020 and beyond.
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