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Performance Requirements Planning

By Dr. Roger K. Allen Leave a Comment

The purpose of this article is to continue the theme of leadership development. The premise is that leaders (managers and supervisors) need more than training to be effective. It is imperative that the top leaders of an organization create an infrastructure to support and elicit desired leadership behaviors. One way to do this is through performance requirements planning.

Performance requirements planning begins by providing a clear definition of expected outcomes for a given position and continues by identifying those behaviors (best practices) and/or competencies that will lead to those outcomes. It defines the cross bar for individual performance and serves to:

Measure individual (leadership) performance
Provide individual performance feedback
Develop personal improvement and progression plans
Create and deliver management training/development programs and coaching

At a high level, here are some steps for making this happen:

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Filed Under: Organization Design/Development

People Make CRM Succeed

By Center Consultants 1 Comment

A client recently shared a story with me that represents an important lesson in understanding technological change.

General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., who acted as commander of the allied forces during Operation Desert Storm, tells the story of teaching one of his promising lieutenants about leadership. The lieutenant, a recent graduate of West Point Academy, was talking about the advanced technology of the United States military when General Schwarzkopf invited him to accompany him outside. Not knowing what to expect or where they were going, the lieutenant followed his leader. Schwarzkopf and the young man walked up to one of the newest Air Force fighter jets and told the young man to command the jet to fly. Of course, nothing happened. Schwarzkopf and the young man then walked over to a tank and Schwarzkopf told the young man to command the tank to “move.” When nothing happened, General Schwarzkopf commanded the young man to give the order again.

A Model of Leadership

By Dr. Roger K. Allen 2 Comments

A Leadership Paradigm

There are probably hundreds of definitions of leadership. However, at its essence, leadership is influencing others to accomplish results. Leadership is not so much about what you do and accomplish on your own. It is about what you are able to help others accomplish. It is about how you are able to influence other people to raise their level of performance to new and better heights and contribute more than they previously thought possible.

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Filed Under: Leadership

Managing the Business From a Master Plan

By Dr. Roger K. Allen Leave a Comment

Although corporations within the U.S. spend approximately $300 billion per year on training, permanent change will occur only when an organization’s infrastructure elicits, reinforces, and even demands desired leadership behaviors. Research shows that only about 10-20% of the knowledge gained from training actually transfers to the job. The challenge and opportunity is to translate knowledge and skills into practices that actually improve organizational performance.

This article is part of a series about how to build good leadership practices into the infrastructure of your organization. In my last two newsletters, I’ve discussed the following guidelines for instilling good leadership in your organization:

Focus all your leaders on a shared definition (standard) or paradigm of good leadership behavior
Set the example at the top
Create a forum for feedback between leaders and their employees

Leading Teams Today

By Center Consultants 2 Comments

A great deal of writing on leadership today focuses on the capabilities and behaviors formal leaders of large divisions or enterprises need to be effective. We read about such important characteristics as transparency, vision, authenticity, and optimism, and behaviors such as setting big, hairy, audacious goals (BHAGs). These are no doubt critical, but many firms have been increasingly relying on teams to help solve business problems and drive results, and leaders of these teams need other things. Teams are not a new trend. However, based on my experience working for several different Fortune 500 companies, what’s different about many teams today are the following:

Leaders Step Up to the Challenges of Life

By Center Consultants 1 Comment

Are You a Leader?

We’ve all heard that there are only two things we can count on for certain: death and taxes. But anyone who has ever lost a job, suffered from a personal challenge, or kept an eye on the stock market of late can tell you, there’s a third certainty that can be added to that list: setbacks.

Setbacks, quite frankly, happen – and they happen to everyone.

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Filed Under: Leadership

The Peril of Not Talking-Case Study of an Executive Team

By Center Consultants Leave a Comment

A number of years ago I was a member of a senior executive team that failed to come to consensus on the strategy of the business. This experience was a powerful example of how important it is for people to learn to talk openly and the severe consequences when we don’t.

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Filed Under: Trust & Communication

Humans Are Not Capital

By The Center for Organizational Design Leave a Comment

Image of various workers

Some business owners, leaders and managers have denigrated the value of people by referring to them as expendable assets instead of contributing individuals. While the denotation of “human capital” remains innocent enough, the term’s connotation echoes master-servant ideology.

Consider how terminology referring to people in the workplace fluctuates between various levels of respect:

How to Develop Your Leaders

By Center Consultants 1 Comment

Capable leadership is undoubtedly one of the most important factors in creating and maintaining an organization which achieves outstanding and sustainable results. In fact, in today’s complex and changing world, the need for strong leadership is greater than ever before.

And yet, 80% of CEOs participating in a recent study rated their efforts to develop leaders throughout their organizations as “less than adequate.”

Although corporations within the U.S.spend approximately $300 billion per year on training, permanent change will occur only when an organization’s infrastructure elicits, reinforces, and even demands desired leadership behaviors. Research shows that only about 10-20% of the knowledge gained from training actually transfers to the job. The challenge and opportunity is to translate knowledge and skills into practices that actually improve organizational performance. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership

How to Hold Leaders Accountable

By Dr. Roger K. Allen Leave a Comment

Hold Leaders Accountable

Companies must be proactive about building leadership competencies if they are to successfully compete in this complex world. This begins by understanding and common and shared definition of leadership for your organization. But even if the bar has been set and leaders understand, conceptually, your standard of leadership, it has to be reinforced by the infrastructure and systems of the organization.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership