The Headline in the New York Times read as follows: Why I am leaving Goldman-Sachs Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. (more…)
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Expectancy theory suggests that motivation is based on how much we want something and how likely we think we are to get it. I often discuss this facet of motivation when coaching managers, as it answers many questions about desire, want and need for extrinsic…
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So…the secret is out. According to the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), almost half of managers believe their own bosses are ineffective. Of course, it depends on who you ask and what their current state is, but the UK survey of 4,500 managers showed that 43% described…
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We all know that planning is essential in order to achieve overall organisational and departmental goals, but many plans I see when dealing with management development are, quite frankly, not worth the cigarette packet they are written on. So how do you make sure…
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Many teams are actually just a group of people who happen to be working under the same roof. They may have similar jobs, work for the same company and aim for similar results, but are they all pulling in the same direction, meeting the same…
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Of all the skills managers want to have improved, communication pretty much comes up there at the top. Along with negotiating a higher salary, of course! But communication is such a broad subject. I often ask clients, ‘If there was one area of communication you…
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Many companies have cut back on their training budgets in today’s economic climate, as they put their attention on surviving and ensuring every penny is well-invested. But this doesn’t mean they have to neglect the development and progress of their people. In fact, if you…
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Boy, how times have changed! We were discussing the Sinclair C5 in the office this week and many here had never even heard of it, let alone seen one! Launched during a by-gone age (1985!), it became an object of media and popular ridicule during…
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We had an interesting question this week on our management course that opened up a good discussion on leadership. The question came from a new manager who had been promoted from among his peers and was now managing people who were much more knowledgeable and…
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The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model is based on the premise that excellent results with respect to performance, customers, people and society are achieved through partnerships, resources and processes. The model explains performance gaps and identifies improvement directions. I’ve used it a…
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You’ll have heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy, Hertzberg’s Dual-Factor theory and McClelland’s Achievement theory when it comes to motivation, but one new idea stands out among the rest because it epitomises the very real concept of intrinsic motivation within all of us. Daniel Pink argues that…
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One of our communication courses includes a section on obtaining feedback from your staff, and this is an area that many managers have concerns with. They feel that their staff hide their real feelings and are afraid to offer any form of feedback in case…
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