The effectiveness or not of some leaders Interpersonal skills often seem to be intrinsically linked to their personality or character. I often wonder if it’s because people think these skills are an unchangeable character trait that they aren’t given the priority they should in organisations. A question I see…
6 Practical Ways Managers Can Motivate Their Team As a young and inexperienced manager, one of my earliest recollections was a challenge by an equally young and inexperienced member of staff. He was popular and influential and he decided that he was going to make life as difficult as he…
Working Long Hours is no longer tenable It amazes me that in this century we are still talking about a long hours culture. Research completed in the UK by the TUC, reported in the Independent earlier this year states that employees in the UK work an average of 7.18 hours…
Difficult conversations don’t have to end in a dispute The worst kinds of conversation are those when you have to deliver a negative message to a team member. Whether it is a performance, behaviour or skill set problem, there is something in our human make-up which just makes us feel…
Managing poor performance can be one of the most stressful parts of managing a team. The problem is of course; good managers know that the vast majority of employees want to come to work to do a good job. When an employee is not performing, more often than not it…
For many years I aimed to go the extra mile in terms for customers and was extremely successful. Setting a vision and outcomes in a working environment, it was pretty easy to set stretching and challenging objectives, not only to meet customer expectations, but to exceed them. As I matured…
