In my experience, when the team underperforms, there’s a confidence gap somewhere. Is it in the team? Or, is it in you? It could be the team lacks confidence because there’s no vision for the future. Or their confidence has been eroded by bad management or poor delegation. Maybe they just lack skills or motivation. But… Read more
Do you have Quality Conversations at work?
Conversation – effective enjoyable conversation – is an art. Conversation is also an essential business skill. This is more true today than ever before because of our business lifestyle. The more we use the internet, the more estranged some of us are becoming from our colleagues. And we are getting busier. Or it feels like… Read more
Leadership Communication – Psychopathic by Mistake?
I recently read an interesting article in the Telegraph on the subject of psychopathic traits among leaders in top corporations. When we think of psychopaths it’s likely to be high profile criminals or Hollywood portrayals like Hannibal Lecter, that come to mind. But psychopath doesn’t mean killer. Typical traits According… Read more
Is it Discrimination or Cultural Awareness?
In our global post-Brexit world, business professionals who work internationally have to manage a tricky balancing act. On the one hand they are advised not to discriminate, so they should treat everyone as equal and ignore differences. On the other, we all want to be appreciated for being who we… Read more
Talk to Your Team
What is more challenging for you as a manager, talking to a large audience or speaking to an individual in your team about their poor performance? Many people say it’s the public speaking gig. But a lot of managers avoid that 1:1 conversation. Do you avoid the 1:1 challenge?… Read more
New year plans: to be successful start with successes
Eureka! Eight years ago I coined the term The S-Factor. I even wrote a book with that as the title*. And now it’s more relevant and front-of-mind than ever. What is The S-Factor The S stands for successes and strengths and the S-Factor credo is that we need to spend time focusing on our strengths… Read more
Networking – is it a skill you can learn?
Some people hate networking. They are often the more reserved type of people. But I’m an extrovert type and I used to hate it too! I am a happy and successful networker these days but I went through a phase of being pretty awkward at it. I’ve come to believe that the awkwardness came as… Read more
Are you frustrated with under-performers?
It can be frustrating running a team. Of course you want to get the best out of your people, whether you are a manager, a teacher or a trainer – but it is often a struggle. You want to keep a good atmosphere but high standards of accuracy and professionalism are important. In fact, ideally we want… Read more
Do you hire people like you?
Finally the staffing penny dropped Recently I realised two obvious things: I keep hiring people who are like me when I need people who are the opposite, the ones who do well what I do badly. I need to develop completely different thinking styles for specific contexts. The penny dropped when I realised I wasn’t… Read more
Generation Y and Why We Don’t Need to Worry
I recently attended a workshop on how to manage Generation Y. The basic premise being that those in the 20-30 age-bracket have been brought up on video games and networking websites so they are motivated by a different management style to the rest of the workforce. The Gist for Gen Y Gen Y are motivated… Read more
