Our Blog: The Geigsen Gazette

Unstick Your Strategy

Zack WalmerNovember 29, 2021

How to stay regulated in a dysregulated world

At this point, things on planet Earth seem pretty off-kilter. Covid-19 is shutting down the social world as we know it and the stock market is doing its best impression of the Yukon Striker, 2019’s scariest roller coaster. How do we keep ourselves regulated to deal with these turbulent times?

Ignoring 50% of feedback will make you more successful

As organizations try to equip their people to be their most effective self at work, they often miss out on a critical part: enabling their people to give and receive useful feedback.

Leadership effectivenessZack WalmerDecember 6, 2019Performance management

Are you executing your strategy with "both hands"?

“We have a strategy, I just don’t know how to bring it to action and get my people to get on board!”. This is the common refrain of so many of the leaders we work with. How can we look at this old problem from a new lens?

Strategy executionZack WalmerOctober 4, 2019Strategic planning, Strategic change

My organization has announced another large transformation effort. Yay?

It’s happening again. There’s a transformation effort being announced with all sorts of excitement from leaders behind it – this time it’s a new global strategic initiative to focus on sustainability. But the question for me as I sit in my auditorium seat remains – “will this one stick?”. All large transformation efforts, whether it’s a new strategy, a new process or technology implementation, or a re-organization, fundamentally struggle – but few understand why.

Fixing Performance Management

Nearly all our clients report that their “performance management system is a complete waste of time.” What are the causes of this problem, and how can we fix it?

Performance managementZack WalmerJanuary 17, 2019Performance management

The Five Deadly Sins of Strategic Planning

It’s that time of year again – changing leaves, chill in the air – must be strategic planning season! After decades of working with organizations to develop strategic plans, we have seen our fair share of success and failure. The question is – what are the common pitfalls to be on the lookout for as you embark upon this journey?

Strategy designZack WalmerOctober 9, 2018Strategic planning

Surviving a Takeover - Lessons Learned from Games of Thrones

In our work, we see many triggers for a new strategy - sometimes a change in leadership, technology changes, etc. But one of the most pressing is an acquisition. For the organization being acquired, we would like to offer a few points of advice as learned from an unlikely source - HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Strategy executionZack WalmerSeptember 26, 2018Change, M&As

What value is a strategy without the capabilities to execute it?

So, you’ve come up with a grand strategy. Your leadership is excited, you have communicated it to your people and they’re all revved up, bought in and raring to go. You’ve won hearts and minds – congratulations! But have you enabled the organization with the capabilities it will require to bring this strategy to life?

Strategy executionZack WalmerApril 17, 2018Capabilities

You Are Communicating Your Strategy – Is Anyone Listening?

Are your communications efforts falling on deaf ears? Would you even know if they were or were not? Follow these steps to ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction and understands how they contribute to the strategy.

Change managementZack WalmerMarch 1, 2018communication, Change management

Amazon and Whole Foods - A People-Centric Merger?

Whole foods employees "crying at work" after Amazon acquisition. What went wrong here?

CultureZack WalmerFebruary 9, 2018Culture, M&As

Do You Have a Compelling Case for Change?

Creating a compelling case for change is a pre-requisite for success in any new strategy or initiative. Without this, it is doomed to fail. This important aspect of change is unfortunately also one of the most neglected. If the team does not believe there is a need to change, how can they be expected to?

Change managementZack WalmerFebruary 1, 2018Change, Change management

Four Steps to Achieve Your New Year’s Resolutions

This is the time of year many of us make resolutions with regards to how we wish to improve our lives. As nearly all of us have experienced, those intentions usually come to naught. Studies say less than 10% of new year resolutions are maintained through the end of the year. There are four steps you can follow to help reverse this trend and achieve your resolutions.

Strategy executionZack WalmerJanuary 1, 2018

Is Your Strategy People-Centric?

Strategies are often focused on the next big thing – what new market, product, or service will enable the organization to hit its financial targets. Unfortunately, with this focus on the strategy at large, employees can often become an afterthought. Even great strategies fail when they are insufficiently connected with the people responsible for executing them.

Strategy executionZack WalmerDecember 1, 2017people-centric

Will Your Strategy Succeed? Start By Asking Your Team These Two Questions

You and your leadership team have just finished polishing off that shiny new strategy that will take your organization to the next level. And yet, now that you’re ready to put it into action, you can’t shake the nagging question: what’s the probability it will succeed? How do you know your strategic planning process wasn’t just a colossal waste of time and resources?

Strategy designZack WalmerNovember 1, 2017Strategic planning, Performance management, Strategic change