Opportunities exist everywhere in organizations, because businesses are constantly changing in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways. We spend a lot of time observing organizations of all shapes and sizes, and it is truly fascinating to see how they operate.
Read More
Management behavior is a critical issue in organizations. However, the meaning of the term itself is often a little fuzzy.
Read More
We often say it’s tough to change management behavior. Universally, executives nod their heads in agreement. But when we all say it, what do we actually mean?
Read More
Observation #49 In the relatively early days of our company, a few partners took a high-speed driving course on an old Formula 1 race track just outside Montreal. The conversation over dinner
Read More
When we work for a company, we always do our due diligence upfront to pinpoint a specific improvement target for the project. Well, almost always…
Read More
Sometimes we do a study that we call the “Span of Control” analysis, where we look at how many subordinates report directly to each manager in an organization. It’s a more difficult study than it sounds, because the way organizational charts are drawn is not always how they really are.
Read More
Many industries experience “shoulder periods.” These are the time periods leading up to and away from the peak volumes. Figuring out how to manage these periods can be a difficult task for managers, but it’s also very important for realizing performance improvement gains.
Read More
Over the years, one of the things we’ve noticed is that each new manager tends to create new reports, for whatever purpose they have at the time. Old reports are not eliminated, so over time there are a mountain of available reports – and a mountain of performance indicators — in the system.
Read More
Growing sales volume with existing accounts is sometimes referred to as “increasing your share of wallet,” but it’s actually not a very good description — or even objective.
Read More
Pricing is the most powerful way to improve profit without the need for large-scale culture change. It is often said that a 1% improvement in price is worth a 10% improvement in productivity.
Read More
