Herbert Simon

Decision makers can satisfice either by finding optimum solutions for a simplified world, or by finding satisfactory solutions for a more realistic world.

Sara Clemens

At large corporations, making decisions is often not a matter of getting somebody to say yes, it’s getting nobody to say no.

Sara Clemens

The key thing that leads people to feel like companies are slowing down is when decisions don’t get made, when there is an opportunity or an issue and it just drifts on. Not knowing who can make a decision is the curse of large organizations.

How To Make Better Decisions

Understanding how and why people think the way they do will help you with everything from customer service to evaluating mergers and strategic initiatives. Takeaways from a life of study.

Johan C. Aurik, Gillis Jonk

It has been proven time and again that single organizations cannot really maintain a focus on being extremely cost efficient, innovative, and customer centric simultaneously. Acknowledging this implies organizing in teams that are small enough to have a single core objective, which defines their culture and ways of working. 

It’s important to distinguish between:

  • Delivery teams. These manage specific assets and resources via focused organizational and leadership

[ Read more ]

Johan C. Aurik, Gillis Jonk

The last century of organization design can be summarized as a mostly incomplete struggle to escape the productivity stronghold and adapt to doing everything equally well, from imagining future demand opportunities to delivering optimum value—plus everything in between.

Johan C. Aurik, Gillis Jonk

Ronald Coase theorized that as transaction costs come down, so does the need for companies to keep all parts of their value chains in-house. Time has proven Coase right several times over: every company today not only outsources, insources, partners, platforms, co-brands, co-develops, co-innovates, and licenses like there is no tomorrow, every technology company and start-up aspires to provide its offerings on-demand or as-a-service.

As a result, … [ Read more ]

Your Strategy Needs a Story

Business strategy is usually born of a highly rational process, grounded in facts and analysis. Storytelling, often associated with fiction and entertainment, may seem like the antithesis of strategy. But the two are not incompatible. A clever strategy on paper is only the starting point for engaging those who will implement it. Strategies must also be communicated and understood — and they must motivate action. … [ Read more ]

Stairway to digital excellence

Organizations that follow a progression of steps to achieve excellence in digital delivery may see improvements in effectiveness, productivity, and performance, as well as significant increases in speed.

4 Common Types of Team Conflict — and How to Resolve Them

Managers spend 20% of their time on average managing team conflict. Over the past three decades, the authors have studied thousands of team conflicts around the world and have identified four common patterns of team conflict.

Ximena Vengoechea

It’s easy to assume that listening is merely about showing up and paying attention to the other person, but it’s also deeply tied to paying attention to ourselves. Being an effective listener is about building self-awareness around how you naturally show up in conversation.

Ximena Vengoechea

We often think of miscommunication as an issue with our own content or delivery — that if we could tweak the what or the how, our message would be more effective. But that perpetuates a dynamic where we view our counterparts as an audience, not as collaborators.

The Six Dimensions of Winning Teams

Teams with clear goals, values, rules, roles and processes, backed by full individual commitment, are primed for peak performance.

Lucy Pérez, Dame Vivian Hunt, Hamid Samandari, Robin Nuttall, Donatela Bellone

Forward-looking companies think carefully about communications—not just in terms of what resonates with investors, but with a range of stakeholders; and not just communications for the sake of announcing to others but in order to learn, become smarter, and improve as an organization. Employees are a key constituency and are invariably an important source of insight. Companies can also continuously improve by engaging through trade … [ Read more ]

3 Management Myths That Derail Startups

In their work with more than 10,000 startup leaders across 70 countries, the authors identify three common management myths among startup leaders looking to grow their companies: the myth of scaling without hierarchy, the myth of structural harmony, and the myth of sustained heroics.

The Illusion Of Alignment: Why Your Strategy Execution Is Failing

You may have communicated your must-win strategic goals ad nauseum, but without shared context—or the common understanding of what matters, why it matters and how the pieces fit together—your leadership team will be clueless.

Three Things All New Managers Should Be Doing

New managers typically receive no training for their new role. Wharton’s Peter Cappelli discusses three common struggles and how to avoid them.

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

Many companies are quick to reduce headcount when economic headwinds appear, but they risk weakening their businesses. A case study explores the hidden costs of layoffs.