Organisation charts are an important communication tool. They can be used to: Ensure managers explicitly understand and agree who is responsible for what. Streamline communication by helping employees identify where to direct requests and questions to the people with the authority to help them get things done. Obtain better advice from boards and external advisers […]
Jan 2018
You’ve completed your situation analysis. You’ve clarified your vision. You’ve articulated your strategy into a concise strategy statement, cementing your strategic choices. Perhaps you’ve even prepared a draft budget. Now comes the next stage – translating your strategy into an optimal portfolio of strategic projects to achieve your strategic objectives over the year ahead. A […]
Jan 2018
For every organization, balancing the needs of the business with the development needs of employees is a constant reality. Retaining top talent, connecting people skills to business priorities and creating an environment of engagement all require real-world expertise to meet the real-world challenges unique to small and mid-size businesses. Your success depends upon the engagement, […]
Dec 2017
What is the principal challenge facing business leaders today? The answer most management experts will give you is that “success is changing”. In simple terms, success today does not guarantee success tomorrow. The life expectancy of Fortune 500 companies is falling. The average tenure of CEOs is falling. Disruption and non-linear change are now the […]
Jul 2017
In 2009, nLIVEn commissioned an independent research study conducted by consultant Caitlin Iles, to better understand our clients’ experiences in engaging with nLIVEn. I wanted to take the opportunity to share with you some important findings from our sample group of twenty-three randomly selected clients who have participated in our Professional Partnership Program within the […]
Mar 2017
A board will operate effectively when it: considers the right matters considers them clearly and thoroughly comes to clear conclusions and makes decisions ensures that it’s decisions are implemented properly Some of the foundational tools available to boards to help achieve this include: annual schedule of meeting dates and times annual board objectives / mandate […]
Mar 2017
You’ve concluded that it’s time you engaged a business or executive coach. You’ve done your research and chosen the coach you’d like to hire. Now comes the final challenge – persuading your manager that coaching is a sound investment. Furthermore, sometimes your manager is not the only one that needs to be won over. Your […]
Mar 2017
Did you know that behind every brilliant manager is an executive coach? Gaining traction as a highly effective business tool in recent years, executive coaches have now become an essential for organisations that wish to create and maintain a successful, high-performance culture. After all, the pressures faced by a leader in today’s fast-paced world are […]
Dec 2016
Google’s “Project Oxygen,” is a rigorous, data-based analysis of what makes great managers. Technical expertise made a difference, but only a small one. The single most important differentiator between good and great managers? “Be a good coach.” What Google’s Best Managers Do By examining data from employee surveys and performance reviews, Google’s people analytics team identified eight […]
Sep 2016
If you have been enjoying the benefits of business or executive coaching for a while, you’ve probably discovered some smart ways to get the most out of your investment in personal and professional development. However, if you thinking about hiring a coach, you may be wondering what you can do to maximise the ROI from […]
Sep 2016
Are you considering whether to merge your business with another business? Or, are you considering acquiring a business and integrating it into your existing business? Perhaps you’ve been charged with bringing two or more businesses together and it’s not clear whether it will be a merger or an acquisition. Maybe you are mid-way through a […]
Aug 2016
In studying leadership, a topic that is often overlooked is followship. Followship is a willingness to accept direction and guidance from leaders in an organisation. An employee who practices followship recognizes that any effective organisation needs both leaders and followers. However, I would go one step further: great leaders create space for people on their […]
Aug 2016
Are you looking for your purpose? Have you found your purpose but don’t know how to utilize it? If so, you’re not alone. We all have a purpose. We all have unique talents and abilities that no one else has. They are ours and ours alone. It’s just a matter of finding it and putting […]
Aug 2016
For any organism to survive and thrive, its rate of adapting has to be equal to, or greater than, the rate of change in its environment – i.e. A ≥ C. This applies regardless of whether that organism is a single celled bacteria, an individual person or a multinational corporation. Since 2000, this equation has […]
Jul 2016
We all have a purpose in life. We are not here to simply “survive” or “get by.” Each one of us have talents and abilities that make us unique and special. But do we know what those talents are? Some of us have found our purpose and are using those talents, while others are unsure […]
Jul 2016
Tennis is my game of choice when it comes to sport. I also find tennis is a useful metaphor for how we need to play – both in business and life. Firing off lots of email messages to people in your team/s is like blindly hitting tennis balls – you don’t know whether your balls actually […]
Jun 2016
Have you found your purpose in life? Many people have asked me how I found my purpose. While I am happy to be doing what I love to do, it didn’t happen overnight. It was more of a gradual realization. Planting Seeds It happened for me in 3 stages, with the first being when I […]
May 2016
The Why CEOs Fail Toolkit is a personal set of resources specifically designed to help you apply five lessons for becoming a better CEO. In the special report entitled “Why CEOs Fail”, I outline a handful of practical steps you can take to avoid becoming the bottleneck when growing your business. You may have found […]
May 2016
One of the things I observe executives and business owners alike find difficult to do is to simply and confidently explain the difference between sales and marketing. At nLIVEn, we distinguish the difference as follows: Marketing: primarily responsible for lead generation more specifically, to generate leads that translate into revenue (as my colleague Brett Bonser from Align.me pointed […]
Apr 2016
In Coaching 101, I provided an introduction to Professional Coaching, explaining what it is and how it helps people. In brief: Coaching is training or development in which a person called a coach supports a learner in achieving a specific personal or professional goal. Coaching is something that parents, teachers, tutors, managers, consultants and board […]
Jun 2018