3 Keys to Building a Healthy Organisational Culture
Learning from a Scam: Recently, my wife and I received a scam call that nearly cost us a significant sum of money. Trusting the caller's apparent authenticity, I followed their instructions without verifying the details.
How to Stop Micromanaging Your Team – Part 3
When I joined a new company, I was introduced to the senior manager of the department during the first few days of the onboarding process. One of the things I learned from him was: “Once you’ve learned how I like to work, then you’ll settle in well.”
What he was saying was: “This is how I like to work and how I like to do things. Learn to be like me, and you’ll fit in well.”
How to Stop Micromanaging Your Team – Part 2
When I joined a new company, I was introduced to the senior manager of the department during the first few days of the onboarding process. One of the things I learned from him was: “Once you’ve learned how I like to work, then you’ll settle in well.”
What he was saying was: “This is how I like to work and how I like to do things. Learn to be like me, and you’ll fit in well.”
How to Stop Micromanaging Your Team – Part 1
When I joined a new company, I was introduced to the senior manager of the department during the first few days of the onboarding process. One of the things I learned from him was: “Once you’ve learned how I like to work, then you’ll settle in well.”
What he was saying was: “This is how I like to work and how I like to do things. Learn to be like me, and you’ll fit in well.”
Creating a Collaborative Culture – Part 2
What's the best way to see a person's true character? Take a look at how they work, act, and respond under pressure. It’s the same for a company. One of the best ways to see company culture is to watch how it performs under pressure. The COVID pandemic gave us no better opportunity to see both character and culture under intense pressure...
Creating a Collaborative Culture – Part 1
In my consulting work, I’ve seen firsthand how people are becoming increasingly intolerant of companies without a collaborative culture.
The problem is, an organisation’s culture is often invisible but deeply impactful.
So, let’s take a closer look at corporate culture and explore how we as leaders can shape it to create stronger, more connected teams.
Finding Your Focus in Life and Work – Part 2
How often do you set goals and fail to achieve them? While goals can be a great way to focus your efforts and create a roadmap for personal and professional growth, they can also be too rigid and hard to follow. From my experience, focusing on outcomes is a more effective approach. And before stepping out to achieve them, it’s important to be clear on how they differ from goals.
Finding Your Focus in Life and Work – Part 1
In sales, "Let me reflect on that, and I’ll let you know" often means "no." But when it comes to personal growth, it means "there’s a lesson here, and I need to find it." Whether we feel stuck or need clarity, taking time to reflect on our experiences can help us find our focus and regain direction.
Which way should I go?
Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
The Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
Alice: “I don't much care where.”
The Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.”
Which way should I go? That's a question many organisations are asking as we approach business planning season.
Why are you so grumpy?
It seems that in today's world our staff need to be issued with a "work exposure meter" to record the level of exposure they have to the harmful world of work. This would need to be checked regularly to keep their exposure below a nationally recognised threshold to ensure their well-being and mental health.
The key thought running through these models has to do with our work being something to be endured and something that needs to be kept below a recognised threshold to allow for employee well-being and permit a decent work-life balance.
Now consider another model. How about if we work on helping our staff actually enjoy the work they are employed to do?
Secret keys to enjoying your work
"Stephen, will you shut up, or leave the room."
When people use your full name, they're either being polite, or you're in real trouble.
The Sales Director, Bob, said this to a guy when I was in a meeting with some colleagues and we were discussing the tactics to be used for a new sales opportunity. He wasn't being polite.
What is Sustainable Leadership?
Four keys to Sustainable Leadership.
When you can attract and retain good people to your organisation, you'll be able to increase staff retention, reduce staffing costs, and improve overall productivity and profitability. Use these four keys to create a compelling cause and build a collaborative culture in your organisation and you will be able to attract and to retain good staff to take your organisation forward, and then you’ll be able to lead your organisation sustainably into the new era that's emerging post-COVID.
Three keys to staff retention
Was Peter Drucker right when he said "Culture eats strategy for breakfast"?
Bill Ford certainly thought so, and so he put that statement prominently on the wall in the boardroom of Ford headquarters.
In an organisation with the potential for truly sustainable greatness treat your employees well by embedding these three keys to staff retention into your culture.
Six changes needed for Sustainable Leadership
People under 40 today want a "great job", which they define as one where they can identify and align with the purpose of the organisation, they want to know that they are engaged in meaningful and fulfilling work that makes a difference, that their contributions are recognised and that their strengths are developed. No longer is it good enough for employers to say "you get paid every month, don't you?".
The countryside code … for business
I was struck by the idea that pursuing sustainability in business could be described as “The Countryside Code … for Business”, and for us to take only memories away and leave only footprints behind.
Compelling Cause
What's the difference you want to make?
When I was growing up, my dream was to become an Engineer and much of my early career was spent managing engineering projects. A key lesson I learned in that role was that you can manage things, but you need to lead people.
I discovered that a key differentiator between success and failure usually had a lot to do with effective leadership skills; with leading people well. I found that you can get the best out of people when you can turn “have-to” into “want-to” because then people inspire themselves to be great.
Collaborative Culture
I first noticed corporate culture when I moved to my second employer. I didn't know that work environments could be so different! I had been with my first employer - a multinational manufacturing company - for 10 years, and so until I moved to a new company I had no understanding of "Company Culture" at all.
All I knew was what I had experienced. We were a "no-frills" company, and a part of the culture was to make sure that you held on to the best office furniture that you could accumulate as people moved on through.
If someone got a promotion, moved to a different department, or handed in their notice, the rest of the team would be on the lookout for a furniture upgrade - perhaps a more comfortable chair or a newer filing cabinet.
How to "live usefully"
We can choose to be intentional and live usefully; to live our lives “on purpose”, to make a living “on purpose”, and to run our organisations “on purpose”, with a purpose that is greater than simply making a profit or surplus.
“I would rather have it said ‘he lived usefully’ than ‘he died rich’.”
~ Benjamin Franklin.
A soul whose intentions are good
Recently I was looking for examples of a great leader. It seems that we've always had some good leaders among us, and we've often even had some impressive leaders demonstrating moments of absolute brilliance.
However, from my research, we've rarely seen a great leader. Leaders who don't rely on their position or role to get things done, but who seem to gather followers naturally; leaders who lead by acclaim, not by position; leaders who really want to make a noticeable difference in the world around them.
SORTED Magazine Interview
Last year I was interviewed by SORTED Magazine Deputy Editor Tony Yorke, and here is the article that was published in the Jan/Feb 2022 Magazine.
Roger Fairhead has a dream: he wants all men to understand they have influence; they are all leaders in some shape or form – and need to take their roles and responsibilities seriously.