Time you had a break! In the past week where our political Leaders have taken some flak for swapping an office chair for a deck chair, we ask in what circumstances can a leader take a holiday without howls of protest resulting? In a time where certain leaders have been accused of ‘being on the … Continue reading Time you had a break!
In offshore safety, organisations have safe systems of work with procedures and typically have some Supervisory training in place. Many reach a level of system compliance that keep an auditor happy. Yet, incident rates may remain stubborn. Why? Here are some areas to check: Do people know who is responsible for every safety element? Are … Continue reading Offshore Safety Leadership
I often hear in discussions on leadership a question asked of another “So what kind of Leader are you?” Populist leadership appears to having its moment in politics with “I’m just like you and it’s us against them”. But (certainly since the demise of workers unions) there is less of that in organisations. More than … Continue reading Leadership
As Managers and Team Leaders hope to begin to return to the workplace, how can we use the re-entry as an opportunity? After nearly a year of home-working, videoconferencing and remote leadership many will be returning to a new kind of office. One with temperature tests, taped lifts and red lines. Many of our clients … Continue reading Returning to Work!
Any concern that the ‘new normal’ will be a foreign land or some kind of purgatory is being contradicted by increasing views of the familiar. The warm weekend weather brought people out in droves with Edinburgh’s Meadows with hardly a 2m space between groups of sun-drunk families and friends. And the pavements of the streets … Continue reading Here we Go!
As we approach the return to work, what will it look like? Well, it seems much of what we thought it would look like was written in the Modern Workplace Report of 2019 before our world changed. Last years report had already given notice that most organisations (over 60%) expected that significant work would be … Continue reading Welcome to the hybrid workplace!
Circle of Concern That which may concern you but in which you generally have little or no control Unprecedented times. To quote the estimable Gary Lineker, ‘There is unprecedented use of the word unprecedented in these unprecedented times’. And alongside the tragedy, heroism and stoicism, we are learning. Stephen Covey’s ‘Circles of Influence and Concern’ … Continue reading Circle of Control
As we are now on our way to a full month of lockdown, what have we learned? Maintain that routine! From what was a significant change, routine has given control and focus. The agreed ways of working that you introduced should now be a habit. Mind the (affinity) gap! Not to assume that less is … Continue reading Lockdown Lessons!
We are now approaching the 1500th participant on the Leading Safety programme. With our client Subsea 7, we have delivered this transformational safety programme across the globe. So far, we have delivered Leading Safety in the UK, France, The Netherlands, USA ,Brazil, Norway, Malaysia, Australia and Singapore. Across continents this programme has received the highest of approval ratings with … Continue reading Leading Safety News
The Offshore Supervisory Leadership programme is coming to Aberdeen. We’re running a Spring programme of OSL at The Jurys Hotel in Aberdeen on 29th & 30th April. Now in its 10th year, this programme has been a continual feature of our work in the Energy Sector developing skills in leading teams and managing performance, offshore. Look out for … Continue reading OSL Open Programme!
When times are challenging, subsequent reorganisation often create changed teams of new people and additional responsibilities. In Oil & Gas for example, trading conditions have deteriorated further and the inevitable reorganisation means new teams and leaders need to perform better now than ever. A leader in a ‘streamlined’ reorganisation might see his best performers go … Continue reading Resilient Leadership of Teams
Motivational Ground Rules Managers often complain about lack of motivation of their people. This is the first fallacy of motivation. The only people who are not motivated are no longer with us. The rest of us still with a heartbeat , we all have a motive for what we do. It’s sometimes useful to remind … Continue reading Motivational Ground Rules
Active Listening is one of the key skills of Encoding and combines with feedback to maintain that all-important Communication loop. Active Listening method operates as a group and is: Mirroring : Reflecting back feelings. Saying what you think the other person feels. For example, one of your team comes up to you looking angry. You … Continue reading Active Listening!
Signposting As Europe and the UK restart negotiations on Brexit, perhaps both sides will use signposting as they pick their way through complex agreements. Successful persuasion, like all aspects of negotiation, requires clarity in communication and a technique much used by skilled communicators and negotiators is Signposting. As the name suggests, it lets the other … Continue reading Signposting
Selling Success! Remember who’s in charge of the sale. It’s not you. Sorry about that, but selling is no longer about getting customers to do what you want, to follow your lead––or to buy what you want to sell. The customer is in charge today and this requires listening and patience. Make the phone ring. … Continue reading Selling Success
