Internal Teams

Navigating Strategic Change Amid Uncertainty

Agility has become a requisite for success, particularly in the manufacturing industry. Supply chain disruptions, demand fluctuations, and external pressures like tariffs and geopolitical risk have created a confluence of disruptive forces that require companies to course correct on an increasingly regular basis. The uncertainty created by these forces spans across industries, confirming that in our rapidly evolving global business environment, the only constant is change.

Implementing Strategy: The Roles That Drive Organizational Resilience

When asked to do things differently, employees and managers often resist change. Managerial resistance stems from many factors, including the fear of the unknown, concern about losing control, or it can be based on previous negative experiences. Here’s how you can spot and address resistance in your managerial team when implementing large organizational change.

The Problem Behind the Problem: The Human Factor

Peter Follows and Dan Lee discuss that effective problem-solving requires a strategic, empathetic approach that accounts for human behavior, continuous improvement, and the inevitable challenges of change.

The Results Equation: Integrating Process, Performance, and People

Problems often surface at the manager and employee levels.

The misconception about employee empowerment

Lesson Learned #48 It's not as popular in management discussions as it once was, but every so often we hear ...

It’s easy to lose sight of the purpose

The backstory on 52 Maxims was that we worked for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. for a number of years; during that time were introduced to their concept known as “The Basics” that consisted of 18 fundamentals of service, which they used as daily reminders for their staff.

The problem with industry experts

Lesson Learned #30 American psychologist Abraham Maslow was reportedly an optimist, famous for his hierarchy of ...

Too many good ideas

Lesson Learned #24 Here's a joke we often hear: Consultants take your watch, tell you what time it is, and then ...

Addition is easier than subtraction

Lesson Learned #31 It’s a lot easier to add cost when times are good than it is to reduce cost when times are ...

Actually, you do need to reinvent the wheel

Despite the apparent wisdom of not trying to reinvent the wheel, we've actually learned over the years that it is vital for most businesses to do exactly that.

Operations needs to own the project

Many companies have corporate improvement teams of one kind or another, such as quality or Lean or Six Sigma or some combination. And sometimes they bring in outside consultants to serve a similar role.