Blogging on Business Update from Bob Morris (Week of 6/10/13)

I hope that at least a few of these recent posts will be of interest to you:

 

BOOK REVIEWS

Stiletto Network: Inside the Women’s Power Circles That Are Changing the Face of Business
Pamela Ryckman

Leadership Sustainability: Seven Disciplines to Achieve the Changes Great Leaders Know They Must Make
Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood

The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think
Michael E. Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed

 

INTERVIEWS

Mario Livio: An interview by Bob Morris
BOB

Michael E. Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed: An interview by Bob Morris
BOB

Leon M. Hielkema: An interview by Bob Morris
BOB

Paulett Eberhart (CDI) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times

 

COMMENTARIES

“How to Give a Killer Presentation”
Chris Anderson
HBR

“Three Things I’ve Learned From Warren Buffett”
Bill Gates
LinkedIn

“The do-or-die questions boards should ask about technology”
Paul Willmott
The McKinsey Quarterly

“Seven Strategies for Simplifying Your Organization”
Ron Ashkenas with Lisa Bodell
HBR

“What’s Ahead: Is Involvement the New Engagement?”
Dwaine Maltais
Talent Management

“Progress At Work, But Mothers Still Pay a Price”
Stephanie Coontz
The New York Times

“The huge impact that a small liberal arts college can have”
Michael Dirda
The American Scholar

“What great coaches do — and leaders should, too”
Laura Vanderkam
CBS Moneywatch

“The Tyranny of the Micromanager”
Amanda Foreman
The Wall Street Journal

“Toward a Self Employed Nation?”
Wendell Cox
NewGeography.com

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Blogging on Business Update from Bob Morris (Week of 3/25/13)

 

I hope that at least a few of these recent posts will be of interest to you:

BOOK REVIEWS

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Making Smart Decisions
Various Contributors and Editors of Harvard Business Review

It’s All About Who You Hire, How They Lead…and Other Essential Advice from a Self-Made Leader
Morton L. Mandel with John A. Byrne

Win-Win Partnerships: Be on the Cutting Edge with Synergistic Coaching
Steven J. Stowell and Matt M. Starcevich

Ahead of the Curve: A Guide to Applied Strategic Thinking
Steven J. Stowell and Stephanie S. Mead

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Sheryl Sanberg

Getting Innovation Right: How Leaders Leverage Inflection Points to Drive Success
Seth Kahan

INTERVIEWS

Ivar Kroghrud (QuestBack) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times

The Thought Leader Interview: Cynthia Montgomery
Ken Favaro and Art Kleiner
strategy+business

COMMENTARIES

“9 Initiatives Employers Must Take to Support Women’s Success”
Kathy Caprino
Forbes

A McKinsey Classic: “The granularity of growth”
Mehrdad Baghai, Sven Smit, and S. Patrick Viguerie
The McKinsey Quarterly

“How Innovative Is Your Company’s Culture?”
Jay Rao and Joseph Weintraub
MIT Sloan Management Review

“Why Organizations Are So Afraid to Simplify””
Ron Ashkenas
HBR

“Six social-media skills every leader needs”
Margaret Heffernan
CBS MoneyWatch

“Why to Change Small Things, Not the Entire Culture”
Management Tip of the Day
HBR

“Want to Change Behavior?”
Marshall Goldsmith
Talent Management

“The Making of an Expert”
K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely
HBR

“Two Great Talks by Ken Robinson”
TED

“Beyond corporate social responsibility: Integrated external engagement”
John Browne and Robin Nuttall
The McKinsey Quarterly

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How to Manage the Information Avalanche

 

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

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Gone are the days of regular rhythms for reviewing performance, plans, and strategies.

Now, most leaders receive a constant stream of data about customers, operations, markets, competitors, and more. Here are three ways to handle the information free-for-all:

• Focus on a few key indicators. Don’t try to absorb everything. Pay attention to what matters and enables you to take action.

• Differentiate opinion from data. Don’t take one person’s word as truth. People may observe the same event and interpret it differently based on their own biases.

• Use information as a basis for dialogue. Take advantage of your team to help you sort through and interpret information. Ask for their thoughts on trends they see in the data stream.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Managing the Information Avalanche” by Ron Ashkenas.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.

Also, you may wish to check out Management Tips from Harvard Business Review by clicking here.

Simply Effective: A book review by Bob Morris

Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done
Ron Ashkenas
Harvard Business School Press (2009)

“Make it as simple as possible…but no simpler.” Albert Einstein

Ron Ashkenas is one of my intellectual heroes. I have read, reviewed, and highly-admire his countless HBR articles as well as his previous books, notably The Boundaryless Organization, The GE Work-Out, and Rapid Results, and thus was eager to read his latest which, he explains, “is meant as a resource for managers, consultants, and others who want to engage in [an] ongoing and never-ending quest [to] engage their colleagues in an ongoing dialogue about the sources of complexity and their implications, and experiment with different approaches until they figure out what works”…or at least what will probably work for them and their organization.

Others have their reasons for praising this book. Here are three of mine. First, Ashkenas follows Einstein’s admonition (quoted in the title of this review) by explaining how to complete the immensely difficult transition to what Oliver Wendell Holmes once characterized as “the other side of complexity.” For example, he provides Assessment 1-1 (Pages 21-25) so that his reader can complete a self-audit by which to determine the major sources of complexity in her or his organization. He also identifies the four sources of complexity (i.e. structure, products, processes, and management behavior) and the major complexity-traps and explains how to avoid or escape from them.

I also admire how skillfully Ashkenas inserts statements throughout his narrative from those who have extensive first-hand experience with simplicity initiatives. For example, here is what a former vice chairman of GE, Floyd Trotter, has to say about the thought process that can be built into an entire culture. “We teach managers that they need to start with the `answer,’ which is that their business needs double-digit earnings improvement every quarter and every year. They quickly realize that sales growth without leverage won’t do it. So they have to figure out how to drive growth while increasing productivity. We don’t complicate it: Material comes in the front door and products go out the back door. We have to get rid of any waste in the middle while also figuring out how to have the products or services be more valuable for our customers.”

Finally, I appreciate Ashkenas’ brilliant use of specificity rather than merely recycling aphorisms, bromides, and prescriptions. In Table 7-1, he provides a “Roadmap for simplicity” that specifies the causes of complexity and the approaches for increasing simplicity in four separate but interdependent areas: structural mitosis, product proliferation, process, evolution, and managerial behavior.

For individuals as well as for organizations, getting to “the other side of complexity” is a continuous process rather than achieving an ultimate objective. Ashkenas clearly agrees with Thomas Edison who once observed, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” For those who are results-driven, cutting through complexity never ends. Fortunately, he offers to them an abundance of insights, observations, and suggestions that can immediately be put to use.

I presume to conclude with two suggestions of my own: First, concentrate primarily on complexity that causes the most serious problems. When doing so, practice ruthless elimination of whatever is wasteful, redundant, obsolete, and/or irrelevant.

How to Prepare for Unintended Consequences

 

 

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

Unintended consequences are common in business. Well-meaning managers often implement new policies only to find that in addition to what they envisioned, they’ve also created problems. You can’t predict the future, but you can help mitigate the negative with these two steps:

1. Plan ahead as much as you can. Gather the people the change will impact and scenario plan to see what might happen, keeping in mind that there will always be something that surprises you later.

2. Test the waters. Conduct short, focused experiments to see how various parties will react, and use the results to rejigger your plan. You can’t eliminate all negative possibilities but you can get ready to deal with them.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Be Prepared for What You Don’t See Coming” by Ron Ashkenas.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.

Also, you may wish to check out the new book, Management Tips from Harvard Business Review, based on HBR’s Management Tip of the Day by clicking here.

Think About This Before You Reorganize

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

Managers love to reorganize, but few employees like being reorganized. Structural changes provoke anxiety and confusion.

Before you decide to redraw the org chart, consider these two issues:

1. What problem are you trying to solve? Are you trying to focus more on customers? Do you want to reduce costs? Has structure become overly complex? There might be good reasons, but before you leap into a reorganization, be clear on the goal.

2. Is reorganization the only solution? Reorganization might solve many problems but it’s rarely the only solution. Consider alternatives first, especially ones that entail less cost and risk.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Reorganizing? Think Again” by Ron Ashkenas.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.

Also, you may wish to check out the new book, Management Tips from Harvard Business Review, based on HBR’s Management Tip of the Day by clicking here.

 

The Types of Questions That Every Manager Should Ask

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

Asking the right questions is an essential skill of a great boss. Yet many fail to inquire enough.

Here are three types of questions you should be asking:

1. Questions about yourself. Good managers ask themselves and others about what they could do better. Ask in a way that invites constructive, candid responses.

2. Questions about plans and projects. These should both advance the work and develop the people. Tough and direct questions are OK, as long as they are in the interest of progress.

3. Questions about the organization. Look for ways that the organization can function more effectively by questioning practices, processes, and structures. Ask: Why do we do things this way? Is there a better approach?

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “The Art of Asking Questions” by Ron Ashkenas.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.

Also, to check out the new book Management Tips from Harvard Business Review, based on HBR’s Management Tip of the Day, please click here.

 

Encourage Push Back

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

Deference to authority is deeply engrained in most of us. As a leader you need to fight it in your direct reports.

If people automatically defer to your judgment, you may miss out on critical feedback. Make it easy for people to speak up, and remember to actively ask for their opinions.

1. When talking about projects give some initial thoughts, but then ask for help fleshing out ideas.

2. Recognize people who speak up and reward those who challenge you.

3. Most importantly, try not to react immediately if you start to feel threatened, or you risk shutting down
the discussion.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “The Dangers of Deference” by Ron Ashkenas.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.

 

 

 

 

The Art of Asking Questions

Ron Ashkenas

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Ron Ashkenas for the Harvard Business Review blog. To read the complete article, check out the wealth of free resources, and sign up for a subscription to HBR email alerts, please click here.

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How well do you ask questions?

From my experience, most managers don’t think about this issue. After all, you don’t usually find “the ability to ask questions” on any list of managerial competencies; nor is it an explicit part of the curriculum of business schools or executive education programs. But asking questions effectively is a major underlying part of a manager’s job — which suggests that it might be worth giving this skill a little more focus.

We’ve all experienced times when we’ve failed at being good questioners, perhaps without realizing it. For example, not long ago I sat in on a meeting where a project team was reviewing its progress with a senior executive sponsor. During the presentation it was clear from his body language that the executive was uncomfortable with the direction that the team was taking. As a result, without any realquestioning of the team, he deferred approval of the next steps until he could have a further discussion with the team leader. When he met with the team leader later, he ripped into him for allowing the team to go off-course. Eventually the team leader was able to explain the thinking behind the plan, convinced the executive that they would indeed achieve their objectives, and was given the go-ahead to proceed. But in the meantime the team had lost its momentum (and a week of productivity), and began to focus more on pleasing the sponsor rather than doing the project in the best way.

This is not an isolated incident. Many managers don’t know how to probe the thought process of their subordinates, colleagues, and bosses — and instead make assumptions about the basis of their actions. And when those assumptions are wrong, all sorts of dysfunctional patterns can be created. In a financial services firm, for example, a major product upgrade was delayed by months because the product and IT managers had different assumptions about what was to be delivered by when, and kept blaming each other for delays. When a third party finally helped them to ask the right questions, they were able to come up with a plan that satisfied both, and quickly produced incremental revenue for the product.

There are three areas where improved “questioning” can strengthen managerial effectiveness; and it might be worth considering how you can improve your skills in each one.

First is the ability to ask questions about yourself. All of us fall into unproductive habits, sometimes unconsciously. Good managers therefore are always asking themselves and others about what they could do better or differently. Finding the right time and approach for asking these questions in a way that invites constructive and candid responses is critical.

Second is the ability to ask questions about plans and projects. The examples mentioned above both fall into this category. The challenge with questioning projects is to do so in a way that not only advances the work, but that also builds relationships and helps the people involved to learn and develop. This doesn’t mean that your questions can’t be tough and direct, but the probing needs to be in the spirit of accelerating progress, illuminating unconscious assumptions and solving problems. This is in contrast to some managers who (perhaps out of their own insecurity) ask review questions either to prove that they are the smartest one in the room, or to make someone squirm. On the other hand, many of the best managers I’ve seen have an uncanny ability to engage in Socratic dialogue that helps people reach their own conclusions about what can be done to improve a plan or project, which of course leads to much more ownership and learning.

Finally, practice asking questions about the organization. Although usually unspoken, managers have an obligation to always look for ways that the organization as a whole can function more effectively. To do this, they need to ask questions about practices, processes, and structures: Why do we do things this way? Is there a better approach? Asking these questions in a way that does not trigger defensiveness and that is seen as constructive is an important skill for managers.

Most of us never think about how to frame our questions. Giving this process some explicit thought however might not only make you a better manager; it might also help others improve their inquiry skills as well.

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Ron Ashkenas is a managing partner of Schaffer Consulting and a co-author of The GE Work-Out and The Boundaryless Organization. His latest book is Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done.

 

The Boundaryless Organization: A book review by Bob Morris

The Boundaryless Organization: Breaking the Chains of Organization Structure, Revised and Updated
Ron Ashkenas, Dave Ulrich, Todd Jick, and Steve Kerr
Jossey-Bass/John Wiley & Sons (2002)

Yes and No

The title is a misnomer: Although the authors do indeed suggest how to “break through the chains of organizational structure”, they provide an enlightening explanation of four different types of boundaries (vertical, horizontal, external, and geographic) which give definition to any organization. They do not advocate the total elimination of these boundaries (which is impossible, anyway); rather, they suggest how to rearrange them so that an organization can thrive. For the authors, there is what they call “A New World Order”:

“In living organisms, membranes exist to give the organization shape and definition. They have sufficient structural strength to prevent the organism from dissolving into an amorphous mess….Like a living organism, the boundaryless organization also evolves and grows, and the placement of boundaries may shift….Because the boundaryless organization is a living continuum, not a fixed state, the ongoing management challenge is to find the right balance of boundaryless behavior, to determine how permeable to make boundaries, and where to place them.”

This brief excerpt from the first chapter correctly suggests the purpose of this remarkable book: To explain HOW to meet that challenge.

The material is presented within four parts plus a conclusion. The first explains how to achieve “free movement up and down” by crossing vertical boundaries; the second explains how to achieve “free movement side to side” by crossing horizontal boundaries; the third explains how to achieve “free movement along the value chain” by crossing external boundaries; and in the fourth part, they explain how to achieve “free global movement” by crossing geographic boundaries.” Then in the Conclusion, the authors discuss “Making It Happen: Leading Toward the Boundaryless Organization.”

The authors also include a series of six questionnaires. By completing each in sequence, the reader is able to determine (a) where her or his organization is now located relative to “the boundaryless paradigm”, and (b), what is needed to eliminate the “gap” between where it is now and where it should be. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read The Boundaryless Organization Field Guide. It contains a a hands-on set of diagnostic instruments as well as exercises and tools, and a disk with presentation slides in Powerpoint format.

I agree with the authors: The most restrictive organizational boundaries are in the minds of those within an organization. Organizational as well as personal wounds are usually self-inflicted.