Posted by: Dr. Jim Chambers in Untagged on
Jan 22, 2009
I attended a 45 minute online meeting today for the purpose of refreshing my 2009 personal and professional goals. The event was sponsored by an executive coaching group that helps us stay on track here at the Institute for Organizational Leadership.
It may sound strange that an organizational development and planning group would need an coaching service to help them set goals, but it has always been one of our greatest assets. Using outside resources to help you think through what you want to accomplish can be very useful, especially when you want to accomplish big goals that required a
Posted by: Administrator in Untagged on
Oct 31, 2008
If you live in the US and are legal, I want you to get out and vote on November 7 - Here is why.
As you know, we are only a few days away from what might be the largest voter turn out in US Presidential election history. Very exciting.
This is partly because more of us are going to get out of the kitchen and go vote, but mostly because there are simply more of us these days - a projected 305,539,446 will be alive in the US on October 31, 2008 at 1:24 PM GMT (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008).
With one birth every 7 seconds, one death every 11 seconds, and one immigrant every 30 seconds we have a net
Posted by: Dr. Jim Chambers in Untagged on
Oct 03, 2008
As we continue to look at how to lead through change, let's examine another common error from John Kotter's book, Leading Change:
Error #5: Permitting Obstacles to Block the New Vision
If you have ever been responsible for implementing change, then you know that roadblocks to success can come from any area and can stop you in your tracks. Successful change is not the product of one person, but requires the efforts of everyone involved to overcome whatever is in the way of implementing the new.
According to Kotter, "Whenever smart and well-intentioned people avoid confronting obstacles, they
Posted by: Dr. Jim Chambers in myblog on
Oct 03, 2008
I would like to continue the discussion of John Kotter's book, Leading Change (1997), and his eight common reasons for failure with some thoughts on two more common errors:
Error #3: Underestimating the Power of Vision
A sense of urgency and the right team are absolutely necessary, but as Kotter (1997) goes on to point out, nothing can replace vision (p.7).
In his view, "Vision plays a key role in producing useful change by helping to direct, align, and inspire actions on the part of large numbers of people. Without an appropriate vision, a transformation effort can easily dissolve into a list
Posted by: Dr. Jim Chambers in myblog on
Oct 03, 2008
In John Kotter's book, Leading Change (1997), he identifies eight common reasons for failure when it comes to organizational change initiatives. In my own work helping leaders prepare for managed change, I try to help them avoid these errors as much as possible. Over the next few days, I'll try to comment on each of the eight common errors from my own experience.
Error #1: Allowing Too Much Complacency
According to Kotter (1997), even the best planned change initiatives can fail because of internal complacency among managers and employees. This would not be a problem if
