Jenny Handley Performance
Feb 27
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WHAT IS THE ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF A LEADER?

“Conscious leaders don’t tolerate conditions or processes where people feel the need to compromise their values — to ‘sell their souls’ for the task at hand. Conscious leadership includes conscious discernment, a principle that demands performance, integrity, competence and a non-calloused form of spiritual toughness. The conscious leader does not sit with his or her head in the clouds, dreaming of utopian schemes and professing New Age idealism. The conscious leader walks in the spiritual and physical domains concurrently, remaining simultaneously grounded and comfortable in both.” John Renesch, futurist A leader needs to know how to lead a team effectively towards realising the vision and to be able to communicate the vision to them. A leader needs to make good decisions for the team. This may include making sacrifices for the overall good of the team, to put themselves second and the team first. There is so much information on varying leadership styles, so defining your own style into one of these categories should therefore be easy? I think not. It is extremely difficult to categorise a leader’s style into a specific category or designated style, as everyone is unique, and different situations often demand a different kind of leadership. […]
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Feb 27
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SUSTAINABILITY IS THE KEY TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

I feel fortunate to have learnt from many great leaders, in some cases by working closely with them, others I have admired from afar. Several are dynamic and inspirational, a few are not! Those who personally stir and inspire me are not necessarily the men and women who can boast purely bottom line success, but the leaders who do that and in addition, take the time and trouble to focus on succession planning. The cornerstone of good succession planning is identifying and then developing the next wave of leaders. Once they have been identified (for their passion and attitude, not just their aptitude), the leaders of tomorrow need to be given the opportunity to see their strengths. They should be shown how they can leverage them for personal development and the good of the company. Having worked with many successful leaders in their succession planning over the years, I have conceptualised and developed a unique foundation for succession planning that I term a personal balance sheet. If an individual is viewed and evaluated in terms of their personal equity, and given the chance to grow, they can contribute to the overall value of the business. Having a once-off inspirational leadership […]
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Feb 27
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YOUR SEASON TO EXCEL

“Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.”  Thomas J. Watson Sr I like to write in winter, when the warmth of the fire crackles quietly in the background, feeding my creativity, when I am not easily distracted to spend time in the garden, at the beach or walking outdoors. My favourite season is spring – when the blossoms emerge and the sun starts to shine, when there is an air of expectancy and promise. My seasons seem to be marked more by books than by weather. I co-write my first book, Raise your Game®, about the basics of business and life skills, in spring 2006. I thought that it would be printed, land in the book stores and hopefully enough people would buy it and use it. It took me by surprise – it was identified by the Education Department as a life orientation text book. We proceeded to then take the 13 chapters and convert them into 45-minute electronic teaching tools so that teachers could bring them to life in the classroom. Teachers, who are expected to prepare children for the world of business, a […]
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Feb 27
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KNOW YOURSELF

“Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always sceptical and tolerant.” HL Mencken, influential American writer   Leaders cannot lead others until they know how to lead themselves. Leadership ability hinges on self-awareness and self-mastery. You will need to know your assets, liabilities, how people perceive you, where your potential lies and what you can borrow from others to get you where you need to be. For some it may be really simple – they immediately know what their strengths are and can easily recognise and verbalise them. For others, they have to think a little harder. One good way to start is to create what I call a personal balance sheet. It forms the basis of a personal business plan that extends into a brand plan. You can start with a simple conversation that you have with yourself, asking what […]
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Feb 26
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WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?

“It is the fate of leadership to be misunderstood; for historians, academics, writers and journalists to reflect great lives according to their own subjective canon.” Nelson Mandela, former South African president and global icon   We all have our own perception of what leadership is, and what the role and responsibility entails. Leaders develop their own style, and are defined by their qualities and abilities. I have enjoyed debating the theory of leadership with both accomplished and aspirant leaders. The terms “leadership” and “management” are often used as synonyms but have different meanings. Leadership is about inspiring, management is about implementation. Leadership develops, management maintains. Leadership is more about people than systems, more about trust than control. Leadership is a vision, management a view. Leadership looks at the horizon whereas management looks at the bottom line. A leader originates, a manager imitates. A leader focuses on the challenge, and a manager accepts it. A leader needs to be effective, a manager efficient. Leadership can be called the ability to get others to follow. Managers do not always need to accomplish this. Leadership is a journey. It is a voyage of discovery that starts with unveiling your own potential, then developing […]
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Feb 26
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TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR PERFORMANCE

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States of America You as a leader need to convert potential into peak performance. If a team follows a leader, who or what does a leader follow? A vision. The vision unites the team and attracts necessary resources to reach the dream. These could be time, money or support. Once the vision is in place the leader needs to attract, maintain and retain talent in order to achieve success. I believe that converting performance into peak performance is the heartbeat of a business and a prime responsibility of a leader. In my personal experience of building brands, if every individual is developed to their optimum potential, then the business simultaneously performs at its peak, and the results are ultimately realised in the bottom line.   PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT   The term “performance management” can be used to describe the processes that manage behaviour and results. It can focus on the performance of an organisation, a department, employee, or even the processes that produce results. I consider performance management to be simply that – managing, […]
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Feb 26
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CORPORATE CULTURE

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Kevin Warren, CEO of Xerox, Canada   Leaders need to be concerned with the environment within which the organisation operates.  It is therefore essential to analyse what the demands of the new world of work will be so that you can create the right environment and corporate culture for the organisation of the future. Attention must be paid to both actions and attitudes. A leader needs to provide the right environment for his followers,  a friendly yet challenging environment that is tolerant of mistakes in which employees are empowered to make decisions, and employees are involved in the future of the company. The culture of an organisation contains within itself a philosophy. It is like the personality of a company. A leader cannot control a culture, only a system. They can, however, create and shape a culture and with adequate attention, ensure that each person in the team allows the culture to develop. The culture, in turn, plays a role in shaping the future of the company. Culture starts with the leaders, and it is their responsibility to provide an environment that fosters abundance, tolerance, security and stability, innovation and creativity, an entrepreneurial spirit and […]
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Feb 26
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RISK AND RESILIENCE

 “Resilience is the ability to recover or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” Online dictionary definition   A leader needs to allow a certain level of risk in their organisation, allowing their team to express themselves without feeling like they are taking a risk by doing so. They should also allow their followers to exhibit an entrepreneurial spirit. The leader needs to provide a platform that will allow his team to make mistakes, and to learn from them. They are valuable learning mechanisms if adequately recorded, analysed and learnt from. A level of calculated risk is essential in business – foster the enthusiasm and confidence that are necessary for this, and unequivocally support your team in their ventures. Encourage them to think and do differently. The culture of an organisation will define how the people cope with change, as the culture is often defined by the simple headline, “This is how we do it”. Give your team exposure to new challenges, a chance to knock their heads and learn the hard way. Don’t try to make things too easy. Never allow what can be termed protective parenting, making a situation easy short-term but not capacitating someone long term. Encourage a sense of […]
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Feb 26
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COMMUNICATION – THE NAME OF THE GAME

“It makes little difference how many university courses or degrees a person may own. If he cannot use words to move an idea from one point to another, his education is incomplete.” Norman Cousins, world peace advocate If an army marches on their stomachs, then surely an organisation marches on good communication. Communication is the area where most problems are experienced in a business. An organisation requires a communication plan, and an individual should have a communication component of his brand plan. The principles of communication lie in: A for accuracy, B for brevity and C for clarity – it is essential that information is accurate, brief and clearly understood. So often we say one thing and our audience hears and understands another. Many of my experience originate from my years in PR when it was my role to translate the leader’s vision into a palatable, easily-to-understand process for the staff and public. Problems in an organisation can often be traced back to poor communication. It is vital that optimum internal communication is cemented before communicating with a public audience. We need to acknowledge that of all the vast changes in the workplace, communication in particular has evolved drastically. It is […]
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Feb 26
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COMMUNICATING LIKE LEADERS

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” Stephen R. Covey, American author When one looks at where leaders go wrong on the simple things, often it goes back to communication. A team needs to know the vision and what they are heading for, and constant, professional communication is a competency that every good leader requires. Every leader needs to be able to write professionally, and to develop their own unique style. If you are likely to delegate a lot of your writing, e.g. thank-you notes and acknowledgments, then ensure that whoever is writing them is aware of your quirks and personalisations. There is nothing worse than receiving information in a personal letter that is so obviously impersonal. In a leadership role it is also vital that you give credit to whoever dreamt it or said it. If someone has a great idea or concept, or even a one-liner, tell others who thought it or said it. Plagiarism comes in many forms. PRAISE IN PUBLIC, CRITICISE IN PRIVATE Many people are reliant on regular validation, so no leader should assume that their team is going to be […]
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