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 […]
Good performance management demands leadership
In the fourth instalment of the series from The Thinking Partnership dissecting modern leadership, Graham Lee looks at performance management. Although performance management is viewed as necessary it is an unpopular organisational process. On the face of it the approach is sensible: set objectives, review performance against them, and develop new skills to address gaps. However, […]
Leadership lessons from Clegg, Cameron and Brown
When it comes to marketing your brand, leaders can learn some important lessons from the latest political campaigns. Emily Cagle reports. While the furore over the election results still rages, there are certain pointers that can be drawn from the way the three main political parties in the UK have been approaching their election campaigns. […]
The inner work of leadership: Bringing the right emotions to work
Jonathan Males explains why it’s so important for leaders to balance their emotions. Humans are social animals. As part of our pack behaviour, our brains are hard-wired to pick up subtle cues about our pack leaders’ moods and emotions. So whether they’re conscious of it or not, a leader’s emotional tone casts a long shadow […]
Managing coalitions: Do they ever work?
Stephen Walker discusses new political coalition and asks, do too many cooks always spoil the broth? You had to have been in an isolation tank (or not in Europe) to avoid hearing the outcome of the UK’s General Election. The media has ramped up discussions and tried to reinforce public interest in the latest speculation. […]
Are there any leaders out there?
Ruth Spellman reflects on how our managers are letting the side down. If the political debates and post-election negotiations have taught us anything it’s that how leaders are perceived can have a dramatic impact on results. Stakeholders, whether they are the voting public, customers or employees within your organisation, are heavily influenced by the sense of […]