COVID-19: Expert leadership resources
This is not an ordinary blog post, it's a space to collect resources that may be useful to leaders in this time of crisis. The first resource is the free Primary Colours Covid-19 Leadership Survival Guide which I have devised in conjunction with Edgecumbe Consulting Group who own the model. The aim of the guide is to give leaders a framework to think about where they focus their energy and attention during this crisis. However, it does not contain any specific advice, so I have drawn together links to trusted sources from a wide range of different professional disciplines. I ...
Finding focus in difficult times – A leadership challenge
If you're a leader, how do you find focus at a time like this? It's unlikely you've ever faced such a significant challenge. You may be in a front line organisation with staff in personal danger; you may be worried for the very survival of your business or you may be struggling to cope with unprecedented demand for your services. Whatever the situation, this is not business as usual and it will be a test of your leadership. A guiding framework It is important at times like these to know where to focus your effort and attention. With that in ...
Why is teamwork so hard? How to develop better team working
Having worked out what is and isn't a team last month, this month I'm looking at why so many teams fail to work well together and what you can do to develop better team working. The insecure leader One of the first reasons teams fail is not recognising that they are - or should be - a team in the first place. This generally happens when a leader (in the loosest sense) manages relationships with their direct reports on a 1:1 basis. This may reflect personal preferences or a lack of understanding of how a team could function. But it's ...
What is a team? It’s not as straightforward as you think
Does that sound like a daft question? Surely everyone knows what a team is. But actually, it's not as straightforward as you might think. For example, a group of people working for the same boss is not necessarily team, no matter how much the manager talks about "my team". A team is a group of people working towards a shared objective. There is a high degree of inter-dependence and a need to make joint decisions. Team members are likely to have complementary skills. So what? OK interesting idea but why does it matter? Because it makes a difference to how ...
Part 3: A leadership coaching journey – Analysing the business plan
This is the final instalment of an exploration of one person's leadership coaching experience. This is a real client, who kindly agreed to become a case study, with details changed to maintain his anonymity. "Andrew" was the newly appointed MD of an IT company employing around 150 people. In the first instalment, I looked at coaching conversations related to Andrew's working relationships. Last month I looked at delegation and team working. This month, I'll be looking at Andrew's plans for the business. In reality these conversations were intertwined and did not happen as neatly as this. Returning to my go-to leadership model, it ...
Part 2: A leadership coaching journey – Delegation and team working
This is the second instalment of an exploration of one person's leadership coaching experience. This is a real client, who kindly agreed to become a case study, with details changed to maintain his anonymity. "Andrew" was the newly appointed MD of an IT company employing around 150 people. Last month I looked at coaching conversations related to Andrew's working relationships. This month I'm looking at delegation and team working. In reality these conversations were intertwined and did not happen as neatly as this. Delegation - breaking a pattern Delegation is a frequent topic in coaching, but in Andrew's case the ...
Part 1: A leadership coaching journey – Improving working relationships
Leadership coaching is one of the key services I offer but it's not easy to explain what it's actually like. So over the next couple of months I'm going to tell the story of one person's coaching journey to try to bring it to life. This is a real client, who has kindly given his permission (thanks "Andrew"). Whilst it reflects his experience, I've changed some of the details to maintain his anonymity. The client Andrew was the newly appointed MD of a medium-sized IT company employing around 150 people. He had recently taken over from Tony, who retired after ...
Myth #5: Perfectionism is an allowable weakness
In the fifth of my series on workplace myths, I'm turning my attention to perfectionism. I'm sure you're all familiar with this hackneyed exchange: Interviewer: "What are your weaknesses?" Candidate: "Well sometimes I can get a bit perfectionist about my work". Job done. The candidate smiles inwardly knowing that a) what they really meant was "sometimes I'm just too damn good at my job" and b) it's definitely seen as an allowable weakness. In reality, that response deserves a follow up question, which rarely gets asked - "What strategies do you have in place to manage your perfectionism?" Because perfectionism ...
Myth #4: Female leaders are more nurturing
This is the fourth in a series on workplace myths, those pervasive beliefs that hold a grain of truth but might not be as widely applicable as we think. This one feels very 21st century to me. We've got used to seeing more women in leadership roles (until you get to the very top) and there's a feeling that they bring something different to leadership, something perhaps more suited to the 21st century workplace. But is it true? What do we mean by 'nurturing'? I think a lot of things get wrapped up in the idea of the nurturing leader: ...
Myth #3: Experienced professionals don’t need managing
This is the third in my series on workplace myths - those pervasive beliefs that contain a grain of truth but may not be as applicable as you think. Some of you may be wondering why I'm considering this one as a myth at all. If you've suffered the horrors of a control freak micro-manager, you may long to be left alone to get on with the job. But for how long? When does that absence of management become a problem? Research from a recent conference suggests that, eventually, Absent Leadership really gets people down. Absent leadership is where someone occupies a ...
COVID-19: Expert leadership resources
This is not an ordinary blog post, it's a space to collect resources that may be useful to leaders in this time of crisis. The first resource is the free Primary Colours Covid-19 Leadership Survival Guide which I have devised in conjunction with Edgecumbe Consulting Group who own the model. The aim of the guide is to give leaders a framework to think about where they focus their energy and attention during this crisis. However, it does not contain any specific advice, so I have drawn together links to trusted sources from a wide range of different professional disciplines. I ...
Finding focus in difficult times – A leadership challenge
If you're a leader, how do you find focus at a time like this? It's unlikely you've ever faced such a significant challenge. You may be in a front line organisation with staff in personal danger; you may be worried for the very survival of your business or you may be struggling to cope with unprecedented demand for your services. Whatever the situation, this is not business as usual and it will be a test of your leadership. A guiding framework It is important at times like these to know where to focus your effort and attention. With that in ...
Why is teamwork so hard? How to develop better team working
Having worked out what is and isn't a team last month, this month I'm looking at why so many teams fail to work well together and what you can do to develop better team working. The insecure leader One of the first reasons teams fail is not recognising that they are - or should be - a team in the first place. This generally happens when a leader (in the loosest sense) manages relationships with their direct reports on a 1:1 basis. This may reflect personal preferences or a lack of understanding of how a team could function. But it's ...
What is a team? It’s not as straightforward as you think
Does that sound like a daft question? Surely everyone knows what a team is. But actually, it's not as straightforward as you might think. For example, a group of people working for the same boss is not necessarily team, no matter how much the manager talks about "my team". A team is a group of people working towards a shared objective. There is a high degree of inter-dependence and a need to make joint decisions. Team members are likely to have complementary skills. So what? OK interesting idea but why does it matter? Because it makes a difference to how ...
Part 3: A leadership coaching journey – Analysing the business plan
This is the final instalment of an exploration of one person's leadership coaching experience. This is a real client, who kindly agreed to become a case study, with details changed to maintain his anonymity. "Andrew" was the newly appointed MD of an IT company employing around 150 people. In the first instalment, I looked at coaching conversations related to Andrew's working relationships. Last month I looked at delegation and team working. This month, I'll be looking at Andrew's plans for the business. In reality these conversations were intertwined and did not happen as neatly as this. Returning to my go-to leadership model, it ...
Part 2: A leadership coaching journey – Delegation and team working
This is the second instalment of an exploration of one person's leadership coaching experience. This is a real client, who kindly agreed to become a case study, with details changed to maintain his anonymity. "Andrew" was the newly appointed MD of an IT company employing around 150 people. Last month I looked at coaching conversations related to Andrew's working relationships. This month I'm looking at delegation and team working. In reality these conversations were intertwined and did not happen as neatly as this. Delegation - breaking a pattern Delegation is a frequent topic in coaching, but in Andrew's case the ...
Part 1: A leadership coaching journey – Improving working relationships
Leadership coaching is one of the key services I offer but it's not easy to explain what it's actually like. So over the next couple of months I'm going to tell the story of one person's coaching journey to try to bring it to life. This is a real client, who has kindly given his permission (thanks "Andrew"). Whilst it reflects his experience, I've changed some of the details to maintain his anonymity. The client Andrew was the newly appointed MD of a medium-sized IT company employing around 150 people. He had recently taken over from Tony, who retired after ...
Myth #5: Perfectionism is an allowable weakness
In the fifth of my series on workplace myths, I'm turning my attention to perfectionism. I'm sure you're all familiar with this hackneyed exchange: Interviewer: "What are your weaknesses?" Candidate: "Well sometimes I can get a bit perfectionist about my work". Job done. The candidate smiles inwardly knowing that a) what they really meant was "sometimes I'm just too damn good at my job" and b) it's definitely seen as an allowable weakness. In reality, that response deserves a follow up question, which rarely gets asked - "What strategies do you have in place to manage your perfectionism?" Because perfectionism ...
Myth #4: Female leaders are more nurturing
This is the fourth in a series on workplace myths, those pervasive beliefs that hold a grain of truth but might not be as widely applicable as we think. This one feels very 21st century to me. We've got used to seeing more women in leadership roles (until you get to the very top) and there's a feeling that they bring something different to leadership, something perhaps more suited to the 21st century workplace. But is it true? What do we mean by 'nurturing'? I think a lot of things get wrapped up in the idea of the nurturing leader: ...
Myth #3: Experienced professionals don’t need managing
This is the third in my series on workplace myths - those pervasive beliefs that contain a grain of truth but may not be as applicable as you think. Some of you may be wondering why I'm considering this one as a myth at all. If you've suffered the horrors of a control freak micro-manager, you may long to be left alone to get on with the job. But for how long? When does that absence of management become a problem? Research from a recent conference suggests that, eventually, Absent Leadership really gets people down. Absent leadership is where someone occupies a ...
