The shift to remote work is particularly impacting on middle managers in all larger organisations. We should address this now. Middle managers play a vital role, and it’s just not on to let the role – or the incumbents – languish, when we actually can meet the challenge. Why are these roles so important? Middle management roles are critical positions in all mid to large organisations; indeed, the impact of middle managers on business success can be ‘make or break’:… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Leadership
Should leaders own all decisions?
August 30 2022Organisational success depends on leaders making smart decisions. And sometimes, that’s to delegate that decision to someone else. If you’ve worked with senior leaders who insist on being involved in (ahem, ‘making’) every decision in the organisation, you’ll know how frustrating, disempowering and unproductive it is. I’ve seen it at close hand, and it’s incredibly destructive. Perhaps like me, you’ve spent too long over some decisions that aren’t ultimately worth that amount of energy. As I’ve discovered, there are a… Read more »
Anthropology and e-mobility – the unexpected connection!
August 26 2022Highlights: Young leader traits for 2022. Coming to grips with the new normal. Anthropology and e-mobility? Maybe the arts are a key to business leadership and innovation. The broader theme of this story is answering the question – what does it take to be a successful leader in the post-pandemic environment? You might remember a favourite acronym of mine – VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity) – a term that well describes the apparent chaos and pace of change in… Read more »
Does Culture REALLY eat Strategy for breakfast?
August 24 2021I originally published this piece on LinkedIn back in May 2018, including some ideas sparked by the 2018 Australian Leadership Summit. That was back when we used to attend actual events! Am re-posting it today as it’s worth a quick read if you ever wonder about the answer to this time-honoured question. Have added a couple of 2021 edits or notes… Culture has been said to eat Strategy for breakfast (or lunch!). But does it really? When around 75-80% of… Read more »
Leading through 2021 – more pivoting!
January 27 2021What, more pivoting?? Some colleagues felt ‘pivot’ was one of our over-used words in 2020. In fact, one named it their least favourite 2020 word (mine was ‘seeding’, awfully overdone by politicians in particular). But if 2020 was indeed the year to pivot, what is 2021 to be? Of course for a start, it depends on the circumstances for any person, business, organisation or nation. Consider: The volatility of operating environments. The susceptibility of changes to funding or income streams…. Read more »
What’s the strategy as COVID-19 changes things forever?
April 24 2020How should we shift our thinking right now to position for the lasting impact of COVID-19 on how we live and work? 4-5 weeks into the massive time-out forced on the whole world, we already have the opportunity for insight into this. FastCompany asked leading executives, venture capitalists, and analysts for thoughts on the change they expect to see ahead. AGILITY and ADAPTABILITY are going to be key, for us personally, and for business and workplaces. If you’re not already,… 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 »
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 »
Is there a secret to motivating others?
October 31 2013It’s a classic conundrum. If the only really successful form of motivation is intrinsic (where a person motivates themselves) how can leaders effectively motivate anyone else at all? This is often a real challenge for new managers, as they find themselves having to achieve success through a team’s effort for the first time in their career.The transformational/transactional leadership model actually addresses this very problem. In a way it’s all about motivation.When you use transformational leadership, you tap into people’s desire… Read more »
How do I select and manage to boost business performance?
August 25 2013Business success is really created by team effort. Two basic secrets to team member success have been identified in recent studies – and they are as obvious as ‘liking each other’ and ‘sharing similar worldviews’. Obvious maybe, but achieving them is another thing, as many of us know from our workplace experiences. Teams with low levels of trust or ‘liking’ tend to form sub-groups, cutting satisfaction and performance. But surprisingly, there’s evidence that even if team members don’t like… Read more »
