Have you ever wondered why geese fly in a ‘V’ formation? Turns out geese innately know the secret to great teamwork. They have a common destination and work in perfect unison to get there together. Better together When geese fly together as a team, each goose provides additional lift and reduces air resistance for the goose flying behind it. Flying in this ‘V’ formation, the whole flock adds 71% more flying […]
Here are some top tips to how to attain and sustain high-performing teams in your organisation How the Team Management Profile (TMP) helps build high-performing teams The Team Management Profile (TMP) is built on a model of both work and people. Its framework and methodology align with contemporary situational leadership theory. This theory tells us that behaviour is the result of the individual AND the situation in which they find […]
We’re all project managers now, whether or not you’ve realised this. As a manager, you may need to plan and manage projects yourself or delegate projects to your team to plan and manage. You may be tasked with trying to determine better ways to cuts costs in a plant, lay out a new marketing plan, review a process to improve efficiencies, or develop a new policy. All these projects involve: […]
Have you heard of right brain/left brain thinking? If you have, you’ll be aware that our right brain is linked to strategy, creativity, lateral thinking and risk-taking while our left brain is linked more to logic, facts, detail and ‘safe’ options. In any project, you need contribution from both sides. In this article, we explore the possibilities of ‘whole brain’ thinking for project management Project planning and control has traditionally […]
Many of us have experienced the annual strategy day. Some really enjoy this experience while others view it as a time-consuming activity that takes them away from their work and usually doesn’t lead to anything. The key question is: Do your people see strategy planning as just another process they need to tick off? Or is it viewed as an opportunity to constructively interact to unlock organisational and individual potential; […]
Why reconnecting with your team must be a strategy cornerstone In strategic terms, your employee engagement is vital. Your overall business goals and desired outcomes can be delivered only by teams working together. However, not all companies understand this truth. A true tale of disengagement My friend Ben called me yesterday, he was not happy. Ben, an Account Manager for a major national brand, had spent the previous day helping […]
In his article “Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life” (Harvard Business Review, April 2008), Stewart Friedman discusses the importance of pursuing excellence as a leader and transferring the skills of leadership to all areas of your life—work, home, community and self. After all, if we focus only on the skills of leading and managing others, we miss a very big part of the equation. Being an effective […]
It is a natural human tendency to differentiate and categorise, so it’s not surprising that distinctions between management and leadership are commonly made. For anyone focussed on developing their own leadership capacity, it is useful to consider what each means in your role. “Manager” is a formal role in an organisation, which involves supervising others in some capacity. This may be at various levels, as a team leader, a supervisor […]
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Have you ever been asked to write down examples of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ customer experience? The ‘bad’ list is often much longer than the ‘good’ list. That’s because terrible service experiences are remembered and shared. Each time the story is told, the experience is re-lived and the bad experience embedded as the ‘truth’. Alongside these (hopefully) rare occasions, we also experience lots of average, quite unmemorable service experiences, and every […]
Customer service affects people deeply and has an enormous impact on customer loyalty, profitability, retention and an organisations’ reputation. An American Express 2012 Global Customer Service Barometer Study highlighted some alarming statistics regarding how Australian consumers feel about customer service. It found: When things go wrong in customer service, people are often blamed, but are people really to blame for poor customer service? Does anyone ever really turn up to […]
Organisational change can be like the start of a marathon. There are lots of people waiting to begin, but the leaders at the front have their eyes on a good result, and they are experienced and have a strategy in mind. At the back of the pack, most people don’t realise the race has even started. They’re waiting for the people ahead of them to move. By the time they […]
Organisations cannot prosper without effective communication. Yet despite their best intentions, people often have difficulty sending, and interpreting, even simple messages. This barrier to effective communication is strongly related to a person’s thinking preference. Different thinking preferences = different communication styles An analytical thinker establishes key facts and then wants to move on; an organised thinker focuses on detail and contingency; a personalised thinker wants everyone to have a say; […]
How many times do you hear someone say ‘I want to be wealthy’ or ‘I want to retire early’. Perhaps you’ve said this yourself. What else would you like to achieve in your life? Perhaps you’d like to travel to exotic places, own your home and an investment property, too. What about becoming an inspirational leader of a high-performing team at work? Goals are simply dreams with deadlines. Whether you […]
Many businesses consider Lean process improvement as a viable and effective way to help uncover hidden waste and improve efficiency. Efficiency improvement is important because productivity gains have been cited as the most accessible way to ensure sustainability of business in uncertain economic times. Lean is Toyota’s famous process-improvement approach and is still one the most cost-effective and reliable means of finding and implementing productivity gains in business. In fact, findings […]
Six frogs are sitting on a lily pad. One of them decides to jump off. How many frogs are left? Five – right? Well, no. There are still six frogs because the frog in question hasn’t done anything yet. Yes a decision has been made but no action has been taken. And that’s the point. We can know what needs to change. We can make a decision to change it. […]
Dealing with change is one of the most common and ongoing challenges we all face. Given how much change we all experience in our lives, it is surprising there is not greater attention and resources given to helping people respond to specific challenges presented by change. In every workplace, people will vary in their readiness and commitment to change, as well as their attitude or predisposition to change. Rogers’ (1995) […]
Your resilience is your capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. But did you know that building up your resilience is a lot easier than you might think? Sometimes life becomes overwhelming and we feel our ability to deal with stressful situations slipping away from us. When that happens, simple acts such as taking a walk and getting fresh air can significantly change how you feel about your day. They can […]
As a guest of a Rotarian friend in 2012, I really enjoyed the inaugural Women In Rotary Breakfast function for International Women’s Day. A mammoth turnout of over 700 guests (and not all women!) was an incredible result for their first year. We were thrilled this year to be approached to be a sponsor of the event in 2013. Ancora Learning was proud to join other esteemed sponsors, by supplying […]
