“Better the Devil you know” – probably the worst saying in existence?

Why do we stay in jobs long after they have lost any interest for us?  Why do we stay with managers who fail to motivate us and consistently fall short of our expectations? And why do we resist change that is ‘attractive’, beneficial and likely to raise us to new heights?

“Oh, better the devil you know”

So, we would rather be miserable than risk doing something different.

We would rather stagnate than doing something developmental.

We would rather be comfortable, than be excited and challenged to fulfil our potential.

I would like to suggest dear audience, that “better the devil you know” is the WORST saying in existence. Or leave me a comment if you think you have a better one!

Rotating the Chair – Why it’s a bad idea

It seems the fair thing to do.  Give each member of the team a chance to chair the regular team meeting.  It develops their skills, builds their confidence, and adds to their bank of experience.  And, it feels equitable.  But at what cost?

A chair without authority constantly has to refer back to someone else for a decision – that looks weak; a chair without the ‘talent’ to coalesce group frustrates the team’s ability to be successful; a chair without the ‘will’ to be a chair goes through the motions of leading, but doesn’t convince.

For the team members who don’t have the talents, the skills or the will to Chair a meeting, making them the chair is like trying to get Turkeys to vote for Christmas.  Its not fair, it causes undue stress and it likely to show them to be ‘failures’ in front of their colleagues.

Pick the people to chair who have the talent to get groups to agreement, the people who have a willingness to learn and develop chairing skills, and give them clear scope about where they have authority to act.  And lets stop trying to rotate the chair to be ‘fair’ . . . its not.

A note to Harriet Harman

Dear Harriet,

I know you are keen to see more women at senior levels in the private and the public sector. So I thought I would drop you a quick note about why most of the talented women in my circle opt to start their own businesses instead of pursuing careers in large organisations.

1. The desire to collaborate.  Many of the senior women I work with get a kick out of successful collaboration. In fact many of them see this as one of their great strengths. But as they get further up the ladder they see more and more examples of ‘me’ behaviour with people serving their own ambitions rather than the corporate good.

2. Success in all aspects of life.  The women I know want to be a success in work and in life outside. They don’t want to sacrifice one for the other.  They want both.  But many organisations expect their senior managers to demonstrate their commitment to the company by working excessive hours or travelling at weekends, making it tough to be a ‘life’ success.

3. Being a grown up.  By time women reach senior positions they are likely to be in their late 30s or 40s, and many will have children.  When they come into work they want to deal with colleagues on an adult to adult basis.  They quickly tire of ‘childlike’  company politics.  They want to make a difference in the world, not play silly games about territory.

So, what do I want you to do?  Well – firstly start a debate with the talented women who got out and find out what would have to change to keep them.  Talk to the women who are future senior managers and ask them what they need. And finally, ensure that the one senior job with work life balance built-in, that of non-executive directors, has its fair share of women.  Give me a call if you want to talk further,

Best wishes,

Barbara

A New Leadership Crisis: Parliament and Country

Once more we find ourselves in the depths of a leadership crisis.  This time though, it is not one individual person that is providing the problem. It is the entire parliamentary body and some have said that it threatens the credibility of the house itself.

Let’s consider the situation that the country currently finds itself in. We have a recession where people of all levels are being forced to change their habits, and in a way that has not been seen for years count the costs in terms of jobs and money. People are genuinely anxious about what is happening at the moment.  What is needed in such times is clear decisive leadership. We need to be able to look to our leaders for direction, example, inspiration and a sense of purpose. What has happened is that we have got a scandal and a leadership response that has been decidedly average. We have got a scandal that would appear to show that a significant group of elected representatives who whilst apparently behaving within the rules have actually been blatantly abusing the expenses for self-gain. There is no doubt that there has been some disgraceful, irresponsible and downright fraudulent behaviour.  This does not fit anybody’s definition of good leadership.

On September 5, 1983 I entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as an officer cadet. The motto of Sandhurst is “Serve to Lead”. It is a simple motto but one that contains the single biggest truism of leadership. If you want to lead people you might have the attitude of mind that you work for them. Not the other way around. I was taught simple things such as ensuring that my soldiers had eaten first before I ate, that their welfare was more important than my own. When I was in a position of leadership or management responsibility where I was looking after the welfare, lives and needs of other human beings I had a job of real responsibility. I was also taught that it was not simply sufficient to do what was right but that I had to do what was morally right and also to be seen to be morally right. It would seem on the surface that more than a few members of Parliament could do with some Sandhurst training. 

In their 1995 book “The Leadership Challenge”, James Kouzes and Barry Posner put forward their ideas about what people expect of their leaders. They highlighted in particular four key characteristics: honesty, forward-looking, inspiring and competent. It is hard with today’s news to look at these with anything except grim acknowledgement.  In today’s blog I want to focus on the first of these characteristics.  Under honesty what they highlighted was that if we want to follow someone “we first want to assure ourselves that the person is worthy of our trust”.   What was meant by this was the real and genuine requirement for leaders not just to say what they are going to do or how they are going to behave but to actually deliver it and do it. This is about people’s integrity and what was called at Sandhurst moral courage. To do what was right, not what suited the individual.  We want leaders who do not operate to a different set of rules themselves but are prepared to live by their own decisions. Field Marshal Viscount Slim in his book “Defeat into Victory”, talks about the times in the burma campaign in 44/45 when he had to put his forward divisions onto half rations. He did not hesitate when this was the case to likewise put himself and his headquarters onto half rations. He did not see how he could possibly take such a decision for others and not feel the consequences himself. It is not sufficient to be honest,  you must be seen to be honest. What we have seen recently in Parliament is a situation which in leadership terms is nothing short of disgraceful.

Once again it has been interesting to see the differing responses of the party leaders. From a pure leadership standpoint it must be said that to David Cameron has stood out in both his style and content. When there is a crisis there is a requirement for strong decisive leadership. David Cameron sensing the situation, was quick to impose his own rules of the Conservative party. It was swift, uncompromising and unbiased. I was, from a leadership standpoint particularly impressed by the speed with which he held conservative members of Parliament accountable for their actions. Party loyalty did not count. He was aware that in order for not just the Conservative party but for this parliament to survive with any credibility, swift, decisive and very visible action was needed.   Once again this completely outclassed the response of Gordon Brown.  Gordon Brown again looks ponderous and out of his depth.. Gordon Brown was an excellent second-in-command. He is not a leader. 

This country is in a crisis of leadership.  Not just at the individual level but collectively at the strategic level.  It is time for the leaders to stand up and be counted.

It is the time for Leadership – Does Gordon Brown have what it takes to lead?

Once again the newspapers are full of comment on Gordon Brown’s Leadership.  But this weekend we also saw some established Labour supporters also questioning his leadership abilities.   We find ourselves in a situation where the good times of the last 10-15 years seemed to have dramatically come to a halt.  Life is becoming significantly more challenging.  Uncertainty is creeping into aspects of everyday life.  This is where decisive, visible and yet compassionate leadership comes into play. We want to have that confidence that there is someone in charge who is aware of what is going on and focusing their energies on the priorities.  The question is do we think that Gordon Brown is doing those things?   But what do we mean by leadership and what is it that we expect from leaders, not just generally but especially when times are challenging?

 

Leadership is what gives us confidence that the organisation or group we are a part of can survive the challenges.  That it has a future and a plan for returning to success and prosperity.  It tells us that whatever might be happening now, someone is on the case, with our interests at heart and with the stature, intellect and determination to meet those challenges.   So what do we need our leaders to do in order for us to feel this sense of security?  What is it that people want to see from our national leadership in the current situation?

 

There is a strategy and we know what it is:   People want to know where they are going, what the plan is for getting them there and if necessary what they have to do to help make it happen.  So, leaders need a clear goal for the organisation that they then need to communicate.    It is one thing having a goal and a plan however, but you then have to communicate it effectively to your people.   You need to sound like you know what you are talking about and that  you believe it passionately yourself.   If we think about leaders who have been prominent at times of difficulty, there is a robustness in their approach that tells us they will follow through on what they promise.   My Question:  Do we know what the strategy is and how it is being executed?  Do we see an energetic plan of action?

 

Being the leader and letting others do the detail:   As a leader, you are the leader.  You need to be seen to be able to delegate and to have an effective and trusted team around you.  Just because you were once the expert at doing the detail, doesn’t mean you do it now.  Now you have a far more important job.  You provide the direction, the heartbeat and character of the leadership team and the whole organisation.  It is your actions, behaviour and style that will set the tone.  What is the tone that Gordon Brown is setting?  Do we know that he is in charge?  Do we know what he thinks?

 

People need to know you care and that you are present:   Great leaders have a genuine empathy with their people and what they are going through.  They talk to them on a human level and are clearly aware of what is happening to their people on all levels.  They have that ability to communicate this empathy and their genuine feelings for others. Even when there is bad news to give and there can be no faltering from the strategy, they are the person delivering the news.   The other members of the leadership team need to know that the leader is there and will give them the protection that they need in order to get on with the job.  It is the leader’s job to be seen, heard and felt by the wider team or population. 

 

Right now is the time for determined, visible and empathetic leadership.  Strong, but caring.  Focused, yet accepting and determined but compassionate.  My challenge to the government is that this is not what we are seeing. 

Change the way you mail

This week an article in a London paper was heralding yet another book about to be published on how to use email.  Great I thought, I am a big email user so I was keen to read on.  But,  after the same old stuff about deleting unwanted emails and making files, I came to the conclusion that the writer had missed the point with his advice.

He talked about how you lose the body language cues and voice tone in an email and so you should never use email for any communication where relationship with the other party is important.  Instead he advises we go for face-to-face.  All well and good, but more and more of us lead remote and geographically dispersed teams where if we meet once a year we are lucky.  We get the occasional chance to use video conferencing, but time zones mean that we can’t talk at the same time to staff in the far east and the US without one of us having to get up at 3am in the morning.  So we don’t want to do that too often!

 So, how do you build a relationship with colleagues via email? Especially where you are the line manager and having to ‘lead’ staff whose face you may only see on a photograph? 

I think that you can do it.  The writer of the article was right, in that you can lose some of the subtleties of face-to-face when you use email.  But, we all read books where we find ourselves hearing the voice of the author in our head.  Where the writer is able to convey emotion, warmth, humour and humanity.  The writer is able to connect with an anonymous audience and invoke feelings and build a relationship. So, when I write emails I try to use some of the techniques employed by authors and speak, using everyday language.  So I avoid ‘machine speak’ which is common in thoughtless emails.  I imagine that the person I’m emailing is in front of me and that I am in conversation with them.  I know that because I just have language at my disposal(the words), some of the intended warmth might go missing  as my words travel across cultures.  And losing my vocal tones which can convey emotion, so I take care to add in phrases such as ‘warm wishes’ at the end or a bit of humour if it feels right.  And , the rhythm of the sentences sound more friendly if they are relaxed – not clipped and short which conveys brusqueness; and not so long as to seem officious. Imagine you are writing to a friend. Maybe not your best friend where you can be completely informal, but someone who likes you, and you like them.

Email is an immediate form of communication so it allows just a little less formality than written, paper based, communication.  So it is always ‘Hello Neil’ and not ‘Dear Mr Poynter’ even if we’ve never met.  I push the boundaries a little with slightly more informality than they might have used towards me and use a more relaxed ‘light’ approach, a bit more ‘chatty’ in style because I know that neutral language can come across as pompous or be received with a negative spin.  If there is also the opportunity to do instant messaging (IM), we can have real time interchange that is really close to conversation. Add in a webcam and you’re away! Relationship building started.

Using this approach of ‘writing to a friend’ I have built up strong relationships, using email, IM or video conferencing, with staff in Bangalore, Manilla, Hong Kong and the US; and one day I hope to be lucky enough to meet them in person.

Needless to say, I wont be buying the book launched this week on how to survive emails, as I’m sure I don’t need any more advice on how to delete spam!

The Leadership Challenge

When we are working with our clients’ senior leadership teams, we frequently use our Performance Focused Leadership (PFL) model as the basis for developing a common understanding of what constitutes effective leadership in organisations. We are defining ‘effective’ here as leadership that impacts upon organisational performance not just the performance of individuals.

Our model of leadership is based on and borrows from some of the leading thinkers on leadership and to this end I recently re-read Jim Kouzes’ and Barry Posner’s book The Leadership Challenge. In it they argue that there are five practices that are common when leaders are able to make extraordinary things happen.

1. They model exemplary approaches to work and become a showcase for those who want more from their own leadership.

2. They inspire a shared vision – in ways that others hitch their wagons to the same star.

3. They challenge current practices and learn from mistakes how to rejuvenate an old process into renewed procedures.

4. They enable others to act by spotting capabilities all around them – even those hidden or unused at times.

5. They encourage the heart in ways that uplift spirits and nudge people forward.

They also identified that the most important aspect of leadership that people wanted from their leaders is ‘honesty’ – defined as leaders backing up what they say with the way that they behave themselves.

From this it is clear that Leadership starts with ‘You’ – you have to develop a clear understanding of yourself, not only your capabilities but as importantly your values, your ethics and what you are prepared to stand up for. We believe that developing this understanding of yourself in a way that you can then apply it to become a more effective leader is the beginning of The Leadership Challenge.

In my next blog we will continue to explore the concept of Performance Focused Leadership and what makes effective leaders in organisations.

More on Marco…. Leadership styles and Self-presentation

Wednesday Night

As I wrote yesterday, today I want to make some observations on Marco’s self presentation and also his ability to use a range of style’s of leadership. 

Personal Presentation   

When discussing people who are really great leaders (and I don’t just mean the Mandelas, Bransons and Churchills of the world) they inevitably end up talking about their manner.  How they behave.  Their self presentation.   What tends to come out is that the way someone behaves can have a huge impact on the group and how they feel about what they are doing.   On Wednesday night it was very obvious that Marco was in a strange mood.  However, such was the sense of purpose and loyalty that he had already generated in the teams that one comment was “We knew something was wrong and we just worked twice as hard to help him.”   How do you engender that sort of response in such a short time?  One of the key impact areas is your behaviour.  Let’s look at how Marco uses himself to get his message across. 

1.      Language –  There is little or no swearing.  He has key words that he uses to reinforce what he wants such as “Stay concentrated.”

2.      Tone – His tone when talking to the teams both before and after service is measured and precise.  He doesn’t get over excited or emotional.  He is very calm.

3.      Pace – The pace he talks at is again measured.  It isn’t rushed and people have the time to actually listen and take in what he says.   One of the challenges when someone is over excited and talking too fast is actually taking in what they say.  The listener cannot take in all the possibly crucial information that they are being given. 

4.      Eye Contact – Look at the level of eye contact Marco uses with his team.  He engages with each of them and makes the message feel personal to them. 

Styles of Leadership     Good leaders are able to adapt their style to the needs of the team they are leading and the situation that the team is facing.  Let us remember that Marco is dealing with a team of low technical competence and also a team that in development terms is immature.    Both of these facts mean that Marco has to adopt more of the active leadership styles as opposed to passive.   The team is not capable of being left with passive leadership. 

There has been lots of work looking at styles of leadership. One especially interesting piece is that done by Daniel Goleman and the Emotional Intelligence leadership styles described in his book “The New Leaders.”   In it he describes six styles ranging from the Visionary through to Democratic and out again to Commanding.   I don’t want to go into full descriptions here because they are described admirably in the book.  What I want to draw attention to is Marco’s use of at least three of these styles. 

–          The morning and pre-service briefing.  Definitely the Visionary, “We are not here to impress people, we are here to feed people….. Trust me I will guide you through.”

–          During Service and the team is in trouble.  He knows when to adopt the commanding style and even the pace-setter style and gets stuck in.  He also knows when to pull back out.

–          Post service.  Coaching style with the group plus some Affiliative.  Getting people to reflect on success not the failures! If you want more on this please look at Daniel Goleman’s book.  It is a very good read. 

Look Forward     Tomorrow I want to look at the way Marco trains people and also the dynamics that are happening in the teams.  Enjoy….

Hell’s Kitchen, Marco Pierre-White and a Leadership Case Study

Little did I think that I would be sitting down to write my first blog and the subject being a reality TV programme.   The thing is I have found myself actually watching some wonderful moments of Leadership thinking and techniques.  I didn’t say they were all fantastic but…. There are some really key points being displayed and what I want to do is provide an opportunity to highlight and discuss what can be observed.   I do not promise to be exhaustive so I will just pick out a few things each day.

The way I’m going to do this is select some themes from each night and pick out the key points of what seemed to occur. 

Tuesday Night: 

Clear Common Goal for the Team

It was noticeable on Tuesday night how many times Marco reiterated to the teams what the goal was.   “We are here to feed seventy six people.”  “ Our job is to feed people.”  He was constantly reminding them what their goal was and why they were there.   We are a very goal focused animal and indeed in any team situation the first thing we need to have is a common goal.   That goal needs to be simple, meaningful to all and something that is motivational to achieve.   It gives the team and individual focus to their efforts and something to fall back on when things are tough.  It is significant that whenever we are working with management teams that every one understands the need for this but not many have got it constantly in the language that is being used. 

What I heard on Tuesday night was Marco getting it set in people’s minds why they were all there.   The other aspect that I saw was Marco including himself in that goal.  He wasn’t saying YOUR goal, it was OUR goal.  He was making it very clear that as far he was concerned, he was part of the team.  I am going to probably talk about Marco’s positioning of himself in tomorrow’s blog but please notice how inclusive he is of himself and everybody. 

Giving Developmental Feedback

In the morning they did a master-class in which they were shown how to cook a Dover Sole.   They were then given 20 minutes to have a go at it themselves.   The “incentive” was that whoever cooked the worst one got to cook the team lunch.  It was interesting to then watch what happened.   Some had never cooked fish before others made what appeared to be complete disasters.  Now, we only got to see what the editors decided we should see but, what we did witness was another master class but this time in giving people inspirational feedback. 

Lets first of all remind ourselves of some of the obstacles that we face whenever we are giving or indeed receiving feedback.  Our default is to anticipate the worst.  Well, for most of us it is.  Especially when we are being assessed by a master craftsmen for something we have never done before.   There were very few of the trainee chefs looking confident.  However, Marco didn’t want them to feel bad.  He knows that in order for them to succeed he needs a team that believes that they are capable of achieving the goal.  What we say was a classic case of him highlighting to them what they were doing well.   He also didn’t use the dreaded word…… BUT….    What was also noticeable was the manner he did it in.  Calm, reasoned and understated.   That seemed to make it even more impressive.   

I will talk about Marco’s general demeanour and manner on another day because it warrants special attention.   The simple lesson here is that if you want an individual or a group of people to be able to overcome significant challenges they need to feel confident in themselves and in the group.   Highlighting failings is not going to achieve that.  In fact it is going to positively undermine it.   What builds confidence is seeing and hearing that you and your team are starting, if only at a very basic level, to succeed.  Success breeds success.  The first thing you have to know though is that you are succeeding! We need to remember that developmental feedback also needs to be specific so that the person knows what they have done well.  This also encourages the very basic product of repeat behaviour.  If someone knows they have done something right.  They know what to do to repeat it next time.  How many times have we all been involved in something that we thought was a complete shambles only to discover in retrospect that 70% of it was really good?   Well, if your team know that they are doing 70% of it right, it makes it a lot easier to contemplate the other 30%. 

Look Forward:

There are already two things I want to talk about tomorrow.  First of all Marco’s flexibility of style.  He isn’t a one trick pony.  I have seen coaching, commanding, pace-setting and visionary styles already.  He uses them at different times and in different situations.   The other area I want to look at tomorrow is Marco’s personal presentation and image, Bandana not withstanding and what impact his behaviour has with the team and the growth of their regard and respect for him as a by product.    If you have read this please feel free to comment and also….. watch Hell’s Kitchen tonight from a totally different view point!

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