A distraught manager approached me one day, wanting to pull her hair out. She explained that every time she attempted working with a new idea or approach or implementing a new system, even though the same might be part of the organisation’s strategy, a group within her department would always dig in their heels and…
According to an old legend, vizier Sissa Ben Dahir presented an Indian King Sharim with a beautiful, hand-made chessboard. The king asked what he would like in return for his gift and the courtier surprised the king by asking for one grain of rice on the first square, two grains on the second, four grains…
As leader, sometimes it stares you in the face – employees blatantly showing you disapproval of a decision that has been made, children voicing their disgust of having to leave a neighbourhood and social context where they have comfortably settled or a partner digging in her heels when an issue has not been resolved adequately….
Much has been documented with respect to team success or failure. High-performance teams, upon evaluation of performance characteristics, seem to have that “special something” that drives their achievements. Their reputation grows and every success seems to inspire further greatness. They “win” nine times out of ten and use any failure as a springboard to learn,…
Ancient French legend tells the story of a monastery in France that was known throughout Europe for the exceptional leadership of a man known only as Brother Leo. Several monks went on a pilgrimage to meet this extraordinary man to learn from him. As they began their journey, they almost immediately began to argue over…
All athletes, who are at the top of their respective disciplines, have them – coaches to enhance performance, sports psychologists, nutritionists, sports physiotherapists, motivational experts and technologists who fine-tune body movement. Without the input of these ‘assistants’, progress in the discipline might be slow or negligible and the athlete may never succeed according to his/her…
Getting all employees to work together to achieve the central goals and objectives of the company is simply business common sense. Common sense, however, is not necessarily common practise. As a company grows, more departments and divisions are created to fulfil specific functions and roles, hopefully providing necessary focus and energy to tasks that need…
One of the key roles of leadership is to assist your employees with their growth and development. Jim Rohn noted: “A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better”. This involves the mind-set, skills and knowledge…
Agriculture is the cultivation of plants, fungi and growth of animals and other life forms for food, fibre, bio-fuel, medicinal and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Until the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the human population laboured in agriculture. Initially, agriculture was subsistence farming for self-consumption, but in the last…
I sometimes get mildly irritated, no, maybe seriously aggravated, by the following: mobile phone conversations held at full volume on public transport; 20km/h speed limits outside junior schools still applying at midnight, sometimes with a speed camera to enforce it; public toilets that don’t have toilet paper or people that don’t flush public toilets; clothes…
In small and large manufacturing and production-type enterprises, apart from technical issues that may occur from time to time, one of the most pertinent issues faced by leadership is getting the various teams focused and applying their energy appropriately. Modern or state-of-the-art production line equipment is necessary for speed and efficiency, but can be rendered…
“People will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel” —Maya Angelou. Isn’t it interesting that we can’t really remember the Oscar winners for the past five years, but we can remember the high school teacher that gave us special attention when it seemed that…
