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5 Reasons Tenure Kills Culture

October 16, 2011 in Productivity, Talent Management with 0 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

If your organization confuses loyalty with tenure there is trouble on the horizon. Put simply, tenure kills productivity, and ultimately tenure kills culture. If your business rates tenure higher than performance as a measure for employee evaluation, it’s time for you to consider updating your talent management practices. So, what’s wrong with tenure you ask? In principle very little; but in practice virtually everything. Think of any organization that has mediocre talent, where management has frustrated you with consistent under-performance, or where cavalier attitudes and a sense of entitlement overshadow a focus on productivity & performance, and I’ll show you an organization that embraces tenure…

This is a preview of 5 Reasons Tenure Kills Culture. Read the full post (750 words, 1 image, estimated 3:00 mins reading time)


 

Training Isn’t Dead – But it Should Be

September 29, 2011 in Leadership, Rants, Talent Management, Uncategorized with 75 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

In the text that follows I’m going to poke holes in a process generally accepted as productive, when it rarely is. I’ll likely take some heat over this, and while this post works off some broad generalizations, in my experience having worked with literally thousands of leaders, they are largely true. More than $60 Billion dollars is spent each year in the U.S. on employee training. More than 25% of those dollars are spent on “Leadership Training.” Here’s the thing – when it comes to leadership, the training industry has been broken for years. You don’t train leaders you develop them – a subtle yet important distinction lost on many. Leadership training is alive and well, but it should have died long, long ago…

This is a preview of Training Isn’t Dead – But it Should Be. Read the full post (557 words, 1 image, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)


 

10 Steps to Creating a Talent Advantage

August 29, 2011 in Leadership, Miscellaneous, Talent Management with 5 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Creating a talent advantage begins with smart hiring. That said, it never ceases to amaze me at the number of people who are charged with hiring who possess absolutely no skill at doing so. While I rarely meet a CEO who is completely comfortable with how HR administers the hiring process, most of them still seem to accept the status quo…”Who should do the hiring?” is a question more CEOs should spend time pondering. Here’s the thing; Anyone can make a hire, but not all hires are good hires. Smart leaders do more than just hire smart people – they have a smart hiring process and/or methodology. In today’s post I’ll share my philosophy on the best way to insure you hire tier-one talent.

This is a preview of 10 Steps to Creating a Talent Advantage. Read the full post (1650 words, 1 image, estimated 6:36 mins reading time)


 

The Downside of Passion

August 17, 2011 in Leadership, Talent Management with 38 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Review any list of positive leadership traits and “passion” will undoubtedly rank near the top – rightly so. In most cases passion is an asset capable of carrying you through tough times, sharpening your perspective, revealing purpose, and helping you succeed in the face of overwhelming odds. You’ll find no shortage of content describing the positive attributes of passion, but few that examine the downside of passion, and trust me, there is a downside. On more than a few occasions I’ve witnessed passion run amok resulting in untold harm. Virtually any positive trait when taken to extremes, misunderstood and/or misapplied can quickly become a liability. So, in today’s post I’ll examine the downside of unbridled passion…

This is a preview of The Downside of Passion. Read the full post (770 words, 1 image, estimated 3:05 mins reading time)


 

Leadership & Toxic Work Environments

July 18, 2011 in Crisis Management, Leadership, Talent Management with 16 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

I have read a tremendous amount of information over the last several months on the topic of toxic work environments. While these articles tended to stir the pot a bit, they were in my opinion mostly missing the mark. The articles should have been written on the topic of poor leadership. Toxic work environments can only exist where a lack of trust and respect are present, and this can only occur in the absence of sound leadership. Let me be as clear as I can - the phrase ”toxic work environment” is code for bad leadership, becasue a toxic culture simply cannot co-exist in the presence of great leadership. In the text that follows you’ll find the truth about toxic cultures…

This is a preview of Leadership & Toxic Work Environments. Read the full post (562 words, 1 image, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)


 

Leadership and White Space

May 10, 2011 in Leadership, Productivity, Talent Management with 20 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

I don’t care how busy you are, but I do care about what you accomplish – the former doesn’t always lead to the latter. Busy leaders are a dime a dozen, but highly productive leaders are not so common. One of the easiest things for leaders to do is to bite off more than they can chew. Fact: bright, talented executives with a bias to action will often take on more than they should. These leaders don’t understand the value of white space. The reality is that maximizing results and creating a certainty of execution is all about focus, focus and more focus…Here’s the thing – it’s difficult to focus in the middle of chaos. One of the hardest things for leaders to do is to learn to create white space.

This is a preview of Leadership and White Space. Read the full post (914 words, 1 image, estimated 3:39 mins reading time)


 

The Problem With Key Employees

April 4, 2011 in Rants, Talent Management with 12 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth 

What is a key employee, and who is worthy of such a title? Much has been written on the subject of  key employees, and in my opinion most of it flat misses the mark. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that what most people refer to as key employees are not really assets, but rather large contingent liabilities. If you allow your organization to be held hostage by those employees who feel like they are indispensable, you are only exacerbating the problem. I’m not disputing the need to retain talent and reduce turnover, but I am vehemently disputing the conventional wisdom of how most businesses address the risk of managing key employees. In today’s post I’ll give you a fresh perspective on the age old dilemma of how to deal with key employees… 

This is a preview of The Problem With Key Employees. Read the full post (490 words, 1 image, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)


 

Leadership Challenge

March 28, 2011 in Leadership, Talent Management with 9 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

What if you could improve your leadership effectiveness in only 5 days? No really – what if? What if there were no costs, no strings attached, no hidden agendas, no complex curriculum, but just a simple set of instructions for you to follow over the next 5 days that will change your world as a leader? Well, I have a 5 day leadership challenge for you which will do just exactly that – You in?

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Leadership and Knowledge Management

February 23, 2011 in Leadership, Operations & Strategy, Talent Management with 20 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

It’s one thing to possess knowledge, but it’s quite another thing to leverage it. Leaders who don’t understand the value of distributable and actionable knowledge not only limit opportunities, but they’re also building huge contingent operating liabilities. One of great challenges for any leader is to break down cultural tendencies that foster silo-centric thought patterns. Savvy leaders understand that controlling knowledge diminishes value, while releasing knowledge creates value.  In the text that follows I’ll share 3 tips that will help leaders become successful in the efficient and effective distribution of  knowledge across the enterprise.   

This is a preview of Leadership and Knowledge Management. Read the full post (802 words, 1 image, estimated 3:12 mins reading time)


 

Generational Leadership

February 18, 2011 in Leadership, Talent Management with 9 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

A leader’s biggest struggle is not the routine of the familiar, but the journey of the unknown. It’s getting from where they are to where they want to be strategically, tactically, organizationally, developmentally, and most importantly relationally.  It’s been said that the best way to impact your future is to change your present circumstances.  And quite frankly, I can’t think of a better place to ignite that change than by helping you to gain a better understanding of how to connect with what IS the future – the younger generation – the next generation of leaders. In today’s post I’ll share some thoughts on how to reap the benefits of cross generational leadership.

This is a preview of Generational Leadership. Read the full post (968 words, 1 image, estimated 3:52 mins reading time)


 
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