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 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.
How Corporate Culture Drives Results
May 15, 2011 by Di
Filed under change leadership, change management, integrity, values, leadership
“The person who figures out how to harness the collective genius of their organisation is going to blow the competition away.” ~ Walter Wriston, former CEO Citicorp
A New York Times headline April 27, 2011 claims a culture of complicity was tied to Japan’s stricken nuclear plant disaster. NASA’s 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle disaster is another tragic example of what happens when cultural norms fail. Six months after the shuttle disintegrated upon reentering Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members, NASA investigators found that “organisational culture and structure had as much to do with the accident as the [shuttle’s damaged] foam.”
The Talent Myth
February 27, 2011 by Di
Filed under change leadership, coaching, goals, leadership, motivation
Everyone’s talking about ways to find opportunity amid times of uncertainty and change. Yet there’s something right under our noses that’s being overlooked: Times of crisis present unprecedented opportunities to stretch and develop real leadership capabilities.
What’s needed, specifically?
Cultivating Your Executive Presence
February 13, 2011 by Di
Filed under coaching, integrity, values, leadership
People are promoted into the leadership ranks every day. In the main, these leaders successfully competed against other qualified candidates, some of whom were probably just as experienced and smart.
As often happens in judging one candidate over another, the decision most likely came down to degrees of “executive presence.”
Leadership and the Power of “Why”
December 10, 2010 by Di
Filed under communication, leadership, motivation
Leadership and the Power of “Why”
Many business books seek to define the qualities of great business leaders, while claiming that leadership can be learned. Yet few CEOs of top companies provide the truly inspirational leadership that leaves a legacy strong enough to ensure future sustainability.
The situation is truly puzzling: Most candidates for senior leadership positions are highly qualified, experienced and deeply engaged in their work. Less effective bosses are commonly weeded out in the long run, and competent bosses are usually promoted. Why, then, do so many good managers lack the requisite leadership skills?
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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