My early days learning about leadership seemed to be focused on the fact that a great leader creates inspirational visions that makes others want to follow their lead. I always struggled with this, maybe I could never be a good leader, as I just didn't have what it took to inspire others to follow me in the way that Shakespeare’s Henry [...]
In the frenetic pace of the world we live in, there is an increasing pressure to do something rather than think. Articles abound that tell you to stop procrastinating and just do something. But there is a real danger to just doing something, anything, that has the impression that you are action oriented and are moving things forward. This is especially [...]
Setting annual goals for an organisation can be challenging, especially when you work in an environment that is constantly changing. However taking time to reflect, connect with colleagues and look forward can be invaluable in reenergizing and focusing your team on the year ahead. If everyone is working towards the same end goal it is much more likely you will [...]
The acceptance that diversity is important and has a strong relationship to business success is becoming more established. Whether its gender, age, race, brain diversity, culture or different experiences that people have, then having different viewpoints round a business table, if harnessed well, will lead to more creativity and ultimately better business results. Achieving diversity is a goal many organisations are [...]
In the first part of this two part series, reasons why organizations don't measure the success were described. This second part describes the benefits of measurement and the top tips for implementing effective measurement. What are the benefits of measuring success? These reasons build a compelling case: Enables focus on what is important. Focus is critical to success. (See – [...]
“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 [...]
