Joe Espana's blog
How the call of the panic button back fires
Phil's comments about remembering not to panic in a down turn and working with clients in the financial services industry led me to think of the sometimes inevitable loss of people this means. The connection with leadership and organisational processes came to mind when I recalled some really ‘classic’ examples of how not to let people go last time we had a downturn.
Book Review: The Wisdom of Teams, Creating the high performance organization, by Jon Katzenbach
Most team development work focuses on teambuilding. But Jon Katzenbach and colleagues show in this book how commitment to performance goals and common purpose are more important to team success than team building. Very useful book for broadening your understanding of what makes teams work beyond the ‘one third’ of the equation that everyone else seems to focus on. Recommended by us here at Performance Equations .
How to lead in a downturn: a four-page pdf
I've added my latest quarterly newsletter to this 'Document Exchange' area of The Hub, in the hope it is of use to you. Its theme is how to strengthen your leadership in a downturn. As a lot of leaders are facing this situation at the moment - leading through more difficult trading conditions - I hope it is of use. Joe. PS Click on the headline, below, to download it.
Contents include:
Life Launch
My book has fallen to bits, I've thumbed through it that much. I'd like to recommend it to fellow hubbers, and the way I'd like to do it is by quoting (edited)the preface. Here goes.
"On August 23, 1943, when I was nine years old, I awakened in silent terror. I was unable to move any part of my body except my eyes. My muscles seemed frozen, and my voice was silenced. Although I had gone to bed as a walking, talking, wiggling boy, I woke up the next day paralyzed with polio.....
Change from The Top, and Kotter. Do the 8 steps work?
I am indebted to Phil this week for his thought provocation about John Kotters 8 step change framework. I have been involved in change for nearly 20 years and still consider myself a student (there is always so much more to learn). Phil's comment about Kotters model being too top down got me thinking about change in companies. I can see why the model can be seen as being heirarchical, but Phil's comment got me to step back and consider the bigger picture in organisations; revisiting some of the drivers for change and then the approaches to it.
