HR

I approach everything new with a particular recipe, a set of questions that get my mind around the task at hand. And even though you would believe that there are common answers to these questions, this is simply not the case.  When building your next strategy, I challenge you to ask your team and stakeholders these questions and close the gaps that you find between the answers. 

What is the goal?  Have you ever really made the rounds to your team members to get a true understanding of the goal they are trying to accomplish as a team?  Have you ever asked the same question of your client group and finance team?  You will likely get different and possibly conflicting answers from each of these groups of people, yet we as HR leaders are attempting to get all parties to achieve the same goal.  Get everyone looking at the same target, and you will be amazed at how quickly and effectively things happen....Read More Here!

from The Talent Economy

I spend a great deal of my time coaching executives on how to become more effective leaders and managers. An important part of this work is to help them develop good relationships with their key staff and stakeholders. We explore different ways of influencing, motivating, and leading people and by extending their skills — I help executives to get the best out of their people.

A common response when I ask executives about their leadership or management styles is: "I just focus on tasks and results," or, "I'm a people person." It can take a while to convince them that to be really successful, executives have to master both sides of the equation. Fortunately, I am not the only one passing on this message — the best companies reinforce this by promoting and developing senior executives on the strength of both sets of skills.

However, I have noticed that the financial crisis has undermined these good practices. Command-and-control leaders are back in fashion and companies appear to be condoning it. I had my first direct confirmation of this last year, when I called a German CFO to check on how she had been progressing with her action plan following our coaching sessions. When we met in London three months earlier, she had complained of a lack of motivation and accountability in her team. We had agreed that she should focus her efforts on active listening, coaching, and more delegation to galvanise the team. "How are you getting on with your team?" I asked. "Have your new approaches worked?"