News

  • Just Published: Using Business Ecosystem Mapping to Navigate Complexity, 04/03/2013 - Excerpt from “Finding Value”: an article just published by OD Practitioner. Several years ago, I was hired by a software client to help with strategic planning. When the company started fifteen years ago, its product was revolutionary but its uniqueness was not a permanent state. Other companies were offering software that provided similar functions. The ...
  • Hate Small Talk? Here’s How to Make It Work For You, 02/08/2013 - “Small talk can get big results — but only if you know how to use it,” says Robin Madell on Glass Hammer. Unfortunately, too many of us don’t know how to use small talk. We shy away from networking meetings where we’ll need to use it and cringe as we ask someone about the weather. ...
  • Illuminating the Invisible: Mapping Austin’s Adolescent Health System Using Value Network Analysis, 10/31/2012 - I’m delighted to announce that Nonprofit Quarterly has published an article on the work done last year with the Austin Healthy Adolescent Initiative. “Illuminating the Invisible: Mapping Austin’s Adolescent Health System Using Value Network Analysis” provides a case study of how we used a specific technique to paint a holistic picture of how the system ...
  • How to Help Managers Lead Change in CIO Magazine, 10/19/2012 - We’re undergoing significant change and I can’t be everywhere. How can I help my managers lead? If you’re struggling with how to help your direct reports lead change, you’re not alone. CIO Magazine readers, check your October 15, 2012 issue on page 12 for thoughts on what leaders can do to help their managers with change ...
  • Handbook for Strategic HR: New Book Coming in November, 08/16/2012 - I’m delighted to announce that November 28, 2012 is the release date for Handbook for Strategic HR: Best Practices in Organization Development from the OD Network.  This volume draws on the best thinking on strategic Human Resources from the premier OD practitioner journal, OD Practitioner. I worked on this project along with a fantastic, smart group ...
  • June 22 Value Network Analysis Workshop with Verna Allee, 05/02/2012 - People naturally network as they work so why not model work itself as a network?  Any time people come together they take on different roles and define how they will interact.  Value network modeling makes this natural pattern of work visible. It captures the real way that people get their work done.  In the workshop ...
  • “Successful Change Leadership” at the CEM Annual Global Pension Administration Peer Conference, 04/23/2012 - Just confirmed: Maya will be speaking on organization change management strategy at the upcoming CEM Annual Global Pension Administration Peer Conference on May 8 in New York City. We’ll focus on how pension administration organizations can use proactive change leadership to engage employees, accelerate initiatives, and improve likelihood of success. For more information, see conference ...
  • “Becoming a Change Leader (Yes, You!)” at PMI Mass Bay’s Professional Development Day, 03/10/2012 - PMs are on the front lines of organization change. Yet the statistics on change are dismal. McKinsey Quarterly reported that only 38% of leaders believed their recent transformation effort was better than somewhat successful. And the project success rates (coming in on time, within budget, and to scope) are lower than anyone would like. Clearly, ...
  • Stacking the Deck: Using Hidden Organizational Networks to Develop High Potentials – Session at the Northeast HR Association Conference, 03/01/2012 - How often have you realized, only after an employee has left the company, how critical he or she actually was to the business? Have you ever found your company in dire straits because key positions have been empty for too long? Or have you hired a promising new executive only to see that person fail ...
  • Project Summit Conference Update: Successful Change Leadership, 10/25/2011 - Sixty plus people listened in today at the Project Summit in Burlington, MA for a talk on how to be a successful change leader. Not only did we have a lot of fun (the people next door told us they could hear us laughing), we identified practical methods people can use to create change in ...
  • Coming to the Project Summit: Becoming a Change Leader (Yes, You!), 07/27/2011 - PMs are on the front lines of organization change. Yet the statistics on change are dismal. McKinsey Quarterly reported that only 38% of leaders believed their recent transformation effort was better than somewhat successful. And the project success rates (coming in on time, within budget, and to scope) are lower than anyone would like. Clearly, ...
  • It’s OK to Eat Alone if You’re A High-Performing Introvert, 07/20/2011 - 80 women from the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association convened on July 19, 2011 to learn about the Art and Science of Networking. The task: figure out how to use science to reduce the awkwardness of traditional networking and to network strategically. The session received rave reviews.
  • The Art & Science of Networking (Yes, There Is a Science!): Presentation at HBA, 07/19/2011 - Have you ever wondered how the grapevine really affects your reputation in the company? How a leader’s connections support his or her success leading a project? Whether all these networking meetings really make a difference? In this interactive, fast-paced session of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Network on July 19, 2011, we learned about the science behind organizational ...
  • Free Team Communication Activity: Learning from Organizational Networks, 02/22/2011 - Networks at Play is a short experiential activity that introduces participants to the concepts of hidden social networks and of critical connectors. It’s a fun, fast way to help participants understand how information flows in teams and how networks affect effective communication. We’re proud to announce that “Networks at Play” was just published in the ...
  • The Nature of Organizational Networks: Talent Management Magazine, 09/04/2010 - Professional networks within and across organizations can directly impact the success of change initiatives. But to what extent, and why? This article in Talent Management magazine answers these important questions about organizational networks.
  • The Hidden Web: Inside the Organizational Networks that Drive Project Performance, 05/12/2010 - Influencing without authority is one of the hardest skills to acquire. Yet there is a powerful tool that can help PMs understand how to influence effectively. Underneath organization charts and process maps are hidden informal networks: the webs of relationships that underlie all organization activity. People activate these webs in order to solve problems, gain ...
  • Accelerating Time to Productivity: Using Network Science for Rapid On-boarding, 04/28/2010 - Best-in-class on-boarding programs can achieve significant improvements—up to 50%—in time to proficiency.  How do they do it? Research shows that best-in-class programs are more likely to help new hires form the connections they need to be successful. In this lively, interactive session, featured at NEHRA’s Spring Conference, we explore how network science helps us identify and ...
  • PMI Mass Bay Event: Leveraging Informal Networks to Improve Project Success Rates, 01/19/2010 - The statistics about project success are daunting: too many fail to finish on time, within budget, and according to scope. Only 5% of change initiatives are completed on time and with minimal disruption to the organization, according to Gartner. Clearly, traditional tools are not enough. Every organization has hidden networks of relationships that employees use in ...
  • "Welcome! Now Work" hits SlideShare's Top Tweet List, 10/27/2009 - “Welcome! Now Get to Work…“ is a brief presentation that outlines best practices in new hire on-boarding. It includes discussion of socialization and networks — key elements of successful new hire integration processes. The presentation made SlideShare’s Top Tweet list and was featured on its front page on October 27, 2009.
  • High Performance Team Workout: Partnering Resources introduces new service designed to boost team performance, 09/15/2009 - The group has six months to come together and accomplish something challenging. Maybe it’s designing and rolling out a new project management methodology worldwide. Perhaps it’s pulling off the first large-scale user conference in the company’s history. Or maybe this group needs to create the next breakthrough product for the company. The stakes are high ...
  • What It's Like to PM: Industry exploration at the Project Management Institute, 08/11/2009 - Crossing industries can be daunting. The hope is that the learning curve will be small and new hires will quickly become a valued member of staff. The worst case scenario: the milieu will be so different that the new hire never learns enough to contribute and, after struggling, leaves to find a new job. On July ...
  • Network Power: Tapping Hidden Social Networks to Accelerate Improvement, 06/18/2009 - Have you ever wondered how the grapevine affects improvement efforts? How a leader’s social connections support his or her success leading a quality effort? Whether you can make your next quality improvement effort more successful by tapping into social networks? Every organization has hidden networks of relationships that employees use in order to get work done, ...