A while ago, a friend asked my advice about dealing with an ‘apathetic and cynical’ member of her management team. The team were tasked with driving through some sweeping changes in her Primary Care Trust (I probably need to explain…
An Easy Format For Giving Positive Feedback
Following on from the last post on Why It’s Better, And More Accurate, To Give Positive Feedback, here’s a format for doing just that. We’re more used to giving details about what people did wrong. When people do things right, the…
Why It’s Better, And More Accurate, To Give Positive Feedback
Objective appraisal is impossible Although feedback is famously “the breakfast of champions”, nobody likes getting negative feedback. Now a new book, Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World, by management researcher Marcus Buckingham and SVP…
The Human Cost Of Change, And How To Reduce It
Rising levels of stress and depression The business bestseller lists are full of books about how to embrace change. Silicon Valley companies are lauded for disrupting traditional business models. “A game-changer” is about the most complimentary thing you can say…
The Problem With ‘Visionary’ Leadership
As I write, it’s ‘Fat Cat Friday‘ in the UK. January 4th the day when the chief executives of FTSE 100 companies have already earned as much as the average salary of their workers. Acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harari talks…
The IKEA Effect: How To Use It For Staff Engagement
A series of experiments at Harvard Business School by Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely, found that people value products more when they have put work into assembling them. In one experiment, participants each assembled an item of IKEA…
Ethical Fading: Why Good People Do Bad Things
‘Ethical Fading’ happens in decision-making when we focus so much on other aspects of the decision that we forget about the ethical implications, as if they were fading from our view. Ethical fading has been applied to explain the actions…
Make Sure Your ‘Emotional Bank Account’ Is Not Overdrawn
In The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey suggests that you have an “emotional bank account” with your team members. Any time you listen to them, offer them support, acknowledge them or ask for their ideas, you make…
Why Emotional Intelligence Is Important For Good Leadership
A useful reminder in this short interview with Daniel Goleman of why Emotional Intelligence is vital for good leadership. Also, why the most important strengths of emotional intelligence may not be the most visible ones, and why Self-Awareness is the most…
Why You Need To Put More Effort Into Empathy As A Leader
Or, How Power Turns You Into A Jerk – And How To Guard Against It The higher up the management ladder you get, the less you care about or even notice how other people feel. Most of us don’t have to…