Dis/Trust In Management, And What To Do About It

That employees trust those in charge of an enterprise is vitally important for three reasons. Firstly, the more employees trust management, the more prepared they are to go above and beyond in pursuit of the organisation’s objectives. There is a cause-and-effect relationship, in other words, between trust in management and employee willingness. Secondly, a precondition...

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Why We Need Dependable, Not Radical, Candor

COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE BY RACHAEL COWIN, LEGITIMATE LEADERSHIP: Claydon’s concept suggests an additional layer of unconditional care which aligns the model of candour even more closely with that of Legitimate Leadership. Legitimate Leadership says that true care requires that a leader must like, or at least find things to like, about all their people....

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September 2023 – Question Of The Month

Question: When an employee chronically does not do the job assigned to him, how much coaching should the leader do to try and rectify the situation? Answer:  When an employee chronically does not do the job assigned, there is obviously some onus on his leader to coach him towards rectifying the problem. However a leader/employer cannot...

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Safety Webinar: Safety Leadership Excellence

Safety and security are high on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. But if you have a safety problem, by definition you have a people problem, and therefore you have a leadership problem. Which means that, assuming you are in leadership, you are the problem. People can and will change, but they will only change when you...

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Increasing Legitimacy

When those in authority in an organisation have legitimacy it is because they have successfully mobilised the consent of the majority of those they lead to being led by them. Their people trust them, are willing and loyal to them. This does not happen overnight or by chance. Increasing legitimacy is a gradual process requiring...

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August 2023 – Question Of The Month

Question: How should a leader react when an employee has a personal crisis? Answer:  Putting one’s employees first is never more evident than during times of personal crisis for the employee. These occasions inevitably arise because people are human and difficult circumstances (death, divorce, illness) do at some point arise. When they do, the leader’s response...

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Safety Webinar Vignette Case Study 2: The Best Leaders Put Safety First Over Results Every Time

In the recent Legitimate Leadership Safety Webinar, Sean Hagger described one memorable story he was told during the interview/survey process. The story was about the actions of someone who, 30 years ago, was the manager of the world’s biggest ethylene plant in Teeside, England. A large oil company had just opened up a gas field...

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Safety Webinar Vignette Case Study 1: When There Is An Incident, Remember That The ‘Offender’ May Sit In A Hierarchy

In the recent Legitimate Leadership Safety Webinar, Rachael Cowin explored the possible application of Legitimate Leadership’s empowerment framework (means, ability, accountability) after she was told of an incident in a public space where a key piece of infrastructure was inconveniencing the public. ‘There had been no incident, no accident, nothing untoward. However a member of...

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Safety Webinar Vignette Case Study 3: The Best Leaders Continually Raise The Bar On Safety By Challenging Us To Be Better

In the recent Legitimate Leadership Safety Webinar, Sean Hagger related a story of a senior leader who’d started a new role in a factory that manufactured rockets. ‘For 30 years, part of the process in this manufacturing facility was to drill a hole in the solid fuel propellant of the rocket in order to fit...

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Gauging Legitimacy

Seeking to gain or increase legitimacy is a goal, often implicit rather than explicit, of all senior leadership teams. As David Harding, an operations director, now retired, said: “If you are not continually thinking about how to win the hearts and minds of your people, you are not leading.” The starting point for those in...

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Dis/Trust In Management, And What To Do About It

That employees trust those in charge of an enterprise is vitally important for three reasons. Firstly, the more employees trust management, the more prepared they are to go above and beyond in pursuit of the organisation’s objectives. There is a cause-and-effect relationship, in other words, between trust in management and employee willingness. Secondly, a precondition...

View full article