With the rapid changes in technology and globalization the past decade has seen organizations of all types undergo change more than ever before. The experiences of other organizations that have undergone change initiatives large and small serve to teach us about what works and what doesn’t work when trying to introduce and implement change. Though varying sources stress competing factors as critical to the success or failure of these initiatives, certain underlying themes are common among theories. In this case, we examine the “don’ts” of implementing change in an organization. …

Introducing change can be a pretty messy affair, and may well open a Pandora’s Box of never ending problems. The main resistance to change is people, for people are creatures of habit, and tend to prefer staying within their comfort zone, the status quo. As such, it is pertinent that as leaders and managers, we carefully manage the introduction of change in a way that can produce maximum effects for our team.
In this leadership lesson, we shall look at five principles that we can follow as we set out to …

When moving on to head new teams, it is often tempting to dive in to find similarities between the new team and the previous team. Indeed, for some of us our previous team may be our only reference point for us to base any decisions or comparisons on. While it is certainly effective to find similarities between teams to guide our actions and decisions, more importantly it is crucial to note the differences between the teams that may potentially make the difference.
We have previously discussed the fatal mistake a leader …

“How To Manage Conflict: Turn All Conflicts Into Win-Win Outcomes” by Peg Pickering is a useful little book with some practical suggestions for handling conflict. It is aimed at the manager who must deal with conflict with employees, vendors, and customers, but some of the information is practical for other settings as well.
It’s a short book and very easy to read. And while it does not go into depth regarding conflict resolution theories like some texts, it does provide simple, practical advice that you can implement right now without knowing …

It is often tempting to seek a ‘perfect’ leadership model, and use stick to it religiously. Such a model certainly has its appeal, as it would mean a strategy that would work 100 percent of the time, and this would certainly prevent much unnecessary failure and setbacks.
However, we must realise that such a ‘perfect’ model simply does not exist, for leadership is certainly not a straightforward process that may be carried out by robots. Leadership is a delicate process involving the leader, his team, the work the team does and …