Toby Elwin, Three Stooges, hygiene, top blog, 2012

Top 10 blog posts for 2012, 10 to 6

  Closing out 2012, I look back at the year’s most viewed posts as a chance to reflect on different blogs topics of interest and what people most view.  Here as part one, 2012 top blogs, 10 to 6. Why were some viewed over others: topic, time-of-year, day-of-week? In descending order: 10. The 2 most important learning metrics — Quantify learning? It is a tall task, but one necessary for any professional who deserves a seat at the business table. Of course metrics to measure impact are important: money spent on training is money unavailable for another opportunity. If you had time with your CEO would you know the most important items on their wish list? No worries, the the ROI Institute and Chief Learning Officer magazine have a study recap I’ve referenced. As this post was originally written in 2010, looks like learning …

In review: Golden parachutes reward risk or moral hazard?

September 2010 in review. A roundup of blogs from the previous month: Golden parachutes reward risk or moral hazard? — No matter the solutions recently suggested, like England’s Cadbury and Hampel codes for public companies, America’s recent financial-reform act, or clawback clauses, there remains one conflict:  business ethics will never win over moral hazard. The bureaucrat and bureaucracy revisited — Organization that grow too quickly is risk in an ability to perform work in a repeatable consistent way.  As organizations grow, one-off solutions that may have been needed in the early days can now cripple an organization and increases risk to deliver quality goods and services at a good price.  Bureaucracy provides investors and customers accountability.  Bureaucracy is important to manage risk. What for-profits can learn from non-profits — The organizations that maximize efficiency of either are free to deliver great value to their …

Maslow, Hierarchy of Needs, Toby Elwin, blog

The key to innovation may be better employee hygiene

Today’s drive for continual innovation, as taught or written or sought or crowd sourced, has a lot to do with early pioneers in management theory. For example, why is hygiene important to innovation? Key to innovation: motivation, And motivation needs hygiene to succeed. The humanistic management school emphasizes, however strange it may sound, the human aspects of organizations. The humanistic school stands in direct contrast to the mechanistic views of people, jobs, and organizations. A distinct management theory split from mechanistic to the introduction of humanistic views is usually assigned around the mid-1940s, or just after World War II. Who Punted My Cheese We all know the saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.  By blowing some of the dust off first edition humanist theorists we might highlight where we’ve come, what we’ve forgotten, and what we …

Googled, End of the World As We Know It, Ken Auletta, book, Toby Elwin, blog

Googled: the cost of culture

What does culture really costs a company? Is it worth investing in culture or passively letting culture form, also known as luck-based leadership? What is the cost of culture, in profit or loss? I found this one company a great example: Maternity leave: 5 months full salary Paternity leave: 7 weeks full salary Plus new moms and dads are able to expense up to $500 for take-out meals during the first four weeks that they are home with their new baby. Free meals, free snacks, free physicians (on site), free medical care (on site), massage (on site), gyms (on site), trainers (on site). On-site hair cutting, car wash, oil change, day care, dog care, and dental care. And what does this cost? Well, the percentage of revenue these perks cost the company each year starting in 2005 are as follows: …

Viral marketing and Twitter gone right – the comment & the blog

On my last blog I received a comment I thought deserved a longer response than should be posted within the comment section. So, I decided to pick up the comment and carry it onto a new post. The blog comment david_becker: I disagree with this article as this is a “contest” and not a viral campaign. Before positioning himself as a expert I reccomend [sic] that the author should get some Marketing 101 lessons. My comment [now expanded]: David – thank you for the suggestion that Adecco sponsored a contest and not a viral campaign with their Labor Day offer. Earlier, as close as 5 years ago, marketing meant: tell a compelling story about a service or product. Meanwhile, public relations meant: get media to tell a story that includes your service, product, or company. I believe, contest or campaign, …

herzberg, factor, job satisfaction, Toby Elwin, blog

The bottom line: motivation

Your organization is only effective when they feel like it.  Have you coached your management and executive team on how to motivate people around your vision?  The company’s bottom line is motivation, their motivation, not yours. A leader holds managers accountable to understand, commit, and own a manager’s role to translate an enterprise vision to their team.  Your management’s ability to own their role and effectively translate that to their team is the break point for organization success or failure. Leaders inspire, leaders role their sleeves up to involve themselves in gauging the pulse of their organization, division, their department, their team.  Leaders sit with their talent to out how they can lead better.  Leaders lead.  Managers manage.  Both motivate. Start Here, End There The alpha and beta of motivation in the workplace is Frederick Herzberg’s Motivation to Work study, published in 1959.  This 180-page book should reside on every leaders Kindle, iPad, …