Posts by ParaComm

FOCUSING QUESTIONS FOR CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT <p >To whom (in what situation) are you committed to provide coaching? Be specific. What opening/possibility do you see? What breakdown do you see given a commitment to a possibility? What is missing in terms of the competence of who you are committed to coach? What assessments do you make…

WHAT IS EMPOWERMENT? <p >To be empowered means that I am responsible for my commitments in the Organization. It means I have the competency or capacity to take action or have others take action appropriate to fulfilling whatever I am intending to accomplish. This does not mean I am able to do everything personally, or…

Reprinted from The Economist Global ExecutiveSeptember 5, 2003 The executive looking for training this autumn faces something of a dilemma. On the one hand, managing can look particularly difficult in an uncertain recovery, especially as global businesses prove more vulnerable to all sorts of political and economic setbacks. On the other, many companies are still in…

Innovation is one of those words that we all use, agree is a positivething and for the most part want more of. The term “innovationâ€like the word “leadershipâ€, however, seems to defy generallyaccepted understanding. Most of us lack a shared interpretationof what we mean or what we are observing when we use the terms.Moreover, we…

Respect is one of the values that we hear talked about a lotin organizations. Respect is a word that always evokes a positiveconversation — “yes, respect is very important, wevalue respect, and we need to be more respectful and so forthâ€.The problem has been that almost no one really thinks about orunderstands what it means…

There is a lot of talk in the Public Service about leadership.We say we need it. The question we don’t ask, however, is“who is responsible for leadership?†Moreover, if westop and reflect, we recognize that leaders don’t lead withoutthe commitment of those who follow and that uncommitted followerscan destroy any leader no matter how talented…

American managers aren’t going to shake their bad habits until they quit denying that they’re addicted to the old management. American managers in the late 1980s have a certain way of interpreting the job of managing, a way so ingrained and habitual that on the whole we don’t realize it’s an interpretation—not until we look…

Click to view entire Managing by Commitments by Donald N. Sull article.

Click to view entire Managing for Breakthroughs in Productivity by Alan L. Scherr article.

Click to view entire The Power of Words by Harriet Rubin article.