It’s not something we like to talk about, especially when we’re discussing organizational culture, but FEAR—of all shapes, sizes and sources—exists in the world, as well as hallowed halls of cubicles. Given that it does exist (we have far too many examples of it to deny), what should we do about it, if anything? On…
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The PMP certification examination is changing on 1 November 2015. If you have your PMP already, this may be a point of more casual interest. For those of you actively thinking of getting your PMP, you are going to want to pay more careful attention. What’s driving the change to the examination is a new…
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Most organizations want to deliver effective customer service. Far fewer organizations truly deliver on that promise. Delivering exceptional customer service is not an easy undertaking. It’s not something that can be required, demanded or even expected. It’s something that needs to be inspired and nurtured. More important—and more challenging—is getting everyone to embrace and commit…
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Uncertainty in projects is a fundamental reality. And yet the traditional tools of project management emphasize planning and control, assuming away many of the challenges and resignedly dealing with the rest as risks. Organizations still take on large and complex initiatives, one where there is no clear solution or well defined path to get there….
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Project management is all about planning and control. Plan the work, and work the plan. The problem is, this only works well when you know exactly what you are producing, and can fully define the process of getting there. While this is possible for many projects, it is not possible for all. This is not…
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Every change initiative, in every organization, regardless of scope, has something in common. A desire to improve something. It doesn’t matter if we’re installing a new inventory control system; implementing a new quality control process; or relocating an office. At the core, these are fundamentally the same tasks – we’re all trying to make something…
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This month our webinar will be a little different. But we don’t launch books every month, as a rule, so it seemed like a good idea. Mark Mullaly’s latest book, Exercising Agency, has just been published by Gower. This book takes on the challenge of translating his doctoral thesis into human-readable form. It also provides…
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When it was published in November 2014, Value Proposition Design became an instant bestseller. Value Proposition Design is focussed on ensuring that innovators build value into the products and services they design. The framework has been developed to provide innovators, entrepreneurs and designers with a structure and framework to design solutions that directly meet customer…
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One of the most prominent management buzz phrases is “Organizational Culture”, and given the difficulty most organizations encounter as they attempt to change their existing culture, or even as they try to define it, the word “Culture” would appear to have almost magically incomprehensible properties. Defined simplistically, “Organizational Culture” is a collection of specific behaviours…
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All of us have to present. Many of us, given the choice, would really rather not. Fear of speaking is one of the biggest phobias in North America; in fact, research participants have indicated they prefer to receive electric shocks than present in public. The inherent challenge, of course, is that if we fear something,…
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