Managing people
6 Ways to Reenergize a Depleted Team (via HBR)
- Initiate purpose-driven career conversations
- Create team rituals that foster mutual care and belonging
- Help build a portfolio of diverse relationships (i.e., not just their peers)
- Model being okay with not being okay
- Swap productivity paranoia for helpful prioritization
- Watch for signs of flourishing and intervene when it’s waning
Mental health
How to Respond When an Employee Shares a Mental Health Challenge (via HBR)
- You are not their therapist; know what’s in your ability to help with.
- Be prepared for vulnerable conversations.
- Set and protect boundaries.
- Showing up is the most important thing.
Operations
What Really Makes Toyota’s Production System Resilient (via HBR)
- Lean doesn’t mean zero inventory; bottlenecks and lead times are always considered for safety stock
- Multiple suppliers are a source of resiliency
- Supplier relations are built on trust rather than competing for the lowest price; by compensating properly and focusing on building relationships, both parties win
- The system is always learning and flexing where needed
- The Toyota Production System (TPS) is a way of thinking and working together — it’s culture
Values
What Does Your Company Really Stand For? (via HBR)
- Values are the ends you pursue; beliefs are how you get there. (Ex: Two people can value creativity. One prefers quiet contemplation (belief), and the other prefers interaction.)
- You can improve/change beliefs, but values are more fixed.
- Beware of “values as magic” — if you repeat them enough times, people will believe them.
- Steps to ensure the values of your employees align with the vision
- Identify the individual values of all the organization members.
- Get top management to identify priorities from strategy.
- Look for values candidates that serve strategy and individuals.
- Assess the values candidates. Include people broadly to share their voice. Idea: pair values and ask people to identify which one is more true/useful.
- Edit the top-ranking candidates to generate a final set of values.
Time management
When — and How — to Say No to Extra Work (via HBR)
- “While an increase in scope can temporarily boost individual commitment and performance, in the long-term it can lead to burnout and hurt the organization’s results as a whole.”
- Decline if your job responsibilities will suffer
- Decline if it’s truly someone else’s job
- Decline if there’s no end defined
- Decline if it’s an unreasonable request