Several years ago I struck up a conversation on the C-Train and the individual upon finding out what I did for a living, asked me 'What is the one piece of advice you would give to a new leader?' I replied 'Don’t be a jerk!' And whilst I stick by that piece of advice, I later crylalized my thoughts and created the Vision EXCITE leadership model I have gone on to use this model with clients from a mulitude of different organizations. More recently I discussed the model on Face

All too often the performance review can become a tense affair, with the the reluctant employee and manager dancing round the 'shit' sandwich .... sorry the feedback sandwich, see a previous blog on the exact subject This Is Why The Feedback Sandwich Is A S**t Sandwich. Often in my work I hear from managers who are struggling with how to structure their performance reviews and sometimes are concerned with saying the wrong thing. I cover below 5 phrases you should avoid during

In our workshops I will discuss with participants how, despite planning out what you are going to say beforehand, often when the 'action' starts during a 'difficult' workplace conversation, the other party doesn't react as expected. By using live actors in our worships we give participants the opportunity to think on their feet and develop positive reaction strategies. This is also a theme my co-author Ken Cameron talk about in our recently published book 'I Need To F***ing T

In my corporate workshops I often talk to participants about taking early proactive management action when they first notice an issue arise with a team member. At this early stage there is a choice to make, do I live with the situation or deal with it? This is a theme my co-author Ken Cameron talk about in our recently published book 'I Need To F***ing Talk To You - The Art Of Navigating Difficult Workplace Conversations' What follows is an extract from our book where we cons

In my corporate workshops I often talk about the limitations of the popular feedback model the 'feedback sandwich'. In this article written by my colleague Ken Cameron, he explains the model's limitations. Over to Ken .... 'We’ve all done it. I know I have, and I can’t be alone in this. So, I’m willing to bet you’ve done it too. You’ve given at least one of your direct reports the feedback sandwich. You’ve started off with something positive to get your employee on board. The

Both in our corporate workshops and our recently published book 'I Need To F***ing Talk To You - The Art Of Navigating Difficult Workplace Conversations', my co-author Ken Cameron and I discuss the benefit to a leader of separating the person from the behaviour when it comes to managing our employees. What follows is an extract from our book where we consider a useful method to do this .... If we agree that it’s not effective to think of our employees as “fxxxing unmanageable

Both in our corporate workshops and our recently published book 'I Need To F***ing Talk To You - The Art Of Navigating Difficult Workplace Conversations', my co-author Ken Cameron and I pose the question 'Are people really Unmanageable?' Even the most disagreeable or truculent of our employees or co-workers, are they really 'Unmanageable'? What follows is an extract from our book where we consider this specific point.... Before we proceed any further let’s dispel a myth now;

For many managers the reality of managing a disparate group of people, who are used to working in close proximity but now work remotely, has been a challenge. A fine line to walk between micro managing on the one hand and leaving people to their own (electronic) devices on the other. In this blog we look at three areas that can help managers confidently meeting the challenge ahead in the coming weeks and months. Often managers will think of how they can create a High Performi