Monthly Archives: September 2010

How can service areas like HR increase their influence?

Posted on September 29, 2010 by

I know what it’s like to work in a service division (I spent 13 years in Human Resources or Personnel as it was sometimes called back then), rather than in the front line business functions of sales, manufacturing or product. … Continue reading →

Posted in Decision Making, Leadership, Management, Motivation, Sales, Skills | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The biggest mistake a leader can make

Posted on September 21, 2010 by

In this video from a number of leading academics, and posted on HBR site – see  http://bit.ly/auBQct they identify what they believe to be the biggest mistakes leaders make. It is an interesting selection that includes the following; a) self-interest … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Leadership, Skills | Leave a comment

Six Keys to Achieving Excellence

Posted on September 20, 2010 by

Tony Schwartz is president and CEO of The Energy Project and has written a number of books. In this article he offers his view regarding how to develop skills to an excellent level. This extract from his HBR article includes the … Continue reading →

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How do you foster innovation?

Posted on September 17, 2010 by

How do you foster a culture of innovation? Here’s 50 ways to make a start…from ideas champions at http://bit.ly/cxHcGP .  Of course the foundation for innovation is the organisational culture which is needed to support the level of creativity and risk … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Innovation, Leadership | Leave a comment

Getting Things Done

Posted on September 13, 2010 by

For those struggling with overload at the moment a you tube video called Getting Things Done by David Allen (author of a book by the same name and a website at http://www.davidco.com/ ) may hold some ideas on how best … Continue reading →

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Why do leaders need to focus on building trust?

Posted on September 2, 2010 by

A UK study http://bit.ly/dCgVbt has found as little as 10% of employees trust what senior managers are saying about the performance of their business. In the absence of trust leaders will miss out on so many more aspects of employee … Continue reading →

Posted in Behaviour, Decision Making, Leadership, Management, Teamwork | Leave a comment

Seven Deadly Sins of Setting demands (or goal setting)

Posted on September 1, 2010 by

During my development as a leader I was urged to set BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and whilst this can be useful in generating new thinking (e.g. a 40% increase in revenue is not going to be achieved with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Choice, Decision Making, Leadership, Management, Strategic Planning | Leave a comment