Insights, updates and news

During more than 30 years in Leadership, Management and Organisational Development I kept noticing the same theme repeating itself.  Regardless of the industry, size of the organisation, profit or not for profit and other variables at play THE crucial factor which relates to organisation success was, and is, the character and behaviour of the Leadership Group, and, in particular, the CEO. Not surprising you may think, but in all those 30 or so odd years and the literally many hundreds of leaders I have encountered very few truly exhibited what I would call great leadership behaviours. Those behaviours are well...

Its a potentially expensive process and one that many of us have had trouble getting right.  Using all of our experience, intuition and due-diligence measures, we still go into staff appointments with limited knowledge of how the new appointee will behave, or more importantly, how they will behave relative to the requirements of the role they’re being appointed to. There are of course generic or stereotypical behaviour sets that we require and expect of our appointee, e.g.: Accountants – meticulous and conscientious; Sales Executives – determined and dynamic; Personal Carers – empathic and kind… Whilst these stereotypes (as most stereotypes) give a ‘vibe’...

Perhaps you’ve seen this recent statement in business news? “CEO’s face skills worry”. The latest PwC annual CEO Survey of 1379 CEOs from 79 countries show a huge 77% of them are concerned about skills shortages in their workplaces. Specifically, Creativity and Innovation ,Leadership and Emotional Intelligence were the most sought after skills. We at Leadership At Work share the CEO’s concerns. In addition we are concerned about the skill levels in these critical areas amongst the CEOs themselves and their  Executive teams! For some time now we have conducted a tailored Leadership At The Top Workshop designed to equip...

Tony Abbot recently opined that Donald Trump didn’t have to be liked and didn’t have to be a Role Model – he had to be a leader. Tony Abbot was wrong!! Although leaders don’t always have to be liked, most research suggests that it does help.   As for being a Role Model, we know that that is an intrinsic element of effective leadership. Having conducted Leadership and Management Development Programs for thirty years we emphasise the essential difference between leadership and management: Leadership gives people a sense of why they get out of bed in the morning to go to work....

Organisations and Leaders throughout Australia are adopting the ideology of critical or 360 degree feedback methodology to build trust, accountability and shared power within teams in the name of performance improvement and sustainability. It is important to recognise that the process of critical feedback is as valuable as the content; when mistakes are made, the proposition of effective organisational culture can spin into an ugly tangle of mistrust, conflict and under-performance.  The critical feedback mechanism can become a forum of criticism and bullying, the direct opposite of the intention. The key determinant to whether we maintain effective critical feedback or step...

As Geelong and Ballarat people are swept into the annual frenzy of national football Grand Finals, its worthwhile asking ourselves the question: If we were facing our organisational Grand Final, would we be ready?  Who would be our most consistent and when it comes down to it, who can we absolutely rely on to get their job done? Here is a helpful checklist that will get you on the path to glory: 1.   Leadership At Work has sung the praises of Jim Collins’ formative book, Good to Great for several years and continue to chant the mantra: Get the right people on...

  For more than 30 years Leadership At Work has created clarity for its clients around the differentiation between LEADERSHIP and MANAGEMENT.  After working with us, participants understand that they can have a healthy blend of leadership and management functions built into their roles; more importantly, they leave with the necessary tools to ensure they perform both functions at the levels their organisations expect. Leadership, as described in Leadership At Work – Letting the Apes Go Free, is essentially concerned with creating conditions that encourages others to follow.  Leavitt (Levitt, Harold. J. – Corporate Pathfinders, 1987) describes leaders as Path-finders: “the men and women who provide the...

Phew, we survived another Federal election. Whilst we seem to have an outcome, a clear path forward is perhaps more amorphous than before; a very small majority in the Lower House and a bag of mixed nuts (perfect metaphor) in the Upper House leave us wondering just how effective the latest iteration of parliament can be?  Undoubtedly our Prime Minister has charisma, intelligence and a drive to succeed, but is this enough to become the effective Leader we need? Political commentators have speculated around themes of disunity and mistrust across the Federal political landscape.  We can postulate on the drivers...