Tag: Learning

Managing #Diversity Means Improving Results

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My latest YouTube video to help you think about how to achieve a Simpler Life

Diverse leadership produces great results. That isn’t a slogan, experience tells me that’s true.

For instance, when I led an initiative to improve engagement with local educational, health and environmental opportunities it was brilliant to draw on the wisdom from project workers who weren’t all the same.

Tapping into the minds of people of different ages, faith backgrounds, sexualities, and social classes made a difference.

Having many voices in the conversation, offering different perspectives, kept the ideas flowing and the creative solutions coming.

The result? A successful set of outcomes, within a tight timeframe, which improved on previous results and achieved greater value for money.

Who could argue against better results?

If you want to start thinking about the advantages of diversity for your team, network or service users you can check out the video.

Feel free to leave a Like, or Comment and check back for more ideas later on.   

3 #Leadership Lessons From 3 Lions

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Last week, like 30 million others, I watched the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy.

England’s confident, diverse team had reached a major final after more than 50 years.

At the end of extra time, I watched 19-year-old Bukayo Saka step up.

His penalty would make the difference.

It did.

His shot was saved.

That result was painful, but Gareth Southgate and the rest of the team held each other up.

But some ‘supporters’ tried to tear them down.

Cue a wave of online racism.

Monkey Emojis.

The N word.

The usual crap.

Not the kind of thing anyone should ignore, whether it is obvious who is creating it, or hidden behind a screenname.

And that’s why Saka, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and their teammates take the knee. Despite the boos.

  • Because leaders set the tone for their teams.
  • Because drawing attention to a problem isn’t ‘gesture politics’.
  • Because the process of change is uncomfortable.

Chairing Discussions Is Easy, Right?

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Is Chairing Easy? (c) R Dennison June 2013

Is Chairing Easy? (c) R Dennison June 2013

Although I don’t always get it right, I have learned a lot about chairing discussions and meetings over time.  My main learning, through bitter experience, is that people will sometimes want to focus on their pet themes, whatever the stated agenda.

Things have usually gone well, as long as I have made clear at the outset that the conversation is going to:

–       create space for attendees to raise their views

–       involve attendees listening respectfully to other views

–       achieve an outcome in which some constructive conclusions emerge

As I say I have learned how (mostly) to get positive results in meetings by trial and error.  It is a revelation that even veteran moderators like Andrew Neil can have a hard time of it.

Mr Neil led a discussion this morning – within the BBC programme, The Sunday Politics – about the Bilderberg Group meeting in London.  His guests were US commentator Alex Jones and British journalist David Aaronovitch.  See what you think about the effectiveness of the communication about the topic, after watching this segment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22832994

However did they get Mr Jones to leave the studio I wonder?

Why Blog about Self-Development?

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I am fascinated by people’s ability to Learn, Change and Grow in their professional or personal lives, once they have set their mind to it.

My management career started in the 1990s.  Over the following two decades I was privileged to help colleagues, who wanted to change, do so.

It was great to help them work out what learning opportunities existed and how they could make the most of them.  It was a definite Win-Win situation: colleagues got to grow personally and professionally; the organisation benefitted from their growth.

I found it incredibly positive to play a part in helping others achieve better results.  There are a number of strategies which can produce that result.

I recognise that increasingly Coaching and Mentoring, as well as good support from their management can all help people embrace change.  I’ll reflect on those areas and others in this blog.