^The APQC Blog

The growing sophistication of cyber-attacks has made it clear that even corporations with savvy prevention and protection systems are vulnerable. Cyber security is not just an IT issue but instead a cross-functional concern for the digital enterprise that requires attentive executive- and board-level surveillance. It also requires the involvement of key functions, particularly finance and enterprise risk management (ERM).

Over the past 15 years, APQC has conducted four large-scale studies on communities of practice and identified dozens of best practices related to building and sustaining effective communities. However, as technology and work norms evolve, we must consider whether classic community structures still deliver the same value they did a decade ago. Do communities retain pride of place in the KM toolkit, or have new tools for enterprise social networking and collaboration shifted the landscape?

Perhaps largely due to the nature of their business, professional services firms have high expectations, and consequently some struggles, when it comes to the demarcation of work and home life. Work tends to be ubiquitous, and employees often struggle with guilt if they take advantage of benefits like vacation and personal time off.

Finance professionals naturally understand the rationale of measuring managerial and operating progress, so wielding those measures’ corresponding benchmarks should be a straightforward exercise. But a word of caution is due. The impulse to act quickly with benchmarks can take a finance group in the wrong direction. Slow down, step back, and carefully consider your next steps.

Like everyone else who is currently older than about 25, I was forced to learn how to write in cursive during elementary school. And also just like the rest of my peers, my application of cursive is now pretty much limited to my signature. Do you know what would have been a much better use of the time we spent learning a skill than we’d never employ? Learning how to budget.

In my last blog, I wrote about the pros and cons of the annual performance evaluation and asked for your personal opinion on whether performance evaluations should stay or go. If you haven’t had a chance to vote in our poll, click on the image below to tell us what you think.

APQC and other thought leaders have long touted the potential benefits of using analytics to become more data driven. And, for the most part, organizations seem to agree. In fact, more than three-quarters of respondents to a recent APQC poll report that their organization has invested in an analytics solution.

What are the biggest disconnects between how people currently work and how they want to work, and what can organizations do to improve the future of work for everyone? This fall, APQC surveyed more than 1,000 people about their current work experiences and what changes would make them happier and more productive.

Dec 1, 2016 was my first day at APQC. Folks all day asked if I was drinking from a firehose yet. Indubitably I was. Actually, I moaned, it was more like having a large bucket of ice water poured over me.  You know what’s coming, but not exactly sure when. Hey, my eyes were closed!

The end of the year can mean many things for employees and their managers: a few days off for the holidays, a little down time to clean out files and inboxes, or a great time to start planning ahead for the New Year. At many companies, it is also the time when managers call employees into their offices for their long-awaited, and sometimes dreaded, annual performance reviews.