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Don't send a boy to do a man's job; Management 201...

The free dictionary explains the saying "don't send a boy to do a man's job" as; "Avoid assigning challenging tasks to those that are inexperienced or otherwise incapable of completing them." Sometimes this is easy to avoid - it's clear that a new recruit isn't up to speed yet. Other times however, it's not so easy... they're a mature staff member, you've poured a lot of training in! ...

A DIFFERENT reason to give positive feedback

The reason most often given for giving positive feedback is that it helps people feel acknowledged, valued and encouraged. If you've ever NOT received positive feedback, you'll know how important that is... not getting positive feedback can lead to feelings of being taken for granted and unappreciated and in turn, undermine trying hard in the first place. As Ken Blanchard brilliantly spells out in his gem-of-a-book about motivating teams, the two leading ways to acknowledge staff is through...

How to tell the difference between an excuse and a reason

The answer is surprisingly straightforward: >> An excuse is offered by someone trying to be excused from a bad thing >> A reason is offered by someone trying to help others understand why a bad thing happened but will ultimately let themselves be held accountable for the bad thing The distinction comes from the OAR//BED framework – a method for discerning whether someone’s behaviour is “above the line” or below it (this also works for reflecting on your own behaviour)....

Why Socrates was right; recounting the case for self-awareness

Originally written for Authentic Magazine, Nov 2019 “Know thyself” said Socrates. Regardless of what he actually meant, the modern case for “knowing thyself” (self-awareness) is well established – at least for most of us. Of those spheres of life where self-awareness is embraced, one of the foremost would have to be the business world where it is used to improve teamwork and boost productivity via various self-awareness assessments. Here too however, opinions vary widely as to the...

Week 1 of Lockdown; what managers can do for their people

This article was written March 30, 2020First things first!That according to Gallup’s largest poll on what followers most need (from their leaders), their needs are Stability, Hope, Compassion and Trust. These are perennial needs – they were here before Covid-19, they will be here afterwards, and they are needed now. There are many ways to deliver these needs in a Covid-19 world and this article will give 4 specific ideas....

What more to work is there for the Christian business owner?

It seems that many Christian business owners do not operate their business’s as if there is more, if even they are able to do all these three.1 To be fair, business is tough and it’s easy to end up chasing one’s tail paying bills, following up invoices, organising staff, keeping on top of workflow and doing all that needs to be done. But that is also true of other parts of our lives and yet we don’t let the busyness be the final word, we strive for what should be (eg: parenting, exercise...

Building "X-Factor" as an Outdoor Instructor

Note: This article was written for the New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Association How would you answer the question “What makes for a great instructor?” The answer I like to give is that “Great instructors have great SEX” where SEX is an acronym for three key ingredients; Safety, Education and X Factor. It goes without saying that great instructors are safe instructors and much of the effort over the first few years of your education and career is in honing those skills that keep both ...