Showing posts with label risk taking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label risk taking. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Friday, January 17, 2014
ELEVATING GTA’S BUSINESS LEADERS’ COMMUNITY
"What do you want to be remembered for? It is a question that induces you to renew yourself, because it pushes you to see yourself as a different person - the person you can become" - Peter Drucker
ELEVATING GTA’S BUSINESS LEADERS’ COMMUNITY
DICK PETERS TO LAUNCH GTA’S NEWEST TEC EXECUTIVE GROUP
As a group Chair for The Executive Committee (TEC Canada), Peters will mentor and facilitate the personal and professional growth of a select group of business leaders.
Experience in a wide variety of senior corporate leadership roles, as well as an entrepreneurial and consulting background, have given Dick Peters a reputation for team-building, creative risk-taking and a capacity for making the challenging decisions associated with disruptive change. These traits dovetail perfectly with his new role of TEC Chair.
“My role within TEC is to create a community where leaders flourish,” Peters explains, “a community in which leaders increase their personal effectiveness through fresh thinking and challenging conversations with their peers.” He continues, “A TEC group is not a social club. Members join to enhance their businesses and their personal performance. This new group will comprise non-competitive CEOs, Presidents, business owners and individuals who run companies. Members will act as a private board of trusted advisors with no agendas other than helping each other share best practices, solve management issues, make better decisions and improve leadership skills. Research shows that TEC members outperform non-members by a wide margin.”
Dean Chudleigh, President, Chudleigh’s Limited, a TEC member since 2004, shared, “I attribute a great deal of my company’s success to our membership in TEC. Every month I leave with solid ideas that I can put into action right away. I can’t imagine not being a member.”
The TEC community in Ontario is strong with 284 members across 24 different groups, yet TEC Canada President, Catherine Osler confirms there is still room for growth. “The GTA has a vibrant and healthy business community full of leaders eager to learn and grow. With the addition of Dick Peters’ new group, TEC is in an excellent position to support further growth and development of leaders in the region.”
###
For
more information, on becoming a member of this new TEC Group please contact:Dick Peters Tammy Schuiling
Chair TEC-Canada Marketing Communications Manager,
RPeters@tec-canada.com TEC Canada(416) 471-1956 tschuiling@tec-canada.com
(403) 800-5519
About TEC Canada:
TEC Canada is the pre-eminent member-based leadership development organization in Canada. Our membership base is comprised of nearly 1000 top business leaders from across Canada, representing more than $54 billion dollars in annual revenue and over 105,000 employees. Through our affiliate, Vistage International, TEC is part of a powerful global network of over 18,000 members which provides members unparalleled access to global business resources and the intellectual capital of like-minded passionate and experienced business leaders from around the world. For more information visit www.tec-canada.com.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Conquering The Enemies of Innovation: Silence and Fear
What's the biggest impediment to innovation within an organization? Fear.
As early as 2004, research from Elizabeth Wolf Morrison and Frances J. Milliken for the Academy of Management Review and Stern Business pegged fear — and the resulting silence when employees operate within a culture of fear — as the biggest roadblock to innovation.
A recent survey by the Robert Half Group confirms that in 2012, the problem remains. What makes employees afraid?
In their survey, employees cite the following issues:
1. Fear of making a mistake tops the list (cited by 30%)
2. Fear of getting fired. In fact, not only the fear of getting fired outright, but the fear of appearing less dedicated or vital if they actually take earned vacation days is a big issue in a slow economy. The data shows employees left an average of 11 vacation days untaken in 2011.
3. Fear of dealing with difficult customers or clients
4. Fear of conflict with a manager
5. Fear of speaking in front of a group
6. Fear of disagreements with co-workers
Only 3% of employees consider themselves "fearless." We shouldn't be surprised that their innovation is gone.
What can we do to turn this deadly equation around? Open communication is critical to ending organizational fear. As Morrison and Milliken note, in a fearful environment, front-line employees are unwilling to share because they are afraid somebody will "kill the messenger." Genuine communication happens only behind closed door or in whispers, and outward communication becomes shallow or disappears.
Without a healthy feedback loop, the organization loses the focus required for problem solving efforts and innovative new developments and productivity gains.
How can we help employees to conquer their fears, and to bring their innovation forward? We suggest the following three steps:
1. We must learn to truly trust our employees. We must trust their inherent powers and strengths. We must trust them to find and deliver their finest nature, which is only possible if leaders regard and treat their employees as fully creative and capable people. We must trust them to care about each other, and about their customers. In Overcoming Worry and Fear, psychologist and author Paul A. Hauck points out that genuine trust is beyond empowerment. When leadership thinks in terms of "giving power," to employees, they are giving employees something they (and employees) inherently know that they also have the power to take back. A leader who genuinely trusts their people believes and communicates that employees already have all of the power they need within them, and communicates that he or she trusts them to use their power honorably and well.
2. We must rely on principles, not policies, to govern our decisions and acts. Instead of managing employees through policies and rules, consider the possibility of agreeing on guiding principles instead. For us, the principles are our 7 Non Negotiables: Respect, Belief, Trust, Loyalty, Courage, Gratitude and Commitment. By adhering to these foundational traits, employees can govern their own decisions without manager oversight or performance appraisals. More importantly, they are no longer fearful about the possibility they will make a mistake.
3. Employees must experiment before they create. A fearful employee can never experiment. In an environment of trust, however, individuals and teams thrive on the opportunity to create and try new approaches. They understand the opportunities that can only come from mistakes. Interestingly, Amazon's Jeff Bezos--Fortune Magazine's 2012 Businessman of the Year--has noted that organizations weaken themselves most through sins of omission, primarily their failure to experiment. Why do they not experiment? Yet again, the fear of making mistakes. Experiments--and failures--are vital (and along with obsessive dedication to customer support are the single biggest cause, he says, of Amazon's world-changing success.)
In summary, employees who feel supported and appreciated will feel sufficiently secure to devote their full energy, creativity and passion to the company and its goals. They will naturally innovate in every area within their influence.
We must move away from work environments that are based on command and control. We must eliminate fear for innovation to truly occur. If you are willing to take this challenge, the changes you see will astound you.
More on: Innovation
As early as 2004, research from Elizabeth Wolf Morrison and Frances J. Milliken for the Academy of Management Review and Stern Business pegged fear — and the resulting silence when employees operate within a culture of fear — as the biggest roadblock to innovation.
A recent survey by the Robert Half Group confirms that in 2012, the problem remains. What makes employees afraid?
In their survey, employees cite the following issues:
1. Fear of making a mistake tops the list (cited by 30%)
2. Fear of getting fired. In fact, not only the fear of getting fired outright, but the fear of appearing less dedicated or vital if they actually take earned vacation days is a big issue in a slow economy. The data shows employees left an average of 11 vacation days untaken in 2011.
3. Fear of dealing with difficult customers or clients
4. Fear of conflict with a manager
5. Fear of speaking in front of a group
6. Fear of disagreements with co-workers
Only 3% of employees consider themselves "fearless." We shouldn't be surprised that their innovation is gone.
What can we do to turn this deadly equation around? Open communication is critical to ending organizational fear. As Morrison and Milliken note, in a fearful environment, front-line employees are unwilling to share because they are afraid somebody will "kill the messenger." Genuine communication happens only behind closed door or in whispers, and outward communication becomes shallow or disappears.
Without a healthy feedback loop, the organization loses the focus required for problem solving efforts and innovative new developments and productivity gains.
How can we help employees to conquer their fears, and to bring their innovation forward? We suggest the following three steps:
1. We must learn to truly trust our employees. We must trust their inherent powers and strengths. We must trust them to find and deliver their finest nature, which is only possible if leaders regard and treat their employees as fully creative and capable people. We must trust them to care about each other, and about their customers. In Overcoming Worry and Fear, psychologist and author Paul A. Hauck points out that genuine trust is beyond empowerment. When leadership thinks in terms of "giving power," to employees, they are giving employees something they (and employees) inherently know that they also have the power to take back. A leader who genuinely trusts their people believes and communicates that employees already have all of the power they need within them, and communicates that he or she trusts them to use their power honorably and well.
2. We must rely on principles, not policies, to govern our decisions and acts. Instead of managing employees through policies and rules, consider the possibility of agreeing on guiding principles instead. For us, the principles are our 7 Non Negotiables: Respect, Belief, Trust, Loyalty, Courage, Gratitude and Commitment. By adhering to these foundational traits, employees can govern their own decisions without manager oversight or performance appraisals. More importantly, they are no longer fearful about the possibility they will make a mistake.
3. Employees must experiment before they create. A fearful employee can never experiment. In an environment of trust, however, individuals and teams thrive on the opportunity to create and try new approaches. They understand the opportunities that can only come from mistakes. Interestingly, Amazon's Jeff Bezos--Fortune Magazine's 2012 Businessman of the Year--has noted that organizations weaken themselves most through sins of omission, primarily their failure to experiment. Why do they not experiment? Yet again, the fear of making mistakes. Experiments--and failures--are vital (and along with obsessive dedication to customer support are the single biggest cause, he says, of Amazon's world-changing success.)
In summary, employees who feel supported and appreciated will feel sufficiently secure to devote their full energy, creativity and passion to the company and its goals. They will naturally innovate in every area within their influence.
We must move away from work environments that are based on command and control. We must eliminate fear for innovation to truly occur. If you are willing to take this challenge, the changes you see will astound you.
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