Select Yourself
It’s probably a fair assumption that most of us want to be successful at work. We want to do well. If there’s a preferred group or favored clique that gets special things, we’d like to be in it. If there’s a little “club” of people who get all the best opportunities, we’d like to be […]
Making Bad Training Investments
Are you an ENTJ? Good for you! That’s the best MBTI personality type to have. You have leadership potential. You’re bound for the fast track. And those INTJ people? Well, they may have bad personalities, but they’re great on detail. They’ll make good clerical staff. If you know what I’m talking about, then you, too, […]
Mindlessness
You’re in a meeting. Maybe it’s useful, maybe it isn’t. But presumably, if you all could just focus for half an hour, you might reach some conclusions. That’s when the first cellphone rings. Someone stands up sheepishly, gives the universal “What are you gonna do?” gesture, and steps away from the meeting table. Not so […]
Wellbeing
Don’t shout it from the rooftops, but most managers and most employees in a workplace have good intentions. Really. And one of the commonest good intentions of bosses is to do what they can for employee wellbeing. So why does it so often go wrong? Why do good intentions end up as eye-rolling “teambuilding” sessions, […]
Perhaps it was easy to have a strong opinion if you were Ben Bradlee
The late, legendary journalist and seventies-era Washington Post editor was known for his muscular views on such things as journalistic independence, but by then he was already a legend – especially after the Watergate scandal broke in 1972. Some would say that it’s easier to express strong views when you’re the Managing Editor than when […]
When the Stick Has no Carrot
It’s time we got real about the Carrot and the Stick. All the management books tell us about “motivation”, as though it’s a transitive verb, as though it’s something I can “do” to you – or you to me. The only thing worse is “incentivization”, the idea that we can predicate the vision and dedication […]
If you don’t go fire-walking, you’re not a team player
So came the edict from the management of a large company, a brand known to everyone in America. And the luckless managers involved – well, they felt they had little choice. What are you gonna do – say no to the CEO and be branded as a wuss forever? The only people who were keen […]
The Government Did Something Good
In these days of criticizing our civil servants, we forget when they do something really terrific. Imagine, for a moment, the gargantuan size of our U.S. Government. Consider all the departments, agencies, divisions, sections and subsections – each trying to fulfill their own mission and all looking to buy just about every product and service […]
The End of HR
Not so long ago, the HR department was all-powerful. They were the deciders on hiring and firing, the people who had the ear of the CEO, and the final arbiters on what development activities you could and couldn’t do for your staff. That picture is changing quickly today, as the business line takes back control […]
Why the VA Will Never Get It
“If a lion could talk, we could not understand him”. – Ludwig Wittgenstein We all know that the VA is in trouble for gaming the system to hide long wait times for medical care while – in some cases – veterans may have died. Meanwhile, some people who gamed the system received performance bonuses. Outgoing […]