The language of successful managers

When I look back at the number or courses I have attended where there has been a lot of smiling and nodding. I often wonder about how many people then go back to their organisations and continue doing what they think works. Managerment who continue to only look at the numbers, seeing the agents/distributors as tools rather than members of the team.


The language that successful managers use:

1. How can I help?

2. What do you think?

3. Your work matters

4. I trust you and our team

5. I appreciate your commitment

6. Thank you for working hard

7. I was wrong, I am sorry

8. Your career path is my priority

9. Do you have the tools to succeed?

---

Final exam in the morning

---

It's lonely at the top

The journey towards better leadership requires change and change is extremely challenging. It demands that you get out of your comfort zones and experiment, to do things that people around you may think are strange. Here are some leadership questions you can use for benchmarking your current performance:

1. What do I do that enables positive performance in the team?

2. What do I do that impairs or reduces performance in the company?

3. What should get more of my time and attention?

4. What 3 things will substantially improve the company’s performance?

5. How can I serve the company better in the next 6 months?

You cannot do this alone and you may need some support, contact me via e-mail to arrange a meeting.

---

In my experience

Successful people have a purpose and as a result they are excited, dedicated, passionate, and fearless. And they share their passions with others and lead from the seat within as they usually don’t have the luxury of maintaining a wait-and-see attitude. I think that If you are doing things the way you have always done them, then try something new and invite disruption into the picture. Why? This is because if you continue with those slow-moving strategies, you will be leading your organisation down the road to becoming obsolete. #justsaying

“You can’t climb the mountain of excellence if you’ve made camp on the hill of mediocrity!”

— Burrellism

---

Follow the leader

---

I think leadership is the mixture of presence and stature that can inspire energy, dedication and purpose in others. Leadership can be learned! Especially if you treat people with respect and learn how you can make certain that people are achieving the right goals, doing it the right way and getting the assistance that they need.


When was the last time your leader asked you:
a) What can I do better?
b) What can I do better to help you?
c) What can I do better to help the organisation?

Passion vs. purpose

Morten Hansen’s book, “Great at Work”, talks about the ways you can be more productive at work. It brings data from a 5 year research project that reveals why some people in a variety of industries are more productive. I think when you have a strong sense of purpose and a passion about the contributions you make to the world is when you are most dedicated. You will work better, you will pay more attention to what you are doing and everything you do is just better, and this will subsequently lead to great performances.

“Purpose and passion are not the same. Passion is “do what you love,” while purpose is “do what contributes. Purpose asks, “What can I give the world?” Passion asks, “What can the world give me?””

— Morten Hansen

---

Self reflection

As transparency rises in society, particularly in the business world, there will be more and more open feedback demanded about leadership performance. Knowing how to lead yourself means knowing the answers to the following questions:

• What is my purpose in this work?

• What motivates and demotivates me?

• What are my values and how am I honouring them in my work?

• What are my strengths and weaknesses, and how am I working on them?

• How do I overcome challenges and re-energise?

• What do I tend to resist or ignore?

Your answers may change over time, but they are worth reflecting on if you are serious about remaining a leader. Contact me via e-mail to arrange a meeting.

---

Mind the gap

One of the big lessons I learned from the pandemic has been patience - “Make do now and then make better later”. We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people and now I realise that everything I learned about parenting was about leadership. Both parenting and leadership have the following attributes in common:
- Caring
- Listening
- Trusting
- Empowering
- Teaching
- Mentoring
- Leading

There is always going to be a gap between your ambition and your ability. The big question is are you willing to trust progress and not seek perfection? Contact me via e-mail to arrange a confidential meeting if you are questioning yourself about: Who you are, what you stand for and what you do for others?

---

Old dog...new tricks!

In my early days of leadership, people centric thinking was not part of my business plan. I was a nice guy, I had a positive attitude but I wouldn’t say to you that I was sensitive to the impact of my initiatives on people. It was all about numbers and building shareholder value, not human value. My early days were very traditional, if I had to fire people - I just did it. I mean, that’s what you do in business! Unfortunately, that conventional thought still exists today, it’s not human, it’s just all about numbers.

I think the major problem with business leadership today is that there is no leadership; there’s a lot of management. It’s a very short-term attitude to just think about people as a resource that you pay and expect them to do their work. What will you lose if you take it from a human perspective? In reality we are responsible for the lives of human beings. And if you want to be cold-hearted about it, people who like coming to work are even more productive. People who feel safe and can trust the people they work with are more likely to offer bigger ideas, take better risks, be more innovative and more productive. That’s a whole host of good business reasons. When you are ready to look at your employees from a human perspective, just contact me via e-mail to arrange a confidential meeting.

---

Bad news doesn't get better with age

Whenever any comes to me with a problem I always have an answer for them, I always look for solutions and if I don’t have them personally, then I will leverage my network. Personal ownership is part of my leadership style as I think that it’s all about the team. Nowadays, I have to constantly remind people that you cannot get all the answers from YouTube.


The subjective side is where you involve individual motivation and culture is just as important as having great systems. You can have the greatest systems in the world but if your culture stinks then you won’t have alignment within your organisation. If the culture of helping and supporting each other is not present within your organisation, then there will not be a level of teamwork required to take on the external challenges. Some level of teamwork and personal responsibility is always required when setting the direction of where of you want your organisations to head. Contact me via e-mail for a meeting to discuss an introspection into your “true worth” principles.

---

Looking back to the past

The late, great Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”


I think in the future when we look back at our careers the leaders that we remember will be the ones who:

1. Provided us a safe space to grow

2. Opened career doors

3. Defended us when we needed it

4. Recognised and rewarded us

5. Developed us as leaders

6. Inspired us to stretch higher

7. Led by example

8. Told us our work mattered

9. Forgave us when we made mistakes

10. Contact me via e-mail to arrange a meeting.

---

Follow my leader

© Rawpixel Ltd

““A person who wants to lead an orchestra must turn their back to the crowd.” - James Crook”

This quote offers a humble perspective of leadership. Leadership is not a popularity contest, I think a a good leader doesn’t do his (or her) job for praise or recognition. The best leaders are the ones who do their job silently and enable their employees. The leaders whom I most respect are humble, honest and dependable. They listen and learn and take in new information, because they care enough to understand the perspectives of others and strong enough to stand alone when the crowd is not with them. What values are looking for in your leader? Contact me via e-mail for a meeting (in confidence).

How to inspire your team

““To inform is for free, ‘the how to’ is for a fee.” ”

— Stephen Burrell

This is my go to mantra whenever the smart people asked if I could help them with this or that. Today I have made an exception, as I feel that many managers and leaders need a little spark in these difficult times. How to inspire your team:

• Show that you care

• Build people up

• Listen with empathy

• Treat people with respect

• Showcase their strengths 

---

No one needs what you are selling

No one needs what you are selling, they may want it but they definitely don’t need it! Sometimes it’s OK that the goal is to understand for the sake of understanding. I think the hallmark of curiosity is a thirst for knowledge that has no obvious utility. As I am a lifelong learner, I enjoy exploration regardless of whether the discovery has any immediate relevance. I have never been in the position of selling water to thirsty people! I have always had to use my skills to formulate the brand promise - explaining who’s it for, what’s it for and why you should buy it…


Nowadays, the majority of people are working at home and those of you with young children have the opportunity teach them two of life’s most valuable lessons:

1. To solve interesting problems
   To look at something that no one has ever looked at before and come up with an interesting way to solve the problem.

2. To connect, to lead and use emotional labour

   Using emotional labour by looking someone in the eye and telling them the truth. Emotional labour means doing things that you don’t feel like doing.

---

The Last Dance

““Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” - Michael Jordan”

---

The ABC's of leadership

For many years the ABC’s of leadership was an abbreviation for Act, Build and Commit. Under the current circumstances, perhaps it’s time for a new acronym. What do you think about Korn Ferry’s Accountability, Belief and Capability?

• Accountability. The accountability we wish to see in others starts with each of us. In other words, we must first be accountable to ourselves for our own behaviors. Believe it, say it, mean it, act it!

• Belief. When we believe we can make a difference - that change is possible - then our actions will follow. And if we don’t believe, we won’t achieve..

• Capability. This is a broad brush: listening, connecting, inspiring, giving and getting honest feedback, expanding networks, exploring with others, and constantly looking for opportunities to learn. It’s all about allowing belief and accountability to shine through actions.

Look and you will see

I’m pretty good at not carrying regrets around and I choose to be happy. I no longer allow negative things in my life to spoil the good things. I have been described as a skilled strategic developer. My things are planning from conception to implementation whilst defining the corporate mission, objectives and branding. How can I get to the heart of the change I am trying to make in the world?


It matters to me that human beings step up and speak their truth. It’s important to me that we look each other in the eyes and take advantage of this moment we have, as in reality no one knows how long we will have these opportunities. I think all of us are more powerful than we can even imagine and all of us have the ability to make things better.

---

The truth is a good enough story

It is well understood by the human resources community that engagement translates into profit. We have all seen or heard about people around us that have been dreadfully treated by business people, whether it’s #MeToo, exploitation or psychopathic bullying. I think that organisations’ who create an environment where their people can thrive and achieve will see increased profits, sales, greater customer experience, etc.

How can we help individuals and departments develop to match the future challenges your organisation will face? What motivates them to get excited about what isn’t yet known? Send me an e-mail and let’s arrange a physical or virtual meeting to discuss a workshop for your organisation.

---

What makes a great leader?

I think you need to be passionate about what you are doing and have these three qualities:

1. You need to be honest with your team,

2. You need perseverance, and

3. You need to be decisive

In my experience this is what all leaders have in common:

1. Leaders have charisma!
   You don’t need charisma to become a leader as being a leader gives you charisma.

2. Leaders build a culture!
   By using a secret language that shows whether you are in or out.

3. Leaders have curiosity!
   I mean they have curiosity about people both in and outside of the community.

---

Are you reward and money motivated?

Simon Sinek said we should always start with the why and then develop thought leadership around that question. From there, produce cornerstones content on a consistent basis around that thought leadership and hopefully you’ll be able to drive revenue from it.


Do you have clarity around your point of view on thought leadership?
Do you have that big important WHY?
Are you clear about why you do what you do?
And who do you do it for?
And how is that helpful? 


Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to take a deeper dive into your purpose.

---