Brand U leadership often surfaces in battle where the consequences of poor judgment are fatal. But, can an extraordinary Brand U make a difference in a business organization or a team? Studies continue to indicate that leadership is often exemplified in teams and small organizations. For example, small product development teams have developed breathtaking products, …
Do you think the boss of bosses in your organization doesn’t have to perform, sweat bullets, or be accountable? Well guess again. They have the ultimate Brand U challenge: Succeed or perish. Even top Brand U bosses are accountable to perform and make their numbers. Job homesteading and board cronyism are dying at the board …
We created the hierarchal, pyramidal managerial system because we needed to keep track of people and the things people did; with the computer to track, we can restructure our institutions horizontally. John Naisbitt, Futurist
The workplace is full of mixed messages. Cooperate, team, but compete simultaneously. Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Packer football team said: “winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” Kids, both male and female, are imbued with this message when playing sports. Later in life, entrepreneurial competition replaces sports competition. Competitive type A behavior …
Silo management is dead. What’s a silo? Think of a cornfield silo. It stands alone storing all the grain in a region. Well, people, teams, departments, and plants can do the same thing. They don’t participate, cooperate, or work with others. They protect turf and use special information to devalue others. This is now dead! …
The traditional organization consists of a hierarchy of a general, colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, and troops. The business equivalent consists of a president, vice-presidents, directors, managers, supervisors, and employees. Work is organized by functional area that is headed by a department manager. Department managers direct areas such as Quality, Engineering, Manufacturing, Accounting, or Sales. In …
Structure is not organization. Robert Waterman, Writer Organizations are often described in terms of mechanical systems or a Newtonian universe. In this model, work consists of highly structured, linear processes and projects. Everything runs like a Swiss watch. Action begets reaction. Customers generate sales, income, and employment. People are interchangeable. Organizations are structured in terms …
There is much effort to determine the role of ‘human capital’ on a company’s stock market value. A company found that worker’s attitudes about their treatment by bosses and their workloads had a measurable impact on customer satisfaction and revenue. The business world where a lone wolf can design a killer product or a transforming …
The workplace is galloping towards self-managed Brand U work teams. Chances are you may be in one or several. Self managed teams are also composed of self directed, Brand U individuals who accept responsibility for developing schedules, managing quality, controlling costs, upgrading worker skills, assigning work, improving process performance, focusing on results, and ensuring stakeholders …
In the old command-and-control days, the supervisor and middle manager knew what to do. Roles were defined and expectations were understood. Now, fewer managers are asked to do much more with less. Brand U roles are more fluid. Expectations are higher and often less understood. Some Brand U managers and support specialists are on call …