“What gets measured gets done” is a long standing saying that some argue goes back to the 15thcentury! It’s hard to disagree with this simple idiom which compels you to measure what you believe is important. And what can be more important than ongoing success? In the first part of this two part series, reasons why it is hard to [...]
You make a promise - you have to keep it. Whether it’s as a child at school or in business today, when you say you will do something by a certain time then delivering on that expectation is a basic of being in business for the long term. Why is it difficult to keep our promises? Our challenge in the work place [...]
“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare”. Japanese Proverb. Some people love to plan and others hate it, believing it restricts their flexibility to respond and arguing they work in such a changeable environment that its simply not worth it. Maybe they’ve experienced a turgid bureaucratic process that was only focused on financials and over time [...]
Creating accountability – a missing step in achieving your goals? How many times have you been in meetings with people who you thought were accountable to deliver tasks, only to find that was not what they believed? Its particularly frustrating when these people report to you. As a leader of cross functional projects the challenge becomes even larger and the [...]
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do”. Michael Porter What are the things you are not going to do? This always seems to be a challenge for organisations and I have seen many leaders avoid this question because they want to see all their ideas implemented. Projects were selected because they were important and once time has [...]
You’ve set the organisational goals that are needed for success in the calendar year. (If you haven’t, see the article on setting goals for 2018!) How do you make sure that these goals have the best chance of being realised? 1. Scope out what the outcome of each goal will look like It’s important to be clear about what the [...]
Setting annual goals for an organisation can be challenging, when you don't have a long-term plan and don't have the time or resources to create one. But it doesn't stop you from looking ahead and engaging your team to ensure that everyone is working towards the same end goal and that you will have a successful 2018. If you do [...]
One of the most impactful parts of any team meeting is when there is agreement on the behaviours that, when adopted by team members, will enable success. This is effectively done as soon as you have confirmed the outputs of a meeting, by asking “How do we need to behave in order to achieve our outputs?” Sounds a bit childish? [...]
Is a facilitator really needed? There is a broad mix of opinions. Facilitators are seen as invaluable by some, whilst others see it as a luxury that should not be needed if you are a strong leader. A changing business environment is driving the need to focus on better facilitated meetings, but there are times when you can run meetings [...]
Why would you want a more effective partnership? Organizations are relying more and more on various kinds of partnerships to grow, streamline their operations and enter new markets. These can be in the form of joint ventures, strategic alliances or simple supplier-customer transactions. Scant attention has been paid to making these partnerships the best they can be, and too often [...]
