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Category: Line management

November 13, 2020November 30, 2021

Taking stock: nine maxims for management

Some reflections and lessons from this blog so far. Including nine ‘management maxims’ and some daily prompts.

Posted in Accountability, Culture, Line management, Strategy. 3 Comments
August 23, 2020November 30, 2021

Popularity

Popularity in leadership is a contradiction. We rightly prize the leader who does not court popularity, who makes difficult decisions and does what is right. At the same time, in free societies, people only really lead by consent and, without a certain level of confidence and respect, leaders cannot do their jobs.

Posted in Fairness, Line management, Long term thinking. Leave a comment
May 17, 2020November 30, 2021

Humility

I hear a lot about humble leadership, and I don’t really believe it. By all means, avoid bluster and vainglory, avoid the strutting displays of power that mask only a deep insecurity. But humility?

Posted in Development, Line management, Purpose. Leave a comment
April 30, 2020May 19, 2020

Good meetings

You won’t have fewer meetings. Abandon that fantasy now. Meetings are to a manager what lessons are to a teacher. Plenty of vital work goes on around both, and you can have too much of a good thing, but they are the arena in which the work comes to fruition.

Posted in Line management, Tactics, Transparency. Leave a comment
April 6, 2020November 30, 2021

Silo working and career progression

This may be just me but in every large organisation I have worked in, and in every employee survey I have read, people complain about internal communication between departments and opportunities for career progression…

Posted in Line management, Organisational design, Transparency. Leave a comment
April 2, 2020November 30, 2021

Visibility

People don’t always see us at our best. They aren’t always comforted and protected. We are really bad at secrets. But I think the effect is overall positive…

Posted in Line management, Transparency. Leave a comment
April 2, 2020November 30, 2021

Defining leadership

Leadership can be defined as the combination of vision, initiation and persuasion…

Posted in Line management. Leave a comment
April 2, 2020November 30, 2021

Kindness

Reframe what you consider to be kindness and your concept of welfare. Think bigger. What may be kind in the moment can be cruel in the longer term. Indeed, is it kindness at all, or the avoidance of conflict?

Posted in Fairness, Line management, Wellbeing and workload. 1 Comment
March 30, 2020March 31, 2020

Undelegation

It can be gratifying to have people working for us. The reality is that they should be working for something greater than us…

Posted in Focus, Line management, Schools. 2 Comments
March 29, 2020April 29, 2020

Management debt (review of The Hard Thing About Hard Things)

Managers think that their shortcuts and exceptions are invisible choices that lubricate the gears of the organisation. I can tell you straight: nothing is more visible…

Posted in Book reviews, Line management. 4 Comments

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