Tag Archives: Management

Women set to rule the workplace

How weird that this article should pop up on my computer screen five minutes after I posted an introduction to myself! Not that I happen to think MDs should “rule” their companies – guide would be a better term, in my opinion – but the coincidence really is peculiar. Anyway, what do you think? Is the glass ceiling really shattering or not? With thanks to Yahoo.

Apparently, women are increasingly going to challenge the male dominance of the workplace and will seek out organisations that support them, a report claims.

Women are set to rule the global workplace over the next few years with a record number of graduates prepare to enter the workforce.

A paper released by Regus, the world’s largest provider of flexible workspace, confirms there will be an influx of female talent and that over the next three years 70 per cent of graduates will be female.

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The five steps to leading a great team

Really, it couldn’t be this simple, could it? Yes, it is. Follow these five rules, and your new team will be productive, happy and support you.

OK. You’ve been through the interview process, done your due diligence, and have an understanding of why there was an opening.

Perhaps the last guy got a promotion, won the lotto, or was simply not great at the job – whichever way you’ve landed the role, you’ve been brought in to replace them. So how do you get your new staff to accept you as their new leader? In my experience, there are five simple steps you need to follow.

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The black art of “project rescues” explained

In my career I have focussed a lot of energy and time on “project rescues” – the bigger the problem, the more hostile the stakeholders, the worse the management controls, the greater the lack of belief, the more complex it becomes to disentangle the situation, the stronger the blame game … yes, you get the picture.

I know so many Project Managers who simply bail out when they see a project going wrong, or if they’re brought in to fix a situation up that’s gone to poo then they won’t go anywhere near these situations. They don’t want to deal with someone else’s stuff up. They think they’re going to fail too. They’re scared it’s going to destroy their career. “Too much risk” they mutter, and slink off, Gollum-like, into the darkness. Continue reading

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Important people doing important stuff that no-one else could possibly understand? No, I don’t think so.

Hmmm … see the similarity here?

So, Dear Reader, what do skyscrapers, space shuttles and soothsayers have in common?

Well, mention delivering change or project management and every organisation you talk to has a horror story to tell.

Many would even have you believe that it’s some sophisticated, difficult and dangerous black art practised by highly educated and well-trained soothsayers carrying project charters, GANTT charts and detailed schedules. They’re all building skyscrapers, launching space shuttles and merging banks.

Run away! Run away now!

Yet successful project and change management is really not difficult.

In truth, delivering change is a simple and largely predictable process and successful change is the intelligent application of that process – no matter how tough or complex the project seems.

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Chanting naked in the bush… err, maybe not

Stop. Take stock. Move forward.

How long has it been since you stopped and took a couple of deep breaths, pondered your navel, and performed a stock-take on life? Can you still locate your navel? See anything below it?

I know I haven’t done such a stock-take for more than a decade and, I’m sure, probably far longer. If you take a look at my work history (http://au.linkedin.com/in/marktipping) you’ll see I’ve been self-employed, either as a contractor or a business owner, for basically the past 18 years. And that’s been a whole heap of work.

Like many, I’ve ridden the feast vs famine tides. I’ve lived a life that, on reflection, was far more in tactical mode than strategic – get the next contract, find someone to deliver an outcome, keep paying the bills, and try to steal a few days here and there to call a holiday. All the while knowing there was so much more to do and so little spare capacity to deliver it.

Heck, I planned to take six months off in 2001 after my first daughter was born, but my good mate Stocko had me at a seminar on the Gold Coast the day I left work – only to then spend the next six months, not with my new daughter, but working on creating a new business. Then factor in my life’s other noises: an acrimonious relationship with the ex; two pre-teen daughters; and, step-fatherhood. There’s a lot of sh*t going on!

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