|
|
|||
|
I believe a cornerstone of personal leadership effectiveness is operating with integrity. Michael Jensen, the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School contends that without integrity, nothing works. Jensen defines integrity as honoring your word, which means that (1) you keep your word, and (2) just as soon as you Continue reading Where Do You Keep Your Word after You Give It?  Contemporary approaches to leadership emphasize the actions and behaviors – the “speaking” – of leaders. But what about their “listening”, why don’t we focus on that as well? In any conversational interaction, such as those between “leader” and “follower”, there is speaking and listening. Someone is talking or engaged in doing things (speaking) and someone is Continue reading Where Is the Listening? One of the more startling statistics in the business world is that approximately 70% of organizational changes fail to produce the results for which they were undertaken. In her book The Last Word on Power, Tracy Goss reports that when interviewed, sixty-two percent (62%) of the managers from companies whose change efforts failed listed resistance Continue reading Do Leaders Cause Resistance? One reason people experience stress and feel that they have more to do than time in which to do it is because they are in an argument with The First Law of Accomplishment. The First Law of Accomplishment states: “The accomplishment of anything requires a sufficient period of time in which to accomplish it.” Its Continue reading Obeying the First Law of Accomplishment When it comes to improving productivity, our own or others, we frequently look to such things as motivation, commitment, leadership, incentives and rewards, and various other factors (obstacles?) for the answers. You know, I would be more productive if I was more motivated or committed, or if there was better leadership, or if the incentives Continue reading On Building Infrastructure I am occasionally asked by the managers in my classes, “How do I get my boss to do this stuff?” My answer is often the same, “Get interested in what they are interested in. Find out what they have their attention on, what they are concerned for, and what they are accountable for and then Continue reading How Do I Get My Boss to Change? 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 It is said that when Caesar invaded England, he burned his boats to let his men know that there was no way home. The only options were victory or death. For most of us, the idea of cutting off all retreat is unnerving. We like to keep our options open, to have a back door Continue reading Burn the Boats 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” Why don’t people perform the way we expect them to? Perhaps you have asked yourself this question, or participated in a discussion with others related to it. Although there are many answers that could be provided, one that has recently caught my attention is the role of common ground. I was recently at a holiday dinner Continue reading Common Ground and Performance |
|||
|
Copyright © 2012 Professor Ford.com - All Rights Reserved |
|||