Talent Management – Page 11 – www.exkalibur.com

After Action Reviews = Successful Execution

In an article entitled Five Ways Pixar Makes Better Decisions, Tom Davenport, a Babson College professor, refers to what I call “after action reviews” as a critical element of the creative decision-making used at Pixar.

In my earlier post, Powerful After Action Reviews, you can learn more about this concept, built and nurtured by the US Army.

Pixar uses the concept of “Dailies”

For Pixar, Davenport reminds us how movie makers use “dailies” to review their work in progress, showing movies to other filmmakers every few month to solicit critical insights that often make the movies better.

Nothing we couldn’t accomplish with a Daily Huddle, right? (more…)

Night Owl or Early Bird?

Early birds - those of you who get up early - tend to be more proactive, more successful in business ... while the night owls ... that's me ... have been shown to be smarter, more creative, funnier and more outgoing ... not so bad, huh? HBR recently published some…

Change is exhausting!

Many of us accept that the only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. Our world is buffeted on all sides by change … kids grow up, technology abounds, friends move away, the list is endless.
Dan Heath at Fast Company describes a recent experience with subjects who were offered either chocolate chip cookies … or radishes. (If you’ve even been cut from a sports team, you’ll know how the radishes felt!). You can also see a short video there explaining the experiment. (more…)

It’s not the person

Fast Company recently carried a brief piece which described how what appears to be a personal shortcoming may obfuscate a problem situation. In psychology, they call it the Fundamental Attribution Error but the example they used is particularly poignant for many situations we've all seen.Have you experienced situations that seemed…

Any control freaks out there?

Those of you who are willing to admit … or deserving … of wearing this crown have probably stumbled down the staircase more than once trying to exert your control over every fiber of the carpet beneath your feet.
Researchers have found that when test subjects are even subliminally exposed to the name of a person they believe is “controlling”, they unconsciously do the OPPOSITE of hard work. It seems that people value their freedom “so much so that even an unconscious memory of a controlling person stimulates a behavioral reaction.”
Combine this with The Productivity Paradox and the work done at Sony Pictures to focus more on employee energy management rather than time management, (more…)

No Jerks Allowed!

Many of you have seen articles about this general theme recently – in part a function of "The No A**hole Rule" published last year by Dr. Robert Sutton of Stanford University. Lars Dalgaard, President of Success Factors, a company with whom I have an affiliate relationship, spoke recently about his…

People are still – and will always be #1.

Many of you are familiar with my interest in the Corner Office articles appearing in the New York Times on a regular basis. These articles, by Adam Bryant, focus on varying approaches taken by CEOs to lead their organizations.
A recent interview with Fuse founder, Bill Carter, reminds me of two critical variables that are easily lost in our haste to always move to the next issue. First, above all, having the best people is the only antidote to business mediocrity. I’ve said it time and again, and virtually everyone knows this deep down (but very few put it into practice) … that the organization that excels identifies the best people, makes certain they are properly rewarded, and never stops looking for top talent. (more…)

A little sleepy? Start at your desk!

Have I given you anything yet for Christmas, or maybe to celebrate the New Year? Well, I have now. Consider this part of the Exkalibur Stimulus Package for 2010.

I don’t know about you but there are occasions … and they seem to be increasing in my case … when I feel a nap coming on … yes, during the business day, around 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. if you have to ask. Traditionally, there’s nothing we can do about it, hang in there, head for the coffee pot, slip out early, frog around on the web … something other than work. (more…)

Competence. Confidence. Caring. You’re done!

By now, you know that the Sunday NY Times Corner Office series is oft-quoted here to highlight varying aspects of leadership that flow from Adam Bryant’s conversations with notable CEOs and business leaders.
This week he interviewed William Green, Chairman and CEO of Accenture. Read it in its entirety as a refresher on important elements of leadership.
Green reminds us that there is an abundance of talent that we’re not mining … (more…)