I have previously written about personal productivity pointing out that not everything on the ‘to-do list’ has equal impact. I also wrote about planning using your energy levels and briefly touched upon the concept of ‘deep work’.
I think that most people know about these concepts but if knowledge was the only thing we needed, the advice on the internet would have made us all billionaires!
Balcroft has provided operational consulting support to numerous companies across a multitude of sectors and organisations. Whilst we have been extremely successful in achieving the needs of our clients, we have always been faced with a recurring problem within each project. The common theme is the presence of at least one assassin within the organisation.
If you google ‘productivity tips’, chances are you will get lots of tactical advice, hints and tips that can help you cram more into the day.
‘Tidy your desk, work fewer hours, ignore your phone or even take a nap at work.’
My personal favourite is ‘get up early’. Bill Gates gets up at 0400 and he’s a billionaire. Therefore you should also get up at 0400 if you want to be a billionaire. It’s absolute nonsense. There is no correlation between how early you get up and how successful you will be.
This series of articles is best read in order, so if you haven’t read article 1, article 2.1 or article 2.2 yet, I invite you to head over and do that first.
Delegation is a core leadership skill.
If you can’t effectively delegate, you will hit a point where you become totally overloaded and you’ll become ineffective.
But few companies teach people how to effectively delegate. It’s one of those things that everyone assumes you pick up as you gather experience. The problem with this approach is that you’re basically using trial and error until you get it right – if you get it right.
There are two elements to effective delegation.
I have had a few requests from people asking to contribute to this blog. This is the first time that I have accepted though. I think JB (who wishes to remain anonymous) has a strong understanding of what is required to be a great leader and I am happy to have her contribute. Enjoy.
Employee silence occurs when employees make conscious decisions to not provide information, opinions and feedback, raise issues or make suggestions. It can occur for a number of reasons, such as a belief that providing an idea or feedback is futile as it will be ignored, or a fear that expressing a view differing from that of colleagues or management risks professional relationships, job opportunities and security.
Social, political, technological and economic conditions may never in recent history have been as influx as they are today.
Neutered leaders lacking popular support to effect change (May, Merkel) and a few who seem intent on rocking the boat (Trump, Putin, Kim Jong-un) are themselves struggling to navigate the choppy waters they have helped create. Trumps’ shameless promotion of America, his apparent disregard for Asia and his radically different approach to politics has many nervous and the uncertainty is unnerving markets.