Dysfunction Junction

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Dysfunction Junction
Kathleen Ryan O'Connor (July 16, 2009)

The future of too many organizations — and individuals, for that matter — seems to be set on "default." Change initiatives and process improvements come and go, but the underlying problems remain. Steve Zaffron says project leaders and teams can help rewrite the future together by understanding three fundamental laws of performance.

When it comes to executing projects, even the perfect plan and the best team can sink like stone when morale tanks. But what can you do at a time when no industry is immune to retrenchment and reorganization, which can sap the productivity of even the most dedicated performers?

Steve Zaffron, CEO of the global consulting firm Vanto Group and a respected voice in the areas of leadership and organization, says the answers can be found in understanding three fundamental laws of performance, detailed in his new bestselling book with Dave Logan, "The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life" (Jossey-Bass, 2009).

Part of the book's success — it's a top 20 seller in Amazon.com's management and investing category and in the top 1,000 overall — is that so many companies are resigned to patching holes in morale and performance, never a long-term solution. Zaffron, whose clients include Apple, Lockheed Martin and Johnson & Johnson, lays out new ideas for overcoming skepticism and dysfunctional dynamics.

In his Editor’s Note to the book, leadership guru Warren Bennis writes: “As we move into the heart of the twenty-first century, it’s time for business leaders to ask what impact they want their career and their entire organization to make? The future that’s already written about organizations is not the most ideal.

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September 2010:

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