Good Answers  There is no doubt, in my mind anyway, that any consultant who proclaim themselves to be good at what they do, should have as their number one priority the issue of good questions. Assisting clients to formulate the right question or questions, is the most valuable service one can provide to any venture or project. Any actions taken, based on the answer to a poor question, will result in a waste of time and be futile.  Don't take my word for this, rea...

Rules and regulations Processes and procedures As companies grow they acquire more rules and regulations to govern the processes and procedures implemented to achieve some defined state of efficiency.  Large organisations and Governments are notorious for some truly silly outcomes as a result of this approach. A few years ago I read a report of some government department where they spent $ 100,000 or some such large number to dispose of a used pool table worth around $ 6,000.&...

Leadership vs Management This is an ongoing debate with theories and consultants who want us to believe that an apple can become an orange, if only we attend their next Leadership workshop. It is a surprisingly simple matter to resolve once we agree on a few basics. Lets start with two reasonable definitions from the web as a starting point. Management is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a not-for-profit organization, or government body. Managem...

Smart leaders ? It appears that some people are slow learners and just because something has been known for many years do not mean it has landed in some leaders brains yet, or ever will.

During the 1950's and 60's a clever man, Douglas McGregor, postulated a theory consisting of two parts. The two theories proposed by McGregor describe contrasting models of workforce motivation applied by managers in human resource management, organizational behaviour, organizational c...

We can learn from anybody, if we are paying attention There are thousands of books on almost any subject one can think of. Many books cover some specific subjects, providing examples and theories, encouraging us to improve ourselves or our businesses. These subjects would typically include: Purpose, Belief in outcomes, Focus, Action, Commitment, Confidence, Speaking out or doing a "Pitch", Marketing, Sales, Interaction with people and communications, Being Positive, Reasons fo...