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It’s What Is, Not What Might Be, That Matters!
How to build your ability to be objective. A common mistake made by managers is to equate what they think with what they know. But there is a world of difference, let me explain. At the core of this is being able to differentiate between the objective and the subjective perspective of the matter to hand. Take the phrase, “This happened and it is bad”. This consists of two impressions. The first – “This happened” – is objective; the second
The 7 Ps – Seven Questions for Growing Your Business
How you can improve employee commitment and engagement demonstrate respect. When you are looking to grow your business there are three steps involved: firstly, determining what your business will look at a given point in the future; secondly, what the business currently looks like; and finally, how you are going to bridge the gap between the two. I always begin by looking at what I want the business to look like in the future. Why? The future does not yet
Leveraging Your Weaknesses
“Bad companies are destroyed by the crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them” - Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel I know the commonly accepted thinking is that to be more successful you need to address and leverage your strengths, not your weaknesses. I have even written an article on this previously. But I would like to share with you a complementary but slightly different perspective. The thinking is that if your focus on improving your strengths
What People Want From Their Boss
How you can improve employee commitment and engagement by demonstrating respect? A recent Forbes article revealed that 65% percent of people would rather have a different boss than a raise! Take that in for a moment; people would trade money for a better boss. Furthermore, a recent study by Harvard Business Review of 20,000 employees around the world found that the most important things managers want from their managers is respect. So as a leader how do you demonstrate and
Guidelines to Managing Conflict
Six key guidelines to manage conflict effectively When dealing with a conflict you want to manage it effectively. Conflicts are difficult to resolve as resolutions are rarely reached which everyone is happy with. A conflict that is well-managed provides the basis for an approach that everyone will accept, commit to and action. Remember, you want to achieve the best outcomes possible whilst preserving and building on your existing relationships. There are six things to do: Focus on the position, not
The Leadership/Management Matrix Tool
Leadership and management may complement each other, but they are very different So which is more important, management or leadership? This is not the right question to ask, rather the question to ask what is the balance between management and leadership that you need to have? To answer this, you need to at what role each plays. Management ensures the stability and efficiency necessary to run today’s business reliably. Leadership creates the change needed to take advantage of new opportunities,
Leadership versus Management
Leadership and management may complement each other, but they are very different Most people use the words “management” and “leadership” interchangeably and usually only distinguish between the two by where the person is in the organizational hierarchy. Here you have ‘leaders’ at the top, ‘managers’ in the middle, and ‘labor’ at the bottom. Simple, but wrong! There are significant differences between management and leadership, their areas of focus, what they do, how they do it, and their implications A business
Learning From Your Mistakes
How failure can make you more successful… We all make mistakes, but do we learn from them? As children we are often taught not to make mistakes, and that it is important to be right. This is reinforced as we become adults and so we learn to equate mistakes with failure. And when we do this we limit ourselves and our potential to grow. I view failure as an opportunity to learn and improve, and from this to grow and