In a thought-provoking post from Neil Crofts, he looks at the effect of short-term planning on the way we live and work, and whether we should be challenging our notion of this. Most of us when we are young find it difficult to think more than a short time ahead. As we mature we may begin to think a bit further ahead. Many organisations seem to struggle to think much beyond… read more →
Although it’s one of the important steps in the planning process, creating an effective strategy is a lot easier than you might think. We show you how the answers to five interlinked questions will help you build one. Let’s look at where strategy sits in the planning process: Vision: it’s where you start and it’s the most abstract of the steps. Once clarified, it becomes the guiding light toward which… read more →
What is organisation development and how can it help your business? Here is a simple overview and our answer to the question. With thanks to Koru for the inspiration. No clear direction, management imposing ever tighter controls, increasingly disengaged work force, high levels of politics, stress and sickness, or poor productivity? Your organisation is unhealthy, and heading for a breakdown. If you recognise any of these symptoms, then you might… read more →
Somehow running a business, or a team within a business of more than about 30 people, can appear to be extremely complex. Of course, we have the option to make it complex, but the secret of success is to keep it simple. The totally transferrable secrets of success are: Have a clear vision of what you seek to achieve that is compelling for all stakeholders. It is absolutely essential that… read more →
Your organisation’s culture needs to change along with any strategic changes – but often it gets left behind, resulting in a ‘disconnect’ between the two. The purpose of your business culture should be to support the delivery of the strategic objectives, but it can’t do that if it’s not in line. Look at the strategy of your organisation – is there consistency between where you are going and what people… read more →
What’s your cholesterol level? Are you the optimum weight for your height? Is your level of fitness adequate for the demands your life makes on your body? But when did you as a business leader last systematically assess the state of health of your organisation? I don’t mean its financial state – I bet you check on that all the time. Nor do I mean the structures, systems, policies, legal… read more →
It’s easy to assume that the leaders you admire are effective and successful because of their experience,expertise and knowledge – but this isn’t necessarily so. In everyday life, you draw on two sources of knowledge and information to get through. One source consists of what you already know. It’s based on your past, and includes accumulated experience and expertise. The other source consists of what you don’t already know –… read more →
It’s a commonly held view that people either “have what it takes” to be a leader or they don’t – they are born with certain characteristics which fit them to be a leader, and if they don’t have these characteristics, they’ll never make the grade. If you subscribe to this belief, you’ll forever be looking for a needle in a haystack, searching for the ‘right’ people with the ‘right’ characteristics.… read more →
At Leaders Lab, we’re great proponents of Neil Crofts‘ posts on leadership – here’s an abridged version of his most recent one on how to get full engagement as a leader: I am working with a great team at the moment, they are very capable, very professional and very well lead by their own leader. Recently they did an engagement survey of the people they lead and were surprised to… read more →
This post is very slightly adapted from an article by the wonderful Neil Crofts. It’s about leadership and teamwork in all situations. Neil uses a very simple definition of leadership: ‘Leaders are those that others choose to follow.’ However, I hope we aspire to more than ordinary leadership; I hope we aspire to great leadership. We might define great leadership as: ”enabling all those around you to do their best… read more →