Matrix management is dead? Nope – some people are dealing with two managers, as if one wasn’t enough. There are problems with that, of course, outlined here with a few solution ideas too.
Management is not just for people who have a department or team to oversee. We can add it to our personal lives as well. That way, we get some energy from seeing that we are moving in the direction(s) we choose and accomplishing what matters to us. And it’s pretty simple!
Two new views on how to organize workers and give them more opportunities for independent thinking and innovation are summarized in two articles – and these ideas are beginning to change workplaces. Especially as more workers are working at home, the idea of having them operate as “responsible adults” (as one article says) is changing the work of managers. We hope they are listening.
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.
If no deadline is set, projects or tasks languish in limbo, their importance undetermined and their necessity questioned. Time to ask “by when?”.
Procrastinating on our unfinished chores and projects is natural. Maintaining an effective “Results Wanted” list – and doing the work to check things off that list – isn’t hard either. But we sometimes forget that’s what it takes to get some things done.
Humans aren’t always wired up to Get Things Done. In the swirl of daily life, we need a way to remember which things really matter.
Almost every HR initiative begins with a Needs Assessment. One HR training specialist announced to a group of manufacturing Operations Managers, “Our most important deliverable to you is the Needs Assessment.” The Operations Managers hooted. “We don’t need your needs assessment! We just need you to train our operators to use the equipment without breaking […]
Productivity is a big deal – the idea is to produce good hourly output at work, especially if you want to get a raise. An article (Why Your Facebook Habit At Work Makes Economists Worry) says that some people want to blame employees who are using social media for the recent drop in productivity. Another theory […]
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