The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (“NICE”), which recently published some new guidelines on promoting mental wellbeing, estimates that stress, depression and anxiety is costing UK employers an estimated £23.3 billion per year.

By any stretch of the imagination, this is a huge figure and one which, when tackled, can add directly to the bottom line results of the organisation. Amongst its recommendations, NICE suggests:

• A strategic and co-ordinated approach to promoting employees’ mental wellbeing.
• Assessing opportunities for promoting employees’ mental well being and managing risks.
• Looking at opportunities for flexible working.
• Training and re-enforcing the role of line managers.
• Supporting smaller businesses and medium sized businesses.

At a time when many organisations are facing real pressures financially, there could be a golden opportunity to improve people and financial performance.

For more information visit the NICE website

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

1. People want to see results.
2. People want to be effective and want to do well.
3. People want to be kept in the picture about what is happening and what is on the horizon.
4. People want to be appreciated for what they are doing and are trying to achieve.
5. People want feedback on how they are doing.

So what other top tips would you add to those in team leadership roles?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

Having been working with expatriates both in coaching and in cross-cultural training I’ve seen that the quest for leadership when working overseas is likely to require more patience and effort.

In general the basic tenets of being a leader: deep understanding of people, good communication skills, ability to impact, etc are true wherever your job takes you.  However, when you move to work overseas some of these tenets take on a whole different meaning.  Here are seven tips to help you succeed in your leadership journey in expatriation:

Tip 1: Before you expatriate, take the time to read at least one work of fiction written by a writer from a country that you are going to (and set in that country).  Even though works of fiction are fiction, they will still help you understand the value systems of the country and of people that populate it.

Tip 2:  Research some proverbs that come from that country.  Proverbs have a wonderful way of telling the outsiders about the belief systems of the country.

Tip 3: Go through a cross-cultural training that will help you compare your cultural variables with those of the country.  Make sure you come out with tools that will help you bridge the gaps you may discover.

Tip 4: Leave your assumptions and judgments at home.  Many of us have clichés about different countries and arriving with those clichés will make it that much harder for you to adjust and excel.  Keeping an open mind is essential when you work with people from another culture.

Tip 5: Observe the dynamics around you.  Take the time to notice how people in your office interact, what feels important to them, how they communicate, and what “cultural habits” exist in your place of work/business.  Whether or not those “cultural habits of working” agree with yours is irrelevant here.  Your job is to first notice  and then to create changes (see Tip 7).

Tip 6:  Remember “I don’t know what I said until I know what you heard”.  This is especially true when communicating across cultures.

Tip 7:  Create an impact by bringing about change (if it doesn’t destroy the fundamental fabric of the society’s values).  Once you have observed enough, you’ll know which behaviors are the result of cultural habits and which ones are the result of cultural values.  Behaviors will be easier to change and impact, if they are simply habits, but harder if they are rooted as part of the value system.

Becoming a leader while on expatriate post and making a difference in the lives of people in other countries can be a very rewarding experience.  If your leadership journey can use help and support, I always recommend working with a cross-cultural coach.

Margarita Gokun Silver is an Expatriate and Cross-Cultural Coach and Consultant.  She works with executives and individuals to help them become more successful and effective in other countries/cultures.  For more information, please visit the Global Coach Center website at www.GlobalCoachCenter.com

I guess if you are reading this blog post, you are either a leader, an aspiring leader or someone with a real interest in leadership. So what questions do you need to think about when determining whether you are a leader or aspiring leader?

1. I am the type of person who makes things happen.
2. I see opportunities to take things forward within the organisation.
3. I influence the opinions and actions of others in a positive way.
4. I actively look for ways of helping others to achieve more success.
5. The people that are drawn towards me are highly motivated and success orientated.
6. I provide ideas that help the organisation.
7. I am generally positive even in the more challenging times.
8. When I make commitments, I generally follow through on them.
9. I am an ambassador or stand up for the organisation I work for.
10. I genuinely believe in myself.

At the end of the day, there are many things that contribute to an effective leader and this list should give you a useful start point in determining your leadership potential.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

My last blog post highlighted Britain’s 10 most admired companies. This blog post highlights the most admired by sector. Source: Management Today December 2009

Banking: HSBC
Building materials and merchants: Kingspan
Chemicals: Johnson Matthey
Construction - Heavy: Balfour Beatty
Construction - Home: Berkley Group
Engineering - Aerospace and Defence: Rolls-Royce
Engineering and Machinery: Rotork
Food Producers and Processors: Cadbury
Health and Household: Glaxosmithkline
Leisure and Hotels: Intercontinental Hotels
Life Assurance and Insurance: Admiral
Media: BSkyB
Oil, gas and extractive: BP
Paper and Packaging: DS Smith
Property: British Land Co
Restaurants, Pubs and Breweries: Diageo
Retailing - Food and Personal: Tesco
Retailing - General: Dunelm
Retailing - Specialist: Majestic Wines
Software and Computer Services: Autonomy
Speciality and Other Finance: Icap
Support Services: Capita Group
Telecommunications: Vodafone
Transport: easyJet
Utilities: Centrica

I wonder who you would place at the top of each sector. Why not leave comments with your thoughts?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

A table of the most admired companies was published in Management Today magazine. This was based on peer evaluation. So who was in the top 10 of the 2009 Most Admired Companies?

1. BSkyB
2. Tesco
3. Johnson Matthey
4. Cadbury
5. GlaxoSmithKline
6. Rolls-Royce
7. BP
8. BG Group
9. Diageo
10. Cobham

I wonder who you would include in your top 10 Most Admired Companies? Why not leave a comment with your views?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

The December 2009 edition of Management Today highlights 10 key ways to toughen up.

The first, and very wise, tip is not to take it personally. It is all too easy to fall into this trap if things are not going well.

The second dimension is about self-belief and the importance of believing in yourself. Seeing this did not surprise me as people may give the perception of being confident externally when they feel just the opposite.

Next on the list was accepting that it is okay to make mistakes. Truth is we learn much more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. When was the last time you stopped and reflected when things went well?

Fourth on the list was the importance of not making too many mistakes. Ultimately, your successes need to outnumber your mistakes.

Next on the list was the importance of focus. With all of the advances of technology, it is vital to retain focus and avoid getting distracted.

Sixth was all about holding your nerve. Sometimes, if you are a manager, you need to stand strong, even where your natural tendency would be to do the opposite.

Number seven was all about avoiding comparing yourself with others. There will always be people who are better than you at something. It does not mean that you are not a competent individual overall.

At number eight, they suggest letting go of anger. It is difficult to move forward if all of your energies are channelled into resentment rather than results.

The ninth tip was to take a few risks. This is something, especially amongst professional people, which is a challenge. When faced with a risk, ask yourself what’s the worst that could happen? In few situations is it life or death.

Finally, the importance of switching off was highlighted. It is easy for our work and career to become all consuming, so learn to switch off. Remember too that how you do it is personal preference; there is no right or wrong way.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

I don’t know about you but have you ever come across a team where there is perfect harmony and agreement all of the time?  Conflict on teams from time to time is unavoidable in my experience.

When thinking about conflict, it is useful to make a distinction between productive and unproductive conflict.  Productive conflict usually comes from a desire to move things forward.  Unproductive conflict by comparison is generally about stalling or preventing progress.

So if you are a team leader, how can you turn conflict into opportunity?

Set boundaries

Just like children, adults in the work place will try to push the boundaries at times.  If you are the leader make a point of setting boundaries around what is acceptable and unacceptable when it comes to dealing with tensions on the team.

Get people to actively listen

You might have heard the phrase that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.  We are often much more interested in getting our point of view across rather than properly listening to others.  As the leader make a point of ensuring people pay attention and really actively listen to what others are saying.

Be the role model

As the leader you set the tone for the team.  If you show people through your behaviours and actions how to deal with conflict they will start to put some of that into practice.  Show people how to turn conflict into opportunity.

Teach people how to give constructive feedback

Picking holes in other folk’s ideas is easy to do but achieves very little.  While giving constructive feedback is more difficult it can really help to create new possibilities and options.  Invest the time in getting your team good at giving and receiving constructive feedback.

Bottom Line – You can’t eliminate conflict but you can use it in a way that it contributes to rather than hinders success.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers and improve team working.  Find out more by clicking here

A new year presents a golden opportunity to take stock and set out plans for great success in the year ahead.  For many, achieving the results that they want as a leader or manager is an important area, not least because of the personal rewards it brings.  In reality, success as a leader or manager does not happen by chance, so what are the x key questions you need to answer to achieving greater success as a leader or manager in 2010?

What do you want to achieve by the end of 2010?

Seems like a really easy question but in truth it is one of the most challenging to answer.  When people sit down to formulate their response they often fall into the trap of coming up with vague statements that are meaningless.  To overcome this, take the time to write out in some detail what you want to achieve by the end of 2010.  Remember that your career does not operate in isolation from the rest of your life so think broadly.

Why do you want to achieve more success in 2010?

Mark Fritz the author of a number of books talks about the importance of the why being bigger than the what.  In essence what he is saying is that unless the reasons for wanting to achieve something compelling are crystal clear they will never become more than aspirations.  The why is what provides the drive and motivation to keep going no matter what the barriers are.  For each thing that you want to achieve keep asking and answering why you want to achieve that particular goal.

What detailed plans do you have?

Knowing what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve something is great but unless it is supported by a detailed plan or action steps the chances of success are greatly reduced.  For each goal that you want to achieve list out the series of steps that you need to take to achieve it.  This does not need to be 100% complete at the start and you can add to it as new ideas for actions come to mind.

What sacrifices are you ready to make?

In life and in our careers everything is about choices.  By saying yes to something we are saying no to something else.  To achieve anything of significance is likely to require you to make some tough choices.  For example, you might need to take a short term secondment to get specific experience that requires you to spend time apart from the family.  This may or may not be a sacrifice you are willing to make.  Being clear about the sacrifices you are willing to make improves decision making.

What sacrifices are you unwilling to make?

We all have our boundaries or things that we are not willing to do.  Don’t see this as a weakness but instead see it as a strength.  If there are certain things that you know that you are unwilling to do, be clear about them and use them and stick to your guns.

What changes do you need to make?

They say that insanity is keeping doing the same things and expecting different results.  If you have taken the time to reflect on the last 12 months you will more than likely have identified some changes that you need to make in 2010. These changes might be about the environment in which you work, the staff you lead or manage or project.  They could just as easily be changes that you personally need to make in say your attitude, outlook or skill set.

What support do you have?

Trying to doing it all alone is tough even if you are the most motivated person around.  Successful people know that it is important to have some form of support in place.  This can take many forms, including working with a coach, finding a mentor, forming a mastermind group or a professional network to name just a few.

What follow up do you have in place?

One of the most important things to have in place if you are going to achieve more success as a leader or manager in 2010 is a system of follow up or accountability.  This simply involves letting someone else know what you are aiming to achieve by the end of 2010 and having some sort of way of regular reporting on progress.   

Bottom Line – Achieving greater success as a leader and manager does to happen by chance.  What questions do you need to answer to achieve more success in 2010?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve results as leader and managers.  For more information click here

Like a lot of the UK, where I live is covered in snow and experiencing icy conditions.  As I was out clearing the driveway the best I could to get the car out, I noticed what was and what was not happening around me and it got me thinking about self leadership lessons that would could learn from the snowy conditions.

The first thing I noticed is that very few people were taking any sort of personal responsibility.  Very few people were out clearing snow.  Motorists who ventured out were often not even clearing their windscreens properly before setting out on the roads.

The next thing I noticed was that many wanted to try and take shortcuts.  For example, try and force their way out of the snow rather than take a few minutes to prepare the area for their exit from their driveway or kerbside.

Thirdly when I was out on the road, people, despite being told over and over again about the importance of being careful, in some instances people drove as if it was a normal day with perfect conditions.

Finally, we rarely acknowledge the extreme efforts that many people are making to make sure that services and goods we need are available despite the conditions.  This includes the emergency services, hospitals, council roads people but also people like lorry drivers who make sure that supermarkets get the stocks needed.

I wonder what other lessons you would add to the learning that we can take from the current adverse weather conditions?  Leave a comment with your ideas.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to be highly effective leaders and managers.  For more information click here