Jul 4, 2011 | Collaboration, Leadership
A great team is better than a team of greats, an oft quoted maxim, I suspect coming originally from Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay packers coach and cliché source. We pretty much accept this, but what happens when there is an exceptional person, is his performance enhanced by putting him/her in a team with mediocre but competent people? Is the team performance enhanced, or is it averaged out?
I can see Gary Kasparov alone beating a team of pretty good chess players easily, and putting Kasparov into a team of chess players, subjecting his brilliance to the consensus processes of a team being terminal to him making a brilliant contribution, averaging performance. By contrast, Benji Marshall makes the Wests team, without him, they are pretty average.
I think it just comes down to the activity, some things are best done by an individual, and only an individual can be brilliant, I don’t recall Hemmingway collaborating on any of his books.
So next time you are putting a team together to tackle a complex task, ask yourself if it would be better to assign a gifted individual, rather than a team, and if there is to be a team, ensure the roles are very clear to avoid the brilliant individual having his contribution averaged.
Jul 3, 2011 | Management, Personal Rant
I miss the mob
Derek Sivers has an oblique take on things, he seems to be able to see perspectives most of us miss. This short “I miss the mob” video should be shown to all who get confused about why things are done.
Jun 30, 2011 | Management, Strategy
Every strategy book and article I have ever read talks about “alignment” as the holy grail of effective strategy implementation, but rarely have I seen it articulated in simple terms that are easily communicated.
So here goes:
- Ensure there is an open, widely discussed, open to feedback process to articulate “where we are going”
- Ensure the individual performance evaluation process is linked to the “where are we going” question so that the individual, when answering the question “where am I going” sees his/her personal best interest is served by the organisation.
- Ensure there is some sort of recognition process in place, so that individuals outstanding performance in delivering towards the strategic priorities can be widely recognised. It is these stories that make up the fabric of the organisational culture.
- Ensure that continuous improvement is a natural part of everyone’s everyday activity.
- Ensure that leadership at every level is evident in the willingness to help others do better
- As above, except that every individual should be open to ways in which they can do better.
If all the above is happening, I’ll bet there is a great degree of alignment.
Jun 29, 2011 | Communication, Leadership
Presentations happen all the time, most are boring, usually because the presenter is talking about his favorite subject, “me, me, me” when the reality should be all about the audience, weather that be one person, or a thousand.
Successful presentations create in the audience a feeling of commitment and motivation, a recognition of shared vision, values, and purpose.
It follows that when a presenter comes across as a mentor, the impact will be greater.
Jun 27, 2011 | Branding, Innovation, Marketing
How often have you seen assumptions, either made in the early stages of a project, or as a result of a long association with a product category blinding people to alternatives, gradually become accepted as “fact”?
I have seen it often, as has everyone who ever sought to overturn the status quo, these “factoids” rear their ugly heads to stymie innovation.
Many years ago, when flavored milk was all packed in cartons that cost a few cents each, it was an accepted “factoid” that consumers would not pay extra for different packaging that added to the cost of the product. It was a “fact” that plastic bottles with a resealable screw cap that added 25 cents to the cost , for less product, held no attraction to consumers, a “fact” confirmed by market research. At the time, whilst pretty obvious that the research was flawed by asking consumers questions about something they had not seen, the institutional forces against any innovation were strong.
However, we launched a product, “Dare” flavored milk that delivered less product in a more expensive, more user friendly and attractive package, and consumers changed their behavior overnight, and the product was not only a success, but it changed the marketing landscape of flavored milk overnight, and 20 years later it is still on the market.
So much for the so called facts.
