Brash Consulting

Now to Lead when the Honeymoon’s Over..

LFB — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:33:45 +0000

Barack Obama was inaugurated as President of the United States amid much emotion hope and optimism. If one compares his famous acceptance speech on Election Day with the speech he made on Inauguration Day, the contrast is striking and relevant to all of us who lead change. His “Yes We Can” campaign stirred, inspired and seduced his people and for the record I believe he is authentic in his desire to bring about change in his country and greater peace to the world. However, it was only once he was truly in the chair he spoke of the critical need for people to pull together, to temper their enthusiasm with realism, to contemplate the enormity of the task before them all and remind them it would indeed take much time. Obama knows the importance of Expectations Management.

Some who are inclined to greater cynicism would say he trivialised the challenge until he had won the race. However he had to deploy one of the most fundamental of strategies in early ‘therapy’ for people whose esteem and efficacy was low - the “transfer of optimism” (see Gerard Egan, the father of counselling therapy).

Obama faced staunch public opposition in Congress this week; accused of lying. He responded rather than reacted, a trait of a leader high in Emotional Intelligence yet the opposition was very public and very real. A leader has to be willing to do the hard stuff, despite the discomfort they create and the resistance they may face.

In a world where young people demand low ‘power distance’ between themselves and their bosses and where engagement is prized, how challenging to strike the balance between being a leader and a friend; how critical to manage expectations and not put ourselves continually in a position of having to defend and apologise or backtrack. These are some of the skills of strategic influence and they must be enacted authentically to have any chance of sustained success.

Will organisations do the predictable thing and slash PD spending?

LFB — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:11:14 +0000

Based on conversations with clients who compare last year to this year it appears that their organisations have been reasonably mature about budget on PD but will demand huge accountability in how that money is being spent.

In an era of skills shortage and with capable and hard working but demanding Gen Y’s in the workforce, organisations that have decided not to invest in their people, as a talent retention strategy but also as a way to maximise performance in lean times, do so at their peril. As far as most workers are concerned, this one or two year period of bad economic times is but a transitory blip on their radar with decades still to serve in the workforce and they will want to be well positioned for any career opportunities that come their way.

Many of our clients have undertaken comprehensive reviews of their OD and L&D initiatives to ensure they are spending their money where it counts. Almost all of them said they had had their budget revised down in the second half of the year. However it got them thinking creatively about how they can achieve the biggest impact with their L&D dollar and strategically, put more and more responsibility onto learners and external consultants to ensure the organisation derives exceptional value for money. At Brash Consulting we’ve enjoyed meeting the challenge and look forward to next year.

What’s the word at your workplace in relation to L&D focus for 2009?

Tools of Trade or Time Waster Traps?

LFB — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:47:39 +0000

There has been a well-publicised explosion in the interest in social networking systems like Facebook. While FB is described as a "social networking tool”, many employers are now complaining that the compulsive curiosity of human beings, the constant stimulation and distraction provided by new posts and invitations is becoming a workplace productivity nightmare.

In the old days one occasionally caught a staff member playing Solitaire on the computer. With email, internet, laptops, PDA's/blackberries and SMS becoming an increasingly accepted form of business communication, the opportunities for these to be exploited in work time is rife. Employees could always make and take personal calls so non-work activity has always been a feature in workplaces but what is reasonable? Some would argue that the desire to do these non-work things in work time is simply a symptom of disengaged and de-motivated staff and that if the employer was doing a better job of inspiring them, they would be more committed. Another argument is that if they didn’t use facebook they would be chatting by the water cooler and taking extended smoke breaks.

Have you encountered a serious problem where you work? Is it unjustly harsh to outlaw personal phone calls, filter access to facebook, My Space, You Tube etc? How should we be measuring productivity? By face time or by output and quality?

Would love to hear your comments as a modern outworking of abuse of such tools could become performance management issues.

Improving the workplace climate for all employees

LFB — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:27:54 +0000

Brash Consulting is a Melbourne based boutique consulting practice specialising in organisational psychology and organisation development. We assist large and medium-size organisations with a presence here and in other parts of the Asia Pacific region to achieve business objectives by:

Advising senior management on ways to catalyse performance and “discretionary effort” in staff
Coaching and training leaders and managers to inspire ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things
Identifying factors that perpetuate resistance to change, workplace pessimism and cynicism
Working with individual staff to develop their emotional intelligence, esteem and efficacy so they can enjoy more balanced, healthier lives and relationships including those outside work
Identifying and tackling bad behaviour, unfair treatment, disregard for organisational values, and relationship breakdowns that compromise culture, erode employee engagement and thwart organisational attempts to be true employers of choice.