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Leadership in Challenging Times: Keeping Positivity in Times of Crisis

It has been literally a year since I started this blog and almost a year since my last post on supporting staff teams working remotely during this pandemic (April 17th). To say that it has been a challenging year, is an understatement. In that last post I shared tips for managing and leading staff teams remotely which included: Nurturing one's relationship with the staff team Being responsive and proactive Using technology to stay connected Allowing feelings to show that one cares Being a resource to the team Supporting staff development Promoting a culture of self-care and resilience building Being positive and taking care of oneself Little did I know that this pandemic would force us to do all of the above instinctively in order for us to survive. I will risk saying that we also have learned many valuable lessons as we were and continue to be forced to examine our values and what is important to us. We have been forced to really reflect on our past behaviors and attitudes. At the...
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Management and Leadership: Are all managers leaders?

Management & Leadership On this second edition of the Knowledge Sharing Series, I will share with you, my learnings and journey down management lane. I will talk about my understanding of the difference between management and leadership, whether people are born leaders or learn to be leaders, cultural considerations in leadership and management and the types of leadership I have been exposed to.  As I shared on my first blog tittle “ Leadership in Challenging Times ”, I believe that, my Social Work education did not prepare me to lead or manage. I believe that I had people’s skills and I had a solid knowledge of the issues impacting the population I was working with and I believed that I was ready to move away from frontline work. I believe I operated instinctively and most importantly, I was committed to the work (clients, teams and organizations). I’d like to remind you (the readers) that this is not an academic article on the topics I mentioned above and instead, this is...

Managing in Challenging Times: Tips for managing and leading staff teams remotely

At times such as the one we are living now due to the Covid-19 pandemic, when many of us have had to close our doors and work remotely to continue to provide some level of service to those we have been entrusted to serve, managing can be much more  challenging.  Share Knowledge Consulting aims to provide a platform for managers and leaders to engage and support each other by sharing knowledge. Nurture your relationship with your team : Find creative ways to continue to nurture the relationship you have with your team or if you don’t have a good relationship with your team, cease this moment to reset and start over. Be responsive and proactive : If working remotely, ensure that your team has the support and resources they need to continue to work and feel productive. Establish clear protocols and policies to guide and protect your team while they work from home. Use technology to stay connected : Find a balance between excessive checking-in on your...

Leadership in Challenging Times

Setting the Contexts Skillful leadership is essential for achieving outcomes set by organizations in any sector. Under common circumstances, leaders face many challenges during the course of their work as they aim to stay true to and bring to life their organization’s strategic direction (mandate: values, mission and priorities). Leaders are required to manage systems, lead people and facilitate processes.     I have been in middle management for over 15 years and for 13 of those years I learned everything I knew about leadership and management, by watching others and by trial and error. My Social Work education did not prepare me to lead nor did it prepare me to manage a not-for-profit business. In fact, my Social Work education did not prepare me for conceiving, planning, overseeing the implementation and evaluation of programs. It also did not prepare me to work alongside and lead other persons in the delivery of service to clients. I relied on my instinct, my sense of ju...