Blog

To be frank, most leaders spend way too much time drilling down, involving themselves in the details of their team members’ responsibilities—rather than creating an environment that has team members accepting full accountability for meeting their objectives. How much drilling down, micro managing are you doing—rather than spending your time focusing on the master plan,Read more

Whilst driving to my next meeting, I heard this gem on a talkback show—“influencing is listening”… Of course, the truth of that statement is a no-brainer. But how often do you get so tied up, so enthusiastic, about your own perspective that you forget to listen? We all do to some degree. And unless youRead more

Please don’t complain about your team members unless you’ve been openly sharing your opinions with them! As is so often the case, the theme of this bulletin is drawn from behaviours I’ve been noticing in my work with leaders. Regardless of whether the leader is well seasoned or much newer, this practice is rampant… WillRead more

That’s what Max said he wanted as we were establishing his goals for his Leader Coaching program—minimum input, maximum output. Especially these days when we’re attempting to “get more juice from the lemon”, minimum input, maximum output sounds like a pragmatic goal to me. We don’t want to work more hours than we have to—andRead more

The Finger Pointing Syndrome—It’s A Bad Look For Leaders! Many of my perceptions and observations about how leaders behave are formed as a result of the 360-degree feedback discussions I have with the team members of leaders I coach. After all, it’s in these safe, intimate and candid interactions that team members’ perceptions are genuinelyRead more

Synchronistically, during the last couple of weeks this “leadership ripples” topic has arisen in many, many of the conversations I’ve had with line managers, HR leaders and leaders I’m currently coaching… So, what are “leadership ripples” and why all this interest in them?   What Are Leadership Ripples? We know that a stone dropped intoRead more

There are lots of leadership competency models around. Most have a reasonable correlation with each other, depending on the level of leadership being contemplated. For example, it’s clear that a leader of a large business enterprise needs competencies that a leader of a small team does not. Nonetheless if you’re to truly succeed in aRead more

Letting your team know that you’ve heard will help you, their leader, create a better bottom line, and then some It’s all very well to listen to a team member—but you’re actually in a minefield if you’re not also having them feel heard. Let’s just back up for a minute though and do some importantRead more

“Now that there are more jobs available, I’ve started to look out for new career options.” “This year will probably be the time for me to move jobs. I’m looking for more responsibility… to make a greater contribution.”   We’re hearing these sorts of comments more frequently now aren’t we, either over a coffee withRead more

Some of the leaders I coach are simply too task-focussed! Well, being “too task-focused” is not exactly the real issue. It’s that these leaders are insufficiently “people-focused”. In their effort to get the job done they burn people up and consequently the job doesn’t get done! One leader I met a couple of years agoRead more

Tony, a CEO I’d just started working with, in one sense had an appreciative leadership team! They were grateful that Tony was always willing to listen to their issues, understand their situation, empathise with them and go all out to support them. However problems were brewing, problems that eventually erupted… Two members of Tony’s leadershipRead more

Think…more juice from each lemon! Think…passionate team members who are thrilled to find ways to contribute to customer loyalty, increased sales and decreased expenses!Think…committed employees, lower staff turnover and enhanced productivity! Imagine…how would it be if every single one of your leaders and employees were passionate about these things that have a very real impactRead more

Your last Leadership Bulletin began a discussion about how to get your team really humming. It discussed the need for all team members, 100% of the time, to be wearing their team hat. Let’s now look at another critical way to get traction with your team’s performance…   Where’s the Finger Pointing? Occasionally teams haveRead more

Even when times are great, there’s no good reason to tolerate anything that’s less than fabulous. And when times are tougher and profits are harder to make, it’s critical that everything is functioning at its peak. When it seems difficult to find a lot that’s favourable in the economic news it’s natural to become dispiritedRead more

In my leader coaching work, it’s often evident that the leader’s in trouble because they haven’t, and aren’t, giving enough attention to the big picture. They’re not standing back and looking strategically at what dangers could be around the corner or setting a course for where to drive their business. Are you one of theseRead more