Focus on the Future
January 8, 2012 by Di
Filed under leadership
What single quality differentiates high-potential leaders from ordinary contributors in an organisation?
It’s their ability to be forward-looking and focus on the future. To become a better leader or distinguish yourself as someone primed for promotion, you’ll want to develop your capacity to envision the future.
Managing for Progress – Using Small Wins to Motivate Teams
December 4, 2011 by Di
Filed under goals, leadership, motivation, performance management, productivity
“So much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to do work.” ~ Peter Drucker
As any fan of The Office can attest, negative managerial behaviour severely affects employees’ work lives.
Clash of the Generations
November 6, 2011 by Di
Filed under communication, leadership, motivation
Baby Boomers are lingering in the workplace. The younger Gen X and Gen Y (New Millennials) are growing impatient to ascend to leadership responsibilities. New graduates are knocking at HR’s door in record numbers. And technology, including social media, is transforming the mode and pace of communication. These trends are creating new opportunities, but not without foreseeable generational clashes.
In 1999, leadership expert Ira S. Wolfe coined the term “perfect labor storm” to describe a convergence of demographic and socioeconomic developments that would result in an unprecedented shortage of skilled workers in 2011—the year the first Baby Boomers hit 65 and start to retire.
A Leadership Dashboard for Managing Complexity
October 3, 2011 by Di
Filed under change leadership, leadership, performance management, productivity
Leading people and organisations is fundamentally more complicated than it was 20 years ago—and it’s not getting any easier. Economic and global uncertainties, along with innovative technologies, complicate efforts to run a business.
Businesses are also becoming more intrinsically complex. It’s harder to predict outcomes because intricate systems interact in unexpected ways.
Leadership Resilience
September 11, 2011 by Di
Filed under change leadership, coaching, leadership
“Some of the most important and insightful learning is far more likely to come from failures than from success.” ~ Former Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley, interviewed in Harvard Business Review (April 2011)
How we respond to failures and bounce back from our mistakes can make or break our careers. The wisdom of learning from failure is undeniable, yet individuals and organisations rarely seize opportunities to embrace these hard-earned lessons.
The Truth About Empathy
August 21, 2011 by Di
Filed under change leadership, coaching, communication, integrity, values
Without empathy, you’ll never be able to communicate effectively and relate well to others. People who lack empathy are sure to face interpersonal difficulties that lead to inferior performance, negative outcomes, and poor relationships with coworkers and customers.
As a competency skill, empathy is poorly understood by those who need it the most. Some hard-driving managers eschew the need to develop empathy because they assume it’s for “touchy-feely” types. Other tone-deaf leaders blindly walk around, relying solely on logic and wondering why others fail to see things their way.
The Search for Executive Wisdom
July 31, 2011 by Di
Filed under change leadership, coaching, leadership
“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.” ~ Rosalynn Carter, former First Lady
Every person in an executive role is expected to exercise wisdom in their decisions. However, senior leaders are often more concerned with meeting the numbers and therefore fail to come close to being astute over the long term.
Changing Minds
July 17, 2011 by Di
Filed under change leadership, coaching, communication
“All leadership comes down to this: changing people’s behaviour.” – Alan Deutschman in Fast Company (“Change or Die,” May 2005)
Changing people’s behaviour is the most important challenge for business leaders competing in unpredictable environments.
Managing Organisational Change
June 26, 2011 by Di
Filed under change leadership, change management, coaching
“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everybody gets busy on the proof.” – John Kenneth Galbraith
Today’s fast-paced economy demands that businesses change or die. Few companies manage corporate transformations as well as they would like. It is said that anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of all change initiatives fail.
The Business Case for Positivity
June 4, 2011 by Di
Filed under performance management, productivity
As scientists study the brain and learn more about how we achieve optimal functioning, the term positivity has finally captured business leaders’ interests.
One study of CEOs showed that positivity training could boost their productivity by 15 percent, and managers improved customer satisfaction by 42 percent. Despite such training’s amazing results, many leaders remain completely unfamiliar with the concept.
Welcome to this on-line forum for leaders of change. My name is Di Worrall, and I help business leaders with the skills and confidence to make change happen for themselves, their career and their business. As an author, organisational change specialist and executive coach, I work with leaders to create a clear path through change and uncertainty; build their leadership skills and confidence; and create systems for lasting change and a more prosperous and sustainable future. For regular updates on our best leadership and change articles, you can subscribe to our fortnightly ezine below.
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