Dealing with breakdowns in attitudes, values and behaviour in your organisation is not hard, but it does require skills such as listening, exploring, sharing, communicating. Here’s why, and how, you need to handle these situations before they turn into a crisis; it’s all about keeping the balance between your tangible and intangible skills. As a leader and manager, you are accountable for the values and attitudes of your organisation, and for how… read more →
General understanding of leadership tends to fall short of the ideal so we’ve adapted a previous article from Neil Crofts which summarises its key aspects: Two key attributes of leadership 1 – Leaders initiate – Leaders do not need to know the answers, they do not need to be the creators or owners of the vision, they do not even need to know how to do things, but they do… read more →
A natural consequence of believing leadership myths 1 and 2 – that it requires special qualities, skills, expertise and knowledge to be a leader today – is that there appears to be a shortage of the right kind of people. Andif you believe that leadership is scarce, you will naturally constantly struggle to find a sufficient supply of capable leaders. However real this might seem to you, just consider that… read more →
An important leadership skill is the ability to help your team function well under stress, and stay together through any tensions. As team members, you must all respect each other, believe you are all on the same side with the same goal, and have the same level of commitment to achieving it. What happens to teams under stress? Unfortunately, you may find that times of stress bring out patterns of… read more →
Leadership is a much-researched topic. In previous blog posts we’ve posed discussion points such as ‘Are you a born leader?’ or ‘What are the common flaws of bad leaders?’. These are just some of the questions that need to be answered in order for organisations to enjoy innovation, efficiency as well as success. So what are the key ingredients for effective leadership? If you had to list the common characteristics… read more →
In the first of a series of guest blog posts, we’re delighted that executive coach and mediation specialist, Liz Rivers, has kindly agreed for us to publish a thought piece she recently posted on her own website. A female General Counsel friend recently told me about the MBA she did to boost her leadership skills. She was advised to develop a leadership style where she had “no good days, no… read more →