Years ago, as a senior consultant in a blue chip consultancy, I witnessed one of the most revealing conversations between my firm’s senior partner and our client, the SVP of HR for a high profile aerospace manufacturer. My firm was billing the client roughly $11M a year. The client was in complete disarray, with a … Read More
Transactional vs. Relational Leadership – Which is Best?
Fans of the multiple Emmy award-winning television series The West Wing enjoy a deep and accurate insight into the dynamics and impact of different leadership styles. At one moment the fictitious President Bartlett will be building common ground and consensus with foreign or domestic leaders — the next moment he and his staff will be … Read More
The Triple Threat
For over forty years the NFL single-season scoring record was held by a triple-threat player, Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer Paul Hornung. Hornung set a record of 176 points in 1960 by scoring fifteen touchdowns, kicking forty-one extra points, and also kicking fifteen field goals. Green Bay’s opponents feared Hornung, and for good reason. … Read More
Will Your Response to the 2020 Crisis Fail?
While on a scrum call, one of our sales people posed this question: Does the 50-70% failure rate of change programs reported by McKinsey apply to change efforts in response to the pandemic? Although it may be too early to tell if the failure rate will be similar, we did a little deductive reasoning to … Read More
Leadership Development: Beyond the Pandemic – What are Your High Potential Talent Really Thinking?
Interviews over the past three months with senior HR managers and corporate leaders about their experience with the pandemic so far have revealed some surprising insights. Not just about the benefits (and challenges) of working from home, but also about how employees’ attitudes and motivation have changed. One high potential leader we recently interviewed remarked … Read More
Restructuring a Toxic Organization: What to Expect
We mentioned in a previous article that toxic individuals are infectious. Such employees focus on means rather than ends, promote drama over performance, and create significant drag on an organization. Moreover, they recruit others and shift the cultural norm. When this happens, restructuring is essential — but it will be resisted. Predictable Resistance to Restructuring … Read More
How Do I Know My Organization is Toxic?
A few toxic employees can start a movement that, if left unchecked, can derail your organization. The toxic behavior of a few employees can poison the culture; their numbers can swell and shift the focus of conversation from performance to cohesion. Ultimately, it marginalizes the true performers, causing them to question themselves and their own judgment. How … Read More
The Who and How to Operate in a Post Pandemic World
On May 15, McKinsey & Company published an article, “Reimagining the post-pandemic organization.” Widely regarded as a global thought leader, and somewhat guiding light for consulting firms in general, many organizations eagerly waited for a strategic announcement from them regarding what to do next. About a month earlier, on April 17, Psynet Group discussed its … Read More
The Order of Change
Psynet Group is often brought into a company to help change it so that it can improve performance or address new opportunities and challenges. What becomes crucial in our work together is to understand if the need is to improve the mechanism to express the company’s current identity (first order change) or to align the … Read More