Fri.May 04, 2018

article thumbnail

How Do Consultants Stay Organized Before Creating Client Deliverables?

Steve Shu Consulting

This post is based on a question posed to me on Quora. Individual consultants and engagement managers usually develop their own ways of organizing information. Here are a few concepts I have used (but situations vary widely based on the situation and team composition): Document the problem statement, the problem solving structure, the set of workstreams and activities to execute the project, governance process, and structure of each deliverable.

article thumbnail

When Confronting a Biased Comment Can Increase Your Sense of Belonging at Work

Harvard Business

Leigh Wells/Getty Images. People hear biased comments all too often in their everyday workplace interactions. For example, a woman might be told that women generally lack aptitude for leadership or technical fields. Racial minorities might hear statements embodying negative stereotypes of their race. Right after hearing biased comments, people face a choice: do they confront the speaker or remain silent?

Study 35
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How To Get A “Single Minute Exchange Of Brain”

Markovitz Consulting

Reducing changeover time of machines—the time it takes to switch from the last “good” part of product A to the next “good” part of product B—is one of the most powerful tools in lean manufacturing. The goal is to achieve “SMED”—Single Minute Exchange of Dies—in other words, bringing changeover time below 10 minutes. (Although "SMED" is perhaps the ugliest sounding acronym ever invented.

How To 100
article thumbnail

Flip the Switch

Martinka Consulting

Recently I got an e-newsletter from my friend Allan VanderHamm with Berntson Porter. Allan is their valuation and exit planning expert and the newsletter was titled, “How Does Exit Planning Protect Business Value?” My response to Allan was: One of my lines is, “Owners don’t wake up, flip the switch, and say I want to sell in 2, 3 or 5 years. They flip the switch and say, it’s time to get out (now).”.

article thumbnail

PowerPoint Best Practices for Creating Stellar Presentations

Mastering data visualization in PowerPoint will help accelerate your career because it positions you as someone who can present data that drives business decisions forward. think-cell's PowerPoint Best Practices eBook was created specifically for professionals aiming to master the art and science of data-driven storytelling. What’s inside: Practical Insights: Uncover valuable tips for crafting engaging and persuasive presentations.

article thumbnail

The Lie That Perfectionists Tell Themselves

Harvard Business

Laura Schneider for HBR. Many of us hold principles that keep us from pursuing a more productive lifestyle. For example, one of the most common ones is the belief that increasing productivity, or getting the most out of your time, will decrease the quality of your work, or your ability to do tasks perfectly. In the online program we run to help working professionals develop more productive work behaviors, about half of our participants have agreed with the statement: “I’m sure I coul

More Trending

article thumbnail

How are you organized?

Seth Godin Blog

Any organization of more than two people has a structure, intentional or not. It might be a hub and spoke, a ladder, a pyramid, a lattice, a hive, a circle. Each has an advantage. But the structure of your organization, your systems, your communication--when you work against it, nothing much happens.

System 43
article thumbnail

Continuous Development Will Change Organizations as Much as Agile Did

Harvard Business

aleksandarvelasevic/Getty Images. In 2001, a new approach to technology development was created by a daring group of developers. Called Agile, the process put customers at the center of product development, encouraged rapid prototyping, and dramatically increased corporate speed and agility. While Agile began as a product development innovation, it sparked a corporate strategy and process revolution.

Agile 28
article thumbnail

How VC John Doerr Sets (and Achieves) Goals

Harvard Business

HBR Staff/Steve Jennings / Stringer/Getty Images. Since joining Kleiner Perkins in 1980, venture capitalist John Doerr has helped fund Intuit, Amazon, Google, Twitter, and a host of other well-known tech companies. Many of them utilize a goal-setting system Doerr calls “OKR,” for “objectives” and “key results.” His new book, Measure What Matters , contains his explanation for how and why the system works, as well as case studies by leaders who’ve adopted

System 28
article thumbnail

What Data on Formula One Crashes Suggests About Workplace Rivalries

Harvard Business

David Arky/Getty Images. Do you have a work twin? Is there a colleague whose name is constantly mentioned in the same breath as yours? This colleague’s responsibilities may differ from yours; he or she may even work in an entirely different department. Yet because his or her position in the organizational hierarchy is roughly equivalent to yours, the two of you are seen as almost interchangeable.

Data 28
article thumbnail

How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr