Articles for Business leaders

December 2003

Hi ... & Merry Christmas

It can take a while and some careful thought to choose our gifts at Christmas. We have wanted to give you a gift of ideas.. and we have finally chosen some articles we hope will provoke your thoughts and help you lead. We've just finished wrapping them, so here they are.
A gift to you

Please enjoy the 4 articles (below)
Read them at your leisure.. there's enough here for more than one sitting.
We have included some different angles on Organsational Change; practical, skills based and holistic. As well, something for personal leadership, and an extra for golf lovers (sorry to all non golfers..a different recreational pursuit next time. Promise!)

Best Wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year. We hope you enjoy the opportunity for rest and reflection that comes at year end. Looking back, it has been a tougher year for us, perhaps our hardest of the past 7 years. Those challenges have provided great learning and we are raring to go for a great New Year. We look forward to working with you and your colleagues in 2004 .

During the summer break, there's a real risk to Australia's bush through fires. So, we'll be making a contribution to the Bush Heritage Fund who help preserve and manage our wilderness areas. Opportunity International also gets our Christmas support, with the great work they do in helping over 400,000 people to begin new enterprises in 3rd world countries through micro economic loans.

If you find something of interest in these articles, you might like to forward this link to a friend or colleague. Or send us your feedback. See you next issue ... due in Feb 04
And of course, please feel free to call us if you need help with a challenge of strategy and culture change

Kind regards
David Pointon

=== Outline of Articles === Click on heading for more

1. Culture and Strategy; The Yin & Yang of Corporate Growth –

Feature article The ancient philosophies of China, described in the ‘I Ching’ or Book of Change teaches Yin and Yang as the holistic principle of opposing forces. Applied to a corporate context, this suggests we focus our energies with balance on strategy and culture, and that failing to do so may limit the results of change

2. Facilitation skills; Framing gives Focus – Leadership skill

Your ability to communicate in order to achieve ‘buy-in’ and constructive decision making are key capabilities as a leader. These outcomes are often achieved through effective facilitation of meetings and group communication. In this article we will help develop your facilitation skills, specifically concentrating on Framing as a means of focus.

3. The Meeting is dead – Long live the Meeting - Practical

organisational change The traditional business meeting is dead. And if it hasn’t died in your business yet, prepare yourself for a sad passing? But there is no need to get despondent. By letting go of the Old meeting, you can make way for a new style of meeting. The results experienced by early adopters are showing measurable returns from the vast investment in human capital tied up in meetings across the business community.

4. Changing Ten Million Habits – Personal leadership; Book review

Despite its thirteen year vintage, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (Simon & Schuster) has chalked sales of over 10 million copies. With practical messages that are as relevant for today’s leaders as they were in 1990, here is a head’s up to encourage you to delve into this classic text on self leadership and change, so you glimpse why 10 million others have sought to change their habits.

5. Golf tip; The Short Game Wins – Something for golfers

Dave Pelz is the worlds leading short game and putting coach. His academy’s are attended by thousands of people each year, and the pro’s go to him to work on their putting and short game. Dave spent 3 years on the golf course following the pro’s and correlating players shot capability and their results. His stats. show that a player’s short game accuracy, more than their long game or putting accuracy, is the clearest determinant of winning scores.