Author Archives

I have worked in International development, and with respected International development agencies, for over 20 years.
I continue to get fascinated by what brings and takes away EFFECTIVENESS in both People and Organisations.
I'm especially interested in helping organisations and people become effective at what they do.
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Are you an effective and efficient task manager?
Talk to any white-collar worker and their gripe list will read like: workload, chronically full email inbox, thin and stretched teams in departments, ‘monster’ bosses that never think about the welfare of their staff, working late and on weekends. It is… Read More ›
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Do you run effective & efficient meetings?
“Ask any group of managers in any country in the world to list their three most time-consuming activities. Invariably, ‘meetings’ will appear among the three. I have asked this question of more than 200 groups, and in every case but… Read More ›
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Effective leadership – lessons from Facebook
There is a lot of research and literature on the subject of leadership that I on many occasions believe leadership and whatever it entails, is a gamble. If leadership is gambling, what then creates effective and, therefore, successful leaders? Well,… Read More ›
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The bad side of effectiveness
Apparently, for you and me to acquire the certification effective, at what we think and do, requires us to deliver expected outcomes for self and organisations. Really simple, is it not? There are many references to effectiveness: in strategic plans, scientific… Read More ›
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How leaders can turn a ‘risk-taking culture & failure’ into an asset
Many of you reacted to my blog last week: ‘It is not bad to fail’ with surprise, disdain, affirmation, and in some cases confusion. How can leaders ensure organisational effectiveness when failing at the same time? One of you had… Read More ›
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It is not bad to fail!
People hate ‘failing’ and will do everything not to associate with perceived failure. I suppose, failure takes something away from people and as such we hate it. The usual human response to failure is: to deny, hide, repackage, massage, or… Read More ›
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The INGO modus-operandi: hyper supermarket, Department store, or Boutique? – Part 3
Friends, here comes the third and final blog in the series. Together, we have traversed INGO configurations over the last three weeks from the INGO being a hyper supermarket, departmental store and finally boutique. We have also oriented this blog… Read More ›
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The INGO modus-operandi: Hyper-supermarket, Department store, or Boutique? – Part 2
The first blog in this series of three (3) concluded that the INGO, at least in the East-Africa region, mostly operates like a hyper-supermarket. A hyper-supermarket, with all the territorial and diverse product range characteristics of this private sector giant. It… Read More ›
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The INGO modus-operandi: Hyper-supermarket, Department store, or Boutique? – Part 1
This is the first in a three (3) series blog, that discusses the modus-operandi of the International Non-Government Organisation (INGO), specifically in the East African region. This first blog in the series explores how the orthodox INGO operates in this part… Read More ›
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Leadership qualities to fix the development industry – My Six (6)!
In an increasingly fast-moving world, where digital technological advances enable extremely fast communication from any place on earth, success as well as failure come and go at the same speed. Cut-throat competition, facilitated by a fluid and fast-moving business environment,… Read More ›