Executives have often confided to me that employees’ jobs are difficult enough without having to think of new products and services or better ways of doing their jobs. Besides, they cannot afford to have people lose their focus on this quarter’s numbers for next year’s innovation. But in a crisis, and certainly the COVID19 [...]
More than 50 percent of small US businesses and 90 percent of high tech start ups fail. But not all failures are equal. Some are catastrophic, while others smaller. More vitally, the catastrophic failures are often proceeded by smaller ones. Entrepreneurs and CEOs who direct resources to understanding why failures occur–as opposed to focusing [...]
Since Gallup began measuring employee engagement at the turn of the century, it hasn’t improved employee engagement much. It has helped companies realize the importance of empathetic and empowering leaders and collaborative team environments. But Gallup this month published a report that finally shows an increase in employee engagement scores. How it was achieved [...]
Executives who want to dramatically increase their success should implement Objectives with Key Results (OKRs). Research shows that executives who set such goals can significantly improve the performance of their organizations over telling employees to “just do their best.”[i] Moreover, OKRs allow organizations to change measures and tactics to adjust to today’s digital pace [...]
The issues of automation and digital transformation and how to create inclusive, transparent, and innovative cultures were some of the many topics discussed by CEOs, technologists, and human resources leaders last week in San Francisco at the Work Rebooted conference. Julie Douthart, biochemist and serial entrepreneur, is the founder, guiding light, and curator of Work Rebooted. The [...]
During annual workforce planning, Scott Ward, the President of Medtronic Vascular, used to say, “Hire us some more mavericks. They don’t always fit in, but we need them for innovation.” He defined mavericks as the technical people who were dedicated to solving the mysteries of the disease states we treated and the current shortcomings [...]
Many business leaders want more collaboration and innovation from their workers, but they often struggle with how to get it. Too often, they believe that a crisis, an open office environment, or a set of values will spur collaboration. They often can see progress, but their efforts fall short. Why? Collaboration requires a set of [...]
Artificial Intelligence is a buzz word these days, and many believe that companies are using AI to automate customer service, recruiting, store data, and perform other functions. However, the buzz has run into a buzz saw. After surveying thousands of executives about how their companies use and organize for artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, McKinsey [...]
Many executives we work with are frustrated in their efforts to improve the innovation of their companies. One of the problems? Middle management gets in the way of innovative employees by clinging to dominant leader styles. Our experience and the lessons of empirical research shows that middle management can be the key to a company [...]
Some 170 of the world’s largest companies (as measured by revenue), have a declining return on investment for their innovation projects, according to research. Why? Many companies under pressure to show that they can disrupt a market (or starve off disruption) are pursuing innovation haphazardly. Many of their investments end up being non-strategic, poorly linked [...]
