Kevin Duncan reckons that we could make life – and particularly our working life – so much simpler and easier if we just learned from children.  Children are constantly learning, naturally curious and always asking questions.  Yet as we grow older, we can become hesitant about asking questions, in some cases to the point of giving up altogether.  And asking fewer questions can condemn us to a working life of directionless drudgery.   So what?  provides a handy toolkit of questions to get us back in the habit.  Questions force people to stop and think, something we can all do a good deal more of. 

According to Daniel Pink, carrot and stick methods of motivating people are soooo last century.  So now what are employers, leaders, managers (and for that matter parents) supposed to do? Make some radical changes, according to Pink, because as he says, “there’s a gap between what science says and business does.”  Only when we take heed of the science will we arrive at what he calls ‘Motivation 3.0’.

As a recovering perfectionist (I’ll keep trying until I’ve perfected it), I can honestly say I’ve been on both sides of this experience.  As the employee, I’ve felt the dejection when something I’ve worked hard at gets the ‘red pen treatment’, i.e. nothing but fault-finding and critical feedback, ‘must try harder’.  Yet as a manager, I’ve also felt the frustration at having to explain something again – and again.  And maybe again.

Health warning: if you’re someone who curls up inside at the thought of praising one of your team or a colleague – this post could induce queasiness.  But hold it – there are ways to praise and still feel good.  I’m not talking about the over-the-shoulder ‘that was great’, or the pat-on-the-back ‘well done’ or even the team high-fiving (urgh).  No – indeed, those ways of praising could indeed get you looking a total creep in many organizational cultures.

‘Leadership skills’ is a pretty broad term: from business and commercial acumen, through change management and a whole host of people management skills. Where’s the biggest gap in the skills repertoire? According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s 2010 Learning & Development Survey, it’s in performance management, coming top of the gaps for 71% of respondents. If you want some quick tips on performance management, download this MP3 here. To find out more about the CIPD’s survey, follow this link.