Category: management
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Change under pressure – 10 lessons from the NHS response to Covid-19
10 key lessons in successful and innovative change under extreme pressure, from the NHS.
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It’s good to talk…
“Meetings are the bane of everyone’s life. No-one likes meetings. Nothing ever gets done” This appears to be the mantra of many a corporate warrior, and it is always interesting to see how different companies and industries try to break this view. So I particularly enjoyed an article in The Guardian newspaper about team meetings…
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Avoiding the stuffed anteater: striving for authenticity
In recent times we’ve grown used to the idea of ‘fake news’ and doctored photos, and even been warned about technological advances enabling ‘fake video’ – but the story a while ago of a photographer accused of using a stuffed anteater in a competition entry was sadly amusing. It was followed up by a couple…
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Levelling the Playing Field
My eye was caught some time ago by an article in The Atlantic lauding tech company Slack for its diversity. In a sector that is traditionally white and male they have reached unprecedented levels of female and ethnic staff members. This is good news; all research studies show that more diverse workforces have better performance…
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5 of the best… Strengths Tools
If you want to find out your strengths, your best bet is to use one of these five strength assessment tools. They differ greatly in the number/categories of strengths, what you get for your money, and options for follow-up work, such as bespoke development programmes. We think that each assessment has value and can appeal…
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Appreciative Inquiry: Strength-based organisational influence
We’ve all been there. You are tasked with delivering a significant change to processes, products or ways of working. Before you even start you are told by colleagues or staff that this will never happen, it’s impossible to do and all you feel is push-back. Leading change can feel like pushing a boulder up a…
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Review: The Strengths-Focused Guide to Leadership
If you want a practical manual to understanding how to harness strengths, for you and your team, this book is a great place to start, as it: introduces the key concepts of strengths provides the research base for more inquisitive readers illustrates with narratives prompts you with a range of exercises and action points explains…
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Coaching 101: Myths busted and advice for using a coaching approach
Coaching 101: Myths busted and advice for using a coaching approach Do you want to help your team members improve their performance? Do your one-to-one meetings often end up with you giving all the answers and telling them what to do? Do you want your team to be more self-sufficient and empowered? If the answer…
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Book Review: The Positive Organization by Robert E Quinn
So many business books leave you wondering “…but how does that work in reality?” That’s not a problem with The Positive Organization – this short book (less than 160 pages from cover to cover) is packed with ideas, examples, case studies and practical exercises, written in an engaging and straightforward style. Throughout, Quinn challenges us to consider…
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You only win when you’re singing
In Britain, football crowds have songs for every occasion. If your team overturns a losing position, to taunt the opposition fans now sitting in crestfallen silence, you bellow at them: “You only sing when you’re winning” (improbably to the tune of a traditional Cuban song, Guatanamera). But have the fans got this the wrong…
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The future of learning and development?
The days are numbered for sheep-dip, classroom-based training courses, chosen by the L&D team, and often forgotten by the following week. Well, maybe not numbered, but the recent CIPD/ Towards Maturity report – Driving Performance and Productivity provides evidence that companies relying on old-fashioned models of learning and development are being outstripped by those embracing…
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7 questions for impactful leadership
Review of the Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier Your team sometimes just need a bit of support to shine. You can provide this support through changing your leadership approach to coaching. Helping people to find their own solutions is more impactful than giving advice, providing rules or direction. You can coach anytime, anywhere, and with…