Lesson 5. Consistency is crucial to trust and understanding. As you may have gathered with previous posts, having Jake in our house has been a learning experience. One of the greatest areas of learning has been in the art of consistency across all members of the family. Like most dog owners, we wanted Jake to be able to sit on command; when he is on the lead and at the side of the road,...

Greet your team members like you are meeting them for the first time every day. This lesson sounds over the top and cheesy, but give me the opportunity to explain. I am sure that you have seen dogs like Jake before; as soon as I get home there is a huge wag of the tail, more jumping than I would like, and a desperate need to be patted. There is no doubt in my mind that he is happy to s...

Listening and Being Present are Important to you Team Having a team leader that is motivated, passionate, driven and excitied by making change are all wonderful things to have when you are in a team. Equally, it is very comforting to know that your Team Leader is there to listen and provide advice when you need it - it provides the 'steady hand' that is required to guide a team through ...

You need to protect your team from outside forces Being the leader of a team brings with it certain responsibilities. The responsibility and accountability of leading others is one of the greatest privileges that can be asked of a person. It can also be one of the greatest challenges. With Jake in our family, it has reminded me of the requirement to look and act like the leader at all ...

Lesson 1 - The team rules need to be understood and applied by all members of the team. The addition of our dog Jake to the household has forced us to consider our house rules and what will be tolerated / not tolerated by all members of the family. Would Jake be an inside or outside dog? What rooms will Jake be allowed in? How do we deal with discipline issues with the dog? How...

Jake is the newest member of our team / family. He is an 18 month old labradoodle (pictured) and the last 15 months have been an exercise in joy, commitment, frustration and persistence. When I think on the impact our new member has had on the rest of the family, I have realised that it is not very different to a new person entering a team in business. I have also realised that animals ...

There are some days when I struggle to get out of bed. I live in Melbourne, Australia, which is the middle of winter and the sun doesn’t get up until 7.30am in the morning. I am not alone; several million people live in my city so I am not alone – but there are days when knowing you are one of many doesn’t make it any easier! I woke to this thought this morning and was reminded of an ac...

I must admit to feeling disappointed. As a leadership and team development facilitator, I look for examples in media / corporate life, politics and personal experience to illuminate key points I want to discuss and raise in training. I have been reviewing the key examples that I use for points on vision, personal ethics, integrity, trust, responsibility and have come to realise that not...

I must confess to being slightly sport obsessed, using sporting references in training and facilitation, so it is no real surprise that it ends up in my blog as well. Last night saw the Queensland Maroons defeat the NSW Blues again, resulting in a 6th straight series win for Queensland. It also marked the last time the Maroons captain, Darren Lockyer, would play in a State of Origin ser...

I love my LinkedIn discussion groups. Groups of like-minded individuals from around the world discussing (often far more articulately than I can!) topics that interest them; for me that topic is most often leadership. One of the members of the Center for Creative Leadership group, Sarandeep Singh asked: ‘What is one KEY attribute, that you would look up to in a "Leader"... and why?’ &...