Management Improvement Blog Carnival #189

The Curious Cat management blog carnival has been published since 2006. New posts are published twice a month. I also publish a collection management improvement articles on the Curious Cat Management Articles site.

• The Three Rules for Rules by Jon Miller – “If rules aren’t being followed, there is a reason. Proceed to the next rule [Rules must be frequently improved.] and rewrite an improved rule.”
• Those Disposable People by Kevin Meyer – “Believing that employees are purely a cost, not understanding that just because the value of employees is not explicitly stated on a P&L and balance sheet doesn’t mean that there is no offsetting value to the “cost,” is a faiure of management.”
• Why ThoughtWorks Eliminated Sales Commissions by John Hunter – “This is another instance of a technology company providing a well reasoned explanation for why they are better off without sales commissions.”
• Dealing With Complexity in Leadership by Linda Fisher Thornton – “The ability to think through complex problems clearly is an asset to individual leaders and to the organizations they serve. We need to find ways to help leaders develop this ability, and to do that, it helps to understand what it is that leaders with a high degree of thinking complexity do.”
• When it Comes to Improvement Sweat the Small Stuff by Tim McMahon – “A key component of continuous improvement is to show progress. It’s not about miracles or heroic solutions or solving massive problems overnight. It’s about building momentum. It’s showing your employees that you’re headed in the right direction. It’s making visible changes…”
• How to Survive a Sudden Promotion Into Leadership by Art Petty – “Create Risk-Free Opportunities for the Boss to Coach. Most managers have less than a clear idea how to support their first-time leaders. Just because his proactive coaching skills are lacking, you can deftly turn the tables by asking the right questions.”
• Cash is King by Bill Waddell – “The rate of inventory reduction – inventory turnover – is still, and always has been, the single best measure of manufacturing excellence. Although not perfect it is the single best way to assess the rate at which a company is pursuing Taiichi Ohno’s description of the Toyota Production System – ‘All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that time line by removing the non-value added wastes’.”
• What Does Respect for People Actually Mean? by John Hunter – “Respect for people requires managers to use judgement and provide enough coaching while not micro-managing. It requires giving employees room to grow while not using that as an excuse to just put them in situations beyond their ability to succeed. It requires a manager to challenge employees to improve and grow while supporting them and helping them when appropriate. Managing with respect requires balance and iteration. Managing with respect for people is “high-touch”; managers need to be in the gemba and know all the capabilities and strengths (and weaknesses) of their team.”