Based on its experience of partnering senior executive teams worldwide, the company has compiled a list of ten things that leaders should stop doing today. Its advice to leaders includes: don’t make strategic plans, unless you’re prepared to revise them quickly and often; don’t use performance management for selection, unless you can determine the degree to which the old job is related to the new one and don’t see development as a nice-to-have, unless you’re certain that the existing skills in your organisation can ensure its future success.

“If we look hard enough, each of us will invariably find something that we should stop doing that would improve our performance,” said Valerie Nichols, Executive Consultant at Hemsley Fraser. “It could be related to your attitude, the way you communicate, the way you treat other people, your self-awareness, how you delegate, how you deal with difficult people, how you respond to pressure or the example you set. Whatever it is, you probably already know about it. So, articulate it and make an active decision today to stop doing it.”

Hemsley Fraser’s guidelines include practical advice such as learn to say no, develop your own resilience, watch out for your own hidden biases, don’t become wedded to detailed plans to achieve your objectives and recognise that not everyone wants to be a high performer. “The essence of good leadership is to understand yourself as a leader, to hire adaptable people who bring a variety of perspectives and to get the best out of them by understanding their specific traits and treating them as individuals,” said Valerie Nichols. Full details of the ten things leaders should stop doing today are available on Hemsley Fraser’s website: www.hemsleyfraser.co.uk