Trust me, I’m a leader
Mark Loftus of The Thinking Partnership talks about why trusting your leaders is paramount to maintaining their -and their organisation's- integrity. Fiona Gammond and Georgia Howard-Merrill did win gold in the junior women's pair at the Youth Olympics and are now rapidly re-acclimatising to the normality of schoolwork, evening homework and university applications. Their winning […]
Leadership: Time to get it right
Eugene Gallagher addresses the issue of the general confusion surrounding the concept of leadership. A confusion resulting in organisations being unable to avail of the benefits that the exercise of leadership would bring to the enterprise. Over 25 years ago Warren Bennis described leadership as ‘the least understood phenomenon in the world’. Sadly it remains […]
Caption competition
This month’s winning caption: ‘Sister Mary wondered where the team building activity was leading‘ Photo credit: Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Courtesy Everett Collection/Rex Features Congratulations to Gaynor Hill who has won this month’s caption competition! A bottle of wine will be winging its way to you. In order to enter our […]
Leadership lessons from the world of jazz
Dan Hammond captures the leadership lessons from a seminar by Craig Scott from the Sydney Conservatorium. "There’s probably no better example of democracy than a jazz ensemble; individual freedom but with responsibility to the group." Michelle Obama made this statement earlier this year hosting a White House music series. Is it possible that a jazz […]
Judging potential
Mark Loftus highlights the three fallacies we need to be aware of when judging someone’s potential. By the time you read this, Britain’s women rowers may have added an Olympic gold to go alongside the gold they won at the World Championships earlier this month. Don’t worry, you haven’t overslept – it isn’t 2012 yet. […]
Managing nerves to deliver the goods
Do you get nervous before delivering an important presentation or when pitching for new business? William Winstone outlines several ways to keep those nerves at bay before the big day. In the world of sport psychology, some athletes are more prone to performance anxiety and nerves than others. And while in pure performance terms it […]
Caption competition
This month’s winning caption: ‘A willing volunteer had been found for the practical example of the sink or swim analogy.’ Congratulations to Stuart Avis 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 in […]
How to use embodied leadership to engage your employees
How do leaders maintain engagement of their key talent? How do you apply the ‘ecology of talent’ to business? Colin Reeve explores the idea of embodied leadership. In today’s fast-paced, impatient and often stressful world, leaders need to find a way of leading that liberates people to contribute their unique talents willingly – thereby giving […]
Nature not nurture: Raising a better leader
Nigel Watson thinks we should break the patter of trying to be everyone’s best friend in order to be a better leader. From a very young age we are all encouraged to seek out positive feedback. Therefore, moving into a position of leadership where we might be required to ask people, or worse still, our […]
Reality check for many UK managers
Cath Everett reports on a new survey from the CMI where results suggest that some UK-based managers are more confident in their ability to lead than they should be. More than half of UK managers delude themselves as to their strengths and weaknesses due to a heady mix of inadequate training and development, and being […]
Can everyone be a leader?
Ruth Spellman suggests that with the right training opportunities the skills that make a great leader can be learnt. Asked who they think is a good leader, most people tend to cite Richard Branson. Some also focus on sporting icons, with Andrew Strauss’ name coming to the fore since the England cricket team’s reversal of fortunes. […]
Organisational development: Vive la difference?
Is diversity management heading in the right direction? Professor Daan van Knippenberg has his doubts but offers some new insights into how to do it effectively. Mike Levy reports. The Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, spends a lot of his time studying the leadership of diverse teams. His own diverse […]
Caption competition: Winner announced!
This month’s winning caption: ‘It´s comforting to know that Plastic Surgery has come on in leaps and bounds since the original nose jobs.’ Congratulations to Sarah Holroyd who has won this month’s caption competition! A bottle of rose wine will be winging its way to you. In order to enter our caption competitions you […]
Leadership transitions: More than just business sense
How does leadership style change across the differing echelons of an organisation? Our monthly columnist, Mark Loftus, believes it’s not just about business intelligence. In 1969 Laurence J Peter and Raymond Hull formulated what was to become their famous Peter Principle: "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence". Formulated such […]
Caption competition
This month’s winning caption: ‘Travellers were reassured by the management that during the weekend rail strike, a skeleton staff would be available to help with the luggage’ Congratulations to Claire Kinsley who has won this month’s caption competition! A bottle of red wine will be winging its way to you. In order to enter our […]
We’re all coaches now, aren’t we?
William Winstone provides some tips on how to introduce coaching skills into your management style. Like it or not, coaching’s an increasingly important aspect of management. But coaching as a line manager is very different from bringing in an external coach – not least because people won’t be expecting you to sit them down and […]
Coaching Case Study: “I don’t want to be here at all!”
In this month’s coaching conundrum, Richard Hawkes looks at how to deal with an unhappy coachee who is frustrated in their job and wants to leave. How many times have we been in the position where our coachee does not wish to be where they are at that moment? This may be fine for an individual, […]
Staying true to your values: Lessons from the leaders
As the party leaders in the UK election found, your decisions and judgement can come back to haunt you. Alan Ward gives tips on how leaders and coaches can stay true to their values, especially in tense situations. Abraham Lincoln did not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was […]
Shopping for leaders: The price is not always right!
We choose our leaders like we choose our shoes: appearance, price and perception, unfortunately, we don’t always get what we pay for. Mike Levy speaks to John Antonakis, professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Lausanne. How we choose our leaders – whether in business or politics – should be down to rational choices […]
What’s the difference between making money and being a leader?
Jonathan Males explains why sustainable leadership means taking a much broader view. For some businesses, leadership doesn’t matter. Instead, people concentrate on simply making money. That’s fine. It makes perfect sense. But it’s not the way to create a business that’s healthy and robust and has strong potential for the future. Let me put it […]
