Why carrots and sticks don’t always work
I’ve witnessed many board level discussions about performance management systems – they all seem to focus on the technicalities, and to take place against an underlying belief that somehow a perfect...
View ArticleEmpowerment: What does it mean?
Empowerment, like communication, often stands as a proxy for what the organisation is unhappy about. Feedback and staff surveys scoring low on empowerment or communication are a serious matter for the...
View ArticleThe people side of mergers
Most M&As are a mixture of planning and chaos. Have you noticed, however, that those involved, looking back once the dust has settled, often forget the chaotic bits, and tell the story as if it...
View Article50% of leaders fail – what’s going wrong?
A frightening statistic is that more than 50% of mergers fail. Perhaps a more frightening statistic, less widely discussed, is that 50% of leaders fail. Of course, it’s harder to measure leadership...
View ArticleA moral compass on the dashboard
by Andrew Jackson Integrity is an essential quality of any good leader. The banking crisis brought to the foreground the importance of the right culture and acting with principle. One international...
View ArticleOld-fashioned leadership?
A well-respected client has been moved temporarily into a COO role in a complex organisation. I asked him how he was going to handle the new and wider range of accountabilities. “Old- fashioned...
View ArticleLeading in difficult times
Everyone knows good leadership is more important than ever in difficult times. But what does it mean in practice? How leaders behave is highly visible to the organisation, in ways they often don’t...
View ArticleLeaning into the future
I’m participating in my first MOOC run by MIT on Transforming Business, Society and Self and one of the interesting questions was why do we have ( or practice) leadership that collectively produces...
View ArticleThe human side of governance
A lot of my work is involved with governance at the moment. I’m advising a start up charity on their governance arrangements, I’m chairing a review of the governance of a financial services company,...
View ArticleThe leadership balancing act
A client asked me recently if I know any firms with high scores on leadership in their employee opinion survey. Their own leadership scores are stubbornly low and the Chief Executive was concerned. I’m...
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What does organisation design set out to achieve?
How to judge an organisation design: Part 1 “Welcome to the team. I’d appreciate your views on something straight away. Can you look over this org design? I’ve been thinking about if for some months....
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Reality testing an organisation design
How to judge an organisation design: Part 2 “I can see what you are trying to achieve with the organisation design. I’ve got some questions to kick the tires on it a bit harder. Can we find time to...
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Designing an organisation that works for the people in it
How to judge an organisation design: Part 3 “How do you think people are going to take to the new design? How can we show the benefits to them?” You have been understanding, testing, probing the org...
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Why structure is good and more structure may be better…
‘There’s a whole lot of new ideas on org design out there – flatter, more agile, non-hierarchical, cellular, networked – how to know what might help in our reorganisation?’ You want to find an...
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Principles for principles
What do we mean by organisation design principles? When I’m asked to help define the principles for an organisation redesign, the first stage usually ends up as a long shopping list of what people...
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Culture in crisis 1. Collaboration’s missing ingredient
The structures of tasks, specialisation and accountability in the pre-Covid business went hand in hand with assumptions about location and physical footprint of the business. As these assumptions are...
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Culture in crisis 2. Two paths out of crisis
As organisations grapple with extraordinary conditions, many have turned to centralised decision-making, seeking tighter grip through command and control. In the best cases this has meant clear and...
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Culture in crisis 3. Black Lives Matter – transforming inclusion and diversity
As a society and in business we have taken steps towards an intent of equal opportunity. But the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that exploded after George Floyd’s killing in the US has penetrated...
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Culture in crisis 4. Once the novelty wears off…
In a crisis, people pull together. Competition and disagreements are swept away, replaced by collaboration to get things done. We often hear, ‘If only we could always operate the way we did in the...
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