Thoughts on Management Development

A recent coaching assignment did not turn out as expected. The coachee, a business development manager in a high technology firm, was in need of some “independent guidance”. Andrew was certainly confused and somewhat demoralized. After a number of years with the company, and feeling comfortable in his job, he was looking forward to promotion. Suddenly, a new boss, an outsider who took the job to which he had aspired, came on the scene. A newly installed appraisal system gave Andrew some feedback from his new boss which surprised and alarmed him: he needed to be more persuasive and charismatic; he wasn’t getting the best out of his people. More...

Culture: an Overview

There is a general understanding amongst managers in the UK that ‘culture' is something important. It is often viewed as a ‘given': something which is ‘there' and may be helpful to an organisation, or which may work against the achievement of objectives. There is usually a sense of mystery and of the unknowable about culture: we can never succeed in precisely defining the culture in our organisation – it is a kind of spirit floating in the background. More...

Strategy: Getting There

Most organisations in the UK have a strategy – just as most UK organisations think they should have a strategy. But is the strategy going to make a difference? The more important question, perhaps, is: could it make a difference? More...

What Managers Know

There tend to be three distinguishable perspectives in organisations: The perspective of top management; The middle management perspective;The perspective of supervisors.

The differences in these perspectives account for many of the problems in organisations: difficulties in communication, delays in implementation, and disagreements on organizational fundamentals, such as culture. More...

Traction for Senior Management Teams

Frequently, one finds that senior management teams, which are responsible for business units or similar organisation units, are unclear as to what the role of the management team, as a team, should be. The consequence frequently is that the team meets to discuss how to ‘get the desired results'. These results may be the agreed business objectives for the year, or key aspects of the business plan. The senior team focuses on specific metrics, and debates how to improve results against these metrics. More...