Striking a Balance


Book Description

At a time of rapid global change, development NGOs are having to scale up their impact, diversify their activities, respond to long-term crises and improve their performance on all fronts. Striking a Balance offers both analysis and a practical guide to how NGDOs can fulfil these demanding expectations. Written for all those involved with NGDO work, the book describes the objectives of sustainablepeople-centred development and the process required to achieve it, focusing on the five factors which determine effectiveness: suitable organisational design; competent leadership and human resources; appropriate external relationships; mobilisation of high quality finance; and the measurement of performance coupled to 'learning for leverage'. In each are the book explains the capacities needed and how they can be assessed and improved. Effectiveness calls for NGDOs which retain their non-profit values, establish the right type of Professionalism, manage dilemmas and balance choices to continually reflect the priorities, rights and needs of those who give them legitimacy: people who are poor and marginalised. This book provides a reference of current and future practices which will help NGDOs to do so.







Personal Balanced Scorecard


Book Description

The Personal Balanced Scorecard (PBSC) is a journey into the inner self, where values, hopes, dreams and aspirations lie quietly waiting to be discovered. Taking the journey as an individual allows you to view your life objectively and authentically as a whole person and provides a roadmap of your dreams and aspirations translated into manageable and measurable milestones. As a part of the Total Performance Scorecard (TPS) process which I introduced in 2003 in Total Performance Scorecard: Redefining Management to Achieve Performance with Integrity, and which has been translated into more than 20 languages, the Personal Balanced Scorecard can also be an effective way for managers to coach others to achieve integrity and alignment between work and life. The benefit comes from changing individual behavior in order to drive organizational effectiveness, enhance performance, and increase self-awareness, personal responsibility and motivation. PBSC is an integral part of this organic and holistic Total Performance Scorecard process, which is an organizational and cultural change tool and a method for ongoing effectiveness. Its uniqueness lies in aligning and a combination of Personal and Organizational goals to result in Individual Performance Plans for each employee. The focus of this book is the PBSC portion, which comprises a search for self-knowledge, self-discovery and self-mastery.




Make Your Brain Work


Book Description

Everyone wants to be more effective at work and to get maximum impact from minimum effort. Make Your Brain Work shows you how to do this, using the latest insights from neuroscience about how our mind works and what really makes us tick. Author Amy Brann is an expert in brain science, but you don't have to be: she has distilled the key findings you need into non-technical, practical guidance. Read this clear, engaging book and discover the things you can do to get yourself functioning at the top of your capabilities, more of the time. Learn the habits, techniques and behaviours that will get you the results you want, by making your brain work for you. Leave stress, overwhelm, negative moods and poor time management behind - Make Your Brain Work is your passport to a new improved you!




Improving School Board Effectiveness


Book Description

Improving School Board Effectiveness offers a clarifying and essential look at the evolving role of school boards and how they contribute to efforts to improve student learning. At its heart is the concept of Balanced Governance, a principle that most generally "balances the authority of a superintendent to lead a school district with the necessary oversight of a locally engaged and knowledgeable board." Improving School Board Effectiveness is a helpful and practical book that will prove indispensable for school board members, school and district administrators, and everyone with a stake in school improvement and reform. "A must-read for anyone interested in the complex challenges school boards face, especially regarding the question of how board members can contribute to the central goal of improving student outcomes." --From the foreword by Willard R. Daggett, founder and chairman, International Center for Leadership in Education "Alsbury and Gore have done an outstanding job of pulling together research that highlights how school boards matter. Their book provides practical examples for improving school governance at the local level. Improving School Board Effectiveness is an essential read for school board members, superintendents, and those working to improve public education governance." --James B. Crow, executive director, Texas Association of School Boards "Improving School Board Effectiveness is a valuable book for superintendents as well as school boards. It explores the crucial relationship between school boards and superintendents, indicating ways to build a trusting, mutually accountable partnership to advance student achievement." --Bert L'Homme, superintendent, Durham Public Schools, North Carolina Thomas L. Alsbury, a former schoolteacher, principal, and administrator, is a professor of educational leadership at Seattle Pacific University as well as a founder and president of Balanced Governance Solutions. Phil Gore, a former school board member, is the division director for leadership team services with the Texas Association of School Boards. Willard R. Daggett is the founder and chairman of the International Center for Leadership in Education.




From Work-Family Balance to Work-Family Interaction


Book Description

There are many lessons to be learned about work-family interaction. It is clear that some people have learned how to combine work and family in ways that are mutually supporting--at least much of the time--and some employers have created work environments and policies that make positive interdependence of these two spheres more likely to occur. This book discusses measures of work-family, conflict, policies designed to reduce conflict, comparisons with other industrialized nations, and reasons why family-friendly work-policies have not been adopted with enthusiasm. The purpose is to consider a broad range of topics that pertain to work and family with the goal of helping employers and working families understand the work-life options that are available so they can make choices that offer returns-on-investments to employers, families, and society at large that are consistent with personal and societal values. This book brings together a superb panel of experts from different disciplines to look at work and family issues and the way they interact. Part I is an overview--with a brief discussion by a psychologist, economist, and a political scientist--each of whom provide their own interpretation of how their discipline views this hybrid field. Part II considers the business case of the question of why employers should invest in family-friendly work policies, followed by a section on the employer response to work family interactions. Families are the focus of the Part IV, followed by a look at children--many of whom are at the heart of work and family interaction.




Managing Work-life Balance


Book Description

Work-life balance is one of the most important issues facing employers and managers today. Employees at all levels are no longer willing to trade their quality of life in order to get a decent standard of living. Managers can no longer afford to ignore the costs that the long-hours culture imposes on their organisation. Overwork causes stress-related absenteeism, poor retention levels, low creativity, appalling customer service and unethical employee behaviour. Combine that with the risks of being sued by a stressed employee or a parent who wanted to work flexibly, and the business case for paying real attention to work-life issues has never been stronger. This text sets out the roadmap for moving your organisation towards a positive work-life culture. With clear and practical advice for HR and line managers alike, Managing Work-Life Balance shows you how to engage employers, managers and employees in the process of controlling the inherent conflicts between the worlds of work and home.




Creating Balance?


Book Description

A satisfactory and healthy integration of work with other life domains is one of the key challenges of modern society. Work-life balance and work-life integration have become focal points of today’s human resource management practice and theory. Professionals who have been described as “extreme workers” regarding their work hours and engagement are under particular pressure to balance work and ”the rest of life”. This collection maps the increasingly extensive discussion of work-life issues for professionals and discusses key aspects in depth. What is work-life integration? What are the specific challenges for professionals? How do they manage their blurred work-life boundaries? How can companies intervene? Internationally leading authors discuss antecedents and individual and organizational outcomes of work-life integration, gender-specific perspectives and challenges as well as the use and usefulness of corporate work-life balance initiatives. In five sections distinguished researchers from across the world present experiences and research findings to provide a compendium of academic and applied research on the work-life integration of professionals. Cutting-edge research and novel theoretical perspectives make this collection a source of knowledge and inspiration for academic and business audiences interested in work-life integration issues in general and in the case of professionals in particular.




Life in the Open Sea


Book Description

The idea behind the book is to make people happier, more active, creative, ethical, and organisations more competitive. The author emphasizes that freedom and inner peace comes from within, and can be realised simply. After reading the book, managers will be able to develop committed employees, who will not only contribute exceptionally, but also support; defend; promote and love the organisation. There are two parts of the book: Part I deals with PBSC (personal balanced Scorecard) as an instrument for individual development, personal effectiveness, and growth in life. This part of the book is, primarily, for people facing new challenges or don t know how to go on. This book will give them a unique instrument to improve their future. The second part deals with people who are unemployed, need to find their way back into the society, and want to move further in life. This part puts PBSC as an instrument for enjoyment, and effective talent development. It deals with fun in the work place, high productivity, low absenteeism and a happy work force for a competitive advantage.