Executive Presence in a Modern World
Executive presence is your ability to inspire confidence among your peers, subordinates, and senior leaders, who are essential to your success. You must show that you are able, trustworthy, and a safe pair of hands with the potential for outstanding achievement. Your executive presence will indicate whether you can deliver on your strategic objectives and…
Read MoreReducing Stress in Transformation Programmes
Over many decades of working with organisations navigating transformation, I often hear staff talk about change fatigue. Change fatigue is associated with an expectation to take on many new working practices without being deeply engaged in them. These expectations frequently result from a strategic initiative developed at the executive level, where a knowledge of day-to-day…
Read MoreThe Six Objectives of Digital Transformation
Digital transformation has become essential to staying competitive in today’s world. Companies that embrace digital transformation as an ongoing operational development are better placed to stay ahead of the curve, increase efficiency, and remain agile. Staying up to date has never been more critical. The world seems particularly volatile, with markets and industries that once…
Read MoreThe Importance of Engagement in Innovation
Engagement is a crucial aspect of any successful company and is essential for successful innovation. It actively involves and listens to employees, customers, and stakeholders in decision-making processes and implementations. Engagement fosters a sense of ownership, trust, and collaboration, all necessary to ensure a successful outcome. Companies can gain valuable insights into their products and…
Read MoreThe Learning Organisation Health Check
As I’ve mentioned in my previous blogs, organisations are like organisms. In the same way, life on our planet has developed, so we can learn how to scale our businesses using some of the same elements. Here are five elements to look for where nature has taught us about successful growth and sustainability. These five…
Read MoreChange and the rowing boat
The Great Myths of Change Management Change management often gets spoken about as a singular activity. As if it is somehow part of a project or set of To Dos on a programme schedule. You know, “Stakeholder Management”, start date, end date .. etc. We even have Kurt Lewin explaining how change programmes must unfreeze…
Read MoreInfluencing change
Do we manage change, or just influence it? Change is not just inevitable. It is a sign that life exists. The more things change, the more abundant life is. That is the story of nature and us; you and me. You are an organisation of cells, bacteria and a wide assortment of biological stuff working…
Read MoreNew course for Glasgow Chamber of Commerce: Person-Centred Leadership and Voice
I’m really excited to be working with my friend and collaborator, Fiona Taylor, on a new course for Glasgow Chamber of Commerce called: Person-Centred Leadership and Voice. The day introduces participants to the ethos of person-centred leadership. Carl Rogers, the grandfather of the approach, saw that the quality of a relationship between people directly impacted…
Read MoreThe Hedgehog and the Cateran Yomp: Lessons in Strategic Thinking in Challenging Times
A Yomp is a fast march over long distances usually undertaken by Royal Marines. The aim was to walk, or run, 54 miles in under 24 hours to raise money for the Army Benevolent Fund Charity. I walked some of it, limped, hobbled, and crawled the rest. This blog explores the experience through the lens…
Read MoreHow Goethe got into the DNA of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service: Using a Coaching Approach in Cultural Understanding.
When we change our world view of how things work, we immediately see things and act entirely differently. Our usual way of thinking cheats us. It leads us to think that organisational wholes comprise many individual parts, in the same way that a car is made of wheels, chassis, axels and an engine. In this…
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