Leadership (Page 9)

Ways to Lead

In: Collaboration, Leadership, Trust, Virtual Teams

Synopsis of an article from Forbes, by Benjamin Laker, Published 6th July 2020 In this article Benjamin looks at ‘Respect Trumps Harmony’ a new book from Rachel Robertson who also published ‘Leading on the Edge’ which is an account and the learnings from her expedition to Antartica. The key points that Rachel makes are that now is the perfect time for leaders to reset, redefine and to clarify. To re-set the cultural boundaries, to redefine the rituals and clarify team expectations. Establish what worked in our old rituals and behaviours and what should be ‘ditched’. Three tools that any leaders can use: No TrianglesPractice only having direct conversations to build respect and collaboration. ‘‘We had a simple rule that went ‘I don’t speak to you about him, or you don’t speak to me about her.’ No Triangles go direct to the source”, Rachael said. Manage Your Bacon WarsAs you returnContinue Reading

In: Collaboration, Crisis Management, Leadership, Trust

Synopsis of an article from Chief Executive by Dale Buss, Published 1st July 2020 This article interviews Stew Leonard, CEO of the Northeast Grocery Chain and learns from the practical changes he put in place for the US group as the pandemic has transformed how people work. “No one ever really gets tested until a crisis happens,” Leonard told Chief Executive. “Then some people rise to the occasion. It’s like when people are going through tough times in their life: Some friends avoid them, but others knock on their doors and say, ‘How can I help you?’” Leonard explained how his store managers and leaders worked to build trust with customers and with staff. They did this by continuing to trial ideas and communicate the best practices as they went. Leonard established a number of principles for his team and shared them across the leadership team with an ‘informal scorecard’ to trackContinue Reading

Best_Practices

In: Collaboration, Teams

Synopsis of an article from The Heart of Innovation by Mitch Ditkoff published 26th June 2020 In this article Mitch outlines 10 reasons why Best Practices are often not shared. Why don’t people like to share what works and the best ways to get things done. Command and controlThe hierarchy of organisations often stops sharing; because ideas shared freely and widely have potential to change the status quo. Sharing and applying those learnings from another part of the business can see credit going to a competitor, the perception of new work or re-work. Lack of a clear or compelling vision for successKeeping teams aligned and working effectively is a critical to a teams effectiveness, with out a strong impetus for change most people will stay with the traditional practices and not seek to learn or grow. Lack of a sense of interdependenceA common reason people don’t share best practices isContinue 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

Negotiating a Pay Rise

In: Leadership, Negotiating

Synopsis of an article from Fast Company by Suzanne De Janasz, Published 26th June 2020. Suzanne takes us through the challenges of how to ask for a (potentially much deserved) pay rise during a Pandemic. “Remember, you don’t get what you don’t ask for. The challenge lies in how you ask.“ KNOW YOUR WORTH Any negotiation starts by knowing what the price the market will bear, and the way to find out what that number is comes from research. You need to look at what your skills, your experience, your education, the roles responsibilities and the roles accountabilities are worth in the market. But that is just the starting point. You need to be clear and put a value on the benefits or efficiencies that you have directly delivered. WHAT IF THE BOSS SAYS “NO” Being clear on what you believe that you are worth in the role is the fist stepContinue Reading

How to recover from burn out

In: Burn Out, Resilience

Synopsis of an article on Thought Leaders by Jon Wortmann published 24th June 2020. In this article Jon explains how work pressure and feeling tired can lead to burn out and exhaustion. The symptoms of burn out at work have three clear symptoms that all leaders must watch out for in ourselves and in others: chronic metal or emotional fatigue, cynicism and dissatisfaction. “Are you consistently exhausted, irritated with the people around you, bothered by issues that used to roll off your back?” Are you consistently exhausted, irritated with the people around you, bothered by issues that used to roll off your back? “Do you find yourself more critical than normal, judging and picking apart people and situations with an edge that isn’t who are or want to be?“ Do you find yourself more critical than normal, judging and picking apart people and situations with an edge that isn’t whoContinue Reading

In: Culture, Effective Communication, Leadership, Resilience, Values

Synopsis of an article in HBR by Michael Beer, Published 22nd June 2020 Michael explains that most organisations today are dealing with massive strategic challenges that require a redefinition of purpose, identity, strategy, business model and even structure. Many if not most of these will fail and not because the strategy if flawed but rather the organisation does not have the ability to execute. He explains that he has seen six common interrelated reason for failures, referred to as ‘hidden barriers’ which make organisations ineffective. Hidden barrier #1: Unclear values and conflicting priorities Often, the underlying problem is not this or that strategy, but rather the process by which the strategy was formed — or the lack of any such process. In these cases, strategy is often developed by the leader along with the chief strategy or marketing executive and only then communicated to the rest of the senior teamContinue 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

In: Crisis Management, Culture, Leadership, Resilience, Trust

Synopsis of an article from Kellogg Insight by Timothy Feddersen, published 2nd April 2020 The COVID19 pandemic is providing business leaders around the world with a crash course in crisis management. The immediate critical challenges of supporting customers, protecting employees and stabilising the companies revenue and security is a brand new experience for most leaders. An excellent example of a CEO demonstrating leadership right now is Arne Sorenson of Marriott. Timothy Feddersen (professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at Kellogg School) teaches a course on Crisis Management and he uses Sorenson as a model of excellence in leadership refering to the contents of a recent video message made for employees. “Sorenson starts by offering compassion for the employees who have COVID-19 or have family members who are sick and for those in quarantine. Then, Feddersen explains that Sorenson speaks “with an incredible level of transparency to explain to everybodyContinue Reading

In: Culture, Leadership, Resilience, Teams, Trust

Synopsis of an article published in Root by Jim Haudan on June 22, 2020 Global communications firm Edelman produce a regular report on Trust in Institutions, Edelman Trust Barometer. The Spring 2020 update, shared results of a survey taken by people in 11 countries from April 15‒23. What is interesting is that the survey was conducted during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and government trust rose 11% to 65% (this is an all time high in the 20 years the study has been run). But only 38% of people believe business is doing well or very well at putting people before profits and only 39% believe that business is doing well or very well at protecting employees financial wellbeing. Only 29% believed that CEOs were doing an outstanding job dealing with the pandemic. So Jim Haudan asks how do you build that trust in a crisis? Re-prioritize and liveContinue Reading