In my coaching work with senior members of the Australian Public Service (APS) of late I have found a number of coachees struggling to cope with rapid change, increasing workload demands exacerbated by shrinking resources and uncertainty in terms of the direction of Ministerial expectations in a turbulent political landscape. These pressures are sometimes added to by […]
I was involved in a discussion recently where a number of people were complaining that their jobs were so demanding they had no work life balance. There seemed to be some acceptance of work life balance as some magic and universal standard that everyone should aspire to and be entitled to. In this case the shared […]
This post has been inspired by three recent conversations in which I have posed the question “Is it useful?” and had senior managers in three different organisations look startled and then uncertain. I was taught the value of this ‘Useful’ question several years ago by my Director of Communications. At the time we had quite […]
I recently came across an interesting blog, by Walter Chen, about ways to rewire our brains for positivity and happiness. I liked the post and decided to share it, following a recent conversation in a coffee shop. My coffee shop conversation was a chance encounter and chat, not a formal coaching session, but I found myself in a gentle coaching […]
I had a discussion with a senior executive recently who was bemoaning the fact that people in his organisation were paying no attention to a recent internal policy change. He had told them about it and it was posted on the intranet but the message was just not getting through! He felt he had done […]
Late in 2012 the Canberra Times Public Service Editor, Markus Mannheim, wrote an article on the “career bottleneck” facing some public servants, particularly at the Executive Level 1 classification. The article drew on an Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) paper. The statistics reflected in the APSC paper, combined with staffing cut backs in the current […]
Amy Cuddy, a Social Psychologist, presents a fascinating insight into how our body language shapes who we are. She postulates, drawing on the evidence of neuroscience, that not only does our body language influence how others see us and think about us – our body language also influences how we feel and think about ourselves. […]
(The importance of communication in times of uncertainty or change) There have been three occasions in the past year where I have had a discussion with someone whose team has been going through a change process, or considerable uncertainty about future arrangements at work. On each occasion I have asked how their team has been […]
The Golden Circle and the question “Why”. For those of you interested in what makes great leaders, have a look at the thought provoking TED talk by Simon Sinek at the following link. It runs for 18 minutes. http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html (If you would like to receive notification of future blog posts please send an email, at the […]
Earlier this year I was conducting an SES Focus Group meeting on leadership responsibilities and during the discussion one of the SES said “… as to the requirement for strategic thinking I don’t actually know what it means, can anyone tell me?”. My initial, inner, reaction was one of shock because ‘Shapes Strategic Thinking’ is one […]