The pervasiveness of bullying never ceases to amaze me. I recently met with an organization and it was very clear from the outset who was in charge of the meeting. This individual made it very clear that he was going to set and control the agenda. The guests were there simply for his abuse and [...]
The burning platform metaphor is often used to make a compelling case for change. The argument is that resistance to change is not an option and change must be implemented urgently to ensure the very survival of the organization. There are a a lot of problems with the burning platform. First and foremost, it’s overused and [...]
It would seem that as each new week goes by, organizations are adopting an ever-increasing variety of new policies, guidelines and rules to influence and, in some cases, control employee behaviour. No one would argue against policies that prevent discrimination, enforce respectful behaviour or take a stand on workplace bullying. But taken together, these new [...]
For several years now, Canada has lagged behind other countries, notably the United States, when it comes to worker productivity. The Globe & Mail recently reported that “Canadian businesses squeezed more out of their workers last year than in any year since 2005, but they remained less competitive than their U.S. counterparts as Canada’s strong [...]
It’s said that the best defence is a good offence. A consultant colleague and I were debriefing a recent meeting where one participant, challenged for effectively mocking another participant during a small group discussion, went instead on the attack and, instead of addressing their behaviour, began to verbally attack the other participant. In other words, [...]
It seems we all love to hate the Big Banks. In Canada, the big banks regularly report profits in the billions of dollars. In Canada, this unabashed capitalism gets mixed reviews with a large segment of society wondering whether all those service fees, high interest credit cards and nuisance costs contribute to those healthy bottom [...]
I have been reflecting the past couple of weeks on the recent death of Stephen R. Covey. Like a lot of people, I discovered Covey in the 1990s through his best seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I was profoundly inspired by that book because it was the first – and still, one [...]
A core quality of real leadership is passion. You can be a well organized, efficient, focussed, collaborative and aspirational leader. But the difference maker is passion. Rosabeth Moss Kanter recently wrote in Harvard Business Review Online that you have to match your aspirations with passion. She has developed a test that enables us to see [...]
It’s generally held that real leadership is about collaboration. We are encouraged to work together with colleagues, staff and partners to achieve shared goals. As Stephen Covey calls it, we seek to synergize to try and find third alternatives: innovative solutions that we couldn’t have discovered working on the same issue by ourselves. But collaboration, [...]
Leadership is all about taking action. Moving proactively to step up and work to enable our organizations, communities, colleagues, friends and families achieve goals, solve problems and advance progress. Effective leaders can quickly determine when leadership is needed in a given circumstance and are usually ready to act. But there are times when these leaders [...]