As a kid growing up one of my favourite cartoon characters was always Donald Duck.  You just know that no matter how happy he is at the beginning of the cartoon that things are going to go terribly wrong and he always ends up getting the short end of the stick…largely of his own making.  One of my favourites of Donald was when he hit a moral dilemma and sure enough a little devil appears on his right shoulder encouraging him to go after what he wants regardless of the consequences. (more…)

I must’ve been 16 years old and I’d been cycling for about a year or so.  I’d head off with my friends on 60 and 80Km bike rides up into the Wicklow Mountains.  Wicklow is called the Garden of Ireland so you can imagine how beautiful it is up there.  I remember one particular ride because on this occasion I was unfortunate enough to get two punctures!  I had a spare tube but when I got the second puncture my friend, Conor, gave me his spare… (more…)

…and knew in that instant that I needed to make a change.  I found myself lying floor at 4am in a serviced apartment in New Plymouth.  My eyes stared blankly into nothingness, my arms lay loosely on the floor as my body slumped lifelessly against the vanity cabinet in the small bathroom.  I opened my eyes to the sound of her screams.  I felt the adrenaline surge through my veins as I was pulled back from darkness.  “What happened? Where was I?”  The realisation hit me (more…)

There’s a lot of talk in leadership circles about resilience and how leaders have to be resilient.  I agree but the way it’s talked about it comes across as this mystical state that is only available to a lucky few.  Resilience is simply the ability to bounce back quickly from adversity.  It’s a skill that helps us move beyond those tough experiences life throws at us and may even make us stronger in the process.  Although there are people out there who exhibit certain personality characteristics (more…)

One of the most powerful leadership styles we can use is the coaching style. Unfortunately it’s also the least used of all the styles which is a terrible shame because it can have a tremendously positive impact on your team and the environment. The GROW model is a very simple tool to help you get started on how to coach people in your team to higher performance.

PLEASE NOTE: Before coaching anyone it’s important to ask (more…)

Ever since I returned from Australia in my early 20’s I was extremely goal driven. I was in massive debt (for a 20 year old) and had no job in an environment where employers weren’t exactly laying opportunities at my feet. But I’d managed to get myself around the world for the last year on a wing and a prayer and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like no job opportunities get in my way of getting back on my feet! I set a goal that I would get a job…any job…within 2 weeks. (more…)

Recently I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a couple of days at “The happiest place on earth” – Disneyland – with my family.  Being interested in how effective organisations run I paid special attention to how Disney runs things there.  I was impressed at how everything ran to very strict procedures, safety being the highest priority of course, but I was left a little disappointed at the seeming poor engagement of the staff.  A lot of them (more…)

Your success in any aspect of your career will often come down to ensuring that those who need to know are in the know and those who need to make those critical decisions have enough information to do so in a reasonable amount of time.

Here’s a quick list to help manage your stakeholder expectations: (more…)

I must admit that I’ve been on the receiving end of ‘constructive’ feedback more than I’d like to admit and I used to dread those situations.  I’d start to recognise a pattern where, out of the blue, I’d receive an email requesting me to attend a 30 minute meeting with the boss and I knew I’d done something wrong.  These days I recognise the importance of receiving feedback and now I even seek it out because without feedback we simply can’t grow.  Feedback systems are all around us…in nature, in our environment (more…)

Have you ever been frustrated by not being able to get your message across?  Or maybe it’s not your message that’s the problem but perhaps the way it’s delivered causes people to get the goat.  A very good friend of mine and a great coach in her own right, Emma Parker, shared with me a terrific acronym (TADAR) that she uses to help improve, not only her own communication, but that of her team.  As well as using it as a guide herself, if one of her team comes to her with a message that they (more…)