Putting a value on training - McKinsey Quarterly

Training programs generate greater value for organizations when the curricula reflect key business performance metrics. Testing real-world outcomes is crucial,  claim Jenny Cermak and Monica McGurk, Principals in McKinsey's Atlanta Office. This article makes the point that very few training programmes offer any metrics on the value of the training and offers some very helpful tips.

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Need Speed? Slow Down - Harvard Business Review - Jocelyn R. Davis and Tom Atkinson

In business, there’s a speed gap: It’s the difference between how important a firm’s leaders say speed is to their competitive strategy and how fast the company actually moves. That gap is significant regardless of region, industry, company size, or strategic emphasis. Organizations fearful of losing their competitive advantage spend much time and many resources looking for ways to pick up the pace. Paradoxically, they should try slowing down instead. In our study of 343 businesses (conducted with the Economist Intelligence Unit), the companies that embraced initiatives and chose to go, go, go to try to gain an edge ended up with lower sales and operating profits than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on the right track. What’s more, the firms that “slowed down to speed up” improved their top and bottom lines, averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating profits over a three-year period. How did they defy the laws of business physics, taking more time than competitors yet performing better?

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24 Characteristics of Creative Organizations - Michelle James

1.  balance planning with improvising
2.  use the unknown as a resource (do not avoid it)
3.  creativity is a core value
4.  creativity is a organizational discipline; an ongoing process; a mindset
5.  time and attention are dedicated to “practicing” creative process until it 
     becomes embedded in the system
6.  flexible, limited organizational structures
     combined with intensive interaction
7.  room for exploration and discovery without judgment
8.  act upon intuition and “resonance” as well as logic
9.  employ real-time feedback loops and adapt accordingly
10.  mistakes and failures are seen as invitations to improve, grow or create
11.  hold organizational tension, cognitive dissonance and natural resistance
12.  engage paradox – engages opposing or differing “truths” and view points to without
       needing to boil them down to the lowest common denominator
13.  use diversity productively – uses differences to contribute to the creation of something new
14.  creativity can come from anywhere in the system in any direction
15.  use both linear and non-linear ways of thinking
16.  believe in their people; draws forth what is positive
17.  encourage the questioning of all assumptions
18.  informed by, but not limited to, what worked in the past
19.  not reliant on business buzz words; uses more authentic language
20.  excitement is not squelched – it is used to fuel creativity
21.  tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty
22.  use both divergent and convergent thinking; whole-brain approaches
23.  balance structure and “being organized” with flow and emergence
24.  value fun as part of the creative process

By Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence

What the Creative World Needs Now Is Organization

Our featured article for April from CHANGE THIS is by Scott Belsky

"Great execution starts with supreme organization. Ultimately, organization comes down to how you manage your energy. Contrary to popular belief, organization is not about “neatness,” it is about efficiency and allowing yourself to take action as swiftly as possible."

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Twyla’s Box: It’s Where Everything Goes

This post by Paul Harrill is a great take on what I’ve been saucily referring to as, “Twyla’s Box.” (Yes, again with the Twyla Tharp book.) I’m sharing it here, because in addition to delivering a thought-provoking slap at the self-abuse of productivity pr0n (“Certainly if you find yourself reading productivity book after productivity book you’re missing the point” [ouch]), it includes a canny synthesis of the overlap between (the best, non-fiddly parts of) GTD and those patterns that seem to help folks like Twyla Tharp to keep making for decades. Nice work, Paul. Loved this (and sorry for arriving so late to the party; I am now subscribed).

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