Mark Donovan & Associates – News & Blog Section
Do you really believe in developing your people?
Many senior leaders who say that developing their people is key to the success of their organization, don’t honestly believe in the merits of this work. If they did, it wouldn’t be the first thing to be cut, when the business climate starts getting tough! Imagine a...
read moreAre you turning the pages of your life?
I used to deliver a train-the-trainer development programme for Maynooth College. At one of my sessions, a lady of seventy-five years of age, stood up in front of the full group and told us that the reason she was on this programme was, that she was changing career! I...
read moreAre you a rower or are you a steerer?
Why do most people get promoted into leadership positions? The number one reason is, that we are good at doing things. Or as I like to put it, we are good rowers. When we get promoted, we get the extra 4.75 euros a week before tax. What do we now feel we need to do?...
read moreWhy it’s important for leaders to avoid the deferred life plan.
I read an interesting book called, ‘Chasing Daylight’ by Eugene O’Kelly. It tells the story of a high-flying executive who finds out that he only has three months to live after being diagnosed with brain cancer. He realized, that all the plans he and his wife had made...
read moreWhy it’s important for leaders to keep their word and do what they say they’ll do!
For many leaders today, organisational life is like being a hamster on a wheel. We are working extremely hard but we are getting nowhere fast! We make promises with good intentions but then don’t deliver on these. This hits the results we achieve and the personal...
read moreBeware of the victim cycle!
We will never accomplish anything unless we start taking control of our own future. The key is self-responsibility, we can’t do this until we first develop an understanding of the victim cycle. Think about it, do you have an attitude of always denying that it’s your...
read moreTaking self-responsibility for what we want out of life…
It is September 1985, I have just finished my shift in Butterkrust bakery where I am serving my bakery apprenticeship. I feel really apprehensive and very nervous. I am cycling into the City Centre for my first class in night school for accountancy. I have long since...
read moreStop trying to make other people happy!
How many times do we as leaders worry that our staff are happy. When I work with organizations on building a culture of high engagement and performance, many leaders want to focus on the ‘happiness of their people’. Happiness and engagement are two completely...
read moreBe careful you are not trying to build a clock when all you were asked for was the time of day!
When communicating with other people, especially more senior people, less information is always best. I sit in on many client presentations where the presenter has obviously stayed up very late the previous night with the unintended aim of putting their audience to...
read moreDo you have thinking time in your weekly schedule?
One of the most important areas I work with my clients is getting them to put thinking time into their calendar. By the way, I would be a great guy if I always took my own advice! I suggest they put 1 hour of thinking time into their calendar per week. And to make...
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