Thought Leadership from Ben Baran Ph.D., top management consultant in Ohio, educator, speaker. Expert in high reliability organizations, organizational agility, leadership training based on military, leadership methodologies, human resource strategy, human resource management, latest science on human resources.
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On Nov. 1, 2018, about 450 people from manufacturing, education, the public sector, and other organizations at the intersection of workforce matters and the manufacturing industry met in Columbus, Ohio, at the Ohio Manufacturers’ Workforce Summit 2018.
Read MoreThe future of human resources (HR) lies at the intersection of strategy, data analytics, design thinking, and a new set of practices and mindsets ushered in by the world of agile methods and organizational agility writ large.
And the time is ripe for HR professionals to have the bandwidth necessary to devote themselves to such matters. Numerous HR services—particularly those that are
Read MoreI’ve seen it in almost every work-related team—both those in which I’ve been a member, and those I’ve coached or led.
It’s a blind spot that we all have. It’s a big lie we all tell ourselves.
It makes us feel good, secure, worthy. It’s psychologically soothing; it’s comfortable.
Read MoreMaking the leap from active-duty military service to successful civilian employment is hard.
I know. I did it in 2005.
Despite my best efforts, I ended up in a dead-end outside sales job for which I was unprepared and in which my employer left me to sink or swim.
Read MoreI teach a “managerial skills development” course, in which I attempt to share research-based insights on what it takes to be a good manager of people.
I recently changed one aspect of the course by highlighting important concepts—or “keys” to being a good manager. In most class sessions, I introduced anywhere from five to nine such keys. By the end of the semester, I had 102 “Keys to Being a Good Manager.”
Read MorePeople who have power without oversight are likely to abuse it. Such has been the case throughout history. Not all people in power are abusive or unethical, yet power itself increases the probability for wrongdoing.
Recent examples include Harvey Weinstein, whose reportedly habitual repugnant, criminal behavior against women is—appropriately—shocking.
Read MoreIt’s not just you; it’s not just me. The acronym VUCA is more popular than ever.
According to Google Trends, interest in the term is at an all-time high, following a distinct trend upward in the past several years.
Like many ideas, however, VUCA as a framework for understanding turbulence in one’s environment wasn’t an overnight sensation. The acronym—which stands for
Read MoreRescue and recovery efforts related to Hurricane Harvey, which struck the Texas coast on Aug. 26, are likely testing the ability of numerous organizations to coordinate or collaborate effectively.
People within all of these organizations—including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security, the National Guard, state and local law enforcement, the fire service, and many others—have undoubtedly been working around the clock to help those in need. Like those professionals whom I’ve had the pleasure to know in these and similar areas of public service, these people are selfless, hardworking, and well-intentioned.
With any massive event like this, however, there are
Read MoreWhen I heard about the collision involving USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) on June 17, 2017, my heart sank. For me and other Navy veterans who have served aboard ships like Fitzgerald, the feeling is rather personal—we’ve driven ships, we’ve been in situations that are tough to navigate, and we can imagine fairly closely the moments before and after a collision.
Then, only about two months after Fitzgerald, came the news that USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) collided with a vessel on Aug. 21 near the Strait of Malacca. Because it connects the Pacific and Indian Oceans, it’s a high-traffic area, one that puts many large ships within relatively close proximity of each other. Of the many tough waters in the world to traverse, this one is somewhere near the top of the list.
My heart—and, I’m sure, the hearts of many others—sank again.
First, of course, I think of those killed and injured. My thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.
Second, I wonder:
Why?
What happened?
Myriad explanations abound, and
Read MoreExciting changes in the world of human resources (HR) abound. As noted by Stephen Barley (University of California Santa Barbara), Beth Bechky, and Frances Milliken (both of New York University) in their recent article in Academy of Management Discoveries,
“Few people would deny that the nature of work and employment has changed over the last four decades, not only in the United States but in many countries worldwide. Moreover, the nature of work is likely to continue to change as we move further into the 21st century.”
Such changes make HR work continually dynamic, with evolving practices with regard to new technologies, the increasing prevalence of contingent workers, and more. Barley and his coauthors also mention the rise of artificial intelligence and the rise of project-based work as fundamental shifts that will influence careers and even how people think about themselves in relation to their organizations and society.
These changes alone are enough to keep HR leaders and other executives up at night.
Yet I wonder
Read MoreOne of the many interesting things about leading a team or an organization is that it inherently involves being a social deviant.
Left to their own devices, most teams and organizations tend to follow the path of least resistance, with members generally figuring out what’s expected and doing that—but not much more. That would be fine if we lived in a static world, one in which change was rare.
But we don’t.
Change is ever-present, and our teams and organizations must continually evolve. Otherwise, they become irrelevant, even obsolete. And I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we can all recognize those moments in which other people—leaders—have pushed us to do and become more than we thought was possible.
Read MoreIf you haven’t worked in the military or alongside the military as part of a larger operation, you may think that the danger of being in a warzone or the importance of the overall mission may supersede the political games people often play in organizations.
I wish that were true.
I was part of NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A) from December 2012 to December 2013. I quickly learned upon my arrival was that NTM-A comprised myriad types of people
Read MoreI worry about many companies that are starting to use scrum for project management or product development.
I worry not because scrum doesn’t work. It surely can, and when done right, it can be a highly invigorating and effective process for all involved.
I worry about companies that are starting to use scrum for two reasons:
Read MoreA healthy awareness of death is good. The back of my house overlooks a cemetery, and I’m grateful for this continual reminder of my eventual resting place.
Death is, of course, inevitable. So too, apparently, are taxes. A handful of men—including Benjamin Franklin and Daniel Defoe—wrote about the permanence and certainty of these two largely unpleasant parts of life a few hundred years ago.
And while reminding myself that I’ll die someday helps me prioritize my remaining life, and while reminding myself that taxes must be paid helps me stay on the right side of the law, there’s another saying that I find even more useful as I grow older.
Read MoreAs I write this, I have the urge to check Facebook and LinkedIn. I feel the need to see if there’s anything new in the news. I want to minimize the page upon which I’m typing and look for new e-mail.
I also know that such satisfying those desires, in a way, is a drug that’s killing purposeful thinking and thoughtful action for millions of leaders around the world.
And it’s only getting worse, with intentional efforts to make these distractions ever more addictive increasing daily. Web sites need faithful eyeballs to boost their revenue.
Yet I argue that leaders must practice distraction-free existence, even if just for a short time every day. One way to do this is
Read MoreRecently, I had the wonderful opportunity to engage with hundreds of people from around the world as part of a webcast titled, "What Everyone in HR Needs to Know About Change." The Human Capital Institute (HCI) hosted the webcast, and afterward, HCI gave me the recorded version so that I could share it with people who weren't able to join the live presentation.
Here it is--enjoy.
Read MoreModels for planning and executing organizational change abound—for example, Kotter’s eight steps, among many others. These models are helpful in highlighting many of the critical aspects of organizational change, and I highly recommend immersing yourself in them.
That being said, I find that such models often deal more with planned organizational change than with unplanned or continuous organizational change.
And in an increasingly turbulent world, it’s important for human resources (HR) professionals and the HR function overall to
Read MoreThe pressure to conform is tremendous. It starts before we can walk.
Be nice.
Share.
See what your brother is doing? He’s doing a good job. Be like him.
As Yusuf Islam, better known by his former stage name of Cat Stevens, once sang, “From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen.”
And that’s just at home. We then, very quickly,
Read MoreI spend a fair amount of time around the human resources (HR) profession. Sometimes, that’s in the form of consulting and problem-solving alongside HR leaders; other times it’s through research or teaching graduate students. I’m also an HR officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and I maintain my HR certifications like thousands of other HR people.
But I’m often critical of HR. That’s not at all because I think HR people aren’t doing good work; rather, I think every profession should be critical of itself in an attempt to improve continually and stay relevant. We should all be on the lookout for how we can get better at what we do and how we do it.
In particular for HR, I see two areas in which HR could improve substantially.
Read MoreThe Alabama Crimson Tide lost on Monday evening, giving the Clemson Tigers their first national college football championship in 35 years.
But within the world of American college football, it’s undeniable that the University of Alabama’s football program—under head coach Nick Saban—is a powerhouse.
So despite the fact that Crimson Tide fans everywhere are in a state of mourning this week, there’s an interesting lesson to be learned from how Alabama has adapted its approach to the game of football during the past five years. It’s a lesson in
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