When things go wrong it is, perhaps, human nature to seek the source of the fault, to lay blame, to want to know why it happened and who or what was responsible. It’s an all too easy road in organisational life, especially with the pressure to deliver results. Yet, it’s a road that can make...
Developing a coaching style in our leadership is a sure-fire way to developing and empowering others and to increasing capability and capacity in our teams and organisations. Moreover, it builds trust and relationship. Some leaders find this shift in practice relatively easy to accomplish. For others it takes a little more time and effort, not...
Time was when the leader was cloaked in power, charisma, visionary capability, perhaps even a little showmanship. In essence it was all about the individual, about their star shining brightly. Times have changed and so has the world. In truth, back then but even more so now, great leadership is about the people we lead...
My Facebook feed is full of reminders that we are all connected. That what shapes as a thought in my mind will be transmitted even if I don’t speak it out loud. That what sits in my heart…love, anger, irritation, compassion…is radiating out and I have a responsibility to be aware and constructively transform anything...
There’s a big focus on the feminine in leadership in these times and rightly so. International Women’s Day brought the focus onto women from a gender perspective – inviting us to think about the qualities and successes of women across the globe. The intensified efforts under the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion banner in organisations is...
It seems appropriate in a week when we have just celebrated International Women’s Day to consider the qualities women may bring to leadership be that political, organisational, community or indeed closer to home in the family. Research points to organisations with greater gender diversity in leadership and Exec roles outperforming those organisations with less diversity....
In our ‘always on’ world the loading on our senses and emotions can feel like an onslaught. And the stimuli and provocation keep coming. We may find ourselves reacting in ways that are out of proportion to the situation or to how we would if we were less overloaded, whether that’s ‘lashing out’ or shutting...
We all enjoy reminiscing about the past and it can bring much comfort especially when things are so uncertain. Indeed the past can contain many useful pearls of wisdom if we have the ability to stand in an objective space and harvest the value. There are, however, risks with being reliant on the past. By...
I read an article yesterday that suggested that Rishi Sunak was ‘behaving like he thought a Prime Minister should’ rather than being himself. Regardless of Politics it had me thinking about the fine line between ‘acting as if’ and being untrue to one’s own essence. The great power of ‘acting as if’ is that it...
As soon as we open the subject of masculine and feminine in any context, the temptation is to rush to gender and separation. In inviting us to reflect on the feminine within leadership it’s important to be clear that this isn’t about labelling men and women, male and female leaders even though we can and...