When we have employees who are constantly questioning, it can be perceived as a negative behaviour or at least an annoying behaviour. The leaders of old would have said something akin to, “ Just do your damn job. ”  We may be tempted to think that they do not trust the leadership or the decisions that are being made or that they are using questioning as a delaying tactic so that they do not have to muck in and get the job done.  Some may feel they are resistant to change, but

Throughout your career, the benefits of being flexible in the work that we undertake have likely become apparent. We can see that climbing the corporate ladder can be hastened by taking sidesteps to learn complimentary skills before being promoted. I believe that developing new skills and giving employees the ability to move into different areas of expertise is the greatest gift that organisations can provide. In addition, this improves engagement and allows employees to get

Do overs, replicating work or expecting team members to know who is responsible, without specific guidance does not work remotely, or otherwise. There is nothing more frustrating than learning that you have been working on the same task as someone else, resulting in duplication of efforts. A project plan, list of responsibilities, or workload tracking tool is essential. When it is available to the team, they are aware what is being done by whom and when it is expected to b

Hiring employees with the required skills and experience to bring to the role is entirely different to expecting employees to hit the ground running and produce the best they are capable of without an appropriate level of support. The problem with employing somebody to hit the ground running, is what you are asking for, is a robot to achieve a required outcome.  Robots will do what you tell them to, the way that they have been programmed but they will do no more. They won't t

In some organisations, there is a team known as “Internal Affairs” or similar.  They are brought in if there is suspicion of wrongdoing.  They investigate what has happened, if it is an ongoing problem, and if there is a need to investigate further or take disciplinary action against the individuals involved.  The internal affairs team has a very tough job.  They walk into departments that they know very little about and ask hard questions of people who likely have reason to

The attitude of yourself and those around you goes a long way to determining the behaviour which is acceptable and in turn, the atmosphere that is created in that workplace. I was often asked, "Why you are so happy at work?" And I would answer with honesty, "What is the alternative? I could be miserable, but where would that get me?" The behaviour of those in the team drives the perception of the team, and in most cases, the behaviour is determined by the level of motivatio

We have all been there - in a meeting where they are discussing the impact of some communication that we have missed, frantically searching our emails during the meeting to figure out what the heck is being discussed, or was it in a group chat, where is this damn meeting agenda: maybe that will give me some clue, perhaps, I was left off the email recipients? When we finally summon up the courage to clarify, generally, when we have been asked to weigh in, we are told that it

Be a leader who can look in the mirror and be happy with what you see. Treat people fairly and work to gain trust through authenticity. Difficult decisions will need to be made and difficult messages delivered but if they are conveyed with honesty and fairness, it will result in respect from your team not disillusionment. A disillusioned person’s perspective goes something like this, “I can’t believe…made that decision. It was clearly driven by… How can he look at himself in

“ He has had more starts than Pharlap ” was the way it was described to me. Someone who kept coming back to the same employer.  If you are not from Australia, Pharlap was a famous racehorse who started in a LOT of races and won nearly all of them. When a company has employees who have come back, it shows a lot about the Employee Value Proposition of the company. Often, people leave because of a new project, or they think that the grass is greener, and discover that it is not.

When we spend enough time in an outcome-focused role, we will eventually come to a situation where we are faced with a quandary. “Should we do what is right or what will deliver results?”. At the start of my career, I learned a valuable lesson when I was working in agency recruitment for a specialist scientific agency. My biggest competitor was getting a lot of sales that I was in the running for.  I was getting feedback that I was better at building relationships with the ca

Why should I care about clarity:  Clarity in communication is important to get your point across to the other party effectively.  Clarity in leadership is important so others understand what they are expected to achieve.  Mental clarity is important to remove distractions by all the other “shiny things” going on in your brain.  When I was living and working in Peru, I learned that “claro” means right or correct.  There is so much to be gained from clarity yet we rarely take

When I started writing What my Sherpa taught me about Teams , I had to get really clear on who my audience was. This is a key aspect of writing a book and after some consideration, I established that my audience was project team members. That is not to say that other people would not enjoy the book or benefit from the teachings, anybody in a workplace would gain valuable knowledge from the teachings. However, to keep the tense consistent, the language uniform and the message

When I was traveling around the United States and Canada I stayed in various styles of accommodation. What I found quite frustrating was that none of the bathrooms I encountered seemed to have the same system for dispensing water through the shower rose or initiating a toilet flush. I got to wondering—who were the people designing these? Was their mandate to try and confuse the user in preparation for a candid camera skit? Because if that was the case, nine times out of ten,

Do you pride yourself on screening phone calls? You never get harassed by telemarketers, those who wanting you to be better equipped in...

A few years ago, I travelled from the Swiss Alps to the Himalayas in just 48 hours. It was a massive culture shock. While the mountains...

Last week, I blogged about my trek to heaven . This message is about the other side of keeping the faith the counter argument of pushing...

When working remotely, the ability to anticipate problems is essential to success. When we are not seeing each other every day, being one...

When I first transitioned to human resources, I quickly found the value of an organisational chart. It was my secret weapon to determine...

A couple of years ago, my husband had to go to the dentist. It was a reasonably early morning appointment, and when I went in to get him...

A couple of years ago, I was in the USA, and I was reminded of the importance of a smile in creating a superior customer experience. A...