10 steps to being a great manager and leader

Always a feisty debate!  Do you agree with the 10 Steps To Being A Great Manager described on pp24-25 of BRW in the 16-22 June 2011 edition?  And how do you rate?  Is leadership and management that different?

If you’re a business owner, CEO, MD, GM or senior manager in a small or large enterprise, and you’re looking for some situationally focused professional development, attend my next breakfast event to explore some possibilities.

How to successfully execute strategy

If execution without strategy is folly; what is strategy without execution?  The answer is … ‘all too common’.

So what causes well-crafted strategies to fail?  And how can strategies be structured to ensure successful execution?

These questions are answered very clearly by Harold S Resnick in his article Executing Strategy published in Management Today, July 2011, pp29-30.  Will you implement his recommendations?

The number one reason why people quit

Recent PhD research reveals that the biggest contributor to employee disengagement is disaffection with non-communicative, unresponsive line managers.  Or put in the positive, the greatest opportunity to increase employee engagement at every level and tap into those invaluable wells of ‘discretionary effort’ is to engender good management. But what does ‘good management’ look like?  Access the BRW article by Leo D’Angelo Fisher published 16-22 June 2011 p23 to hear the upshots of the PhD research by Stigter, now a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Business.

Calling all business owners CEOs MDs and GMs

Are you committed to continuing professional and personal development?  If yes; then I suggest you consider what The Executive Connection has to offer.

As the saying goes … ‘If you surround yourself with successful people, their success will rub off on you.’

So I invite you to meet with my network of successful business owners and CEOs to taste what it would be like to do so regularly.

To be specific … I’ve been invited by The Executive Connection (www.tec.com.au) to form and facilitate a select group of CEOs and business owners in Perth who are committed to assisting each other over a period of years, to become better leaders, make better decisions, and achieve better results.

The Executive Connection (TEC) is a world-wide high performance network of experienced current CEOs (including owners of SMEs) who meet monthly in groups of 16 to challenge each other with their combined experience and wisdom … the sort of input you can’t find in books or manuals.

TEC has hundreds of these groups operating worldwide (since 1957) including over a dozen in Perth (since 2003) but it isn’t widely known because membership is by invitation only.  And selection is rigorous to ensure continuing value for all members.

Each group has a diverse membership in terms of industry sectors, size of businesses, gender, age, etc.  But all members are the final decision makers within their respective enterprises.

TEC groups should not be confused with ‘networking groups’.  TEC groups are primarily for the ongoing professional development of CEOs, the people whose role is often the most critical (and lonely) of all.

TEC seeks out a rare breed of business leader who understands the value of continuous learning … the sort of learning that can only come from others who’ve walked the same or similar paths.

Anyone can go on a course … but not anyone can be a member of TEC.

The worldwide average period of membership is over 8 years.  Quite simply, the proven model and support resources of TEC have been enhancing the lives and performance of CEOs for decades, and I consider it a privilege to have been asked by TEC to form a new group. (After many months of development and an arduous selection process I might add!)

I will be chairing/facilitating a new TEC group starting in October, so now I’m recruiting for the right people, that is people I would like to spend years with, who would be contributors as well as a willing to receive, who are strategic, open to development, able to give and receive honest and penetrative feedback, and of unquestionable personal integrity.  Are you such a person?

To explore and taste the ‘TEC experience’ for yourself, along with other CEOs, MDs, GMs and Owners; including time to hear from and meet with some current members of TEC in Perth; please register online to attend our information breakfast 7.00am-9.00am on Friday 16 September to be held at Kailis Bros in Leederville. Or if you prefer, call our local TEC EA Cheryle McLaughlin on 08 9285 0165 to register over the phone. Or simply reply to this email with your current contact details and I’ll attend to the registration myself.

This event is purely informational and experiential.  There will be no selling or pressure whatsoever.  Attendance is without cost or obligation, and may result in you joining a group other than the one I am forming.  So even if you don’t see yourself spending years meeting with me, I still encourage you to come along and find out what TEC as an international organisation has to offer you.

If you’d like to discuss anything prior to registering, please contact me by reply email or phone 0412921292.

The positive side of risk

Many perceive ‘risk management’ as a means of minimising or avoiding negative outcomes; but handled well it also offers the opportunity to identify and focus resources on activities that achieve better outcomes across the whole organisation … according to David Don in Management Today, Nov/Dec 2007, pp24-27.

Read his article on Managing Risk for a succinct perspective on proactive risk management and a guide to designing an effective risk management system for any kind of business in any situation.

What exactly is ‘The Chatham House Rule’?

The Chatham House Rule is a rule or mutual agreement that governs the confidentiality of the source of information received at a meeting. Since its refinement in 2002, the rule states:

“When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”

The rule allows people to speak as individuals and to express views that may not be those of their organisations, and therefore, encourages free discussion. Speakers are free to voice their own opinions, without concern for their personal reputation or their official duties and affiliations. The Chatham House Rule resolves a boundary problem faced by many communities of practice, in that it permits acknowledgment of the community or conversation, while protecting the freedom of interaction that is necessary for the community to carry out its conversations.

An example of such a ‘community of practice’ is ‘The Executive Connection‘ or TEC , one of whose groups I chair, and whose affairs would not be possible without application of The Chatham House Rule.

The rule originated in June 1927 at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, which is now known as Chatham House. The aim of the rule is to guarantee anonymity to those speaking within its walls so that better international relations may be achieved. The rule is now used internationally as an aid to free discussion. The original rule was refined in October 1992 and again in 2002.

Meetings, or parts of meetings, may be held either ‘on the record’ or ‘under The Chatham House Rule’. In the latter case, all participants are understood to have agreed that it would be conducive to free discussion that they should be subject to the rule for the relevant part of the meeting. The success of the rule may depend upon it being considered morally binding, particularly in circumstances where a failure to comply with the rule may not result in sanction.

So next time someone refers to ‘Chatham House Rules’ you will know better … for there is only one rule!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_House_Rule

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