As a self confessed ‘girl geek’, when Social Media Networking came along, I couldn’t resist getting involved. However, as my time spent on the different media started to get longer and longer, I decided that I had to have a strategy for how I used it. After talking to many different people, and trial and…
Managing IT people is easy, right? If only! Although IT has now been with us for many years, we still have a number of misconceptions about how to manage it effectively. You may THINK you understand what IT people need, but you probably don’t understand as well as you could. How many of these Myths…
Having started out my career as first a building site engineer, then a software programmer, all I really wanted was to become a manager. Managers have status. Managers get big pay packages with company cars. I took some time off, and enrolled onto an MBA. The MBA was intellectually stimulating and full of fascinating case…
Inside every organisation is a wealth of knowledge just bursting to get out and be shared; with quite a lot of inside people’s heads. This can be fine while they are still there, but you know how it is, someone leaves, and their knowledge goes with them. If only there was some way to capture…
Jargon management – IT Speak IT Jargon? Almost all experts in every field have their own terms to describe what they do as a short cut to communication within their own expert group. Unfortunately, they often assume everyone else understands these terms, which they rarely do. No one will own up to it of course…
When planning any important activities, projects or the future of our organisations, the historic approach has always been to set long term goals. We determine where we want to be in say, 3 or 5 years’ time, and set our plans accordingly. The problem with this approach is that the pace of change is increasing,…
Which is most important for YOU will depend on your business, your team members and what you want them to do. For example, if your team members already know each other but haven’t worked together as team before and you need them to work together on something crucial to the overall success of the business…
The importance of body language According to some sources, 55% of communication is visual, 38% is vocal and only 7% is the words you use. However true you believe this to be, there is no doubt that your body language is an extremely important part of how you communicate with your fellow team members. Because…
Poor managers mean spiralling costs, lousy performance and miserable people. Here are some examples to watch out for (and what to do about them!) Do you have any of these? The Blood SuckerThese Managers aren’t very self-aware. They wait to be told what to do and how to do it. And, then when this doesn’t…
A good mentor can be invaluable in helping you to succeed – in business, in your career or to solve a particular problem. However, many people find themselves mentors who do not have training or experience in mentoring. I was at a mentoring event recently (I was the expert on the panel), and two different…