News
On Fast Company an intriguing view of the world through "Glowing Maps" of human activity. A fascinating plot of human activity on a global scale with implications for self and organisation.
This made me think about ways in which we view situations, contexts, issues etc and how often it is through the same lens and thus not really creative or value adding in a way which moves things forward. And when we stay still and others move forward then we don't benefit and hopefully may catch up later - if it is not too late. So big coaching questions for this blog:
- How might you view things in a different way to shed light, generate insight on something you want to change?
- What two things would help you develop new approaches to the way you / your team / your organisation operates?
I think this link is another example of synchronicity. It has been an innovative day taking part in a Business Creativity workshop led by our colleague Jo North as part of the annual York Business Week where delegates worked on an issue important for their organisation. Participant feedback was around the really practical benefit to develop their businesses through breakthrough thinking and create more value.
So consider what else you might now want to do in your context
Tom Peters suggests that all leaders are developers of people. It's implicit in takling the job. If they don't like that - then they should fire themselves.....
- How do you view promotion - at any stage - junior, middle, senior man-agers are also leaders?
- Do they have the blend between the two balanced?
- How do you see your role as a persons who also helps others thrive - or does competition get in the way?
Over the years we've come across a number of people - and heard about even more - who have the title but don't yet live the role expected and articulated by Tom. Much of the time the reason they are stuck is their own history and corporate culture placed more firmly in the administration/transactional management aspects of their role rather than the transformational leadership/developmental growth.
We view this developmental role as one of the ways leaders create value and it can mean huge differences in performance for individuals, teams and organisations as our work at BT, Marshalls and the Police Service has demonstrated.
Reflect on this - how much of a people developer are you? Which of your people would benefit from being more effective? Now think about how we might be able to assist.
Interesting presenters at the York St John Business School lecture yesterday.
Kersten England - CEO of City of York Council on 'Pride and Passion - local government in its element'
- best soundbite -" In 1992 there were more people named John in parliament than women and in 2010 more Daves than women"
How, as an executive officer, can you create an organisation which really engages and flourishes in interesting and challenging times?
Roger Steare - Corporate philosopher and visiting professor at Cass Business School on 'The Power of Love in Business' -
- best soundbite - "when you assess big organisations against the WHO criteria for psychopaths they tick every box". I had a look at the criteria - politicians also match the criteria - but I guess we knew that anyway!
Also a rather impressive video - Minature Earth which makes the stats around the planet meaningful by looking at them out of total of 100 - definately worth a watch.
So what?
From Enabling Development's perspective- some key thoughts about leadership. How do you not only produce the RoI, yet also move to the stage beyond emotional intelligence?
Why not comment with your views on this?
Using Mailchimp for the first time was overall very good - simple to use and tweak a template until our purpose designed one arrives soon. The BIG learning point - check everything many times - esp the hyperlink to download our newsletter. That said simple human error.
So what? One of the frameworks we use with our executive business coaching clients explores setbacks - ie when things haven’t gone as well as they might. The purpose is to identify, learn and move forward.
Bringing this alive
- Awareness: Initial - Notice no clicks on the newsletter - that’s strange. Main - Wake up in early hours - nagging doubt
- Review: Switch on computer, look at email and notice the “Download the newsletter” not linked. Initial blame of self - what a $*&^% - how have I missed that? Had prepared email and checked all the hyperlinks checked as working. Then email sent
- Understand: Had not hyperlinked the main link in the mailing and not a process to guarantee that!
- Change: Big learning for future - ensure do it! Ok - what to do now?
- Accountability: My issue - missed the link. Feel need to notify people by personal email rather than resend the mailing. Sleep on it to let things settle and connect. Wake up, prepare content - let others review to make suggestions - sent. A couple of nice responses back in quick time.
What are some of the things you've learned from setbacks? Why not comment?
In terms of basic return on investment – achieving outcomes is one way of measuring the value created and comments such as life changing and promotion are really meaningful and in some cases act as proxies for financial return.
We set a range of outcomes with our corporate coaching clients – often business outcomes through a three way discussion as well as personal outcomes. In the late 1990s, monetary RoI was rarely documented as an outcome rather, in discussion as part of the pitch, if you achieve a 10% increase in performance – what’s it worth?
From 2007 we began interviewing previous clients to understand the benefits our approach has generated for them. In response to the question “What were the benefits for the organisation?” and often “What were your personal benefits”, those in commercial organisations articulated a range of monetary returns which surprised and delighted them and us.
This led us to:
a) look at a measurable bottom line return as an outcome for each coaching participant
b) offer one of the first no-win, no-fee guarantees for executive business coaching where we can agree a specific financial return. This brings its own challenge!
One of the things we are currently grappling with is the procurement process in large organisations whose (bureaucratic) systems are for an agreed fee for the service offering be it executive leadership coaching, business strategy consulting or leadership team development or indeed any other consultancy contract.
Whilst the commissioning manager can easily agree that if £1m of added value can be attributed to our intervention as we help them perform more effectively, then a base fee of (say) £10k plus 10% of the value realised is entirely appropriate, the official contracting process doesn’t get it. They can cope where it is some major infrastructure – eg construction where finish a week late a penalty payment or the converse as the figures can be more certain.
So ideas on this helping organisations work this through please let us know!
Successful designers find ways to solve problems through finding something original in the ordinary. Business leaders can learn a lot from the way that designers solve problems. Why not use these four steps to:
- Question. The obvious questions may not be the good ones. Look deeper without being afraid to rethink basic fundamentals about the business, products or the way you lead your team.
- Care. Caring doesn't just mean looking after the customer. Remember you have customers – internal as well as external. Get to know both as intimately as possible. Immerse yourself in the lives of the people you are trying to serve. Get to know and understand your team and show them you care. Try the 'soft stuff with hard results' approach! Today we call it emotional intelligence.
- Connect. Find ways to bring together concepts, people, and products. Not many great ideas are original so see what you can get from what you have. Get your team to share in this – they usually have great ideas but are never asked to talk about them.
- Commit. Formulate the joint idea as quickly as possible: create a pilot and start testing as soon as you can. This will tell you if you are on the right track. This is equally true for leadership ideas as well as products and processes.
A leadership brand tells people what is distinctive about you as a leader and communicates what you have to offer. Your leadership brand is the perception of others to the way you operate and communicate. Summarising your brand in a statement is a useful and often enlightening task.
First, answer these two important questions:
- What do you want to be known for?
- What results do you want to achieve in the next 12 months?
Second: take the two answers and put them into the following statement:
I want to be known for ______ so that I can deliver ______.
Once you have your statement, be sure that you are living up to it. Ask others for input on whether you are achieving your goals and whether they see your leadership brand in the same way you do. From the feedback develop strategies to become the leader you want to become.
Generating a positive leadership brand is all part of the Enabling Development corporate executive coaching experience. Look at the feedback we get from our clients.
A culture of adaptability is vital to survival in turbulent times. Here are some really practical points to help you cope with increasing unpredictability, be more effective with your team and raise organisational performance.
"What is good for the manager is not always good for the company. Mission must come first, self-interest last."
Meet the Troops
- Creating a personal link is crucial to leading people through challenging times. So engage with every employee—individually or in gatherings. A direct connection reinforces your message.
Make Decisions
- Making good and timely calls is key in a leadership position. So act fast—don’t shoot from the hip but don’t wait for perfection.
Focus on Mission
- Establish a common purpose, support those who will help you achieve it, and avoid personal gain. So make organisational interests your top priority — don’t let others falter as you prosper.
Convey Strategic Intent
- Make the objectives clear, but avoid micromanaging those who will execute them. So set a direction but don’t get too involved in the detail — give people the freedom to improvise.
More information in the November 2010 Harvard Business Review p 86 – 90 author: Michael Useem from Wharton.
If your 360° feedback hasn’t confirmed your own perception as an exceptional leader then what can you do especially when similar feedback is echoed by several people across your organisation. How you react to an unsettling 360 is far more important than the content itself. So here are three tips for turning your experience around:
- Think before you act. It's far too easy to be defensive and that might just confirm colleagues’ opinions. Best to let the results sink in before you do anything. Then ask yourself:
- Be honest with yourself - How true is this feedback?
- Have I heard similar comments before?
- How does the feedback align with my values?
- Decide what to change. You don't have to respond to everything. Far better to enhance one or two key areas than slightly improving on several dimensions. Decide which feedback is most important to you as an effective leader and focus on that. That way you will create a more positive impact for yourself and those around you.
- Seek help. Once you've committed to changing:
- ask your manager, peers, or direct reports to assist by giving you feedback.
- Have a clear plan for the future so you and colleagues can measure the improvement and change.
- Invite them to alert you when you are falling back into old patterns.
Enabling Feedback offers both a quantitative and qualitative approach to your development and you might like to read Amy Gallo’s HBR piece as well.
Sean Price - Chief Constable Cleveland Police; Do you live like someone always ready to move house?; You might have an open door – but is your mind closed..... how to create a more productive and engaging environment
