Wednesday, June 27, 2012

How to Get Senior Leaders to Change

Source:http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/06/how_to_get_senior_leaders_to_c.html?goback=%2Egde_63688_member_126341736 by Scott Keller  |   8:00 AM June 14, 2012

Most senior executives understand and generally buy into the famous aphorism, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Prompted by HR professionals or consultants, they often commit themselves to "being the change" by personally role-modeling the desired behaviors. And then, in practice, nothing significant changes.

In the research for our book, Beyond Performance, we found that the reason for this is that most executives don't see themselves as "part of the problem." Therefore, deep down, they do not believe that it is they who need to change, even though in principle they agree that leaders must model the desired changes. Take, for example, a team that reports that, as a group and as an organization, they are low in trust, not customer-focused and bureaucratic. How many executives when asked privately will say "no" to the questions "Do you consider yourself to be trustworthy?" and "Are you customer-focused?" and "yes" to the question "Are you a bureaucrat?" None, of course.

The fact is that most well-intentioned and hard-working people believe they are doing the right thing, or they wouldn't be doing it. However, most people also have an unwarranted optimism in relation to their own behavior. Consider that when around one million students were asked how good they were at getting along with others, 85% rated themselves above the median and 25% rated themselves in the top 1%. Of course this is mathematically impossible. This isn't only true for students getting along with one another — far more than 50% of people rank themselves in the top half of driving ability, although it is a statistical impossibility. When couples are asked to estimate theircontribution to household work, the combined total routinely exceeds 100%. (And most men rank themselves in the top half of male athletic ability, even though that's statistically impossible.) In many behavior-related areas, human beings consistently think they are better than they are — a phenomenon referred to in psychology as a "self-serving bias." Whereas conventional change management approaches surmise that top team role modeling is a matter of will ("wanting to change") or skill ("knowing how to change"), the inconvenient truth is that the real bottleneck to role modeling is knowing what to change at a personal level.

Typically, insight into what to change can be created by concrete 360-degree feedback techniques, either via surveys, conversations or both. This 360-degree feedback should not be against generic HR leadership competency models, but should instead be against the specific behaviors related to the desired changes that will drive business performance. This style of feedback can be augmented by fact gathering such as third-party observation of senior executives going about their day-to-day work (e.g., "You say you are not bureaucratic, but every meeting you are in creates three additional meetings and no decisions are made.") and calendar analyses (e.g., "You say you are customer-focused but have spent 5% of your time reviewing customer-related data and no time meeting with customers or customer-facing employees.").

Consider Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer's approach of asking each of his top 75, "What should I do differently?" and sharing his development needs and commitment publicly with them. Consider the top team of a national insurance company who routinely employed what they called the "circle of feedback" during their change program: Every participant receives feedback live in the room, directly from their colleagues on "What are your strengths?" in relation to "being the change" as well as "Where can you improve?" Consider the leadership coalition (top 25) of a multi-regional bank who, after each major event in their change program, conducted a short, targeted 360-degree feedback survey regarding how well their behaviors role-modeled the desired behaviors during the event, ensuring that feedback was timely, relevant and practical.

While seemingly inconvenient, these types of techniques help break through the "self-serving bias" that inhibits well-meaning leaders from making a profound difference.

Note that some readers may be thinking, "But surely there are a few people who are fully role-modeling the desired behaviors — what does this mean for them?" If the purpose of senior executive role-modeling is to exhibit the behaviors required to ensure the success and sustainability of the company (e.g., collaboration, agility in decision making, empowerment), then the answer is "keep up the good work!" If the answer, however, is expanded to include role-modeling the process of personal behavioral change itself, there is more to do. Recall another famous aphorism: "For things to change, first I must change."

Scott Keller is a director at McKinsey & Company and co-author, with Colin Price, of the 2011 book Beyond Performance: How great organizations build ultimate competitive advantage.

How Learning and Talent Development Need to Change for the 2020 Workplace

by Jeanne Meister and Steve Dahlberg on June 15, 2012 · 1 Comment · in Beyond X & Y

Source:http://blog.talentmgt.com/2012/06/15/how-learning-and-talent-development-need-to-change-for-the-2020-workplace/?goback=%2Egde_2057992_member_126726802

We often hear senior learning executives say: “If millennials continue to be a large percentage of our workforce, how must our learning department change?” What they are really asking is how can their learning department incorporate the same features that make engaging in social sites so much fun, like commenting, rating, tagging, using rich media, building and editing your profile, reading the activity streams of your friends and being a part of relevant online communities that you care about.

When we think about the changes we have experienced in our personal lives, the statistics are daunting:

  • By the year 2020, millennials will be at least 50 percent of the workplace and bringing their digital expectations with them.
  • At the end of 2011, the number of smartphones sold exceeded the number of PCs sold (Business Insider).
  • By 2016, there will be 375 million tablets purchased globally — a 46 percent compound annual growth rate (Forrester).
  • As of today, 29 percent of all U.S. households have either a tablet or an e-reader (Morgan Stanley Research).
  • 40 percent of learning and development executives plan to incorporate tablets into their learning and development offerings by 2015 (Future Workplace as profiled in ASTD Magazine).

A new trend seen across large, small and mid-sized firms is facilitating this shift in the corporate world – “Bring Your Own Device” or BYOD. According to a global survey by Accenture of more than 5,000 millennials (born between 1977 and 2000), one out of two are requesting to bring their own device to the workplace. They cite the following reasons:

  • Blurring of lines between work and personal lives.
  • The ability to work on an extended schedule , when and where they want.
  • The desire to use their own tablet device to increase personal productivity.

These trends translate to a new agenda for corporate learning – one that will increasingly focus on the following principles:

SOCIAL: Insist on creating ways for learning to be part of a social experience.

MOBILE: Integrate mobile devices into formal and informal learning.

COLLABORATIVE: Create opportunities for learning to happen naturally in groups.

PEER-GENERATED: Use social tools to enable learners to easily share their own content, videos and more.

OPEN: Leverage open source content found on Khan Academy, MIT Open Courseware, andOpen Culture offering free online courses from leading universities.

But the question for many learning leaders is how to do this. Future Workplace has created an eight-step model on “Implementing Social Learning,” shown here in Prezi.

What changes are you making in learning in your organization to prepare NOW for the 2020 workplace?

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Collaboration: your path to Sustainable Competitive Advantage?

Posted on June 14, 2012 @ http://www.saleschannel-europe.com/2012/06/collaboration-your-path-to-a-sustainable-competitive-advantage.html?goback=%2Egde_63688_member_126528319

http://www.saleschannel-europe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Collaboration_Graphic1.jpg

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”Helen Keller

Web apps and the internet have changed the way we work and live. Today we live in a world where the creative quality of work improves as we move along the “Hierarchy of Communication” fromConnect to Communicate to Collaborate to Co-create.

Where would you place your organization on the following 4Cs Hierarchy of Communication?

1) Connect: is all about connecting and being able to connect with others. Connecting with those that you know and those you don’t yet know. Today this has never been easier, simply click to connect, without leaving your office and often without leaving your application. A ‘presence’ indicator lets you know who is there on-line and in your virtual neighbourhood right now.

2) Communicate: Once you have connected you want to communicate. Speaking with the other person now includes speaking with many other people through online virtual meetings. Communicating now includes: chatting, speaking, texting, sharing documents and sharing screens to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas.

3) Collaborate: you communicate so that you can collaborate. There are lots of different collaboration tools, applications and platforms available today that enable us to collaborate effectively across multiple boundaries: organisational, geographical and time zones. Examples vary widely: Skype, TeamViewer, Lync, Office365, Google Apps and Webex to name a few. All allowing you to share, review and contribute to a common project and collaborate together with others.

4) Co-create: you collaborate so that you can create. The desired outcome of collaboration is to create new ways to solve old problems and invent new ways to capture future opportunities. We brainstorm using rich media to engage the collective brain of the virtual community. We build ideas based on human interaction. We invent, create, develop new or better ideas and ways to achieve specific goals and objectives. And we build virtual teams that can deliver continuous creativity which will ultimately lead to sustainable competitive advantage.

Sustainable Competitive Advantage: The ultimate goal of co-creating (and therefore collaborating, communicating and connecting) is to maximise the quality and quantity of your business goals. Sustainable competitive advantage is the sum total of your organisation’s current abilities and future capabilities. By enabling your people to connect, communicate, collaborate and co-create they will produce exceptional solutions to today’s problems and create wonderfully innovative ways to develop future opportunities.

Takeaway:

People, Processes or Platform? The challenge isn’t the technology it’s you and your people. The challenge is moving your people along the 4Cs Hierarchy of Communication. So they become more collaborative and adopt and use collaborative applications and tools in their everyday work. You need to set an example by demonstrating an ‘inclusive mindset’ and a bias towards working collaboratively. The cultural change required of your company will be far more difficult than the technological changes.

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”General Eric Shineseki, Retired Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Are you ready for the new reality?

View: Collaborating in the Cloud: Opportunity or Threat? by David Ednie, posted on slideshare.

The Pitfalls of Culture Change

Source: http://hypotheticorp.org/management/culture/?goback=.gde_719177_member_127531607

Cul­tural change is a pop­u­lar past-time among con­tem­por­ary man­agers. The prom­ise that many man­age­ment books make is that chan­ging your organisation’s cul­ture will lead to organ­isa­tional success.

Man­agers eager to impress their dir­ect­ors will invari­ably imple­ment a cul­tural change pro­gram with the anti­cip­a­tion that it will increase pro­ductiv­ity, prof­it­ab­il­ity or any other noun end­ing in –ty. This prom­ise is made on the premise that suc­cess­ful organ­isa­tions all have a ‘good’ culture.

The idea that a good or strong cul­ture will improve busi­ness res­ults is also logic­ally non­sensical. The claim that a strong organ­isa­tional cul­ture will improve per­form­ance is tau­to­lo­gical. Any qual­i­fier of the word cul­ture will inev­it­ably be self-referential.

Inter­est­ingly enough, most cul­ture change pro­grams fail!

The reason most cul­tural change pro­grams fail is because cul­ture is an epi­phen­omenon of human inter­ac­tion. This means that cul­ture as such does not exist., it is a men­tal con­struct. Cul­ture is the effect of some­thing and can not be the cause of any­thing. The only place where cul­ture changes are always suc­cess­ful is in micro­bi­o­lo­gical labor­at­or­ies, where nerdy sci­ent­ists in lab coats poke around in pet­rid­ishes  and con­ical flasks to develop medi­cine, bio­lo­gical war­fare or just because they need a job. Back to human cultures.

Cul­ture is the res­ult of a whole range of phe­nomen­ons, such as people’s val­ues and beliefs. Man­agers more often than not focus on these aspects of cul­ture. They try to change the val­ues and beliefs of their staff by pout­ing ‘inspir­ing’ rhet­oric and pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment pro­grams. See our post on con­sult­ants for a view on this.

Cul­ture is an epiphenomenon

Cor­por­a­tions are gen­er­ally not demo­cratic organ­isa­tions and rely on a hier­arch­ical struc­tures. Cul­ture is thus driven from the top to the bot­tom and can there­fore only change to the limit of the val­ues and beliefs of the man­agers in charge. It is because of this that most text books on cul­tural change fail. In order to change cul­ture, man­agers need to first change themselves!

Because cul­ture is the effect of phe­nomen­ons it can not be the cause of any­thing — includ­ing cor­por­ate suc­cess. What can, how­ever, be the cause of cor­por­ate suc­cess are the aspects that under­pin a cor­por­ate culture.

How­ever, not all is lost. There are aspects of cul­ture that can be changed quite eas­ily. Other phe­nom­ena that cause cul­ture are rituals and cere­mon­ies, stor­ies and legends and mater­ial objects. This might sound like things that you only find in tri­bal soci­et­ies, but all cor­por­a­tions have them. Rituals and cere­mon­ies are expressed in the way meet­ings are con­duc­ted, birth­days are cel­eb­rated and everything in between. Stor­ies and legends relate to the his­tory of the cor­por­a­tion and mater­ial objects are the tools we use and the office we work in.

If a man­ager wants to change a ‘cul­ture’, then these phe­nom­ena are the start­ing point. Change these and the cul­ture will fol­low. Best example to illus­trate this are the often dis­cussed Google offices. By pla­cing people in the right envir­on­ment they will dis­play the right beha­viour. Super­mar­ket design­ers use these prin­ciples very suc­cess­fully. Telling the right stor­ies will cre­ate a sense of col­lect­ive and con­duct­ing the cor­por­ate rituals in the right way will act as an example of the desired behaviour.

The simple mes­sage is: don’t try to change a cul­ture, try to change the phe­nomen­ons that cause the culture.

Jesus and Organizational Change Part I: Get Off Your Throne & Serve!

Posted by Todd VanNest on Tue, Jun 19, 2012

In last week’s post “Don’t be Nice..”, I commented on how to truly serve others in Leading Change by doing more than being supportive and a good listener (reactive).  You have to create the cognitive tension and self-assessment that engages both hearts and minds—allowing others to critically evaluate status quo as part of committing to the future (new mindsets and new practices).  By citing Servant Leadership, I prompted the following question in my mind:  What would Jesus do?

You’ve seen books on “Jesus as CEO” and the WWJD acronym stitched or etched into everything from wristbands to stone outcroppings in national parks.  My question here is not about preachin’ a Christian way or meant as blasphemy (by making the teachings of Christ mundane and of-this-world).  I do think that there are some practical lessons in thinking about how Jesus led change (whether to you He is your savior, an interesting person of history, or the product of a great novel).  I am certain that by selectively highlighting the things I’m speaking of in this 2-part post I am doing His leadership a great injustice, but I do regard even these small things as great gifts.

Today, in Part 1, I am highlighting the role of service in change leadership.

  • “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – (Mark 10:42-45)

Wow!...Leading change, and being appointed as a leader for guiding an organization through complex change is heady work…just don’t let it go to your head!

Out of this perspective, I offer two reflections for Change Leaders:

  • What tools and processes prescribed in modern approaches to organizational change have become the “trappings of the office” that might potentially distract me from fully, genuinely, and in-the-moment engaging the stakeholders of this change process? And
  • I’m sure that almost every Change Leader has, at some point, felt like a slave.  The question is, are you a slave to others or are you a slave to the process, politics, and promotion that defines “change management?”

At times, we feel like a slave to others—typically because our own approach to driving change is actually fueling or sustaining the resistance that we blame for making us a slave.  In reality, we have often sold-out others, forsaking them and authentic engagement with them in favor of serving a “program” or getting to some almighty “result.” When working with Change Teams to help them recover a stalled or failing change initiative, I often find that they start to recover the change effort when they realize that a bit more engagement early in the process would have actually saved them time and accelerated the realization of results—relative to where they find themselves at the moment (behind schedule and struggling to produce the promised results, having forsaken timely and genuine engagement).

  • WWJD?...Now THAT’s a heady challenge!  Look for more powerful reflections in Part 2 of this post in the coming days.

One way to serve others through change is to help them find meaning in change and make it more simple.

Last Word on Change

More on leading change simply: http://www.lastwordonchange.com/simple-solution

Identify your "Consultant Type"

 

Source: http://saketvaani.blogspot.in/2012/04/identify-your-consultant-type.html?goback=%2Egde_76548_member_127262979

Consulting as a profession has been growing steadily with more and more firms setting their base in India. Consulting landscape has also been helped by maturing of Indian business set-up as well as growing popularity of professional courses like MBA. But joining a particular industry, sector or a profession, is just the beginning. After all, our professional career could well span over 35 years. Similarly for consulting, while problem-solving skills, analytical capability and a consistent academic record may help you join a good consulting firm but it doesn't ensure that you would enjoy your stay as well.

As I complete my first year in consulting, I have tried to come up with a framework, based on one's interest areas, to suggest what lies in consulting for him/her. I have tried to simplify it by using two major focus areas and I would once again reiterate that it doesn't talk about the capabilities that you need to excel as a consultant.

A role of a consultant can be broadly divided into two parts; business development and business delivery. Business development is related to bringing in projects i.e. selling or pitching your offerings to the prospective clients. Business delivery, on the other hand, is related to preparing the client deliverables. At a junior level, the delivery part accounts for major share of your efforts but as you move up, business development becomes more important. One interest area that I would focus on concerns business development while the other one largely focuses on business delivery. While it’s impossible to isolate the two areas but one does come across people who prefer one over the other.

So, breaking the suspense, the two areas of interest that I have identified are “research” and “interactions”:

Research: Some people simply love to dig into data be it research reports, news articles, information hidden in excel sheets, interview notes etc. Those with a bent towards research can be a great influence as far as quality of deliverable is concerned. While another section may consider it the "back-end" part of consulting and end up avoiding or even hating it.

Interactions: Many individuals are attracted by the so called “front-end” part i.e. the client-facing role. Undoubtedly, consulting is about managing people be it the client, the team members, the experts etc. Those with a penchant for meeting and interacting people can help in lead generation or unearthing opportunities from nowhere. But there is a segment in consulting that considers such people as “globers”. After all, to each his own.

So based on the above two interest-areas we can segregate consultants into four types:

Type I: These types of species are perpetually excited about meeting their clients, even more that meeting their girlfriends. They would say, “Research is for the faint-hearted. Consulting is all about client-facing activities.” While their interactions can be fruitful but without proper research it can backfire or cause embarrassment. Sometimes it can lead to mis-selling or inadequately defined scope. We can call them YAC A. YAC stands for “Yet another Consultant”.

Type II: This variety loves the research part but isn’t too excited by the interaction part. They would say, “I think too much is made of this front-end thing in consulting. Yaar, even the traders and bankers create value but they don’t hype about these client interactions.” While research undoubtedly is critical to consulting but neglecting the other aspect doesn’t help as many consulting firms don’t have a separate team for sales. We can call this variety YAC B.

Type III: Another type like what they hear but don’t like what they see. Some of my colleagues had joined consulting but soon realize that they are too selective or find a very limited aspect of their job exciting. In better words, they aren’t excited adequately by either of the areas. The only term that comes to my mind right now for these consultants is “Disillusioned”.

Type IV: The disillusioned gets a competition. This type is largely responsible for keeping the consulting flag flying high. The ones, who are likely to become experts in near future. They love the interactions but are particular about research as well. This type deserves only one tag- “Rockstar”.

So what's your type?

The 5 stages of leadership development

By Steve Tobak

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57440517/the-5-stages-of-leadership-development/?goback=%2Egde_76548_member_127263052

Everyone goes through the same stages of human development on the road to adulthood and maturity. Unfortunately, some of us get stuck in one stage or another, stunting our growth and rendering us dysfunctional.

We look just like ordinary adults, but we actually behave a lot more like children, acting out, throwing tantrums, and generally making life miserable for everyone around us.

It's pretty much the same thing with executives and business leaders. The only difference is that, instead of just messing up their own lives like ordinary people, dysfunctional leaders influence the lives, livelihoods, and investment portfolios of hordes of employees, customers, and investors.

If I took a virtual snapshot of all the boardrooms I've been in over the years, I'd estimate that maybe a quarter of the executives and directors I've worked with have gotten themselves prematurely stuck in one of the following stages of leadership development:

Stage 1: Sponge. You listen and learn from everyone and every situation as you try to figure out how things work in the real business world. Just like a baby learning to walk, you look really cute stumbling around like the clueless neophyte you are. The good news is you have no real responsibility, so you're not in a position to cause any real damage. You just fall, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again until you get it right.

Stage 2: Proof-of-concept. Believing you're actually capable of accomplishing something besides making a complete fool of yourself by promising the world and delivering next to nothing, you set out to prove yourself worthy of the management title that, in all likelihood, you've already been granted.

Stage 3: Delivery. Congratulations, you've somehow managed to deliver the goods and succeed in doing something that can credibly be viewed as a business success. In other words, you made money for somebody and got rewarded with a nice fat bonus. You think you've finally arrived. Won't your spouse be thrilled?

Stage 4: Reset. A little full of yourself, you try a repeat performance using the same tricks that worked the first time and realize--too late--that you're going to need a bigger playbook to consistently make it in the big leagues. Failure doesn't sit well with you. In fact, it's downright depressing. So you set out to make sure that never happens again.

Stage 5: Maturity. After a few iterations of the third and fourth stages, you finally begin to get how the real world works. You realize you're just like everybody else, meaning you succeed at some things, fail at others, and learn from everything. It slowly dawns on you that being a mature leader isn't that much different from the first stage, except experience has given you confidence and, with any luck, a sense of humor and humility. Win or lose, you look good doing it -- and deserve that bonus, right?

So, think it over. Are you stuck in one of the stages or know somebody who is? Fill us in.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

7 Approaches to Ace A Video Conferencing Interview

 

Source:http://careerking.net/7-approaches-to-ace-a-video-conferencing-interview/?goback=.gde_719177_member_126260398.gde_719177_member_126401470

Pretty much any interview are nerve-wracking and generally there are wealth of information out there on carrying out a successful interview but it should be known that taking an interview via video conferencing is a bit different to taking a face to face interview. In a video conferencing interview, every the normal guidelines are applicable (good eye contact, research possible questions which you could be asked etc) yet you have an additional element in that the interview is taking place over video conference and therefore you will need to consider the problems that this could lead to.

Think of the video conference in the same way as you would a physical face to face interview and do your preparation accordingly, however there are some subtle differences because of the technology.

Here are 7 top tips to help make your video conferencing interview a success:

1. Use a neutral background

You do not want to have a background that is distracting to the interviewer. Make sure that there are

Credit Image: Getty Images By: Frank Renlie

no distracting posters or items on the wall. If you have no plain walls, make sure that the image behind you is not chaotic or fabulously entertaining. Pictures of landscapes and other neutral paintings will work with an interview when there are no alternatives.

2. Perform research on the interviewer

Find out everything that you can about the interviewer. Search the internet for their LinkedIn page, their Facebook page, or perhaps a Twitter account. As with an in person interview, video conferencing with a recruiter requires research. Your goal is to find something with which you and the interviewer can connect. You want your hiring professional to feel comfortable with you, and having a great conversation about their hobbies might do the trick.

3. Proper grooming

You might be at home, but that does not give you the liberty to dress in any manner you please. You want to provide a great first impression with your interviewer during the video conference, and a t-shirt and shorts does not convey professionalism in a business environment. Remember that the tape may be played and replayed for the interviewer, so it is essential to have your teeth and hair brushed.

4. Prepare the environment

Make sure that your equipment is working properly, and that the camera is focused on your face and body. It is essential that you provide the best impression possible, and that impression is more readily provided when the microphone and the camera are up to snuff. Have a list of instructions for what to do if something goes wrong within your presentation.

5. Look into the camera

Your interviewer deserves every ounce of your attention. Look into the camera, just as you would look into the hiring professional’s eyes. This might take some practice, as you’re not directly face to face. If necessary, have something behind the camera upon which you can focus. There should be no personal distractions like children, dogs, or loud noises to take you away from your interviewing task.

6. Practice your speech

While you cannot predict what the interviewer will ask you, you can practice the way that you speak. Try to avoid statements like er, uh, and um while you are talking. Remember that this interview can be replayed many times and for many different people. You want to sound as confident and comfortable as possible.

7. Don’t move around

You might fidget quite in person, but attempt to keep your movement and fidgeting to a minimum during video conferencing. Sudden movements, unless you have a high end video camera, do not show up well. You want to provide your interviewer with the best quality available for your interview, and being still is just a facet

Follow these 7 simple steps during your interview and you will find the interview process much easier and less stressful. It will also help to give you the best chance in beating the interview and will give you a competitive advantage over the other candidates who will no doubt approach the interview in the same way as they would approach a face to face interview. Now let the preparation for your video conferencing interview begin and good luck.

Guide to Survey Software

http://www.gesis.org/en/services/methods/consultations/data-collection/online-surveys/a-guide-to-survey-software/

As part of our consultation (Who can approach us for help?) we help identify criteria to arrive at a couple of online survey software products suitable to your needs. This page lists resources, criteria, articles and selected software products, both commercial and free software. As an alternative to the software products on this page you may consider hiring a full service provider which is able to take care of sampling, questionnaire programming, data analysis, etc. as well.

Recommended reading: Kaczmirek, L. (2008), Internet Survey Software Tools, in N. Fielding, R. Lee, & G. Blank (eds.), The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, London: Sage, pp. 236-254, provides a thorough discussion of valuable software features organized into the phases of conducting an online survey, including set-up, data collection, and reporting. An extra section explains how ethical standards and data protection laws need to be considered in the software architecture. Because of its recommendations for different types of users, the chapter is suitable for both beginners and professionals.

Content
1 Available Software Overviews
2 Criteria for Selecting Products and Reviews
3 Technical Aspects for Programmers
4 Commercial and Non-profit Products
5 Free Software (Open Source)

1 Available Software Overviews for Online Surveys and Web-based Research

2 Criteria for Selecting Products and Reviews

Along with software reviews you will also find sources which describe and elaborate on feasible criteria for the selection of products. Conferences which had discussions about survey software are for example: International Field Director's & Technologies Conference (IFD&TC), General Online Research (GOR), Mensch und Computer (MC), Applied Statistics (AS).

3 Technical Aspects for Programmers
  • Göritz, A. S., & Birnbaum, M. H. (2005). Generic HTML form Processor: a Versatile PHP Script to Save Web-Collected Data into a MySQL Database. Behavior Research Methods, 37: 703-710.
  • Hellbusch, J. E., & Bühler, C. (Hrsg.). (2005). Barrierefreies Webdesign. Praxishandbuch für Webgestaltung und grafische Programmoberflächen. dpunkt.verlag. 
    "Accessible Webdesign" contains the necessary examples and information to design accessible web forms.
  • Fraley, C. (2004). How to Conduct Behavioral Research on the Internet. Guilford Publications.
    Contains exercises in the programming language perl.

4 Commercial and Non-profit Products

The market offers products which are likely to satisfy every need. Many vendors are capable and flexible enough to tailorize or adjust their product to the special requirements of their customers. The products listed here support at least: set-up of the questionnaire, data collection and to some extent data anaysis.

Products which provide entry offers up to 200 euros for a complete survey are marked with an [E]. As pricing is likely to change this should only be seen as a hint. Often, the price is a bad clue for the overall functionality of a product. Especially vendors which are capable to carry out big projects offer many features also in the low price segment. Commonly, the online survey is hosted by the vendor and administered and programmed through a web-interface.

WebSM and ASC offer additional overviews with different approaches to categorization.

Table 1: Software to Conduct Online Surveys

How to use this table: The list is supposed to help identify eligible products. It is neither complete nor can we guarantee its validity. Products should always be compared with the specific demands of a survey project.
Abbreviations: [E]ntry offer available; Low cost licenses for [U]niversities and students available; Questionnaire set-up via[W]eb-interface or [L]ocal software installation; [A]dvanced features available. Also suitable for complex projects (e.g. scripting language, major individual tailorizing is possible).

Firm/Institute Product E/U W/L Advanced Remarks
Amundis 2Ask E/U W     A reporting, price calculation online
Askallo   E/U W   free entry offer, reporting
ClassApps SelectSurveyASP E W   .NET source code in C#, code available, data bases: MS Access, SQL Server, MySQL, needs own server
Globalpark Enterprise Feedback Suite (EFS) E/U W      A a non-commercial version is available under the name 'unipark'.
InstantSurvey E W   reporting
MarketTools Zoomerang U W   free version available with restrictions
NetQuestionnaires   E W      A free student edition in Switzerland
Objectplanet Opinio(tm) U W    
onlineumfragen.com   E/U W    
Paul Marx - Marketing Consulting eQuestionnaire E/U W   lower charges for students and doctoral students
Polliscope   E/U W    
PreyerInformation Technology Echopoll E/U W    
QuestionPro   E/U W   free entry offer, reporting
StellarSurvey   E W   free entry offer, reporting
SurveyMonkey   E W   free entry offer, reporting
Qualtrics   E W    
Voycer   E W   free, the host mentions restrictions in layout, available question types, and other aspects
oFb Team oFb - der onlineFragebogen U W      A free use under special license conditions
CfMC Websurvent   W      A Multimodal, e.g. Web-based CATI. Reporting
IQS-Quant Houselab   W      A card sorting, reaction time experiments, spacial orientation, spacial memory
Ingress keyingress   W      A Multi-mode, create surveys with plain2form-procedure
Webropol     W      A Yearly license with unlimited survey volume. Answers provided by break-offs are not saved.
Bebosoft Mediata Survey E L   program in PHP and MySQL or PostgreSQL, needs own server
ApianSoftware SurveyPro5   L    
Inquisite InquisiteSurvey   L      A  
ISI-GmbH Equip Questionnaire Generator   L   also CAPI
Exavo SurveyStudio     L    
Interrogare IRQuest   L      A coding of open answers, CATI, CAPI
Gravic Inc. Remark Web Survey   L   OCR extratool to import answers on paper questionnaires with a scanner
QuestionMark Perception   L    
Rogator Rogator G3plus   L      A  
VOXCO Voxco Command Center   L      A especially CATI
Snap Surveys Snap Professional          A framework for multi-mode-surveys (CAPI, CATI, PDA, mobile, online)
ConfirmIt ConfirmIt Platform   W      A  
Senecio Software Inc. Askanywhere   W   java
SPSS PASW Data Collection Interviewer Web          A  
Statistic Netherlands Blaise Internet Service (BlaiseIS)          A extra module for their CAI-product, special expertise in blaise-specific script language necessary
5 Free Software (Open Source)

With free software no costs are associated with licensing. Own derivations and further development of the code is allowed. Free access to the program code (open source) is a precondition for this.

Costs emerge mainly from hosting or renting a server on which the software can run and from manual installation and maintenance. Solid knowledge concerning the operating system and the web-server-platform is the basis for using such software. Expertise in the programming language, database administration, patching, HTML and JavaScript are advantageous. Considering the 'total cost of ownership' a (commercial) product in table 1 may be cheaper. It is possible that third-party vendors use free software for their services.

Table 2: Free Software to Conduct Online Surveys

How to use this table: The following list was compiled with care and can guide in identifiying eligible products. However, we cannot guarantee its completeness or validity. Please leave us a note, if you know of other free software products for this list.
Licences: GPL, LGPL, MPL.
Sorting: Active projects with a developing community are listed on the top (green). They are available as stable systems and suitable for beginners. Frozen projects (yellow) have had their last update some time ago or the main developers noted that only few spare time is available for the project. Such projects might be revived or finally discontinued in the future. Discontinued projects (red) often have only one source version online. In addition they might be outdated in terms of technical implementation or are generally not recommendable as a productive survey system.

Firm/Institute Product E/U W/L Advanced Remarks
Amundis 2Ask E/U W     A reporting, price calculation online
Askallo   E/U W   free entry offer, reporting
ClassApps SelectSurveyASP E W   .NET source code in C#, code available, data bases: MS Access, SQL Server, MySQL, needs own server
Globalpark Enterprise Feedback Suite (EFS) E/U W      A a non-commercial version is available under the name 'unipark'.
InstantSurvey E W   reporting
MarketTools Zoomerang U W   free version available with restrictions
NetQuestionnaires   E W      A free student edition in Switzerland
Objectplanet Opinio(tm) U W    
onlineumfragen.com   E/U W    
Paul Marx - Marketing Consulting eQuestionnaire E/U W   lower charges for students and doctoral students
Polliscope   E/U W    
PreyerInformation Technology Echopoll E/U W    
QuestionPro   E/U W   free entry offer, reporting
StellarSurvey   E W   free entry offer, reporting
SurveyMonkey   E W   free entry offer, reporting
Qualtrics   E W    
Voycer   E W   free, the host mentions restrictions in layout, available question types, and other aspects
oFb Team oFb - der onlineFragebogen U W      A free use under special license conditions
CfMC Websurvent   W      A Multimodal, e.g. Web-based CATI. Reporting
IQS-Quant Houselab   W      A card sorting, reaction time experiments, spacial orientation, spacial memory
Ingress keyingress   W      A Multi-mode, create surveys with plain2form-procedure
Webropol     W      A Yearly license with unlimited survey volume. Answers provided by break-offs are not saved.
Bebosoft Mediata Survey E L   program in PHP and MySQL or PostgreSQL, needs own server
ApianSoftware SurveyPro5   L    
Inquisite InquisiteSurvey   L      A  
ISI-GmbH Equip Questionnaire Generator   L   also CAPI
Exavo SurveyStudio     L    
Interrogare IRQuest   L      A coding of open answers, CATI, CAPI
Gravic Inc. Remark Web Survey   L   OCR extratool to import answers on paper questionnaires with a scanner
QuestionMark Perception   L    
Rogator Rogator G3plus   L      A  
VOXCO Voxco Command Center   L      A especially CATI
Snap Surveys Snap Professional          A framework for multi-mode-surveys (CAPI, CATI, PDA, mobile, online)
ConfirmIt ConfirmIt Platform   W      A  
Senecio Software Inc. Askanywhere   W   java
SPSS PASW Data Collection Interviewer Web          A  
Statistic Netherlands Blaise Internet Service (BlaiseIS)          A extra module for their CAI-product, special expertise in blaise-specific script language necessary

Creating a Culture of Excellence

It means something different for every company, but for all of them the key to success is the same: the person at the top.

By Jason Daley   |   Entrepreneur Magazine - March 2010

Ever since Tom Peters introduced the word excellence into the business world, companies have been madly scrambling after it. His 1982 book, In Search of Excellence, spawned a whole industry of excellence--management gurus and cultural consultants invading the workplace with formulas for total quality control, going from good to great, breaking all the rules, getting things done, busting e-myths and moving cheese.

But in the end, it turns out the quest for excellence is a little like stopping smoking--there are hundreds of plans, but in reality none of them work very well, at least without a strong commitment from the top. According to research by IBM and others, between 60 and 90 percent of organizational change initiatives fall flat. It's no wonder. Making the changes that lead to excellence is not an overnight pursuit--it's a long process that often means rewiring a company's fundamental DNA.

That's something Atlanta audit firm Porter Keadle Moore learned early on. In 1995, PKM was a typical stuffy auditing firm, with dark wood paneling, a command-and-control system and overworked employees. When Phil Moore and his colleagues split up, though, Moore decided to make the new incarnation of PKM very different. "At that point in time, we wanted to have a firm that had a culture that embodied our hearts and minds," he says.

Fifteen years and countless initiatives later, PKM is Atlanta's top accounting firm, with a 98 percent positive rating, 11 percent turnover rate and awards for being one of America's psychologically healthiest workplaces.

How did PKM do it? Its approach to excellence isn't off-the-wall. In fact, PKM has followed fairly conventional strategies to make it to the top. It's just that it has implemented those extremely well, stayed focused and learned that managing people is the key. PKM also had the essential element in place with Moore: The chief motivator of change in an entrepreneur-led company is the leadership.

"The willingness and desire to make personal changes themselves will radiate out in the business," says Peter Bregman, a corporate culture consultant and author of Point B: A Short Guide to Leading a Big Change. "A corporate culture is incredibly strongly linked to a leader's personality."

Change begins with asking what you want your company to do and what your company could be. The greatest skill that PKM has developed is its ability to harness the ideas and wisdom of its employees and apply them to that grand vision. "We've created a continuous feedback culture," says Debbie Sessions, a partner and COO who helped launch a program that trains employees in the art of feedback. "We're getting and giving new ideas on a daily basis."

We took a close look at PKM and at the most current research and thinking on corporate culture. We can't promise instant success. No one can. We can't give you the zeal to make it happen. You have to have that yourself. But we can give you the tools to create your own culture of excellence.

Make a Plan--and Stick With It
Pursuing excellence is unique for each company that reaches for it, but almost all of them have trouble figuring out if they're hitting their goals. Sometimes, even knowing what constitutes excellence can be a stumbling block.

Rick Maurer is an advocate of detailed benchmarking. Before starting a change initiative, some of which span many years, he advises sitting down and deciding what excellence looks like for your company. What does an excellent manufacturing process look like? What is good customer service? As your changes take hold, consult those benchmarks and see if your changes are moving you in the right direction. Here's how:

  • Create a master document. Spell out exactly what excellence means. Be as detailed as possible and set up reasonable timelines and benchmarks.
  • Survey your customers. Studies show long paper questionnaires are often ignored. Instead, pull aside a few customers and personally ask them two or three specific questions.
  • Get outside help. Whether it's a heavy-hitting consultant such as Gallup or McKinsey & Co. or a local management coach, they can help identify problems you can't see yourself.
  • Talk with the neighbors. Find some local businesses you hope to emulate and learn what they're doing right and use them as benchmarks to measure your progress.
  • Survey employees anonymously. One of PKM's secrets is an in-depth biannual employee survey that asks detailed questions. Creating a climate in which employees can express criticism without worry is essential. PKM also holds an NCAA bracket-style competition to get all employees thinking and innovating on one another's ideas. Besides leading to improvements on the technical side of the audit business, the game results in lots of small cost-saving changes, such as closing the offices between Christmas and New Year's.

Motivation
COO Debbie Sessions is in charge of employee engagement, the fine art of keeping the 85 people at PKM motivated and even excited when they come to work each morning. For her, engagement means creating a fun office atmosphere to counter the often stressful and technical workload and to promote a happy work/life balance, strategies that have been shown to increase productivity and employee loyalty.

"There's absolutely a financial benefit to employee engagement," she says. "Clients aren't happy if we have turnover, and it costs twice as much to train new associates every year."

Employers often think money is the key to motivating employees, but research shows it only works in the short term and other things keep employees happy and productive over the long run. "Our notion of recognition tends to be antiquated," says Bob Nelson, an incentive specialist and author of Keeping Up in a Down Economy. "In this new generation, flexibility and time are more important rewards."

Here is what he suggests:

  • Make days off, long lunches or customized work schedules rewards for meeting new goals.
  • Praise is difficult for many managers, but Nelson says acknowledging good work--face-to-face, via e-mail or in a newsletter--lets employees know they're on the right track and creates more loyalty than you think.
  • Office-wide rewards build teams and shake employees out of their ruts--and are usually cheaper than parties or cash bonuses. Think about a spa day or an afternoon baseball game.
  • Reward productivity, not long hours. Encourage employees to get their work done quickly.
  • Promote good health. Setting up a company gym membership or wellness plan, or even providing healthy snacks in the break room, can lead to more alert, engaged employees.
  • Promote a strong work/life balance. At PKM, the top management makes a point to leave the office at 5 p.m. and take time off for personal events.

Productivity
Developing a thoroughly engaged, motivated workforce is the surest route to productivity, but it takes time. So it's a good idea to aim for some quick boosts in the meantime.

The first one is simply stepping back: Micromanagement is a huge problem for entrepreneurs because of their strong personalities and personal stakes. "Entrepreneurs are often worried about revenues," consultant Bregman says. "So they start micromanaging. It can lead to personal conflicts, especially in small companies where the politics are much starker." That makes employees more likely to disengage and possibly even quit--and that's not productive.

You should also:

  • Explain every change. A streamlined workflow might make perfect sense to you, but don't assume your employees will get it. Schedule an in-depth meeting or training each time you alter your business. It will help alleviate fear and resistance.
  • Get people on board. Those new systems will be worthless if employees don't use them. One of PKM's most successful strategies is creating competitions. When the company recently switched from weekly to daily time tracking, it set up a contest: The team with the highest compliance rate after 10 weeks won a fully funded happy hour, and a drawing of top compliers had a $250 cash prize. The result: More than half the firm had 100 percent compliance within 10 weeks.
  • Give them freedom when it comes to the web. Employees who check personal e-mail, watch YouTube or peek at Facebook are almost 10 percent more productive than those whose access is blocked, mainly because the frequent, small breaks help them to regain their concentration.

Gear
Investing money and training in a few key pieces of equipment can help your office stay organized, reduce stress and get more work done. And in most offices, nothing is more key than its server.
A server, or at least a shared hard drive, should be what keeps people connected. Problem is, most people ignore the public space or clutter it with ancient documents.

"Unless there is a mandate from the top down, many employees save documents on their hard drives instead of the server," says Laura Leist, founder of Eliminate Chaos. "When they leave the organization those documents might be lost. Or, while they're still employed, other workers aren't aware that the projects exist." That means a lot of wasted or duplicated effort. Institute a uniform naming and filing system to help the company navigate what is often an under-used repository of information. Then consider:

  • Syncable calendars. They are found in most office software suites or can be used online free through Google. In one company Leist worked with, employees wasted hours every week walking office to office, scheduling meetings.
  • Instant messages. They speed the flow of information.
  • Meeting software. If you have employees in the field or in other cities, you can save travel expenses by using Go To Meeting, Skype or other new, affordable web conferencing software.
  • Paper management. A good document scanner to digitize files costs less than $1,000. If paper filing is a must, schedule regular times to clean out and organize filing.

Environment
Creating a culture in which people can do their best work sometimes means retooling the physical office. Here's what we know about making your headquarters productivity-friendly.

  • Provide quiet spaces. Creative thinkers often need solitude, so be sure there are enclosed offices or temporary spaces available where they can block out distractions.
  • Have informal gathering spots. Employers often see water-cooler chats and break-time conversations as wasted productivity, but they're actually some of the main conduits of office communication and innovation, especially between departments. Make sure there are spaces that encourage interoffice networking.
  • Keep employees comfortable. A controversial 2004 study showed that keeping an office at 77 degrees versus 68 degrees made employees 46 percent more productive. While the science might be questionable, the underlying idea is not. Comfortable employees are more productive.
  • Bring in an ergonomics consultant to help determine what each employee needs. It might be as simple as a better keyboard or adjusting a chair a couple of inches.

Three Steps to Take Now
Rick Maurer, author of the soon-to-be published Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Why 70% of All Changes FailÿFD--and What to Do About It, offers some key advice on engaging your employees in the pursuit of excellence.

  1. Some people will always be suspicious of change. Ignore them. If you put your attention on converting the 5 percent who aren't going along, you're missing opportunities with the other 95 percent.
  2. Employees need the same fire in their bellies as their leader when it comes to change. Hold meetings on implementing your plans and really let employees engage in the discussion. They need to walk out saying, "I contributed something."
  3. Give employees room to create change. They're often busy enough; when extra assignments add stress, they're more likely to fail. An employer needs to ask, "What support do you need to make this project happen? What can we take off your plate to help? What money or access do you need?" The leader needs the guts to say, "Spend 70 percent of your time on this project and let other things slide." Otherwise, change projects don't get done.

Jason Daley is a freelance writer based in Madison, Wis.

The Secrets of Successful Logos

Six Design Tips for Logos

By Kara Ohngren   |   December 9, 2010

The inspiration for the iconic blue bird that's come to represent San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. didn't come from the company's founders, or even a high-priced marketing firm. It came from the users. Soon after the 2006 launch of the micro-blogging site, people started referring to their individual messages as "tweets."

"The best thing we did was listen to how people were using the site and how they considered the brand," says co-founder Jack Dorsey.

Twitter's logo works well because it is "reflective of the community spirit behind the site," says Matt Mickiewicz, founder of the Melbourne, Australia-based crowdsourcing-design website 99designs Pty Ltd. "It's fantastic."

An effective logo, like Twitter's, should communicate the purpose of the business and the values that the brand represents. "A poor logo doesn't mean a business will fail, and a good logo doesn't mean it will succeed -- it just helps," Mickiewicz says. "Ultimately a good logo is something that people recognize instantly and relate to."

There are any number of ways to devise a logo, but it's essential that the end result is unique and accurately represents the business, says Cono Fusco, creative director at LogoMojo.com, a Deluxe Corp. online services firm.

Here's a look at how three small businesses came up with logos, when they were just starting out, that have become synonymous with their brands.

Twitter's Blue Bird

The original Twitter bird

The original Twitter bird

As the bird references caught on, the Twitter team opted to purchase the "Birdie" graphic from designer Simon Oxley who had uploaded it onto iStockphoto.com, an online stock library of royalty-free images for purchase. The bird has since gone through several iterations.

"We then built [the bird concept] into the marketing, logo and typeface itself," Dorsey says.

Twitter did make one branding mistake: purchasing stock photography. They don't have exclusive copyright ownership of the image, and the original designis still available on iStockphoto for anyone to purchase and use for about $10.

The Digital Chocolate Bar

Digital Chocolate

The current Digital Chocolate logo

People told Trip Hawkins that the logo he created for his mobile gaming company,Digital Chocolate, was too complicated, busy and colorful. Ten million gamers later, Hawkins begs to differ.

The multicolored logo is a candy bar embossed with the words "Digital Chocolate," and radio waves emanate from a bite out of the bar. "It illustrates that we make convenient internet games that have instant gratification, just like eating chocolate," says Hawkins, whose company is backed by $44 million in venture capital. "Our customers are really busy, and we're a bite-sized snack of fun."

The logo helps tell the company's story. What's more, it's colorful, easy to read from a distance and can be converted to black and white or resized without losing its luster, according to Fusco. But because it requires a four-color print job, Fusco says he wouldn't recommend the design to start-ups on a limited budget.

SmugMug's Smuggie

The current SmugMug logo

The current SmugMug logo

Sometimes the best logo ideas happen by whim. Like when Don MacAskill and his father Chris were developing a Mountain View, Calif.-based photo-sharing site, they couldn't decide on a company name. When several friends and family suggested "SmugMug," they worried that the name sounded negative and misleading.

"We didn't want people to think we were selling coffee mugs," MacAskill says.

But they decided SmugMug would work as a temporary name until they found something better. To allay his misgivings, MacAskill opened Adobe's image editing software Photoshop, typed a colon and the capital letter "D." He rotated the image to create a simple smiley face and tacked it on the end of the word SmugMug.

Low-Cost Design Alternatives

Crowdsourcing a logo through an online design-contest site can help keep costs low because business owners can name their own price. Usually, the higher the offer, the more options they'll have to choose from. Another alternative to hiring high-priced design firms are online graphic design companies such as LogoMojo, Logoworks by HP and The Logo Factory Inc. Their teams of professional designers can create multiple logos, typically for $200 to $600, depending on complexity.

"It took me less than 10 minutes to create the logo. I honestly thought it was going to be a throwaway," MacAskill says. But it stuck.

Eight years later, SmugMug has more than 50 employees and hundreds of thousands of customers. The SmugMug smiley face, known as "Smuggie," has developed a following.

"It's a little more polished now, but it's still the warm, friendly, accessible logo that our customers fell in love with," MacAskill says. "Our customers threaten revolt every time we talk about changing it."

Smuggie is an example of what designers call a "napkin" logo -- a concept quickly sketched out by its creator on a napkin during a business dinner or on the back of an envelope in a meeting. "These are created without pressure and are considered just an idea to work with to develop into the voice of the company -- or in this case, the face," Fusco says.

A problem common to logos created by those without design experience is that they try to say too much. Fusco says clients often send sketches, asking his design team to add more colors, funky fonts and too much detail. "In the end it looks too busy and doesn't speak to the target market," he says.

One reason Smuggie works, as good logos often do, is because it can represent the company even when the business name is removed.

As Smuggie's story and the others suggest, logo design doesn't adhere to a strict set of rules. But there are guidelines most designers try to follow. The creative team behind online logo design firm The Logo Factory offers these six tips for creating a company logo:

How to Work with a Logo Designer

Busy or design-challenged business owners often choose to work with a professional logo design firm, rather than go it alone. If you choose this route, consider these tips from Cono Fusco at LogoMojo.com for getting the most from a logo designer:
1. Meet with the design team in person or by phone. Such direct communication is best. E-mail-only contact usually won't cut it.
2. Don't try to be something you're not. Don't let a designer talk you into something you're uncomfortable with.
3. Be sure to get the master files so you can print the logo anywhere.
4. Negotiate a flat rate for alterations.

  • Don't worry about conveying exactly what the company does. A good logo can be adapted to whatever direction the company takes. Think about McDonald's golden arches or the Nike swoosh.
  • Size matters. A logo may be reproduced in a variety of sizes. Consider how the logo will look printed on everything from business cards to the fax header to ballpoint pens.
  • Proper ratios are vital. A logo usually won't be visually pleasing if it's tall and skinny or wide and short. A logo that approximates the proportions of a typical business card is generally more adaptable to working in other artwork. Designers call this the "golden mean."
  • Consider the target market. A logo is meant to appeal to customers and should be created with them in mind.
  • Seek instant impact. You have only a few seconds to grab customers' attention. Make sure your logo stands out in a cluttered marketplace by having something that's unlike your competitors'.
  • Once it's finalized, don't change it. Small occasional tweaks are fine, but once you've developed your logo, it's best to keep it. Brand recognition takes time.

10 Essential Leadership Models

from Great Leadership by Dan McCarthy

First I would like to thank Dan for providing us an excellent summary of all the key leadership models in such simple understandable language.. Am sharing the same with myself and other readers…

While there have been thousands of books written about leadership, there are a handful of leadership models that have served me well as a leader and leadership development practitioner. These are the tried and true models that have shifted my thinking about leadership and help create teachable leadership moments for others. Mind you, I’m not a scholar, so the models I favor tend to be simple, practical, and I have to had seen evidence that they are effective.
Here are 10 leadership models that I believe any leader or aspiring leader should be familiar with (Kudos to Mind Tools for supplying many of the summaries in the links, and to Vou):
1. Situational Leadership.
Developed by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey, it’s a timeless classic. If I could only teach one model to a new manager, it might be this one. It’s all about adapting your leadership style to the developmental needs, or “maturity level”, of your employees. It’s easy to understand and can be used on a daily basis. Your only dilemma will be which version to choose: Hersey or Blanchard? I say Blanchard, but that’s because they follow @Great Leadership. (-:
2. Servant Leadership.
A philosophy and practice of leadership developed by Robert K. Greenleaf. The underlying premise here is that it’s less about you as a leader and all about taking care of those around you. It’s a noble and honorable way to lead and conduct your life.
3. Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid.
OK, so it’s really more of a management model, but it’s another timeless classic. Explained by a nice, simple 2x2 grid, it’s all about balancing your concern for people and your concerns for getting things done (tasks). You gotta love those 4x4 grids!
4. Emotional Intelligence.
While Daniel Goleman’s book popularized EQ, his HBR article “What Makes a Leader?” does a great job explaining why the “soft stuff” is so essential to be an effective leader.
5. Kouzes and Posner’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.
K&P do a nice job breaking leadership down into five practices: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. I’ve always liked the Leadership Practices Inventory 360 degree assessment that supports the model.
6. Jim’s Collin’s Level Five Leadership.
First published in a 2001 Harvard Business Review article, and then in the book, "From Good to Great, Collin’s leadership model describes kind of a hierarchy of leadership capabilities, with level 5 being a mix of humility and will.
7. The Diamond Model of Leadership.
Although not as widely known as Collin’s Level Five model, my colleague Jim Clawson actually wrote the book Level Three Leadership two years earlier than the Collin’s HBR article. Jim introduced the Diamond Model, which describes four elements of leadership: yourself, others, task, and organization.
8. Six Leadership Passages.
Charan, Drotter, and Noel did a nice job explaining six key developmental passages a leader can advance through in thier book The Leadership Pipeline, along with the skills required to be successful for each passage. I actually came up with my own six passages, in which I made a distinction between management and leadership.
9. Authentic Leadership.
I’ve only recently become a fan of Bill George’s work (True North), and it’s made a difference in how I think about leadership and leadership development. Instead of trying to find and copy the prefect set of leadership characteristics, George argues that you’re better off figuring out who you are and what’s important to you, and leading in a way that’s true to yourself.
10. The GROW model.
Widely attributed to Sir John Whittmore (although it’s not certain who really came up with it), GROW stands for goal, reality, obstacles, options, and way, will, or what’s next, depending on which version you use. It’s really more of a coaching model than a leadership model. However, it’s an essential tool for leaders and one of the easiest to understand and effective coaching models I’ve come across.
How about you? What leadership model has served you the best? Please include a link to a summary of the model, and no shameless self-promotions allowed - except for my own. (-: