I was intrigued recently to read of the release of the new Microsoft Teams and in particular the claim that it "facilitates....collaboration and allows people to come together", as this suggestion also got me thinking about the myriad of tools now available, whether they be apps., diagnostics or profiling tools, that suggest they can assist in the development and improvement of our teams.

Given this plethora of tools, what does concern me now, is the risk that some would be Leaders may be thinking that they can now 'outsource' or automate the development of their teams.

Read More

In a recent mentoring conversation with a CEO about his efforts to build sustainably high levels of performance, he suggested that  if he could get the culture “right”,  then the numbers would take care of themselves.  The famous maxim “Culture will trump Strategy” was mentioned, and it was suggested that the work I was doing with him on aligning his teams' behaviour and ensuring that his Leadership development was embedding the agreed behaviours was a reinforcement of that quote.

Imagine the CEOs surprise then when I replied with “….be careful that doesn’t become your excuse for not having a strategy, and having an emphasis just on culture won’t guarantee the numbers if the “players on the team can’t play!”

Read More

Over the last few weeks, I have had a number of conversations with senior executives - and also read a number of headlines, suggesting that the solution to their organisations' or teams' performance issues requires a "need to change the culture". Subsequently, in some instances, I have witnessed enormous amounts of effort and money spent on redefining organisations values with little  impact on cultural change.

My initial response to this? 

"Let's have the real conversation about what culture really is, and then apply that thinking to the challenges we currently have"

Read More

Every now and then I get a little confused!

There have been some instances of late when working with some CEOs when the opening request has been " I really need some help with my Leadership Team - they are really capable but....." and that sentence could be completed with "they have gone flat" or "we have missed budget again", or "we no longer deliver under pressure"....

So - what starts to confuse me? The use of the word capable.

Read More

As December 18 was unofficially Keith Richards Day, I have found myself revisiting his autobiography and his most recent interviews - particularly in the context of the release of the new Rolling Stones album. Within these great quotes, there is one that resonates so true for me as we approach a time when we are either reviewing our half yearly performance or in some cases our end of year performance.

"...the idea was to make the ......band slam together.......The fascination has always been that four or five guys can create a sound that sounds a lot larger than the actual number of members actually involved"

So - as a Leader, are we developing teams, and the people within these team, that are delivering more than what would typically be expected from your team?

Read On…

Read More

It is with considerable interest that I watch the events post-NSW State of Origin unfold, and try to relate the key learnings and discussions to our role a Leaders.

As someone who was very much involved with Laurie Daley and the NSW State of Origin Program, particularly with respect to the re-alignment of a culture focused on sustained performance, in 2014 and 2015 (I was engaged again in 2016, but had minimal input), I feel I come from a reasonably informed position when relating the key learnings to our business environments.

So – let’s have a look at what I believe are the two key learnings.

Read More