The Feeling of Failure
In Humanize, we talk a lot about courage. Courage is one of the four human elements--arguably the hardest one for organizations to master. Fear has long been at the root of organizational dysfunction. We are arguing that ...
Category: Managing People
Getting Serious About Collaboration
Collaboration is a bit of a buzzword these days. It is often that magic result we seek as we adopt a new technology solution or try to get employees to play nicely together in the sandbox. It's a feel-good word. We all l ...
Bringing Innovation to Life
That's the title from a panel session I helped deliver at the Great Ideas Conference last week. The description from the brochure: People make innovation happen. Ok, but how do they do it? Join us to learn tips and techn ...
Tell Your People
When I first started in consulting, I was on a big project with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It was an extensive assessment of "organizational issues" broadly speaking. I did a LOT of interviews and focus groups. ...
Ignoring the Impossible
In December, the cover of Harvard Business Review invited readers in to Gary Hamel's feature article with the headline "Inside the World's Most Creatively Managed Company." This was an interesting headline, given that th ...
The Future Will Look and Feel Different
I suppose that sounds obvious, but when I talk to people about changing the way they lead and manage organizations, I'm not so sure it's that obvious. Instead, there seems to be a default assumption that in the future, m ...
The Problem with Committees
Here's the problem with committees: They exist. I'm only partially joking here. This comes from a comment I left on a post on Eric Lanke's blog (which, by the way, has shifted from the Hourglass blog to simply "Eric La ...
We Have No Idea What We're Doing
Whenever I get some time to think deeply about things related to the workplace, like how do we make work better, or what is leadership, or what is management, then I end up inescapably coming to the conclusion that is th ...
Making Silos Work
Everybody hates organizational silos. They are a problem. They get in the way. They need to be "busted." And to some extent, I agree. The way our different departments seem to erect walls separating them from each other ...
Are Your Meetings Like Golf or Hockey?
One of my favorite books that cuts across two of my favorite topics (truth and conflict) is Michael Roberto's Why Leaders Don't Take Yes for An Answer. He is the source of the definition I often use of consensus: it's no ...