Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc.

Five and a Half Reasons Leaders Fail

Brian Ward — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:52:33 +0000

Why do some leaders succeed on a grand scale while others struggle and even fail? In my work and informal research on this, I have discovered many distinctions between successful and not so successful leaders. Here are my five and one half reasons leaders fail:

The post Five and a Half Reasons Leaders Fail appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

Strategy and Planning: Knowing the Difference Can Make the Difference

Brian Ward — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:42:55 +0000

Strategy and Planning: Knowing the difference between strategy and planning can make all the difference in executing on your strategy. Here is my take on the distinctions between the two: Strategy: The art of designing several possible responses to opportunities and threats in your chosen markets. These responses take into account the relative strengths and weaknesses within your [...]

The post Strategy and Planning: Knowing the Difference Can Make the Difference appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

Leadership and The Five Whys

Brian Ward — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:46:28 +0000

Leaders have a lot of explaining to do. And sometimes, amidst all the hurly burly of everyday leadership life, they miss some key questions that their followers have uppermost on their minds. Here are five of my favorites:

The post Leadership and The Five Whys appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

How to Keep Your Momentum Flowing

Brian Ward — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:12:45 +0000

Maintaining momentum towards one's goals is not easy. There are so many things that can distract us. Here are five tips on how you can overcome those distractions...

The post How to Keep Your Momentum Flowing appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

The End of Strategic Planning, and What That Means for You

Brian Ward — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:27:59 +0000

Strategic Planning never did fully get off the ground. Which is not surprising, since “strategy” and “planning” are oxymoronic. Let me explain this by way of illustration… A Virgin Strategy Sir Richard Branson, the renowned leader of the Virgin empire, tells the story of when he decided to create Virgin Airlines…not a small strategic step [...]

The post The End of Strategic Planning, and What That Means for You appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

Transformational Leadership

Brian Ward — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:35:29 +0000

In this article the author describes the steps involved in demonstrating transformational leadership.

The post Transformational Leadership appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

Getting Your Management Team Unstuck

Brian Ward — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 21:14:33 +0000

At some point in time, most management teams find themselves stuck. By stuck I mean they are finding it difficult as a team to marshal enough energy to develop and/or execute their strategies. Some members may also feel isolated and approaching burnout. Some others may even be panicking and pushing harder on the gas pedal, [...]

The post Getting Your Management Team Unstuck appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

Open Space as an Effective Meeting Process

Brian Ward — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:51:19 +0000

Talk to most people and they would agree with you that more time is lost annually in poorly run meetings than in strikes, downtime, travel, injuries, illness or any other causes that you can care to think of. The only problem is, lost time due to poorly run meetings never makes it into the accounting [...]

The post Open Space as an Effective Meeting Process appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

Dare To Make a Difference

Brian Ward — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 22:28:14 +0000

“He who jumps into the void owes no explanation to those who stand and watch” – French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. Godard was referring to those individuals who decide to take the lead and transform something. He himself is a transformational leader who rejected the conventional way of film-making. But this post is not about him. [...]

The post Dare To Make a Difference appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..

That Vision Thing

Brian Ward — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 20:12:28 +0000

As a leader, you have a responsibility to provide direction, to "point the way". You do this through creating a shared vision of the future. You can't delegate this task. While you can, and must, collaborate with others in building a shared vision, you can't walk away from your primary responsibility to create that vision. You have to own it.

The post That Vision Thing appeared first on Edmonton, Alberta Facilitators, Consultants, Trainers - Affinity Consulting and Training Inc..