Showing appreciation About two years ago a report by The Australia Institute suggested that Australians were ‘donating’ more than $110 billion in unpaid overtime each year. This is a staggering amount of money, which translates to a staggering amount of unpaid extra hours worked. And if this work were reallocated to the unemployed, it [...]
'Centeredness' and Inspiration I recently came across an article on the Wall Street Journal called ‘The 33 CEO characteristics that inspire employees – and the one that matters most’. With a title like that I was naturally sceptical. I already have trouble remembering the ‘10 most important qualities that I need to implement in [...]
Some Christmas thoughts This post I thought I’d take a little break from sharing interesting links and just think back on the year; and what a year it has been! We’ve all had our own highlights and low points, but looking to 2017 we should all be excited about the opportunities it will bring [...]
Spot the boss I recently came across an article by Joseph Grenny on the importance of accountability in teams, and who holds who accountable. Joseph tells the story of a highly successful firm that he had consulted with. He knew that the CEO’s name was Paul, and that Paul would be attending the first [...]
Taking a stand on leadership Over the last 12 months or so we have been subjected to what I believe has been a distinct lack of leadership integrity. You could not turn on the television without hearing about our own recent federal election and, of course, the ongoing (and seemingly never-ending) US election. The [...]
The power of 'yes' How many times have you said ‘no’ to one of your team in the last week? And what did that response do to that discussion? Did it stop the conversation, cramp the ideas, freeze the innovation, kill the enthusiasm and impede the learning? The simple answer to that question is [...]
Leading Moments Last weekend sports-mad Australian’s certainly got their fill, with thrilling AFL and NRL grand finals keeping us on the edge of our seats. Even if you are not a football fan, it was hard not to hear about the historic wins by both the Western Bulldogs and the Cronulla Sharks. Despite the [...]
The importance of moral leadership When you try and think of the qualities of a good leader, what comes to mind? A recent survey by Sunnie Giles uncovered the qualities that leaders need to display to be effective. And it is no surprise that the highest rated quality (with a rating of 67%) is [...]
Opening up to build trust A few weeks ago I wrote about the importance of leaders building trust with their teams in my blog post Trust begets trust. This past week I came across an article by Jesse Lyn Stone that highlights another important aspect of building trusting relationships in your team: self-disclosure. Self-disclosure here doesn't mean baring your soul [...]
The power of marginal gains As the Olympics draw to a close, an article from the BBC suggests that small incremental changes can bring about significant results. The article, ‘Should we all be looking for marginal gains?’ highlighted the practices of Sir Dave Brailsford who applied the principle of the 1% to significantly improve [...]
