What if there was ONE easy way to be a great manager? MBWA, or ‘Management-By-Walking-Around’, has been put forward as one such method. It involves managers being out on the floor, directly engaging with team members, while also observing frontline workers in action. Sounds great huh – get out there with the team, show that you’re one of them, be a part of it… In support of this idea, there are some studies do suggest that managers who are… Read more »
Posts By: Paul Murphy
Can we lead from our comfort zone?
January 17 2019As a new year kicks off, thoughtful leaders are taking a moment or two to consider how they can lead better in 2019. It could be people skills, communication, strategy and tactics, achieving business outcomes more effectively, stakeholder partnerships – there’s always something (and if not, a review or check-in with your team will help you find a few). But, knowing what we would ideally improve, and doing it, are two different things. Sometimes, the culprit is the good old… Read more »
Does culture REALLY eat strategy for breakfast?
May 22 2018When around 70-80% of efforts around ‘change strategies’ fail to realise the gains they set out to achieve, it’s not just about poor implementation of a brilliant idea! Perhaps, culture is the real culprit… The famous ‘what eats what’ notion has been attributed to Peter Drucker, originating the phrase “culture eats strategy for breakfast” somewhere back in C20. Sometimes ‘lunch’ replaces ‘breakfast’, but the point remains the same. No matter how good your strategy is, your organisational culture is more… Read more »
OMG! Did you get that offer?
November 4 2015“OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!” Yep, that was the reaction recently when we got an offer of a CEO position. I use the term ‘we’ here, although my involvement was very much in the background. In reality this was about the success, in a competitive job application process, of a focused and committed coaching client. The triple “OMG…” was a direct quote from my client’s partner, as they sat back and celebrated on the evening of the day the offer came in…. Read more »
It’s ‘Performance Management’, not footsteps in a dark alley!
September 10 2015The sound of footsteps… Being told ‘You’re going into performance management’ is typically about as much fun as hearing footsteps behind you in a dark alley. And neurological research demonstrates that the physical impact is similar – the ‘fight or flight’ response is pretty common. But I always get concerned for another reason when I hear that someone is about to be ‘Performance Managed’. This paints the picture of performance management as the big bogeyman of workplaces. And while often… Read more »
Four “ok, bad and ugly” methods of leadership (and how to avoid them).
August 7 2014Reviewing leader performance – always astounding After posting recently on LinkedIn on the theme of transformational leadership, and finding a huge level of interest in the topic and some brilliant feedback on the post, I’m prompted to explore a little deeper, picking up just a couple of the themes that came through in the comments. I wanted to outline what might be happening when things go wrong for a leader, and how this can show up as an under-use… Read more »
An evil plan – not one of the 5 key characteristics of effective leadership!
July 29 2014Bad news does travel. At a recent breakfast meeting I chatted with a CEO who reflected, uncomfortably but critically, on another leader in his field. This other CEO is apparently losing the respect of peers through behaviours that clash significantly with the respected culture and values of their industry. My companion felt (quite correctly) that even a half-good recruitment process would have pointed out some of the potential dangers of this appointment in advance. To deepen the problem, the board… Read more »
Can you triple performance using organisational health?
April 17 2014We’ve always thought there must be a great success secret somewhere, and here it is in the form of a recipe! But how do you know you have the right formula? McKinsey’s latest research from more than 800 organisations globally might just reveal the answer. New research by Mckinsey suggests that the performance payoff from organisational health is unexpectedly large. Companies have four distinct “recipes” to achieve it. Performance-based organisational health is the capacity to deliver superior financial and operating performance –… Read more »
Life can’t be all about work. What about golf, and tackling homelessness?
April 2 2014Life can’t be all about work! How do you help address homelessness with a golf tournament? It’s called The Big Hit. I’m very excited to be putting together, along with a great team, a Charity Golf Tournament coming up soon on May 16. The inaugural Big Hit Bendigo tournament will raise funds for the Sidney Myer Haven Program, a truly unique residential development complex that is going to be a winner. The Big Hit has a facebook page at www.facebook.com/thebighit. We’re currently… Read more »
Engagement, climate and performance – what’s the connection?
March 25 2014High turnover typically means low organisational health – it’s disruptive and expensive. ‘Commitment to stay’ is supposed to be great. But low turnover can be a problem too, depending on how it relates to engagement. How do you know which you have? Employee engagement ‘Engagement’ has now ascended to a level akin to the holy grail. Engagement tends to mean people stay on with the organisation, but sometimes ‘intention to stay’ gets confused with real engagement. Puzzling…? The wrong sort… Read more »
