Clarity First: How Smart Leaders and Organizations Achieve Outstanding Performance

2018-03-02
Clarity First: How Smart Leaders and Organizations Achieve Outstanding Performance

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  • Author: Karen Martin
  • Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
  • ISBN: 125983736X
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 345

Award-winning business performance improvement and Lean management expert Karen Martin diagnoses a ubiquitous business management and leadership problem—the lack of clarity—and outlines specific actions to dramatically improve organizational performance. Through her global consulting projects, keynote speeches, and work with thousands of leaders, Karen has seen first-hand how a pervasive lack of clarity strangles business performance and erodes employee engagement. Ambiguity is the corporate default state, a condition so prevalent that “tolerance for ambiguity” has become a clichéd job requirement. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Clarity First, Karen provides methods and insights for achieving clarity to unleash potential, innovate at higher levels, and solve the problems that matter to deliver outstanding business results. Both a visionary road map and practical guide, this book will help leaders: •Identify and communicate the organization’s true purpose •Set achievable priorities •Deliver greater customer value through more efficient processes •Provide greater transparency about true versus assumed performance •Build strong problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities throughout the organization •Develop personal clarity to be a more direct, purposeful, and successful leader Eliminating ambiguity is the first step for leaders and organizations to achieve strategic goals. Learn how to gain the clarity needed to make better decisions, lead more effectively, and boost organizational performance. When it comes to leading an outstanding organization, every great leader needs Clarity First.

Clarity First: How Smart Leaders and Organizations Achieve Outstanding Performance

2018-03-02
Clarity First: How Smart Leaders and Organizations Achieve Outstanding Performance

PDF Clarity First: How Smart Leaders and Organizations Achieve Outstanding Performance Download

  • Author: Karen Martin
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
  • ISBN: 9781259837357
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 320

Award-winning business performance improvement and Lean management expert Karen Martin diagnoses a ubiquitous business management and leadership problem—the lack of clarity—and outlines specific actions to dramatically improve organizational performance. Through her global consulting projects, keynote speeches, and work with thousands of leaders, Karen has seen first-hand how a pervasive lack of clarity strangles business performance and erodes employee engagement. Ambiguity is the corporate default state, a condition so prevalent that “tolerance for ambiguity” has become a clichéd job requirement. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Clarity First, Karen provides methods and insights for achieving clarity to unleash potential, innovate at higher levels, and solve the problems that matter to deliver outstanding business results. Both a visionary road map and practical guide, this book will help leaders: •Identify and communicate the organization’s true purpose •Set achievable priorities •Deliver greater customer value through more efficient processes •Provide greater transparency about true versus assumed performance •Build strong problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities throughout the organization •Develop personal clarity to be a more direct, purposeful, and successful leader Eliminating ambiguity is the first step for leaders and organizations to achieve strategic goals. Learn how to gain the clarity needed to make better decisions, lead more effectively, and boost organizational performance. When it comes to leading an outstanding organization, every great leader needs Clarity First.

Metrics-Based Process Mapping

2012-10-22
Metrics-Based Process Mapping

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  • Author: Karen Martin
  • Publisher: CRC Press
  • ISBN: 1439886687
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 119

Metrics-Based Process Mapping (MBPM) is a tactical-level, visual mapping approach that enables improvement teams to make effective, data-based decisions regarding waste elimination and measure ongoing process performance. The mapping technique, often used to drill down from a value stream map, integrates the functional orientation of traditional swim-lane process maps with time and quality metrics that are essential for designing improved processes. Building on the success of its popular predecessor, Metrics-Based Process Mapping: An Excel-Based Solution, this book takes readers to the next level in understanding processes and process improvement. Included with the book is an interactive macro-driven Excel tool, which allows users to electronically capture their current and future state maps. The tool also audits the maps for completeness, summarizes the metrics, and auto-calculates the improvements. Improvements to this version include: Foundational content about processes—what they are and how they vary A description of the difference between value-stream and process-level maps New content about how to bridge the gap between your current state and your desired future state Tips for effective team formation and mapping facilitation An implementation plan for those using the mapping methodology as a standalone tool and not part of a Kaizen Event The Excel-based tool included on the accompanying CD provides readers with a user-friendly way to electronically archive manually created maps in team settings for easier storage and distribution across your entire organization. While current and future state MBPMs are initially created during team-based activities using butcher paper and post-its, the electronic maps serve as standard work documentation for the improved process, enabling training, communication, and process monitoring activities. This flexible, user-friendly tool includes: A custom toolbar that simplifies map creation and editing Automated calculation of key metrics An audit feature to prevent mapping errors The ability to simulate how improvements will impact staffing requirements System Requirements: The tool is intended for use on PCs using Excel 2003 or later—it will NOT function with earlier versions of Excel, or on Macintosh computers. View a demo of the Excel tool at: www.mbpmapping.com

Beyond Performance

2011-06-01
Beyond Performance

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  • Author: Scott Keller
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 1118097467
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 302

The secret of achieving and sustaining organizational excellence revealed In an ever-changing world where only a third of excellent organizations stay that way over the long term, and where even fewer are able to implement successful change programs, leaders are in need of big ideas and new tools to thrive. In Beyond Performance, McKinsey & Company's Scott Keller and Colin Price give you everything you need to build an organization that can execute in the short run and has the vitality to prosper over the long term. Drawing on the most exhaustive research effort of its kind on organizational effectiveness and change management, Keller and Price put hard science behind their big idea: that the health of an organization is equally as important as its performance. In the book's foreword, management guru Gary Hamel refers to this notion as "a new manifesto for thinking about organizations." The authors illustrate why copying management best practices from other companies is more dangerous than helpful Clearly explains how to determine the mutually reinforcing combination of management practices that best fits your organization's context Provides practical tools to achieve superior levels of performance and health through a staged change process: aspire, assess, architect, act, and advance. Among these are new techniques for dealing with those aspects of human behavior that are seemingly irrational (and therefore confound even the smartest leaders), yet entirely predictable Ultimately, building a healthy organization is an intangible asset that competitors copy at their peril and that enables you to skillfully adapt to and shape your environment faster than others—giving you the ultimate competitive advantage.

12 Disciplines of Leadership Excellence: How Leaders Achieve Sustainable High Performance

2013-04-19
12 Disciplines of Leadership Excellence: How Leaders Achieve Sustainable High Performance

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  • Author: Brian Tracy
  • Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
  • ISBN: 0071809473
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 225

Master the 12 disciplines of powerful leadership and lead your organization to greatness We've all heard the phrase "born leader." Leadership experts Brian Tracy and Dr. Peter Chee are here to debunk the myth that you either have it or you don't. That leadership is a talent bestowed on some and not on others. That in order to lead effectively, you have to have it in your genes. The authors assert that great leaders are made, not born. Everyone has the ability to shape himself or herself into the kind of person who enables and uplifts others to reach their highest potential--and in 12 Disciplines of Leadership Excellence, they reveal exactly how to achieve it. It all starts with discipline. In this groundbreaking book, the authors break down great leadership into 12 disciplines, including: Clarity . . . about who you are, where you are going, and how to get there Control . . . build and bolster your sense of personal responsibility and self-mastery Character . . . dedicate yourself to passionately build trust with honesty and integrity Competence . . . commit to constant never-ending improvement and learning Caring . . . because when you care, your people care in building great working relationships Courage . . . moving out of your comfort zone to embrace change and make tough decisions One at a time. Don't try to take on too much at once. Choose a discipline and live it until it becomes a habit of excellence. Then move to the next one. It will take time--but all life-improving endeavors do. Read this practical, inspirational guide and every day you will take one more step to becoming a highly effective leader.

Teaming

2012-03-20
Teaming

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  • Author: Amy C. Edmondson
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 1118216768
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 359

New breakthrough thinking in organizational learning, leadership, and change Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those organizations work. In most organizations, the work that produces value for customers is carried out by teams, and increasingly, by flexible team-like entities. The pace of change and the fluidity of most work structures means that it's not really about creating effective teams anymore, but instead about leading effective teaming. Teaming shows that organizations learn when the flexible, fluid collaborations they encompass are able to learn. The problem is teams, and other dynamic groups, don't learn naturally. Edmondson outlines the factors that prevent them from doing so, such as interpersonal fear, irrational beliefs about failure, groupthink, problematic power dynamics, and information hoarding. With Teaming, leaders can shape these factors by encouraging reflection, creating psychological safety, and overcoming defensive interpersonal dynamics that inhibit the sharing of ideas. Further, they can use practical management strategies to help organizations realize the benefits inherent in both success and failure. Presents a clear explanation of practical management concepts for increasing learning capability for business results Introduces a framework that clarifies how learning processes must be altered for different kinds of work Explains how Collaborative Learning works, and gives tips for how to do it well Includes case-study research on Intermountain healthcare, Prudential, GM, Toyota, IDEO, the IRS, and both Cincinnati and Minneapolis Children's Hospitals, among others Based on years of research, this book shows how leaders can make organizational learning happen by building teams that learn.

The Language of Leaders

2013-04-03
The Language of Leaders

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  • Author: Oh
  • Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers
  • ISBN: 0749468130
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 288

Inspiring communication can make the difference between poor performance and exceptional results. This is why CEOs and HR professionals now believe that the ability to understand, motivate and inspire others is the characteristic that is most important when recruiting senior leaders. Many leaders wrongly perceive they have to become inspired orators if they are to inspire others. Wrong. Language is a system of communication, so the issue is: what system should leaders use to inspire brilliant results? This is the question Kevin Murray answers in The Language of Leaders. Based on original interviews with an extraordinary list of more than 70 top leaders from a wide range of business and public sector organizations, this book provides a unique insight into how these leaders have responded to the demands of a transparent world. It reports on what they have learned and creates a lexicon for successful communication. The message from these leaders is resoundingly clear - communication is now one of the most crucial skills of leadership. Filled with actionable lessons and insights from leaders of high-profile organizations, The Language of Leaders is an invaluable book for anybody in a leadership position, or who aspires to lead.

Driving Excellence

2011-02-01
Driving Excellence

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  • Author: Mark Aesch
  • Publisher: Hachette Books
  • ISBN: 1401396461
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 277

Driving Excellence tells the inspiring story of one man who, with no formal business training, turned an entire industry on its head. Mark Aesch proves that we really can run government like a business, and provide value to taxpayers and shareholders alike. When Aesch took over the Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority in 2004, it was operating with a 27.7-million-dollar deficit, and was poised to raise fares, lay off employees, and slash service. Under Aesch's leadership, those deficits have been eradicated and replaced with multimillion-dollar surpluses; reliance on taxpayer subsidies has been reduced; demand for service has increased at rates three times the national average; and in an unprecedented move, the fare at the Authority's two largest subsidiaries were actually reduced. In Driving Excellence, Aesch shows readers how to create a culture built around selflessness rather than ego, and get employees invested in saving the company. In describing the transition from an ailing business to one that enjoys stunning success--lower fares, multi-million surpluses, and the highest ridership and customer satisfaction levels in twenty years--Aesch offers powerful principles that any organization can implement to achieve exceptional results.

Why Simple Wins

2016-10-13
Why Simple Wins

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  • Author: Lisa Bodell
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN: 1351817671
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 193

Imagine what you could do with the time you spend writing emails every day. Complexity is killing companies' ability to innovate and adapt, and simplicity is fast becoming the competitive advantage of our time. Why Simple Wins helps leaders and their teams move beyond the feelings of frustration and futility that come with so much unproductive work in today's corporate world to create a corporate culture where valuable, essential, meaningful work is the norm. By learning how to eliminate redundancies, communicate with clarity, and make simplification a habit, individuals and companies can begin to recognize which activities are time-sucks and which create lasting value. Lisa Bodell's simplification method has several unique principles: Simplification is a skill that's available to us all, yet very few leaders use it. Simplification is the right thing to do--for our customers, for our company, and for each other. Operating with simplification as our core business model will make it easier to be respectful of each other's time. Simplification drives culture, and culture in turn drives employee engagement, customer relations, and overall productivity. This book is inspired by Bodell's passion for eliminating barriers to innovation and productivity. In it, she explains why change and innovation are so hard to achieve--and it's not what you might expect. The reality is this: we spend our days drowning in mundane tasks like meetings, emails, and reports. These are often self-created complexities that prevent us from getting to the meaningful work that truly matters. Using simple stories and techniques, Why Simple Wins shows that by using simplicity as an operating principle, we can eliminate the busy work that puts a chokehold on us every day, and instead spend time on the work that we value.

The Advantage

2012-03-14
The Advantage

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  • Author: Patrick M. Lencioni
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 1118266102
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 253

There is a competitive advantage out there, arguably more powerful than any other. Is it superior strategy? Faster innovation? Smarter employees? No, New York Times best-selling author, Patrick Lencioni, argues that the seminal difference between successful companies and mediocre ones has little to do with what they know and how smart they are and more to do with how healthy they are. In this book, Lencioni brings together his vast experience and many of the themes cultivated in his other best-selling books and delivers a first: a cohesive and comprehensive exploration of the unique advantage organizational health provides. Simply put, an organization is healthy when it is whole, consistent and complete, when its management, operations and culture are unified. Healthy organizations outperform their counterparts, are free of politics and confusion and provide an environment where star performers never want to leave. Lencioni’s first non-fiction book provides leaders with a groundbreaking, approachable model for achieving organizational health—complete with stories, tips and anecdotes from his experiences consulting to some of the nation’s leading organizations. In this age of informational ubiquity and nano-second change, it is no longer enough to build a competitive advantage based on intelligence alone. The Advantage provides a foundational construct for conducting business in a new way—one that maximizes human potential and aligns the organization around a common set of principles.