Articles

The Culture Method: Measure and Change Culture: Finding Alignment In Vision, People and Results
- I’ve often heard executives attribute success to the people in an organization, but, done right, it’s actually the culture that can be a company’s most valuable asset. That was evident at athenahealth, a high-tech healthcare company, during my decade there. Then-CEO Jonathan Bush often reminded the employees, as athena took steps toward going public, that the company’s teaching and learning culture was irreplaceable.
  
  It was clear that he and the visionary executive team (including co-founder Todd Park, People powerhouse Amy Pooser, and others) were deeply committed to building a strategic and intentional culture. But as the company grew..[Keep reading this article!]
Make Your Goals Both SMART and Audacious: Thinking ‘Big’ to Grow…and ‘Specific’ to Succeed
- My teenage daughter stopped me mid-sentence. It was January and I was talking through my goals. But she wasn’t having it. “Those goals need to be SMART,” she said, and went on to decrypt: “Specific, Measurable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.” I looked at my list. Maybe I could—
  “Oh,” she added, “and Achievable.”
  “What?” I yelped.
  “Then some of my goals won’t even make it on here! Do I just throw this list away?”
  I was having a little crisis of faith. After all, I understand the need for SMART goals. But this time, I wanted to capture something bigger. After all, as much as I believe in specificity and achievability, I also believe in the power of dreams. Big dreams…[Keep reading this article!]
Know Those Stakeholders: Do Your Employees Know Where and How to Invest Their Time?
- Career development is a crucial part of internal growth for any organization. Whether your company promotes from within, brings in new ideas and expects them to be adopted, or both, forward progress requires employees who are able and willing to develop their careers.
  
  But they can’t do it without developing their relationships. And that’s not always easy.
  
  Because the hardest thing about business isn’t business problems…it’s people problems.
  
  Of course, we already know that investing in relationships is the challenge and opportunity for most of us. But the question is: which relationships? [Keep reading this article!]