This blog has been inspired by a conversation that my 11 year old daughter instigated with me following her hockey game today. I write this with as much control as I can muster over my emotions, suppressing the anger within as I do so. My daughter asked me in a voice of disbelief why the person who was awarded “Player of the Day” today was given this award despite them not having performed at a level that warranted this recognition.…
When lecturing in commerce at the Eastern Institute of Technology last year I included a segment on how to reduce conflict in an organisation – and in doing so minimise political disturbance. This knowledge was well received by students, and after seeing recent advice published by an experienced consultant which suggested that people should stop talking to each other in a bid to avoid conflict (which invoked a reaction of disappointment and disbelief in me upon reading this advice), I…
As a Regional Business Advisor, a part of this role entailed meeting with the relevant business owner/ senior manager to gain an insight into how the business functioned – to then be able to offer helpful suggestions as to how to improve the operation. A reduced-version of a ‘GAP Analysis’ was used to obtain such insights. A ‘GAP Analysis’ is often conducted in advance of – and in preparation for – writing a Strategic Plan. Most importantly a ‘GAP Analysis’…
During lunch with some family members yesterday to mark my 50th year of life on earth, I was fortunate to be sitting, eating and talking with similar questioning/ curious/ challenging/ constructive minds to my own. These relatives have a similar passion for observing the world and its ways, teaching, and (in one case) a keen interest in physics. Discussion flowed across a wide range of topics; but the most engrossing topic for me was about the decline in the quality…
Last week during a catch-up with the principal of an award winning building company I was reminded of the importance of businesses finding the confidence and conviction/ will/ motivation to keep walking through open doors of opportunity – despite not knowing all of the consequences/ implications of what lies beyond at the time. This particular business has a long favourable track record of opening new doors of opportunity, which has served to now position them as one of the most…
On Saturday just gone I watched the hockey team that my daughter plays in be over-powered by their opponents. The end score spoke volumes as to how each team had played, with my daughter’s team absolutely overwhelmed in both a score and player performance sense. During an after-match informal chat with a couple of parents whose daughter played in the same team as my daughter, I gently shared my thoughts as to why I felt our team had been completely…
I’ve seen a variety of leaders during my lifetime; from those who are highly charismatic and yet arguably lacking in practical capability, through to those who have highly direct (near dictatorial) communication styles and are only focused on getting the job done – often at the cost of sacrificing relationships to achieve the outcomes that they deem need to be achieved. Yes, empathy is a vital ingredient of being an effective leader…but so too is a sense of importance of…
A positive ! This morning I enjoyed reading through various senior manager role advertisements in the SEEK website, observing a good number of instances where the business owner/ employer has overtly stated in their advertisement that they have undertaken work/ research recently to determine/ validate how best to position their business and brand into the future. This is such a proactive, positive and prudent step for any business to take; for it forces the owner to enable a customer-perspective of…
It continues to bemuse me why employers focus their attention primarily on the personality of individuals when seeking to appoint leaders/ senior managers. I’m seeing increasing evidence that: Skill set relevancy Experience relevancy Depth of experience ….feature as lower-order criteria in the minds of employers/ recruiters when selecting such people. I believe this orientation has much to do with the politically correct (PC) environment which has pretty much flooded through most western world countries; where legislators seem to be transfixed…
Every day life challenges us to make decisions and take action. These choices range from: a) Getting out of bed in the morning to go to work or to perform some other activity, versus sleeping-in. b) Having a nourishing breakfast, versus skipping breakfast either in reaction to some advertisement designed to make people feel guilty about eating in order to look lean, or because of time pressures. c) Getting to work on time – versus being late for work due…