Reengineering an organization is simply the process of reviewing all the different levels of an organizations way of doing business and

considering how to improve things. The goals of reengineering include increased company profits, improved competitive advantage in the marketplace and enhanced public image. Reengineering requires an organization to look closely at its strengths and weaknesses, ask difficult questions where necessary and make changes for the better of the organization.

Benefits
Reengineering an organization offers a number of benefits for overall productivity. The reengineering process identifies elements of an organization that are creating costs with few benefits and makes necessary adjustments. In some cases, these adjustments are changes to the way a department does business; in other cases, these adjustments require layoffs.

Reinventing the Organization

Posted on September 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

Jim Collins (author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the LeapAnd Others Dont) says greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness is a matter of conscious choice and discipline. This is really hopeful news, because it gives us control over our destiny in these uncertain times. Heres what I think conscious choice and discipline can mean: Conscious: Know what should never change. Revisit your core values and timeless purpose. For tools to help you do that, see Collins Web site. Choice: Determine the strategic value of your organization in the context of your community. Know where you fit in, and be at the table when important community decisions are made. Dont limit yourself to participation in kindred organizations. For example, libraries have traditionally aligned with education and literacy, but librarians should also be involved in economic development initiatives, community planning, recreation and other areas of community building.

Discipline: Create a culture of shared leadership and discipline in your organization. A recent partnership between the ICMA (International City/County Management Association) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation explored how local governments can use their public libraries in more innovative ways. Here are the leadership skills that may be important in this new environment:

Participate. Leaders belong at the table with other local decision makers, involved in overall planning for community betterment and service provision. Share your mission. Service providers should know and share the strategic mission of local government. They should find areas of commonality and ways to share resources and efforts with government departments.

Build partnerships. Partnerships with public agencies, nonprofits, and the private sector strengthen programs. Effective partnerships require time and effort to establish, but they are worth the effort if they support the vision of the community.

Appreciate diversity. Differing cultural norms (organizational and community norms, for example) should be recognized, understood, and respected; and adjustments should be made as needed in program planning and execution. Flexibility and adaptability are key characteristics, needed by all involved in joint ventures.

Communicate. Communicating with partners, stakeholders, and the larger community is important to grow and nurture partnerships. Foster champions. Champions and advocates are important to make programs successful and sustainable. Champions have a clear understanding of the organizations services and the role it plays in the quality of life of a community. They can contribute support in any number of ways, including time, funds, influence, services, goods, and related items.

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What is Intrapreneurship? Difference, Features and Examples of Intrapreneurs

Posted by Amitabh Shukla on June 3, 2009 in Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the practice of embarking on a new business or reviving an existing business by pooling together a bunch of resources, in order to exploit new found opportunities. What is Intrapreneurship?: Intrapreneurship is the practice of entrepreneurship by employees within an organization. Difference between an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur: An entrepreneur takes substantial risk in being the owner and operator of a business with expectations of financial profit and other rewards that the business may generate. On the contrary, an intrapreneur is an individual employed by an organization for remuneration, which is based on the financial success of the unit he is responsible for. Intrapreneurs share the same traits as entrepreneurs such as conviction, zeal and insight. As the intrapreneur continues to expresses his ideas vigorously, it will reveal the gap between the philosophy of the organization and the employee. If the organization supports him in pursuing his ideas, he succeeds. If not, he is likely to leave the organization and set up his own business. Example of intrapreneurship: A classic case of intrapreneurs is that of the founders of Adobe, John Warnock and Charles Geschke. They both were employees of Xerox. As employees of Xerox, they were frustrated because their new product ideas were not encouraged. They quit Xerox in the early 1980s to begin their own business. Currently, Adobe has an annual turnover of over $3 billion.

Features of Intrapreneurship: Entrepreneurship involves innovation, the ability to take risk and creativity. An entrepreneur will be able to look at things in novel ways. He will have the capacity to take calculated risk and to accept failure as a learning point. An intrapreneur thinks like an entrepreneur looking out for opportunities, which profit the organization. Intrapreneurship is a novel way of making organizations more profitable where imaginative employees entertain entrepreneurial thoughts. It is in the interest of an organization to encourage intrapreneurs. Intrapreneurship is a significant method for companies to reinvent themselves and improve performance. In a recent study, researchers compared the elements related to entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial activity. The study found that among the 32,000 subjects who participated in it, five percent were engaged in the initial stages of a business startup, either on their own or within an organization. The study also found that human capital such as education and experience is connected more with entrepreneurship than with intrapreneurship. Another observation was that intraptreneurial startups were inclined to concentrate more on business-to-business products while entrepreneurial startups were inclined towards consumer sales. Another important factor that led to the choice between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship was age. The study found that people who launched their own companies were in their 30s and 40s. People from older and younger age groups were risk averse or felt they have no opportunities, which makes them the ideal candidates if an organization is on the look out for employees with new ideas that can be pursued. Entrepreneurship appeals to people who possess natural traits that find start ups arousing their interest. Intrapreneurs appear to be those who generally would not like to get entangled in start ups but are tempted to do so for a number of reasons. Managers would do well to take employees who do not appear entrepreneurial but can turn out to be good intrapreneurial choices. Examples of Intrapreneurs: A lot of companies are known for their efforts towards nurturing their in-house talents to promote innovation. The prominent among them is Skunk Works group at

Lockheed Martin. This group formed in 1943 to build P-80 fighter jets. Kelly Johnson was the director of the project, a person who gave 14 rules of intrapreneurship. At 3M employees could spend their 15% time working on the projects they like for the betterment of the company. On the initial success of the project, 3M even funds it for further development. Genesis Grant is another 3M intrapreneurial program which finances projects that might not end up getting funds through normal channels. Genesis Grant offers $85,000 to these innovators to carry forward their projects. Robbie Bach, J Allard and teams XBOX might not have been feasible without the Microsofts money and infrastructure. The project required 100s of millions and quality talent to make the product.

How To: Create an Effective Team

May 12th, 2008 7 Comments

by Bobbi Palmer, Ladies Who Launch member, Orange County, CA illustration by Kim Gledhill

If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Al Gore As women, we know this. We want to build high-functioning, powerful teams that move forward harmoniously. Effective teams are composed of empowered and motivated individuals working toward the same goal. The following leadership principles show you how to start with the right individuals, then lead them toward a shared vision.

Define Your Team As women, we have strong intuitive abilityand there is no doubt it often serves us wellbut not when it comes to making hiring decisions. Studies bear this out. Hiring people because we like them or they feel right carries potential for pain: 1) it has little bearing on whether they are the right person for the job or they will fit into our existing team, and 2) by the time we figure this out, the personal bond renders coaching or firing them unpleasant and difficult. Nothing is as important as a well-planned map of your expected contribution from each team member: 1. Make an exhaustive list of the knowledge and skills (k&s) needed for your company to run and thrive. This should include everything from PR to sweeping the floors. 2. Begin by listing every job category/title. Then, list every k&s required for each. (If you expect your accountant to clean the bathroom when needed, list it!) 3. Determine which k&s, upon hiring, are must-have versus nice-to-have. Be realistic. 4. Decide what you are willing to teach, and what you are not. (See the case for talent selection below.) 5. For must-have k&s that you are not willing to teach, devise a way for candidates to demonstrate mastery of it during interviews. If they cant, please dont hire themno matter how much you like them! Hire for Talent and Values Your best candidate is not necessarily the person whose resume shows she or he performed the same job elsewhere. Think past have they done it before? to do they have a natural talent? Do they have the aptitude to achieve in this particular area? If they do, put them in a position to utilize and develop their talent, and you will have a high-performing employee. A case in point: A large national support center was losing employees at an alarming rate. Exit interviews showed the job was too hard and dull. Working with consultants, they found that successful analysts required an enormous amount of knowledge about the company and its thousands of products. This proved too difficult, or uninteresting, to many. Using this information, employee selection standards were changed. Within months, retention began stabilizing. What did they do? They stopped hiring people based on their prior help-desk experience, and started hiring people who loved to learn! Align your hiring to your company values. If your company values superb customer service, your employees must sincerely like people and value pleasing them. You can teach how to answer a phone or assemble widgets. You cant teach personal qualities and values. (Now go back to your skills and knowledge list and revisit what you are willing to teach.)

Share Your Vision and Expectations Studies consistently show one of the top three needs expressed by employees is feeling that they are contributing. Nothing does this better than clearly and consistently communicating the big picture, how each employee is expected to contribute, and the value of each contribution. I once had an exasperated client tell me, I just want someone who can keep my buckets clean! Why cant I find that? My answer: because no one wants to clean buckets. But a lot of people want to contribute to a successful company! My client just hired 10 people for her exploding company. Her employee orientation went like this: Company goals and values (using pictures of their gorgeous events and testimonials from happy customers) Job responsibilities and expectations of each employee (emphasizing that each depends on the other) How they will be rewarded individually and as a team (rewards do not necessarily need to be monetary) Her team knows exactly where they are going, and that they must do it together. They also know that once they get there, there is personal satisfaction and external recognition. Go team, go! Define Outcomes and Facilitate the Work As a leader, your job is to set the outcomes and provide the team with the tools to get there. Is each team member properly trained? Do they have the materials, references, and environment to support them in achieving the expected results? Do they know how to get help from other team members before coming to you? Do they understand where they fit into the overall process? Now, heres the hard part: Let your employees use their own style to deliver the result or outcome you want. Marcus Buckingham, author of the must-read book First, Break All the Rules, tells us to standardize the end, but not the means. Learn to empower your team with freedom and responsibility. (Remember, you hired people with skills and talent who share your companys values!) Establish pre-defined checkpoints for validating individual and team progress, reiterating goals, and communicating needed adjustments. Reward Success Employees no, people want recognition and praise. Dont you? Figure out what you can offer other than salary when goals are met. Consider career development, flexible work hours, appreciation certificates, opportunities to attend industry events, small gift cards, team lunches,

letting everyone go home early. Create a process for employees to recognize one another and encourage them to do so. Post pictures of end results, share letters from satisfied customers, take employees to job sites. These are all ways to show how much you value achievement. Do it privately and publicly, and be sure to recognize both individual and team accomplishments.