Sunday, March 31, 2013

How Important is Face Time?


Recently the new CEO of Yahoo...... Marissa Mayers, took a lot of heat over a change in corporate policy regarding the elimination of remote work from home.  Certainly does not seem up with recent trends, you might say.

But there seems to be more to the story. 

The question revolves around the importance of Face Time in stimulating new ideas and creating a coherent identity.

   Read more from the New Yorker article:     click here

It seems like the company was struggling with the creation of new ideas.  Was having a problem with generating a strong, coherent identity.   Other experts talk about the importance of hallway chat in driving innovation and new ideas.

Do you stimulate the interaction for ideas and innovation?  Might be worth considering.



    

Saturday, March 9, 2013

The Advantage - Do you have one?

The Advantage.....Do you have one?

I just finished Patrick Lencioni's newest book called     The Advantage
It is a straightforward and interesting read about one critical element......The Healthy Organization!!

He makes a persuasive case that achieving this Health  (or culture, if you will)  can create a meaningful and economic advantage for your firm or organization.  It sounds simple, but is much harder and time consuming to achieve.  But after all.....he maintains....is this not the primary role of leadership?  That is you, the CEO.

The 4 critical elements include:

  1.  Building a Cohesive Leadership Team

  2.  Communicating Clarity

  3.  Overcomunicate Clarity

  4.  Reinforce Clarity

There are some very specific suggestions and elements outlined in the book that can be followed. 
This incorporates some of the key insights from prior books (The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team)  and (Death by Meetings.)   Some of which may seem counter intuitive....like have more meetings not fewer.  But more effective meetings around driving to clarity.  A major insight is to separate tactical meetings and discussions from strategic meetings.  This will actually drive more productivity. 

I suggest you review the concepts covered in The Advantage......it just might help you create one!!