I have met people who have said they hated networking-events, adding they only go to such occasions because they felt it was required or demanded. Many if not most of us are ambivalent about networking. We know it is valuable to our professional success, yet we find it taxing and for some of us, even […]
Managing-by-objectives is a much more effective leadership tool than a command-and-control dictatorial approach. Dictat invariably leads to micro-management, intrusive-chaos and demotivated employees who do not feel respected or trusted. But management-by-objectives is also very hard to implement for those of us who have been used to a command-and-control structure, where ‘…people will do as they […]
When an organisation faces challenges from direct-competitors, the marketplace or from transformations in the far environment such as new competition from disruptors, leaders have no choice but to manage through these challenges and lead change. But change always involves high levels of resistance and risk. In the face of resistance and risk, leaders must embrace […]
Managing the ‘Space-In-Between’ Individuals Enterprises have historically dedicated much of their efforts to optimising human-capital strategies in an effort to win the war on talent; building-out comprehensive talent-management systems, validating leadership-competency-models and designing the best possible leadership development-programmes. In more recent years, emphasis has turned to enhancing employee engagement, refining performance management systems and leveraging […]
Managing Diversity is a Leadership Competence Diversity matters and how we handle it make an amazing difference to you, your employees and your enterprise. For some diversity in the workplace is a major annoyance rather than an asset. Instead of diversity being a challenge, we ought to turn it into an asset by treating it […]
Many business owners, C-Suites, directors and senior managers believe their enterprises are just not innovative enough. They feel their organisations tend to become steeped in what is currently going-on, comfort in the known, rather than being uncomfortable in the new and, as yet, unknown. Implementing novel operating procedures and activities, developing new services and products, […]
Professional Development Trends This week I thought I would share a summary of a conversation with a client, with his permission, outlining the thought-processes behind choosing the right partner to improve his own performance, performance of the enterprise, productivity and develop managers and key employees in the enterprise. The dialogue went something like this: As […]
Trust is a Vital Organisation- Development Tool A client wanted us to work with her on improving the reputation of the enterprise she was entrusted with watching over. A quick, ‘down-and-dirty’ qualitative survey with customers exposed the personality of the organisation as self-serving and definitely not customer-centric. All the claims of the organisation’s marketing, the […]
Control in Organisations When in South Africa recently I was talking to a business- owner about his need for greater control of the micro-activity in his medium-sized enterprise, down to the level of wanting to control conversations between employees; as he said; “in the interests of efficiency”. We explored what lay behind this need and […]
Communicating Respect In every culture respect is important, and it invariably means different things to different people. We live and work where cross-cultural communication is nuanced and adds a layer of unnecessary complexity. Given we accept people will work smarter and harder with us if we respect them, we ought to try harder to be […]