by Esther Derby | Jun 9, 2011 | Collaboration & Teams, Leadership & Management
I recently talked to a group that’s forming a new “change leadership” team. Part of the work of the team is improving the organization, and part is capacity building. Four of the people on the team are folks with technical backgrounds who are viewed as having...
by Esther Derby | Jun 2, 2011 | Leadership & Management
I’ve been noticing what’s missing lately. In some ways, its harder to see what’s not there than what is. But there’s lost of useful information in what isn’t said, as well as what is. For example: A manager, talking about one of the...
by Esther Derby | Mar 3, 2011 | Organizational Change, Systems and Complexity
A while back I was contacted by a potential client who wanted to “go agile.” But they wanted to do it in a deterministic manner. They wanted a plan, complete with milestones and dates–mostly indicating that other people had changed their behavior as dictated...
by Esther Derby | Dec 21, 2010 | Leadership & Management
I’ve seen a renewed cry for leaders in organizations lately. Too often in these discussions, the attempt to define the characteristics of a leader boils down to a role in which one individual creates a vision for others to follow. That’s not enough. We need more...
by Esther Derby | Dec 17, 2010 | Collaboration & Teams, Leadership & Management
Many managers ask me, “How can I motivate my team?” I’ve certainly seen many efforts to motivate teams. Contests, prizes, pep talks, badges, points, canned thank you notes, and recognition events. Most of this comes down to using rewards to motivate people to...
