Sterling Performance

If you spent this morning strap-hanging in a stuffy, over-crowded carriage, you’ll be in favour of the latest calls to ease rush hour traffic, human and automotive.

UK business organisation the CBI is calling for major reforms to roads and public transport to ease peak-time bottlenecks, and its “fresh thinking” also calls on employers to break the nine-to-five routine.

In its report, “Tackling congestion, driving growth — a new approach to roads policy”, the CBI’s focus is the roads — which 80 percent of businesses refer to as “vital” to their success. But to ease traffic on the roads, the CBI’s recommending flexible working times and — gasp — car-pooling.

For this to work, says the CBI, government and business needs to deliver on its promise to provide every home with broadband by 2012. It claims the UK’s falling behind on broadband provision and that employers need to stump up some more cash for videoconferencing technology to help people work in “novel” ways.

This all makes perfect sense, although I’m not sure how ‘fresh’ the concept of flex working is — organisations like the Work Foundation and Working Families have long been advocates. It’s a happy convergence of the interests of environmental, employer and employee needs, but speaks volumes about how few companies are working flexibly already.

The fact that the CBI’s encouraging employers to offer staggered working hours suggests it’s not high on employers’ agendas already. Isn’t that surprising? Flexible hours are a simple way of according employees autonomy, they may save a small business on property costs, they encourage accountability, cut down on time-wasting commutes…  I’m curious as to why employers — or employees — don’t already recognise the benefits. Or is the CBI preaching to the converted. Let us know if you’ve got a view.

One of the interesting things happening after the Likeminds conference last month in  Exeter was the Likeminds Summit which actually took place on the following day at Bovey Castle in Dartmoor.

There were, of course, a bunch of like-minded people around the table. One of the recurring questions surrounding the implementation of social media was change management;
often touched on but rarely explained properly.

Here is a list of 10 ingredients I think are of the utmost importance when you want to set up change in your company. This list is based on my experience of implementing change at various companies throughout the world in the past 20 years:

1. The serenity prayer: the first ingredient is to always know what you can change and what you cannot change, and to ensure that you always will be able to tell the difference.
2. Think big, start small: obviously if you are trying to implement change, it’s because you have great ideas. But try and be reasonable and start small and then move on to bigger changes one step at a time.
3. Choose the path of least resistance: avoid people resisting change at all cost and try not to waste time convincing them. Focus on people who are more favourable to your project and work with them all the way up (they are your change agents).
4. Ask your boss to set an example: when you want to change things, management has to show the way and to prove others that things can be done not only by ordering them around but by actually doing things by themselves.
5. Don’t think top down: don’t assume top management’s email to all will bring about change. That’s not how it works.
6. Seek a mandate once (some) results have been proven. Or, if you already have a mandate, don’t show it until we have implemented a few results either. This will show people that you care about their opinion,
7. Respect people: the human factor is one of the most important in change management. Don’t underestimate people and try and convince them humanly.
8. Expect the best, but prepare for the worst: as always in project management, Murphy’s Law applies. Be prepared for the worst so that you can avoid it.
9. Act swiftly: change is best implemented within a three to six month period. If nothing has happened before then, chances are that nothing ever will.
10. In times of trouble, don’t stop, but speed up the change process. Times of chaos can be perceived as periods of danger by most people. Yet, most change managers will recognise this as the time when anything is possible. It’s mostly when things are uncertain that change is implemented and accepted, not the contrary.

Last, adhering to these 10 simple rules might not guarantee success but overlooking them will certainly mean failure.

How much time do you spend preparing performance reports, and sitting in meetings discussing them? And of that time, what percentage do you estimate gives you a positive return on your investment?

Performance reports give managers and executives the misleading impression that they are in control. If someone in the organisation has gone to the trouble of measuring something and reporting it, then surely it’s being managed, right?

Well, not necessarily.

What gets measured doesn’t get done; it gets paid lip service. Too many organisations are drowning in data they never use, and too many managers spend time preparing reports that will never be read, let alone acted upon. (more…)

You do not need books or psycho babble to work out how to motivate people. Start by thinking about the best boss you have ever worked for. What did the boss do to motivate you so well? Do you do the same things with your team?

In practice, most of us respond to some simple motivational measures. Here are my top ten:

1. Show you care for each member of the team, and for their career. Invest time to understand their hopes, their fears and dreams. Casual time by the coffee machine, not a formal meeting in an office, is the best way to get to know your team members.
2. Say thank you. We all crave recognition: we want to know that we are doing something worthwhile and we are doing it well. Make your praise real, for real achieverment. And make it specific.  Avoid the synthetic one minute manager praise (”gee, you typed that email really well…”). (more…)
   Jo Owen is a serial entrepreneur, author and business speaker. Got a leadership idea for Jo to tackle?

The recruitment freeze isn’t lifting any time soon, but companies are focusing more on keeping their existing key staff happy, so that their elite workers aren’t tempted to stray, according to a panel of HR bosses.

NSG Group (formerly Pilkington) human resources VP Luis Henrique Souza, Axa head of global resourcing Samantha Rich and De Beers Goup HR director Phil Volkovski aired their views on talent retention at the launch of a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit called Companies at a Crossroads. The report was sponsored by workforce management software company Stepstone, of which all three panellists are customers.

Issues arising from the report included:

• Organisations need to focus on talent retention at all levels of the business
• Talent drift is a becoming an increasing danger to company’s talent pools as key workers become disaffected. (more…)

Who do you turn to for help? Well, it looks as if one person you’ll go to great lengths NOT to seek help from is your manager.

A survey of 2,000 adults by the Chartered Management Institute and the British Library found that 85 percent would rather find their own answers than ask their manager for help.

Why? Some (23 percent) just don’t trust their managers’ judgement, others don’t want to appear incompetent or be judged incapable of sorting out their own problems. But the big excuse is also in some ways the most telling — 48 percent just don’t want to bother their manager.

Despite the fact that it’s a manager’s job to support and guide team members, the fact is that most are perceived as unapproachable or incapable — probably a sign of the times. If your workplace is one of the many worldwide where headcount has been cut, there’s every chance your manager really is busier than before.

Yet wherever people are looking for help, only a small proportion are reading it in books. The CMI survey — which is promoting its Management Book of the Year competition — found only five percent turn to business books in their manager’s stead.

But when they do, the subjects speak volumes — most seek advice on better balancing work and home life; on how to get a pay rise or promotion; or on how to manage people… not, perhaps, something you’d tell your manager you’re reading up on.

It’s not such a bad thing to foster a culture of independence, where people seek out solutions from colleagues — but it should be in the knowledge that your boss can help if you’re struggling, and is there to guide your initial path. Steering clear of your manager because they are busy is one thing; but it’s another to avoid your boss because you deem them incompetent. (Wouldn’t even the most insensitive manager notice if no-one ever sought their advice?)

So where do people go for help if not to their boss? Do the CMI findings reflect your experience at work?

(Photo: Andres Valenzuela, CC.2.0)

I’m sure you’ve heard the aphorism “change is the only constant,” but do you know when who first coined the phrase? Surprisingly, it is not the work of Tom Peters, Peter Drucker, Henry Ford, or any other management guru, but was, instead, written by the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, 2,500 years ago.

We often talk about the nature and speed of change and the importance of change management as if it is some new concept, developed over the past 20 or 30 years. Yet responding to external challenges and opportunities, and finding ways to overcome them is, in essence, the story of mankind.

Consequently, change management is not an element of your job as a business manager or leader; it is the job. If you’re not helping yourself, your team or your organisation find ways to overcome new challenges or exploit new opportunities then it is unlikely that you are adding any real value to the business at all.

At the heart of change is agility. Your ability to anticipate, respond to and maximise the results from changes to your external environments are the key drivers of success.

I have identified three levels of agility. At which of the three levels does your business operate?

1. Operational Agility. 18 months ago Tesco responded to the downturn and the increased competition from low price such as Aldi by launching its own Discounter range. This initiative did not require a change in direction from the company, but did require fast, effective decision making to enable a reallocation of resources and focus onto the new particular project.
2. Strategic Agility. In 1991, after six years of failing to succeed as a full-service airline between Ireland and London, Ryanair adopted a distinctively different strategy, focused on becoming Europe’s low fare airline. The company’s ability to change strategy led to it becoming the largest airline in Europe.
3. Organisational Agility. Pulling off a fundamental shift in strategy once is worthy of celebration. Businesses that can repeatedly shift resources and strategy and adapt to new customer needs, technological changes and uncertain economic realities are few and far between. GE continues to face difficulties and uncertainty, but its performance over the last 100 years demonstrates the organisation’s -– and its people’s –- remarkable ability to experiment, adapt and overcome major external challenges.

I recently re-watched a December 2009 interview of Paul Argenti (corporate communications professor at Tuck University) following the release of his book dedicated to Web 2.0’s effect on communications.

I’ve pulled out some points from the interview. A lot of what Argenti describes here is similar to what I have written in these columns and elsewhere:

1. Most execs are out of sync. It’s easy to dismiss what you don’t know as being a fad or meaningless.
   
2. Yet a true revolution in corporate communications is unfolding with regard to how our corporate relationships are impacted in all areas: press and public relations, investors, analysts, partners and clients, employees and job seekers etc. What is funny, Argenti says, is that despite point one, none of the interviewed execs denies this fact.
3. This revolution has less to do with tools than strategy.
   
4. Video and vlogging (video blogging) are transforming everything we do in corporate communications.
5. Web 2.0 enables active vs. reactive communications.
6. Negative feedback is definitely what execs are afraid of, but it is already broadly available beyond social media. Social media is not the cause of negative feedback or brand disloyalty and cannot be held responsible for the quality of a product or the fact that a service hasn’t been rendered properly.

I would also add some advice for PRs on getting a better grasp of how to use social media.

Don’t:

• Misjudge the importance of a sentence or a comment. Even more than in the printed press, every word counts in social media.
• Misunderstand the human factor behind crisis management in social media. Some believe that fiddling with comments is enough, whereas human conversations will work wonders.
• Think being present on social media is enough. You need to engage.
• Talk digital vs. do digital — you need to understand what the Web makes available to all.
• Ignore positive feedback including that which can be generated by internal blogging communities and partnerships,
• Forget to implement the right processes and spell them out clearly, including disclosure practices.

Dealing with bullying is a delicate affair, and there is probably no better example of how not to handle the issue than the ham-fisted behaviour displayed by the National Bullying Helpline and the office of the Prime Minister.

As soon as allegations of a bullying culture in No 10 Downing began to emerge in this weekend’s press, Gordon Brown’s lieutenants closed ranks and denied everything.

Whether or not the allegations had any basis, this behaviour smacks of heads buried in the sand. According to the Downing Street press office, the office of the Prime Minister has rigorous procedures to protect staff against bullying. That may be so, but to deny the existence of bullying outright and suggest there is no need for any investigation now that the issue is public is insensitive to staff who feel they are being bullied.

Lord Mandelson has confirmed the Prime Minister has a short temper, lending currency to tales of Brown grabbing staff by the lapels and taking his anger out on furniture and fax machines. In times of great stress, the temptation by managers to bully staff to get things done is much greater. And there’s a very thin line between the perception that someone is angry with themselves and the feeling that their anger is directed at you.

No 10’s imprudent denial that bullying could exist within its walls is matched by the National Bullying Helpline’s willingness to bring confidential enquiries into the public domain. The helpline’s CEO, Christine Pratt, has turned the issue into a political football — a decision that damages her credibility as a leader for such an organisation.

If it’s true that three or four enquiries to the helpline have come in from the 10 Downing phone line in recent years, why has Pratt chosen to blow the whistle right now? After accusing the government of not following procedure, isn’t she doing exactly the same thing?

Coming so close to the general election, this story isn’t going to go away, and No 10’s refusal to accept that bullying exists within it will only damage the present government’s chances of getting another term in office. To pretend bullying isn’t happening smacks of poor management, which, of course, is the most fertile ground for a bullying culture to take root.

The National Bullying Helpline will suffer for going public on this issue. The group has endangered the anonymity of people within the government who have gone to it for advice. It’s difficult to see how it can continue to reassure callers that their enquiries will be kept confidential now. It has handled the affair with just the indelicacy that it should be trying to prevent in other organisations.

Bullying is real. It happens every day, at every level of organisation. Only by dealing with it decisively, but with discretion, so that the victims of bullying are spared further suffering, can it be effectively weeded out of the culture.

• How to Handle a Workplace Bully
• Video: Calling a Bully a Bully

In the spirit of the festival of love, here are some tips on kissing up to the boss, because there is no love finer than that which an employee feels for their boss.

Kissing up to the boss is a fine art that every ambitious employee needs to master. You never know when you might need to turn on the charm to either get yourself out of trouble or get picked for a choice assignment.

Good boss-kissers know that it’s a long-term strategy that builds the right relationship over time. You can’t go in all of a sudden and detonate a huge love-bomb. Bosses aren’t stupid.

Well, they aren’t that stupid.

Subtlety is the watchword. Bosses shouldn’t know they’ve been kissed - they should see it as the naturally occurring warmth and respect they deserve.

Here are some ideas:

• The best form of compliment is mimicry. Study your boss’s preferred style of dress and copy it. Don’t make a show of it. They’ll just get a feeling that you, like them, are meticulous and stylish. Start using phrases they use. Your boss will hear you speaking the same language and know that have a special understanding of what they want to achieve. (more…)