|
|
28 July 2009 • 7:00 am Everyone makes mistakes – we often say that ‘to err is human, to forgive divine.’ And despite occasional assertions to the contrary, our leaders are in fact human. So our leaders have made mistakes, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The consequences of our leaders’ mistakes are usually greater than the mistakes of those led; through their decisions and actions, leaders cause many others to do things. This is the definition of leadership. In meritocracies, individuals rise to leadership roles because they are viewed as capable and skillful, and are therefore expected to make good decisions for the organizations they lead. But we also say that ‘mistakes will happen.’
more
27 July 2009 • 3:11 pm Many thanks for your patience while the Tortoise has been out of sorts. The technical problems that the site was experiencing appear to be resolved, although not apparently as a result of any of the maintenance upgrades that the site needed. So I have no certainty that there won’t be more problems, but things seem okay right now.
Because of an abundance of spam comments, I’ve closed all prior posts to new comments. Of course, new posts will be open for comments, and I hope you’ll contribute to building a dialog here. If you’d like to comment on any post, past or present, you may also send an e-mail to comments@TenaciousTortoise.com. Your topic suggestions are especially welcome.
I also learned how easy it is to fall out of the routine of daily blogging. I am working on the first substantive post in a week, and should have it up soon. I’ll be working hard to regain the lost momentum.
Thanks again for sticking around.
20 July 2009 • 8:19 pm To my great dismay, I discovered over the weekend that the comment form for blog posts is not working (thanks to my friend Jim for making me less clueless). My dismay was tempered by a glimmer of hope; that the reason that there have been so few comments to the posts is entirely related to this problem – but I am not convinced. As recently as today I am still getting an occasional spam comment, which is one reason why the comments are moderated before they go live. I simply don’t know yet when the problem started, and how many of your thoughtful comments were sacrificed to the dreaded “500 – Internal server error” monster. To anyone who may have wanted to post a comment and was unable, please accept my humble apologies.
Over the next couple of days, I’ll be working to try to resolve the problem, and to apply some much-needed maintenance to the WordPress engine and Atahualpa WordPress theme that power the site (both are open source shareware platforms without which I wouldn’t have been able to build the site). So there may be an interruption in the blogroll and times when the site will be incomplete or unavailable.
Thanks in advance for your loyalty and patience. more
20 July 2009 • 7:00 am Of course, today marks the 40th anniversary of the landing of the first manned spacecraft on the moon. Newspapers are filled with retrospectives, and commentators bemoan the subsequent loss of momentum for continued manned exploration of space. In the clutter of hyperbolic coverage of the accomplishment and my own recollections of the era, I’ve been struggling to find some deeper meaning to share here.
more
18 July 2009 • 8:27 am  Reading the obituaries and fond remembrances of Walter Cronkite, who died yesterday at the age of 92, I am struck by the simplicity and power of the label “the most trusted man in America” that was his – exclusively. Cronkite was, of course, the anchor of the CBS Evening News on American television from 1962 until 1981, an era when there was no internet, no cable TV, and far fewer sources of news. In contrast to the newspapers that delivered yesterday’s news in depth, television journalism was about immediacy – it was today’s news – and about brevity. Cronkite’s 30 minute newscast format (which had been expanded from 15 minutes shortly after Cronkite became anchor) required less detail and more thoughtful editing than any newspaper story.
Cronkite’s passing gives us pause for reflection; on his remarkable career, on the evolution of news and information sharing during our lifetimes, and the increasing irrelevance of network television news. Like many of my generation, I especially remember Cronkite for his role in two of the moments that defined 1960s America – his genuine emotion in November 1963 when he told us that President Kennedy was dead, and his boyish excitement at the triumph of the success of the Apollo moon landing, exactly 40 years ago this week.
more
17 July 2009 • 7:00 am 
To my chagrin, the term ‘scorecard’ is widely used in both the disciplines of performance management and strategy execution, and without further qualification, has an imprecise variety of meanings. To some, it may mean a large collection of indicators of operational performance. To others, it is an ambiguous shorthand for ‘balanced scorecard,’ which is a well-developed set of related ideas and practices around strategy management and execution. Ambiguity comes from the fact that to some, the term ‘balanced scorecard’ means simply a collection of measures that has been balanced according to some real or imagine scheme. On far too many occasions, I’ve been approached by a conference attendee with a request to review and comment on his so-called ‘balanced scorecard,’ only to find that the proud offering is a only collection of operational measures with no connection to strategy. This is the basis of my Scorecard Blues. So let me be blunt: if a set of measures has been selected without the prior development of a strategy map, it cannot be properly called a balanced scorecard.
Even without the qualifier of ‘balanced,’ a ‘scorecard’ is seen as a group of measures, and / or the visual representation of those measures, and / or the tool for managing measurement data. Many software tools called ‘scorecards’ have been developed to facilitate the collection, analysis, and presentation of scorecards, both for operational and strategic use. Because the term ‘scorecard’ has so many diverse meanings and uses, it simply cannot be used alone without further explanation. But there is one trait that attaches to nearly every individual’s own definition of the term ‘scorecard.’
The lowest common denominator of nearly all ‘scorecards’ is the ubiquitous red – yellow (amber in Europe) – green summary indicator scheme (hence RYG). more
16 July 2009 • 7:00 am In Parts One and Two of this series of three posts, I introduced an article published recently in the McKinsey Quarterly entitled The Irrational Side of Change Management, and summarized their first seven of nine lessons about why common sense hasn’t helped improve the success rate of change. If you didn’t read the first post, please start there.
Condition IV: Capability Building
The skills of the workforce and the capabilities of the organization must change to support the change agenda.
Lesson 8: Don’t overlook employees’ beliefs when driving behavior change
McKinsey idea: Requiring behavior changes without understanding what employees believe may not have the desired effect. Behavior stems from personal beliefs, and without understanding those beliefs, mandated behaviors may run counter to employees’ self-perception.
Tenacious Tortoise comment: McKinsey’s example of bankers becoming uncomfortable with becoming salespeople is not convincingly applied in the general case. But it is easy to see that simply telling employees to do something they otherwise wouldn’t do will have less effect than patiently creating an understanding of why the new behavior is desired and understanding and addressing any discomfort that the new behavior creates.
more
15 July 2009 • 7:00 am In Part One of this series of three posts, I introduced an article published recently in the McKinsey Quarterly entitled The Irrational Side of Change Management, and summarized their first three of nine lessons about why common sense hasn’t helped improve the success rate of change. If you didn’t read the first post, please start there. We continue here with the next four lessons.
Condition II: Role Modeling
Conventional wisdom says that leaders must visibly behave in ways that reinforce the change agenda, and enlist others with influence to support the cause of change.
Lesson 4: Leaders are biased when seeing themselves
McKinsey idea: Most senior executives understand the concept of role modeling, in the abstract. But they mistakenly believe that they are already exhibiting the necessary behaviors. 360 degree feedback sessions and surveys help executives see beyond their own biased and generous view of themselves as ‘being the change.’
Tenacious Tortoise comment: Some executives view the strategic management process and change programs as a burden on their time – they say, “I need to get back to my real job.” These are the ones who are most likely to miss strategy review meetings, or arrive unprepared. The moment of truth comes when the senior executive either offers leeway and forgiveness, or holds team members fully accountable for their engagement with the process. I’ve seen months of good change program effort derailed when the leader him- or herself opts out of a critical meeting, or worse, is distracted by e-mail and phone calls during the meetings. Of course, these behaviors aren’t visible to rank and file, but the message sent in the leadership team has a profound effect on their subsequent behavior in the organization. This is why the quality of the coaching relationships I am able to build with leadership team members is a good predictor of the overall success of the change program.
more
14 July 2009 • 7:00 am An article in the McKinsey Quarterly hit my radar from several different directions in the last few days. Entitled The Irrational Side of Change Management, the title itself was more than enough to arouse my curiosity, especially since I’d recently written a post of my own about irrationality. Unfortunately, as you may know, McKinsey restricts access to some of its best content to its premium subscribers. Fortunately, I was able to obtain a copy of this well-written article, and had quality time over the weekend to read it a couple of times.
The summary and my comments presented here (in three posts this week) are no substitute for reading the article itself, and it is likely that with some effort you can find a copy to view within your own organization or network of colleagues. My aim is to both entice you to read the article and to engender discussion here.
Despite the plethora of books and articles on the topic of Change Management since the 1996 publication of John Kotter’s Leading Change, McKinsey’s Carolyn Aiken and Scott Keller contend that the field of change management hasn’t been very successful. Kotter’s earlier research revealed that only 30% of change programs succeed; McKinsey’s 2008 survey of over 3,000 executives worldwide found that only about one change program in three is successful.
more
11 July 2009 • 2:00 pm Weekend lazy post.
You’ve got to hand it to musician Dave Carroll. When United Airlines admitted that they broke Carroll’s $3,500 Taylor guitar, but refused to compensate him for the damage, he know how to respond. In Carroll’s words (emphasis added):
In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3,500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say “no” to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.
Well, Carroll has made good on his promise. Enjoy the result below. As of this writing, his first video has been viewed over 1.6 million (update: nearly 3 million, as of 15 July) times on YouTube.
more
|
Comments About Comments and the Tenacious Blog
To my great dismay, I discovered over the weekend that the comment form for blog posts is not working (thanks to my friend Jim for making me less clueless). My dismay was tempered by a glimmer of hope; that the reason that there have been so few comments to the posts is entirely related to this problem – but I am not convinced. As recently as today I am still getting an occasional spam comment, which is one reason why the comments are moderated before they go live. I simply don’t know yet when the problem started, and how many of your thoughtful comments were sacrificed to the dreaded “500 – Internal server error” monster. To anyone who may have wanted to post a comment and was unable, please accept my humble apologies.
Over the next couple of days, I’ll be working to try to resolve the problem, and to apply some much-needed maintenance to the WordPress engine and Atahualpa WordPress theme that power the site (both are open source shareware platforms without which I wouldn’t have been able to build the site). So there may be an interruption in the blogroll and times when the site will be incomplete or unavailable.
Thanks in advance for your loyalty and patience. more