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Finally an Easy Tactic for Performance Improvement
| There are a lot of reasons not to “push” your project workers. You may believe there are too few doing too much work anyway, right? Can’t push’em too hard or they will push back, you think.
Before you cut them too much slack, though, check out research from a university study, where academics have proven that when leader has high expectations of the workforce it results in better performance. This wasn’t any tiny sample, either. Results are based on twenty-five years of studying banks, schools – even the Israel Defense Forces for goodness sake.
This is got to be one the easier tactics I have recommended. It certainly does appear that all you have to do is come up with your high expectations, communicate them, and you are done! Afterwards just bask in the praise you get from having such a high performance workforce. The research showed, however, that there are two factors that are crucial when implementing this tactic. What do you think they are? I’ll explain more in my next post. |
Posted on: May 12, 2008 07:01 AM
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Is the Training You Plan in Your Training Plan Bland?
| Is the training you plan in your training plan bland? Is it going to be delivered in a classroom with a lecturer like a black and white newsreel from the early twentieth century? If so, is it out of some kind of corporate cultural inertia? Certainly you realize that improvements in training have occurred in the many decades since these newsreels.
Of course different topics benefit from different delivery strategies and interactive techniques, but boring reduces “stickiness” of the learning. And attendees wonder whether it is really that important if so little effort has gone into it. Younger generations fins it difficult to stomach the classic lecture. Any hour put into training should bring learning and performance improvement for your project. So make some checks before you commit to training:
These questions are the basis for your due diligence to avoid the wasted time of bland training. |
Posted on: May 07, 2008 10:48 PM
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What’s Really Possible Against Office Gossip
| Think of all the interaction problems workers have: personality conflicts, communication miscues, interdepartmental disagreements, frustrating delays from passive-aggressive behavior, clashes between organizational silos, and so on. Don’t you think it’s time to eliminate office gossip from all that?
You want to say “No,” but there is “Yes Yes” in your eyes. You don’t believe it is possible to really get rid of it or you would have taken care of it a long time ago.
Think again. One guy already did it and his company thrived. Your overall tactic is to clearly classify office gossip with all the other unprofessional behavior that is typically specified. It will work even if you are working only within your project.
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Posted on: May 05, 2008 10:23 PM
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Downsizing? Think Ahead.
| Many executives are having to protect their bonuses by downsizing in this economy. But before you open a Save the Executives nonprofit organization, make sure a knee-jerk layoff response does not play havoc with your projects now and in the future. Think of the situation this way: The organization may need to shed total workforce compensation, but someone better be looking for alternatives to laying off high-performance workers who will be needed to perform to make lean projects successful as well as when the upturn begins and you are asked to achieve results fast to capture market share.
Ideas to point you in the right direction:
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Posted on: April 29, 2008 10:25 PM
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How Can Managers Retain Better Workers? Manage Them
| In a recent post, I looked at Bristol-Myers Squibb’s plan to have managers actually manage workers for 50% of their time. This is an important tactic to consider, even if you do not go with the 50% target, because the recent generations of workers expect this support.
Multiple studies in this decade have been conducted identify organizational predictors of employee intentions to leave. Of course, you should remember these if you read my articles and blogs, but let me remind you just in case. Workers want plenty of
This is what managers should be doing when they are managing workers. Otherwise, workers will look for these things in other organizations and you get expensive and annoying turnover.
What’s the problem with doling out these riches? Recently we found that managers were too busy doing the “technical” part of their job. Managers in your organization are probably measured on this part of their job more clearly than any other part. Still, workers expect this support, and goodness knows they can benefit from it, so start making your project management easier by enabling your managers to be better at that “people” part of their job. |
Posted on: April 25, 2008 08:08 AM
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