While there may be oddball, hyper-controlling bosses out there, most of us don’t want to lead an organization full of people who can’t make decision, solve problems, or initiate action. That’s especially true in high-growth start-ups. If employees need non-stop handholding […]
organizational culture Archives - Amie Devero
The Scale-Up Squeeze-Out
There often comes a time in every high-growth start-up when new executive leadership is hired –and sometimes, they replace or displace the stalwart early team members. I’ve heard this phase called “Scale-Up” as distinct from “start-up”.
When a start-up begins, it is […]
Are You Playing the Wrong Game?
Watch the matching video.
One of the hardest things to gauge in a new organization is what is expected. At the grandest level, we call this culture. But the broadness of the term “culture” can obscure the insidious ways it messes with us.
Here’s a different cut […]
They Won’t Come Back to the Office
One of my clients, Larry (not his real name), is dealing with a post-pandemic dilemma. The company he works for— let’s call it Alpha, Inc.— is a big, multinational infrastructure company. He’s the head of a substantial engineering portion of the company, and so has […]
Measurement Madness
There is a well-known saying that “what gets measured gets managed”. Depending on your source, it was first said by either physicist Lord kelvin, or Peter Drucker.
It’s generally true. After all, if you plan to run a marathon, you start by finding out what distance […]
Personal Power Run Amok
For most of my life, through my late twenties, I was dancer. When I was about 14 I recall being in a dance class in which the teacher—she was my idol—asked us all to do a barrel turn. I had never done that jump and was […]
Toxic High-Performers
What do you do about high-performing team members who are also problems for everyone else? They may be the best deal-maker, or the best at operations or an amazing engineer — but they upset their colleagues, refuse to cooperate or otherwise poison the workplace. Do you simply fire them, losing the benefit of their skills and knowledge? Or do you focus on trying to develop their people skills and empathy so they can stay on the team? And where do you even start in dealing with this issue?
Measure What Matters and Motivates
Who should you write up, who should you retain, and who should you groom for promotion? Growing companies eventually discover that they need a way to make more than just black and white distinctions between employees who are doing their job and those who should be fired for […]