This video discusses organizational culture - I don’t love it because it’s too cheesy-motivational to me.
https://youtu.be/neDFJlUCXR8
One think I do like about the video is that it provides some solid ways to change organizational culture. By providing a solid definition (even if it’s not the one I’d choose), the video is able to specify how to move the needle against that decision:
clarify embody celebrate Determine what behaviors will be rewarded or corrected in your organization, and clarify that to the entire team.…
I’m sitting in the Leader Development Course from Air University - distance learning. One of the stories I heard this morning has the crux - the commander needs to walk a line between being too involved and not being involved. The story involved the former commander trying to show he cared by being there when new members arrived, by sitting with folks as they did work, and by visiting them when they were out in the field.…
I’m listening to a webinar Air University is putting on called “Managing Traumatic Transitions” with Dr. Allen. She is actually talking about managing any type of transition, because all kinds of transition are traumatic to people.
She asked:
How many of us consider how individuals will grieve when we introduce change?
It’s clear that some people do better with change than other people. Any type of change. But grieving?
Other sources agree, ‘change at work can trigger loss and grief’
I recently saw a quote from an old boss of mine. The full paragraph is below, placing it in context, but the part that seems notable (pointed out by a friend of mine) is the, “it is important for a leader to … not limit the potential of those they serve.”
The command sets the tone/culture – which is difficult to quantify. I believe the best culture allows decision capability to those “closest to the fight,” while still maintaining a sense of responsibility should a problem arise.…
This morning I finished Planet Money’s Episode 963: 13,000 Economists. 1 Question.. These fine folks make one of my favorite podcasts - each week is a different look at something weird from a weird perspective. It sounds like it’s very market/economy focused, but it’s really focused on everything economics. In the past decades economics has branched out to look at nearly every field of human endeavor with a mathematical eye. It’s not always very successful, but the economist perspective does make me look at things differently.…
Idaho National Labs has a program right now called “CO-STAR”. Their researchers do great work, but as with any research group they are constantly advocating for funding, and researchers are constantly advocating among themselves for time.
Everybody spends time advocating for something. “Pitching” something. You want your boss to consider a smarter way of working, one that you’ve come up with? You pitch it to her. You want someone to use an open-source project you’ve created?…
A recent episode of the Freakonomics podcast covered meetings. Two or more people gathering to accomplish the business of business, as they defined it. It gave me some things I hope I remember the next time I’m organizing a recurring staff meeting…
Organize an agenda around questions-to-answer Hold smaller meetings Keep track and time Meetings need agendas, just about every book I’ve read which touches on meetings agrees on this point.…
To improve innovation on a team, consider building a team differently based on the problem you’re facing. There are many ways of categorizing a problem your team must solve, but one is along the axis of well-definedness.
Well-defined problems – here, you know what you’re trying to solve, you know what end-state your audience will find acceptable, maybe you’ve seen similar problems solved elsewhere or you even know some current acceptable solutions.…
Everybody has a strength. Probably more than one. We are better-employed when we use our strengths. When possible, improving your weaknesses can make you a more effective individual… But we already possess our strengths and can put them to work now.
Build on My Strengths and on My Peoples’ Strengths
Know your peoples’ strengths and put those strengths to work. Build teams with a diversity of strengths. When a task lines up with an individual’s strengths, put them on that task.…
When I was flight commander, supervising a group of fellow nerds with nerd jobs, I spent almost all of my time on the administrative requirements. They needed me to do the boss stuff - that was my official position!
I really wanted to do the nerd stuff though. It’s more fun, it’s my strength, and I’ve got more experience with it… I’ll admit that as the boss I had input into many nerdy problems, and having that was rewarding.…
