Microsoft is redesigning it’s feedback system to be less intimidating, and to prompt conversations that feel more like coaching than reviews. Since people are naturally less inclined to seek out bad news, the new system “Perspectives” is designed to help members of the organization to learn how to do it in a structured way.
Category: Reads
A Practical Guide To Cross-Functional Work
While certain organizational structures make cross-functional teaming simpler or easier to accomplish, the organizations who have found the most success in working this way know cross-functional collaboration is a discipline.
** on Management, Collaboration & Org Design **
Written by Alison Randel, published by The Ready
12 “Manager READMEs” From Silicon Valley’s Top Tech Companies
What does tech management at Slack, HubSpot, Netflix, Etsy, Shopify, InVision, and more have in common? A lot, apparently!
** on Management, Collaboration & Org Design **
Written by Brennan McEachran, published on Medium
Ideo Redesigns The Dreaded Annual Review
No one likes annual reviews: They’re structured, overly formal, and they make it difficult to get real feedback that you can act upon. Here’s how Design firm IDEO helped redesign the process in a highly hierarchal and performance oriented setting.
** on HR, People Operations & Talent Management **
Written by Katharine Schwab, published by Co.Design
How to Level Up One on Ones with Your Team
Great one on one meetings have the power to transform a relationship between an employee and a manager. And by transforming individual relationships, we can evolve our team and organizational cultures as well.
** on HR, People Operations & Talent Management **
Written and published by NOBL Collective
Org Physics: The Three Faces Of Every Company
Every organization has three kinds of power, and three forms of leadership, three structures. This is not a menu. They are part of organizational physics — universal laws that apply to every organization, large or small, old or new, for profit or social.
** on Management, Collaboration & Org Design **
Written by Niels Pflaeging, published on Medium
Are Tough Conversations The Kindest?
Practicing radical honesty involves giving colleagues direct honest feedback face-to-face and in a timely and respectful manner. Rather than undermining a team’s unity, it can help build trust, respect, and understanding between people, which in turn helps solve problems and diffuses tensions.
** on Leadership, People Dynamics & Culture **
Written by Michelle McQuaid, published by Psychology Today
Overcoming The 5 Dysfunctions Of A Team
Effective teamwork ultimately comes down to practicing a small set of principles (not a sophisticated theory) over a long period of time with uncommon levels of discipline and persistence.
** on Management, Collaboration & Org Design **
Written for The Mission, published on Medium
Holding “Auditions” To Build a Strong Team
An approach to hiring that genuinely identifies real skill and fit will give you the best shot at assembling the right team. A candidate assessment that mimics the actual work the candidate must do to succeed will give you the best hiring ROI. Maybe it’s a trial; maybe it’s a presentation; maybe it’s a short-term assignment that can be done in an afternoon.
** on HR, People Operations & Talent Management **
Written by Matt Mullenweg, published on HBR
The Art and Science of Leadership at Scale: 3 Lessons from Sheryl Sandberg
Companies need different kinds of leadership at different stages. In an organization that’s changing fast there’s a very specific kind of leadership needed. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg knows as much about this kind of leadership as anyone possibly can. She’s one of those gifted leaders who’s made daring decisions at every level of scale.
