Make a Long-Term Investment

Today’s corporate environment places a higher premium on results rather than relationships. Most managers demonstrate an utilitarian attitude towards their employees. Any attempts to put people above profits are interpreted as signs of weakness. Yet employers are grappling with issues of loyalty and commitment. Somehow, we need to enlarge our perspective and view our employees as full-fledged human beings who have lives beyond their corporate responsibilities—to embrace a philosophy of life that is inclusive rather than exclusive. Here are three basic reasons why we are actually wired to understand and that the self-centered life actually works against us in the long-term.

The fox now guards the chickens

SA suffers from what can be described as a moral deficit. It is a disease that seems to be afflicting all strata of society — from government, to business, to the lowliest state functionary.

The mantra seems to be, in that delightful phrase, “it’s my time to eat”.

It’s a feeding frenzy. People are neither afraid nor ashamed to be caught with their fingers in the till. Corruption is so commonplace it doesn’t shock us anymore.

Step One ... Explain the Tools

“Hire for character, train for skills”…is not just a platitude at EDG. It has been the credo that has driven our original principal partners for years.

Have we fallen short sometimes? You bet! The difference is that our leaders wanted to prepare us with tools that will shape who we are…and prepare us for success.

Building Life Around Something Bigger Than Yourself

I'll never forget the day my mother and father called a "family meeting" concerning my dad's job. Dad had been contemplating a career change that would allow him to teach high school and coach football. He knew this change would have an impact on our lives and wanted to talk it over before he gave his final answer.He told my brother and I about the job and explained why he thought it would be a good move for our family.

Change and grow by Marti Vickery

Change is one of the most valuable growing experiences of life. When I first arrived in northwest Florida, a resume did not count. Most folks wanted to know who my parents were, where I went to school, etc. I commonly heard, “You’re not from around here, are you?”For several months, I adapted to staying with family and was grateful for their generosity, but we were somewhat “space challenged” in their “mobile mansion,” and they were stretched financially and needed their privacy.

Cultivating Courage in Business

The odds were against Cynthia Cooper. Raised in a small town and having a humble demeanor, she probably never dreamed she would be featured on the cover of Time magazine. But in 2002 her courageous whistle-blowing halted an $11 billion fraud committed by her boss and co-workers at WorldCom.She was ostracized by peers and received international media scrutiny. While it is unlikely we will ever face the kind of drama that she encountered, there are valuable lessons that can be applied to daily life.First, Ms. Cooper thoughtfully considered alternatives and bravely questioned her higher-ups before reporting the wrongdoing. She did not rush to judgment, nor did she allow her superiors to undermine her confidence.

Do your job define who you are?

“If you are unhappy in your work, you are unhappy in your life.”  - Rodney Lowman, 1996 (author of The Clinical Practice of Career Assessment)

The way people live and interact with society and their material world is structured around work. In a truly globalised market-place, work opportunities are too diverse, too numerous and shifting too fast to be bundled neatly into career packages with precise focus. Labour experts predict that five to ten careers during one’s working life will become the norm. This implies adaptation to new working environments and continual skill and knowledge building for individuals. The responsibility for developing and managing his or her career to maintain employability and attain satisfaction and enjoyment will rest on the individual.

Character is vital key to success. Testimony

We truly enjoy hearing feedback and how character is making a difference in different communities and businesses. When we say we are passionate about people and their energy potential we as a team truly mean it. It is truly a humbling experience to hear messages such as the following from Reagan Kwala after presenting training.

" Hi Mario,

I am very grateful and thankful for having not only having attended your lecture on CF. But meeting you as a person, and that you portrait sincerity and boldness in your words.

I personally looked at you as a caring parent, a teacher and in some way a healer. Having attended the CF program I gained the insight of why CF is vital not only in work places but also in the society we live in.  

To do right, live truthful all the time is hard but one could see it takes no much effort to do just right and be discern in different things. I am certain that I will be able to deliver the message of CF to many of those I come into contact with.

Thank you Mario,

Warm regards,

Reagan Kwala

Human Resources Development

FNB NAMIBIA LTD

What they should teach students at Business Schools is a course on co- accountability and honest scrutiny.

A leader’s credibility is the result of two aspects: what he does (competency) and who he is (character). A discrepancy between these two aspects creates an integrity problem.

The highest principle of leadership is integrity. When integrity ceases to be a leader’s top priority, when a compromise of ethics is rationalised away as necessary for the ‘greater good’, when achieving results becomes more important than the means to their achievement – that is the moment when a leader steps onto the slippery slope of failure.

Often such leaders see their followers as pawns, a mere means to an end, thus confusing manipulation with leadership. These leaders lose empathy. They cease to be people ‘perceivers’ and become people ‘pleasers’, using popularity to ease the guilt of lapsed integrity.

It is imperative to your leadership that you constantly subject your life and work to the highest scrutiny. Are there areas of conflict between what you believe and how you behave? Has compromise crept into your operational tool-kit? One way to find out is to ask the people you depend on if they ever feel used or taken for granted.

Do you have some unfinished business or skeletons in your cupboards?

Article by Dr Mario Denton

Performance appraisals: What a joke?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is amazing to see how many organizations are doing performance appraisals the traditional way. It causes more pain and damage and can be a real disengagement factor. In short destroy it and replace it.  View video to the left for a short illustration.

There is a new generation of employees in the workplace and far more streamlined ways of doing it. For more information and to do and achievement orientated and purposeful conversation please  

contact Mario Denton at marden@mweb.co.za

Making Availability Happen by Marti Vickery

We live in a world that desires instant results. With access to news streaming and the ability to post comments immediately, it appears we have a higher level of availability than our parents did. But though information is abundantly available, often face-to-face attention is hard to come by.Streamline your days to allow you to accomplish tasks while remaining available to address client and staff priorities.Is this a short-term, long-term, or on-going priority?

How to Talk About Character in a Meeting

What a supervisor or a CEO talks about at meetings says a lot about his or her priorities. But it’s not easy to talk about personal integrity issues. So we’ll try to address some of the challenges here.At one of Kimray’s employee meetings last month, Kimray president Thomas A. Hill introduced the character quality of availability this way.

One small action can make a difference. Character in action

Character in action. Stay tuned for our own series Stories of Hope, a tool to assist in developing and engaging people with character

Lessons From the World Cup 2010: An interview

In  this interview with Heideli Loubser, Mario and Desmond Denton reflect on the  2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the lessons to be  drawn from it.  Heideli: Mario, being involved with  HR and people and change management for over twenty years, what would  you define as the core value that led to the success of this World Cup?

Mario: Beyond a doubt, teamwork.  Ryunsuke Satora states this beautifully by saying that “Individually,  we are one drop. Together we are an ocean.” Winning the rights to  host the World Cup was only the beginning. For us to be able to succeed  we had to work together.  The people of South Africa were the “true  stars” of the World Cup, after they united to prove that South Africa  was capable of hosting a world-class event.  Soccer is a team sport. A star individual  can be a great benefit, but without a team…his/ her efforts will have  little effect. Superstars or not, we all have a role to play. Team spirit  beats individualism. "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence  wins championships," said Michael Jordan. It is fascinating to  see how people can sit around and expect others to take action.

Nelson Mandela

he American leadership guru John Maxwell notes that a leader must win people’s hearts to win their heads, because people will only follow a person they feel they can trust. Nelson Mandela demonstrated an exceptional capacity to do this. In declaring him the South African of the decade, the Financial Mail said he has “the gift of being able to make other people feel better about themselves. That is such a big part of his true greatness; occasional ordinary human failings of judgement but never of principle.


"According to Maccauvlei Training Magazine, he would get up at four o’clock in the morning and exercise until six o’clock before the day’s work. In the evening there would be study schedules from five until seven o’clock.

Nelson Mandela on anger: “Anger is a temporary feeling – you soon forget it, particularly if you are involved in positive activities and attitudes. It is not easy to remain bitter if one is busy with constructive things.”…

Persuading with love or bullying with force?

A toddler throwing a tantrum to get his mother to buy him a toy...a teenager trying to borrow her father’s car for a night out...a father trying to persuade his son to make good choices...pictures of manipulation or persuasion? Consider carefully!

What is your motive when you are trying to persuade someone? Do you use manipulation and guilt to get what you want, or do you use reason and compassion as well as discretion to persuade someone? Do you ever tweak the  truth a little bit to convince your audience? Do you appeal to the conscience by using the truth as it is?  Many people do business by twisting the truth just a little bit, and we are all tempted to do it to get our way sometimes. But in the end, it does not get us anywhere.

Humans... not Machines

Each of us has unique gifts, abilities, personalities, and strengths. The key to successful achievement in life is learning to recognize your limitations and abilities—knowing what you can and cannot do.
How well do you know yourself—your character strengths and weaknesses, your skills and talents?
Do you have realistic expectations of yourself?
How do you go about goal-setting?
These are questions that each individual must consider for himself or herself from time to time.
How do our limitations liberate us?
Limitations remind us that we are human and not machines; they remind us that we need the support of other people to reach our dreams in life.

Do you have an enduring heart?

How committed are you to family? Staying committed to others during difficult times shows character—it shows that you have an enduring heart. It is a rare find. A family is meant to stick together, not to be stuck with each other.

Character- Based Leadership in the spotlight. An interview with Dr Mario Denton

In an interview with Heideli Loubser, Dr Mario Denton reflects on Character-based leadership challenges. He also offers some practical thoughts and best practices towards sustainable implementation of character-based training in the workplace.

Loubser: In a recent interview in the McKinsey Quarterly, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe illustrated the need for character training when he said the following:“We are struggling ourselves, as a new democracy in South Africa, to restore values … Values are never a given. They have got to be developed, worked upon, and consolidated on an ongoing basis. Because if at any given time we as a society or as sections of society become complacent about them, we run the risk of losing them…. We are therefore duty bound to try at all times to bring to the fore the values that bring us together as fellow South Africans, as human beings, united in our diversity.” Given the statement of Deputy Minister Kgalema Motlanthe, what does it mean to you?

The Nega-virus in the Marketplace?

Have you ever thought about assessing the Nega-virus in your organization? Nega-viruses permeate organizations daily and can cause lowered morale, disillusionment and poor productivity. The combination of these variables will eventually destroy an organization's ability to survive in a highly competitive environment. Unfortunately, organizations too easily allow these viruses to fluctuate.
Organizations need to measure their frustration with management, the personal regard between management and staff, the feelings about future prospects, the organizational vision, the negativity of co-workers, the consistency of management, flexibility in the workplace, interpersonal relationships and encouragement, their recognition and reward systems as well as inspiration and rejection levels on a regular basis.

The three major causes of organizational negativity are:

 

• Mismanaged change
• Inappropriate norms
• Problems related to levels of trust