William Muir, an evolutionary biologist from Perdue University, created a simple experiment to better understand the productivity of chickens. He wanted to know what would make a flock of chickens more productive – an easy thing to measure as you just count the eggs. The Experiment First, he created an average flock made up of…
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I didn’t know falling off the internet was possible. The earth is round after all. But this week, as I was showing a friend the platform we used to build the website of our small business, I googled us, “GRIFF Strategic Leadership.” Our website did not come up, page after page, after page after page.…
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Imagine for a moment that $1 million dollars dropped from the sky and landed in your company’s bank account. This money is completely legal and has no strings attached. The only stipulation is that you must dedicate the entire amount to one area of your company. How could you spend the money so that it…
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I recently took a well-known personality assessment in preparation for a seminar. It’s one I’ve taken twice before and I wondered if these results would be similar. As soon as the report arrived I sent it off to my spouse, my first step in validity testing. “How accurate does this appear to you,” I asked.…
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By Griff Hall, small business Owner I often hear leaders say, “What sense is there in strategic planning when the future is more uncertain than ever before? Why shouldn’t we wait until we know more before embarking on a strategic planning effort?” The question assumes you’re already using the most effective methods in planning and…
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Grocery stores live and die based on how well they know your buying habits. Everything has been carefully planned and designed with the goal of getting you to spend more money. Using complex algorithms, stores maximize inventory to match your shopping preferences. Can you say you know your organization’s greatest asset — your people —…
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The clock started and all four teams hunched over their tables and started to strategize. We could feel the tension rise in the room of Type A executives, each wanting to prove their worth on the team they had been assigned. Through teamwork, their goal for the next 12 minutes, was to replicate a structure…
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The results are in. The average U.S. employee has mastered the 4-hour workday. During the 8-9 hour day, an employee has at their disposal technologies that allow instantaneous access to information, products, and people (according to a recent survey we have a habit of spending 11+ hours a day on electronic media). Other recent studies show workers plow through hundreds of emails, calls,…
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We laugh and at times relate to cartoons of sadistic office management (think “Dilbert”). Developing office relationships in TV shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation hold a nugget of truth. Thousands of workers do not find their work reality amusing. Data on employee engagement shows that the numbers of dissatisfied and disengaged employees is…
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Question: We are an accounting business with seven full-time employees, two of whom work from home. All our people have been with us over 5 years, and we are in the process of hiring several new employees to accommodate the growth in our local market. The current workload has us working 60-70 hours and it’s…
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