How did something that started out as a straight forward training course last week develop into a conversation about reality?
I was training a group of young graduates who are on a two year development program, on completion of which they will be appointed as junior managers in their organisation.  As a group they all exhibited [...]

I have been working with a client in Lexington, Kentucky this week. It is one of the largest NGOs in the USA, serving the needs of impoverished communities in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Some of the people on my workshops were the managers of particular projects; others were from building maintenance, finance, HR and donor [...]

They sent me on the training course
They didn’t make it clear
They haven’t come back to me
They didn’t do it right the first time
They never answer the phone
I have heard all of these statements this week. It’s been quite a week! They seem to be everywhere, messing up our lives as usual. They have a lot [...]

One manager I’ve seen recently uses the all too familiar tell or authoritarian style with her team. She knows it all; what is wrong, who is at fault and exactly what they must do to fix it. She even knows what others think! In a meeting from which one of her people was absent, she [...]

Everyone talks about the importance of relationships; in teams, with customers, with your boss, with your staff; in families, with spouses and partners. But mostly what I hear are people holding the kind of conversations that do little to build relationships and are often virtually guaranteed to damage them!
I hear emotional outbursts, accusations and blame. [...]

Your integrity is apparent in everything you do, and often when you are least aware of it. It is most clearly evidenced by your behaviour in situations that involve power, conflict and where the stakes are high.
Think of the personal values you hold and ask yourself how closely your recent behaviour has reflected those values [...]