I came across "Our Iceberg is Melting. Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions" when looking for a book on organizational change. I was then pleased to see that the forward was written by Spencer Johnson who authored "Who Moved My Cheese" and coauthored "The One Minute Manager," both very popular books.

The authors use a fable about a penguin colony in Antarctica that has lived on the same iceberg for many years. When one curious bird discovers problem signs in the iceberg, few penguins want to listen to him. They are fine the way things are and don't want to change. The story is analogous to the common situation where people don't want to face up to difficult problems at home or at work.

Managing Change in Organizations.

If change were an acronym, what would it be?

C.H.A.N.G.E.: Constant Havoc Amidst Needy Grumbling Employees

or

C.H.A.N.G.E.: Challenging, Hostile, And No-Good Edicts (from management)

or

C.H.A.N.G.E.: Corrosive Headaches Arriving and Not Going (away) Effectively

We might laugh because these are funny and we might laugh (wince?) because they touch a nerve. Even organizations and employees who claim to thrive on change reach their limits and, as a rule, we all struggle with the pace of rapid change.

"My project is behind schedule, over budget and we're not delivering on our key objectives!" she exclaimed. "What can I do?" As the project leader of a multi-million dollar, year-long project whose team members spanned 4 counties and multiple time zones, she was worried, stressed, and about at her wits end. She was an extremely hard working, knowledgeable, and respected employee, but her efforts to facilitate this project and her cross-functional group of professionals had been far from successful.

Many business professionals know the meaning of facilitation, but few are skilled at performing the duties of a facilitator or appreciate the true benefits of a process, project or important event that is masterfully facilitated.

Which of these situations has happened to you?

• In your last meeting, did you walk out without a clear idea of what you were supposed to do?
• Have you looked around a meeting and wondered why all those people were invited?
• Have you calculated how much money your organization is "spending" waiting for meetings to start?

I am frequently asked questions about Six Sigma as relating to quality processes and business management strategies and practices. So I wanted to share a book which I think explains the basics of Six Sigma clearly (and painlessly). Six Sigma is often viewed as a complicated and intimidating subject, so the author has chosen not to write a how-to book, but rather an introduction to this management strategy. Chowdhury's book is written as a parable and tells of how Six Sigma helped transform the manner in which one fictitious company operates.

To start, together the number six and the sigma, the Greek letter, represent a statistical measure and a management philosophy which is focused on eliminating mistakes, waste, and rework.

Do you want to fix the toaster or keep scraping the burnt part off the toast? It seems like a simple question, but hear me out. If we believe the premise that we get what we accept, the notion that we would continue to accept an unacceptable outcome rather than addressing the core problem is almost laughable. Now, let's take that experience into our corporate hallways.

Collaboration is a way of energizing people to work and think together. It is the exploration of multiple options from various perspectives. Collaboration is the process of people thinking and working together to discover ways to solve problems; address complex or cross-functional issues; improve processes, products, or systems, or invent new ones. Creative, collective thinking applied to the work we do leads to examination of how we do it, and how we can do it better. This means discovering new ways that are better, simpler, more efficient, or faster.

Last month's webinar addressed the topic of business sustainability and we felt it was appropriate to address that subject here as well.

A recent survey published by Boston Consulting Group and MIT revealed that there is no single, established definition for sustainability. Some companies engaged in sustainability focus solely on environmental issues while others include economic, stakeholder, and governmental issues. The study also revealed that although companies differ in their definition, sustainability is a force to be reckoned with and is a concept that is here to stay. (The Business of Sustainability, 2009, Boston Consulting Group)

It seems likely that sustainability emerged out of the concept of "going green."

Subtitled "Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work," this book is written by the author of another popular parable-based book entitled The Energy Bus.

The No Complaining Rule is based on the premise that, when it comes to building a positive work environment, there are much more subtle and far more dangerous problems than "jerks" (these are people who are easily identified and should be dealt with quickly). The far more dangerous employees are those whose negativity is less obvious...growing and spreading largely unnoticed.

Since at least the time of Plato and Socrates some 2400 years ago, mankind has been implored to "know thyself," in life and in business. Individually, this is often taken to mean knowing your strengths so you can leverage them and knowing your areas of weakness so you can improve them or compensate for them. But it involves much more than this. While at the business level, many organizations struggle with getting more done with fewer people and less resources. As your employees have changed roles or added responsibilities, you need to have confidence that you have the right people in the right positions to get the best possible results.