Leadership Articles

Business » Leadership | By Graeme Nichol @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 6:02 PM

Spirit in the work place? Absurd, you say? After all why should it be there? We’re here to work and earn our daily wage. On the weekends and in the evening many of us watch some amazing sporting feats. Some of us may even participate in some great events. What spirit those athletes have! How they throw everything they have to gain an extra yard, drive an extra foot or shave off an extra millisecond. Then there’s Monday morning. What happens? People come to work and shuffle p... more...

Business » Leadership | By Liane Bate @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 3:05 PM

The NHL playoffs are just getting underway, and the excitement is mounting in both players and fans alike. For some business owners, this may be the only distraction they will allow. I, for one, have been tuning into each home team game, feeling more and more pressed for business time - I wonder why! While watching last night's game, it struck me how similar the playoff mentality is to how we should be conducting our businesses, and what we can learn as business owners from our hockey addic... more...

Business » Leadership | By Graeme Nichol @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 12:49 PM

How important is a vision statement to your company or division? Well, have you ever thought about embarking on a journey without knowing where you are going? The same can be said about running a company, without a vision statement you are going places but who knows if it is in the right direction or even if you want to go there. A vision statement should paint a picture of what you want your business or division to look like in the future. A vision statement should be specific to a compa... more...

Business » Leadership | By Graeme Nichol @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 12:32 PM

There have been many studies on credibility in life and particularly in management. It seemed like an interesting topic to read and reflect on. I am not going into a huge diatribe merely making a few observations. In this world we live and die by our credibility. It takes years to build up a level of credibility and you have to maintain it constantly or lose it in an instant! Credibility is an important aspect for a leader and trusted advisor. One of the interesting aspects is that... more...

Business » Leadership | By Graeme Nichol @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 12:19 PM

In many management situations we find in our consulting and coaching environment we are brought in to solve particular problems. Management and their teams have tried everything they could but like our boiled frog they can’t get out of the soup. A consultant is brought in, wearing his bright red cape and carrying a magic wand. After several months’ intensive analysis and study a resolution is found. Plans are developed to implement a solution. Staff is communicated with; the involved members are... more...

Business » Leadership | By Daegan Smith @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 12:11 PM

What separates a rich person from an ordinary person? The answer to that question is attitude. If one believes that the individual is capable of succeeding, it will happen. All it takes is some hard work and patience for everything to fall into place for that dream to become a reality. This all starts on how an individual is brought up. This is nurtured from childhood in the forms of ideas and beliefs that one has learned through experience and has been taught by parents, peers and societ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Graeme Nichol @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 12:03 PM

Businesses tend to avoid doing their annual business plan thinking that it is an arduous task that does not accomplish much. Formulating your annual plan is, however, critical to your business success and if done correctly should be quick, easy and generate bottom line results. Rather than creating a business plan that achieves no results, other than to gather dust, you should be writing a strategic and operational plan. The words ‘strategic’ and ‘operational’ are important as they give p... more...

Business » Leadership | By Paula Switzer @ Friday, 21st April 2006 @ 4:24 PM

As leaders and managers, we often may find ourselves frustrated with what we perceive as a lack of motivation on the part of those we manage or supervise. So how would you answer this question: Can you truly motivate another human being? My belief is that you CANNOT MOTIVATE ANOTHER PERSON. That may sound rather pessimistic, but let’s examine it from another perspective. As managers and leaders within our organizations, we CAN do much to create an environment where people will bec... more...

Business » Leadership | By Tony Jacowski @ Tuesday, 18th April 2006 @ 1:08 AM

The unbelievable results achieved by the pioneers of the Six Sigma management methodology and implementation were not realized overnight. Concerted efforts of by the entire organization and unwavering support by top management over a long period of time are what it takes to see results. The employees of an organization, through specialized Six Sigma training, play key roles through 6 sigma implementation. The key players in 6 sigma implementation not only need specialized Six Sigma training, th... more...

Business » Leadership | By Tony Jacowski @ Saturday, 15th April 2006 @ 8:29 AM

Six Sigma software tools augment the implementation of Six Sigma methodology by complimenting and sometimes substituting human efforts. Six Sigma software tools fill in the vacuum of additional needs by companies that are implementing the Six Sigma methodology. Six Sigma Software Tools - Features And Size Six Sigma software tools are available in different modules covering various aspects of implementation. There is one comprehensive package on the market that covers the entire sp... more...

Business » Leadership | By Tony Jacowski @ Saturday, 15th April 2006 @ 8:00 AM

The need for Six Sigma training has arisen following two reasons. One, the demands of industry could not be met with the existing limited quality assurance methods and two, the tremendous financial opportunities for corporations that the 6 sigma methodology is creating of late. Many well-known organizations have developed their own Six Sigma training institutes, for in house training of their employees. Realizing the demand that could not be met by companies by themselves, many training ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Hirini Reedy @ Friday, 14th April 2006 @ 8:59 AM

Do you have a daily mind power routine? Many successful leaders, athletes, soldiers and even monks all have a daily mind power routine. Ghandi meditated. Napoleon visualised his battles. Nelson Mandela recited a special poem. Whether it is meditation, visualisation or prayer the main thing is to have a daily discipline that strengthens your mind. Something you practice daily to sharpen your spirit. To maintain your own inner clarity and serenity. A daily mind power routine does not have... more...

Business » Leadership | By Hirini Reedy @ Thursday, 13th April 2006 @ 5:56 AM

Intuition, is it something you use? Maybe you call it by a different name. Gut feeling. The little voice inside your head. A hazy image that passes before your eyes. You blink and wonder if you are seeing things. Or you know an outcome with certainty. Before receiving confirmation by phone or person. Like a mother who wakes up suddenly in the night. She knows something is wrong with one of her children. These are all expressions of intuition. I feel that it is very important that we start... more...

Business » Leadership | By Martin Haworth @ Wednesday, 12th April 2006 @ 1:56 AM

Every decision we make, in business, in life in general, is bounded by just two options. Like an on-off switch, we make one or the other - there are no variances to this. Because it's as simple as Yes or No - and so often we get it wrong. You see it's those times that we say 'Yes', when it would serve us much better to say 'No' and we often say 'No' when there are real benefits in saying 'Yes'. So, let's take a lo... more...

Business » Leadership | By Dutch Holland @ Wednesday, 12th April 2006 @ 12:55 AM

Change is no longer the exception but the rule. Most companies today are in a constantly adjusting or modifying something, with a number of initiatives underway… hopefully all aimed at making business better. But there is a problem: In most organizations we have seen, change is problematic... slow, cumbersome, confusing, disorganized, inefficient, and in many cases, downright wasteful. "How can this be?" you say. We have been in the "heat of change" for well over a ... more...

Business » Leadership | By Janette Marie Freeman @ Monday, 10th April 2006 @ 11:59 PM

Were you trained as a child, to be a follower or a leader? Many of us were trained to surrender our power early in life. In usually subtle ways we were taught to live by the rules imposed on us by parents, society, religious leadership and educational training, and taught to be followers- not leaders. Do you recognize a few of these rules? Be nice. Be quiet. Don’t get too excited. Don’t get too big for your britches. Be seen and not heard. Put the needs of others befor... more...

Business » Leadership | By Dutch Holland @ Wednesday, 5th April 2006 @ 1:03 AM

Change management is a lot like artificial heart transplant surgery: A crucial surgical objective during the implantation of an artificial heart is to keep the patient alive while the surgery is going on. Not exactly a minor detail! Actually, keeping the patient alive turns out to be a pretty complicated process; it requires very special machinery that has been developed and tested over many years. In fact, there may be more patents on the stay-alive-during-surgery technology than on the... more...

Business » Leadership | By Carl Hoffman @ Friday, 24th March 2006 @ 3:22 PM

The most important thing you do is LEAD your people. Every productive activity on your daily agenda is leadership, regardless of what you call it. You manage, advise, teach, decide, and direct. The list goes on but it's all leading. The most valuable commodity of any great organization is the quality of good people. They deserve the most inspired caring leadership you can provide. Leaders seize the opportunity and use it properly to attain excellence. A critical fact... more...

Business » Leadership | By Wayne Messick @ Thursday, 23rd March 2006 @ 1:17 PM

Historically a new-hire moved from learning the required tasks of their particular job to eventually understanding the goals, strengths, and weaknesses of the business in an orderly way - often having as much to do with their getting older as with their getting better, smarter, or more capable. They were then promoted from actually doing the work as a productive part of the organization, to supervising others who are on their way up. Much later, if the politics of birth, etc. wer... more...

Business » Leadership | By Dave Saunders @ Friday, 24th February 2006 @ 6:02 AM

It is a common belief that management and leadership are the same role. While it is common that a manager also plays the part of the leader, these two roles are truly separate in function and in the way they add to the success of an orginization. By understanding the difference between management and leadership you will become more effective in helping others see the road ahead. To understand the difference between management and leadership, consider the construction of a new road. To ... more...