It is easy to blame circumstances for a lack of success or at least give really plausible reasons for things not working out as planned. It is true sometimes that we feel like pawns, without any power, being manoeuvred strategically by a greater hand, often meaning that we lose our place on the chessboard. We…
“The best reformers the world has ever seen are those who begin on themselves”. George Bernard Shaw Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy introduced to corporations by W Edwards Deming in the 1950’s. The principles have resulted in many training interventions in companies across the world and have had possibly the greatest impact on…
“I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I … I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference”. Robert Frost So many people with whom I come into contact are unhappy – sometimes with their circumstances, sometimes…
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…
Organisational health – the status of operating efficiently and effectively with a “happy team” of positive and focused employees – not only provides a seedbed for new ideas, innovation and creativity, but also establishes the necessary foundation for the development of brand reputation, product reach and sustainability in the long run. Company agility, when faced…
Companies are simply not taking responsibility for career development amongst employees anymore. Sure, there are exceptions when companies fast-track certain individuals to fulfil the responsibilities of specific posts that are important to the business, but on the whole, career development is now largely left to the individual to accelerate and realise. For the most part,…
Change is an essential dynamic in the growth process of healthy organisations. Without necessary change, companies would get out of touch and stagnate, their client base could dwindle and worse, they might become irrelevant within the market. Sam Keen and Ann Valley Fox in “Your Mythic Journey: Finding Meaning in your Life through Writing and…
I love coffee – Arabica coffee beans, which comprise about 75% of the total world production, are the most famous, sometimes called “super-coffee” and grown in Central and South America. The coffee is grown at high altitudes in volcanic soil – the same giving the beans their brightness and sweetness. The taste of the coffee…
For many decades, 3M’s executives have focused on a constant flow of terrific new products. In order to achieve this, in 1956, the company instituted a catalytic mechanism that is now widely known: design engineers and scientists are urged to spend 15% of their time experimenting and inventing in the area of their preference –…
I took my grandchildren to the park yesterday – a shaded playground, well-appointed with an appropriate slide, jungle-gym, see-saw, swings and the favourite merry-go-round or “round-about”. All of the activities represent one or another challenge for little ones – the swing (how high can I go?), the jungle-gym (how daring can I be?), the slide…
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…
