Blogs
Young people have much to teach us
Reading the wise words of Kofi Annan sparked me to write this blog to inspire existing leaders to truly reflect on what they are doing in their business to untap the potential of their young people. Annan stated: "any society that doesn't succeed in tapping into the...
Building Trust is Conscious
I recently shared on my LinkedIn profile an article about "The Seven Ways To Build Trust" taken from the work of Jack Lannom and it can be summarised as bringing: 1. Character - these are the core attributes you bring as a human being to the relationship and must be...
Rewarding Experiences
I was reading about the importance of rewarding loyalty with the personal touch because it allows small businesses to distinguish themselves from the rush of offers from larger rivals. This article written by Deborah L Cohen describes how these smaller companies keep...
Psychological profiles- friend or foe?
Nicole (our marketing manager) and I read the recent article by Achim Nowak called - "Ignore psychological profiles and "Act Like" the Leader" and she challenged me to respond to the claims in a blog. So here it is - I respectfully disagree with his views! We...
Courageous Career Management
The Career Ladder has fallen over; a new way of managing careers is essential for the future. Both the "employer" representatives and the employees need to approach career management differently. Different conversations are needed and better levels of transparency...
Treasure
Watched the movie Song for Marion and then listened to the Bruno Mars song "Treasure" and it was a huge double whammy to make me focus on what is really IMPORTANT in life. What I want to share is that it is far too easy to get hung up on stuff. What other people...
Build trust if you want to influence decisions
Tired of your existing leaders making decisions without involving you or asking your opinion and then expecting you to implement the ensuing action? Well then it is time for you to develop a personal brand good enough to be allowed to "influence decisions" with the...
What do employee engagement scores really mean?
Many CEOs are taking engagement scores seriously and are actively mandating these measurements on an annual basis and then pore over the results to check out: 1. If the scores have improved because this can substantiate and provide hard evidence to support some of...
Invest Thinking Time to Reflect on your Achievements
Thanks to an anonymous nomination I undertook the process of completing my entry for the Telstra Businesswomens Award and it forced me to reflect and dig deep on my achievements and my challenges. I don't believe most of us do this often enough - it is a very...
Get Back to Basics
I found it challenging and then "curious" that someone provided feedback on a public workshop I recently facilitated on the transition from employee to manager that some of it was "too basic". This forced me to think about the essence of managing and leading people...
Framing for our work experience
I am curious about our framing for the way we choose to interact in the business world. How do we learn to be so incredibly fearful and ridiculously respectful to superiors? Perfectly independent and strong willed young people enter the workforce and - what appears to...
Express your gratitude
Go on you can do it - let every person in your team know how grateful you are for having them as part of your team. And when you have this conversation be specific .........so you sound and feel authentic to the person on the receiving end of the conversation. You can...
Don’t underestimate the power of endorphins
Miss out on the feel-good endorphins and you slump and spiral downwards and are probably horrible to be around. How do you ignite these feel good endorphins for YOU? It is all too easy to slip out of the habit of igniting them and it can take discipline to reconnect...
The Power of Story Telling
Recently a participant in a leadership program I was facilitating gave me feedback on the power of my storytelling to demonstrate vulnerability and encourage absolute transparency. She shared that she planned to take this approach back to her workplace to bolster her...
Don’t point the finger at others
Facilitating a leadership program with line managers we quickly switched into a conversation about the fact that their bosses/ leaders had participated in the program about two years ago and they had not seen the changes they expected. These participants went on to...
Courage to Ignite Conflict
This is an interesting topic - because most teams of people I work with want to avoid conflict at all costs. They don't want the tension, they don't want the anxiety, they don't want the discomfort! Yet as a very dear colleague once told me - a pearl is a thing of...
Forget the Open Door Policy
This out-dated approach to leading needs to be trashed forever. We no longer need to have leaders adhering to the Open Door Policy. I still meet far too many leaders who believe they must adopt this open door policy in order to be constructive. It has become their...
Private, confidential and professional – excuses for not being courageous
So many times existing leaders tell me they are unable to engage in conversations with the people who report to them because they consider the information that would need to be shared is private and confidential and it would not be professional to engage in such a...
Visibility as a Leader
Courageous leaders have visibility within their organisations. They connect with people; and they inspire people - because of their visibility. So what is meant by visibility – let me be clear that it does not equate to the old fashioned concept of managing by...