Archive for January, 2010

Leadership for a new decade

Friday, January 15th, 2010

The start of a new decade may not command the razzmatazz of a new millennium (only a decade ago) but it is worth noting nevertheless. What have we in store?

We read that the Chartered Management Institute’s Future Forecast survey suggests that business leaders recognise the importance of looking inwards and that putting staff back at the heart of their organisations will enhance their chances of a speedy post-recession recovery. We also hear the Work Foundation has proven a link between outstanding company performance and people-centred leadership.

Here is confirmation of what we have long believed. There is little doubt that organisations are shaking off the vestiges of the scientific management paradigm and seeking something more sustainable and wholesome. That means involving and engaging people rather than treating them as assets to be managed. It means we need a new kind of leadership – leadership throughout an organisation not just figurehead leadership. It means changing how people see and value their diversity and how we bring them together in creative relationship. It means helping people to appreciate the value of their unique contributions and to discover ways to serve the greater good. It means breaking free from past dysfunctional systems (e.g. bonus culture) and inventing something better.

People are at the heart of organisations and organisations serve people, so organisations need to organise themselves around their value-adding stream. The start of a new decade and emergence from recession give us all wonderful opportunities to re-think, re-conceptualise and re-invent your organisations nearer to your heart’s desire and nearer to what works.

Here at CMC we are developing the threefold nature of our business to better serve you, our customers.

We can offer you our deep experience in facilitation, designing and running bespoke processes to help you develop the leadership, the teams and the strategies to engage people and keep you abreast of change.

Our High Trenhouse ‘innovation centre’ provides the ideal venue and ambience to develop your strategic teamwork.

LogoVisual technology provides facilitation, training and the processes and tools to help you embrace the new decade’s shifting priorities.

Call us and we will be glad to meet with you to explore what matters to you, what concerns you currently and how our processes can help ensure you keep ahead of the game.

Tapping Creativity

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Where does creativity come from – how can we get more of it when its needed?

Tapping Creativity is something we all want to do but it has its associated risks. How do we tap creativity in our organisations and for what? Is creativity anything other than the ability to pro-actively change with the times?

Creativity is sometimes seen narrowly as producing novelty for its own sake but truly it underpins how leadership helps us all as individuals, groups and organisations, to maintain our grip on life.

Read the article Tapping Creativity here

Lessons From The Weather

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Having lived and worked these last thirty years at relatively high altitude and with a severe climate, I have learned to cope. For instance, we have a policy of keeping cars in the valley so we can get out and about, even when the worst winter weather comes. Its odd, then, to see city tourists dicing with disaster as they enjoy the scenery, risking their expensive motors on snow-bound single track roads with no turning spaces. Apart from the nuisance to essential travellers, it usually results in abandoned vehicles, unless they are fortunate enough to be rescued by a local farmer with a tractor.

It strikes me that there are parallels with the financial crisis. Our bankers are like the tourists, enjoying their adrenalin rush and expecting to be bailed out if things take a turn for the worse. Wise financiers would anticipate the ups and downs and plan accordingly and no doubt some will do so. There is little sympathy for the myopic people whose selfish reward system has cost us all dearly. When the thaw comes will anyone be any wiser? The signs are that they will not. The whole rotten system is un-responsive to feedback and needs to be reconstructed.

The rest of us can get some benefit from our lost investment by learning how to apply these lessons to our own situation. In our own organisations, are we seeing the wider picture (for instance how well are we prepared for the impact global warming?). What are we doing to broaden our perspective and ensure we are prepared to ride the coming storms?

See article on Resilience – How to Survive in Tough Times