There are a number of skills, in the eyes of many employees, which make a manager “good” – ability to articulate concepts well, knowledge of the industry, story-telling skills, humour, presence, listening ability, etc. All these skills are important indeed and work together to create a great employee experience. They probably also engender a sense…
When having to go to the medical doctor for an appointment and upon entering the surgery, the door is shut behind you and all focus of the doctor falls on you – questions are asked about your condition, you are examined and a suggested course of treatment is offered. There are no distractions, no pharmaceutical…
Taking team time-outs is a common practice in a variety of sports – a time-out being a halt in play which allows a moment for the coach to communicate with the team. Teams/coaches usually call time-outs at strategically important points in the match in order to halt the momentum of the game if it is…
“We don’t seem to be making any meaningful headway. There’s conflict and back-biting amongst team members, each team is very protective of their respective pieces of turf and the business lacks focus”. I hear this quite frequently as I consult with companies – strategic goals not being executed effectively as a result of a lack…
Some of the worst decisions made by directors and managers in organisations are those that are made out of selfish interests. The seeming need for power, for being in control and for establishing a dynasty for oneself drives irresponsible behaviour – grabbing at sections of the budget allocated for other meaningful exploits, manipulating relationships to…
“Modern psychology has been co-opted by the disease model. We’ve become too preoccupied with repairing damage when our focus should be on building strength and resilience” (Martin Seligman, founder of the field of positive psychology) Employees, and many managers alike, often become stuck with limiting assumptions or debilitating paradigms – bonded to a story that…
One of the most persistent of all temptations as a leader when arriving at the workplace is to greet employees swiftly and then “escape” to the office to deal with the pressing needs of the day. E-mails, spreadsheets, reports and planning are all necessary components of managing processes and systems to get optimal results, but…
Leadership behaviour that is not aligned to corporate values, political gamesmanship, silo-building, power struggles and ineffective communication practices all create mixed messages which confuse organisational employees. Instead of an environment where everyone is focused on strategic objectives, the organisational context is characterised by distraction, insecurity and frustration. Staff become uncertain – not sure of expectations…
In medicine, particularly optometry and ophthalmology, refraction is a clinical test in which a phoropter may be used by the eye care professional to determine the eye’s refractive error and the best corrective lenses to be prescribed. A series of test lenses in graded optical powers or focal lengths are presented to determine which provides…
So many managers seem to switch off the possibility of perceptual internal data-roaming when they arrive at the office. Oh yes, they allow incoming calls from clients, digest information at meetings and give people instructions, but fail to permit their internal “data cards” to pick up and receive important company culture, behavioural or relational employee…
With the current pressures that businesses are facing, especially in the financial arena, the urge to force through an idea, proposal or a decision is a temptation every manager has to face. The pressure to get the results that are wanted (either from yourself as a manager or from others in senior positions) seems to…
There seems to be a lot of confusion related to the authority of the manager, especially if the manager has a change project to deliver on behalf of the company. On the one hand, the one managing wants to be able to influence the thinking of the group towards collaboration, the “big picture” and alignment…
