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You continue to let me know how useful you’re finding my Leadership Bulletins. Thank you . This time last year readers of the “2011 Greatest Hits” bulletin found it really worthwhile, so I’m repeating the process this year. I’ve listed the seven 2012 bulletins that elicited the highest number of positive comments about how theyRead more

A few weeks ago a team member disclosed, “My boss lays low and tries to stay under the radar. He doesn’t care much about what we achieve.” Whether or not that statement is true of his boss or not doesn’t really matter. After all, perception is reality. And it was certainly this team member’s realityRead more

Some leaders are getting into trouble because they aren’t giving enough attention to the big picture. They’re not standing back and looking strategically at where they need to drive their business (or their part of the business). And some leaders are so creative and big-picture focused that they’re not getting things done. They’re getting intoRead more

Have you ever seen a musical conductor put his baton down, climb into the orchestra pit and go and chat with the violinist about how they should hold their bow, or talk with those in the woodwind section about how they need to use circular breathing techniques? As far as I can tell that’s notRead more

How would it be if you always felt exceedingly proud of your team—proud because you absolutely knew that every team member constantly focused on the team’s shared goals—and therefore maximised the contribution the team made to productivity and profits? In my work I get to see lots of teams in action. Some of them humRead more

When you bring out the best in your team members you put yourself in a robust position to surpass your own goals and reach your own critical milestones. And the way that you treat your team members has a humongous impact on the way that they behave. Often it’s the primary determinant. So that youRead more

Eliminating 99% of your confilcts isn’t as radical as it sounds. I think you’ll agree with this when we dig into what causes conflict and what you can do to inhibit it.   What Causes You To Be In Conflict? Aren’t 99% of your conflicts caused by your expectations and the other person’s expectations notRead more

You’ve heard the saying “People join an organisation—and leave their boss”? The major reason (not the second or third reason but THE major reason) people leave their jobs is because of dissatisfaction with their immediate leader/manager. My boss was the motivator for me to resign at least once in my career. Let’s make sure thatRead more

Recently a leader (we’ll call him John) revealed that he’d just had a one-on-one meeting with his boss. But this one-on-one was different to all those previous one-on-ones… This time he felt truly heard. Previously not only had John struggled to get time in his boss’ calendar, he perceived that he’d been talked at, talkedRead more

  “The belief that one’s own view of reality is the only reality is the most dangerous of all delusions.” Paul Watzlawick (Austrian-American psychologist and philosopher)   Way too many leaders are hindered because they haven’t received useful, succinct, granular feedback about their leadership behaviours from their boss, their peers and/or their team members. AndRead more

Way too many leaders aren’t having regular one-on-one meetings with each of their team members. And there’s a powerful cost when you sidestep having these interactions…   Why Is It Vital That You Have Regular Meetings With Each Team Member? Let’s think about the key positive outcomes that flow from you hosting good, one-on-one teamRead more

A telltale sign of a great leader is that they have “behavioural flexibility”… Great leaders aren’t always tough, or always friendly, or always futuristic in their thinking. They have the capacity to be all those things, plus some—depending on what sort of situation they’re confronting. They have many arrows in their quiver, many tools inRead more

More often than anything else in a coaching program a leader wants to deal with how to be more influential with others… Well, when we think about it, influencing others is the most important part of a leader’s job isn’t it? As a leader you’re constantly influencing a team member to work harder, slower, longer,Read more

It truly is a humungous compliment when someone thinks this about you . Imagine if most or all of your team members regularly had the “I like me more when I’m around you” thought about you… The positive impacts of creating the sort of relationship that generates this thinking are huge: First there are theRead more

I’m going to cut right to the chase here… The primary cause of most of your discomfort with tough conversations is that you’re avoiding saying what needs to be said. Think about a tough conversation that you need to have: Are you trying to not say something?   Let’s Look At Andrew’s (Lack Of) CommunicationRead more

Want practical, effective thinking habits that’ll maximise your leadership results? You’ve heard that when we’re “in the zone” distractions and fears don’t exist and that we think really clearly, right? If you want to spruce up your leadership practices and behaviours, this is an exceptionally useful concept…   More About This “In The Zone” ConceptRead more

I can hear you saying “Why on earth would I want to do that?” Before answering this question, let me quickly do a bit of important framing… Most leaders are quite nervous about “airing their emotions”. About 75% of the leaders I’ve coached have indicated that they’re apprehensive about disclosing how they feel. So, ifRead more

I don’t know about you, but lately I’ve encountered a spate of leaders who’re on the receiving end of people complaining about their bosses. This is not good news for lots of reasons: The boss is having a negative impact on morale and potentially on team member turnover. The complainer is spending time and energyRead more

There’s no doubt that leading a virtual team member is different from leading a co-located direct report. The lack of day-to-day contact and interaction magnifies the challenges of leadership. But you don’t need to rely on costly trial and error to get it right. You can overcome the tyranny of distance by applying these fourRead more

Want practical, effective thinking habits that’ll maximise your leadership results? This Leadership Bulletin outlines a simple but precise three-step process that’ll have your mind actively supporting you to create your targeted outcomes. But before we look at what you can do to create your ideal, let’s take a peek at what happens when you ruminateRead more