Oct
11

Goal Setting is Just The Start of the Real Work

Recently I have been involved in a visioning process and it reminded of the most common problem that occurs in organizations as they attempt to match their reality with their desires. Hours can be spent setting a vision, supporting it with a mission and checking it for validity against our values. Usually everyone will enthusiastically… Continue reading »

Sep
26

Change part 3: Reasons for Resistance

Having facilitated a “leading change” course for some years now I have come to realise that the implementation of change, in most cases, is badly handled at best and a total disaster at worst. There are of course many individual motivations and emotional reasons that people resist change however there are also a lot of… Continue reading »

Aug
07

Presidents, Leaders, Change and Hardwired Humans

I watched in amazement as the president of a charity organization resigned three weeks into his term. The issue that has bought him to this course of action was his difficulty in instigating a change process. A new vision statement had been drawn up and he was seeking “buy in” from the group. He was,… Continue reading »

Jul
17

MANAGEMENT PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES FOR TEAMS AND LEADERS

Do you have the attributes of an effective problem solver? I have read that the ideal problem-solving individual would look something like this: ‘This person will be an effective team worker, original thinker, someone who can work independently, a flexible person and a divergent and convergent thinker who can effectively verbally elaborate and who possesses… Continue reading »

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Jul
01

Leadership Wisdom Quotes from Steve

I often look at successful tweeter Steve Keating’s words of wisdom and found a whole stream of inspirational tweets at the end of June 2011. I thought a few of his quotes would be a good start for the financial year 2011-12. Here they are: “Excellence is an attitude.” “No title or position in the… Continue reading »

May
18

Being Professional: Tips on Writing Better Business English

It constantly amazes me that so-called professional writers use such poor English in their written communication. Now none of us are perfect however a few simple rules can at least help us look and hopefully become, a little more proficient in the way we communicate. Tip one: When you use “and” in a sentence don’t… Continue reading »

Mar
30

Empowerment: The Development of an Empowered Workforce

The concept of staff empowerment is often spoken about and even claimed as policy by many organizations. It seems from experience and much I have read that the methods and requirements for implementation of successful staff empowerment programs are often badly misunderstood and/or mismanaged. I found this five stage model some time ago however cannot… Continue reading »

Feb
23

Managing Meetings

First major meeting issue – is the meeting really necessary? Ingrained “meeting rituals” have existed in every organization I have ever worked for. Many meetings through habit or even plain bad practice become nothing more than “disguised working” or even ritualized “social events”. Often, if we think clearly about it, desired work outcomes from both… Continue reading »

Feb
06

Are You Leading or Just Managing?

Being a leader-manager can be an “iffy” proposition. Four “ifs” to begin with. If you are controlling your work group, rarely leave your department, constantly micro manage all processes to check what the staff are up to, constantly defining what a ‘good’ job looks like, stipulating standards, insisting on a rigorous regime of task methodology… Continue reading »

Jan
19

Effective Delegation, Management & Leadership Success

What exactly is delegation? Not a silly question, many think they know and don’t. Delegation of a task or activity to someone in our team or department, even though it is a central function of management, is often a greatly misunderstood process. Recently I read a paper by a gentleman with a PhD who stated… Continue reading »

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