Welcome back to Decisive Views after our summer break.
Since we last sent out Decisive Views, England have won the Ashes with much discussion of the merit of each team’s leadership styles; bankers may once more be getting large bonuses; swine flu has dropped down the radar, and there may be signs for economic recovery. Not bad for a quiet summer.
This month’s Decisive Views Newsletter takes a look at the challenge of listening at work; making values count; and how to remain motivated as well as our monthly book review.
Listen
At the recent G20 conference in London, President Obama told the other leaders
“I came here to listen, not to lecture.”
It’s not a bad lesson to learn. In fact, a recent survey has shown that employees are less worried about pay rises and fringe benefits but really want their bosses to lend them an ear.
It is always easy to focus on the difficulties that are most pressing, and there will have been many of them over the last year or so, but you might want to know that there is a clear link between employee engagement and productivity. Successful businesses have built much of their processes and systems around active communication and listening.
Decisive Operations works with companies to improve their systems and communication flows. If you think you need help in listening, please contact us and have a chat. leadership@decisiveoperations.com
Values Count
The values by which each of us, and our companies, operate are key to our success. They serve to help define how we judge gains and opportunities, they can constrain our behaviour and provide confidence among those we meet.
Failure to live and maintain values is a dangerous situation for any organisation to find itself in. Bernard Madoff has demonstrated the cost of unscrupulous behaviour, and the risk for others of not being clear of who you act with. So to, this summer, has the world of rugby union with the sad image of a game now tarnished by cheating and ‘bloodgate’.
Why not take the end of the summer as an opportunity to confirm the values by which you and your organisation work. Often this is easier through the support of an independent person. Decisive Operations can help you do this. Give us a call.
Motivating Yourself
As leaders and managers you will always be required to think about your team, how it functions, does it achieve its task, could it do better. As a part of that you will undoubtedly look for ways to ensure they remain well motivated, but what about yourself. When did you last sit down and think about what you can practically put in place to ensure that your motivation remains high.
Spending some time thinking about yourself and recharging your own batteries is critical, why not take five minutes to think about these tips to motivating yourself.
... ...
More
Recommended Reads
Emmanuel Gobillot’s book "Leadershift" makes a compelling case for our need to adjust leadership styles to maximise opportunities in a changing society.
Looking at the challenge of multi-generational work forces, rapidly outdated expertise and expanded expectations, Gobillot believes that leaders in this brave new world must 'shift their emphasis to the fostering of social engagement by valuing conversations that they might otherwise have deemed wasteful'. In addition he states that they must be able to 'see mass participation as an opportunity to create value rather than a threat to their existence'.
Described through numbers of well directed examples, this is a well written and interesting book, worth a read. |
