High Performing Teams If there’s a subject that will get the good people in H.R. excited it is high performing teams. They are the holy grail of human resource management. Everybody wants a high performing team. Conventional wisdom tells you to get the “best-of-breed”. Find the most capable sales men, ops guys, marketeers and technical wizards and […]
Targets Don’t Work!
A management education 21 years ago I was a bright young thing. I was single, had a good job and I was determined to make my way in the world. I am a strong believer in education so I decided to study for an MBA. I learnt about: Operations Marketing Information Technology Human Resources Finance I […]
Targets Work!
In praise of the goal On the 25th of May 1961, in a speech before the joint session of Congress, the President of the United States set his country a goal: This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him […]
SMART Goals, VAGUE Dreams
SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. Nothing apparently unreasonable there. And yet this whole approach jars. It feels very controlling, very blinkered, and very task-oriented. It is a method that allows managers to “objectively” assess their direct reports, and grade them accordingly, so finds great popularity with HR departments and the mindset prevalent in […]
The Elephant Problem
Manage the numbers We love to manage by targets and numbers. We divide our organisations up and target managers with very specific goals: Reduce waiting times Increase top line Minimise operational cost Maximise market penetration And off we go, convinced that our number is the most important number, striving to make it go the right […]