Management Archives

3 Rules for Building Good Relationships With Customers

How can you build good relationships with customers? How do you prioritize customer needs without losing sight of your own? In Anything You Want, Derek Sivers gives recommendations for building a business that meets customers’ needs while still fulfilling your passions. To stay connected to your customer base, he advises business owners to focus on the needs of many small customers rather than one or two large ones. Read on to learn Sivers’s three essential rules for building good relationships with customers.

Peter Senge: Team Learning (Discipline 4)

What is “team learning” in Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline? Why is it important to create opportunities for your employees to learn together? Team learning is the fourth discipline in Peter Senge’s framework for creating a learning organization. Team learning encourages people to find ways to work together effectively despite the differences in personalities and communication styles. Here’s how you can implement the discipline of team learning in your organization.

Brave Decisions: How to Make Choices Like a Stoic Philosopher

Should you make a decision before you have all of the information? How should you balance risk and safety in the decision-making process? In Courage Is Calling, Ryan Holiday gives advice on accepting uncertainty and being bold in decision-making in the style of ancient Stoic philosophy. This involves embracing uncertainty and making choices before they’re made for you. Continue reading to learn about making brave decisions, the Stoic way.

The 3 Phases of William Bridges’s Transition Model

What is William Bridges’s Transition Model? How helpful is this model for businesses undergoing change? Developed by Bridges, the Bridges Transition Model helps organizations and individuals adapt to organizational and personal change. His book with Susan Bridges, Managing Transitions, goes into further detail on the model. Keep reading to learn about each stage of William Bridges’s Transition Model.

When to Sell Your Business & How to Do It

How do you know when to sell your business? How do you close a business? In his book Anything You Want, Derek Sivers says that as the owner of your own business, you should pay attention to what makes you happy and the passions that fuel you. When you no longer feel passionate about running your business, Sivers says it may be time to walk away. Keep reading to learn when and how to sell your business, according to Sivers’s advice.

Peter Senge: Personal Mastery (Discipline 1)

What is “personal mastery” in Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline? Why is it important to encourage personal growth among your employees? Personal mastery is the first discipline in Peter Senge’s framework for creating what he calls a “learning organization.” When every part of your company—in other words, each person within it—is committed to constant personal growth, the organization as a whole will naturally grow and improve. Here’s how you can incorporate the discipline of personal mastery at your organization.

The Importance of Personal Growth in the Workplace

Why is personal growth important in the workplace? How can leaders encourage personal growth among employees? Many companies don’t encourage personal growth because they can’t easily measure its effectiveness. Instead, those companies expect employees to focus on their day-to-day tasks and to do them “by the book,” with no room for personal growth. In doing so, they stifle people’s potential and enthusiasm. With this in mind, here’s how you can inspire a commitment to personal growth among your employees.

Feedback Loops & Systems Thinking: Think in Loops, Not Lines

What is “systems thinking”? In what way is systems thinking superior to the conventional cause-and-effect pattern of thinking? Systems thinking is a non-linear pattern of thinking that relies on feedback loops. Systems thinking enables you to see the big picture of any situation or event and predict how it will unfold in the future with better accuracy. Here’s why you should think in loops instead of lines.

The Fifth Discipline: Systems Thinking Explained

What exactly is “systems thinking” in Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline? How does systems thinking relate to the other four disciplines? Systems thinking is the fifth discipline in Peter Senge’s framework for creating a learning organization. Systems thinking ties the other four disciplines together to create a cohesive management system where all the different parts work well together to produce the best possible results. Here’s how you can implement the systems thinking discipline at your organization.

Peter Senge: Mental Models (Discipline 2)

What are “mental models” in Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline? What can you, as a leader, do to create a company culture where people strive to constantly grow and update their knowledge in line with new information? Mental models are the second discipline in Peter Senge’s framework for creating a learning organization. In practice, this means improving your ability to see the big picture by constantly assessing and updating what you think you know. Keep reading to learn about the discipline of mental models and how you can implement it in your organization.