“A good reputation is more valuable than money.” Publilius Syrus, Maxims People can acquire reputations for all sorts of things; being outspoken, good at finishing projects on time and on budget, good at dealing with difficult staff, being intolerant of fools, being resourceful, easily angered or even-tempered. All sorts of characteristics and attributes can be attached to an individual. But what about Acting Ethically. If I could wish for a reputation, it would be for acting ethically. Others will have to be the judge of whether I have succeeded - they are the arbiters of my reputation. Reputations are hard won but easily lost – is that what they say? Just ask the British motor manufacture

I always encourage my team to tell me The Bad News. My previous Boss had a similar view. On one occasion, early in his tenure when I was still learning how much he wanted to know about what was happening in my area, I didn’t tell him about a matter relating to Sydney Airport. I thought it was relatively trivial, I knew it was my responsibility to deal with it and I had dealt with it – all good as far as I was concerned, no further action required. However, the constituency of the Minister of our government portfolio abutted the boundary of Sydney Airport and my Boss was surprised by a phone call from the Minister on the matter. The Minister was unhappy that he hadn’t been given a heads-up ab

Don’t say you're short of staff – you can think it but don’t say it. You may well have more work than staff to do it. Yep, most people know what that's like. However, if you say (or worse, keep saying) that your section or department is short of staff, two things may happen: 1 Everybody, especially your line manager, will think you’re a person who has nothing positive to say, who is always whining and complaining. 2 Your line manager will think you can’t cope with the workload you have and you'll be identified as a poor manager. I had a team leader in a regional office whose team was doing the same (or less) work than the other teams. Every time I rang him or we had a video

Watch what bad managers do and don't do what they do! You don’t have to do the course or the seminar or the post-graduate degree to learn what is good management. Watch what managers do and work out for yourself whether what they are doing is working. If you think they are good managers, emulate the good things they do. Watch what bad managers do and learn from them too. Just don’t do what they do! One of my bosses could remember the names and, in many cases, family or personal details of every one of the 800 or so staff members he had talked to. At least, whenever I was with him he was able to do this when he met someone he had met before. It struck me that it made a big, positive impact on

Don’t Encourage YesPeople - They Always Agree With You. If I want my team to perform well and turn out top quality work, I need people who are willing to speak up with alternative views and who let me know when they disagree. However, this means that I must have an attitude that encourages people to speak up and I must not be too proud to take adverse criticism. I'm not going to encourage open dialogue if I greet every suggestion from a team member that doesn't fit with my view of the world with snorts of derision. My staff will soon learn it is better to be a YesPerson and agree with me than to put forward a contrary viewpoint and receive a humiliating put-down! They will let me carry the c

Risk Assess Work To Help Prioritise It. Too much work? Too few staff? Yes, I know. Seems like we're all in the same position these days. Prioritise your workload! This article expands on the risk assessment aspect that I mentioned in an article on Time Management and Workload Prioritisation in the Blog section of my website thecrom.com. It is an adaptation (and simplification) of the risk management techniques most organisations use. This article is not a full-on description of risk assessment - it's just to give you an idea so that you can risk assess work to assist prioritisation. You can make it as detailed or as simple as you like provided there is sufficient rigour and honesty in the pr