Art Petty on Management

In Search of the High Performance Project Team

I recently conducted a leadership workshop for a group of technical professionals at an industry conference, and as always, I walked away from the session with a couple of insights gained from the input of the participants.  One that surprised me was that after talking about characteristics of high performance project teams, I asked for a show of hands from anyone that had been a member of this type of team.  Only 5 out of 58 raised their hands.  Even discounting for the people that don't tend to respond to "showing of hands" requests, anything even close to the 10% range here seems abysmal.

How Healthy is Your Leadership Culture? Rate It Yourself and See or, "Rate it and Weep"

Chances are if you are like most of the business professionals that take the 10 question Leadership Culture Index below, your organization can use some improvement.  A lot of improvement.

I deliver this simple and I'm sure non-scientific survey (see author's note for origin) almost every time I'm in front of a group of managers and executives talking about leadership, and I'm still shocked by the scores.  I suppose I should quit being shocked by how abysmal many businesses are at identifying, developing and retaining leadership talent, but the optimist in me continues to believe that people are too smart to ignore this important issue.

Leadership and the Winning Environment

I never get tired of hearing stories from leaders about their winning teams in business or in high school athletics.  These stories are usually told by the leader or coach with parental pride about the remarkable success of a group of people that have figured out if they work together and in support of each other, great things can happen. 

More often than not, the leaders or coaches of these teams are quick to dismiss their own role in the success, quickly pointing to the individuals and their work habits, dedication and coordination.  While humility is admirable, the leaders that put together groups that regularly achieve and exceed goals deserve credit for helping create the environment where winning becomes a habit. (See also, The Seven Leadership Levers that Shape the Working Environment.)

From selecting and supporting the right people to caring enough to provide the tools, mentoring and constructive feedback, this leader, whether CEO, Shift Supervisor or High School Tennis Coach, is truly responsible for creating an environment that breeds success. Success as we know, tends to breed more success.  It's a wonderful, vicious cycle. 

Your Next Boss Might Just Be a 20-something Level 5 Guild Leader

This month's Harvard Business Review finally spoke to a long-standing question/concern that many of us in mid-career (read 40-something or older) have likely pondered: When will the generation that grew up on computers and video games learn to apply the unique skills gained through countless hours in front of a screen and on a keyboard for career and economic gain?  Of course, the dark side of this question is, has this younger generation evolved skills from all of that time clicking beyond those of the rest of us to gain a competitive advantage in the job market?  (Asked just a bit tongue in cheek.)

The answers to these compelling issues might just be hinted at in a fascinating article entitled Leadership's Online Labs by Bryon Reeves, Thomas W. Malone and Tony O'Driscoll in the May, 2008 issue of HBR.   

Values-Based Leadership: More of What I Learned at Matsushita

I've highlighted on occasion my pride in being an alumni member of one of the world's great organizations, Matsushita (now formally known as Panasonic).  I left in 1996 to continue my still-early career development, and like most other things in life, I figured out a number of years later what a remarkable and formative experience it truly was. 

While there are many memorable elements of my eight years working in and for this Japanese company, including a tremendous exposure to the country and people of Japan, I credit my experience here for opening my eyes to the power of establishing strong values as bedrock for leading and for managerial decision-making.

I reflected on the Basic Business Principles as the values are known at Matsushita, when I co-authored the Values for a future employer, and I reflect and draw upon them regularly as I teach sections on Values-Focused Leadership in workshops and classrooms.  A typical session will end with a majority of participants highlighting how they never understood until now how powerful the corporate values could be in strengthening their culture, driving performance and guiding behavior.  This is a valuable lesson to learn for all of us. 

Three Simple, Low Cost Ideas to Help Jump-Start Leadership Development

One of the most frequent questions that I get at seminars or workshops goes something like this:

"Art, I've read your leadership book, I've listened to you in the workshop and I understand how important it is for me to put time into the development of leaders on my team.  Where should I start?"

It's actually a great question, and one which some creative and conscientious leaders have offered me some great, low-cost, easy to implement ideas that I am happy to share with you. 

Marketers, Are Trade Shows Extinct Yet?

This post is certain to generate some controversy about a long-standing, big investment marketing tactic  that I believe is increasingly irrelevant.  At the worst, if you read this and at least think about scrutinizing your investment in this marketing approach, I've done my job. 

The thoughts were prompted by a recent article in BtoB magazine  entitled: "Exhibition industry sees growth slowing."  What a shocker.  And while the economy is identified as the primary culprit for this slowdown, I submit that this tactic is a carryover from another era when people gathered information and insights about prospective suppliers or service providers in a very different way, and when lead generation was more about trolling and interrupting than pinpointing. 

Planning to Recognize Failure-The Project Manager's Guide to Preventing Project Calamity

Every Project Manager with a few years of experience under his or her belt can likely recall at least one example of a major project that lived on long after the plug should have been pulled and the project canceled.  The best (or worst) examples are the ego-driven initiatives of top executives that can't let go for fear of losing face by admitting defeat. 

More than a few organizations have been taken to or pushed over the edge by these self-anointed visionaries bent on changing their corporate world with some grand project.  Once invested, they cannot let go, and if left unchecked, the results can be nothing short of disastrous for the organization.   

Staying Strong in the Middle While Your Company Is Falling Apart

I wrote a post a few months ago about how the best leaders and teams leverage economic downturns to strengthen their business.  Surviving an economic downturn is one thing, surviving while your company is in the process of slowly imploding offers a completely different set of challenges.  Especially if your vantage point is from the middle of the management ranks. 

The Carnival of Human Resources-A Great Content Source

The Carnival of Human Resources, Installment #32 is live today at the Maximize Possibility blog.  One click leads you to 27 great blog postings on all things people, leadership and business. Go ahead and check it out.  You will be glad that you did.   Thanks to Jake Flanagin for running my  post on "Strategy Bursts." It's in some great company with the featured bloggers.