Insights, updates and news

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash Some years ago, Peter Senge wrote his seminal work, ‘The Fifth Discipline’. It was subtitled The Art and Practice of The Learning Organisation. I am not entirely sure what a learning organisation is but I think I will know one when I see one! To me a Learning Organisation will have at least most of the following features: An investment of time and resources in developing their people in a variety of learning opportunities. Learning will be considered an essential part of everybody’s job. Learning will be aligned to both the Organisations Strategic Objectives as...

Can’t Find a Good Leader?   Try Leading Yourself! In the Leadership and Management Development space we often lament the lack of authentic and effective leadership. Since the Karpin Report of 1995, study after study keeps tossing up the same theme. ‘We need better leadership!’ In our own experience, over 30 years in organisational life throughout Australia, we have also found the need for more effective leadership. As we continue to run leadership and management courses, and indeed write books on the subject, we are now considering a slightly different approach. With talk going around about wellness, resilience and self-leadership, we...

When will we ever learn? As a keen cricket fan and follower of the Australian Cricket Team I had finally convinced myself to come back to support the men in the baggy green hats in their battles against the Indian Cricket Team in late 2020. Long before the ’Sandpaper Gate’ disgrace of March 2018, I found myself embarrassed by the unsportsmanship antics of some members of the Australian Cricket Team. Of course, I have never been in the cauldron of the pressure of representing my country in cricket or any other sport for that matter, so was I being a...

The issue regarding Australia Day goes much deeper than the date 26th of January. Much of the rhetoric (noise) has been dominated repeatedly by the extreme views put forward from both ends of the spectrum: (either it’s a very good date or it’s a very bad date.)  It’s either great to celebrate what is good about Australia whist the opposing viewpoint calls it Invasion, even Holocaust Day! ‘Either Or’ thinking rarely achieves mutually satisfactory outcomes. Stephen Covey author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People urged us some time ago to ‘Think Win/Win.’   While not always possible to achieve...

We need REAL Leadership – not delusional followership!   I’m a slow learner, I’ll admit it! My first gig as a leadership and management consultant occurred in New Zealand exactly 40 years ago (I landed in New Zealand the day after Greg Chappell introduced a new bowling technique against the Kiwis!). For the next 40 years, along with my associates in Leadership at Work, I have been conducting leadership and management development workshops throughout Australia and indeed, in Europe and Asia.   Although our programs, designed to enhance both leadership and management skills, have received very positive feedback, repeat business...

An excellent article by Adele Ferguson in The Age, Saturday September 12, citing the move by Rio Tinto Board to take actions against three top executives, is a lesson for all organisations, both large and small. She noted further that a number of well known and not so well-known organisations had lost key executives after becoming engulfed in behaviour that did not meet community standards.  This has led to a crisis of confidence in many Australian institutions. Ms Ferguson adds, ‘The day companies could get away with blaming systemic failures or flawed corporate governance on a few bad apples, errors...

There has been a lot written about how the Melbourne hotel quarantine system went so wrong. Leaders need to manage and have operational plans and policies in place that are effective. COVID has arguably brought out the best in our leaders. Both the Premier of Victoria and the Prime Minster have ticked all the boxes of what leaders need to do. That is, to articulate: – A shared honest view of the current reality – A shared vision of where we want to get to – A shared set of values and behaviours of the things we all need to...

  The Leadership at Work Team is pleased to make two announcements which we believe will be of great interest to our valued Clients. The first announcement is that the Problem Busting 10 step process which has been used countless times, with large financial returns to clients, is now in the final stages of going online! Utilising all the tried and true problem-solving tools and techniques which have been applied in all organisations large and small to bring about improvements in quality, productivity and morale, clients will be able to apply these to real problems inhouse. You are encouraged to...

                                                                LEADERSHIP IN TOUGH TIMES   At Leadership at Work we understand the challenges facing Leaders, even when times are “normal!” Now we have some definite added degrees of difficulty which will require some agile and innovative thinking, which many Leaders are currently demonstrating. However, the timeless Principles of Leadership don’t change, in fact they could never be in more demand! Those Principles include: A shared understanding of the current Environment A shared Vision of where we want to get to A shared set of Values and Behaviours that will get us there, and A shared feeling of Power, letting...

PROBLEM SOLVING THAT WORKS!   Dr. W Edwards Deming in the 1970s developed what he famously called 14 Points For Management. Some may say ..”the 1970s is old hat, haven’t you got something a bit more contemporary?” It is interesting to note though, that when the Leadership At Work Team run this module today and we ask practising managers how many of these points are relevant to their organisation they invariably say “pretty much all of them.” And the most relevant of the 14 points that is usually ranked number one by participants is point 5.   POINT NUMBER 5...