http://artpetty.com Leadership, Management and Professional Development Tue, 22 May 2012 11:58:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 copyright by Art Petty, 2011 art.petty@artpetty.com (Art Petty) art.petty@artpetty.com (Art Petty) 1440 http://artpetty.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Lcpodcast144x144.png http://artpetty.com 144 144 http://artpetty.com/feed/podcast Leadership Caffeine Podcast Host Art Petty interviews leaders, leadership authors, management thinkers and other professionals about creating high performance teams and organizations and developing effective leaders at all levels, during this weekly program. The goal is to share practical, powerful ideas to help listeners improve their performance and the performance of their teams and organizations. Caffene, Ldrshp, Profesional, Dev, Ledership, Ldrshp, Caffeine, Proff'l, Dev Art Petty Art Petty art.petty@artpetty.com no no http://artpetty.com/2012/04/11/leading-in-the-matrix/ http://artpetty.com/2012/04/11/leading-in-the-matrix/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:07:27 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=7465 If speed, adaptability, learning…and the need to innovate are more than buzzwords and corporate clichés, but in fact are the requirements for success in this fast-moving world, then building cultures, teams and people capable of succeeding in the matrix must be a priority.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2012/04/11/leading-in-the-matrix/feed/ 5 http://artpetty.com/2012/03/28/leaders-principles-and-the-pursuit-of-high-performance-teams/ http://artpetty.com/2012/03/28/leaders-principles-and-the-pursuit-of-high-performance-teams/#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:30:22 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=7315 Every high performance team I’ve experienced as a participant, a sponsor or an outside advisor, was governed by an overarching set of principles or values that formed and framed the culture. And while good words alone don’t create success, the combination of the leaders and participants living and acting according to those words everyday made things work.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2012/03/28/leaders-principles-and-the-pursuit-of-high-performance-teams/feed/ 2 http://artpetty.com/2012/03/21/energy-engagment-and-some-science-to-support-high-performance-team-development/ http://artpetty.com/2012/03/21/energy-engagment-and-some-science-to-support-high-performance-team-development/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:11:05 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=7281 As a lifelong team participant and now devotee of leveraging the power of teams, I was fascinated and excited to see the article, “The New Science of Building Great Teams,” in the April, 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review. I suspect we are all for adding some science to the stick, squishy and often problematic issue of how to get people to not only play nice together in the sandbox, but how to do so at a sustained high-level of performance. Here are a few thoughts and "blink reactions" to this interesting article and study:

]]> http://artpetty.com/2012/03/21/energy-engagment-and-some-science-to-support-high-performance-team-development/feed/ 2 http://artpetty.com/2012/02/20/leadership-caffeine-what-do-you-do-with-a-team-that-has-failed/ http://artpetty.com/2012/02/20/leadership-caffeine-what-do-you-do-with-a-team-that-has-failed/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:50:09 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=7206 We’re often too quick as leaders to throw in the towel on teams that have whiffed. That’s a mistake that may be more costly to performance and morale than the initial and temporary failure. Here are 5 signs that your failed team merits more time:

]]> http://artpetty.com/2012/02/20/leadership-caffeine-what-do-you-do-with-a-team-that-has-failed/feed/ 0 http://artpetty.com/2012/01/25/strategy-towards-hypotheses-experiments-involvement-learning/ http://artpetty.com/2012/01/25/strategy-towards-hypotheses-experiments-involvement-learning/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:22:13 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=6946 Few would argue that a nimble, quick-to-learn and quick-to-adapt organization is a bad thing. Given the rate of change in our world, those characteristics are increasingly table-stakes for survival and success. Why then has the approach to strategy and the notion of “strategic planning” in so many organizations remained mired in a 1960’s kind of static, top-down event-focused model? Here are six ideas to transform your organization's approach to and effectiveness with strategy.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2012/01/25/strategy-towards-hypotheses-experiments-involvement-learning/feed/ 6 http://artpetty.com/2011/11/27/arts-weekly-leadership-message-get-engaged-to-help-your-project-teams-succeed/ http://artpetty.com/2011/11/27/arts-weekly-leadership-message-get-engaged-to-help-your-project-teams-succeed/#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:54:22 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=6787 I hear from hundreds of professionals every year in workshops, via coaching assignments or in classrooms, about the challenges they have working in and on project teams. From almost every student’s worst nightmare, the classroom group project, to major strategic initiatives with high-level sponsorship, the complaints are consistent: we as leaders don’t do enough to support team development and performance. While the list of things that can go horribly wrong on project teams is long, these 5 consistently rise to the top of the lament list.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/11/27/arts-weekly-leadership-message-get-engaged-to-help-your-project-teams-succeed/feed/ 2 http://artpetty.com/2011/10/17/leadership-caffeine-speed-kills-10-situations-to-call-a-timeout/ http://artpetty.com/2011/10/17/leadership-caffeine-speed-kills-10-situations-to-call-a-timeout/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:15:23 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=6646 Somewhere on the way to this world we now live and work in, “speed” became a proxy for success. Speed is undoubtedly important, but beware relying on it as the sole indicator of effectiveness. It’s a cruel tyrant, demanding fealty from followers, while discouraging critical and deep thinking and focusing solely on time-to-response as a metric of success. Here are at least 10 situations where you should resist the need for speed and call a timeout:

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/10/17/leadership-caffeine-speed-kills-10-situations-to-call-a-timeout/feed/ 3 http://artpetty.com/2011/08/24/next-call-for-interviews-product-project-managers-organizational-integrators/ http://artpetty.com/2011/08/24/next-call-for-interviews-product-project-managers-organizational-integrators/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:39:42 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=6371 When chatting with leadership author and expert, John Baldoni, on the Leadership Caffeine Podcast (published on itunes last week), I asked him which of his books was his favorite. I loved his response…"The one I’m working on now.” I’m just a few weeks away from the publication of book #2 for me, a collection of essays organized into helpful…self-help sections for professionals striving to survive and succeed (Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development), and try as I might to resist the urge to do this again (right away), I have to have a book in process in my life. Next! Bring on the Organizational Integrators and Informal Leaders!

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/08/24/next-call-for-interviews-product-project-managers-organizational-integrators/feed/ 0 http://artpetty.com/2011/05/23/management-excellence-tookit-better-design-for-workplace-discussions/ http://artpetty.com/2011/05/23/management-excellence-tookit-better-design-for-workplace-discussions/#comments Mon, 23 May 2011 14:26:52 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=5778 Getting to a good decision on big issues is challenging. Navigating the discussions leading up to a decision however, often resembles something on the difficulty of slogging through the Amazonian jungles in search of a mythical lost city made of gold. If you survive the process, you are bound to come out a very different person. It doesn’t have to be so hard.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/05/23/management-excellence-tookit-better-design-for-workplace-discussions/feed/ 0 http://artpetty.com/2011/05/18/its-time-to-start-teaching-your-teams-to-succeed/ http://artpetty.com/2011/05/18/its-time-to-start-teaching-your-teams-to-succeed/#comments Wed, 18 May 2011 14:24:18 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=5759 If you’ve ever been part of a truly effective team…a high performance team, you know the experience is memorable. For those who’ve lived and thrived on a high-performance team, the memory of what it was like to work with a motivated, caring, challenging (but respectful), accomplishment-focused group of individuals provides sustenance for the lonely, near-death experiences that characterize so many other team and project experiences in the workplace.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/05/18/its-time-to-start-teaching-your-teams-to-succeed/feed/ 5 http://artpetty.com/2011/05/13/the-millennial-view-fixing-our-shortcomings/ http://artpetty.com/2011/05/13/the-millennial-view-fixing-our-shortcomings/#comments Fri, 13 May 2011 12:27:54 +0000 Eric Rodriguez http://artpetty.com/?p=5750 Eric Rodriguez is the voice of The Millennial View here at Management Excellence. His periodic posts offer insights from early career professionals seeking to navigate their way through this challenging world. Today's post encourages all of us, regardless of generation, to renew our commitment to overcoming the weaknesses that keep us from reaching our personal and professional goals.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/05/13/the-millennial-view-fixing-our-shortcomings/feed/ 0 http://artpetty.com/2011/04/04/leadership-caffeine-coping-with-workplace-critics/ http://artpetty.com/2011/04/04/leadership-caffeine-coping-with-workplace-critics/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:05:35 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=5650 I’ve yet to accomplish anything worth a damn when I didn’t have a fair number of critics lined up and all too happy to tell me why I was out of my mind. It’s a fair bet you’ve seen this before as well. In my experience, the more audacious and creative the idea, program or strategy, the more vocal the critics become. Here are five ideas to help you cope with the worst of your workplace critics.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/04/04/leadership-caffeine-coping-with-workplace-critics/feed/ 7 http://artpetty.com/2011/03/28/leadership-caffeine-supporting-the-rise-of-the-informal-leader/ http://artpetty.com/2011/03/28/leadership-caffeine-supporting-the-rise-of-the-informal-leader/#comments Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:36:29 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=5609 Want to know where to find your best and brightest emerging leaders? Here’s a hint, you’ll have to use your peripheral vision to see them, because they are moving sideways at a high rate of speed. Here are 7 ideas for cultivating Informal Leaders in your organization.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/03/28/leadership-caffeine-supporting-the-rise-of-the-informal-leader/feed/ 14 http://artpetty.com/2011/03/27/arts-latest-workshops-and-a-peek-at-a-new-book-and-2-upcoming-programs/ http://artpetty.com/2011/03/27/arts-latest-workshops-and-a-peek-at-a-new-book-and-2-upcoming-programs/#comments Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:37:13 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=5581 Note: this post is an update on new offerings from Art Petty. It’s been a busy time for new program development, with more to come this spring. Here’s a snapshot of the latest workshops (decision-making, feedback mastery) and a quick peek at some early summer offerings, including a new book, and new on-line course content and coaching offerings:

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/03/27/arts-latest-workshops-and-a-peek-at-a-new-book-and-2-upcoming-programs/feed/ 4 http://artpetty.com/2011/03/16/management-excellence-toolkit-part-4-improve-your-estimating-and-forecasting-effectiveness/ http://artpetty.com/2011/03/16/management-excellence-toolkit-part-4-improve-your-estimating-and-forecasting-effectiveness/#comments Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:37:41 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=5460 Your decisions define you as a leader and a manager, yet we spend very little time in our busy lives finding ways to improve our abilities in this area. This Management Excellence Toolkit Series will help you recognize the challenges and pitfalls of individual and group decision-making and offer ideas on improving performance for you and your co-workers. In this segment, I focus on the issues surrounding forecasting and estimating errors, and I offer a number of ideas to improve performance for these important activities.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/03/16/management-excellence-toolkit-part-4-improve-your-estimating-and-forecasting-effectiveness/feed/ 0 http://artpetty.com/2011/01/19/nine-key-professional-capabilities-required-by-our-times/ http://artpetty.com/2011/01/19/nine-key-professional-capabilities-required-by-our-times/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:26:04 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=5139 There’s no doubt we live in interesting times…a true Dickensian Best of Times, Worst of Times environment, filled with remarkable opportunities and equally remarkable personal, competitive, societal and global challenges. Over the past few years and few thousand contacts with professionals on the topic(s) of developing as a professional and developing as a leader, a number of key “capabilities needed for success in these times” have emerged as recurring themes in discussions and group settings. Importantly, these themes or as I describe them, Capabilities, Attributes & Behaviors (CABs) are essential for success at both the individual and organizational levels.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2011/01/19/nine-key-professional-capabilities-required-by-our-times/feed/ 9 http://artpetty.com/2010/12/16/art-guest-posts-at-lead-change-my-next-book-other-updates/ http://artpetty.com/2010/12/16/art-guest-posts-at-lead-change-my-next-book-other-updates/#comments Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:12:10 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=4707 I confess to focusing a great deal recently on the future of leadership. This was evident in my guest post, "The Great and Perilous Leadership Journey Ahead,"at Tanveer Naseer’s site, and in today’s essay, "Leadership Guidance for Our Children." at the Lead Change site. And while you're visiting Lead Change, be certain to check out the many great blog posts from some truly outstanding leadership writers and thinkers.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2010/12/16/art-guest-posts-at-lead-change-my-next-book-other-updates/feed/ 6 http://artpetty.com/2010/11/30/art-guest-posts-on-leadership-at-tanveer-naseers-blog/ http://artpetty.com/2010/11/30/art-guest-posts-on-leadership-at-tanveer-naseers-blog/#comments Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:00:56 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=4623 My guest post at Tanveer Naseer's blog, The Great and Perilous Leadership Journey Ahead, reflects my perspective on the rapidly and radically changing nature of leadership in our emerging environment. Perhaps my subhead says it best: "Welcome to the Leadership Blender."

]]> http://artpetty.com/2010/11/30/art-guest-posts-on-leadership-at-tanveer-naseers-blog/feed/ 0 http://artpetty.com/2010/11/10/hey-what-if-one-of-our-ships-gets-stranded/ http://artpetty.com/2010/11/10/hey-what-if-one-of-our-ships-gets-stranded/#comments Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:48:13 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=4524 By now, most of us have seen or heard news footage of the Carnival Splendor stranded at sea after suffering an engine room fire and a subsequent loss of core systems including most power and importantly, the plumbing. Thankfully, no one was reported injured, but that’s about as good as the news gets in this situation. The fact that something went wrong at sea on one of those floating Mall of Americas is not surprising to me. What is surprising and disconcerting about the situation, is the apparent complete and utter lack of a risk response plan.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2010/11/10/hey-what-if-one-of-our-ships-gets-stranded/feed/ 5 http://artpetty.com/2010/11/04/never-rake-leaves-uphill-and-other-management-lessons-learned-in-the-northwoods/ http://artpetty.com/2010/11/04/never-rake-leaves-uphill-and-other-management-lessons-learned-in-the-northwoods/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:51:54 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=4482 Spend enough time writing, speaking and thinking about management and performance, and you’re likely to find yourself looking for lessons in all of your dealings. This certainly held true for me this past weekend, as I engaged in the annual fall ritual of cleaning up the leaves at the northwoods home. While the management guidance here might not make the next issue of HBR, if you ever face several hilly acres of ankle deep leaves, this might just save your back from breaking and your relationships from crumbling!

]]> http://artpetty.com/2010/11/04/never-rake-leaves-uphill-and-other-management-lessons-learned-in-the-northwoods/feed/ 16 http://artpetty.com/2010/09/21/the-feedback-on-feedback/ http://artpetty.com/2010/09/21/the-feedback-on-feedback/#comments Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:33:51 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=4352 Over the past several years beginning with the work for Practical Lessons in Leadership with my co-author, Rich Petro, I’ve made a professional hobby out of exploring the fascinating and very real fear that so many people have for delivering constructive feedback. One of my favorite interviews for the book was with a retired CEO who when I posed the question on whether he had any regrets, without hesitating, responded: “I really regret that I never learned how to have the tough discussions with the people that worked for me.” He quickly added, “To this day, I wonder how much money that I cost my companies.” This most difficult of human interactions in the workplace is also one of the most important. The fear, much like the fear of public speaking is mostly in our minds, and with some deliberate practice, all of us are capable of improving our skills, and as a result, improving our performance, the performance of our teams and of our organizations.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2010/09/21/the-feedback-on-feedback/feed/ 11 http://artpetty.com/2010/09/09/the-importance-of-strategy-fueled-leadership/ http://artpetty.com/2010/09/09/the-importance-of-strategy-fueled-leadership/#comments Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:20:50 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=4310 I’ve written on the topic of Strategy Fueled Leadership several times, and fresh off of a great podcast interview with Gary Harpst, author of Six Disciplines Execution Revolution (stay tuned for my posting) and my recent interview with Jocelyn Davis for Strategic Speed, I am on my soapbox again. It is critical to link leadership with strategy and vice-versa and the failure to do this is one of the root causes of strategy and execution failure in organizations.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2010/09/09/the-importance-of-strategy-fueled-leadership/feed/ 3 http://artpetty.com/2010/08/30/leadership-caffeine-the-noble-pursuit-of-power-and-influence/ http://artpetty.com/2010/08/30/leadership-caffeine-the-noble-pursuit-of-power-and-influence/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:47:54 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=4242 Power and influence are not dirty words. Both are components of every organization’s environment and both must be carefully cultivated to succeed as a formal or informal leader. Power and influence provide the motive power behind organizations and initiatives and the lubrication that keeps the parts and people from binding and grinding and self-destructing. Here are 6 key reasons why cultivating power and influence is good for your career.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2010/08/30/leadership-caffeine-the-noble-pursuit-of-power-and-influence/feed/ 22 http://artpetty.com/2010/07/21/team-conflict-as-long-as-it%e2%80%99s-not-personal-run-with-it/ http://artpetty.com/2010/07/21/team-conflict-as-long-as-it%e2%80%99s-not-personal-run-with-it/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:47:39 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=4028 I’m leery of happy teams. Don’t get me wrong. I like positive experiences and working with happy people, however, in my experience, the happy teams are the ones that produce mediocre results or, they don’t produce at all. Give me a group of people that show up to do battle on the issues versus the team that strives for peace and harmony, any day.

]]> http://artpetty.com/2010/07/21/team-conflict-as-long-as-it%e2%80%99s-not-personal-run-with-it/feed/ 6 http://artpetty.com/2010/07/08/6-steps-for-avoiding-groupthink-on-your-team/ http://artpetty.com/2010/07/08/6-steps-for-avoiding-groupthink-on-your-team/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:20:08 +0000 Art Petty http://artpetty.com/?p=3983 Groupthink is one of the nefarious decision-making missteps of teams, and a trap that many smart people and groups have fallen victim to throughout history. From the classic example cited in nearly every discussion on decision-making, the Kennedy administration’s Bay of Pigs fiasco, to Ford’s launch of the Edsel, to Neviille Chamberlin’s inner circle that believed peace with Hitler was at hand, Groupthink has earned a prominent place in our culture. And while you might not be planning an invasion or negotiation with evil dictators or planning on launching an ugly automobile, chances are that Groupthink has show up from time to time in your professional world.

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