applied know how
The hardest move I ever had to make was moving from a functional head- in my case Sales Director- to General Manager. And to be honest it was the transition that I was least prepared for.
Looking back on my previous companies, I believe that this move is the most traumatic to job candidates primarily because many of the skills that led them to be great functional heads are redundant as a new General Manager.… Read more
When starting on new business projects its great that everyone knows and understands their role in the project.
I am currently involved in an Education project that isn’t really going anywhere as people are a little confused over what their roles are.
The insight into what’s your role is the be very clear on the specific levels of engagement on a project and ensure everyone knows what role they play AND engage in a way appropriate to their role.… Read more
The hardest skill, I believe, for a new manager, is the skill NOT to micromanage.
Congratulations, you’ve been promoted, typically because you have been great at what you did. And now you probably have several people working for you, that you know are worse than you in your previous role. The temptation- I was tempted- was to actively take over what they are all doing and to ensure their performance meets your previous standards by micro-managing.… Read more
I’ve spent a good part of my business life trying to get fickle consumers to remember the brands I work for.
We work within organisations to hone strategy and to create a great brief for our creative agencies to come up with fantastic advertising to persuade consumers and then align the commercial activities to create a great experience for our consumers.… Read more
I remember many many meetings with my Managers where they (attempted) to give me feedback. When they needed to deliver negative feedback, they often used the technique called the Feedback Sandwich, some specific positive feedback, the negative feedback in detail and then follow up with some more general positive feedback.
Initially I thought this was great as I completely ignored the negative bits and basked in their positive comments- until I realized they didn’t really mean the positive bits, there were there just for display- it was the negative part that counted.… Read more