BOLTZ & CO - Blog

Work and Society - #1

10/10/2018

by Matt Boltz

In the Work and Society blog posts I will cover a variety of topics, such as parenting, education, politics, culture, relationships, or anything else that I have thoughts or commentary on. I may link to an article I recently read that I found interesting or that needs to be refuted. I may have had a discussion with a friend or coworker where I learned something new or had my way of thinking challenged. I could also post about an experience I recently had that affected me in a positive or a negative way. Please continue reading below. Thank you.

Are We Still Doing Annual Performance Reviews?

10/3/2018

by Matt Boltz

Is there anything that Corporate America loves more than the Annual Performance Review? This is the time-honored tradition where an employee sits down with his/her manager to discuss how their performance was over the past year, what they did well, what needs to be improved, and what goals they have for the upcoming year. There is probably an online component to the review where you get to rank yourself against a number of statements and your manager gets to rank you as well. Then you get to sit in a room together and discuss these results. Annual Performance Reviews are one of the most unnatural and awkward aspects to any job and may be the worst way to judge an employee's contributions to the company.

How Many Single Points of Failure Does Your Organization Have?

9/26/2018

by Matt Boltz

Every organization is at risk of the “Lottery Winner” scenario. One or more of your employees hits the lottery jackpot and doesn’t ever have to show up to work again. They are gone but the work still has to get done. Do other members/managers of the team know how to do that person’s job? Are processes documented and are the process documents up to date? Are other members of the organization cross trained on the lottery winner’s tasks? If you answered ‘No’ to these questions then your organization may have an issue with Single Points of Failure.

Flow and the Workplace

9/18/2018

by Matt Boltz

The concept of flow has been around for a very long time and is commonly known as being “in the zone” or being focused, engaged, and happy with the activity you are performing. Flow is an extremely valuable concept that can be applied to many different areas of life. The best breakdown of flow I’ve heard was in an interview with mixed martial arts coach Firas Zahabi. He uses flow in terms of fitness and training his fighters, which include arguably the best mixed martial artist of all-time in Georges St-Pierre.

3 Principles of an Effective Workplace: Principle #3 - Education

9/12/2018

by Matt Boltz

Education is the third Principle of an Effective Workplace. Once you start a role at a new organization it will typically take anywhere from 3 months to a year to get comfortable in your new position. Why does learning stop when you have been assigned a role and trained on the tasks you will be responsible for? Most people enjoy learning new things and want to be challenged. Why can’t someone in Finance learn about what the Marketing team does and possibly contribute to that team? That person in Finance may have been studying marketing in their own time or may have a skill set that is a better fit for Marketing.

3 Principles of an Effective Workplace: Principle #2 - Collaboration/Cooperation

9/5/2018

by Matt Boltz

The second Principle of an Effective Workplace is Collaboration/Cooperation. I covered the first principle, Individualism, in the prior blog post. For a real-life example of how these two principles work together we can look at the offense of a football team. There are 11 players on offense and each one is responsible for their individual assignment. Through communication and practice these 11 individuals with 11 individual tasks work together to execute the play. The offense of a football team will not be successful if the individuals do not complete their job and if they do not collaborate and cooperate with each other.

3 Principles of an Effective Workplace: Principle #1 - Individualism

8/29/2018

by Matt Boltz

The first Principle of an Effective Workplace is Individualism. What Individualism means in this context is that individuals are the base unit in all organizations. What is a corporation? What is a government? These organizations consist of departments and teams. These departments and teams are made up of individuals. An effective organization and effective leaders need to recognize the importance of creating a culture where individuals can pursue what interests them while meeting the needs of the business.

Why I started Boltz & Co.

8/19/2018

by Matt Boltz

I initially started Boltz & Co. to provide temporary contractor services to existing Accounting, Financial Planning & Analysis, Project Management, and Operations teams that needed some short-term help. This is still one of the main services we offer. However, my true passion and a subject I am obsessed with is corporate culture and helping organizations and their employees work together to build a better culture. We are at a point in time when we need to reexamine the role of the “workplace” in society and we need to put some time and effort into building an effective organizational culture. A number of studies have been conducted that show how dissatisfied people are with their jobs. I want to help people enjoy their jobs more and I want organizations to change policies that are increasing their costs through developing a negative culture. There were a couple of incidents in the past few years that solidified my decision to include organizational culture and development strategy as a part of the business.

by Matt Boltz

by Matt Boltz

by Matt Boltz

by Matt Boltz

by Matt Boltz

by Matt Boltz

by Matt Boltz

by Matt Boltz

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