Blog

Imagine if teams were cars racing around a racetrack, where lap times are a performance indicator. All of a sudden a warning light comes on in the dashboard. The driver (leader) sees it but ignores it. The technician tells the driver, I need to have a look at that warning light, I think I know the issue, but it will take time to fix. The driver says, sorry, haven’t got the time I need to be on the racetrack. The technician says, well, if we don’t fix it now it might turn into a bigger issue later in the race. If that car was your team, what would you do?​

Being able to recognise where your team members are at will assist you to effectively guide them, teach then and help then progress.

Following on from my first blog on Guidance Points for Leaders, I found another document in my Army files with another 27 guidance points for young leaders from the RSM.

In the induction process for my first posting, as I was about the be put in front of 30 soldiers that would be mine to lead, I was given a 3 page document that I still have with me today.

That forceful style of negotiation you see on the movies should stay there. In the Army, they taught us that the best negotiators were creative problem-solvers and that’s exactly true for business. I wasn’t born a natural at negotiation and I firmly believe that you don’t need to be. Anyone can be taught it - of course, like any art form it takes practice but that’s what this set of rules is for. Read these, absorb them, apply them in negotiation situations and you’ll notice a difference immediately. Yes, they’re military tactics, but ultimately they’re habit-forming tactics that anyone can learn.