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 […]
Connecting people to purpose

Mark Loftus continues his series on modern leadership, this month focusing on the nature of leadership and the reasons we need it. The CEO of one of my clients is facing a dilemma familiar to many CEOs. His Board want him to focus on building economic value, driving share price performance; they see the potential […]
The Mood of doom: Understanding public-sector culture

Mark Walsh looks at the tough public sector, and advises coaches how they can best penetrate this market. Why is it that many trainers and coaches I know dislike working in the public sector? I don’t think it’s the individuals that work there (it is full of perfectly capable and nice people), the lower fees […]
Call for more leadership training to plug skills gap

A professional management body has called on employers to commit to investing in leadership training as a national priority in order to spearhead a return to sustained economic growth. The plea from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) followed the launch of a public consultation on Northern Ireland’s skills strategy by Minister for Employment and Learning, […]
Want to be a better leader? Get charismatic

Nikki Owen looks at why being charismatic can make a more successful leader and how this impacted on the recent General Election. Having been gripped by the excitement of British Politics for the last six weeks and feeling privileged to play my part in the official political commentary team for Aljazeera News Channel […]
Management theory: Ignoring the science

Professor John Antonakis blows apart a multitude of modern management theories. Mike Levy reports from the trenches.A man who criticises the basis of Myers Briggs, ’emotional intelligence’, NLP and ‘good to great’ had better be sure of his facts. Professor John Antonakis is sure that he is. Catapulted into the media last year by his […]
Caption competition: Winner announced!

What a wonderful load of entries in this month’s competition…but there can only be one winner! “The Wayne Rooney Fan Club arrives in South Africa.” Congratulations to Garrydamant – he had the editorial team rolling in the aisles. A bottle of wine is on it’s way to you. Photo credit: Normal 0 false false […]