‘Force-multiplication’ is a term used in military science and warfare and refers to an attribute or a combination of attributes that dramatically increases (hence multiplies) the effectiveness of an item or group, giving the troops the ability to accomplish greater things than without it. The expected size increase required to have the same effectiveness without…
I am surprised at how many people hate work. Wherever I go, I come across hundreds of people who prefer the duvet rather than the desk, the coffee station rather than the computer and “five to four” rather than “five to eight”. Work is an ordeal for them – a necessity to be endured, but…
Periodically, as managers, we are faced with employee non-conformance operationally (for example: not observing safety rules, missing deadlines, negligence, inaccuracies, etc.) or in terms of behaviour (for example: arriving late repetitively, not behaving according to the company values, gossiping, treating a client with indifference, etc.). These performance issues need to be addressed, even if difficult…
I love art – sketching, drawing or painting. I don’t spend enough time practising, but when I get a moment to relax, I retrieve the pad, eraser, pencil and the watercolours. I find a quiet spot, shake off the accumulated stress from the week’s events and begin planning the next piece. On a particular Sunday…
Leaders won’t get better results organisationally by focusing on the faults or poor behaviour of their employees. Leaders would be more effective by focusing their efforts internally, that is, working on their own self-awareness, self-deception, self-betrayal, blind spots and inadequate care. Blaming others for a lack of results suggests that the problem is “out there”…
To reach targets, drive a strategy with excellence and exceed shareholder demands, organisations need top talent. Gone are the days when employees could just follow process and be reasonably productive for their allotted eight hours – the competition is now too fierce. In the ever-changing and somewhat complex environment of a globalised economy, businesses are…
Having the opportunity of consulting and working within a number of industry sectors and various companies in many parts of the world, I am continually intrigued by the “motivation questions” that are so often asked – how can we motivate our staff well to achieve better productivity? How do we get our staff to take…
Colin Hall, friend and former colleague, was born during the Second World War into a reasonably affluent white South African family. His schooling during those Apartheid years meant that he got the best education, but with it, also heavy doses of superiority and competition. He soon discovered that life was his for the grasping and…
Most leaders (and in fact, most people) have the inability to be honest with themselves about their inadequacies; brutally honest, with growth as their goal. This inability leads to self-deception and justification. The problem is always ‘out there’, not internal. The fault lies with others, their attitude, their laziness, their incompetence. These leaders never seem…
Over the past three decades, Free To Grow, a consulting company based in South Africa, has created rich, stimulating and meaningful learning experiences for well over 1 500 clients and has trained almost 150 000 people during this time. Through many years of experimentation and research in the field of adult learning, Free To Grow has developed…
Businesses exist to get results, make profit and deliver value for shareholders. Anything less than this means a lack of fulfilment of the business dream, inadequate execution or a strategy that is not effectively aligned to the money-making model of the industry in which the company finds itself. In my exposure to many hundreds of…
The current world economic context is dismal, to say the least – financial analysts and the World Bank continue to predict slow growth, volatile markets and the possibility of ongoing disruptive wars and global climate disaster events. Governments are attempting to send the “right messages” internationally to continue attracting investment, and fiscal efficiencies, disciplined spending…
