In the modern western world the cult of work has become highly valued. Its most recent incarnation is the ‘always on’ culture. Being available via mobile and email, if not 24/7, then at least more hours each day than was acceptable a decade ago.
Of course it feels good to be busy, to submit to the siren call of activity. Yet there is no special virtue in hard work
Read more...In last week’s post, “What’s the Difference between Feedback and Feedforward”, I noted that discussions that are mostly past focussed feel more like an interrogation that creates defensiveness. On the other hand, discussions that are mostly future focussed feel like a supportive coaching discussion that emphasises problem solving and creates opportunities. Consequently, in many situations you face day-to-day, feedforward makes much more sense than feedback
Read more...We know what feedback is, even if we frequently don’t like receiving it. And we don’t like receiving it for good reason. Imagine a time in the past when you held a job in another organisation. The ‘phone rings and when you pick it up your boss is on the line. He says something like, “I want to see you in my office. Got some feedback for you.” What would you be expecting to hear about
Read more...A recent article in the NZ Herald highlighted the work of Robin Sharma, author of the bestselling book The Monk who sold his Ferrari.
It turns out that Sharma is something of a leadership guru, in a personal development kind of way. For example, the marketing for his latest book, The Leader who had no Title, recommends that you ‘get ready for an amazing new life’ once you’ve read it
Read more...Generally leadership development is focussed on an event, such as a training workshop. However, Effective Leadership development is more of a process which occurs over time. This means that it requires much more than attending a training workshop. It requires on-going support, follow-up and feedback. In short, it requires on-going contact
Read more...We all deceive ourselves about something. And mostly it’s harmless. You know how it goes. My rear doesn’t look big in this. I don’t drink too much. I’m pretty fit. But sometimes it’s harmful. I see this from time to time with frontline managers
Read more...Last week we checked out why you would ask questions to kick butt. This week we’ll examine how you might go about this
Read more...Why would you ask questions to kick butt? Your job as a manager is to manage the behaviour of your team members to ensure they are doing the right things to achieve the results you need. When they’ve done the wrong thing or nothing at all, our inclination can be to tell them. Tell them what they’ve done wrong. Tell them what they haven’t done. And tell them what they need to do differently. However, often there is a better way.
Read more...I’ve just been reviewing a case study on the outcomes of Effective Leadership consulting, training and support work we’ve been undertaking with one of our clients. There were key leadership problems described which echo what I’ve been hearing from many clients and prospective clients.
Similar problems have been highlighted in a recent report from the Center for Creative Leadership. They regard the gap between current leadership bench strength and future leadership demands as a serious liability for organisations
Read more...Relationships.
There it is. That’s your lot. For people managers, leadership is about relationships. Period.
If you’d like more than one word, stick around. Let me expand
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