Posts for tag: leadership

10 Styles of Leadership – Part 1

Leadership is often taught as a single skill whereas in fact the term ‘leadership‘ covers some very different and distinct characteristics. Churchill is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest leaders, his supreme confidence turning his country’s military approach from defensive to offensive.

Yet this same bombastic approach turned out to be his Achilles heel when, after the war, he failed as a peace time politician. Ghandi achieved similar notoriety yet was a very different character.

Just being a good leader is not always sufficient; here we’ll look at three very different sorts of leader, each uniquely equipped to lead in very different circumstances:…

Leading Gold Medal Teams

As London greets the world’s best teams there’s a great deal that leaders of workplace teams can learn from their example.

Here are three of the things leaders of workplace teams could learn:…

5 More Powerful Questions Every Leader Should Ask Their Team

After all the interest in our first 5 questions every leader should ask their team here are 5 more powerful questions that every leader should ask their team.

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Woodland Leadership – a unique leadership programme

When a client asked us to come up with a unique ending to their 6 month leadership programme, we decided to break with convention and exchange their hotel for a woodland habitat.

This next generation of senior managers already spends much of their time in hotels. To conclude this programme in yet another hotel would dilute the impact and miss an opportunity to create lasting memories. Instead we began with breakfast and an intensive session exploring Insights Transformational Leadership before heading into the woods after lunch….

5 Powerful Questions Every Leader Should Ask Their Team

Below are 5 powerful questions that every leader should ask their team.

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Make sure you use your brake before you break

Many of us are becoming accustomed to the three or four day weekend with Easter, May Day, Whitsun and Jubilee holidays falling so close together.  These enforced Bank Holidays should result in a more rested and energised work force but it seems most of us are using these long weekends not so much to take a break but instead to press lightly on the brakes, keep working and catch up on the back log.

Hotels and holiday cottage owners are increasingly promoting ‘free wi-fi’ knowing that it’s a key attraction to potential guests.  Keeping in touch and being able to instantly research local restaurants or even suppliers for a forthcoming work project are high on our list of vacation priorities.  So much so that many holidaying executives report feeling anxiety when they find themselves ‘unplugged.’  And that anxiety only gets greater when they near the end of what should be a relaxing break, fearing the bulging inbox and a pile of unread papers….

Book Review: The Empty Raincoat – Making Sense of the Future

Charles Handy wrote ‘The Empty Raincoat’ in 1994, but the predictions are so precise that it could have been published last week.  Here, guest blogger Nick Robeson summarises a book perhaps more relevant today than when it was first published 18 years ago.

Back in 1994 the term ‘digital economy’ had not even been invented, but the changes in our society, our economy, work and our careers were already clear to Handy.  The book starts by describing 9 paradoxes – each of them is worthy of consideration in the society of 2012:…

Top 5 Leadership Faux Pas

There are many ways in which leaders get the best from their teams; likewise there are some common leadership “don’ts” that can stop your team from performing at their best, whatever your leadership style.

Here are our top 5 leadership don’ts:…

Manners versus Productivity

When I was a boy my dad used to frequently remind me of the adage: “Manners maketh the man”. Now as a parent myself I see why he did this – good manners give a child a distinct advantage over their contemporaries.

Adults are more inclined to listen to the opinions of a well-mannered child, they more readily submit to their requests on hearing a sincere ‘please’ and are more likely to remember the birthday of a child who always sends a thank you note.

Despite our determination to instill these habits into the next generation, many of us seem less inclined to maintain the same degree of good manners in the workplace….

Five things a leader should do to get the best out of their team

In the numerous obituaries that have been published for Steve Jobs, the word visionary seems to be the most quoted adjective in an attempt to define his leadership style.

There’s no doubt that teams need their leader to be clear about what they are aiming for, but it takes more than a vision to get the best from a team in the long term.  So here are five things a leader should do to get the best out of their team:…