Following post on “The need for better decisions – why now?”
“I completely agree with everything you said about the urgency we all should feel in regard to improving the quality of our decisions. But how do I convince the people I’m working with that something should be done about this issue? What can I offer them as an incentive to try improving their decision-making skills? ” Continue reading
My previous posts about the costs of our mistakes lead to a discussion about the awareness of our colleagues in regard to the importance of the subject. After all, it seems clear to anyone who has some actual experience with management that there always be mistakes and therefore – the risks associated with them. Even more than that, the actual situation of the market today doesn’t suggest any tangible improvement being made in this regard, so is the need for better decisions really understood by today’s Managers or is this just an illusion? Continue reading
Last week we discussed the first two Managers’ Mistakes No One Talks About, now let’s continue with the remaining three.
Managers should beware of doing something like: Continue reading
In my previous post I mentioned that the issue of mistakes, especially in the field of Management, has become pretty popular recently. There are many sources, both written and online, where you can find more or less comprehensive lists of “mistakes managers make”, altogether with some recommendations about how to avoid them. Continue reading
Lately we hear a lot about all kinds of mistakes made by people around us: investment mistakes, foreign policy mistakes, personal relationships mistakes and so on. In many cases we find it very easy to identify ourselves with the heroes of the story because we made similar mistakes or were about to make them. Nevertheless, why did the subject of making mistakes become so popular? Continue reading
There are several terms not so pleasant to our ears that seem to dominate the news lately, terms like sequestration, spending cuts and most of all – austerity. The abundance of these subtractive terms in the media may well mean that they pretty much define the current situation, and we, as Managers, will need to adjust to function in this situation, because it’s unlikely to dissolve quickly.
Let’s try to understand what Austerity means from Management perspective and what tips we may use to lead our teams successfully despite the harsh environment. Continue reading
When I’m asked to provide consulting services not inside our familiar corporate environment, but to small businesses and start-ups, I frequently find myself in a somewhat awkward position. You see, many business owners do not see themselves as managers.
As many people who start their businesses today have actually left the corporate environment to seek independence, it seems that severing all ties with their previous life is more important to them than the success of their business. Continue reading
There are few people on the market today who don’t understand the importance of basing your decisions on solid data. Big Data and methods of its management and utilization are the talk of the town. Companies are building complex “client models” based on statistical analysis of client profiles; recruiters systematically analyze their pools of specialists in order to provide the best possible match for every position; and presentations during corporate meetings are full with tables and graphs.
However, does this make our decisions any better? Continue reading
It sometimes amazes me how much energy, time and resources are being wasted on unnecessary conflicts. Projects are delayed because the stakeholders are not speaking to one another, e-mails are left unanswered because “how dare they?!”, critical information is withheld in a vain hope to reach some relative advantage, but in the end – everyone loses when company begins to lay-off people it cannot employ anymore. So today I’d like to talk about how we deal with conflicts and about the pitfalls that are awaiting us in this complex task. Continue reading
I’ve already mentioned how Planning in Management is influenced by concepts devised in the Military. It’s natural, therefore, that today we usually divide Planning into three analytical levels with a strong military flavor: Operational, Tactical and Strategic (a clear example of a classical proverb that in the Military everything consists of three parts :-)). Continue reading
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