Strategies are of little value if they are not implemented effectively.  But implementation is difficult in an already busy schedule.   Unless each follower can see where they fit and what they need to contribute; the chances of a strategy being effectively implemented are low.  The key is to explicitly show each follower what they need to do, when and with whom.  This may sound impossible, but I will tell you how it can be done.   Firstly let’s consider some of the workplace dynamics that work against implementing a strategy: There is not enough time to d... [More]

Most people will agree that collaboration occurs between people, but current management methods (such as project management) focus on tasks with people as resources. Yet the workplace norm is people centric collaboration where people create team networks to do work.  Unlike social networks, team networks exist to achieve business goals. In social networks people tend to interact with people they are related to or like. However in a business, people need to interact with the people who can contribute to their business goals. Every task has a team of stakeholders that in... [More]

A common question asked by leaders is “How can I overcome blockages that reduce the likelihood that my goals will be achieved?”  In most cases, these blockages are caused by people who don’t know they need to do something or don’t understand the importance of something they need to do. The irony of these blockages is that the people causing them want to do a good job and don’t want to waste their time and effort.  So they look to leaders to provide context, keep them informed and provide clear direction. In the 20th century, many layers of managers h... [More]

The best leaders make it easy for people to follow them. People follow leaders who provide clear direction by making it easy to know what is happening, and what they need to do, when and with whom. Leaders need people to work together to achieve business goals. In the past, web and mobile technology was not a significant tool for leaders. However advances in web and mobile technology can now make it significantly easier to provide the direction and feedback followers need, in close to real-time, from anywhere, at any time. Consequently it is expected that leaders who embrace n... [More]

In the 20th century, management was largely handled by managers and supervisors who communicated with the people doing the work. In most cases, workers were responsible for managing their own time to get work done. Near the end of the 20th century, globalization, developments in technology and outsourcing caused managers to start looking for management solutions that can operate both within and beyond their organization. At lot of solutions were proposed, but most were incremental improvements to existing management practices. At the start of the 21st century, technological advance... [More]

In 21st century management, two of the greatest challenges are matching peoples’ skills and availability to the work being done, and keeping work flowing productively. For people to be productive and happy, they need a steady flow of relevant work that matches their skills and how they want to work. In the 20th century, managers usually had a team of people to complete work. Work teams were generally collocated and the manager matched team members’ skills and availability to get work done. Usually if a skill was missing one of the team members would cover the gap, a... [More]

Managing your time at work is often a challenge.  Me2Team automatically delivers the information you need to make the best use of your time.  Plus Me2Team lets you share tasks and ToDo's with other people, so you always know what is happening, has happened or is planned to happen around you.Few people will disagree that effective work time management gets more work done with a lot less stress.  The core of most personal time management solutions is creating a ToDo list and keeping it current. However working out what work is relevant to you and what you ... [More]

Know what is happening, know what to do Over many years of consulting and research in the workplace, I have found that one of a manager’s greatest needs is to “know what is actually happening”, whereas the greatest need for people doing work is to “know what to do”. Managers need to know what is happening so they can: ·         stay in control ·             report to senior management or the board ·      &... [More]

Keeping work organized is a major challenge. There is a strong relationship between the effectiveness of work organization and productivity; so better organization usually improves ROI. People do work, so work organization is largely about how people are organized and most importantly, how people organize themselves. Gone are the days, when managers were able to organize every action that each person is doing.  People are more dispersed, changes are more frequent, and there are less managers and supervisors. So the only way forward, seems to be to make it easier for peo... [More]

I have found the greatest weakness of most planning is that a plan is made initially but not kept up to date. Usually planning is done before all the information about the work is clear, so the plan becomes less relevant as time goes on. To stay relevant, a plan needs to constantly be checked and updated as the situation changes and better information becomes available. To get your work done with a minimum of time, effort and stress, the work needs to be planned and managed to completion. Most importantly, plans need to be easily updated until they are completed, so they match ... [More]