Fix Problems, Not Blame When something is going wrong with a project or a product, it is tempting to find out who is at fault and blame them. There is even a holiday (the first Friday the 13th of the year) called Blame-Someone-Else Day. As you grew older and more mature, you learned that blaming […]
Looking for Trends Looking for trends is part of data analysis. If you look at your data and see something seriously harming your bottom line or an opportunity that needs to be grabbed immediately—you take action. Trends are subtler than data points you jump on right away. Trends are slight directional changes over time or
Fact Based Decision Making – Focus on the Vital Few If you collect data on many variables over any length of time, you may find yourself in the position of drowning in data and starving for information. As a manager and leader, you need to focus on the key data elements that will most directly affect
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In business and organizational management, facts require data to back them up—otherwise they are just opinions. Data is a tricky entity. To have decision-supporting data, you must be selective in what data you collect and disciplined in your analysis. We are all familiar with Mark Twain’s aphorism about statistics, “There are three kinds of lies:lies,
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In order to make informed decisions and assess the impact of your actions, you must collect meaningful data. You collect benchmarking information in the beginning, and then you collect the same metrics later as the process is being executed. This comparison allows you to measure if you are making a difference and if that difference
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Having and showing direction is like providing a roadmap to a destination. As a leader and manager, your task is to establish the desired goal (the destination) and the objectives that must be accomplished along a timeline to reach that state. You identify the direction the organization needs to follow based on data, insight, and
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Setting Expectations Setting expectations is a key responsibility of leaders and managers in all organizations. ” is responsibility includes setting the expectations for the organization as a whole, for departments within the organization, and for individuals within departments. Expectations must be clearly stated and shared using both written and oral communication. Some expectations are measurable
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Leading with Passion We reserve the word passion to describe those activities or products that we really believe in and want to share with others. When you are passionate about an activity, you do it for the sheer pleasure it gives you, and you want it (whatever it is) to be the best. You want
Introduction to Leading People Why is Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech considered one of the one hundred best speeches in American history? Because King provided his audience with a vision of the future and a clear set of expectations for what fulfilling the dream would mean to members of the audience, and
Jeff Bezos had a vision that the Internet would completely change brick-and-mortar-based retailing. Bill Gates believed that individuals would want to own personal computers. Muhammad Yunus believed that small amounts of money, carefully placed in developing countries, could change the world. These leaders had vision. So what is vision, and why should you care? Your