Focus on and persistence with the implementation of a strategy is often lost amongst other pressing issues – handling crises, problem-solving when things break down, protecting oneself in a sometimes politicised environment and dealing with the digital deluge. Frazzled managers and supervisors make sporadic attempts to get organised and to stay on top of things,…
Having consulted with a number of firms, I have noticed, almost without exception, the frantic activity of senior and middle management as they scurry from meeting to meeting, prepare presentations, work on budgets, hoping to get the best deal for their respective departments, write reports, attend or participate in road shows and generally answer questions…
Sir William Edward Parry (1790 – 1855) was an English naval officer and record-setting explorer of the Arctic. He made one of the initial attempts to conquer the perilous trip to the North Pole and, in so doing, travelled further north than any other previous explorer – a record that stood for almost fifty years….
I recall very clearly a team’s behaviour in a large manufacturing company, the team largely been made up of engineers and operational/production experts – whenever an idea was introduced to the larger gathering, individuals would attempt to pick holes in the idea unless the introducer of the idea was able to defend the principle and…
A supervisor who attended a workshop that I was facilitating for a plastics company, in an exercise which examined personal vision and passion, admitted that he had always wanted to become a fireman – to be in a position, if possible, to prevent fires from starting or, if not possible, to be able to save…
I have visited many people in hospital before – to encourage friends and family, pray for their speedy recovery and wish them well. I have also had my own personal moments of being a “guest” at a number of such institutions – being pampered, eating special meals and having a plethora of tests with sophisticated…
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…
Many years ago, I noticed a cartoon in a magazine relating to a family – what each family member thought of when one suggested that the family should get a dog. The mother had a picture of a little Chihuahua sitting on a cushion. In the dad’s mind, he saw a Great Dane walking as…
Gillian Barbara Lynne (CBE) was born on the 20th February 1926 in Bromley, Kent, England and was recognised as a dance talent at a young age. Teaming up with her childhood friend, Beryl Grey, while still at school, she danced to blot out the tragedy of the violent death of her mother in a car…
“The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th Century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the manual worker in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st Century is similarly to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker” (Peter Drucker,…
“To Do” lists are created as helpful reminders of what needs to be done, the stuff that is still outstanding and the activities that need our attention. They find their way on to refrigerator doors, pieces of paper that clutter our desks or on to digital and other electronic devices as “prompts” demanding our attention….
A friend of mine told me about one of his employees who repeatedly came late to work. The young man was hard-working and focused, so performance was no issue. He just started work late each day and if unaddressed by management, would send all the wrong messages to the rest of the staff. His manager…
