I love motor vehicles, especially those that are designed to perform at optimal levels in races on tracks or on the dirt in rallies. The back-up crew of mechanics and engineers are critical to any driver’s potential success, as the crew spend hours tweaking the performance and ability of the vehicle from engine to suspension,…
“Organizational culture is the ‘water’ in the fishbowl. If the water is clean, nourishing, energising, the fish will thrive and if the water is toxic, the fish will die, leaving the infrastructure value-less” (Ranjan de Silva, Sensei International) Organisational health – the status of operating efficiently and effectively with a “happy team” of positive and…
Organisations are not naturally fertile seedbeds for new learning, growth and doing things in better ways. Leaders who want to instil wide-spread change and improve their respective companies, in fact, need to recognise that they are attempting to change a seemingly unchangeable paradox: organisations thrive on routine and the status quo. Daniel Goleman, in his…
“The fundamental response to change is not logical, but emotional” (Tom DeMarco) The current world socio-political and economic contexts are dismal, to say the least – financial analysts and the World Bank continue to predict slow growth, volatile markets, and the possibility of a longer or deeper recession than was first suggested. Governments are attempting…
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, an eminent Russian novelist, historian and tireless critic of Communist Totalitarianism, Nobel Prize in Literature (1970), when delivering a Harvard Commencement Address in June 1978, referred to the calamity of a de-spiritualised and irreligious humanistic consciousness and noted: “To such consciousness, man is the touchstone in judging and evaluating everything on earth –…
In previous and perhaps more stable eras, transformation in business was not that important, or seemingly so. The name of the game was securing a strong market position and retaining it. As John P Kotter notes in “The Heart of Change”, this philosophy underpinning business security was “build a big moat around a castle, keep…
Some teams feel uncomfortable making important decisions. The team members rely on the wisdom of the manager to direct them, their goals, and their targets. They wait to be told what to do and don’t plan their approach to tasks that need to be accomplished. The resultant dysfunctionality leads to necessary micro-management from the leader…
“When a culture adopts ‘what’s the next action?’ as a standard operating query, there’s an automatic increase in energy, productivity, clarity, and focus” (David Allen – Getting Things Done) Strategy execution isn’t a module or programme that you add on to an organisation but rather a discipline that you build into the organisation’s culture. Execution…
The human resources function in companies and other organisations has come a long way in the past two decades – there has been a huge shift from previously “managing” all the issues that go with having employees to navigating, together with others in company leadership, the pressing issues that the world is facing currently. From…
“Nothing kills ‘one team one goal’ thinking like silos” (John G Miller – author of QBQ) A Silo Mentality is defined as “A mind-set present in some companies when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company. This type of mentality will reduce the efficiency of the…
Wellbeing, and specifically mental health, is much more than the absence of illness or disease – it encompasses feelings of comfort and happiness, positive and constructive thought-processing, and a strong sense of self-efficacy (the belief that you have the ability to find solutions to any of the challenges that may come your way). This resilience…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) states: “Mental health is critically important for everyone, everywhere, and goes beyond the mere absence of a mental health condition. It is integral to well-being, enabling people to realise their full potential, show resilience amidst adversity, be productive across the various settings of daily life, form meaningful relationships and contribute…
