September Management Journey Carnival

Welcome to the September 2012 edition of the Management Journey Carnival. It’s back to school and this holds true for this month’s Carnival as well. This month thought leaders share their wisdom on customer service, innovation, team building, sales, email management, self awareness, social business, communication, knowledge management, entrepreneurship, and other topics. Let’s begin with an older post that is helpful in understanding what it takes to foster corporate innovation.

An Oldie But Goodie

What separates the great innovation organizations from the good ones? This is the question Gordon Hui of Co.Design raises in his article, 4 Ways To Keep Great Ideas From Getting Stuck In The Pipeline. As he explains, simply put, it’s the ability to account for the pipeline paradox. Innovative leaders begin with the end in mind, know how to set up a pilot activity, obtain short term profits, and are great at designing ideas. — Innovation

Featured Podcast

Featured Podcast

So, you’ve taken seriously the fact that continuous improvement definitely applies to one’s management and leadership skills! You’re also emotionally-intelligent enough to admit that you could have done some things better as a manager. In fact, you can honestly say that you are improving your management skills.  As you watch how others continue to interact with you, however, you wonder, Do They Even Notice You’ve Changed. This podcast comes from the Center for Creative Leadership and it provides four strategies for changing this dynamic. — Development

Articles

Featured Articles

Words can inspire employees to embrace a shared vision. They can also frustrate employees and undermine organizational productivity. In her article, Conscious Leaders Use Wisdom Words, Wendy Appel explains on her blog why business leaders should not use creative euphemisms  and clever words of spin to communicate with their employees. — Communication

You know you have to be at your best to lead your team.  You do not have the option of not performing up to par.  How can you maintain your own productivity?  As Geil Browning of Inc explains, in her article, 10 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Brain While You Work, you should go to Africa—literally or figuratively. — Productivity

Creating an environment that fosters employee motivation takes work. As Michael Cardus of Create Learning | Team Building Blog explains in his article, If You Value Something You Are Motivated To Pursue It.  As he explains, step one to creating a high performing team is to determine why they are here. — Team Building

You cannot have leadership without a vision. Leaders must be able to paint a picture of a desirable future so organizational stakeholders can see where they are to go. Visit some organizations and it becomes clear that the vision has become dim.  In his article, 5 Rules For Making Your Vision Stick, Craig Chappelow of Fast Company, explains how leaders can effectively communicate their vision. — Leadership

Different sales leaders have different strategies for achieving results through their teams. Despite these differences, there are some characteristics that successful sales leaders have in common. Steve Eungblut of Sterling Chase | Solutions for Business Growth discusses 10 traits of great sales leaders in his article, What Makes a Great Sales Leader? — Sales

There’s a revolution going on in business that is radically changing the power relationship between companies and customers. It’s called social business and it is dictating how businesses deliver their services to their customers. In her article, Social Business – 3 Questions to Ask NOW, Anna Farmery of the Engaging Brand discusses the importance of developing a partnership with customers. — Social Business

Problem solving!  It might as well be another term for management.  Managers continually face obstacles in the workplace that they see as problems.  But are all obstacles problems? As Denise Green of Brilliance Inc explains in her article, Overcoming Obstacles, it is all about one’s perspective.  One person will see an obstacle as a problem, others may see it as an opportunity. — Problem Solving

Employees like to follow confident leaders. The determination and certainty these leaders bring give employees a security that the goals and objectives of the business are worthy to achieve.  Leaders need more than confidence however.  They also need humility as Karin Hurt of Let’s Grow Leaders explains in her article, Humility Matters: 9 Ways Confident Leaders Remain Humble. — Leadership

Is being “too smart” a problem? It is when the manager does not have the self awareness to understand his limitations and his impact on others! In her article, Why Being Smart is Over-Rated, Joan Kofodimos of Teleos Consulting explains why and how some super smart managers fail their organizations. As she demonstrates, there are pitfalls in managerial intelligence – and in the over-valuing of managerial intelligence.— Self Awareness

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