I recently ran a workshop on strategy and accountability for The Executive Connection (TEC). As we discussed ways in which to increase accountability and clarify responsibilities within our team, we workshopped a number of ideas around how we can better use Leading Indicators to improve performance. A good way to think about Leading Indicators are…
I was looking for a John Wooden quote to start this post, and while I hadn’t seen this one before, its perfect because it encapsulates everything I have read about this amazing man. Its laughable that he never focused on winning. Not because it isn’t true, but because he is probably the most successful sporting…
Understanding yourself is key to being an authentic leader. Although this is often easier said than done, the more we understand our strengths, weaknesses, anxieties and fears the better we are at understanding others, developing empathy and enhance our capacity for leadership. One way is to use a profiling tool to increase our understanding of…
Parts 1 and 2 in this series looked at why clarity and communication are so important at getting accountability and better performance throughout your business. If the ideas covered in Parts 1 and 2 fail, there are a couple of potential standout factors involved. In fact, the issues covered today always need to be part…
My cycling group has a motto on our kit that says simply Rule #5. Put “cycling rule #5” into Google and it says “Harden the f*%k up”. Resilience is often seen as just doing that, but it is so much more. Like an athlete breaking a world record, it isn’t just a matter of going…
A good philosophy from Business Improvement is the idea that a good manager is “nose in, hands out”. In practice this means that you need to know exactly what is going on with your direct reports, you should be across their KPIs and know how they are travelling towards their targets. That’s the nose in…
I hope that headline grabbed your attention because it’s true. The challenge of holding people in your team accountable seems to be one of the biggest problems faced by my clients, but clearly by managers all over the world. I’m listening to The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni in the car at the moment, and he…
I gave a presentation at a workshop last week on resilience and good mental health habits. So much of our resilience comes from a healthy mind. The biggest problem most people have in improving their mental health is a lack of self-love or self-respect. The impact of this is that we don’t give ourselves the…
The problem with motivational speakers is that they generally don’t have the impact that we pay them for. Many of the speakers I have seen and heard over the years have definitely had a short-term impact. They have a wonderful message, great stories that leave me laughing one moment, crying the next. I leave the…
There is a lot of conversation about self-love and self-care in the world today, but not necessarily a lot of understanding of what it actually means. And why would I be writing about it on a platform devoted to business? I often talk to my clients about this concept because I believe it lies at…