Redefining Corporate Functions to Better Support Strategy and Growth
Striking the right balance between decentralized functions and centralized control starts with addressing the needs of business units.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Why Employee Wellness Programs Don’t Work
Many companies have employee wellness programs with the goal of reducing the skyrocketing costs of health care for their workers. But there is little evidence that these programs are effective.
Wharton management professors Iwan Barankay and Peter Cappelli suggest that instead of free gym memberships or yoga classes, companies should try to meet the most vulnerable workers where they are by offering … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
A Transactional Approach to Power
Focusing on resources, not people, can help leaders avoid power’s worst pitfalls.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
How to Improve Your Time Management Skills
If one of your goals is to improve your time management skills, then Wharton management professor Michael Parke can help. He’s the co-author of a study that looks at two specific types of daily planning for employees. It turns out there’s no perfect solution — the best type depends on your work environment and the kind of day that you’re having.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
How Companies Can Improve Employee Engagement Right Now
Managers must take proactive steps to increase employee engagement, or risk losing their workforce. Engaged employees perform better, experience less burnout, and stay in organizations longer. The authors created this Employee Engagement Checklist: a distilled, research-based resource that practitioners can execute on during this critical period of renewed uncertainty. Use this checklist to boost employee engagement by helping them connect what they do to what … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
The Real Value of Middle Managers
Middle managers have long had reputations as ineffective or weak supervisors. But research shows that, in fact, they’re often the people that make an organization run smoothly between hierarchies. Especially today, as companies become more reliant on virtual modes of management and communication, investing in these managers as “connecting leaders” is vital. To do so, focus on four key types of connecting leaders and their … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Falling Flat: Why Startups Need Hierarchical Structure
Wharton management professor Saerom (Ronnie) Lee has a word of warning for aspiring entrepreneurs who envision an egalitarian workplace where there are no bosses and every employee ranks the same.
According to his latest research, startups with flat organizational structures often fail.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
The Ultimate Guide to Running Executive Meetings — 25 Tips from Top Startup Leaders
Great meetings don’t just happen, they’re meticulously crafted. At its best, an executive meeting strengthens the bonds of your leadership team, surfaces mission-critical problems facing the business, and carves out plans for the future. But as you wade into the executive meeting waters, there are waves that can toss you around.
The executive team’s time is worth a lot, so it’s a shame to waste it. … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
The Four Fs of Employee Experience
These simple principles, based on the empathetic, iterative practice of design thinking, can help you help your people perform to their fullest potential.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Five Ways to Avoid the Pitfalls of Binary Decisions
Before you decide, check how the question is framed to ensure you have all the information you need and have considered all your options.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Mission, Metrics, or Somewhere in Between: Where Exactly Does the Purpose Gap Begin?
Over the past 10 years or so, “purpose” has become something of an organizational watchword. It’s everywhere—not least in the mission statements and brand identities of most major corporations. And in this era of stakeholder capitalism and pandemic soul-searching, purpose has evolved into a leadership imperative, a signal to those demanding action that the company can do business with this business, because it shares some … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
What Pirates Can Teach Us About Leadership
Despite his reputation for ruthlessness, Blackbeard ran a surprisingly progressive and equitable ship. Francesca Gino highlights three lessons for today’s leaders from the golden age of piracy.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
A New Role for Business Leaders: Moral Integrator
With stakeholders and shareholders vying for attention, CEOs need to develop a new kind of ethical leadership to build trust in society and deliver results.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
How many people are really needed in a transformation?
Deciding how many employees to involve in an organization’s transformation shouldn’t be a guessing game. New research can help.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Class Takeaways: The Frinky Science of the Human Mind
Five lessons in five minutes — how to build emotional connections that back up your decisions.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Quick! Do you know your company’s values?
Some companies’ lists of principles are short enough to be easily remembered, while others have more than a dozen entries. Maybe some editing is in order.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
The Manager’s Role in Employee Well-Being
Employee well-being and performance go hand in hand.
Gallup finds that workers who are thriving in all five elements of well-being (purpose, social, financial, community, physical) miss less work, have higher customer ratings, solve problems more readily and adapt to change more quickly than employees who are only thriving in one element. Employees with high well-being in all five elements also save their companies money in … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
How to Measure Inclusion in the Workplace
In an era where companies are paying more and more attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), inclusion remains the most difficult metric to track. From new research, Gartner developed the Gartner Inclusion Index to measure what true inclusion looks like across an organization. The authors outline how to use the Gartner Inclusion Index to measure employee perceptions of inclusion, what effective action looks like … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Unapologetically DEI: Designing Equity and Inclusion Into the New Era of Work
As a new era of work emerges in a post-pandemic world, leaders must take proactive action to avoid undoing decades of progress toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior
Becoming a Leader of Conscience
As executives are called upon to hit a broader range of ESG targets, they will need better ways to manage ethical dilemmas. Enter G. Richard Shell’s CLIP framework.
Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: “McKinsey Quarterly” | Subject: Organizational Behavior