Blog

By Leon Gettler

Managers have the difficult task of overseeing diverse teams in the workplace. They have to find ways to make them as productive, creative and efficient as possible. They have to understand the way different office personality types operate, working out ways to motivate them and keep them working together.

By Leon Gettler Managing resistance to change is a challenging job. This resistance can be covert or overt, it might be organised or individual. Realising that they don’t like or want a change, some employees could resist publicly, or they could do it verbally. Some might just feel uncomfortable. They might do it through passive resistance.

By Leon Gettler Every acquisition looks great on paper. But studies show that most of them fail, usually because of poor cultural fit and bad implementation by managers. Buying a business or getting bought is difficult terrain to navigate. If it is done badly, without due diligence and careful planning, it will burden the business with horrendous costs. Done well, it is a win-win.

Poor management of time prevents managers from reaching their full potential. As a manager, many conflicting demands might be made on you.

By Leon Gettler Crises happen. They happen in every organisation and to all managers. They can happen in people’s professional lives or they can happen in their personal life. A crisis can change the entire trajectory of a manager’s career. That’s why they need to be managed carefully. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, John Baldoni says managers need to step back and figure out what’s going on. They should also act promptly but not hurriedly. There is a difference.

By Leon Gettler

Redundancy is now a fact of life. With companies restructuring everywhere, whether they’re under pressure to cut costs or readjusting following a merger and acquisition, people are being laid off. Unfortunately, it is a normal part of conducting business in today’s economy. Indeed, if you haven’t been made redundant at some stage, some might see that as unusual.The big problem is how many are surprised when it happens to them. How do they deal with it?

By Leon Gettler

A 360 degree performance appraisal has become a standard evaluation of an employee’s job performance by all those around him or her. It involves analysis of their recent successes, failures, strengths and weaknesses and looks at how suitable they would be for promotion or further training. A 360 degree appraisal also involves self-assessment by the employee. Generally, they work best for businesses where employees regularly collaborate or work in teams.

Career planning is an ongoing process of thinking about your interests, values, skills and preferences.

CEOs reveal some of the most successful business decisions come from having great staff. By Amy Birchall The most crucial role in any enterprise is usually the CEO because she or he is responsible for determining strategy and providing leadership. And while the choices they make may not always have ideal outcomes (as the leadership teams at Lehmann Brothers, General Motors – before their 2009 Chapter 11 bankruptcy – and Kodak may attest), each business leader has a unique approach to decision-making. Take Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for example.

ABC managing director Mark Scott has succeeded by embracing change, writes Tom Skotnicki Few chief executives can include "school teacher" on their resume. The ABC's Mark Scott may have always been destined for the executive ranks, but he did not take a direct pathway. Apart from teaching, he worked as a political adviser, spent several years studying overseas and was education editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. His rapid rise at Fairfax ultimately caused some resentment, but few realised that Scott had management in his DNA.