In software world, cohesion is referred to as a degree to which modules belong to each other. If modules have little in common, performs varied activities based on unrelated sets of data, it is a low cohesion software which is difficult to maintain and understand. Drawing the same analogy for an organization’s leadership, cohesion is […]
New year brings with it a lot of excitement. It is always fun when people extend new year wishes followed by a very predictable question, “So, what are your new year resolutions?”. It makes me think. If you are on a journey of self-improvement, you cannot afford to have once-in-a-year resolutions that fade away with […]
I used to get angry and preachy when my kid threw tantrums till I heard this wonderful statement from a leadership expert, “The more you tell, the less you sell.” Leadership starts with listening. In face of a conflict, reacting is our natural instinct. We want to tell/justify immediately without an attempt to completely understand […]
This is the third consecutive year when I am hosting the Annual Management Improvement Carnival organized by John Hunter. Hosting this carnival is an opportunity for me to thank a few generous folks who extended significant learning and influenced me through their writing. This year, I review three blogs that I have loved reading. Seth […]
I once read a story of a boy who found a bag full of dried clay balls when he was playing in the field. Not sure about what to do with them, he started throwing them in the pond to enjoy the ripples. Just then, he dropped one of the balls and saw a glittering […]
W. Edwards Deming, the pioneer and guru in quality revolution wrote the following paragraph when commenting on Peter Senge’s book “The Fifth Discipline” and it instantly struck the chord. Our prevailing system of management has destroyed our people. People are born with intrinsic motivation, self-respect, dignity, curiosity to learn, joy in learning. The forces of […]
In an organization, work flows horizontally but organizations are structured vertically in hierarchies. With seniority and promotions up the order, a person tends to drift away from the place where real business value is created; the place where real action happens; where problems are clearly visible. They end up expecting results without caring about the […]
The pace of change is accelerating and business leaders who are responsible for improvements need keep up with the pace. While plan-do-check-act methodology has been around for long, the time it took was way longer. For organizational improvements (and the personal ones), what do we need today? What would business expect from improvement initiatives? A […]
In 1982, University of Wisconsin researchers studying the human learning pattern videotaped two bowling teams during multiple games. When these tapes were shown to team, they were edited differently. One team was shown the video of all their mistakes and the other team was shown the video of their good performances. Both teams improved, but […]