By Jeffrey Ford, on March 1st, 2010
I recently had the working managers in my MBA class on execution (as in implementation, not hanging) undertake an exercise to improve relationships with the people with whom they work. In particular, we were interested in whether or not they could improve their affinity (liking) for people they currently did not like very much. They
Continue reading Improving Relationships at Work
By Jeffrey Ford, on February 8th, 2010
Have you ever heard someone say, “What we need around here is more accountability”? If so, you are in good company because accountability, how to get it, and why people don’t have more of it is a popular topic in today’s workplace.
I encounter this complaint from the managers in my MBA classes as well as
Continue reading The Two Sides to Getting “More Accountability”
By Jeffrey Ford, on January 11th, 2010
I have been doing some research in preparation for a workshop on personal accountability a colleague and I are doing for MBA’s at the Fisher College. As I have been getting into it, I am beginning to notice more about what the absence of accountability sounds like when people talk. Consider the following example.
The other
Continue reading What the Absence of Accountability Sounds Like
By Jeffrey Ford, on December 4th, 2009
Don’t risk being held to account for things you don’t know about. Take the time to find out what people really expect you to do, and what they expect you to deliver. If they don’t tell you, ask.
I recently had a conversation with a manager who was disturbed by her inability to meet the
Continue reading Convert Expectations into Agreements
By Jeffrey Ford, on November 6th, 2009
Laurie and I recently conducted a training program on The Four Conversations for a group of project managers. Since most of the managers were from the same organization, they all encountered the same problem when given an assignment. Rather than being told a due date or deadline by when the assignment was to be completed,
Continue reading “High Priority” Isn’t A Deadline
By Jeffrey, on October 22nd, 2009
While flying home from a weekend visit with my son in Houston, Texas, I got a flash of insight into why it is so difficult to train managers to be more effective. I was reading “The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making” when I realized managers make a fundamental error in their understanding of what
Continue reading The Fundamental Error in Managing Others
By Jeffrey, on October 9th, 2009
If you read my earlier post on Incentives Don’t Work, then you know that Dan Pink’s TED video raises some interesting questions about incentives. In particular, he raises questions about the role of external incentives and their impact on non-routine, creative, or innovative work performance. His point is well made. Research has long known that
Continue reading Incentives Don’t Work? Part II
By Jeffrey, on October 1st, 2009
On September 29, I started my MBA class on Leading and Managing Change in Organizations. Unlike my prior classes, this is a mix of working professional and fulltime students. One of the questions I asked them was “What’s important to you? What do you really want out of this class?”
Although there were a variety of
Continue reading Motivating Others Is Easy IF You Stop Trying To
By Jeffrey, on September 23rd, 2009
Is it possible to build accountability even when you don’t have authority? The case of Myles Brand, president of the NCAA suggests the answer is yes.
Myles Brand, who died September 16, 2009, was the former president of Indiana University and Oregon University. Brand left the presidency of Oregon to become president of the NCAA, a
Continue reading Building Accountability without Authority
By Jeffrey, on September 8th, 2009
One of the questions I frequently get from MBA students is “How do you hold someone accountable when you don’t have any authority over them?” One way is to use visual controls.
Visual controls are a public display of the performance data for an individual, group, or system. The scoreboards you see at sporting events, such
Continue reading Visual Controls Help Build Accountability
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