Award-winning business performance improvement and Lean management expert Karen Martin diagnoses a ubiquitous business management and leadership problem—the lack of clarity—and outlines specific actions to dramatically improve organizational performance. Through her global consulting projects, keynote speeches, and work with thousands of leaders, Karen has seen first-hand how a pervasive lack of clarity strangles business performance and erodes employee engagement. Ambiguity is the corporate default state, a condition so prevalent that “tolerance for ambiguity” has become a clichéd job requirement. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Clarity First, Karen provides methods and insights for achieving clarity to unleash potential, innovate at higher levels, and solve the problems that matter to deliver outstanding business results. Both a visionary road map and practical guide, this book will help leaders: •Identify and communicate the organization’s true purpose •Set achievable priorities •Deliver greater customer value through more efficient processes •Provide greater transparency about true versus assumed performance •Build strong problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities throughout the organization •Develop personal clarity to be a more direct, purposeful, and successful leader Eliminating ambiguity is the first step for leaders and organizations to achieve strategic goals. Learn how to gain the clarity needed to make better decisions, lead more effectively, and boost organizational performance. When it comes to leading an outstanding organization, every great leader needs Clarity First.

Award-winning business performance improvement and Lean management expert Karen Martin diagnoses a ubiquitous business management and leadership problem—the lack of clarity—and outlines specific actions to dramatically improve organizational performance. Through her global consulting projects, keynote speeches, and work with thousands of leaders, Karen has seen first-hand how a pervasive lack of clarity strangles business performance and erodes employee engagement. Ambiguity is the corporate default state, a condition so prevalent that “tolerance for ambiguity” has become a clichéd job requirement. It doesn’t have to be this way. In Clarity First, Karen provides methods and insights for achieving clarity to unleash potential, innovate at higher levels, and solve the problems that matter to deliver outstanding business results. Both a visionary road map and practical guide, this book will help leaders: •Identify and communicate the organization’s true purpose •Set achievable priorities •Deliver greater customer value through more efficient processes •Provide greater transparency about true versus assumed performance •Build strong problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities throughout the organization •Develop personal clarity to be a more direct, purposeful, and successful leader Eliminating ambiguity is the first step for leaders and organizations to achieve strategic goals. Learn how to gain the clarity needed to make better decisions, lead more effectively, and boost organizational performance. When it comes to leading an outstanding organization, every great leader needs Clarity First.

Metrics-Based Process Mapping (MBPM) is a tactical-level, visual mapping approach that enables improvement teams to make effective, data-based decisions regarding waste elimination and measure ongoing process performance. The mapping technique, often used to drill down from a value stream map, integrates the functional orientation of traditional swim-lane process maps with time and quality metrics that are essential for designing improved processes. Building on the success of its popular predecessor, Metrics-Based Process Mapping: An Excel-Based Solution, this book takes readers to the next level in understanding processes and process improvement. Included with the book is an interactive macro-driven Excel tool, which allows users to electronically capture their current and future state maps. The tool also audits the maps for completeness, summarizes the metrics, and auto-calculates the improvements. Improvements to this version include: Foundational content about processes—what they are and how they vary A description of the difference between value-stream and process-level maps New content about how to bridge the gap between your current state and your desired future state Tips for effective team formation and mapping facilitation An implementation plan for those using the mapping methodology as a standalone tool and not part of a Kaizen Event The Excel-based tool included on the accompanying CD provides readers with a user-friendly way to electronically archive manually created maps in team settings for easier storage and distribution across your entire organization. While current and future state MBPMs are initially created during team-based activities using butcher paper and post-its, the electronic maps serve as standard work documentation for the improved process, enabling training, communication, and process monitoring activities. This flexible, user-friendly tool includes: A custom toolbar that simplifies map creation and editing Automated calculation of key metrics An audit feature to prevent mapping errors The ability to simulate how improvements will impact staffing requirements System Requirements: The tool is intended for use on PCs using Excel 2003 or later—it will NOT function with earlier versions of Excel, or on Macintosh computers. View a demo of the Excel tool at: www.mbpmapping.com

The secret of achieving and sustaining organizational excellence revealed In an ever-changing world where only a third of excellent organizations stay that way over the long term, and where even fewer are able to implement successful change programs, leaders are in need of big ideas and new tools to thrive. In Beyond Performance, McKinsey & Company's Scott Keller and Colin Price give you everything you need to build an organization that can execute in the short run and has the vitality to prosper over the long term. Drawing on the most exhaustive research effort of its kind on organizational effectiveness and change management, Keller and Price put hard science behind their big idea: that the health of an organization is equally as important as its performance. In the book's foreword, management guru Gary Hamel refers to this notion as "a new manifesto for thinking about organizations." The authors illustrate why copying management best practices from other companies is more dangerous than helpful Clearly explains how to determine the mutually reinforcing combination of management practices that best fits your organization's context Provides practical tools to achieve superior levels of performance and health through a staged change process: aspire, assess, architect, act, and advance. Among these are new techniques for dealing with those aspects of human behavior that are seemingly irrational (and therefore confound even the smartest leaders), yet entirely predictable Ultimately, building a healthy organization is an intangible asset that competitors copy at their peril and that enables you to skillfully adapt to and shape your environment faster than others—giving you the ultimate competitive advantage.

The inspirational bestseller that ignited a movement and asked us to find our WHY Discover the book that is captivating millions on TikTok and that served as the basis for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time—with more than 56 million views and counting. Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek started a movement that inspired millions to demand purpose at work, to ask what was the WHY of their organization. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, and these ideas remain as relevant and timely as ever. START WITH WHY asks (and answers) the questions: why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over? People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who have had the greatest influence in the world all think, act and communicate the same way—and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

New breakthrough thinking in organizational learning, leadership, and change Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those organizations work. In most organizations, the work that produces value for customers is carried out by teams, and increasingly, by flexible team-like entities. The pace of change and the fluidity of most work structures means that it's not really about creating effective teams anymore, but instead about leading effective teaming. Teaming shows that organizations learn when the flexible, fluid collaborations they encompass are able to learn. The problem is teams, and other dynamic groups, don't learn naturally. Edmondson outlines the factors that prevent them from doing so, such as interpersonal fear, irrational beliefs about failure, groupthink, problematic power dynamics, and information hoarding. With Teaming, leaders can shape these factors by encouraging reflection, creating psychological safety, and overcoming defensive interpersonal dynamics that inhibit the sharing of ideas. Further, they can use practical management strategies to help organizations realize the benefits inherent in both success and failure. Presents a clear explanation of practical management concepts for increasing learning capability for business results Introduces a framework that clarifies how learning processes must be altered for different kinds of work Explains how Collaborative Learning works, and gives tips for how to do it well Includes case-study research on Intermountain healthcare, Prudential, GM, Toyota, IDEO, the IRS, and both Cincinnati and Minneapolis Children's Hospitals, among others Based on years of research, this book shows how leaders can make organizational learning happen by building teams that learn.

Do you think of your company's talent as an investment to be managed like a portfolio? You should, according to authors Becker, Huselid, and Beatty, if you're interested in strategy execution. Many companies fall into the trap of spending too much time and money on low performers, while high performers aren't getting the necessary resources, development opportunities, or rewards. In The Differentiated Workforce, the authors expand on their previous books, The HR Scorecard and The Workforce Scorecard, and recommend that you manage your workforce like a portfolio - with disproportionate investments in the jobs that create the most wealth. You'll learn to: Rise above talent management "best practice" and instead create a differentiated workforce that can't be easily copied by competitors Differentiate those capabilities in your company that are truly strategic Identify your wealth-creating "A" positions Create a new relationship between HR and line managers, and articulate the role each plays in a differentiated workforce strategy Develop the right measures for your organization Based on two decades of academic research and experience working with hundreds of executives, The Differentiated Workforce gives you the tools to translate your talent into strategic impact.