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The Best Place...
Courtenay HR announces latest initiative with the launch of the Best Places to Work in HR Awards in association with
New additions...
We are pleased to announce the arrival of two new members of the Courtenay HR team First up is Sarah
Great Leadership?
As we launch our latest initiative with Personnel Today - Best Places to Work in HR - a meeting on Friday with a candidate got me thinking.
We were talking about her imminent leaving date, having been made redundant from her current organisation. An unfortunate tale as you would imagine about a company that is a household name, still struggling after a change of CEO and new strategies. To be fair, they have had their share of bad press, but all the same, it's textbook stuff - re orgs, redundancies and spending cuts. All approaches that have been tried many times before.
In my friends case it had come as something of a shock, having attended a rather substantial leadership conference the week before, where her teams' efforts in talent management and leadership development were praised by the CEO. The following Tuesday, it was all over - team out of work and all the hard work on the shelf while the company reorganised.
When we discussed the leadership style of the CEO, a number of words that you wouldn't expect to hear, including 'volatile' were mentioned, along with a number of indicators that lead you wonder just how successful this organisation is ever going to be if these qualities are at the heart of its leadership.
Wouldn't you think that in 2007 we would have learned some valuable lessons on leadership? It's a subject that tops the business agenda now, more now than ever before, yet here we are with a classic example of perhaps how not to do it. This is a shame given that there are so many real examples in business of excellent leadership and sustained business performance.
Perhaps it's time that we, and in particular the shareholders and investors demanded more from our CEOs in terms of emotionally intelligent leadership. Who knows, maybe one day the CEO's head may roll not for poor financial performance but for poor staff survey results instead?!
It's no surprise that organisations whose leadership demonstrate high levels of emotional intelligence seem to significantly out perform those like the one mentioned here.
Thoughts and comments welcome - gareth.jones@courtenayhr.com
In the meantime, why not take a moment and let us know if your organisation deserves a mention as a best place to work in HR. CLICK HERE to take part.
Bye for now!
Gareth Jones
Leader, Courtenay
