Archive for October 2014
New Southern Indiana Young Professionals Organization Shows Promise
Last month I had the opportunity to go to the initial meeting of Emerging Leaders of Southern Indiana with my cousin Daniel Shireman at the Loft in downtown New Albany.
Sometimes I get discouraged by thinking about the "brain drain" and remembering some of the best and brightest from my hometown of Lanesville and the Providence High School class of '97 and how we've lost that talent to the big city.
So it was refreshing to meet a lot of the talented young professionals crowd for Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties. A lot of credit should go to Garrett Smith who organized the event and Leadership Southern Indiana who hosted it. It seems like every event I go to with Leadership Southern Indiana I come away more impressed with Mark Eddy and his team.
It was a great chance to network meet other young professionals in a relaxed after-work setting.
There was also a roundtable panel hosted by GLI president Kerry Stemler, which included Andrew Takami, Crystal Gunther and Jay Conner. It drug on too long and I had to go, but the event was a great first step.
For those of you who couldn't make it, there's another event coming up that should be even better.
Huber's in Starlight is touring everone through their new distillery on Nov. 13th from 5:30 to 7pm. Here's the link:
http://leadershipsi.org/event/emerging-leaders-at-hubers-winery/
I know we all get bogged down with kids, work and obligations but I'm hoping this organization gets off the ground and thrives. If you're under 40 give it a shot.
I'll see you there.
--Jeff
P.S. - Just don't follow me back from Starlight as I always come down the wrong way off the hill and end up in Borden or something.
Designing Educational Spaces
School design is changing monthly with new technology, new thinking, new processes, and new products. Here is an interesting take on the subject.
-Mark
-Mark
Too Much of a Good Thing...
"Too Much Organizational Written Policy Erodes Common Sense
and Critical Problem Solving”
-Mark Shireman
Policies
remind me of pride. Both are good things but too much of either one can put
your company into overdose.
Successful
firms must be careful setting too many or forthright details of policy unless
they want to spend all their time arbitrating disputes caused by these stated
policies verses furthering the interests of the client and moving forward.
Project
management requires extreme flexibility to deal with construction challenges in
an environment of changing schedules and conditions many of which are in no
one’s control. Too much stated policy can slow the process.
The
better way is to allow experience to develop a set of informal guidelines
joined by common sense and let this be your guide. Projects bogged down in detailed
policy manuals, charts and detailed job descriptions will soon lose their
flexibility.
A
detailed listing of policies might complicate the job of carrying your real
objectives. A better strategy might be to identify relationships in all
policies and look for a combination that can make progress toward the goals.
A
good management strategy is one that can see relationships that no one else has
seen. Project management set in the middle of a continuous stream of operating
challenges followed hopefully, by a flow of options to deal with these
challenges. Books of written policies will offer very limited help.
Designing for Education
Options vary widely on the best school design. It depends on location, educational goals, budget, and a host of other variables.
-Mark
-Mark
