A visionary leader, who is inclusive, has the power to transform a culture into a forward-looking, responsibility-taking and high-performing team that is focused on meaning and value. Typically, rules and regulations hold an organisation back from fulfilling its mission – talent gets attracted and commitment gets fostered to the vision, but that enthusiasm gets lost…
“We tend to think that what matters is having outstanding leadership at the senior level. Great leadership at the top doesn’t amount to much if you don’t have exceptional leadership at the unit level. That’s where great things get done” (The re-education of Jim Collins, Inc) There are always positives and negatives to everything. Sometimes…
One of the most important actions that executive leaders should be undertaking, especially during the corona virus pandemic, is targeting managers to re-establish their self-confidence. COVID-19 has pulled the rug out from under their feet and most managers, too, are feeling fragile, insecure and unsure. These feelings of insecurity don’t augur well for innovation, creativity,…
My daughter started a pre-school a number of years ago to provide quality education for children in the inner Cape Town city bowl – an exciting and worthy project. The school has grown progressively, adding a new grade every year, I guess eventually to form a junior school. The staff complement, too, has increased to…
“We are hiring!” Many adverts are boring, but some job postings are fun – like this one I happened to read recently: “Thanks for taking a look at the job description for … We felt a little bit impersonal just throwing you right in there with words like “revolutionising” and “disrupting”. As such, we want…
“The skill of neutrality is a powerful strength if you want to increase your influence” (JoAnn Corley-Schwarzkopf) I sometimes hear the following comments from employees in different organisations: “I can’t speak to my boss as he is biased; managers here don’t really listen to ideas; the concept of ‘fairness’ doesn’t exist in my organisation; my…
Globalisation, made possible over the past half-century through more speedy and efficient forms of travel (commuting intercontinentally) and telecommunications (mobile technology and fast data transfer through the internet), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies and governments all over the world. S Guttal (Globalisation, Development in Practice) notes: “As a complex and…
I have often wondered what it would be like to manage managers with a merit/demerit system linked to their potential bonuses – it would be punitive, but oh, so much fun. Just imagine a measurement system application linked to their respective smartphones where they can achieve merit points for doing well, but get penalised with…
There seems to be a lot of confusion related to the authority of the manager, especially if the manager has a change project to deliver on behalf of the company. On the one hand, the one managing wants to be able to influence the thinking of the group towards collaboration, the “big picture” and alignment…
Many politicians do it and some managers do it – they mess with your mind. It’s a wicked game, sometimes called manipulation, coercion or exploitation. “Manipulation”, as a word used in physiotherapy treatment, speaks to kneading, flexing and massage. It has an absolutely positive intent in mind – removal of pain and ultimate healing as…
“People who live in glass houses can’t pretend they are not at home” (Anon) Leadership “busyness” is frequently used as an excuse for a lack of effective employee engagement – managers attending a plethora of meetings, deadlines that have to be met, targets that have to be reached, issues in the production processes that need…
Some of them get it right – these select chief executive officers manage to exude a hopeful, caring and determined leadership that inspires the staff contingent to aspire to greatness (quality, speed, professionalism, superb customer service, reduction of waste, innovation, good results, etc.). Others “fail” dismally – these CEO’s somehow use authority and positional power…
