Blog

Throughout 2011 your responses to my twice-monthly Leadership Bulletins have been truly heart warming… Each publication has triggered a “That’s exactly what I needed to hear” email or comment from leaders. And many of you have regularly circulated your Leadership Bulletins widely throughout your teams or organisations. Thank you. The following seven bulletins have elicitedRead more

Last week two different leaders described to me how they’re concerned about losing one or more of their most experienced and very, very valuable team members… One leader runs an organisation that has a full-order-book for months to come. The second runs an organisation that’s currently struggling to lift sales and cash flow. Regardless ofRead more

Not everyone suffers with work/life balance…but I must say, most of the executives and leaders I interact with are faced with tension between their work and their life—either continually, frequently or sometimes. It’s only a minority that doesn’t have a problem with the hours they work—either because their job isn’t pushing up against their work/lifeRead more

Over the years I’ve encountered some incredibly effective leaders. What’s the secret characteristic that these incredible leaders display—the quality that not-as-effective leaders aren’t paying enough attention to? Interestingly, directly before putting “pen to paper” to write this bulletin I scanned the day’s Sydney Morning Herald. What did I find? An article illustrating this passport toRead more

Vitality, high-energy, enthusiasm—Have you noticed that exemplary leaders who deliver exemplary results have those characteristics? Just like you can’t light a fire with a wet match, you can’t fire up your team members if you don’t have vitality. Think about the leaders you work with—those who’re tired, stressed and drained of energy are unlikely toRead more

In a lift recently, I overheard a leader respond to the “How are you?” question by saying “Oh, not bad. I’m concerned about how we’re travelling. My team seems to be really sluggish.” The leader was then asked “Sluggish? How come?” He said, “My team’s just not motivated. They complain about one another. And they’reRead more

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself—Wayne Dyer  A recent Leadership Bulletin focussed on why an “I’m OK, You’re OK” attitude is an intrinsic part of effective leadership. This triggered a lot of discussion . What troubled some Bulletin readers was their perception of their lack of capacity to viewRead more

So many leaders are spending too much time on the operational, the tactical, the day-to-day. They’re therefore seriously neglecting the strategic picture—and potentially the future of their business! These leaders are remiss about putting time aside to stand back and take a panoramic stance. They’re not asking questions like: These days what’s best practice inRead more

A couple of weeks ago a coaching conversation uncovered a quality that’s absolutely intrinsic to effective leadership. What is this quality? It’s a resilient “I’m OK, you’re OK” attitude. Not nearly enough attention has been given to this topic in leadership development realms—and yet it’s impossible to be a truly effective leader without this underlyingRead more

An increasing number of organisational leaders have contacted me of late because they want their teams to work better together… Typically, they’ve described how their team is doing OK—but it’s just OK. They’ve described how it isn’t really pulling together and cohesively focusing on targeted outcomes. These organisational leaders commonly talk about how: Their “team”Read more

When you don’t quickly deal with a team member’s poor performance it doesn’t just impact that one team member. It has damaging repercussions that you can’t isolate or quarantine. It’s going to cost you on many fronts, such as… The poor-performer’s peers will be disgruntled when they notice what your poor performer is getting awayRead more

Here’s why you don’t need to have good relationships with each of your team members Some leaders use an autocratic approach as their first option, regardless of the situation. This really is an old-fashioned view… You’re good with them working half-heartedly. You’re not concerned about decreasing productivity. You’re not bothered about cultivating them to goRead more

Periodically I encounter a leader who thinks that constantly being the expert, relentlessly being the knowledgeable authority, is an all-important leadership behaviour. Some leaders use an autocratic approach as their first option, regardless of the situation. This really is an old-fashioned view… Of course, in the Middle Ages, autocratic leadership was the norm. In thoseRead more

If I were asked, “What’s the most common thing leaders don’t get right?” delegation would certainly be near the top of the list. I know, I know, delegation might not be the most exciting topic in the world, but heck, it’s so critical that you get it right… Leaders, even seasoned leaders, commonly don’t delegateRead more

Just last week, in a 360-feedback interview, a team member described his leader as being inconsiderate and unreasonable. The team member went on to say that when his leader was overworked, overwhelmed and overstressed, the leader had a short fuse. Further investigations with other team members told a similar story: They felt devalued and disrespectedRead more

“How to influence someone” is a topic that’s repeatedly put on the table by leaders I coach. By the way, this is a revamp of an edition of a Leadership Bulletin I published a couple of years ago. Because many readers told me they found it so useful, I decided to give you the opportunityRead more

You really want to make this change, right? Maybe you’ve tried before, and it hasn’t stuck. Now you’re ready to step up to the plate again but need some new technique, a new approach in your leadership toolkit. You’re in the right place. I’m about to describe a dependable, NASA researched process for shifting aRead more

Things truly flow for some leaders. They’re organised and in control. Their energy levels are always impressive. Their relationships are first-rate. They seem to always feel really good. And here’s the clincher: As a consequence they’re able to genuinely focus on their targeted outcomes and set the scene for real leadership success. Contrasting these “in-the-flow”Read more