I was recently doing some research on organizational strategy and came across the website of Sherry Schiller, an internationally acclaimed organizational strategist and expert on managing change (www.schillercenter.org).  For over 30 years, she has been helping leaders across the globe build organizations where people work with purpose and harmony.  She’s concluded that the hierarchical, industrial organizational model of American businesses, nonprofits, and public sector organizations would no longer work in the coming years, and would need to be replaced by more interactive, dynamic organization systems.

Here are a few excerpts that … read more

I recently had to make a pitch to a perspective client on our capabilities. I felt we were positioned well to win the business: good past performance, shared corporate values, and a genuine interest in seeing this organization succeed. Out of character for us, and for some strange reason, I focused my presentation on why we where qualified to compete for the business and everything I could say about us.

The long and short of it is that we were not awarded the contract. To make it worse, we were told that we lost it because it seemed … read more

Can effective internal communications be a leading indicator of financial performance?  According to the 2005/2006 Watson Wyatt Communications ROI Study™ it absolutely can be.

Watson Wyatt Communications, a global consulting firm focused on human capital and financial management, demonstrated the correlation between effective communications, organizational turnover and financial performance.  In 2007, the Watson Wyatt Communication ROI Study™ confirmed earlier findings and went a step further by showing that effective communications is a leading indicator of an organization’s financial performance.

Key findings for the Study included:*

• Shareholder returns for organizations with the most effective … read more
  

Does your corporate culture represent your brand? Corporate culture is a very broad term and can be interpreted in several ways. The corporate culture of an organization includes the values, beliefs, principles, business operations and business strategies that make a business unique, and establish its character.

This corporate culture is not only a way of business internally, but also a foundation for how a company operates with its clients and prospects. Just as children often adopt the habits – good and bad – of their parents, a corporation’s employees will adopt the work habits, ethics … read more

A great quote from a Coca-Cola executive on the power of branding (found at www.designcouncil.org.uk/thepowerofbranding ):

“If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its production-related assets in a disaster, the company would survive.  By contrast, if all consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coke, the company would go out of business.”

The strongest and most meaningful brands, like Coca-Cola, exist in the minds of customers and stakeholders.  Of course, brands aren’t limited to the food and beverage category.  If a brand is a set … read more