management

Insurance Business NZ: How to build a more diverse team

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In this article for Insurance Business NZ, Michelle provides four tips on how to build a diverse team.  “The more alike people are, the more likely they are to think along the same lines; therefore, there is less room for debate, discernment and disagreement.” As organizations grapple with more complex decisions and an ever-increasing pace […]

GRC Professional: Why too much cohesion is bad for you – and the organisation

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In this article written for GRC Professional, Michelle explains that too much cohesion can be unhealthy. When team members are unwilling to challenge or disagree with each other, it’s a warning sign for leaders that something is wrong. There are many instances in which sections of corporate Australia haven’t lived up to community expectations. The […]

Facility Management: Strong leadership is influential leadership

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Managers wishing to build support for initiatives must have the ability to influence team members without relying on hierarchical power plays, writes Michelle in an article she wrote for Facility Management. Click here to read the article.

Are you all head and no heart?

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When I reflect on my corporate career there are a few leaders that stand out in helping to shape how I saw myself as a leader and my practice of being one. What I learned was that the best knew when to make ‘head’ based decisions, and when to think with their ‘heart’. It’s very easy […]

Have you stopped listening yet?

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As the world and organisations become more complex, the need for dialogue, understanding and the willingness to check your assumptions and listen to points of view you disagree with becomes even more important. A case in point. In November last year, there was controversy in the Australian Senate when a One Nation motion invoking the […]

Who is making up your mind for you?

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Consider this scenario… You’ve just been appointed to a new leadership position and you are excited about the opportunity, looking forward to meeting the new team and relishing the chance to demonstrate your value by making changes and getting progress underway. At this point, there’s one unexpected thing that can derail your progress, which may […]

Are you being too nice?

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When you think of someone who is nice what characteristics spring to mind? Perhaps it’s someone who is helpful, kind, generous and thoughtful. They are usually positive traits. However, as a leader if you are always seeking to be nice it can cause problems, particularly if the motivating drive behind your ‘niceness’ is a desire […]

Are you visible enough?

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Meetings, meetings and more meetings are a constant feature of the modern organisation, providing a challenge for leaders as to how and where they spend their time. It can be really easy to have every workday filled with back to back meetings, and little time for interaction with your team. You become the invisible leader. […]

Are you the worst boss you’ve ever worked for?

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There’s a saying that ‘People don’t leave their job, they leave their boss’. Regardless of where you sit in the organisational hierarchy, your relationship with your boss impacts you – be it productivity or satisfaction levels, or well-being. A UK study found that forty percent of survey participants didn’t think their boss was good at their job, […]

Want to be heard? Hear others first

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Ever wondered how many words the average person speaks a day?  Turns out it’s around 16000 for women, and 15500 for men. Curiously, there’s no research on how much of what we say is listened to or heard by the person or people it’s intended for. Research on this topic would be interesting because as […]