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	Highly Read Since Aug 12 Some Economics of the Great Coal Game (2085 Page Views) Electric Vehicles but Not as We Know Them (1180 Page Views) Announcement of the GE ecomagination Challenge, Powering the grid, a $200 million innovation experiment (587 Page Views) Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) a promising technology that can help mitigating carbon footprint (541 Page Views) Before Peak or Beyond Petroleum - BP Oil Limits (449 Page Views) A Future Scenario of Energy and Navigation on the Great Lakes and St Lawrence River (349 Page Views)


	Webcasts Conferences/Shows Training Communicating Smart Meter Value Sep 9 2010 - 2010-01-01 12:00:00 - Your City If you are involved in Management or Customer Service and are responsible for communicating the value of smart meters to your utility customers, you don’t want to miss this online discussion - Communicating Smart Meter Value. more... Social Media: The new frontier in recruiting, communications and marketing Sep 13 2010 - 2010-01-01 12:00:00 - Your City Join social media mavens Matthew Burks and Amanda Shewmake as they provide an insider's perspective on how HR, communications and marketing professionals in energy companies can harness the power of social media to be more effective and productive. more... Eliminating Obstacles and Delivering the Benefits of the Smart Grid - IBM's Optimized Energy Value Chain (OEVC) Sep 14 2010 - 2010-01-01 12:00:00 - Your City The convergence of power and information technologies in the smart grid has created opportunities for finer grained and broader controls of energy flows. These opportunities can improve electric service in multiple dimensions: lower cost, greater reliability, greater customer satisfaction, and more... Achieving Operational Excellence - What to Consider Before Implementing or Upgrading Your Distribution Management Solutions Sep 16 2010 - 2010-01-01 12:00:00 - Your City Significant cost over runs. Changing business requirements. A well thought out plan is essential. Attend this free webcast discussion to hear inside hear three experts in utility operations discuss what utilities need to evaluate when they are considering upgrading or more... Outsmarting the Smart Grid: IT, Security and Communication Infrastructure Challenges & Opportunities for Utilities Sep 21 2010 - 2010-01-01 12:00:00 - Your City The smart grid is shifting the playing field for utilities. And when the game changes, it pays to be prepared. A nimble solutions partner can help you design the solutions that keep operations on track, even as new challenges come more... All Webcasts » 1st CSP Today Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Summit India Sep 7 2010 - Sep 8 2010 - New Delhi India Deliver a profitable, productive and commercially successful large scale CSP business in India. Building on the success of past events in USA, Europe & MENA, CSP Today brings to New Delhi the most relevant international experience for the concentrated solar more... Offshore Wind Energy in North America's Great Lakes Conference Sep 9 2010 - Sep 10 2010 - Toronto Two day conference that tackles the most important challenges. A blend of European knowledge from the companies who have been installing offshore wind turbines for the last decade alongside local state governing bodies and leading project developers. Permitting, securing long more... Autovation 2010 Sep 12 2010 - Sep 15 2010 - Austin, TX - USA Autovation 2010 is a not-to-miss educational forum that will attract utility executives from around the world looking for new ways to optimize their operations through automation technologies. more... Global Sustainable Bioenergy North American Convention Sep 14 2010 - Sep 16 2010 - Minneapolis, MN - USA The North American convention provides a remarkable opportunity to play a part in guiding renewable energy policy for the 21st century. Attendees will create a resolution that, along with similar resolutions already drafted on four other continents, will help set more... GridWise Global Forum Sep 21 2010 - Sep 23 2010 - Washington, DC - USA Hosted by the GridWise(R) Alliance and the U.S. Department of Energy, the GridWise Global Forum will convene thought leaders from the highest levels of government, business, NGOS, and academia from around the world to discuss the ultimate enabling potential of more... All Conferences / Shows » 1. Intro to Nat Gas Trading & Hedging 2. Option Applications in Energy Sep 20 2010 - Sep 23 2010 - Houston, TX - USA Introduction to Natural Gas Trading & Hedging - This program provides a comprehensive understanding of the structures that underlie Natural Gas trading. Beyond Essentials: Option Applications in Energy - This course provides a solid practical and conceptual (non-quantitative) understanding of more... Electric Business Understanding Seminar Sep 20 2010 - Sep 21 2010 - Houston, TX - USA Electric Business Understanding provides a comprehensive overview of the electric industry. Position yourself for career advancement by gaining a solid understanding of how the electric business works including key physical, market, and regulatory aspects and how market participants navigate this more... Electric Market Dynamics Seminar Sep 22 2010 - Sep 23 2010 - Houston, TX - USA Electric Market Dynamics offers participants an in-depth understanding of North American electric markets and how they function. Enhance your career by furthering your knowledge of market structures, pricing mechanisms, services offered in markets, and how various participants use the markets more... Gas and Electric Business Understanding Seminar Oct 5 2010 - Oct 6 2010 - Los Angeles, CA - USA Gas and Electric Business Understanding provides a comprehensive overview of the natural gas and electric industries. Position yourself for career success by gaining a solid understanding of how each business works, including key physical, market and regulatory aspects, as well more... All Training » View All Events »


	Energy Central Power Network

OR

Kevin Herring

President Ascent Management Consulting
	Member Since: 07/24/06 Author Rating: Gold Article Count: 39 Email this author

Background

Kevin Herring is co-author of Practical Guide for Internal Consultants, and President of Ascent Management Consulting. Ascent specializes in workgroup and business unit performance turnarounds through breakthrough leadership, workplace cultures and organization systems.

Kevin can be contacted at 520-742-7300, kevinh@ascentmgt.com or www.ascentmgt.com.

Articles

9.2.10	Management In Real Life: Renewing the Organization Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 12 Times; Comment on this article To innovate means to renew or make new. Ironically, leaders of stale company cultures are typically the ones holding the bullhorns at company picnics giving the same canned pep talks about inn

4.22.10	Management In Real Life: Managing Me Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 1555 Times; Comment on this article There are all sorts of workshops and seminars on leading and managing others. I can jet off to Las Vegas for a conference, or pick up a week of training in Michigan. I can even surf the internet and find dozens of webinars. But when it comes to learning to manage my Number One direct report -- Me -- where do I go? And if I can't do a good job of leading and managing Me, how can I expect to lead and manage others?

4.7.10	Management In Real Life: Cutting Edge Leadership in the Shop Down the Street Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 1463 Times; Comment on this article When his VP called to tell him the CEO had packed up and left, recent owner and board chairman, Chad White, realized his business was in trouble. So, Chad made himself the third CEO in six months, rolled up his sleeves, and went to work to learn the business and get things back on track.

3.9.10	Management In Real Life: Improving Performance: The Five-Step Plan Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 1750 Times; 1 comments When we go to a doctor for a health problem, the doctor will ask a few questions, poke us where it hurts, and often write a prescription for whatever ails us. In a few days, all will be well again. If the doctor doesn't bother to examine us, and simply prescribes the same treatment for everyone, we head for a second opinion. With no examination, how would the doctor diagnose our problem and know how to treat it?

2.10.10	Management In Real Life: Plugging the Reality Gap Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 1701 Times; Comment on this article At the end of the year we sometimes find ourselves wondering about somebody we haven't seen in years. Time and distance seem to make it hard to stay in touch. But being in touch can be just as much a problem between people working in the same general facilities day after day as for old friends swapping Christmas cards across the country. Often, the disconnect shows up in the worst possible ways.

1.19.10	Management In Real Life: Use It Or Lose It Topic: Business & Corporate Article Viewed 1558 Times; 1 comments Peer into the windows of most any office in the evening and you'll see accountants and managers working late trying to manage what's left of this year's crumbs and assembling a budget for the coming year. All told, the process makes for an amazing fish bowl view into the social system of an organization and what should be a wake up call to executives.

11.19.09	Management In Real Life: My Contribution Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 2797 Times; Comment on this article Have you ever sat around griping about a boss, manager, or co-worker who doesn't "get it" or acts like they know it all? You're not alone; my hand goes up, too. Once when I was dosing out a hefty portion of criticism about an executive I found difficult to work with, a good friend of mine asked, "So what are you doing to contribute to the problem?"

10.16.09	B-29 Leadership Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 2988 Times; Comment on this article After nearly 25 years of working with leaders I know I can get a bit obsessed with extracting leadership lessons from some of the most obscure experiences. But these lessons leaped right out when a World War II veteran described his experiences as a member of a B-29 bomber crew.

9.21.09	Management In Real Life: You Just Hired Jack the Ripper Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3384 Times; Comment on this article Eccentricities don't just belong to individuals, however. Glance into your organization's practices and I'll bet you can spool a healthy list. Consider what you're most worried about when you hire someone. Are you mostly afraid you'll get someone without the right competencies to do the job?

6.30.09	Let's Talk Commitment Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3506 Times; Comment on this article The entire nation watched in awe as General Motors filed for bankruptcy in the largest manufacturing bankruptcy filing in American history and the latest casualty of the economic downturn. Tagging along with the bankruptcy filing came more gloomy announcements of additional production cuts and factory closures.

5.18.09	Management In Real Life: If Only I Had Known Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3878 Times; Comment on this article "If I had only known..." How many times have we said that when we messed things up while trying to be helpful? It reminds me of the time when a couple of core employees at a smelter made some changes to a metals refining process to get faster results.

2.20.09	Management In Real Life: A Year of Opportunity Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3579 Times; Comment on this article To say it's been an interesting year for business would be an understatement, to say the least. Industry collapses, credit crises, and stock market crashes have most of us sitting up and paying attention wondering what's in store for 2009.

11.6.08	Management In Real Life: Utilization and the Human Capacity Gap Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3600 Times; 1 comments When leaders talk about capacity and utilization they want to know how many widgets are possible and how many widgets are being produced relative to that number. They aren't usually discussing capacity and utilization in the context of human potential and output even when talking about labor utilization. Here's what they're missing.

9.15.08	Management In Real Life: It's Not About Time Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3893 Times; Comment on this article How many sick days do you get? It may not matter that in your entire career you've never taken any sick time. If a flu bug happens to hit you twice this year, you might be in trouble.

8.5.08	Management In Real Life: Psychologically Invested? Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3741 Times; Comment on this article What kind of employee are you? Do you begrudgingly drag yourself into work each day? Do you resent feeling obligated to show up? Or do you enthusiastically hop out of bed itching to get to work and into the next exciting task? And what about your work team members? How do they stack up?

7.15.08	Management In Real Life: Driving Out Leadership Fear Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3700 Times; Comment on this article "Drive fear out of the workplace" was one of W. Edwards Deming's fourteen mantras for total quality management. Of course, he was referring to core employees who grew up in highly controlling, initiative-stifling work environments, causing them to be afraid to innovate or make suggestions for fear of being labeled by management a dreaded troublemaker, or worse.

6.10.08	Management In Real Life: Secrets to Employee Performance Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4192 Times; Comment on this article With all the mystery surrounding the issue of how to manage employee performance we might expect to find a book on the subject adjacent to a Tom Clancy novel in the MYSTERIES section of the bookstore. Today, however, we’ll stay in the NON-FICTION section and discuss some basics of employee performance in plain terms.

5.27.08	Management In Real Life: Better Than Musical Chairs Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4095 Times; 1 comments Everyone is looking for ways to squeeze out a little more productivity these days, and moving people around is a whole lot easier than trying to change management practices and core worker attitudes. And how the boxes on the organization chart are arranged can influence employee experiences and their work.

5.12.08	Management In Real Life: From Strategy to Execution Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4508 Times; Comment on this article It begins with an email addressed to "All Employees" announcing an important meeting the following Friday. Extracting bits and pieces of the generalized message, core employees are able to pick out phrases like "future of the organization" and "positioning ourselves to compete." They conclude that the meeting relates to the next big thing in company strategy.

4.14.08	Management In Real Life: Partnering Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3772 Times; Comment on this article Brushing the dust from his clothes, the line worker asked me if I had a few minutes. From the look in his eye and the sound in his voice, I knew he didn't call me over to talk about the upcoming Super Bowl.

3.25.08	Management In Real Life: Top Communicators Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4057 Times; Comment on this article Ah, the power of information! Both research and experience tells us that when employees understand how the business operates, can connect their work to company financials, and know what has to be done for the business to compete, they are likely to be more engaged. Why? Because they have context for what they do each day and the ability to contribute more.

3.12.08	Management In Real Life: Passing the Baton Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3800 Times; 1 comments In today's businesses, we hear of employers everywhere griping about not being able to hire enough engineers, programmers, and other technical people. Their concerns are supported in magazines that report U.S. employers will be short 10 million skilled workers by 2012.

2.18.08	Management In Real Life: The Status Quo Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3975 Times; 1 comments Ever feel like there's not enough time in the day? Wish you had an extra hour or so to keep your head above water? Sometimes we think getting a handle on emails, meetings and paperwork is all it takes, but for most of us, the problem isn't so simple.

1.22.08	Management In Real Life: Internal Service Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3889 Times; 1 comments It's a face-off at the table as design team members line up on one side and production team members line up on the other. At one end sits the head of the design group symbolically digging in, both feet pressing into the carpet. Directly across at the opposite end sits the leader of the production team, leaning forward as if preparing to spring across the table at the first sign of attack.

11.26.07	Management In Real Life: Staff Group Accounting Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 3801 Times; Comment on this article A company of one. It may begin this way - an entrepreneur, an idea, a garage, a little money, and, as many often say, a bit of luck. Initially, the successful entrepreneur may build the product and spend most days trying to peddle it. If all the pegs fall into the right holes, the business succeeds and begins to grow - both a blessing and a curse as trying to manage everything can become overwhelming.

9.25.07	Management In Real Life: Leadership Choices Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4343 Times; Comment on this article Sue's left hand is on the keypad; her right hand is holding the handset. She starts to dial the number for Dave, one of her managers. It's the end of the month and Dave is scrambling. The shop floor is chaotic with people running everywhere; the stress level is high.

8.13.07	Management In Real Life: What Matters Most Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4418 Times; Comment on this article "How do you motivate people?" I asked a group of leaders. And, no surprise, I received the usual response that comes from years of attending $100 seminars: "You find out what's important to people and provide it as an incentive."

7.3.07	Management In Real Life: Keep Your Eye On The Puck Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4470 Times; 1 comments "Always keep your eye on the puck." If I said it once, I said it a hundred times when I introduced my family to one of my favorite sports - ice hockey. The action is at the puck. And where the puck ends up determines who wins. People new to hockey seem to have a hard time following the puck. The same can happen in a business.

6.12.07	Management In Real Life: Not Just Talk Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 5925 Times; Comment on this article Few would want to swap shoes with David Neeleman whose JetBlue Airlines was flying high until Valentines Day. Some passengers described the experience as a repeat of the historic massacre as they sat stranded for 8-plus hours on planes planted on the JFK airport tarmac.

5.16.07	Management In Real Life: Automated Employees Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4202 Times; Comment on this article We've all experienced dysfunctional organizations as unfortunate customers, but what, if anything, do we learn from the experience beyond confirmation that it's time to hit the road and go elsewhere? Is the problem really employee incompetence? Is it a lack of concern for the customer? Or is there more to the problem than meets the eye?

4.25.07	The Engineer as Plant Manager Topic: Business & Corporate Article Viewed 4732 Times; Comment on this article "All things being equal, if you had to choose between an engineer with highly trained technical competence but only average ability to motivate and manage people, and an engineer of only average technical ability but with superb abilities to motivate and organize people, who would you choose to manage one of your plants?"

3.21.07	Management In Real Life: Credibility Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4386 Times; Comment on this article Coins, votes, and strange-looking birds are a few of the myriad methods leaders use to make decisions. Of course, some methods have proven more credible than others. Reaching back into history we find the account of Alexander the Great and his bird-omen.

2.27.07	Management In Real Life: Leadership Humility Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4080 Times; Comment on this article We've all been taught that seeing is believing. But what if we're paying attention to the wrong information? A general manager who hired me to "fix" his management team was convinced he needed to "clean house." He said he wanted to give his staff one shot at turning themselves around before dropping the axe.

2.7.07	Management In Real Life: Knowledge Leadership Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 5131 Times; Comment on this article Over twenty years ago, I interviewed for a job with a large regional accounting and consulting firm. I still remember the facility tour hosted by a managing partner who showed me how each floor of the new office building had been carefully designed with small Dilbert-like cubicles arranged in groups around the perimeter of a circle.

1.4.07	Management In Real Life: Merging Cultures Topic: Business & Corporate Article Viewed 4465 Times; Comment on this article The employees of a southwest company had little warning of the trauma that lie ahead as an acquisition target. At first, the acquisition was just another day in a fast-moving, frequently changing environment.

10.13.06	Management In Real Life: Where have all the heroes gone? Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 4823 Times; Comment on this article Here we go again. Another diatribe about how the human resource department can become like other, more successful, overhead functions. 'Kind of drives you crazy, doesn't it? This past week I heard about how HR needs to show how managing people effectively saves money as if that should somehow grab the attention of a CEO concerned about declining market share, delays in new product development and persistent customer complaints.

9.13.06	Management In Real Life: Grupo Semco Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 5578 Times; 3 comments Just when you think you've heard everything, along comes another surprise. Then again, you probably hadn't heard of Grupo Semco in Brazil. Semco is a Sao Paulo business run by Ricardo Semler, a bright Harvard MBA (at age 20) who took the reins when his father transferred ownership and management to his son.

8.21.06	Management In Real Life: Leadership Topic: Human Resources Article Viewed 7078 Times; 2 comments One of my most memorable job interviews occurred many years ago with a CEO by the name of J. Burgess Winter. I had completed most of my scheduled interviews and had taken some time to explore the community when the Corporate VP of Human Resources asked me if I could change my flight arrangements in order to stay another day.

7.26.06	Management In Real Life: Company Vision Topic: Billing & Customer Care Article Viewed 5974 Times; Comment on this article How would you feel about a company vision that looks something like this? "Our vision is to become a firm that pays the very lowest wages possible, charges the highest prices the market will bear, and divides the spoils between stockholders and senior executives, mostly the latter." Change guru John Kotter uses this example to slam business leaders launching into transformation mode for the primary purpose of feathering their own nests.

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