Gautrey Unleashed

Turning Optimism into Hard Results

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Second call with Alan today. He’s a senior strategy guy in a large financial services firm. Last month he became one of my Private Clients. Things are starting to happen, and you need to pay attention because we can all learn from this, me included. “Alan, what are the three biggest changes for you since our first call?” Firstly, he and his stakeholders are all crystal clear on what he wants to achieve – his next position. When we first spoke, it was all a little vague, it could be this, it could be that. After a tough challenge from yours truly, and a short period of reflection, he landed the vision. And then he went straight to work selling the idea.

Lessons Read More

Ignored, Overlooked and Taken for Granted?

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These three demons take an unfair share of the blame for feeling bad at work. They can creep up on you and once they move into your working life, and your career, they can be tough to get rid of. In a moment I am going to share with you five things you can do that will ensure you begin to move into the territory where you are noticed, considered and recognised for the value you bring and the potential you have.

Ignored

“It’s happened again. I knew it wouldn’t work and I told them so. But, would they listen to me? No, of course they didn’t, they never do!”

Overlooked

“That project would have been perfect for me. And I’d have been perfect for it too. Why didn’t they ask me if I was interested? Surely by now they know what I’m capable of.”

Taken for Granted

“I can’t remember the last time one of the bosses said thank you. All they seem to do is pile on more work with shorter timescales. At least I’m getting a good reputation for reliability and productivity: well I hope I am!” Sound familiar? This is what I hear, time and again. Despite high levels of talent, capability and motivation, people keep telling me this is what it is like for them. That’s one of the reasons Read More

Project Managers Are Too Soft. Are You?

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Incredible it may be, but the data is beginning to emerge that this could indeed be the case. The usual caveat about generalisations aside, this is what my recent research is starting to reveal. And, you don’t have to be a project manager to learn from these results. Based on a group of 195 project managers[1] I have discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that they are more likely to be high in Tact and Diplomacy and low in Determination, than the general (professional) working population. To be honest, I had expected the opposite. These people all completed my Influence Profile that measures preferred behaviours when working with others. This is not looking at their actual behaviour, but rather the way they would most like to behave (which is reality is the default behaviour they use most of the time). Within this psychometric, four dimensions of behaviour are analysed and Read More

Are You Too Evasive?

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“If you are asked a direct question a second time, give a direct answer no matter how much it may hurt.” This is a rule I'd like to encourage you to strive towards because it will, in the long run, help you to achieve greater success and fulfilment. Although this may appear naïve, especially if a frank and honest answer may work against you, the long term benefits can be great. Surprisingly, the short term outlook Read More

Using Social Capital to Build Political Muscle

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Traditional approaches to developing influencing skills focus on the individual. However, there is an opportunity to adopt a different mindset — instead of working out how you can be more influential, think of how you can make your team more influential. As leader, the more influential the team becomes, the more influential you can become too! Referring to countries, The World Bank has noted that, “Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable”. If social cohesion can be good for countries, it can also be good for teams and organisations. Read More

Seven Things Your Opposition Hopes You’ll Never Learn

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It is entirely natural to have opposition. In fact, I would encourage it. Unless you have opposition the game is too easy ― isn't it? Well I hope you think that because otherwise you might be wasting your talent, ambition and energy. Opponents stretch thinking, pressure test proposals and balance the corporate agenda. Without opposition you may end up with an organisation being dominated by a powerful few; and this can wreak havoc on the strategy, results and morale ― at least in the medium term. Yet, desirable though it is, the fact remains that the opposition will still want to win. They may be mature and tell you that it is all about making the right decision for the business, but don’t be fooled. Underneath the rhetoric is a real person. They, like you, much prefer Read More

Chapter One: A Project Manager’s Perspective

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project managersThis book is all about taking action, and I want to hit the ground running. Most problems and challenges in life are a matter of perspective. Adopting alternative perspectives enables you to see the problem differently. It doesn't mean that one viewpoint is right or wrong. It is simply a technique that can give you new insights and potentially, a solution that will work. So, in this first chapter I want to challenge you to think about project management from a few different perspectives. Read More

The Vision and Engagement Gap at the Top

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In some recent research* it has been found that the number one skills gap among executives is the ability to build vision and engage stakeholders to make it happen. Without vision and engagement not a great deal is going to change, and implementing change is another oft quoted deficiency in the senior ranks. The Vision Gap To my mind, there are three main Read More

Disrespecting Your Leader

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Nine out of ten leaders are not respected by nine out of ten of their followers. Well, that’s the way it often appears when you get a group of people together in a room talking about leadership. This also came across loud and clear earlier this year when I was researching line management relationships. Part of the problem is that respect is a concept that varies wildly in interpretation, especially in diverse populations. But, does respect even matter these days? Read More

Corporate Politics: Necessary Evil or Waste of Time

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A little while ago one of my private coaching clients was expressing his frustration about the political activity surrounding his work. This stimulated me to ask my connections about their views on this common feature of organisational life...
What's your take on this, necessary evil or total waste of your time?
I'd love to hear your thoughts, here are just a few of the hundreds of responses I received: Read More

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