Blog

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

Eeeek! Did you notice that during and immediately after having time off, your stress levels were settled? You began to feel more like a human being again? But the settling was so temporary! Those familiar stressors began kicking back in once you got back into the mainstream, didn’t they? I know when I returned toRead more

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