Who is in the danger zone?

Which zone are you in? Which zone are your people in?

We need to know our people and recognize the warning signs when they are approaching the terror zone. We need to work with them so they can identify what is in their comfort zone and what could be in their stretch zone.

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Give It Up. Autonomy

Leaders can only truly give up control by giving people autonomy.

There is extensive research and study into the effects of employee autonomy showing increased well-being, levels of job satisfaction, engagement, motivation, and productivity. This leads to reduced attrition and retention of talent within the organisation.

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Give It Up. Trust, Transparency and Delegation

If leaders want to give up command and control, they have to trust their employees to do the right thing. When this happens, employees feel they are an integral part of the team. 

In order to give up the command and control, and move towards delegation and trust, leaders need to be transparent.

To give up control means to delegate. When leaders delegate work to employees, they get increased productivity, quality, engagement, and motivation.

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Give It Up. Start Small and Provide Guardrails

When leaders are giving up the command and control approach, they don't have to give it all up at once. Giving up can be hard for many. Leaders shouldn’t try to eat the elephant in one go. They should eat it in bite size pieces.

They should look for an initiative or project that is within their scope of control and decide to let go. They give up control, and set clear goals and objectives. They provide guiding principles or guardrails and step back.

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Give It Up. Clear Objectives

Our leaders should set clear goals and objectives, and ensure that everyone understands what they will be held accountable for. Command and control management ensures that orders and work requirements are carried out by following strict plans and directions. We have to give this up.

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Change the Focus White Paper

I have been asked to consolidate some of my recent blogs into a white paper and make it available to download by my subscribers.

The paper describes what would happen if organisations stopped focusing so much on profit, stakeholder and competition and instead shifted the focus to people.

It is my belief that if we truly focus on the people side of the business, the rest will take care of itself.

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Change the focus. What if.....? Part 2

The old lens of profit, return, competition and efficiency will not get organizations to where they need to be.

This old lens on business will not enable organizations to transform in a way they must in order to not only survive but also thrive.

Organizations will have to reexamine not only how they do business but also how they are led and managed.

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Change the focus. What if.....?

What if we focused on our people and realized those ledger items such as profit, return, competitive advantage, operational efficiency etc. as a result?

It is my firm belief that in this era of disruption, a shift in focus is imperative unless organizations want to die a slow and painful death.

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Give It Up. Player/Coach

Great leaders, like Steve Jobs, are both player and coach. A player-coach is someone who contributes as an individual but also coaches other employees.

Great player-coaches are able to balance their time between playing and coaching. They move up and down the player-coach continuum as needed. They know when to play and when to coach. It is whatever is best for the team.

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Meet Gen Z - Attract and Retain Talent

The first in a series of reports from The Workforce Institute at Kronos and Future Workplace, that examines attitudes of 3,400 members of generation Z, has just been released. The global survey asked about how education prepared them for the workplace, the gig economy and their views on employers of choice.

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The Klopp Effect. Lessons in Leadership

We all have people admire because they have great leadership skills.

For me I don't have to go any further than Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. Despite being born a scouser and a red at the same time, I don't think I am biased!

I believe that leaders (and budding leaders) can learn a lot from Jurgen’s example.

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Burnout. Can you afford to ignore it?

Employee burnout is a consequence of the increasingly fast pace of change today. 

It is preventable if you invest in creating an environment in which your workforce can be resilient in the face of constant change.

Employees will be healthier and happier. Organizations have sustained, long-term productivity and growth.

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Don't Bounce Back. Bounce Forward.

Resilience is a real buzzword at the moment. Wherever you look there are articles and posts on resilience in the advent of natural and manmade disasters, resilience amongst political turmoil, resilience in the face of climate change, resilience to cyber threats, resilience on the playing field, resilience for children and resilience at work.

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Give it Up. Leader versus Manager

There has been much written about the difference between a leader and a manager. The main difference is that leaders do not necessarily have a position of ‘given’ authority. People follow a leader because they are inspirational and motivational, and because they build a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. People choose whether to follow a leader.

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Leading Change. Whose Job is it Anyway?

I frequently find myself being asked this question. Who should be responsible for leading change in my organization? Change Management Office, HR, People and Culture, middle management, c-suite?

My answer. “All of the above and more. Leading change is everyone’s business.”

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Stop Saying Work/Life Balance. Work is life!

When people use the phrase work/life balance, they generally mean that to be physically and mentally healthy, we need a balance between the both.

The phrase infers that one is bad for us (work) whilst the other (life) is good.

It also implies that the two have to be entirely separate. It suggests that work is something to be kept separate from the rest of our lives. 

The truth is that we have ONE life, which is made up of lots of aspects, activities and interactions including work, play, home, social etc.

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Karen FerrisComment
The C Word that Demands Your Attention

A lot is being written about the global employee disengagement epidemic.

This lends itself to additional narrative about how to retain talent and avoid the high financial cost of turnover due to employee disengagement.

More worrying is the lack of employee movement due to disengagement. Employees are becoming complacent. 

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