Leadership & Business: December 2005

Interesting Innovations

Street Heat:
Ever burn your foot walking on hot asphalt in the summer? That’s because black absorbs heat—while white reflects it. Well, in case you haven’t noticed, modern cities are covered in the black stuff. Dutch construction firm Ooms is now heading its headquarters by running water pipes under the street. Some of them collect heat in the summer and run deep into the ground where they heat water via a heat exchanger. That heated water is stored for winter—a sort of battery, if you will. In fact to take it a step further, the water is returned to the ground after heating the building, by passing under the street again. The residual heat in the water, now only a few degrees above freezing, melts any snow or ice on the road surface. The water is then stored—used cold to cool the building—before being run under the asphalt again to prepare for winter. Brilliant!

Establishing a Culture of Process Ownership

Establishing a culture of process ownership means understanding the cycle of process ownership. Time and time again, I go into organizations and the CEO says to me, “I want my people be to be accountable for their processes.” Unfortunately, it just isn’t that easy.

The boss is right in wanting people to take more ownership of their processes, but just because he asks doesn’t mean he’ll get. Even though the boss issues a command to do better, a lot of managers don’t feel like they’re really in charge of their processes.

The reasons vary - perhaps the boss makes too many decisions alone, and doesn’t give others a chance to explain their ideas. Or maybe a process crosses multiple functions and owners. Sometimes processes are dependent on the output of another process under someone else’s control.

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December 12, 2005 in Business, Leadership, Management | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)