Changing Tools for Changing Times

With changing economic times comes the need to provide tools that are flexible to change along with them. Many organizational tools that were designed for yesterday’s performance standards and not proving flexible enough to be effective for today’s market conditions.
For instance, competency-based performance management systems are proving to be too rigid for these current changing [...]

Wrong Way Leadership

People make mistakes. Companies make mistakes. Some mistakes are easier to overcome than others. Here is a lesson on how not to make mistakes:
On February 23rd of this year, troubled computer chip maker Spansion layed off (actually a more correct term would be “fired”) 3000 employees.  Just like that.  No notice, no severance, no outplacement, no [...]

Hierarchy of Organizational Needs – Continued (3 of 3)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid – 1943.

Hierarchy of Organizational Needs (HON) Segment 3 of 3.
See Segment 1 Segment 2
Maslow’s Pyramid – Continued (3 of 3)
It may be evident by now that, beyond Level 2, organizational culture plays a vital role in an organization’s position in the Hierarchy of Organizational Needs (HON) model.  It may also be [...]

Hierarchy of Organizational Needs – Continued (2 of 3)

Hierarchy of Organizational Needs (HON) Segment 2 of 3.
See Segment 1 Segment 3
HON Pyramid – Continued (2 of 3)
Level 3 – RELATIONSHIP BUILDING:
Organizations operating at this level in 2009 have not taken much of a financial hit and are operating reasonably close to normal, even anticipating the possibility of growth for the year.  Since the attention [...]

Leadership & the Hierarchy of Organizational Needs (1 of 3)

Hierarchy of Organizational Needs (HON) Segment 1 of 3.
See Segment 2 Segment 3

One way of examining your organization’s current condition and what is motivating you as a leader, is with the Hierarchy of Organizational Needs (HON).
Leaning on Abraham Maslow’s well-regarded model of human needs, we can look at organizational needs in a very similar way.  [...]