Posts Tagged ‘strategy’

Tactics & Strategy: Do you know the difference?

Attaining true productivity can be an elusive process, and often when I look around at the methods people are using I see two distinct approaches: tactics, like motivation hacks, or overarching strategies, like applying the concept of minimalism to productivity.

But the best productivity systems use both approaches, with the strategy providing a framework for action and the tactics defining those actions. People often use the terms strategy and tactics… » Continue

February 22 2008 | By Joel | Tagged: planning, strategy, tactics | 6 comments»

What Are You Worried About?

Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. - Glenn Turner

We all worry. The same wonderful tools our brain uses to imagine new innovations and solve complex problems, also has a habit of looking for trouble - even when it may not exist.

Mid-terms, budget overruns, bug counts, first dates, performance anxiety - worry likes to stick its nose into every… » Continue

December 5 2006 | By Tony | Tagged: anxiety, performance, strategy, worry | 11 comments»

Granularity for students

People who think about hacking their lives and their work often speak of “granularity.” It’s a curious word. The online Oxford English Dictionary offers only “granular condition or quality” as a definition. A more helpful definition comes from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications: “The extent to which a larger entity is subdivided. For example, a yard broken into inches has finer granularity than a yard broken… » Continue

November 29 2006 | By Leon | Tagged: Productivity, strategy, task | 25 comments»

Change Here

After the election last week in the United States, change is a hot topic, but it isn’t political change that I have been thinking about recently. It’s how organizations and their leaders cope—or, more often, fail to cope too well—with the need for changes in business practices to promote growth and foster creativity.

It’s a truism to point out that no one can avoid change. It’s part of the reality in… » Continue

November 13 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: breakthrough, business-fundamentalism, change, civilized-work, corporate-culture, creativity, dignity, effectiveness, Hamburger-Management, happiness, improvement, lifebalance, Management, priorities, slow-leadership, strategy, thinking, thought, trust, work, work-life, work/life-balance, worklife, workplace | 1 comment»

Why We Should Put an End to “Hamburger Management”

Hamburger Management is a shoddy, debased version of real leadership that focuses on just three things: whatever demands least, can be used fastest, and costs least. It thrives wherever organizations seek to meet unrealistic targets with insufficient resources to maximize short-term profits. Indeed, Hamburger Management is short-term by nature, and will habitually sacrifice long-term advantage and value for the immediate gratification of bosses and investors.

To force people to work long… » Continue

November 6 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: accomplishment, anxiety, business-ethics, change, civilized-work, competition, creativity, effectiveness, Hamburger-Management, innovation, leadership, lifehacks, Management, manager, micro-management, organization, slow-leadership, strategy, stress, trust, value, work-life, work/life-balance, worklife, workplace | 3 comments»

Antidotes to Hamburger Management

I’ve been thinking and writing quite a lot this week about Hamburger Management: the type of management approach that is based on always doing whatever is quickest, simplest and (above all) cheapest. Hamburger Managers provide the kind of leadership that is best described as: “Never mind the quality, look how fast it goes and how cheap it is.” Sadly, this approach is being forced on a great many otherwise perfectly… » Continue

October 23 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: attitude, behavior, bestpractices, business-ethics, civilization, civilized-work, competition, decision-making, effectiveness, empowerment, engagement, expectations, guideline, Hamburger-Management, innovation, integrity, leadership, lifebalance, Management, meetings, organization, performance, priorities, prioritization, slow-leadership, strategy, stress, success, trust, work, work-life, work/life-balance | 4 comments»

Doubt, Conformity, and “Hamburger Management”

When you write an article on a topic, it’s traditional to start with the problem, explain the causes next, then move into offering a solution. On the Slow Leadership site this week, I took things more or less in the opposite order, starting on Monday with part of the solution, giving my views on the reasons for the problem mid-week, and finally explaining the problem itself on Friday. This… » Continue

October 16 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: business-ethics, business-fundamentalism, civilized-work, doubt, Hamburger-Management, lifebalance, Management, office-politics, performance, slow-leadership, strategy, success, timemanagement, work, work-life, work/life-balance | 3 comments»

Heresy and Progress

We live in world full of pressures to conform: to believe what others tell us is true, to toe the line, to accept the values of those in positions of power, and to follow conventional, approved paths. That’s the way to get on in life and business, we are told. You need to fit in, play the game, and avoid rocking any boats.

Fitting in and following generally accepted views on… » Continue

October 9 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: accomplishment, achievement, career, civilized-work, consumption, creativity, decision-making, delegation, economics, enjoyment, freedom, happiness, kathy+sierra, leadership, lifebalance, Lifehack, Lifestyle, Management, micro-management, Money, priorities, prioritization, slow-leadership, spending, strategy, stress, success, time, work-life, work/life-balance, worklife | 1 comment»

Creating Hardworking Idiots

The German World War II general Erich von Manstein is said to have categorized his officers into four types. The first type, he said, is lazy and stupid. His advice was to leave them alone because they don’t do any harm. The second type is hard-working and clever. He said that they make great officers because they ensure everything runs smoothly. The third group is composed of hardworking idiots. Von… » Continue

October 2 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: business, business-ethics, business-fundamentalism, civilized-work, effectiveness, leadership, Management, micro-management, priorities, prioritization, slow-leadership, strategy, work, work-life, working, worklife | 22 comments»

The Onward March of Folly

Despite all of mankind’s technological progress, some patterns seem rooted in human behavior. One of these is the tendency to grab for short-term gains and ignore the longer-term consequences, even when those are almost entirely predictable.

This attitude has been illustrated this week by the announcement from the Ford Motor Company of still more lay-offs, plant closures, and buy-outs of workers’ contracts. For years, Ford’s cars have been becoming less popular… » Continue

September 18 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: burnout, business-ethics, business-fundamentalism, civilized-work, ethics, Management, mission, performance, priorities, Productivity, slow-leadership, strategy, stress, work, work-life | 3 comments»

Speed, Accidents, and Anxiety

You’re driving along the freeway. The traffic is heavy and the weather is bad; there’s water on the road and occasional patches of ice. You’re already late for an appointment and you’re worrying that your boss is going to find out and get mad at you, so you’re driving way too fast for the conditions. Everyone else seems to be in a hurry too. Your hands are gripping the wheel… » Continue

September 4 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: anxiety, business-fundamentalism, discontentment, fear, insanity, leadership, lifebalance, Lifestyle, living, Management, motivation, organization, overwork, slow-leadership, speed, strategy, stress, work-life, work/life-balance, workflow, working, worklife, worrying | 2 comments»

POP² Management

Remember “management by objective?”

In the early years of my own management career, management by objective was the single-minded battle cry for business. It was a time when we took certain things for granted, like the hard work ethic of our staff; with few exceptions, dependability and reliability was pretty much a workplace-entry given.

Little wonder that most of our efforts were directed toward process improvement, with the Total Quality Management movement… » Continue

August 10 2006 | By Rosa | Tagged: acronyms, focus, objective, people, POP², process, purpose, strategy | 8 comments»

Don’t Just Add, Replace. Own the 100%

Here’s a sample snippet of a coaching conversation I have often had with executives. To set the scene for you, it usually happens after we’ve discussed a project or strategic initiative and its value alignment for their organization.
Exec: “This is terrific; I can see how it will make a big difference for us. I’m anxious to get started; we could probably introduce the plan at our next staff meeting.”… » Continue

July 20 2006 | By Rosa | Tagged: balance, bestpractices, capacity, effectiveness, feasibility, Productivity, strategy | 4 comments»