7 Steps Ahead, LLC

Organizational Psychology for Managers
sold out at Amazon.com two days after it was released! Fortunately, more copies are now available. Click here to order. For excerpts, click here. To read a review of the book, click here.

What happens when a leader won't play well with others?

How can duck and cover save your business?

Goals are great... until they're not!

What is a key characteristic of a great leader?

What are some of the benefits of applying organizational psychology to your business? Find out in this radio interview!

What happens when a leader won't play well with others?

Is that really such a bargain?

Do you understand your company's personality?

Are you hearing the hoof beats of the four horsemen of business failure?

Just how different are leaders and managers really?

Despite the old claim about frogs sitting in water until it boils, they actually are smart enough to jump out. Why don't people do the same?

Why is it so hard to deal with Jerks in the office?

Here's what Bank of America has to say about how leaders impact high performance teams.

What can you do when you feel you don't fit into a new organizational culture?

If you want a motivated workforce, check out this article from Fox Business.

Learn the secrets of Mastering Your Schedule on Time Tamer Talk Radio.

"The 36-Hour Course in Organizational Development" was listed by Amazon.com as one of the top 100 books on organizational behavior.

 

   

  
Publications and Announcements

 
Click here for the full list of publications

How Different Are Leaders and Managers?
in Corp! Magazine

Are You Speaking to Me?
in Corp! Magazine

When the Solution is the Problem
in Corp! Magazine

The Paradox of Perfection
in
American Business Magazine

Flawed Execution? Don't Lose Your Head Over It
in Corp! Magazine

The Destroyer of Cultures
at ERE.Net

Help Star Performers Ramp Up The Whole Team
in Corp! Magazine
 

The Secret to Productive Staff Meetings   

in Medical Office Today 


 Don't Let Dracula Decisions Roam Your Business  

in Corp! Magazine 


The Blame of Phobos Grunt  

in Corp! Magazine 

 

 The Four Horsemen of Business Failure  

in MeasureIT


Of Cats and Unwanted Prizes 

in Corp! Magazine


Who Betrays One Master 

in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership

  

 
My Hovercraft is Full of Eels
in Corp! Magazine

 

Using the Force: What Every Exec Can Learn From Darth Vader
in the Worcester Business Journal

"Balance the Individual and the Team for Top Performance"
in Corp! Magazine

"Real Science Fiction"
in Corp! Magazine


"Shaky Ground"
in Lab Manager Magazine

Zen and the Art of Leadership
Talk presented at Infotec 2010


Recent Interviews



Do you understand your company's personality?
in ComputerWorld

Tell About Mistakes and Failed Projects
in Investors Business Daily

A Bad Work Environment Can Make You Sick
on CareerBliss

How Much Does Motivation Matter? 

  in CSI International

 

Profiting from Your Performance Review  

in NASDAQ Careers News

 

 Motivating Small Business Employees to Work As Hard As You  

in the Phonebooth

 

 Relax at Work? Ha! 

in the Jewish Exponent

 

The Mobility Morass  

in Specialty Fabrics Review

 

HR Mistake of the Week: Why Hiring for Emotional Intelligence Gets You a BFF Instead of a Star Employee
in The Grindstone

Using Games to Build Your Team
on the Talking Work Podcast

How to Use Sports to Advance Leadership and Organizational Development
on the Full Potential Show with James Rick

Hiring Mistakes
with Todd Raphael,
Editor, Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership

Organizational Development on
The David Lush Show, WNIX 1330 AM

Innovation and Corporate Culture
on KKZZ Brainstormin' with Bill Frank

The Startup Business Coach

The CEO and Organizational Development


Press

How to Motivate Your Employees
on Fox Business

Komen Reverses Planned Parenthood Move
in The Philadelphia Inquirer
 

The Art of Branding Your Career 

in Psychology Today


Prepping for Your Annual Review
 

in the NY Times

 

Making Pay Decisions Transparent 

in Human Resource Executive

 

Don't Like Your Job? Define One You Like 

in IT World

   

Computer Measurement Group Announces Keynote and Plenary Speakers for CMG'11 Taking Place December 5-9, 2011 at Gaylord National Hotel in D.C. Area  

 

 Career Focus: Engineering Management in Today's Engineer, a publication of the IEEE

   

 

4 Ways to Log Off on Time Off 

 

 About Creating Visions and Organizational Goals 

  

Researchers Find 'The Paradox of Meritocracy' 

in Human Resource Executive 

 

Game Changer 

in SHRM India

 

How to Stay Motivated on the Road to ITIL Expert  

in ITSM Watch

 

To Be a Leader, You Must Be a Follower 

in Oregon Business

 

 Incentivizing Employees
in Advance for Medical Laboratory Professionals

Tips for Making, Keeping Business Resolutions
at Fox Small Business

The Evolution of Leadership

Getting Results: Performance vs. Putting in the Hours

How to Self-Promote Without Being Obnoxious
on CNN

Hiring Headaches
in the IndUS Business Journal

Identifying Your Future Leaders
in IndustryWeek Magazine

Natural Born Project Managers: Myth or Reality at Project Manager Planet

  

How to Survive a Bad Team Leader
at Yahoo! Careers

Books and CDs

Contact Us


The Leadership Blueprint

High Performance Cycle
High Performance Cycle
Mediocre leaders are born. Great leaders are made.
  • Do you have leaders who are good, but have not made the jump to great?
  • Do you have great leaders who could be fantastic?
  • Would you like to dramatically increase team performance in your business?
  • Are your teams revisiting decisions you thought were settled?
  • When you ask a question, is silence the most common reply?
  • Is your business expanding more rapidly than your pool of potential leaders?
  • Are you seeing less teamwork and more silos?
  • Do you dread giving performance reviews?

 

 

The Leadership Blueprint is the result of years of research and empirical observation into effective leadership, leadership development, and high performance. The goal is to provide organizations with a reliable tool for developing the leadership skill they need to be successful. The science behind it is discussed at length in Organizational Psychology for Managers

 

This initial announcement is only going out to those of you have been faithfully reading my thoughts on organizational behavior over the past few years -- or at least haven't hit the unsubscribe button! :). 

 

I would appreciate your feedback: Please take a look at the Leadership Blueprint and let me know what you think. Does it address the issues you see in your organization?  What problems would it help you solve? What else would you like to see?  

 

 

 

 The Cardinal and The Sparrow:
Effective Organizational Change

 
 

You can't make an omelet without breaking some legs. One of those legs is Cardinal Raymond Burke.

 

Cardinal Raymond Burke of the Roman Catholic Church was in the news recently, although perhaps not entirely in a way that he would have liked. The good Cardinal recently suffered a significant and dramatic change in status, sort of the equivalent of an admiral being demoted to swimming pool monitor: from Cardinal and head of the ecclesiastic church, he is now the patron of the Knights of Malta. This is not, to put it mildly, an upward career move. Indeed, one might well imagine that the Cardinal and the Bluebird of Happiness are not exactly on speaking terms right now.

 

The question, of course, is why did this happen? The ostensible cause is that the Cardinal did not agree with Pope Francis. While that may, in fact, be the proximate reason, the real reason is a bit more subtle. It has to do with the often messy and awkward process of organizational change. The world is constantly changing, whether we are looking at the religious landscape of the Church or the business landscape. Businesses rise up and achieve success within the environment in which they are founded. Many of them then go out of business or fade into the background: still important, but no longer dominant. Think Xerox, IBM, Microsoft, to name three, with Google possibly preparing to become a fourth.

 

Organizational change is never an easy thing. The larger the organization and the more deeply entrenched its culture and behavior, the more difficult it is to change. Few organizations are larger and have a more deeply entrenched culture than the Roman Catholic Church. Change can be a lot like trying to turn the QE II: it's not something that happens easily or quickly. But Francis is making it happen. How?

 

To begin with, he is moving slowly. He is not trying to change the church all at once, but rather in small steps. He raises issues and then builds on them; he first suggests different ideas and gets people thinking about them. He then starts to act on those ideas and concepts.

 

Part of what makes change difficult is that an organization became successful by doing things a certain way. They have learned how to succeed, and everyone knows that nothing succeeds like success... except, of course, when it doesn't. But trying to change those comforting habits is challenging: like throwing away that old coat that fits just right, the change simply feels wrong.

 

The first step, therefore, is painting a picture of the future: tell people what change will look like. This can be done through vibrant and dramatic speeches or through quiet questions. What matters is that it happens. Once people know where you are going, they are much more comfortable following you. It's when they don't know, or don't want to know, that people dig in their heels. You have to make it easy for people to follow.

 

However, no leader can change a large organization on their own. There are simply too many people, too much psychological inertia. It is critical to get other organizational leaders on board. Show them the future and help them become comfortable with it, so that they will then share that vision with their followers. The more people who come on board, the more people will come on board: once change gets large enough, it starts to snowball.

 

But what about those who hear and refuse to follow? Often, they need to be removed from power: politely, calmly, and firmly. There can be no doubt, no question that the snowball will run over anyone who is refusing to move. Provided that people know which way to start moving, this approach can be remarkably effective at convincing those who have doubts that they should jump on the bandwagon. The catch, of course, is that you can't get rid of too many or move too fast: scare people too much and they freeze or panic. If people are scared by the change process, they will swiftly become scared of the change itself.

 

By demoting Cardinal Burke in such a public fashion, Pope Francis is sending a very clear message. By finding a place for him, albeit a minor one, Francis is also recognizing his years of service. It is not always necessary to get rid of those who won't change; rather, leading change involves moving them to places where they can still help the organization but can no longer impede the change process. Instead of being a focus of attention, they become boring and unimportant.

 

If you want to lead change effectively, you need to show people the future. Paint the picture that will get them thinking about how the world, or at least the company, can be a better place. Ask the questions that will get people to become unhappy with the status quo and start thinking about how change could be a good thing. Show them the way, recruit followers to spread the message, and strategically replace those who won't move. Don't be afraid to turn a few brightly colored cardinals into boring sparrows.

 

  

Stephen R Balzac

About 7 Steps Ahead 
Stephen R. Balzac, "The Business Sensei," is a consultant, author, professional speaker, and president of 7 Steps Ahead, specializing in helping businesses get unstuck and transform problems into opportunities.

Steve has over twenty years of experience in the high tech industry and is the former Director of Operations for Silicon Genetics, in Redwood City, CA.

Steve is the author of The 36-Hour Course on Organizational Development, published by McGraw-Hill and a contributing author to Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values Through Play. Steve's latest book, "Organizational Psychology for Managers," was released by Springer in the fall of 2013. He writes the monthly business column, "Balzac on Business."

He is the president of the Society of Professional Consultants (SPC) and served as a member of the board of the New England Society for Applied Psychology. No stranger to the challenges of achieving peak performance under competitive and stressful conditions, he holds a fifth degree black belt in jujitsu and is a former nationally ranked competitive fencer.