Leaders need to work diligently to build a culture that embraces constant change, delegates decision making, avoids the unnecessary bureaucracy brought about by hierarchy, trusts people to do the right thing, encourages collaboration, experimentation and creativity. This culture provides psychological safety where there is no negative consequence for ‘having a go’. Experimentation and risk taking is encouraged within provisioned guardrails or principles.

How do leaders bring about that sort of transformational change?

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Many organizations now finding themselves in what is being termed the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ are looking to technology to drive the organization forward.

They want to take advantage of technology including machine learning, real-time data analytics, robotics and artificial intelligence.

One would think that with the enabling technologies for things such as artificial intelligence and machine learning being more readily available and affordable there would be a mad rush to embrace these new capabilities.

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Employees want clear direction from leadership but they also want freedom accompanied by loose guidelines and direction. Therefore, leaders need to relinquish control. Distribution of power throughout the organization and reliance on decision-making from those closest to the action is of extreme importance.

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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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king to James Gander - MD Gander Consulting - about games people play.

Simulations, their use, purposedand benefits.

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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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Talking with Barrie Clarke from Q4IT about Project Management.

Project Management is Changing. Or Is It?

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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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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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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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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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At the start of the decade, the typical worker lacked 1.2 of the critical skills needed by an employer to fill a given position. Today, the average worker is missing around 2 of the 18 critical skills that are advertised for a job. 

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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