Forget resolutions, try New Year’s aspirations
Hands up who’s made a few hollow New Year’s promises that have already been broken? Dan Hammond has a better idea. Happy New Year. Or is it? Our holiday reading was perhaps not as full of as much Christmas cheer as we would like: the papers tell us that 2011 will be a tough year […]
A tale of two leaders
Mark Loftus considers the tale of two similar CEOs and looks at how their style of leadership takes them on two differing paths. Colin and Peter are both CEOs of large organisations, one public sector and one private sector. For each it is their first CEO role and both have been brought in to turnaround […]
The seven facets of leadership pt 5a: Communication
In part 5 of a series, Spencer Holmes describes a new approach to the development of project managers to meet the current challenges of organisations in all sectors. This week: Communication. Most project managers score highly on our psychometric teston the ‘communicator’ facet. So how come, whenever we go into any organisation and start poking […]
The seven facets of leadership pt4: Stability
In part 4 of a series, Spencer Holmes describes a new approach to the development of project managers to meet the current challenges of organisations in all sectors. This week: Stability. Readers who know their trait psychology will recognise that with ‘stability’ we have selected the positive side for what is often referred to as […]
What does ‘leadership’ mean in 2011?
As projects continue to become more complex and teams more virtual over the coming year, developing the leadership skills of project managers will become increasing crucial to success, experts have warned. But according to Informa’s ESI International, a project management training and consultancy house, a key challenge for organisations will be to clearly define […]
Searching for the perfect boss
Millions of Brits are on the hunt for the ideal boss and are prepared to change jobs and even switch careers in their drive to find perfection. New research from First Direct reveals almost seven million (28%) workers have moved jobs in an attempt to find a better boss and improved working environment. So elusive is […]
Self-awareness and the inner child
Continuing an exclusive series of articles exploring the leadership lessons that can be gleaned from everyday life, Jez Cartwright highlights how leaders can overcome their insecurities or performance anxiety by coming to terms with the experiences of their childhood. There are some useful lessons that leaders can learn from young children. Children, for example, have […]
Leading creation
Mark Loftus of the Thinking Partnership draws from his experiences of the creative explosion in late 70s Britain. To many living at the time, Britain in the mid-70s was a country sick with itself, turning in on itself and picking fights as it slipped through a long slow decline. Liverpool reflected and magnified these themes. […]
Caption competition
This month’s winning caption: “I always wondered how you could organise everything to deliver presents to every boy and girl on the planet in one evening, and now I know – you’re really a woman!“ Photo credit: Geoffrey Robinson/Rex Features Congratulations to Rob Falconer (again) who has won this month’s caption competition! A bottle of […]
The seven facets of leadership pt3: Positive intolerance
In part 3 of a series, Spencer Holmes describes a new approach to the development of project managers to meet the current challenges of organisations in all sectors. This week: Positive intolerance. Of all the seven facets, positive intolerance is by far the one that raises most interest when we talk to business professionals about […]
The seven facets of leadership pt1: Pragmatism
In part 1 of a series, Spencer Holmes describes a new approach to the development of project managers to meet the current challenges of organisations in all sectors. This week: pragmatism. This is the first of a series of articles that will cover the seven facets of project leadership, as defined by Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic […]
East joins west in leadership development as workforce goes global
Although effective management will be crucial to exploiting growth opportunities presented by the changing face of globalisation, just over two thirds of global employers admit to being poor at leadership development. A survey undertaken among 700 chief HR officers and senior executives in 61 countries around the world by IBM’s Institute for Business Value revealed […]
Playing the game
Stephen Walker takes us through game playing at work and describes the top five presenteeism behaviours. I’m not a connoisseur of SatNavs but mine has a display of how early or late you are for your appointment. This useful, innocent feature wakes the devil in me. The SatNav calculates journey times against expected speeds over […]
Female bosses more popular, report suggests
Nearly two out of five employees prefer female to male bosses because they feel they are both more understanding and more assertive. Cath Everett reports. According to a survey among 1,182 UK workers undertaken by HR consultancy Reabur, only 29% preferred having a male as their manager, while a third thought gender was irrelevant. Of […]
UK business leaders ‘among worst in world’
UK managers are among the worst in the world in terms of leadership effectiveness, with the situation being particularly marked in government and financial services, according to a study. The survey undertaken among 29,000 employees in 21 countries by HR software provider Kenexa’s Research Institute revealed that the UK ranked 17th for managerial effectiveness, scoring […]
The leadership interview: John Storey
Mike Levy talks to Professor John Storey about the need for trainers and coaches to offer something more sophisticated than just a one-stop solution for leadership development. If you offer a one-stop solution for leadership development, John Storey might have some bad news: your one-stop may soon become a no stop. But the Professor in Human […]
Caption competition
This month’s winning caption: “I understand you’re protesting about possible cuts in the National Elf Service“ Image credit: David Hartley/Rex Features Congratulations to Rob Falconer who has won this month’s caption competition! A bottle of wine will be winging its way to you. In order to enter our caption competitions you need to sign […]
Project management training: A new approach
Spencer Holmes describes a new approach to the development of project managers to meet the current challenges of organisations in all sectors. I think we / projects / organisations / societies are on the eve of massive, long lasting change, as a dad I certainly hope so. I think there will be a ‘tipping […]
Why people don’t always do what they’re told
Continuing an exclusive series of articles offering leadership lessons from everyday life, a phone bore on a train reminds Alan Ward of the patterns that influence our decision making – and the need to reinforce the consequences of desired behaviour. I am a regular commuter into London by rail and have become immune to the […]
Leadership: Key to the learning enterprise
Eugene Gallagher warns against the cost of not instilling a leadership and learning culture within your organisation. The reason why leadership is key to long-term success is because it unlocks the learning necessary for the enterprise to succeed in a continuously changing market environment. The challenge is that in order to encourage and release learning […]