Most employees have it – a desire to express themselves, creativity, ingenuity, an innovative spirit, loyalty, the ability to work with other team members, resilience, energy, ideas, etc. – but much depends on the environment in which these employees work if they are to live out their innate abilities and express their skills. “Being skilled”…
“Consistency is the only currency that matters” (Prudential Investment Managers) There are no short cuts to great leadership – great leadership is cultivated over time. In 1979, teenager Jadaf Payeng began planting trees on his small Northern Indian Majuli Island – it’s an action that he has repeated millions of times over the past 39…
“The flower doesn’t dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes” (Mark Nepo) The use of positional power and authority to get employees to act on objectives and team tasks can certainly yield results, but this authoritarian style of leadership does not engender trust or willingness on the part of employees to offer…
A couple of decades ago, and even persisting today, the conventional definition of an effective leader was one who got results, optimised the business to create a stronger bottom line and generally forced productivity out of his or her employees. Many of these management initiatives expended to get these results were at the cost of…
‘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…
An “acquired taste” is appreciation for something unlikely to be enjoyed by a person who has not had substantial exposure to it. The phrase is typically used in relation to food or beverages (everyone not taking to them on account of odour, taste or appearance), but is also used to refer to aesthetic tastes (such…
Stereotypes can influence first impressions and can negatively impact the possibility of a healthy relationship. Categorisation (stereotype) deals with putting people into boxes – perhaps mildly, based on their interests, their respective professions, their hobbies, etc., but more strongly, by physical attributes and conversation. We make associations with our own past experiences, knowledge and understanding….
So, you’ve been appointed to a management position – well done! This is an opportunity for you to express yourself, use your initiative, contribute something worthwhile and exercise your leadership ability. Clearly, senior leadership have recognised your character traits and skillsets and have deemed them to be desirable for the growth of the business, so…
