Work Signs - A Friday Funny

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 25, 2008 

Thanks to NoolMusic.com for their list of funny signs.
On a plumbers truck: ‘We repair what your husband fixed.’
On the trucks of a local plumbing company: ‘Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.’
Pizza shop slogan: ‘7 days without pizza makes one weak.’
At a tire shop in Milwaukee: ‘Invite us to your next blowout.’
Door of a [...]

Filed Under Employee Engagement, Requisite Organization, Strategy | 2 Comments

Are You Making Your Employees Choose? I’m OK. You’re OK. Let’s Fix the System

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 21, 2008 

The best thing we could do for employees to build engagement is simply get out of their way.  We have lived with conflicts of interest in the system for so long, they have disappeared into the landscape.  We simpy accept them, and no longer question their effects on our employees’ psyche or our business’ effectiveness.
Moving [...]

Filed Under Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Strategy, Talent Management | 9 Comments

Clueless Candidates - A Friday Funny

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 18, 2008 

Thanks goes to InBox Humor for its list of things not to say or do during an interview - as gathered from the real life experiences of hiring managers. I don’t like labels, but clueless just seems to fit here.  I’ve done interview preparation training, and I naively thought that some things just go without saying.  After reading this, I’ll have [...]

Filed Under Employee Engagement, Requisite Organization, Talent Management | Leave a Comment

Titles Are Useless for Benchmarking or Measurement Purposes

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 16, 2008 

From the Mailbag
I received an inquiry at the PeopleFit site asking about whether we had a database of role mandates by title - CEO, CFO, CIO, HR manager - available for subscription.  And the inquiry was coming from someone inside a global business consulting group.
Specifically, the request was for:  “Role mandates, describing individual and shared accountabilities, decision [...]

Filed Under Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Felt Fair Compensation, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Work Levels | 4 Comments

A Can Do Attitude - A Friday Funny

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 11, 2008 

Sometimes some managers take advantage of the line item on their direct report’s job descripition that reads:

Any other duty as deemed necessary by your manager.

Take two minutes to see what a can do attitude can get you.

What is the strangest thing you have been asked to do?  I was asked to help my boss clean up [...]

Filed Under Requisite Organization | Leave a Comment

Driving Ineffective Productivity

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 9, 2008 

The problem with blind ambition toward measuring performance is that systems drive behavior.  When cold calculations take the place of managerial judgments, the system is sending a message. 
“We don’t have time to look at the prevailing circumstances surrounding your work situation to judge whether your problem solving and decision making was effective, just make your [...]

Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Strategy, Talent Management | Leave a Comment

Models Drive Diagnosis and Cure - Are You Committing Organizational Malpractice?

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 7, 2008 

Last week, I listed ten requisite managerial leadership behaviors (below) from the Requisite Organization model. 
-Two way managerial teamworking
-Context setting
-Planning
-Task assignment
-Personal effectiveness appraisal of direct reports
-Merit review
-Coaching
-Selection and induction
-Deselection and dismissal
-Continuous improvement
Systems Drive Behavior - Check Here First
Assuming your leadership system is designed to elucidate, authorize, reinforce, control and audit these leadership expectations, what are your options [...]

Filed Under Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Requisite Organization, Talent Management, Work Levels | 2 Comments

July 4th Friday Freetime

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 4, 2008 

Today is Independence Day in the US. 
Went to the beach yesterday.  Fishing and fireworks today. 
I’ll catch back up with you next week.

Filed Under Requisite Organization | Leave a Comment

What Does Managerial Leadership Look Like? A Requisite Approach

By Michelle Malay Carter on July 2, 2008 

Elliott Jaques’ Requisite Organization model does a great job of defining a set managerial leadership behaviors which, within a Requisite Organization leadership framework, would become explicit accountabilities of all managers. 

Two way managerial teamworking
Context setting
Planning
Task assignment
Personal effectiveness appraisal of direct reports
Merit review
Coaching
Selection and induction
Deselection and dismissal
Continuous improvement

Simple?  Yes.  Practiced?  Maybe
These practices are simple on their face, but [...]

Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Strategy, Talent Management | 2 Comments

Why Perfect Candidates Still Fail on the Job

By Michelle Malay Carter on June 29, 2008 

Recruiting Effectiveness Metrics
I recently read a blogger proposing that recruiters should be measured not only by how many slots are filled or how quickly the slots are filled, but also by the first year’s performance of the candidates they place.  I agree that how many and how quickly will not tell the whole story, but neither [...]

Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Talent Management, Work Levels | 4 Comments

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