"Interdepartmental Collaboration's Vital Link to Organizational Profitability"

by Scott J. Simmerman, Ph.D.

This article was published in the HR Management online magazine in July 2009 and takes the position that organizations can increase performance and profits through interdepartmental sharing of information and developing teamwork and collaboration.

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"Teaching the Caterpillar to Fly"

by Scott J. Simmerman, Ph.D.

This article takes a unique and engaging approach to dealing with change. Being as change is something that happens to people as well as to caterpillars, the basic premise sets up the story of the caterpillar and the butterfly and teaches us that it's dangerous to know "The Answer" because it stops the flow of possibilities. We build around Square Wheels� and a simple model of managing and leading change and facilitating the engaging process.

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"X-Teams and Lost Dutchman"

by Scott J. Simmerman, Ph.D.

Team building is a process of engaging people in a shared vision of possibilities and outcomes and, "Mining as much Gold as we can." This article discusses how the design of The Search for The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine integrates with the X-Teams approach described in Ancona and Bresman's X-Teams book. The main focus of both are that externally focused teams generate optimal outcomes but that teams generally focus more on internal factors. A number of essential issues in team management are talked about and ideas for linking the team building game to real issues of organizational team results are discussed.

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"Building a High Performance Environment - Teamwork and Flow"

by Scott J. Simmerman, Ph.D.

This article shares Csikszentmihalyi's solid concept of flow or "being in the zone" and its relationships to a high performance workplace. The work of a team to support high levels of performance is framed in the relationship of challenge and skill level. Managers understanding this link can better design workplace performance management, environment and feedback systems and help even average performers to better optimize their results. We also reinforce the reality that FUN can be an essential aspect of high performance.

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"An article about Square Wheels from Strategy Management Magazine"

by Scott J. Simmerman, Ph.D.

This is a short article, published in 2008, about the origins and philosophies of the Square Wheels� approach of Performance Management Company and about the origins and linkages of some of the key concepts. It is good background on different aspects and benefits of using these illustrations in the workplace.

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"Inter-departmental Collaboration" - An Organizational Oxymoron -

by Russ Linden and Scott J. Simmerman, Ph.D.

This article discusses the fact that people within most organizations will, generally, compete instead of collaborate even though observations and studies support the reality that almost every organization can benefit significantly by collaborating over competing. So why does this happen and what can be done to generate better choices? We'll share some thoughts and ideas about leadership and leading high performance to optimize organizational collaboration.

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