When it comes to changing or improving things they say it's always easier to critique an idea or a draft of something than start with a blank sheet of paper, you never really get to start with a blank sheet anyway, there's always something that's set in stone, but what if there wasn't? What if you could genuinely start with a completely blank...

My mum used to make the best chicken and veg soup, she'd boil up a chicken to create the stock, then remove it and add the chicken meat back, then she would add Split Peas, Pearl Barley, Lentils, Carrots, Peas, Onion and lastly some salt for seasoning. It was the same process every time, they were added in the same order, the same weights were used...

I've never understood how being busy, having a full calendar somehow became a badge of honour, I'm so important that there is no time, it wouldn't surprise me to hear someone say they were actually booked 25hrs in one day! It's a madness that seems to be getting to epidemic levels. What does your calendar look like? Is it full of really important m...

Work groups are characterized by the least amount of interdependence. They are based on organizational or managerial hierarchy. Work groups may meet periodically to hear and share information. Teams are highly interdependent - they plan work, solve problems, make decisions, and review progress in service of a specific project. Team members need one...

When we promote people to their first management or leadership position it's very rare that we have actually trained them in advance for that position, it's equally rare that we train them at all for the new position there are in. Almost universally we promote people who were really good at the role they are in, they were a great accountant or engi...

Here is a question I ask a lot, when I say a lot, I mean at least daily! It's one of my favourite questions when talking with clients and for myself as well! It's one of those questions that really should be one of your key questions as well, are you ready for it because it really is going to change your life, I know sounds like hype right? it's no...

If you are a long-term reader of our blog you will know that one of the things that we continually talk about is your organisational values and how you reflect these in everyday operations, how you live those values. So, what has this got to do with Quality? Well, let me ask you how many times do you see Quality in an organisations value list? Thei...

It was Dan's idea, it can't be wrong, can it? Dan hired that person, they must be Ok, it's everyone else that just need time to adjust. Dan's the leader, so must know all of the answers, doesn't he? Let's be honest, it's possible that Dan is in fact always correct and infallible, it is however unlikely. Before we go on What I if told You that you r...

We all have habits; they build up over time and whether we like them or not form a large part of who we are and how we go about doing things. Before we leave the house, we check our pockets for the keys and wallet, and we know where the keys are because out of habit, we put them in the same place when we come in, the bowl by the phone or the hook a...

Last week I was involved in a conversation with a person I met at a networking event where we were discussing problems they were having at their workplace with people not following processes. They asked me what I thought they should do to get people to follow the processes and stem the flow of issues. "How Do I get these people to just do what they...

One of the great things about doing online surveys is that you can get completely honest feedback from people about virtually anything. One of the downsides of course of doing surveys is that you have to collate the data afterwards which normally means figuring out how to download it from the survey system and then get it into a spreadsheet. Once t...

How do you measure success? Is it money? Is it fame or influence is it the ability to do what ever you want or is it something else? I'd like to argue that it is none of these, you may end up with one or all of these things of course, but is that really the way to think about it? When you think about family, friends, you think if the many memories ...

A month ago I caught up with some friends for a drink and a chat to set the worlds to rights. I should explain that means we had a really good chat about everything that was bugging us and shared our various opinions on how to go about fixing it. Back home in Scotland, it's a great pastime, in part I think as a way of venting and letting off steam ...

Martin looked at the calendar on his wall and back to the invite on the screen to the off-site review. That can't be right he thought, we only just had an off-site to figure out this strategy stuff. He cast his mind back to the 2 days they had spent at the Hermitage Hotel in Mt Cook Village, it had become one of his favourite places on earth, the w...

I have a question for you to think about this week. How often have you had a conversation with a colleague, a staff member or perhaps even your partner where you left feeling sure they knew what to do, what you wanted, what was expected yet that's not how they felt? Let me ask it another way, how often do you feel frustrated because something wasn'...

People never seem to pay attention or understand what's being said, why do I have to keep repeating myself? We have said that our culture is X or that our priority is Y it was perfectly clear! I hear this time and again from leaders at all levels in organisations so often I'm losing count. Frequently it's backed up with I've told people this, we me...

"What If?" are magical words, they are the first words of endless possibilities and adventures. If people in history had never asked "What If?" we wouldn't have achieved so many things, no discovery of different continents, no flying in planes round the globe or setting foot on the moon. We would not have radio, computers, phones, electricity, mobi...

I was talking to someone the other day about gardening in their organisation, I must admit it got a bit of a "are you mad" look which was fair. However, when you think about it there are similarities. After all as a leader, your role is to grow your people so let's think about it for a moment or two.  Room To Grow  Plants need room to gro...