Confessions of a New Facilitator

The Tatham Group trained two individuals from the European operations of Canada Life to be facilitators for Boot Camp. Martina Hasenpflug, Project Manager for Canada Life Assurance in Neu-Isenberg, Germany and Simon Ralton, Learning & Development Manager in Potters Bar, England, share with us their thoughts.

Tips from the trade

In a conversation with The Tatham Group, Markus Luig, a recently certified Process Master talks about what it means to execute the Tatham Method at Canada Life Europe…

‘You spin me right around baby, right ’round…’

BREAKING FREE FROM THE CYCLE OF RECURRING BUSINESS PROBLEMS

Some things should never come back – and we don’t mean British classics from the 1980s. We’re talking about those infuriating business problems that won’t go away no matter what you do. As a manager you ask yourself, “Why can’t I solve this problem?” You call in your best people, but their efforts take too long. So you bring an outside consultant, except you can’t seem to implement their recommendations. ‘Round and ‘round you go in a cycle of recurring problems. Sound like a broken record? That’s because it is.

Teaching Businesses How to Fish

By Michael J. Tatham, Founder & CEO, The Tatham Group

As a summer resident of Moose Lake, I step onto the dock on an early August morning and breathe the fresh northern air, taking note of any wind. I pause to look across the lake, at the sky and the trees. Westward, a loon sings its lonely, haunting cry. It may seem still, but everything is teeming with activity and life. It’s a perfect morning to go fishing.

Leading from the front lines

By Laurie Clarke, COO, The Tatham Group

A few weeks ago, I found an interesting article written by Gerard Seijts in The Globe and Mail about leadership and change management. Columnist Gerard Seijts chose a very fitting title for his article about the changes required for an organization to be successful in today’s business environment: Leading organizational change starts with convincing the troops. To me, the word ‘troops’ evokes the image of rows and rows of soldiers standing at attention, waiting to receive their orders. To change its culture, a company must shift from being rigid, departmentalized, command-and-control (in times of peace) to being fast, flexible and flat (in times of combat). In these times, strategy is decided by the ‘top of the house’ however, decisions are trusted to be made on the front line by soldiers armed with their training in processes and procedures using the data they have to guide them.

Coaching tips from the coach’s pit

A while back, I had a conversation with John Munce, The Tatham Group’s Deployment Executive about what it was like to coach Tatham Process Masters. Munce, who is a process master himself, has been teaching our clients at Wachovia how to apply the Tatham Method to several of their divisions.

TG: How would you define your role as Process Master?
JM: I work with facilitators and team champions to make sure they are following the Tatham Methodology. My job is to work with teams, motivating them, coaching them to make systematic changes and how to sustain these changes.

Free-range eggs, free-range children…free-range companies?

Lately, I seem to be coming across more and more literature that makes an interesting claim: parents tend to make better managers. Hmm, I wondered. I’m not a parent, but maybe there’s something to this idea.

According to 2007 study conducted by Clark University and the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C., researchers found that parents — at least those committed to family life — actually perform better in the office. This study suggests that being able to manage the demands of children and running a household helps people better manage the stress of work instead of adding to it. Having children also helps managers develop the ability to see others’ views — a capacity which is critical to supervising others, working in teams or relating to superiors.

But, if parents make better managers, I couldn’t help but notice that today’s parenting issues seem quite similar to those faced by managers. In particular, both camps appear to be plagued by such conundrums as motivation, empowerment, responsibility and performance.

“Everything could change”, writes Dee Dee Myers…and what if it did?

On my way home last night there was a bounce in my step. I felt lighter, happier, empowered…inspired – actually. I felt like I could rule the world.

I was coming back from having heard former white house press secretary, Dee Dee Myers speak at the Rotman School of Management at UofT. Myers is on tour promoting her new book called ‘Why Women Should Rule The World’. (For any Wachovia readers, some of you might recall her visit in Charlotte, NC last week.)

Just because we have a moose on our money, doesn’t mean it should prevent us from making it

Although Michael J. Tatham, founder & CEO of The Tatham Group has been talking about Jim Clemmer’s book “Moose on the Table” for months, it wasn’t until I finally read it, cover-to-cover, that I could share his excitement about Clemmer’s approach.

Clemmer’s book provides an apt (and very Canadian) analogy for what we, at The Tatham Group, encounter everyday: companies that are unable to perform because of poor communication.

The story begins with a middle-aged VP of a company who is on the brink of suffering a major heart attack. Clemmer’s main character, Pete Leonard is overwhelmed by a company in distress: employee morale is low, he has a boss from hell, the company has poorly designed processes and the communication among senior leaders and various departments is terrible. On a personal level – Pete’s marriage is suffering the consequences of this daily barrage at work, whose sorrows he drowns with a bottle.

Leading organizational change

Here is an interesting Globe and Mail article by Gerard Seijts on organizational change. Stay tuned for a reaction to this article from our COO, Laurie Clarke.

Leading organizational change starts with convincing the troops