Photo by Ben White on Unsplash I’ve had success, failure and success again in my business endeavours over the last thirty odd years. For the last two decades I’ve been an effective executive coach and have learned that the following ‘laws’ help not only me, but also my clients. Are they useful for you? My Top 5 Laws […]
Do these examples sound familiar to you? After the usual greetings and niceties, Mike, the manager, began the meeting with his direct reports with this statement, “Well, getting down to business, I expect that we’ll hear positive reports about your projects’ progress. Who’s going first?” What followed was a litany of excuses from everyone, […]
I was coaching a line manager, helping her to better deal with conflict within her team. I raised the issue of under or poor performance and how she dealt with that. She said, “Oh, we don’t deal with that, it has to go to HR, they deal with those issues.” I said, “Really, how does […]
There is a ubiquitous crisis of leadership in the workplace. Gallup says 82% of managers are the wrong fit. Executives are both leaders and managers. They lead people and manage processes and things. We can’t manage people, we can only either lead them or not. Sadly, most executives are chosen, not for pre-existing leadership or […]
Sakichi Toyoda created the 5 Why’s as a technique to identify root causes of defects in manufacturing and production. The example used in Wikipedia illustrates how that works: The vehicle will not start. (the problem) Why?- The battery is dead. (First why) Why?- The alternator is not functioning. (Second why) Why?- The alternator belt has […]
Just because most leaders also have management functions, and similarly most managers also have leadership functions, doesn’t mean that leadership and management are the same thing. Speaking of management when you mean leadership and vice versa is a part of why we have a leadership deficit. When I hear someone say “I’m a people manager” […]
“I have been here for 7 years and I deserve to promoted to this (leadership/management) position” said the indignant team member. The problem was she had never worked harder or longer to complete difficult or urgent tasks, always saying it was 5pm and she had been there since exactly 8am. She had meticulously taken all […]
We live in disruptive times, don’t we? The great have fallen and the many small have disappeared before they were even noticed. Memories of Kodak, Enron, Pan Am, Blockbuster Video and Nokia remain with us. Start-ups have become global leaders and disrupters inside a decade. Facebook, Ali Baba, LinkedIn in the digital world and Uber […]
After leaving command roles in both disciplined (ADF)and semi-disciplined (law-enforcement) areas of government service, I wanted to understand how I could apply what I’ve learned in commerce. I was motivated by the opportunity to earn an income beyond what I could in the public sector. I was younger then and desired my life to be […]
How many times have you heard a frustrated manager say “But I’ve already told them!”? When I ask a client, who has just aid that, the question “When did you tell them?” I invariably get told of the specific time when it was said. The problem is that we need to hear important things said […]
