Tag Archives: David MacNicol

Strategy Clarification – the Key to Effective Communication

It is important that the business strategy is clearly articulated as the communication strategy has to support that. It creates a ‘translation service’ to enable people to make the right connections, understand context, and have a clear line-of-sight between what … Continue reading »

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Communication Principles Come Before Strategy

All too often we see companies diving in to transactional and tactical solutions to communication issues. This is driven by a need to get messages out with little thought for objectives or impact. Referencing the previous blog, you can see … Continue reading »

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Communication: the change accelerator

The Value of Your Communication Strategy is Equal to the Value of Your Business Strategy Managing communication is a critical skill for leaders. And they need to bear the following key principles in mind:   1. It is impossible not … Continue reading »

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Ghost Leaders

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. Fail to honour people, they fail to honour you, but of a good leader, who talks … Continue reading »

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Leadership Blockers

Two things hold us back when we are challenged to step out of our comfort zones and try something different: 1.        Justification: of the past, why we reacted in that way, why we do things we do and the people … Continue reading »

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Ten Lessons for Leaders

Ten Lessons for Leaders (The Drucker Foundation)   1.       Timing is (almost) everything: Knowing when to introduce or when to intervene or hold back is a crucial skill   2.       Anything is possible if you share the glory: Giving others … Continue reading »

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Sharpen Your Blade

In the mid-1990s Sensei Coyle was asked to give a lecture demonstration at Glasgow University during the Samurai and Japanese Culture week.  The audience was made up of students interested in Japanese culture, a great number of whom were martial … Continue reading »

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Organisations don’t change; people change them.

This fact is often overlooked when planning acquisitions, transforming a business, or working on an exit strategy. Lack of attention to the people dimension is the major reason that business strategies and initiatives fail in their strategic intent. We must … Continue reading »

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Employee engagement: what doesn’t work?

Everyone thinks they know what engagement means, but they use the same word to describe different constructs, all of which are meant to enhance business performance in some way. Here are some that fail to deliver sustainable performance on their … Continue reading »

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More sophistication, less employee engagement value?

The Human Resources function has taken on ever increasing disciplines: reward (compensation and benefits); learning and development; training; talent management; succession planning; and very often, employee communication. But many have failed to demonstrate added value, so they are seen as … Continue reading »

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