All three steps – Alignment OF the people, Production BY the people, and Accomplishment FOR the people – are needed for effective management. Drop out one step and you are likely to diminish or prevent the alignment, the productivity, and the accomplishment. Management isn’t difficult when you break it down to what you want: the people engaged in their work, the job done well, and the real-world satisfaction for all in its accomplishment.
Step Two in “Managing for Accomplishment” is Managing for Production: setting up the structures and agreements that establish (a) success metrics, (b) a workable performance network (you’ll learn what that is if you don’t already know) and (c) agreements for coordination and communication in that network. Without this, production is delayed due to missteps – the reason so many projects exceed their timelines.
Step One on a group task or project: Get people aligned on (a) What needs to happen, (b) Who’s who, and (c) How it relates to its external environment’s rules and requirements.
We wonder why executives don’t leap at the chance to make “changes for the better” in their organizations. Here’s a thought: you’re not changing one thing – you’re changing a network. Put on the kid gloves.
Management. What do you manage? What is “performance”? How do you improve it? You already know the answers – you do it all the time.
An article reporting on the Workforce Purpose Index findings says that companies with purpose-driven employees have better growth in revenue. Their study found “three factors that contribute to an employee feeling like they have purpose at work: Independence; Influence when it comes to decision-making; and Recognition for their work. How do you get those things […]
I took my ideas about an online conversation for “Management is Missing” into several meetings over coffee and lunch in the past 10 days. I had lunch with a man who develops websites: he liked the Performance Circle idea, and we sketched out some thoughts on how to have the kind of interactive discussion I’m […]
Awarded "Best Management Book" by 800-CEO-READ.
Rated #5 "Best Business Book" by The Toronto Globe and Mail.