Make worthwhile and lasting change in your business that inspires people, delivers results and improves systems.
All tagged Leadership
As a business owner or manager, it can be difficult to know whether a particular issue is related to capability or capacity.
In general, CAPABILITY refers to the skills and knowledge needed to perform a task, while CAPACITY refers to the available resources (time, staff, equipment, etc.) to complete the task.
As a leader, one of your primary responsibilities is to help your team be as effective as possible.
There are a variety of strategies you can use to support your team's productivity and performance.
Here are five key ways to help your team be more effective:
There are many leadership books, podcasts and training that tell you about leadership. However, leadership is quite individual.
You move from people worker to a manager and then fall into the leadership role. It’s the role models that you have watched and your ideal around leadership that helps develop who you are.
I’m an accountant, so I am not supposed to love marketing, am I?
When I started in industry, marketing budget were cut, how can you justify the ROI on that spend. So much time was spent understanding the return on money spent, some easier than others to explain.
However, when cash needed to be saved it was the easiest spot. It didn’t impact the bottom line, that you can really measure easy compared with other costs.
The A team, how it operated & why it worked?
You know, the team that works well together, delivers outcomes and is a high functioning team – known by Jo as the “A team”. If you have ever been led or been part of the A team, you know what I am talking about.
Jo Hands writes about what makes her tick, she explains “Life's not always fair, but it's sure made me tough...” When I was a child I was big about justice. I wanted to feel like life was fair. My mother told me that life wasn't fair and I thought that was crap. As I grew up I realised that she was right - life is not fair. Everyone has their challenges, battles and hard times, you are not alone. People want to be perceived as having their life together but no one really does, let's be honest.
Mark Easdown writes about complexity. In the mid 1980s, a school of thought emerged around “Complexity” and “Complex Adaptive Systems” with the formation of the Sante Fe Institute, formed in part by former members of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The institute drew from multi-disciplinary domains and insights of : economics, neural networks, physics, artificial intelligence, chaos theory, cybernetics, biology, ecology and archaeology. Theories on Complexity and Complex Adaptive systems sought to develop common frameworks and understandings of physical and social systems that was an alternate to more linear and reductionist modes of thinking.
Jo Hands is talking about simplicity. It's a theme for 2021... Companies want to drive simplicity, and many CEOs we are talking to consider this to be a key area of focus. As companies grow, shrink and change, they find themselves more complex. But where does it come from? Ultimately complexity is driven by core business functions: process, policy, systems, operating models, and is fuelled further by unclear decision-making.
Jo Hands asks the question: What kind of leader are you? Leadership is a gift. It's not easy. It's not a popularity contest. It's about setting up your team for success. Sometimes as leaders we get lost. Meetings, emails, approvals and pressure and we lose sight of what is important - taking people on the journey. We've all worked for good leaders and not great leaders and therefore know what good leadership is ...I think I've learnt the most from the bad leaders that I've worked with.
Jo Hands writes about what she wanted to be when she grew up, and the lessons she learned along the way. She explains “In year 9, we needed to work out what we wanted to be when we grew up to pick our majors / subjects that determined our chance to get into 'the' university course. We were just kids and let's be honest, we didn’t know. Some still don’t know today.”
Mark Easdown writes about problem solving… Good problem solving needs: cognitive diversity, valuing dissent to mitigate consensus “fails” & “group think”, a clear approach in stressful situations, switch thinking or adding some randomness to process, a healthy power relationship (no hubris or silencing of opposition, a need for participative management & subordinate assertiveness training), multiple approaches to problem solving …
Jo Hands explains why you need to measure what matters. So much data, so many reports means we’re not sure what we should measure; inactivity of red metrics… Metrics not measured against targets. Targets are soft. There are all issues that we hear from our clients.
Jo Hands talks about the importance of simplification and where to start when trying to simplify in your own business. Companies create complexity as they grow, and action is required to change. You don't want to shave around edges, so instead create a set of criteria - and be very clear on what must change. Then build a program of work around this.
Jo Hands is talking perspective. She explains “There are things in life that result in an increase in perspective. It's normally something unpleasant. So it takes some unpleasant to happen to you or someone you love to create perspective. The perspective needs to be strong enough to drive a change in behaviour. The perspective needs to be consistent / enduring enough to make long term sustainable change.”
Jo Hands explains how to effectively navigate change. When it comes down to it, change isn't easy. Most people resist it. Most people find a way or an excuse not to change. It's human nature. But change is inevitable and for high performing companies a must. So as a leader you need to determine, how to navigate change?
Mark Easdown writes about forecasting. The prediction process starts with propositions, then verified, quantified and made actionable. A robust peer review occurs and 95% of predictions are modified along the way. Plummer routinely scrutinises predictions with actual events and these results are highlighted at conferences – championing the successes and sharing insights across those that were wrong. “Nobody here is hired because they’re psychic; there hired to generate insights that are useful – even if they turn out wrong. It’s useful to get you thinking”.
Jo Hands writes about why she joined the Business Chicks, Business Club. She explains - “I’ve always loved the Business Chicks events – they are always inspiring, give you perspective and a great way to connect. The Business Chicks brand is strong and it has a strong ability to bring out the best in people.“
Jo Hands writes about how to deliver a successful transformation program. Nearly every project today is called a transformation. Most companies are changing, evolving and putting in programs to change the way things are done and these call these programs – ‘transformation project’s. It doesn’t matter what the programs are called, what matters is the that it achieves the outcome you are expecting.
Jo Hands writes about leadership - and creating your legacy. It doesn’t mean you are old – legacy. What leadership legacy do you want to leave? What kind of leader you do want to be? What do you want to be remembered for? When I think about Legacy I think about leaders that I have had in my career. Which ones have inspired me and which one disappointed me.
Colin D Ellis explains how to make change stick. Organisations talk a lot about change and transformation, but in general most aren’t very good at doing it. A recent SAP survey found that of the 84 per cent of organisations that started transformation initiatives in the past year, only 3 per cent had actually successfully completed one.
