…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…)

In most leadership material you read you’ll come across the need to be self-aware.  I agree, it’s a very important element of growth because if you’re not aware of the need to change it will never happen, right?  But how do you do develop self-awareness?  Often times when I’m running a workshop on leadership I start with awareness and how to develop it.  To do this I always start off with the concept of the Self.  One way the Self can get into conflict is when there is too great a gap between the Actual Self and the Ideal Self. (more…)

What do you look for when hiring or selecting the leaders in your organisation or team?  A no-brainer of course is that they have the technical skills, that’s a given.  But what next?  Here’s a list of 10 key leadership characteristics that you should look for when viewing potential leaders*. (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…)

Every so often I work with a client who gets quite irritated by the things that people are doing around them.  For example, one client I worked with used to get extremely irate at his flat mates.  He used to go barmy when he’d be the last one to get up in the morning and all the curtains in the house are closed, the rubbish is sitting in the corner of the kitchen or the bin is overflowing, food and dirty plates would be left on the counter top from last night’s dinner.  He’d leave the house after cleaning up after his flatmates and with every step he’d mentally spit and fume about his flatmates and their disgusting habits.  Then he’d arrive at work…ready to start the day.  You can imagine how things would go from there. (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…)

“Curiosity killed the cat…”

The other night my youngest daughter came into the bedroom, she had a nightmare and couldn’t get back to sleep.  Bringing her back to bed I asked her what the nightmare was about.  She said that mammy and daddy died and she was really upset.  I explained to her that in a dream that doesn’t mean what she thinks. (more…)