Leadership and Management Concepts

Low Cost-High Yield Tools

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:08:00 GMT

Oftentimes, when business leaders attempt to implement process improvement initiatives, they are overwhelmed by the associated costs. They often think that in order to successfully implement a change program or process/performance improvement program they must build unique software applications to revamp how they do business. The costs associated with requirements generation, application development, testing, and deployment can be overwhelming. The thought of these costs may be enough to cause business leaders to avoid seeking out performance or process improvement initiatives. Before spending enormous costs on the development of custom applications, business managers may simply look at what tools are readily available first.

There are many applications that are readily available which can help them reduce costs, reduce product development time, and improve performance. Many spreadsheet applications that are already used on a daily basis contain powerful calculation and analysis tools. Before managers get discouraged about potential costs of application development they may want to consider what they are already using to see if they can be used in a different manner to help improve productivity.

Best Regards,

Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC

Streamlined Communication

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:56:00 GMT

Hello,

How many times do leaders and managers ask their employees to conduct research, which involves contacting other individuals or business units, but also conduct the same research themselves? For example, Manager A asks Supervisor B to determine production goals for the following month. While Supervisor B is researching this information, Manager A either asks someone else to do the same research and/or conducts the research himself/herself. This can be a very frustrating process, but it does happen. This is frustrating for the employee conducting the research as well as the business units and personnel involved with providing the answers.

Oftentimes managers don't feel confident in their employees' abilities and therefore find the answers themselves. This can cause inefficiencies within organizations. When this happens, the business units and personnel involved must answer the same questions twice, which may slow down progress. Additionally, this type of situation can be very frustrating for the employee doing the research because he or she may feel that management lacks trust in the company staff or employees.

Another problem with this type of situation is that it does not empower employees to seek out increased responsibilities and it causes leaders and managers to spend time doing what their employees can do for them. Effective leaders often know how to delegate tasks and responsibilities, which may help to foster and cultivate future leaders within the organization.

Best Regards,

Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC
"Situational Awareness for Effective Business Leadership" sm
www.adaptiveleadershipsystems.com

Our Products / Business Management Software:
www.adaptiveleadershipsystems.net

Disaster Preparedness and Leadership

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:40:00 GMT

Hello,

A sometimes overlooked subject is a leader's professional relationship with his or her employees. Oftentimes we as leaders and managers get so wrapped up with our day-to-day tasks and long-term planning that we forget to think about our employees and the fact that most of them do have a life outside of work. Whether it's with family or friends, community relations, or sports activities, most employees do have responsibilities outside of the workplace. One important time to consider this is during hurricane season.

Whether it is a hurricane approaching the gulf coast or wildfires sweeping across the west, when a natural disaster is approaching employees may need time to tend to their personal responsibilities. If leaders are not aware of this fact they may miss out on an opportunity to help ensure the well-being of their employees. For some leaders this simply may mean not making employees stay late at work. There are times when critical work deadlines are approaching and employees may have to work late, but by having a plan in place and understanding that employees may need time to prepare and protect themselves from natural disaster may in the long run help businesses to function more effectively.

Best Regards,

Training Subordinates

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:50:00 GMT

Hello,

How often do busy business owners or managers search for the perfect employees and when they finally find them, they don't take the time to properly train them? Oftentimes we become so wrapped up in running our businesses or departments that we don't take the time to properly train our new employees. Instead, we may assume that they will learn by osmosis. On the job training does have its place in today's organizations, but if we want our employees to learn quickly it may be beneficial to have some type of training plan or curriculum in place to make their transition faster.

Training can be accomplished by creating short tutorials that help qualified employees take their prior education or experience and put it to use in the new business environment. Many employees' skill sets today can be applied to many different businesses, but they must understand the specific business to successfully apply these skills. By taking the time to prepare employees may pay off in the long run.

Best Regards,

Lessons Learned and Lessons Learned Databases

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:40:00 GMT

Hello,

One effective way leaders and managers can improve their organizations is to learn from their past successes and failures. By recording these successes and failures, they can learn and reuse some of the previous techniques and processes. By maintaining a database to tap into leaders and managers may be able to improve their organizations. One organization that has developed a product to track lessons-learned is Secutor Solutions, LLC. More information on the company's products and services can be found at www.secutorsolutions.com .

Best Regards,

Simple, Low-Cost Solutions for Increasing Productivity and Efficiency, Reducing Costs, and Boosting Profits

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:27:00 GMT

Many times business owners and managers seek out new technology with the hope that it will help improve their business' effectiveness and boost productivity and profits. They often spend a lot of money, but ultimately they end up with technology that is difficult to understand and adds more time to their employees' job functions. In most companies there are easy-to-reach solutions that are right in front of us, but we just have to realize what they are. Here are some suggestions for business leaders that may help them to find ways to increase productivity and efficiency.

Use the Tools You already Have Access To: Many times business leaders already have technology they can use in a different way that will solve problems. For example, many of us already use MS Excel to perform business management functions, but there are a lot of untapped areas in Excel that a lot of people don't know about. From sales tracking and chart presentation to calculations Excel has many functions that business managers can utilize to improve their company's effectiveness.

Office Layout: Oftentimes work spaces are set up without a lot of thought towards functionality and efficiency. Computers, printers, and desks are sometimes organized according to what seems logical, but in fact, many times a little reorganization can save time and boost productivity. Managers can consider moving printers closer to desks where the work is performed. Alternatively, printers could be moved to a central location so employees each have the same approximate distance to travel to get to the printer. This may seem trivial, but in businesses where a lot of printing takes place throughout the day this could potentially save time and increase efficiency.

Electronic Storage: Oftentimes businesses produce a lot of wasted paper. How many times do we print documents and file them, when an electronic copy could have sufficed. Provided businesses have adequate electronic backup storage devices, and documents are in fact backed up, by saving electronic copies rather than printed copies could save businesses a great deal of money.

Process Steps: Business leaders and managers may want to examine the steps within their business processes to determine if there is any waste that could be cut out. By reducing process steps, tasks completion times may be cut, which could help to improve productivity.

Employee Input for Improvement: Managers may want to receive input from their employees. Oftentimes employees know how processes can be improved and they may have ideas for cost-savings. However, if management doesn't get them involved, these ideas may never be implemented. Companies that provide an atmosphere of collaboration and idea-sharing may realize that there are untapped areas for improvement.

Today we are experiencing some challenging economic times and finding ways to improve efficiency and increase productivity may help to offset rising costs. Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC has created an automated tool called the Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC Manager's Information Center (MIC). The MIC is an automated tool designed in MS Excel that helps business owners, managers, and leaders to track sales, income, expenses, and profit/loss. Additionally, it helps determine the effectiveness of marketing and advertising techniques. Users only need to know how to enter data into cells within MS Excel. The program does the rest, displaying managers with a useful "Dashboard-Style" display of how their business is doing. Please visit our website or call us to learn more. Whether you use on of our tools or any of the techniques mentioned here, by exploring ways to increase efficiency and productivity may help to improve business effectiveness.

Best Regards,

Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC
"Situational Awareness for Effective Business Leadership" sm
www.adaptiveleadershipsystems.com

Our Products / Business Management Software:
www.adaptiveleadershipsystems.net

Removing Repetitive Steps from Your Processes

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:44:00 GMT

Hello,

I wanted to take a moment to discuss the idea of processes and how many times we create repetitive steps within our processes. Oftentimes when processes are created, they are built with good intentions and a fairly well-conceived plan. However, when we initially design processes, they may be a prototype process that needs to be refined. Sometimes processes are changed or new processes are built upon older processes and organizations end up performing steps twice. For example, pilots deal with multiple processes, from preflighting an aircraft, to starting motors, to flying an instrument approach to an airport. Each of these processes has multiple steps and many times there are repeat steps within the processes. These steps are often built in for redundancy and safety and are necessary, but how many of our business processes have repeat steps just because someone has not taken them out.

In business processes there may not be a need to have the same step listed twice. Organizations can use teams that use the processes to make them better. A team can examine their current processes and look for areas that are repetitive, redundant, or wasteful. By finding ways to streamline their processes and reduce waste companies may be able to increase their productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. This may ultimately have an improved effect on your organization's bottom line.

Best Regards,

Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC

"Situational Awareness for Effective Business Leadership" sm

www.adaptiveleadershipsystems.com

Our Products / Business Management Software:
www.adaptiveleadershipsystems.net

Leadership and Integrity

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:21:00 GMT

Hello,

Many leaders and managers are well-trained and have a great deal of experience in their fields. One critical quality that affects how effective leaders and managers are is integrity. Integrity may mean different things to different people, but overall it may be conceptualized by thinking of it as the act of being truthful and honest, and sticking to one's word. Leaders and managers may have plenty of integrity, but it may help their credibility if they consider how their employees view their level of integrity. Oftentimes leaders and managers with the highest levels of integrity must make unpopular decisions. The decisions may be for the overall good of the company or the customer, but to employees it may appear that the leadership staff's integrity is in question.

Leaders and managers should strive to make the right decisions and to be honest and consistent. If they are truthful and honest with their employees it may help their credibility with employees, even when making unpopular decisions. By explaining to employees and team members why decisions are made and by not hiding the truth, it may help leaders and managers gain leverage with those who matter.

In the Marine Corps it is often discussed that Officers exist in the Marine Corps to support their enlisted Marines. Without Marines there would be no need for Officers. While Marine Corps Officers are involved in high-level planning and decisionmaking, one of their main duties is to take care of their junior Marines. A high level of integrity, including setting the example, is required of them to gain credibility with their subordinate Marines. This type of honesty and leadership can be emulated by leaders and managers of many organizations and it may help to improve organizational effectiveness.

Best Regards,

Change Management Simplified

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Hello,

How often have we as leaders and managers had an idea for improving our organization, but due to recurring tasks we could never seem to find the time to refine the idea and implement the changes? Oftentimes in modern organizations the staff is so thin that employees perform multiple tasks and have very little time to devote to anything new. Leaders and managers often find themselves bogged down with their daily and recurring tasks. When they are not performing these normal, recurring duties they are "fighting fires", or managing the pop-up crisis of the day. This seems to be the norm for many companies, but it may pay big dividends if leaders and managers can make some time for organizational improvement.

One method may be to simply set aside an hour per day to get away from the phones and email to brainstorm and refine ideas for future implementation. Leaders and managers may be able to let their assistant answer the phone for a short period of time while they put their ideas on paper. This may be an iterative process with short steps taken until the idea is refined and ready for implementation, but it may be an effective way to balance creativity and business process improvement with recurring tasks and the typical "crisis management" that many managers get bogged down in.

Best Regards,

Employee Feedback for Lean Six Sigma Process Improvement Initiatives

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:10:00 GMT

Lean Six Sigma programs may be helpful to define and fix problems within processes and may also be used to help reduce waste within an organization. Ultimately, by reducing waste and improving efficiency, expenses are reduced which leads to increased profits. Most companies are interested in improving their bottom line, and Lean Six Sigma programs may be useful in defining improvement areas for increasing profits. One method for helping with Lean Six Sigma efforts is to gain feedback from employees. Employees use the processes that are put in place by management staff and they are typically the ones who know how these processes may be improved.

Six Sigma initiatives often use the abbreviation DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. This abbreviation helps to drive the process improvement efforts. Employee feedback may be used during all stages of this process to help company leadership find and implement improvement areas. The following sections will describe ways employee feedback may be used to measure organizational effectiveness, analyze current processes and procedural effectiveness, and improve the company overall.

Define: Process improvement programs should begin with a definition of the problem or problems to be solved. Leadership and management staff generally have a good idea of problem areas within their organizations. Defining the problems to be solved helps to narrow the focus of the improvement efforts. A narrow focus will help to guide the overall analysis.

Measure: During process improvement initiatives it is necessary to determine areas of measurement so data can be collected for analysis. This data collection and measurement is a building block for improvement. Employees often possess measurable information which can be collected and used as data points for process improvement initiatives. By allowing employees to participate in anonymous surveys on organizational effectiveness and measuring their answers on a numeric scale, a company begins to develop data points for analysis. These data points can be fed into statistical analysis software to show how well a company is performing. These data points may be used in developing illuminating charts and graphs that can help company leadership to see a "map" of how well their company is doing. This improved situational awareness may help them to gain insight into how the company may be improved.

Analyze: As discussed above, once data is collected it may be placed into powerful statistical analysis tools to develop data points for analysis. The data should provide a snapshot of how well the employees think the organization is performing. Anonymous feedback tools, such as written or online surveys can provide the means to collect this data. By asking employees pertinent questions about the company provides them with the opportunity give anonymous feedback in measurable ways. Once the data is collected it can be graphed on a numeric scale to show the organizational leadership how well the company is doing. If the majority of employee feedback shows low numbers in certain measured areas, then the leadership and management staff may now have insight into areas that may need to be fixed. Oftentimes process improvement initiatives look for data that already exists, such as numbers of trouble calls, delay times in production, shipping errors, etc., but they may not account for measuring employee feedback. This powerful process can provide measurable data that can be analyzed, with the results being fed into improvement efforts.

Improve: After the data from the employee feedback process is measured and analyzed, company leadership and management staff may begin to determine areas within the organization that can be improved. They may not have even realized that a problem existed, but by allowing employees to anonymously provide open and honest feedback they may have found unrealized improvement areas that can reduce waste and increase profits.

Control: Once the improvements have been implemented it is necessary to control the improvements to help ensure they remain in place and that they are long-lasting. One way improvements can be controlled is to conduct the exact same survey several months later. If the improvements were successful, the respondents' answers should show improvement. If there are still weak areas, it may mean that improvement efforts were not as effective as planned.

What areas should be analyzed? Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC has developed an Organizational Effectiveness Analysis Tool, which essentially completes step 1 of the DMAIC process (Define). We have defined 5 core areas which we think apply to most (if not all) organizations. These areas are: Communications, Processes, Systems Approach to Operations, Commitment to Excellence, and Values. Our analysis tools capture information from a company's employees, analyze and interpret the results and present actionable information to the organizational leaders. Our products may be used as an integral part of a Lean/Six Sigma program. To find out more about Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC, or to contact us, please visit our website or email our customer support staff. Thank you.

Systems Organization for Customer Support

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:23:00 GMT

I wanted to share a story about a recent experience where an organization had outstanding customer support in one area, but was somewhat lacking in a systems approach to operations. A family recently spent some time at a family-type resort, which included many different types of activities for all ages. The resort offered outstanding as well as a myriad of activities to keep everyone entertained. The family booked accommodations through the reservations department over the phone. They were thrilled to find out that they could purchase lodging and activities through one phone number for a combined price.

The accommodations at the resort were beautiful and the customer service was outstanding. When they arrived at the resort they received paper vouchers for the activities they had purchased. They were told they could not lose the paper vouchers or they would have to repurchase the activity passes. One question comes to mind: why there wasn't a central Information Systems that could keep track of the purchases. After participating in some of the activities they decided to cancel certain activities they had signed up for. When trying to get a refund for the unused activities they were told that since they had received paper vouchers the activity office could not issue a refund. The refund would have to come from a different part of the resort, which made things more complicated.

This might be an example of an outstanding organization, but one that has certain divisions that are out of sync with each other. When an organization does not operate like a system, with each part interacting with the others for the greater efficiency of the overall system, breakdowns in effectiveness and productivity may occur. When one area of an organization operates with different policies and does not have fluid communication with other departments customer support may suffer. This may not always be detrimental to an organization, but improved efficiency may help to increase revenue throughout an organization, which may also be seen as a way of reducing waste. Ultimately this may help to improve profits.

Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC helps organizations to find areas of improvement within their companies. One area we review is a "Systems Approach to Operations." This area of analysis helps to determine how effectively different departments, divisions, or business units operate together for the greater effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of the overall organization. Optimized interaction between departments, divisions, and/or business units may help to create a more productive organization with an improved bottom line.

Best Regards,

Improvement Through Speed

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:46:00 GMT

How many times have you or someone in your company had a great idea, but after staffing the idea through the company it faded away? Many times great ideas become watered down and changed during the process of staffing them throughout the organization prior to implementation. Staffing is a proper part of business leadership, but many times it takes a very long time and during the process new ideas lose momentum. Perhaps consideration could be given to coming up with a new idea and asking the organizational leadership to allow the idea to be at least partially implemented as a way to test its feasibility. This may result in immediate benefits to your organization.

Best Regards,

Wraith Systems, LLC

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Wraith Systems, LLC is a small, veteran-owned business that specializes in the manufacturing, distribution, and integration of hardware components for flight representative desktop pilot training. The management staff is highly innovative and is well-poised in the F-35 Lightning II program. Capitalizing on this experience, combined with a background in Marine Corps and Naval Aviation, the company is combining experience and skill with innovative ideas and gaming technology for improved pilot training. The company's website is: www.wraithllc.com . If you are interested in an innovative company with solid core values, please take a moment to view the company's website.

Best Regards,

Plan of Actions and Milestones (POA&M)

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:59:00 GMT

A Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) is a document which explains tasks that must be accomplished and milestones, or decision gates, which must be reached prior to proceeding to the next steps. A POA&M is a helpful document for leaders
and managers of many types of organization because it helps them gain situational awareness on the actions that must take place to achieve a successful project. A Plan of Actions and Milestones may be helpful for project managers and business
leaders to keep their projects or tasks on schedule while helping to ensure they don’t miss critical steps.

When creating a POA&M it is necessary to set goals. Goals determine if the project will be successful. It also gives managers an idea where efforts should be focused to achieve a desired end-state. After the goals are determined and
the management staff has decided what they want the project to achieve, they can then begin determining the steps, or actions required to achieve the project goals. These activities should be written down in order so all employees involved
understand the actions which must take place and when they should occur. When establishing the activities it may be helpful to get subject matter experts involved to help provide a realistic timetable for activity accomplishment. Once the activities are defined, decision gates, called “milestones” should be created.

Milestones are points along the timeline which require decisions to be made and often contain predefined criteria for passage beyond the milestone. If the predetermined requirements have not been completed, typically the next phase of the project is not started. The milestones are helpful because they help to force project planners, administrators, and managers to ensure all activities are completed in order to proceed to the next step. This helps to ensure the integrity of the project so that once the project is considered complete, everyone involved knows that all activities have been accomplished and validated
and that the final deliverable product or service has been developed using a careful plan with enough management and subject matter expert oversight.

Best Regards,

Making Small Business “Leaner” in a Time of Increased Fiscal Constraints

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 04:32:00 GMT

Let’s face it… With the rising price of gasoline most businesses are probably beginning to feel the pain. Whether
it is affecting your daily commute, or the prices you pay your suppliers, who may be transferring their costs onto
you, the result is increased expenses. This affects your bottom line. Unless you can increase sales linearly with
these increased expenses the result may be lower profits. One way to combat the rising prices is to gain more
efficiency within your business.

Increased efficiency can be gained through several ways. One method of increasing efficiency is to gather information
from employees, partners, and even customers. Even a small business can benefit from information gathering techniques.
Oftentimes leaders and managers (including small business owners) can get very focused on a few areas within their
organizations and don’t clearly see opportunities for improvement. Employees, customers, and partners/suppliers can a
ssist by providing leaders and managers with needed information that can help them make decisions. Many times the best
way to do this is through an anonymous process. Why? Employees sometimes don’t want to seem like they are giving bad news to their employers, or they may be fearful of retribution. Anonymous feedback may allow them to feel protected to a certain degree.

Although many managers can be very savvy and in touch with their current state of operations, there may be information
their employees know that could help improve the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness. By hiring an outside
consulting agency to conduct organizational analysis through an automated system, small business owners and managers
may help to provide employees with a comfort level which will allow them to answer questions openly and honestly. This
type of survey may also be used in addition to a value stream analysis effort to help find areas to improve efficiency,
which could help the organization save money in a time of increased fiscal constraints.

Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC focuses on organizational analysis through the use of automated tools. We provide
our clients with tools that allow their employees to provide open and honest feedback. The end-state is actionable
information that clients can use to implement improvement efforts within their companies. For more information,
please visit our site at: www.adaptiveleadershipsystems.com or contact us at: customersupport@adaptiveleadershipsystems.com

Best Regards,

Adapting Crew Resource Management ( CRM ) for Business

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:23:00 GMT

Crew Resource Management (CRM) is a program that was developed by commercial air carriers and adopted by U.S. military aviation agencies to help crews work more effectively, efficiently and safely. As time has progressed CRM has been refined with one if its goals being to reduce the rate of aviation mishaps. CRM has a lot of potential benefits for non-aviation organizations and the principles within CRM for multi-crew aircraft can be applied to organizational leadership. Some of the fundamental attributes effective leaders possess are embodied in CRM concepts.

1. Situational Awareness. This is the cornerstone of Adaptive Leadership System’s approach to organizational analysis. The term Situational Awareness, or SA, can have multiple definitions, but one way of describing it is the degree to which one’s perception of reality matches up with reality and being aware of what is happening at the present time, but what may also happen in the future. This means that a business leader with high SA is highly in tune with his or her organization and that this perception is very close to what is happening in the real world. Someone with low SA has a perception that is out of synch with what is really happening with his or her organization. SA can be improved through multiple ways. One potentially very effective way is for business leaders to listen to their teams and employees. Oftentimes those people doing the majority of the “grunt work” are the most aware of the current status of the organization, the external market, and customer satisfaction. Another method is for leaders to create simulation and scenarios. Just like pilots and aircrew work in flight simulators, getting exposed to multiple emergency situations to test their abilities, decision-making and Situational Awareness, business leaders can also various organizational scenarios simulated to help them make decisions and learn from their mistakes.

2. Be Adaptive. Effective leaders should learn to adapt to changing situations and make new decisions based on market changes or new information. In aviation, pilots must constantly reevaluate their environment and systems, including internal systems in the aircraft such as engines, Flight Management Systems and even their crewmembers, and external systems, such as weather and Air Traffic Control. When anything changes within any of these systems they must plan and react appropriately. A parallel can be made with organizations. Each organization is comprised of internal and external systems. Leaders and managers should be able to manager their time to evaluate and reevaluate these systems. They should use available assets to help them understand these systems and to know when new planning must take place. Rigidness and inflexibility can make for disaster in business. Leaders should be adaptive and understand when a change is necessary.

3. Functional Leadership. Functional leadership may be defined as allowing a subject matter expert take temporary control of a task or project to help designated leaders and managers to make an informed decision. In aviation, an example could be a flight attendant taking handling an unruly passenger. In that situation the flight attendant is the functional leader temporarily and helps the pilots understand what actions must be taken. In business a functional leader may be a financial analyst giving input into a new product design. The functional leader’s input may be used to help team leaders to make business decisions.

4. Decision-Making. Leaders at all levels should be able to make decisions. They should be able to take in all the information available to them, including input from team members, synthesize that information and come up with a sound decision. As leaders and managers gain more experience oftentimes decisions can be made based on past successes and failures, combined with current information. Oftentimes this experiential decision-making is intuitive and other times it is deliberate. It may be helpful for leaders to explain to their teams that one of the inputs for a decision is past experience. Ultimately, employees are going to look their leaders and managers to make a decision. Leaders of organizations should not be afraid to make a decision and they should use available inputs and confidently decide on a course of action.

5. Communication. This may seem very simple, but I think it is worth stating this: communication involves a sender, a message, a receiver and feedback. It can be verbal or non-verbal. Effective leaders know how to communicate with their employees and how to elicit feedback from them to ensure the message was communicated clearly and understood. In aviation pilots have checklists that utilize a challenge and reply system, where one pilot reads the checklist and the other pilot either verifies or performs a specific action. After completion of the action is verified a reply is given to the checklist item. This ensures proper feedback. Effective leaders should ensure they get their messages across and determine if they were received and properly understood.

6. Confidence. When team leaders make decisions they should make them with confidence. This can be done by ensuring as much information as possible is gathered prior to making the decision. Leaders should be assertive in their decisions and should remain this way unless there is some information that refutes their position. It is easier to be confident about a decision when the facts are known and most of the ambiguity is eliminated. Leaders will most likely present themselves as more competent if they seem confident in their abilities and decisions.

7. Planning. Leaders should analyze their tasks before making decisions and taking action. Planning is an important aspect of team leadership. Prior to choosing courses of action a sufficient amount of planning should be conducted to avoid making the wrong decisions and/or doing tasks more than once to correct mistakes. If insufficient time is allocated towards planning and if decisions are made too early employees and team members, as well as team leaders may have to do their jobs twice. This may be due to inaccurate information at the time of the decision. Sometimes decisions are time-critical and need to be made immediately. The same methodical decision-making system may be useable in these situations, but the steps may have to be abbreviated to arrive at a proper course of action in time to meet the deadline.

I have listed some of the aspects of Crew Resource Management used by aviators and adapted them for this article to cover how this concept can be applied to business. It is not all inclusive, but it gives a short overview of how some lessons can be taken from pilots to help business leaders and managers be more effective. This may help to produce more effective team effectiveness and success within organizations.

Best Regards,

Operational Risk Management (ORM)

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:41:00 GMT

Hello,

As leaders and managers we are often responsible for risk management within our departments or entire organizations. Operational Risk Management (ORM) is a process developed by the U.S. military for identifying risks and determining ways to reduce risks to an acceptable level. Typically, military ORM programs are primarily concerned with increasing safety and reducing injuries to personnel or damage to equipment. Any organization which conducts high-risk operations should have a solid Operational Risk Management program. However, even organizations that don't seem to involve high-risk activities may consider integrating an ORM program into their business. For example, a computer manufacturing company that utilizes its own trucking transportation systems may have an Operational Risk Management program in place to reduce the risks of their drivers getting hurt.

Operational Risk Management can be adapted for most types of businesses. Rather than evaluating hazards and threats in terms of safety, they could be assessed in terms of risk to revenue (potential loss) or market share. These are just some examples. I have included a link below to a blog that focuses on Operational Risk Management from a business perspective and there are multiple posts on the subject located on that site. ORM is a sound process which can be incorporated into most businesses and it has the potential to offer many benefits.

http://operationalrisk.blogspot.com/

Best Regards,

Organizational Analysis

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 10:52:00 GMT

Hello,

One of Adaptive Leadership Systems, LLC's core competencies is organizational analysis. We have developed a system for examining several core areas of an organization to determine the current status of its operational effectiveness. The core areas which we focus on are: Communications, Processes, Systems Approach to Operations, Commitment to Excellence and Values. Our goal is to assist business leaders with determining how well their perception of their business actually mirrors reality. In aviation terms this is referred to as "Situational Awareness", or the degree to which one's perception of reality mirrors reality. High Situational Awareness means that a business leader is highly in tune with how well his or her company is doing. In my signature line you will often see the slogan "Situational Awareness for Effective Business Leadership."sm. This is because our intent is to help business leaders increase the degree to which their perception of their organization mirrors what is really going on.

Oftentimes we, as leaders and managers, have a different perspective on how well our organization is doing compared to how it is really doing. This can happen due to multiple factors. One reason is that employees may sometimes want to shield their leadership and management team from "bad news" with the hopes they can fix it before things get worse. Other times leaders and managers project an attitude which intimidates employees. By being open-minded leaders and managers can have an organizational analysis conducted and get anonymous feedback from their employees to achieve a better understanding of how their organization is actually doing. Oftentimes the people with the true picture of an organization's effectiveness are those doing the majority of the work. By gathering their opinions and feedback leaders and managers have the potential of improving their organization's effectiveness and efficiency.

Best Regards,

Book Review-"Managing the Unexpected" by Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:47:00 GMT

Hello,

In 2006 I had the opportunity to attend the Bombardier/Learjet Safety Standdown, which was also sponsored by the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). This was a conference for aviation and business professionals with the intent of discussing and improving multiple aspects of aviation safety. While at the conference I attended a presentation on High Reliability Organizations (HRO's) given by Kathleen Sutcliffe, whose career fields include organizational behavior, human resources and organizational performance.

At the conference Ms. Sutcliffe discussed the subject of High Reliability Organizations, which are organizations that have a tendency to excel due to their approach to several key factors. HRO's and the factors which help ensure their success are explained in detail in her book "Managing the Unexpected", which was co-authored by Karl E. Weick. This book is worth the time to read it, as Mr. Weick and Ms. Sutcliffe do a superb job at describing the characteristics of HRO's and what makes them succeed.

The authors describe HRO's as organizations which have a preoccupation for managing unexpected events. These organizations tend to build modes of thinking and analysis which cause them to be mindful of the potential for failures. The examples they use for several HRO's are nuclear powerplants, aircraft carriers and wildfire crews, but they point out that the way HRO's approach unexpected problems can be a useful benchmark for many organizations to help them to become ready for unexpected events. Most businesses have faced events that leaders and mangers were not able to predict. Additionally, in most organizations we, as leaders and mangers, will most likely face events that seem to sneak up on us. The events may not be catastrophic, but unforeseen changes in supply or demand, competition, technology or internal changes within an organization can cause business leaders to react and require them to come up with solutions to these unexpected changes. This book can help organizational leaders to develop ways of critical thinking to better prepare them for unexpected events.

I think this book is worth reading and is something leaders and managers can put in their "toolkit" to give them a perspective on how some organizations approach problem solving. I have included a link below if you would like more information on the book or to purchase the book.

Best Regards,

Process Versus Flexibility

AdaptiveLeadershipSystemsLLC — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:05:00 GMT

Adherence to defined and repeatable processes is critical to many businesses, especially those which do the same tasks repeatedly. Highly refined processes can serve to optimize product effectiveness and also allow training teams to teach new employees how to peform certain tasks well. Process development and improvement should be a part of all organizations. If we are not careful, though, we may take adherence to processes too far and actually stifle flexibility, ultimately bogging us down.

Leaders and managers should strive to strike a balance between flexibility and adherence to processes. Additionally, they must be aware that processes are rarely left alone and may require adjustment in a constant effort to improve them. If we get so focused on a proven process we may not be able to solve problems if circumstances reduce the process effectiveness. In today's dynamic environment leaders and managers must have the flexibility to shift gears and attack problems from a different angle if required. This may require us to put our old processes on hold, or at least to examine the prospects of changing the processes and our current ways of conducting operations.

Leaders should strive to learn about process improvement, but should also learn ways to incorporate innovative thinking into their modes of management. Fleixible leaders are better able to respond to rapidly changing situations, either internal to their organizations or based on market conditions. Flexibility, combined with solid process development and improvement methodologies may help today's leaders stay ahead of industry trends.

Best Regards,