Leadershape Alert 6

Are You Taking Enough Holiday?

A holiday puts you back in control of your life – you get up when you want and eat at your leisure; walk, don’t walk, swim, don’t swim – every day is yours to spend as you like. But when you get back to work, you start to wonder why you bothered! The e-mail mountain takes two hours to weed through, let alone action, and there’s a pile of reports and correspondence that will take the best part of a week to address. Technology in communications has made it so easy to take your work with you wherever you go and it must be easier and less stressful to do just that. But is that really good for business?

According to the Daily Telegraph (Aug 22 issue), our European counterparts take far more holiday than we do and yet statistics show that they are more productive than us Brits. The report goes on to say that Americans are taking less and less vacation and employers are resorting to closing down at holiday periods so that staff are forced to take time off. They quote research showing that 40% of American workers will take no summer holidays at all this year, whilst a third will only take a one-week break.

Similarly, a survey by the Chartered Management Institute shows that nearly two-thirds of British directors and mangers are not taking their full holiday entitlement. Long lunches are a thing of the past, many workers catch up with much of their workload over the weekend and now we’re just too busy to take a holiday? Is this progress?

“You really have to question the management style if your staff don’t feel comfortable taking their holiday allowance.” Said John Knights of LeaderShape. “Unless you are a very small operation, there should always be someone capable of dealing with any urgent issues during your absence – what would happen if you were taken ill, for example? It’s an extremely short-sighted company that doesn’t have a robust plan to allow for staff absence. It exposes a weakness in both the business and the management structure – staff who feel compelled to either work through their holidays or take it with them, cannot feel valued and motivated by their employers.”

Do you encourage your staff to take their full holiday allowance? If you would like to discuss the holiday issue with John Knights of LeaderShape – please send an e-mail to John Knights on jknights@leadershape.biz

Successful Networking - Make Your Contacts Work For You.

A Recommendation or a referral is a strong marketing tool - never underestimate it - and the power of a network multiplies this effect. Making a network work for you, requires that you put in some selfless time and effort – you can’t just collect business cards and expect the sales leads to come rolling in, it’s far more subtle than that. Building a successful network means working on relationships, creating friendships and securing a level of trust – that takes time. A powerful network can be a huge support mechanism, say when you decide to change jobs, launch a new venture or expand regionally, but where do you start?

According to ‘Girard’s Law of 250’ each of us have around 250 people that we interact with – this includes everyone that you know, hairdresser, builder, family, friends, doctor, postman, in fact anyone that you are in personal contact with regularly. There’s your starting point. To actively expand your network, particularly in a commercial context, you must grasp every opportunity to mingle with your target audience – join the local Chamber of Commerce and any professional bodies, attend seminars and conferences, offer to speak at workshops and generally look to cooperate with any organisation that will widen the scope of your contacts. This takes you to the next stage – developing your network - and before you step out of the door, make a quick reference to the checklist below:
• Invest in or develop a contact management database, update and load on your current contact list.
• Prepare your networking introduction – know how you are going to present yourself and what concise, clear messages you want to deliver.
• Arm yourself with plenty of business cards and distribute them appropriately.
• Ensure you are ready to be courteous and polite – even if the person you are talking to is of no interest to you whatsoever.
• Be prepared to be more interested in anyone you meet than perhaps they might be in you.
• Take any opportunity to be of help to someone within your network and don’t expect anything in return.
• Keep notes on all your new contacts and record all this information on your database.

If you are enthusiastic and interested in other people’s businesses or projects, they will remember you – ask questions and offer assistance where appropriate – ensure that you follow this up after the event. Send relevant information through, articles in the press for example. Refer and introduce people to others and when you are given a referral, ensure that you write and thank the referee.

Greg Young of LeaderShape commented: “Invest in your network and it will pay dividends in the long-run. You have to start by increasing your visibility, but really successful networking is about relationship building – for this you must be prepared to give as much, if not more, than you take.”

If you would like to discuss the power of networking with LeaderShape – please send an e-mail to Greg Young - gyoung@leadershape.biz

“Work-Life Balance Is A Stupid Phrase - One Needs To Integrate Work Into One's Life.”

Director Magazine describes Charles Handy (74) as a world-class business thinker and social philosopher; his books include Understanding Organisations, The Future of Work, Gods Of Management, The Age Of Unreason, The Empty Raincoat and, recently published, Myself And Other More Important Matters. In Carol Kennedy’s interview (June issue of Director) she reveals that Charles Handy sees “the seeds of the future” in the present. In his book The Future Of Work (published in 1984), he predicted that as companies tried to improve efficiency, they would turn to outsourcing and, whilst it’s taken a while for the business world to catch up with him, he was right. LeaderShape Alert takes a look at some of Charles Handy’s other featured views:

“I see businesses beginning to compose themselves of projects that are really mini-businesses, allowing people more independence, growing future leaders and building flexibility into the whole organisation. If they don’t succeed, they will be sold on or closed down – that’s the way companies will try and control staff costs.”

LS view: There is a great deal to be said for this theory. Mega organisations that have grown through mergers and acquisitions become hard to control. Breaking the company down into smaller, specialised business units, spreads the management expertise and responsibility, whilst providing all the big company administrative benefits.

“Young talent wants space to prove itself, and giving people independent command is a good way of testing them out. It makes life more exciting for them and creates more energy in the company, though it might look less efficient from the outside, and the people at the top will always want more control.”

LS view: Yes, young talent needs space, but in a way that they have all the advice, support and encouragement to make it work. There is no benefit in an organisation appearing ‘less efficient from the outside’, and through a regular coaching and development regime, the ‘people at the top’ should be reassured that more control is unnecessary.

“The people who have been going into business in the last 20 years are much more thoughtful and want to see a more important role for business in society than just making money. They want to feel they are contributing in some way and improving the world, hence the rise of corporate social responsibility.”

LS view: Corporate social responsibility has become a very important part of a company’s business profile. How a large organisation deals with issues that might include pollution and recycling, fair trade with third world countries, charitable donations, sexual and racial discrimination, as well as the distribution of profit, affect the image of the company. Society is forcing business leaders to be more thoughtful – although it comes naturally to the more successful ones. However, beware that it is authentic and not just lip service.

“Work-life balance is a stupid phrase, because it sounds as if they are two different things. One needs to integrate one’s work into one’s life. People have to take more responsibility for their own well-being and organisations should allow them to do that by giving them more discretion in how they do their jobs, measuring people by outcomes rather than processes.”

LS view: Yes, work is part of your life and taking responsibility for your own well-being is important. It is however very difficult to measure people only on outcomes, when you’ve given them no support throughout the process. This goes back to our first article on holidays – you need a supportive management structure to ensure that staff feel valued and motivated, providing them with the confidence to take full advantage of their home life and leisure time.

Are You A Pacesetting Manager?

According to a report by Scott W Spreier, Mary H Fontaine, and Ruth L Malloy, in the Harvard Business Review, June 2006, overachievers tend to set an impossible pace for the team they work with and it can be both demotivating and unproductive. Sheer drive and determination are admirable qualities, but a relentless focus on tasks and goals can damage overall performance. Overachievers tend to command and coerce, rather than coach and collaborate, which is very stifling for their staff – they also tend to take shortcuts, fail to communicate important information and are oblivious to the concerns of others. Doesn’t sound very attractive does it?

Apparently, many talented leaders have crashed and burned as they put ever more pressure on their employees and themselves to produce. The classic overachiever is driven by results regardless of how they are achieved, often pitting manager against manager in an effort to improve performance, but this isn’t a sustainable regime.
The late Harvard psychologist, David McClelland, identified achievement (meeting or exceeding a standard of excellence or improving personal performance) as one of three internal drivers that explain how we behave. The other two are affiliation (maintaining close, personal relationships) and power, which involves being strong and influencing or having an impact on others. His research showed that all three motives are present to some extent in everyone. Although we are not usually conscious of them, they give rise in us to needs and concerns that lead to certain behaviours. Meeting those needs apparently provides a sense of satisfaction and energizes us, so we keep repeating the behaviours, whether or not they result in the outcomes we desire.

One overachiever, who worked for a successful brewing and pub organisation that put a premium on results, found himself becoming increasingly aggressive and demanding in an effort to exceed expectations. It was a fellow colleague who pointed out that he was quite a nice guy when he wasn’t working – so what was his problem? He decided to get his management skills assessed and started by examining the activities he liked and why.
• He likes challenging projects and to out perform people who represent a high standard of excellence.
• He is energized by personal relationships – he likes group activities and makes good use of the ‘phone and e-mail.
• He likes to feel strong and important – a fast car, a nice house, sharp clothes, dining at the right club with the right people, etc.
• He likes to teach and gets satisfaction from helping people to feel stronger and more capable. He would have liked to have been a teacher or a politician.

Having recognised that he had an overactive drive to achieve, the challenge was to figure out how he could channel all this positive energy into new behaviours. His first step was to ask his team, peers and managers to give him honest feedback, much of which was unexpected and quite difficult to swallow. However, with coaching, he began to adopt new behaviours:
• Rather than issue directives, he engaged his team in discussion of how to achieve the goals.
• He made an effort to listen and not jump to conclusions
• He curtailed his passion to sort problems in favour of coaching people to come up with their own solutions and plans.
• He learnt to say ‘how can I help’ rather than ‘here’s what you’ve got to do.’
Chris Gulliver from LeaderShape commented: “With help, everyone can learn to change their behaviours and build a stronger and more successful team around them. Overachievers are often very charismatic, perhaps even daunting, but even pop stars, politicians and sportsman need the support of others. When you create an impossible pace, you face the prospect of losing talented and valuable people”.

If you would like to discuss any issues regarding pace setting management, please send an e-mail to Chris Gulliver – cgulliver@leadershape.biz

Leadership Run Amok, by Scott W Spreier, Mary H Fontaine, and Ruth Malloy, Harvard Business Review, June 2006.

Peer-To-Peer Leadership - The US Army Way

In 1995, two young U.S. Army officers who had been friends at West Point found themselves living down the street from each other at a base near Honolulu. Out of a few back-porch sessions grew a venture called CompanyCommand, an internal Army Web site where junior officers facing professional challenges can seek advice from others who have been in similar situations.

Launched as a low-budget Internet discussion group financed largely by its two founders, CompanyCommand was ultimately brought behind the Army firewall and, to encourage participation, it was provided with funding, technological support, and greater structure. Just as communities of practice help employees develop greater technical competence through the exchange of ideas among peers, so CompanyCommand is designed to help individuals improve their leadership skills through the sharing of experiences and advice. The program offers a new model for leadership development within an organization, one that has some advantages over both informal social networks (which often are formed by chance and function based on participants’ geographic or organizational proximity) and structured company training programs.

Peer-to-peer leadership development challenges some traditional assumptions about the training of future leaders. Instead of drawing on the wisdom of anointed experts, CompanyCommand provides young officers with knowledge based on the daily struggles of frontline professionals like themselves. LS Comment: LeaderShape leadership modules form a similar environment relating the theoretical science to actual in-company situations (participants war stories and issues).

Why the emphasis on peers? Knowledge accumulated by experts over the years may no longer be relevant in a rapidly changing battle environment like Iraq. People have greater trust in, and therefore are more receptive to, advice from someone in their situation. LS Comment:“The solution is in the room” Furthermore, peer conversations can provide emotional as well as practical support. When fellow officers respond to your query about handling the combat death of a soldier who was a galvanizing force in your unit, you don’t just get useful tips-a sample letter of condolence written by another officer in a similar situation, for example, or suggestions on helping your unit members deal with the blow. You also get the reassurance that others have been through this before and that they care enough about you to respond.

Peer-to-peer leadership development challenges some traditional assumptions about the training of future leaders.

Another difference from conventional leadership-development training is the focus on context-specific rather than broadly applicable advice. LS Comment: In both our leadership development modules and in LEIPA (Leadership & EI Profile Assessment) we focus on the individual’s context rather than a world-wide database or results.

People go to CompanyCommand for help with a particular issue and draw on knowledge that has grown out of another individual’s unique experience. Because users seek information to solve particular problems, the information must be available immediately—just in time, not just in case. When that soldier from your unit is lost in combat, you don’t have the luxury of waiting for the next training course in personnel management, which wouldn’t be tailored to the specifics of your situation anyway.

Finally, CompanyCommand replaces the one-way flow of information typical of training programs—the pour-and-snore approach—with fluid online conversations. This format means that questions can be refined, issues can be reframed, and a solution can be woven from several people’s advice. LS Comment: This is what we are continually saying – maximize participation.

Frequently, the conversation about a given topic—say, a changing security environment in Afghanistan’s Shai’kot Valley—is taken off-line and expanded to include other participants, through conversations around a Humvee or, more formally, at occasional gatherings of CompanyCommand participants. In this off-line setting, CompanyCommand bears similarities to CEO roundtables and similar forums in which business leaders from different companies get together in person to learn from their experiences.

In adopting this kind of peer-to-peer approach, an organization gives up considerable control. LS Comment: True and even more difficult for the Military. But if we are recommending empowerment and taking decisions at the sharp end of the organisation this is exactly what must happen. Strategic “coaching” (as opposed to “planning”) assists with this. And there still needs to be excellent communication. Despite the Army’s oversight of CompanyCommand, junior officers run the show, facilitating conversations and setting the agenda.

Many organizations wouldn’t feel comfortable placing this kind of trust in their people (who in turn would find it hard to develop the trust in the organization needed for candid conversations to occur). Those enterprises would begin to wonder if the program is worth it, both in money and in employee time. And, it must be said, a program like CompanyCommand is designed to meet individual development needs rather than institutional objectives. But by creating a place where soldiers can freely and in their own way develop leadership skills, the Army is enhancing the quality of today’s and tomorrow’s leaders—certainly a primary goal of any organization.

LS Comment: It behoves us at LeaderShape to make sure that organisations understand that they can’t just buy part of the pie. Loosening control and gaining trust are totally interconnected. However, individuals must also play their part in taking responsibility, being self disciplined and organized, and accepting accountability. But the organisation must make the first move and set up both the correct environment (climate and culture) and provide for the personal development of individual behaviours.

Nancy M. Dixon (nancydixon@commonknowledge.org) is the president of Common Knowledge Associates in Dallas and the coauthor of CompanyCommand: Unleashing the Power of the Army Profession (Center for the Advancement of Leader Development and Organizational Learning, 2005).

If you would like to discuss peer-to-peer leadership development, please contact John Knights on jknights@leadershape.biz

Five Messages Leaders Must Manage

According to the May issue of Harvard Business Review, Leaders frequently espouse dozens of cliché-infused declarations, such as “Let’s focus on the key priorities this quarter”, “Customers come first,” or (a personal favourite) “I want everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.” We’ve all got a vague idea of where they’re coming from, but do we really know what they want us to achieve? According to the author of the article, John Hamm, there are five key messages that leaders have to manage if they are going to be understood.

Message 1 - Organisational structure and hierarchy
The organizational chart is an emotionally charged structure and if a CEO fails to take definite control of any changes, the whole company can grind to a halt. Plans to re-shuffle can quickly seem as a move to oust or devalue staff, people quickly become demotivated and productivity takes a dive.

The leader that takes charge of the communication around a reorganization can prevent the discourse from engendering fear. A master plan must be engineered quickly and laid out clearly, so that everyone understands the rationale, the process, the time frame and their future places in the company. If a reorganization is presented as a guideline for defining goals and optimizing resources, it loses its reputation as a proxy for shifts in personal power.

LS Comment: Changing things around without explaining the rationale to those people involved is usually a recipe for disaster. The military tends to get the job done and this primarily down to pre-briefing. Does this happen as often as it should in the commercial world ? See also the previous article on Peer to Peer Leadership. The key words here are Communication and Influence.

Message 2 – Financial Results
If a CEO says he or she wants the team to ‘focus on delivering our projected results this quarter’, how should this be interpreted? I recall working with the sales team on the launch of a new range of products that was being sold in to all the major high street stores. In order to meet his target, the sales manager had told all the reps in his division to accept more or less any level of old stock returns to achieve the sell-in target of the new products. On the one hand the new range sold in well, but the re-stocking costs and huge amount of credits issued had a disastrous effect on the company’s financial results for that quarter.

In requiring your staff to meet financial targets, you must also discuss and explore their suggested tactics to achieve this.

LS Comment: Massaging and manipulating figures to ensure the next quarterly results look good nearly always has a payback down the line. (I Soft plc, the NHS IT contractor is a recent and extreme example of this). Short term gain often turns into long term pain! Key words here are Transparency and Reality, linked to Communication.

Message 3 – The Leader’s sense of his or her job
Many CEO’s believe that it is their responsibility to have all the answers. Probably eminently qualified and with a vast amount of experience, there is no doubt that these CEOs could direct staff through any situation or problem, but this does not bring out the best in the team that’s working for you.

Effective leaders understand that their role is to bring out the answers in others – asking all the right questions and making employees feel safe in offering their solutions. There is little point in employing good people if you then stifle their creativity.

LS Comment: Empowerment is a much overworked word but intelligent delegation backed by proper support is the best way to bring on future leaders. Coaching and Mentoring clearly have an essential role and both are integral to much of the work the LeaderShape Faculty does with client organisations.

Message 4 – Time Management
There is never enough time in the day and we can become so obsessed with deadlines that it can easily subsume important goals. If you set a launch date for a product or service – perhaps linked to an important exhibition or event – and then find that more time is needed for fine tuning to the product or to add features that will give it the edge over the competition, then it makes sense to re-think your launch strategy. If you become fixated with the original plan, you stand to undermine your potential position in the market by launching with a weaker product, which will also quickly become outdated.

Whilst it is always preferable to stick to your schedule - Time shouldn’t become the enemy, it’s just a fact of the situation – be flexible, quality and customer satisfaction is far more important than meeting deadlines.

LS Comment: First mover advantage - that buzzword of the dotcom era - can often as not be exactly the opposite! New products or concepts inevitably hit snags when they go live. Experienced management will set realistic timetables, allow for delays in development and recognise that reputation is more important in the long run than speed to market. (Remember the unstable A Class Mercedes?). Balanced and emotionally intelligent decision making are what is needed, characteristics which can be clearly identified by LeaderShape’s proprietary online diagnostic LEIPA (Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Profiling Assessment).

Message 5 - Corporate Culture
Culture is not created by declaration. You can only have a culture that encourages performance if you hire the right people, require them to behave in a way that is consistent with the company values and implement processes that will allow the business to win in the marketplace. CEO’s who fail to define success and communicate their vision of it, and fail to make their expectations clear to employees, produce meaningless cultures.

In companies with healthy cultures, employees aren’t kept in the dark; rather, they are supported in the belief that they are part of an exciting future. They work with enthusiasm, a result of clearly stated leadership and business practices that everyone understands. Miscommunication is rife in business and if every CEO gave proper focus to these five key messages, fewer firms would find themselves in periods of turmoil.

LS Comment: "How we do AND improve things around here" requires the highest levels of interpersonal skills by those in leadership positions. Corporate Culture is only achieved over time and as a result of ongoing openness and feedback.
At Leadershape we have our own online culture survey (based on the Harrison model) for organisations to use and get realistic input from their staff. Climate and culture is the breeding ground for all good and bad behaviours and members of the LS Faculty are available to deliver a half day seminar on this vital topic.
Peter Lewis of LeaderShape commented: It’s so easy to come out with throw away comments, but when your staff come back and say: “But you said…” then you really have no one to blame but yourself. Clarity in communications might seem obvious, but focussing on these five quite critical areas of the business does help to create some priority in the thought process.

If you would like to discuss the five key messages further, please contact
Peter Lewis of LeaderShape on plewis@leadershape.biz

The Five Messages Leaders Must Manage, by John Hamm. Harvard Business Review, May 2006