Note: This post originally appeared as a guest column on Dr. Alan Weiss’s Contrarian Consulting blog on March 20, 2011. Times are tough. Government entities at all levels are scrambling to balance their budgets, which in most cases means making hard choices about how to allocate resources that are scarcer than ever. One strategy that [Continue Reading…]
Why “Proportional Sharing” Is an Ineffective Resource Allocation Strategy
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Consequences of the “It’s Just My Job” Syndrome
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on February 28, 2011. Editorial changes were made here. Are you one of those people who, when others thank you or pay you a compliment about your performance, reply, “It’s just my job?” Have you ever been on the receiving end of that assertion [Continue Reading…]
Wanted: Courageous Leaders
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on February 19, 2011. Editorial changes have been made here. Organizations across the U.S., especially those in the public (government) sector, are struggling to overcome the obstacles and identify the opportunities presented in the aftermath of slashed budgets, plummeting revenues, and forced layoffs and [Continue Reading…]
Why City Governments are Floundering
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on January 23, 2011. Across the U.S., scores of municipalities technically are bankrupt, as their financial obligations far outstrip their ability to cover them. Some cities already have declared bankruptcy legally. Politicians nationwide desperately are seeking ways to stave off bankruptcy by stemming the [Continue Reading…]
Are You Treating the Symptoms or the “Disease?”
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on January 19, 2011. Editorial changes have been made here. On January 18, 2011 a high school student in Gardena, CA brought a loaded gun to school in his backpack. During the third period class he dropped the backpack on a desk, causing the [Continue Reading…]
What You Didn’t Learn in ECON 101 CAN Hurt You
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on September 23, 2010. A few minor changes were made here. What criteria do you use for decision-making? If the amount of resources (e.g., time, effort, money) is the sole criterion, you could be making the wrong choices. A concept from Economics 101 called [Continue Reading…]
How to Sustain Behavioral Change in the Workplace
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on July 29, 2010. Given the dynamic environment in which we live, it should come as no surprise that some behaviors that worked in the past become ineffective over time. As a result, managers not only must persuade employees to adopt new behaviors, they [Continue Reading…]
Decision-making Secrets: It’s the Process that Counts
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on June 27, 2010. Do you wonder why people question some decisions but not others? Were you ever surprised to learn that others were not enamored of a decision that you made? In my experience, there are two primary reasons why decision-making goes wrong; [Continue Reading…]
What Do We Do Now?: Options for Allocating Scarce Resources When You Haven’t Planned Ahead
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on January 23, 2010. Although advance planning for resource allocation is the ideal scenario, many organizations found themselves caught short by the severe constraints imposed by the economic downturn. What are the alternatives when organizations are operating in crisis mode and there is no [Continue Reading…]
Guidelines for Allocating Scarce Resources
November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Note: This post originally appeared on my Optimize Business Results blog on January 23, 2010. Scarce resources are a fact of business life. In the wake of devastating budget cuts, furloughs, and/or layoffs, however, “normal” levels of scarcity have been exacerbated. The question for many organizations has become, “How do we move forward from here [Continue Reading…]
