Mar 5, 2012 | Communication, Leadership
If you cannot state your mission in a very few words, perhaps less than 10, able to be expressed in 30 seconds, the time it takes for a ride in an elevator to the 30th floor, where the big boys live, try again.
I see many mission and purpose statements that are full of jargon and weasel words, that really convey little but the perceived need to make everybody happy, to conform to the latest fad management book, but by the time it gets to the factory floor, where it really matters, it means nothing.
To be effective, a mission statement should be a reflection of what all those in the business feel, what needs to be built, the answer to the question, “what are we doing here?”
So it is easy to wordsmith a statement, but it takes persistence, leadership, and determination to make any use of it.
Feb 29, 2012 | Communication, Leadership, Marketing
We are pretty well immune to those who make promises, as we have heard it all before, and having been burnt, and burnt, we tend not to believe the hype this time.
Doesn’t matter if it is a colleague assuring us they will meet a deadline, a supplier “guaranteeing” performance of his offering, or a pollie telling us the train line will be built by the end of 2020, we have heard it all before.
The antidote is to stop saying and start doing, and let the performance speak for itself.
Feb 27, 2012 | Leadership
Leadership is often seen as a “soft” skill, hard to measure, and really only obvious with the benefit of hindsight.
Perhaps not, the potential success of leaders can be at least partly assessed by looking at what makes people unsuccessful as leaders.
As a test, when considering someone as a potential leader you could do a lot worse than score the person on the traits listed, and if sitting on a selection committee, get the members to evaluate a candidate separately on a set of scales that reflect the particular requirements of the appointment role, then compare notes. At least then you will see the areas of agreement and those for further investigation and debate.
Equally, within a context of an agreed strategy and expected results, the same scale could be used as a tool to evaluate executive performance.
Perhaps our “leaders” in Canberra should consider some objctive evaluation in about 3 hours, rather than relying on self interest, and allegiences based on all but the long term good of the country. Always the optimist!
Feb 24, 2012 | Leadership, Personal Rant
I spoke to a few people in Canberra yesterday, curious as to the impact of the Labor leadership cat-fight on the rest of the place.
Whilst I expected it to be the topic of the day, the consensus was that work in the bureaucracy, the implementers of policy, had come to a complete standstill over the last few weeks, and yesterday, started rolling backwards as individuals took the lead from their bosses, and started jockeying for post cat-fight, and probably post this current “government”, position.
If we ever needed a graphic example of the impact of indecision and conflict at the top, we need look no further.
The worse it has got at the top, the more the impact ripples through the ranks, stopping any sort of sensible conversation, let alone strategy (policy in their terms) implementation. Worse still, the ripples amplify the impact, so the recovery time will be substantial.
The impact of the profound lack of leadership that this power tussle has displayed will be felt for months, probably years. Problem is, we as taxpaying individuals and enterprises are paying through the nose for the privilege of watching this stupid game, as the main game gets totally ignored, and continues down the proverbial slot.
Jan 27, 2012 | Leadership
Libraries have been written on this topic, so perhaps a summary for 2012 is warranted, particularly as we go into tougher, and more ambiguous times.
- Plot a course that others can relate to, buy into, and understand.
- Inspire and energise others to do better than they expect they can
- Create a culture of action and integrity
- Inspire and nurture innovation
- Deliver results for all stakeholders.
Jan 26, 2012 | Leadership, Personal Rant
It’s Australia day, a celebration of nationhood, opportunity for pollies to grandstand, excuse for a piss-up, whatever floats your boat.
Perhaps it should be a day for articulating our national challenges, in a manner that encourages rational debate based on data, whilst offering a real philosophical underpinning for decision making, rather than the current flatuant rhetoric and partisan maneuvering for short term political “advantage” .
That’s what I tell my clients to do, then often assist them through the exercise with mentoring and a set of readily available tools.
If it can be done for a business, is a basic discipline for survival, why can’t it be done for a country? Why shouldn’t we, as Australians, the shareholders in this Australia P/L demand it of our Board of Directors?.
So, my call for today, is to dismiss all the puffery, glad-handing, and mutual admiration, throw it in the bin, and replace it with an agenda for the evolution of an Australia we would like to live in.
I would be talking about education, real education that sets up our engineering, operational and manufacturing competitiveness for decades, the means by which we demonstrate our humanity, to our elderly, those who want to come and share this great country with us, and to our disadvantaged, how we strike a balance between the short term expediency, and long term sustainability in all sorts of areas, and how we relate to those with whom we share the world, and finally, how our society pays for itself.
Not a word about gay marriage, the machinations of political parties, who has the best looking dog, the latest shark attack, or nominations for an Academy award. All are irrelevant distractions, the detritus of life, ignore it, and consider something a bit more meaningful, and what you will do to push it, to put some meaning back into the day, and perhaps bit by bit, make the joint a better place.
