Leadership Done Right

Brandon W. Jones

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10 Steps To Make Effective Change

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What Does It Take To Make Effective Change?

As a leader, effective change is probably a very common part of your vocabulary.  “Improve this process to make work go more smoothly.”  “Implement this new procedure to comply with the new regulation.”  “Let’s adjust our focus to improve the profit margin.”  “Improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the organization.”  The topic of creating effective change comes up on a regular basis and is disguised by many different words.Make Effective Change Happen

As a leader, it is very common to want to make sweeping changes and make them happen NOW, but it is not always possible.  There tends to be resistance to change because it causes people to go out of their comfort zone.  Effective change requires that people do something new that is unfamiliar or unknown.  People many times are afraid that when the changes occur they won’t be able to perform as well as they do in their current position and it will put their jobs in jeopardy.  They can also be afraid that change will eliminate the need for their position.  These fears are very valid in many cases and cause a tremendous amount of anxiety when people hear the word change.

So what does it take to implement an effective change?  Is it even possible?  Yes it is possible to implement effective change! The steps below explain how it can be done.

1. Identify the problem or reason for change.

Before you can make any effective change, you must have a full understanding of what is currently happening.  Why were the current practices chosen in the past and how were they effective?  Also, why are they needing to be changed and how will the proposed change be an improvement?

You should know both the good and the bad of what is currently happening.  Once you identify both, you should identify specifically what needs to be improved and why.  The worst thing you can do is change something just for the sake of changing it.

If you don’t have a full understanding of the current process, you will probably have a very hard time betting the buy-in of others.  On the other hand, when you have a full understanding of the existing process you will be able to explain very specifically why the existing process doesn’t work and why your changes will fix or improve it. [Read more…] about 10 Steps To Make Effective Change

Advance Your Qualifications To Become A Better Leader

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Within many industries there are different certifications, licenses or other qualifications that give you the right to practice or work within that profession. For most, if not all, of those qualifications there are exams you must take and pass. The exams are very difficult because they cover all materials within that specific discipline.

Professional Exams

In order to pass the exams, most people are required to study long hours to gain a full understanding of the material. Some of the disciplines that have these types of exams are engineering (Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam and Professional Engineering (PE) Exam), accounting (Certified Public Account (CPA) Exam), and finance (Certified Financial Adviser (CFA) Exam).  There are, however, many areas within these disciplines that people can work without passing the exam and getting the certification.

Within engineering there are many positions that you can hold without becoming a PE. The exams are so difficult that many engineers get into corporate America and don’t take the exams. They find a rewarding career without taking and passing the PE exam, but they may not meet their maximum personal potential. [Read more…] about Advance Your Qualifications To Become A Better Leader

Get Rid of the Performance Review

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The main point in the article was that performance reviews are a waste of time and don’t promote progress within an organization. I agree with some of his points but disagree with others.

Get Rid of the Performance Review

Downfalls of the Performance Review

It is true that a performance review is completely ineffective when the boss doesn’t give the employee any specific targets/goals for performance. When the boss just does a performance review on abstract principles and not on concrete metrics, it is an ineffective performance review.

On the other hand, when an employee has a very specific job description with very specific tasks, such as a factory worker, a performance review can be very effective. When the employee has a set of responsibilities that are clearly outlined, it is very easy to do a performance evaluation. Either the employee completed their work or they didn’t and there isn’t much room for interpretation. For an evaluation system to be very effective, the metrics need to be very specific for both the evaluator and the person being evaluated.

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