Don’t waste leaders’ time and energy – increase psychological safety, reduce the energy spent to challenge the obvious and use it for real added value.
Despite what you may read on social media, leaders are not superhero’s with unlimited resources and energy. They also need to eat, drink, take a break, sleep, etc. Their energy is limited. If they use it on one thing, it’s not available for something else. So a company better uses their leaders’ energy with care. […] →
Psychological safety – What’s in a name ?
Psychological safety. The term says it all. And says nothing. I can quickly see how two misunderstandings could arise: Psychological safety as looking at the inner psychological safety of individuals. And leaving open the question for business leaders of why it is relevant for them as leaders of teams (management teams, project teams, boards) or […] →
Psychological Safety at a glance
The way I often experienced psychological safety is as follows: you are in a meeting with your management team, and there is a discussion about a strategic move, an investment or an important initiative. A proposal is on the table, apparently supported by the chairperson. You don’t feel comfortable with it: there is something you […] →
Handshake leadership practice 2 – Maximum empowerment
As a leader, empowerment is one of the safest bets you can make, and you have all interests to push hard on the empowerment button. Empowerment scales up capacity, broadens creativity well beyond your own limits, generates much higher level of resilience and allows to cover a much wider and deeper scope of challenges. These […] →
Handshake leadership practice 1 – Know yourself
“Know yourself” is such a fundament advice. And a pretty old one actually: “Know thyself” was the first of three maxims inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. The two maxims that followed Know thyself” were “Nothing to excess” and “Surety brings ruin” (cfr. Wikipedia). It is often referred to as […] →
Introducing Handshake leadership practices (HSL practices)
Handshake leadership practices is an approach which combines – in today’s terminology: inclusivity, collective intelligence, a feedback culture, authentic communication, psychological safety, empowerment, and many more. It is also about a number of shared beliefs, management practices and norms to create a supportive and learning environment. Why “Handshake” ? Because a handshake connects people; […] →
Strong versus resilient leadership
Over the last few weeks, I was struck by what several leaders told me. We’re speaking here about leaders in corporates which happen to fare well considering the crisis.This happens at a time the covid19 situation is worsening again in Europe, and several countries are taking additional measures to fight the virus, including 100% teleworking […] →
From executive leader to executive coach – my story
The understanding that the leader in me was also playing a coaching role, happened at a well defined moment in my professional life, even though it surely grew over time. It happened back in 2007 during the transformation of Euroclear Bank – the entity I was in charge of – towards the adoption of Lean […] →
Starting the dialogue on cyber at the Board
Today, nobody challenges the need of treating the topic of cyber security at board level. Everyone recognises its strategic importance. However, many board directors are struggling with the best approach to this new generation of risks. One difference with the more traditional risks like financial risks, operational risks, business risks, compliance risks or reputation risks, […] →
Inclusive leadership
Many people are claiming that the COVID-19 crisis is a pivotal moment towards a more sustainable and human society. Personally, I doubt that such a fundamental shift can happen so rapidly, especially as one of the first priorities for many businesses is to sail through the crisis with the least possible damage. Nevertheless, if each […] →