Effective delegation attitudes can be taught and learned. Because of people’s diverse backgrounds, these attitudes come more naturally and are more easily understood by some people than others. When desire is present, however, any attitude or personality trait can eventually be developed. Continually observe leaders around you, glean ideas from books and articles, make a conscious decision to infuse your thought processes with positive ideas and belief in others and encourage appropriate team behaviour. Here are several actions you can use regularly to set the stage for an empowered delegat ..read more

Empowerment is the creation of a motivational climate that releases power, resources and responsibility to each team member to foster maximum engagement, involvement and commitment to achieve the desired results. No matter how ambitious, talented, or self-disciplined you are, at some point it becomes necessary to involve other people in achieving your goals and creating better results. As you plan for the new year in 2020, consider how you can achieve better results, increase productivity and success by empowering your team to become leaders. Empowerment is the means for accomplishing your go ..read more

How often do managers use the phrase, “just do as I say,” or something similar? Usually, it’s right after they’ve done something that contradicts their words. Managers regularly fail to recognise that team members closely model their own behaviour on their manager’s behaviour.  By acting in a manner contrary to what they have asked of their team, managers undermine their own position and significantly weaken their ability to achieve goals and outcomes.  When managers just ‘talk the talk,’ they become models for the wrong types of behaviour. Effective managers know they must ‘walk the talk.’ So ..read more

Failing to effectively transition from being a worker to being a manager is one of the most common mistakes new managers make. Moving from being a worker in a team, responsible for their own actions and outcomes…to being a manager of a team, responsible for the actions and outcomes of others… can be very difficult. In not completing the transition, managers can make previously effective relationships awkward, and cause unnecessary stress for themselves and others. This can in turn lead to low team morale, ineffective teamwork, reduced productivity and loss of self-esteem. To make the transitio ..read more

Tomorrow’s business environment will be characterized by more complex problems, even faster rates of change, improved technology, increased global competition and the commoditization of most products. It will become more and more difficult for organisations to develop and maintain a unique advantage over competitors. To create this competitive advantage, the motivational leader of the future will have to develop in these areas: 1. Leadership is a relationship Leadership is about people. You don’t lead things, you lead people. You lead people through the relationship you have with them. Only ..read more

As a leader, your responsibility is to create a learning environment through your demonstrating attitude toward innovation and change, and by communicating your belief in the potential and worth of your team members. Your attitudes and positive expectations establish their receptiveness to behaviour change. The attitudes of your people toward upskilling and improvement will almost always be a direct reflection of your own attitude. If you fear change or are concerned that developing employees may lessen your importance, then your team cannot grow. Upskilling and developing your people is the m ..read more

  “The purpose of all managers is to achieve results with and through the activities of other people in the most effective and efficient way possible”.   To be successful and remain competitive in today’s dynamic global environment, every organisation needs effective managers. Managers achieve organisational goals and objectives with and through the people who make up the organisation. To accomplish these goals effectively and efficiently, managers perform four key functions: Planning > Organising > Leading  > Controlling   1. Planning Planning is the first of the four management f ..read more

Are we getting what we want (or need) from our leaders? Latest results from more than 10,000 respondents to the Leadership Employment and Direction (L.E.A.D.) Survey conducted by Leadership Management Australia (LMA) put the spotlight squarely on the most important leadership skills and competencies we expect to see in our leaders. “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need…” You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Rolling Stones (1969)   It seems we know what we want, but as the song goes, we can’t always get it. Many of our organi ..read more

Over recent years there’s been an abundance of articles highlighting the differences between Managers and Leaders. Many of these articles compare the characteristics of Managers against those of Leaders, as if they were entirely different and separate roles, usually characterising them at totally opposite ends of the personality spectrum. Managers Managers are often portrayed as the Black Hats – focused on results and numbers-driven by processes and systems, whilst showing little empathy, care or consideration for their people. Leaders Leaders, on the other hand, are often portrayed as the Wh ..read more