62 Posts Found

Different people learn differently. In order to help you be successful as a business mentor, review the practical tips below so you can adapt your teaching styles and get the most from your people and their potential:

1. Do they like to gather information through words, and if so, what kind? Everyone responds to the spoken word, but some people are more “doers” than listeners

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Author: A. J. Schuler | Source: Becoming a Successful Mentor: How to Recognize the Different Ways Your People Learn | Subject: Management Questions

1. Are we fit to fight? Before even thinking about engaging in war, it is safe to wonder whether one is fit to fight. Companies faring worst in the boom-bust of the 1990s were those with high debt levels and/or over-capacity. So, the first question is: have we cleaned our house sufficiently structurally to be fit to fight—no more overweight soldiers, no more

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Authors: Herman Vantrappen, Hubertus M. Mühlhäuser, Nils Bohlin | Source: Smart Growth: A Road Map for Executives | Subject: Management Questions

Companies need to determine how functions best fit into their value-creation narrative. Organizations must answer the following questions:

1. What are the key decisions that business-unit leaders need to make, and what do they need to control? For example, if IT business-application development is a core enabler for a business unit’s growth strategy, how much control does its leader need to ensure that projects are

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Authors: Aaron De Smet, Caitlin Hewes, Elizabeth Mygatt, Kirk Rieckhoff | Source: Redefining corporate functions to better support strategy and growth | Subject: Management Questions

Before having a 1:1 meeting with a direct report, reflect on these types of questions.

• Does the person you’re managing feel invested in your company or team goals? Why should he/she be? Have you clearly explained the vision or goals, and his/her part in achieving them?
• Does he/she feel as if you’ve got his/her back?
• Do you know what motivates him/her?
• In every relationship, both parties must get

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Author: Maggie Leung | Source: Managers, Take Your 1:1s to the Next Level with These 6 Must Reads | Subject: Management Questions

Purpose defines our core reason for being and the positive impact we have on the world. It shapes our strategy, inspires our people, engages our customers and community, steers choices at moments of truth, and is fully embedded in our culture. Whether we are reappraising an existing purpose or designing one for the first time, we need to wrestle with challenging questions such as the … [ Read more ]

Authors: Arne Gast, Bill Schaninger, Bruce Simpson, Nina Probst, Pablo Illanes | Source: Purpose: Shifting from Why to How | Subjects: Management Questions, Mission / Vision / Values, Organization Questions

1. What is our mission? The mission captures the purpose of an organization’s existence. It has to encapsulate something that you believe in, at a deep and personal level, such that everyone in the organization understands and lives it.
2. Who is our customer? Only when you have clearly identified your customers can you focus on satisfying their needs.
3. What does the customer value? It’s common for

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Author: Peter F. Drucker | Source: Book Summary – The Five Most Important Questions You will Ever Ask About Your Organization | Subject: Management Questions

By asking core questions along these dimensions, it is possible to determine the cornerstones of a next-generation operating model.

Processes

• Process design. How should we design functional, cross-sector, and support processes? How can we best integrate innovations? How can we accelerate decisions?
• Performance management. What are our most important KPIs? How do we set and track targets? How do we encourage decision-orientation and collaboration?
• IT systems and technologies.

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Authors: Andreas Seyfert, Christoph Kuntze, Tim Lange | Source: Next-generation supply chain—transforming your supply chain operating model for a digital world | Subject: Management Questions

A lot of companies don’t decide how they want to grow until they’re well into their growth phase. For a long time, your actions pull your company along, and then all of a sudden it switches — your existing business starts pushing your behavior. External forces like feature requests, the need for more customer support, the need to create a team to do X when … [ Read more ]

Author: Claire Hughes Johnson | Source: To Grow Faster, Hit Pause — and Ask These Questions from Stripe’s COO | Subject: Management Questions

Writing and delivering performance reviews can be one of the most challenging tasks for any manager. Asking the following five questions can help.

1. What are your goals for the discussion? Before you even begin drafting a review, consider your goals and objectives for the discussion, and evaluate how these goals may be congruent with, or opposed to, one another. For example, you may want

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Author: Ben Dattner | Source: The Key to Performance Reviews Is Preparation | Subjects: Human Resources Questions, Management Questions

Companies collect and analyze a great deal of information in order to estimate their value-creation potential. But in our experience, that information doesn’t always help them answer the most important questions when it comes to creating a detailed value-creation strategy. Below are eight questions that we believe should inform every company’s strategy to create value. If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you … [ Read more ]

Authors: Daniel Stelter, Eric Olsen, Frank Plaschke, Gerry Hansell, Hady Farag, Jeff Kotzen | Source: Improving the Odds: Strategies for Superior Value Creation | Subjects: Finance Questions, Management Questions, Strategy Questions

1. Is the project led by a small, focused team that has relevant experience and is mentally prepared to tackle common innovation challenges, such as rapid changes in strategic direction and significant resource constraints?
2. Has the team lived with, shopped alongside, worked next to, or otherwise invested enough time with prospective customers to develop an empathetic understanding of them?
3. In considering new ways to serve these

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Authors: David Duncan, Pontus M.A. Siren, Scott D. Anthony | Source: Assessment: Should We Pursue This New Project? | Subjects: Customer Questions, Management Questions, Project Management Questions

1. What is our mission?
2. Who is our customer?
3. What does the customer value?
4. What are our results?
5. What is our plan?

Author: Sally Helgesen | Source: Frances Hesselbein’s Merit Badge in Leadership | Subject: Management Questions

1. Clarifying questions help us better understand what has been said. In many conversations, people speak past one another. Asking clarifying questions can help uncover the real intent behind what is said. These help us understand each other better and lead us toward relevant follow-up questions. “Can you tell me more?” and “Why do you say so?” both fall into this category. People often

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Author: Tom Pohlmann | Source: Relearning the Art of Asking Questions | Subject: Management Questions

Jim Collins has spent a career probing the inner workings of great companies. Below, he boils 25 years of research into 12 questions that leaders must grapple with if they truly want to excel. Collins’s advice: Be systematic. Every month, have your leadership team discuss one of the following questions. Repeat the process annually for five years.

1. Do we want to build a great

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Authors: Bo Burlingham, Jim Collins | Source: Jim Collins: Be Great Now | Subject: Management Questions

Employees

If you’re involved in activities that you’re already naturally inclined to do well, your attitude toward work is different and you contribute more to your workplace compared with someone who may have similar skills but less natural ability. Doing what you do best is essential to being a star performer at work. As an employee, you should ask yourself these questions:

• Do I know what

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Authors: Aniruddh Haralalka, Leong Chee Tung | Source: Why Strengths Matter in Training | Subjects: Human Resources Questions, Leadership Questions, Management Questions

1. How willing are customers to continue to pay for further improvements in performance that historically merited attractive price premiums? One of the key tipping points in a market occurs when a company, in Christensen’s language, overshoots a given market tier by providing them performance that they can’t use. Your television remote control probably serves as a daily reminder of overshooting. Each of those

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Author: Scott D. Anthony | Source: Create Early Warning Systems to Detect Competitive Threats | Subjects: Competition Questions, Management Questions

Information

1. What happened? (Reporting)
2. What is happening now? (Alerts)
3. What will happen? (Extrapolation)

Insight

4. How and why did it happen? (Modeling, experimental design)
5. What’s the next best action? (Recommendation)
6. What’s the best/worst that can happen? (Prediction, optimization, simulation)

Authors: Elizabeth Craig, Jeanne G. Harris | Source: How to Turn Data into a Strategic Asset | Subject: Management Questions

A great MICRO manager asks questions like:

• What are the deadlines for a particular project?
• How do we measure progress (and are we making progress)?
• Is there sufficient feedback exchange?
• How do we promote more accountability within the team?

But how about the MACRO part of management? Beyond your day-to-day role as a manager, you must also consider each person’s career trajectory.

A great MACRO manager asks questions like:

• What

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Author: Scott Belsky | Source: The Secret to Great Macro Management | Subject: Management Questions

Approach

• What style of annual planning is right for our company?
• Where are we drawing external inspiration from?
• How are we tailoring it to our business model and stage?
• Is there anything we explicitly don’t want to do, because it’s not a fit or we don’t agree with it?

Vision

• How far forward are we looking?
• How are we balancing a big vision with what we can practically do in

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Source: Annual Planning Sucks — A CPO, CRO, CFO, and COO Share Advice on How to Make it Better | Subjects: Management Questions, Strategy Questions

In a percentage answer, in your 1:1s, how often do you…    

1. Schedule 1:1s in advance on a recurring basis?     
2. Have an agenda for your 1:1s?    
3. Involve your direct report(s) in the creation of that agenda?    
4. Review notes from the previous 1:1 before your next 1:1?    
5. Promptly reschedule canceled 1:1s?    
6. Start 1:1s positively?    
7. Show up on time?    
8. Start with topics provided by your direct report(s)?    
9. Briefly revisit action items from the previous 1:1?    
10. Actively listen to

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Authors: Gabriela Riccardi, Steven Rogelberg | Source: Managers take this simple assessment to hold better one-on-one meetings | Subject: Management Questions