#boblegge

The Executive Growth Mindset

To get to the next level of performance and growth, you need to think differently about yourself, and especially your business. You cannot get to the next level by thinking the same way and doing the same things. And it is the thinking part, the executive mindset, that has to change first before any other changes can take place.

Examples are everywhere: • Electri-cord Manufacturing went from…

The One Thing Most Leaders Don’t Know About Culture Change

When planning any sort of culture change, be aware that culture change often has an impact on customers and vendors.  This is particularly true when making a strategic change in the business such as making an acquisition or making changes to get on a new growth curve.  Develop a compelling message for those outside your organization, one that fully reinforces what you are doing inside the…

Of the things high performers hate most, bureaucratic organizations are in second place (weak supervisors are first.)  The key difference between bureaucracies and high-performance organizations is how they value both process and results.  Bureaucracies value processes not results.  High-performance organizations value both processes and results.  They value results because that is what furthers…

What to do with a weak change sponsor

Successful organization change requires a number of factors.  Perhaps the most important is sponsorship — the clear and continual reinforcement of the change message by the top leader, and all other leaders throughout the organization.  No matter how supportive people at lower levels are in the change, if the leaders aren’t legitimizing and reinforcing the change with strong sponsorship, the…

Why Leaders Need Objective Feedback

An executive I began coaching shared a concern that people did not participate in meetings.  When I sat in to observe, the problem was readily apparent:  He would frequently interrupt people to interject his ideas, dismiss suggestions with “we’ve tried that,” or “that won’t work,” and dominate the meeting with his talk.  While he thought he was creating a ‘dynamic and productive atmosphere’…

For Best Organizational Performance, Don’t Benchmark

Benchmarking is a tried-and-true approach for operational processes, but it should not be used to determine how best to structure or lead an organization.  Yeah, I know, finding out what Google and Apple and Zappos do is all the rage, but when it comes to organization design and leadership practices, there’s no evidence that copying what other firms do improves results.  Skip the off-the-shelf…

Practical Tips for Successful Organization Restructuring

Practical Tips for Successful Organization Restructuring If you’re doing an acquisition, merging, wanting to be more market or customer-focused, or restructuring to cut costs, the last thing you want to do is shuffle boxes and lines.  I learned early in my career, and it’s been borne out over the years working with organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, that with redesigns,…

3 Keys to Increasing Innovation

There’s a lot of talk about innovation these days.  Much of it is academic and lacks practical application.  Here are three important tactics from my work helping companies become more innovative.

Focus more on the work environment than on finding highly innovative people.The reason?  If the environment and management are not conducive to innovation, innovation simply won’t happen, even with star…