Human Capital

Leadership capability

In: Human Capital, Leadership

Leaders need to develop the employees in their teams and it is no longer enough to focus on technical job level skills, to be successful in the current environment you need grow leadership traits and build broader competence in organisational capability. “Instead of showing the way, effective leaders invite their followers on a shared journey” Stanislav Shekshnia (INSEAD Knowledge, February 2021) Firms and leaders know that driving sustainable long-term performance requires equal emphasis on how the firm makes money (performance) and how leaders run the place (health). McKinsey have codified this into four quadrants and have been exploring how to apply this organisational capability model at both the  organization and individual level. The quadrant model builds capabilities by teaching the business, teaching management, ensuring the technical and functional skills are built and then focusing on building organisational capabilities. How we make moneyHelping employees have a solid understanding of what is driving business performance. The organisationalContinue Reading

In: Career, Human Capital, Leadership, Purpose

Technology is changing the meaning of work but Purpose, Potential and Perspective connect technology to humanity and shape the attributes of the Social Enterprise. This is all according to this years Human Capital Trends from Deloitte, which has been published annually for over a decade. The Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report is a weighty tome, (over 120 pages) and filled with rich insights that come from their consultants and partners all over the world. Accordingly my brief synopsis is just that – a touch on the key points that I observed while reading the report. If this interested you I would definitely suggest you read more in the full report (see link at bottom of the page). The article starts by reflecting on the fusion of technology and people into work and how that is continuing to shape the organisations. The authors begin that there are three bold shifts thatContinue Reading

In: Career Development, Human Capital, Strategic Mindset

Having a strategic mindset is the basis of successful leadership, it supplements your hard work with careful attention to strategy. Reflecting on what is working and identifying flaws to optimise along the way – much like an agile process. “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration” Thomas Edison In his article Robson refers to Metacognition as our awareness and understanding of our own thought processes or ‘thinking about thinking’. He provides analysis of a recent paper published by the National Academy of Sciences and explains how having a strategic mindset might be the difference between success and failure. To assess your strategic mindset Chen and the authors of the paper put together a short questionnaire, simply rate the questions below on a scale of 1 for never and 5 for all the time. The higher your score the more likely you have a strategic mindset. When youContinue Reading

In: Human Capital, Motivation

Synopsis of an article from SmartBrief by Susan Fowler, Published 6th July 2020 Susan uses the 1972 study into delayed gratification otherwise known as the ‘Marshmallow Study‘ where four year old children were asked to wait 15 minutes to eat a marshmallow, if they waited they got a second marshmallow. The concept of self discipline, the researchers went back to the same children 15 years later (now 18 or 19 years old). It is amusing to watch the video. “Children who had been able to delay their gratification for the marshmallow the longest — those with the greatest degree of self-regulation — had higher life-measure scores. Researchers postulated that children with high-quality self-regulation had greater later-life success.”  Lessons Learned There is greater self regulation in the environments where promises are kept, because there is greater trust that the delayed gratification will be rewarded. Optimal motivation comes from our lived experiences,Continue Reading

In: Career Development, Human Capital

Synopis of an article from Forbes by Kathy Caprino, published 28th June 2020 Kathy explains that she has found many of the professionals that she is connected with are using this ‘unprecedented time’ to reset and consider how to get back to the career that they are really seeking out. Many people are “realising that no job or career is truly safe and secure”, so why not use this time to get on with doing something you really love. She provides four steps: 1. Stop focusing only on applying onlineYou have probably heard that more than 80% of jobs are not found online many of those jobs are not listed anywhere, so don’t expect that you will find those great jobs just by applying to what you see online. Effective and Powerful Networking are required to bring yourself to market, and that means connecting with and cultivating relationships with theContinue Reading

In: Culture, Human Capital, Leadership, Working From Home

Twenty five years ago I almost ended up working with the Danish Wunderkind Martin Lindstrom (at the beginning of the dotcom bubble) in what was one of the first Digital Agencies, but I ended up taking a different path. Today Martin is recognised as a global leader in Digital Brand Marketing, with numerous books to his name, he is a regular columnist with Fast Company, Time Magazine and Harvard Business Review. This is a synopsis of an article on LinkedIn by Matin Lindstrom published 25th June 2020. With approximately 100 million users now logging into MSFT Teams every day (and many more on Zoom) the consideration that this way of working from home is the new normal has reached leaders at all levels of organisations around the world. Microsoft however, had been through the same experience four years ago, and the biggest issue was the loss of corporate culture. AContinue Reading

Secret of Smart Leadership

In: Human Capital, Leadership

Synopsis from an article ‘Is this the Secret of Smart Leadership’ from BBC Worklife by David Robson, Published 1st June 2020 In this article David Robson argues that humility is the greatest of all virtues and that recent research identified that people with greater humility are often better learners, decision makers and problem solvers. “The latest findings suggest that the trait is especially important for leaders, with evidence that displays of humility can improve strategic thinking and boost the performance of colleagues across an organisation.“ You need confidence to be humblea study by Organisational Psychologist Bradley Owens identified that intellectual humility can boost learning and many other measures of successful thinking. The ability for greater reflection tends to lead to being less susceptible to cognitive bias and misinformation, which suggests that humility could influence and have a positive effect on decision making. Avoiding Group ThinkThe research shows that “a leadersContinue Reading

Smart People Get Fired

In: Change, Culture, Human Capital

Synopsis of article from Forbes by Tony Ewing Published 14th June 2020 Tony explores personal experience of people he knows who were recently fired, he reflected that these people are some of his smartest friends and they were working for businesses that had plenty of funding (in fact many also had government bailouts). So why were they targeted? In this article he explores five possible reasons using behavioural science. “Barring a complete corporate collapse, smart and competent people should never get fired.“ Some bosses mass fire out of fearwhen the going gets tough it is very easy to get caught up in a negative bias that anchors them to the worst outcome. In this scenario preparing for the worst actually creates tunnel vision and paralysis. Some bosses become slave to the CFO’s budget and many CFO’s hold the mindset that cutting heads is the most effective way to cut costs.Continue Reading

In: Culture, Human Capital, Time Management

Synopsis of an Article from HBR by Maura Thomas, Published 14th May 2020 Maura Thomas is an award-winning international speaker and trainer on individual and corporate productivity, attention management and work-life balance. Synopsis: Remote work in the current world (affected by the COVID-19 pandemic) naturally leads to flexi time. Different employees will get work done at different hours, some will need to work around having children at home others will work longer hours. The downside of the ‘always-on’ environment is that it drives burn out and once this way of working is established in company culture its very difficult to change and reset later on. This article goes on to explain that you should ‘address the problem head-on’ make it clear on the workday expectations of employees and what is definitely not expected. Further provide clear guidelines about which communication channels to be used for which situations. Email should neverContinue Reading

In: Culture, Human Capital, Leadership

Article from KelloggInsight by Mark Zarefsky based on insights from Carter Cast, Published 7th November 2018 Cast, the author of The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers Are Made—and Unmade, refers to people who have become complacent and resistant to change as “Version 1.0” employees who tend to lack curiosity, avoid taking risks, and want things to stay the same. Indeed, in the modern work environment, failure to adapt can be lethal. “You have to find ways to stay fresh, especially in this day and age with the massive rate of change in technology,” Cast says. “Disruption is everywhere.” So what steps can you take to keep Version 1.0 tendencies from interfering with your career progress? Cast offers five tips. Understand the New Job – its important to remember that what worked in your old job and got you promoted is not a guaranteed success formula for the new job.Continue Reading