The Secret to Igniting Possibility

I’ve spent my career working in and on projects on both sides of the fence with many talented people and some less talented who, with genuine attention and guidance, have been able to develop to their fullest potential. I’ve also seen those who’ve been left un-nurtured become despondent, frustrated, and resistant to everything. Regardless of the project or industry sector people are it, which means that if we as leaders are to achieve tangible leadership success we must shift our behaviours first to then help others ignite the possibility. Having watched listened and learned from various gurus and role models, I’ve picked out what works for me and put aside what doesn’t. Here then are my thoughts on 5 common business behaviours that when consciously observed and altered can and do ignite possibility and create different outcomes:

How does Leadership impact Organisational Challenges?

In his book "The Search for Leadership – An Organisational Perspective", William Tate contrasts and explains the Business and the Organisation. He succinctly describes the business as having an external ‘what’ focus while the organisation has an internal ‘how’ focus. It’s a simple yet thought-provoking distinction but in our experience with clients we regularly see a disconnection between the two and the inevitable resulting pain.

In essence the organisation exists to support the business on its journey of growth and development, and the organisation establishes systems and processes in order to do that. When things are static those processes serve a company well but business is not static. When business shifts and morphs in response to external factors, it exposes the systemic inefficiencies and limitations in the organisations.

How different is Leadership from Public Speaking?

I went to Milan yesterday for lunch. It sounds rather exotic but it had a serious underlying purpose. The lunch was being hosted by The British Chamber of Commerce in Italy and as we’re interested in joining the Chamber their invitation was an opportunity to find out more. It also allowed me to meet new people, talk about our business and expand our list of contacts here in Italy. And, the 1½ hour drive was a pleasant change, fog excluded.

It was a worthwhile investment as not only did I meet some nice people and eat a nice lunch but I was also reminded of 2 very important things:

Are your Green Projects a sickly shade of Gray?

It’s time to get back to basics.

Green IT 2.0 is getting a lot more publicity but what is it? Put simply it’s about using technology to enable greener business practices. That means deploying IT in smarter ways so it’s used to enable further reductions in the total carbon footprint of a company. I read some Forrester research recently and they cited an example where Tesco has found IT’s contribution to their carbon footprint is only 4% but that it has the enabling potential to reduce their total footprint by 20%, which regardless of the calculator you use equates to what could be huge cost savings.

Good news indeed, especially with regards to the other elephants in the room – Climate Change and the ongoing Global Economic Crisis.

But what of Green IT projects themselves? Are they defined, organised, or delivered in a different way to any other project? And, how can these projects enable greener business practices not just to reduce a carbon footprint but to also increase business process efficiency?