A Long March to Gender Equality in the Workplace
Seventy years after South African women first marched for their rights, gender equality in the workplace is still a work...
The System Won’t Let Them Change
When the organisation fights itself Kotter’s landmark 1996 research emphasises that even when urgency is high, the coalition is...
Your Vision Lives on Page 12 — And Nobody’s Read It
A Key Life Lesson in a Motorcycle Accident Kotter’s 1996 research emphasises that all change processes need a compelling vision. ...
Coalitions Beat Organisational Charts
It is tempting for Directors in an organisation to make executive decisions and drive change individually and autocratically. This may...
Urgency Is Not a Memo
Working in organisations managing significant change, I have often encountered Directors introducing new structures and values with little or no...
Change Management: You’re Solving the Wrong Problem
Here is a typical example of a senior director at a large financial services firm who has been given the...
Your People Aren’t Resisting — They’re Grieving
I have worked as a psychologist and consultant since the mid-90s, and have found that the majority of work...
“Let’s Get Engaged”
Understanding “Quiet Quitting” and Employee Disengagement “Quiet quitting” is a highly expressive term that has emerged in recent years...
“That’s just who I am…” – Personality and 360° Feedback
“I am an A type personality. I set high standards and I work very hard. If you want to be...
360° Feedback: Identify the risks and deal with them
A well run 360° feedback project ought to be a positive experience for participants and raters alike. It should provide...
Make Everyone Great Again as a management philosophy
(Published in Business Day – 11 February 2025) Over five decades at work I have had plenty of management inflicted...
The trend towards toxic leadership must be reversed
(Published in Business Day – 28 January 2025) Rudeness has been shown to have a damaging effect on both individual...
Hold the line on values
(Published in Business Day – 14 January 2025) In a time of great fluidity in culture, politics, and economics, I...
What will be the impact of AI on managers?
(Published in Business Day – 29 October 2024) In what respects will humans outperform AI in management? As a psychologist...What raters can learn: An unexploited opportunity of 360° feedback
We run 360° feedback projects so that leaders and managers can learn about how others experience them as leaders, build...
Good rules, bad rules, energy and leadership
(Published in Business Day – 1 October 2024) I have long been intrigued by the interplay between ordered structure and...Using 360° feedback as part of performance appraisals: It can be done, but needs great care
At Thornhill, we are often asked if 360° assessments are appropriate for use in performance appraisals. Our answer is “perhaps,...
Business survival, paranoia, and the Fermi paradox
(Published in Business Day – 17 September 2024) Some apparently unique business ideas go boldly where no one has thought...Getting the feedback right in your 360° projects
Brick making machines and cement mixers are wonderful tools – but they will not build you a house. A 360°...Preparing participants and raters for the 360° feedback process
A 360° feedback project should be a hopeful, constructive process, giving voice to employees and helpful input to managers and...Planning 360° Feedback Projects: The time you need
Running 360° feedback projects in your company takes time, energy and resources. Companies can sometimes compromise the value they get...
Great leaders conduct teams that create harmony from diverse talents
(Published in Business Day on – 6 August 2024) Corporate executives can learn about leadership from great conductors. Benjamin Zander...Reasons for running a 360° feedback project
Receiving 360° feedback has a range of benefits, some of which are highlighted below. At a high level we note...Some things to consider when running a 360° feedback programme in your company
Running 360° feedback projects in your company is like any other undertaking – you need a clear plan if the...
360° Assessments: Fertile Ground for Executive Coaching
Executive and management coaching is often used as a tool for leadership development. This works well, but sometimes coaching is...
Being SMART is not enough: Lessons in Teamwork from SA’s women footballers
How much do you love your children? Who is your favourite world leader and why? Which manager or mentor contributed...
Team Performance: Is an After-Action Review for you?
Is your team being carried by a few star individuals? As the team leader, you bear the responsibility of driving...
Celebrating 20 years of developing leaders through feedback
Thornhill has been helping to develop effective leaders and improve their performance through feedback for 20 years. Originally established as...
Making a difference through strengthening leadership
Twice in recent months I have visited people at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital under extreme circumstances. They have received excellent...
Blind spots and the road to self-awareness
If you have ever driven a motor vehicle you have experienced a “blind spot” moment: You have looked in the...
Culture, Strategy and Execution: The Ingredients of Success
In these high pressure, social media influenced times, we like our wisdom pre-digested. There are lists: “Ten things all CEOs...
360° Feedback: The Signal and the Noise – Using coaches to maximise the benefit
We have all been in a room when a beautiful musical performance or an important speech has been interrupted by...
Climate Surveys and the 360° “Deep dive”
Thornhill has noticed an increase in the number of companies and organisations wanting to conduct climate surveys. This is a...
Lessons in life and leadership
How do we learn about leadership? We read books and articles, go on leadership courses, get feedback from colleagues, find...
Performance Management and 360° Assessments: different but compatible
Company culture is not a key performance indicator (KPI) Introduction There is a debate in leadership development circles about whether...
360° Assessments are a tool – How to use them effectively
We have all seen those funny warnings on tools. The most famous is probably one on the instructions for an...
Does your talent management flop? Try this!
A fish out of water (or in highly polluted water) will flop about for a while, gasping and then give...
The power of affirmation: finding deep wells of talent
“You are really good at that”. I am sure that many of us are in careers we have chosen because...
Addressing the gender gap – leadership development programmes
When considering the possibility of implementing a leadership development programme focused specifically on addressing the gender gap within an organisation,...
How to flourish through feedback
Avoiding “deaths by feedback” We have all either suffered or witnessed some version of the two kinds of death described...
Dollops of feedback
The first time I sang in public, I brought the house down. The school music teacher was recruiting for the...
Embedding positive changes in your company
If there are any positive changes arising from the pandemic, then companies should identify them and embed them into their...
No ordinary crisis: Leading in the toughest time
The global economic and social disruption we are presently experiencing is different to any crisis in a century or more....
Improving performance through feedback: a swimmer’s reflections
For many years I have stood at the poolside watching children learning to swim. It is so easy to criticise...