Jeffrey G Causey

When I last posted here, it was to share my 2017 reading plan and list. Things have been quiet since then as I've been dealing with other, higher priority items in my life. The good news is, even though I wasn't posting, I was reading and making progress on the reading list. I'm still just a bit behind schedule, but catching up fast - partly thanks to the first book on the reading list. That first book was Sleep Smarter and this is my brief review of it.

Late December and early January have turned out to be very busy, so my plans to put together a post outlining my 2017 reading list has been languishing on my to-do list. No longer though as I have finally found a few minutes to stop and put together the list. Why did I bother to put together a list for the upcoming year especially when I almost always have a book "in progress" at any given time? It was mainly driven by the suggestions on goal-setting that I recently wrote about. One of those tips was putting your goals in writing, so I did that with regard to what I hoped to read in 2017.

Last week I shared an article about some potential problems that can crop up if collaboration efforts are not managed effectively. One of the issues that may surface is the stress and burnout for top performers when they are continually sought out by others in the organization. Likewise, as managers we likely have certain employees who are considered stars and it can be tempting to turn to them on a frequent basis to get the work done in an organization. However, it is important that we proactively manage the work that is being delegated so as to avoid overloading some employees and at the same time taking steps to help raise up lower performing employees. Although management may be as much art as it is science, we can still bring some structure to this delegation process as discussed in the article Make Sure Your Team's Workload Is Divided Fairly . The article brings up several steps and actions that managers can take when delegating assignments and projects. The main th...

I was recently reading an article on collaboration ( Collaborative Overload ) and some of the problems that it can create for an organization. Wait, what? Collaboration is a problem? That may seem like an odd claim in this day and age when we seek ever increasing levels of collaboration and teamwork in our workforces. As the article points out though, there are potential problems out there if the effects of collaboration are not managed effectively. The basic problem with collaboration that is identified by the authors is that demands for collaborative activities - like attending meetings - pulls people away from being able to work on the actual tasks that they have been hired to work on. This creates a cycle requiring them to do things like take work home, which in turn increases stress, which then leads to burnout and turnover.

Very likely you are familiar with the refrain from Forrest Gump who quotes one of his mother's favorite sayings, "stupid is as stupid does". A quick search on the Internet suggests the saying is rooted in an older proverb, "handsome is as handsome does". In both cases, the meaning is that one can assess qualities like "stupid" or "handsome" by a person's actions and not by anything one can see.

Some nice tips on delegation and how it fits in with managing the performance of employees. Performance management can strengthen and grow delegation skills by Sharlyn Lauby | Posted October 3 rd, 2016 | Performance Management One of the skills that every manager must master is delegation. It's the art of assigning and entrusting another person with a task or responsibility. The reason I call it an art is because it's not as simple as saying "Do this."

This is a kind of long read, but I thought it was well worth it. I've seen a lot of the issues raised by the authors and how they can impact the success of change efforts in an organization - or even doom initiatives to failure. One of the key takeaways for me though was how important it is for leaders to be part of (and participate in) the processes and training concepts. Whatever leadership training is provided, it cannot be something for everyone else.  Why Leadership Training Fails-and What to Do About It Idea in Brief The Problem Companies are dumping billions of dollars into training and development programs-but their investments aren't paying off. The Reason Six common managerial and organizational barriers prevent people from applying what they've learned, no matter how smart and motivated they are.

I recently ran across an article on how Disney/Pixar is bringing concepts used to power some of their most successful movies to the world of video gaming. As I was reading over the article, Four lessons in emotional storytelling and plot structure from Pixar , I started wondering how these concepts might apply in the business world. One of my challenges in my positions has been presenting financial information to boards and management staff in a way that moves them to action. Unfortunately, financial information can be very dry and something many people struggle to understand, so the only movement might be to close their eyelids as their eyes glaze over. Even employing a variety of techniques to help make the information more understandable for non-financial professionals, I still find it difficult to make that connection. Perhaps Pixar’s concepts can help with this.

This was a quick read about some of the challenges with employee engagement. I know that one of the issues I seemed to always struggle to get others to understand is that there is more to motivating employees than pay. Frequently this seemed to be due to people who are motivated by pay thinking that everyone else is motivated by the same things they are - they just could not get out of the mindset that what they valued was what everyone valued. Interestingly in this article, they briefly touch on the fact that for some employees, just using financial rewards can even be a bit of a disincentive. http://blog.cayenneapps.com/2014/11/20/12-what-motivates-us-knowing-why/ cross post from my LinkedIn profile

Earlier this summer I ran across an article in the Journal of Accountancy about gamification and how it can be used to help engage Millenials in the workforce. I thought it was an interesting take on the concept of gamification, which is a topic I have been keeping my eye on for years. Although the article included some examples that leaned very heavily on game type activities, my interest lies more in the area of gamification being the "psychology of game design" for purposes of improving performance, both personal and for an organization.