Span of Control

Recently we tackled an organizational design project. This particular project, like most, included determining the appropriate organizational shape.

Organizational shape is exactly what it sounds like – if you're looking at an org chart. People talk about flat organizations, tall organizations, etc. A flat organization is one that has a lot of direct reports for every manager, and a tall one has fewer. If you're staring at an org chart, you can see the difference in the “shape” of the chart, a rough triangle with the head of the organization at the top.

The number of direct reports a manager has is that manager's span of control.

Division of labor

If you've worked with a performance improvement consultant (nod to Geary Rummler, founder of the Performance Design Lab, may he rest in peace) or anyone in the organizational design field, you've probably taken a very close look at how work gets done in the organization.  Here's a term you might come across in one of those conversations:  division of labor.

Talent Assessments

Walking down the sidewalk this afternoon in a bustling city, I overheard a group of professionals having an interesting conversation. A woman in the group was talking about a personality assessment she was being required to take by her manager. She was appalled.

“Why do I have to take a personality assessment? It’s the work that I do that’s important, not how I do it!” She went on to share her concerns that this was probably the first step towards her termination, and that she’s been a top performer relative to her peers. There was a lot of nodding & sympathy all around.

Talent Assessments

Walking down the sidewalk this afternoon in a bustling city, I overheard a group of professionals having an interesting conversation. A woman in the group was talking about a personality assessment she was being required to take by her manager. She was appalled.

“Why do I have to take a personality assessment? It's the work that I do that's important, not how I do it!” She went on to share her concerns that this was probably the first step towards her termination, and that she's been a top performer relative to her peers. There was a lot of nodding & sympathy all around.

Small Ball

Small Ball

Recently an executive leading a newly integrated business said she was not interested in playing “small ball.”  On several occasions, almost always as a response to a question of why his initiatives were so big / controversial / sweeping, former President George W. Bush said he didn’t like to play “small ball.”

Small ball is a baseball term, a reference to getting several base hits, playing it safe, and marching players towards home plate in a methodical, low-risk fashion.  The idea is that you don’t swing for the fences, because you might miss and never get to base at all.  Better instead to swing to just get on base – not to score.

If you have 100 innings to play, a 100-run lead, and a strong pitching staff, it’s easy to play small ball.  There is time, and the law of averages is on your side.Small ball is playing not to lose.

Foreclosures: what you need to know (a re-post from 2007)

This is a piece I had published in December 2007.  As the pundits and reporters spin us out of the Great Recession, I thought it might be interesting to look back at my thoughts from a couple of years ago - as the pundits were spinning us into the Second Great Depression.  Enjoy. :)

-Bryan

Foreclosures: what you need to know

Bryan Seaford©2007

Things we learn by age two

Some friends of mine and I were talking the other day about human development, and how quickly we learn. As I thought more about how we develop – and when we develop, my thoughts turned to a time not too long ago when my son had just turned two years old. By that age, so much has already been learned.