Management and Leadership CPD

I was recently asked a question as part of a tendering process about how I manage my own CPD in relation to Management and Leadership.  What surprised me about my answer was how dependent my cpd now is on both Blog and Podcast subscriptions.
Membership of the Northern Leadership Academy provides me with some very good [...]

Too much management in the NHS?

Back to work after the bank holiday and another morning waking up to Radio 4’s Today Programme. This morning it was medical doctor (retired I believe) who caught my ears claiming the the problem with the NHS today was too much management. And I have a certain sympathy for his point of view. [...]

Conscripts, mercenaries, and volunteers

Willing volunteers outperform conscripts and mercenaries every time. They are more innovative and creative as well more diligent and disciplined.
Volunteers have bought into a mission and a purpose rather then been bought into it.
Much of the private sector is struggling with how to turn salaried staff from conscripts and mercenaries into volunteers. Finding ways to [...]

Focus on Processes – NOT Medals

It has been fascinating to listen to some of the Olympic athletes talking about the secrets of their success. Many of them report using mantras to trigger actions that have contributed significantly to their success. I am sure that some of these mantras might also produce results in your organisation.
Examples include:

‘keeping it in [...]

Why A Progressive Managers’ Network?

“Most managers become managers because they have mastered the hard skills needed for a specific job. Unfortunately, most haven’t mastered the soft skills of interpersonal relations.”
Creating More Effective Managers Through Interpersonal Skills Training – TRACOM Group

If not here then where, if not now then when?

People are inherently creative and passionate problem solvers.
If they are not creative and passionate problem solvers at work then they will be creative and passionate problem solvers somewhere else.
If they are not being passionate and creative problem solvers now they will look for an opportunity where they can be creative and passionate problem [...]

Imagine…

An organisation where:

people on the frontline make operational decisions that help to better serve customers
pressure to perform comes from peers and a sense of shared purpose rather than from a boss
teams, [...]

Are you Getting the Gifts?

Initiative, creativity and passion are gifts.
They are benefactions that employees choose, day by day and moment by moment, to give or withhold.
They cannot be commanded.

Gary Hamel – The Future of Management
Nor can they be bought.
You can’t get these gifts from employees by challenging them to work harder.
Nor by exhorting them [...]

Using the Right and Left Brain at Work

Most organisations are designed to maximise the contribution of employees left brains to the pursuit of success. Targets are set, plans are laid, logic is deployed, progress is measured and accountability is maintained. Such ‘left brain’ activities fit nicely the milieu of meetings, time pressures, deadlines and procedures that form the social system of most [...]

Need More Creative People?

If folks don’t appear to be creative at work, it’s not because they lack imagination, it’s because they lack opportunity.
- Gary Hamel – The Future of Management