Dorothy's Blog

The leader's new clothes

2012-01-30T06:06:00.130Z

On Friday, a late cancellation afforded me the opportunity to have a late breakfast, watching Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic at the beginning of the men's singles semi-finals in the Australian Open. After finishing an assessment report I returned over lunch to watch the end of the match. It was tantalisingly close. At times Djokovic - currently world number 1 - was clearly the better player. Even so, there were moments when Murray's performance had me thinking it might be possible, just possible, that he might steal the match.

Coming on the back of so many assessments - interviewing men and women on their path to greater seniority at work - I found myself wondering about Murray's self image at this stage in his career. Because - as W. Timothy Gallwey pointed out in his book The Inner Game of Tennis, winning at tennis depends significantly on what is going on in the player's head. The same is true for the leader, so that perhaps it should come as no surprise that Gallwey's book has been an enduring hit with men and women in business since it was first published in 1974.

What do I mean by "self image"? The following comments are adapted from Wikipedia:

A person's self image is a mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair colour etc.) but also items that have been learned by the person about him or herself, either from personal experiences or by internalising the judgements of others. A more technical term for self image is self-schema. Like any schemas, self-schemas store information and influence the way we think and remember. For example, research indicates that information which refers to the self is preferentially encoded and recalled in memory tests.

Thinking of Andy Murray I wonder, does he think of himself as a world number 1 in the making? This is important because it will influence many choices that he makes both off the court and on: choices that, in time, may lead him towards - or block his path to - his first Grand Slam title.

Men and women in leadership roles face the same issue. Each new promotion brings with it a new set of responsibilities which may challenge their self image. Perhaps the newly promoted leader asks "am I really up to this?" or "is this really me?" Perhaps s/he seeks to play down the change by imagining that no promotion or other change makes any difference because "I am who I am".

A successful transition includes the integration into the leader's self image of beliefs which support success and which also have a basis in reality. Such a belief might be "I can engage others in a common vision and work with and through others to achieve our goals". Of course, the newly promoted leader needs to show that this is actually true - hence my phrase "a basis in reality". And there may need to be some interim belief such as "I can learn to engage others in a common vision and to work with and through others to achieve our goals".

Paradoxically, individuals who are confident in themselves are often better able to integrate new concepts, precisely because they have a strong self image and are not afraid of losing themselves in the midst of changes and adjustments. Of course, it also helps if they have a clear understanding of what's needed in their new role, so that the adjustments they make support their success. In some ways, as we adjust our self image we are like scientists, observing ourselves and identifying what is working for us and what is not as well as studying the differences between our previous role and the new role we have taken on or to which we aspire.

And of course, the need to adjust and adapt our self image is a constant through life as we meet many changes - moving from adolescence to adulthood, from being single to being married, to being a parent, to being old. These and many other changes demand that we revisit our self image.

LinkedIn and the on-line network

2012-01-25T06:28:00.037Z

In August 2009 I wrote a posting entitled, LinkedIn: growing my connections. At the time I had 49 connections on LinkedIn.

I tend to be a bit of a slow starter when it comes to new technology and I'm still not sure when and why to LinkIn. I'm delighted to be connected with people I've met along the way and with whom I've enjoyed working or playing. Some people ask to connect whom I don't know and I'm currently pursuing a policy of saying yes and seeing what this leads to. Only last week, I asked someone who'd asked me to connect if he would kindly stop sending me generalised marketing e-mails via Linkedin to support me in managing my time. He said yes - consider it done. Had he said no, or ignored my e-mail and continued sending, I could have broken the link.

I've only broken the link once. It was a link to someone who writes on a forum that I, too, have been writing on for a number of years. He wrote something about me on the forum I didn't enjoy and I invited him to dialogue around it. He never responded. Two other members of the forum also followed up by telling me all the things they most dislike about me and I took time with them - again, to invite dialogue with the aim of building a better mutual understanding. I thought about his original posting and his absence of response when I followed up and asked myself, is this someone who is wanting to build a mutually rewarding relationship? And was it working for me? When I decided that, no, it wasn't working for me, I knew it was time to sever the connection on LinkedIn and to let him know that I was up for connecting again - after reaching a better understanding.

Anyway, all this is leading to saying that when I wrote in 2009 I made a note to check how many connections I have a year down the line. I've been a little slow to check the numbers, which today stand at 379. I am more interested in the quality of those connections than I am in the numbers, so I continue to experiment and explore.

How Iceland bounced back

2012-01-23T04:16:00.000Z

Recently I discovered PopTech and via PopTech a talk by Iceland's current President, Olafur Grimsson, about how Iceland bounced back following the stark economic crisis of 2008.

Iceland's experiences illustrate some general principles of the modern world. The first of these is this: that we - whether "we" equals country, company, society or some other entity, are subject to the effects of events beyond our control. In Iceland's case, even before it fell prey to the effects of a global economic crisis its economy was severely affected by the eruptions of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. As leaders we are naive if we fail to understand that our plans will be affected by events outside our sphere of influence.

Grimsson's talk suggests, for me, a second important principle: that our success as leaders lies as much in how we respond to events as it does in the events themselves. Watching Grimsson's 20-minute speech I am particularly struck by the way he interrogates the events that affected his country in order to identify the key questions that needed to be answered in a time of major upheaval.

In case you missed the link to Grimsson's talk, click here. And if you've been following my recent series of postings on developing your ability to think strategically, add this one to your list - it's a neat example of stepping back to see the big picture.

I welcome your comments and responses: what comes up for you when you watch Grimsson's speech?

When there isn't enough time in the day

2012-01-20T06:27:00.151Z

I don't know about you but for me, 2012 has got off to a whirlwind start with new projects alongside my ongoing coaching commitments. I have found myself squeezing things into the diary - booking phone calls over time booked for other work and then having to work out when to do the work. I have had early starts and late finishes. I've dropped a (small) ball here and there. I've had to say no when I'd like to say yes. I have struggled to find time to do the ordinary, everyday things. I know I can handle this pace for a while - quite a long while, even - and still, it's not the way I want to live my life.

It is the lot of a coach to find him- or herself working with clients who are grappling with the very issues the coach is working through. At the moment, for me, it's time management. I am fortunate right now that my client base is growing and I'm running to keep up (remember those days?). My clients are experiencing a range of issues that make it hard to manage their time. One issue that is making all our lives increasingly challenging is technology. Recently I have found myself waking up to the alarm on my mobile and - oh! finding myself looking at e-mails before I've even got out of bed. Especially when clients work in global organisations there is always somebody sending an e-mail. This is particularly challenging because, if we're not careful, we are always just a little "wired": ready to respond and never fully relaxed. Clients also find it hard to manage their time in times of change, or after a promotion.

If you're struggling with time management what can you do to come back into balance and productivity? Here are a few thoughts from me:

Take time out to dream: You may think I'm crazy and still, this is my number one recommendation. If you want to create something different, you need to know what it is you want to create. Put aside all questions of how you might get there and ask yourself what might be true when you have got it right on the time management front. You'll probably find it surprising just how much this reveals;
Set your sights at the right level: Especially when you're newly promoted, you will need to recalibrate your sights. Maybe it used to be your role to manage the big projects, but now it's your job to work out which projects need to be managed - and delegate. Maybe it used to be your job to make sure everything got done, but now it's your job to set the direction of your area and to engage others in your team in how to make progress in that direction... you get the gist;
Set some boundaries: As long as the amount of time you are willing to work is infinitely expandable you will find yourself giving more time than your contracted hours. (My brother, currently working in Japan, wrote a blog posting recently - The salaryman - about habits in this area in Japan). Decide what hours you are going to work and when and then use this as your guide. The question then becomes: how can I best use the time available to achieve my aims?
Organise, develop or expand your resources: You may need to take a long hard look at what's possible in the area of resources. Maybe you have all the people you need but lack a structure (organisational design, clarity of roles and accountability, ways to monitor progress etc.) that supports effective working. Maybe you need to expand your resources in one area or more. Maybe you need to develop the capability of your staff. Sooner or later you need to come to a view on what you can do and with what resources and establish boundaries for your team as well as yourself;
Identify and address the big agenda items: Some of these may well emerge from your dreaming (above). They may be significant in scope and require effort across the whole team: if only, for example, you could establish the reputation of your team with your key customer group, you would have clients in the business who gladly come to you rather than making the case for using contractors to do the work of your team. Or perhaps they're more limited in scope and still they eat up your time: if only, for example, you could get John to perform effectively in his role, you would free your own time and that of others to do the job they are paid to do. I don't know what the big ticket items are in your area - do you?
Chip away: This last suggestion reflects the possibility that there may be all sorts of small things you can do differently in order to achieve a whole set of results without risking burnout for you or your team. If this is the case, you might like to spend a period of time experimenting with changes you can make or you might want to open up this question to your whole team. The more you ask the question, the more you will find all sorts of changes you can make including small changes that make a big difference.

Your ideal path to balance and productivity may include some or all of these - or other options that I haven't listed above. Either way, I'd love to read your comments on time management. What's working (or not working) for you?

Is a need to please hurting your business?

2012-01-16T06:40:00.021Z

Mashable.com recently published an interesting blog on the need to please: Is a need to please hurting your business? You can read it here.

If you click through to the article, you'll find it speaks for itself. In case you're hesitating, here are three questions you might ask yourself to see if this article might be of interest to you:

Do you ever say yes when really, you want to say no - and end up feeling angry and resentful afterwards?
Do you ever say yes and then do no - hoping that the yes will be enough to keep someone (your boss, clients, spouse etc.) happy?
Do you ever find yourself feeling stretched and overworked because you haven't found a way to negotiate limits to your total workload?

And of course, you might also ask yourself if you're managing anyone who displays these patterns. If you're managing a whole team that act this way - well, that's also a sign to pause and reflect.

Kitchen confessions

2012-01-13T06:21:00.079Z

I know, I know... it's time I gave an update on the progress of my kitchen. Is it finished yet? In fact, Jeannie Morrison, my friend and fellow member of the London Symphony Chorus, was kind enough to e-mail before Christmas and to express her hope that I would be enjoying my brand new kitchen at Christmas. Sorry, Jeannie, I'm not there yet.

An old Chinese cupboard before its kitchen transformation

The amount of preparation has been prodigious. The walls have been stripped. The chimney breast has also been stripped back to the brick work along with a section alongside it. And because the bricks were in such a poor state, Wills rebuilt part of the chimney breast. The old sink has been moved round so that the window at the end of the room can be taken out to make way for a door. And now the new door is in, Wills has started the process of converting the old doorway to a window. I could carry on - but you get the idea.

You may spot part of the old cupboard as well as

getting a rough idea of the design of the new kitchen

Gary, who spotted a 19th Century Chinese cupboard (rather worse for wear) and saw its potential, has been working miracles with it in the kitchen, creating a cupboard as planned with the central section of the original piece and another wall-to-ceiling cupboard to house the boiler. If only he'd consent to having his picture taken I might have caught his boyish delight this morning when we discussed just what a success this is proving to be. And yes, the picture above also gives you some idea of the state of my kitchen at Christmas. Fortunately, my nephew Edward, who lives with me, was away and - when I was not with friends and family - it was just me at home. Oh! Me and the mouse that is! Seen once but not since.

New appliances are multiplying in the lounge

Over time, various appliances have been delivered and some of them are biding their time in the lounge. The new sink has been with me for a while, and now the dishwasher, a new radiator and (I confess) the first proper kitchen bin I have ever owned, are all ready and waiting. It feels so grown up!

I'm smiling as I write, recognising that I, too, share a good deal of Gary's childlike glee. I'm also smiling because I recognise just how many of my friends see this kind of experience as the ultimate nightmare. I think of Roger Hamilton's book Your Life, Your Legacy: An Entrepreneur Guide to Finding Your Flow which I've mentioned before on this blog. Hamilton highlights different ways in which entrepreneurs generate wealth and I know that my own signature approach to generating wealth is primarily creative. I am loving the creative process of designing the new kitchen. Even in our private lives our key strengths and preferences show up.

After a racist thought, what do we do next?

2012-01-11T06:59:00.049Z

Well! Diane Abbott does seem to have put her foot in it! A quick Google search threw up an article by The Telegraph which highlighted reports that forty people complained about her comments to the Metropolitan Police, which is probably the least of her troubles. All in all, we've all had a field day discussing this particular gaff.

As it happens, I had a curious experience over the weekend. By way of background, I have a neighbour - a few doors down - who likes to play his music very loud and often late at night. At times I've knocked on the door to ask him to turn it down - usually unheard above the music. At times I've asked for help from the "noise patrol" of the local council. At times I've resorted to using the earplugs that are supplied occasionally when I'm seated by the organ speakers at a concert when I sing. I have managed to speak with my neighbour a couple of times and, most recently, agreed that next time it happened I would send him a request, by text, that he turn the volume down.

So it was that at about 1.30am on Saturday morning I texted him with said request when his music woke me up. I was half asleep and eager not to wake up any more fully than necessary. I sent the text, turned off my phone and was successful in going back to sleep. In the morning I woke up to a couple of text messages. The first let me know he'd got my text and had turned his music down as well as wishing me a Happy New Year. The second was a response to my lack of response and included the following:

....given the fact that u find it difficult 2 reciprocate a simple happy new year has made me realise ur colonial mindset which ur apparently unwittingly a victim of n probz dont even realise it to the point of even feeling justified.

I am so unused to being spoken of in this way that I chewed it over in the morning with Edward, my nephew and Gary, who is working in my kitchen at present. Of course, it would be easy to go to precisely the place my neighbour describes - the place of feeling justified. It seems so obvious to me that my neighbours don't want to hear too much noise that I feel some anxiety when I listen to Radio 4 in the summer whilst gardening - how does my neighbour not understand this, too?

Maybe one of the reasons - the reason, even - that Diane Abbott's Tweet stimulated so much discussion is precisely because it offered an opportunity to accuse the accuser. No matter what atrocities our ancestors may have committed or we may commit now, we don't like to be seen as racist. Ms. Abbott's misfortune was to show her own biases even whilst being known for campaigning against the biases of others. And perhaps at a deeper level her misfortune was this, to have imagined that racism is the sole domain of any particular racial group.

Coming as this does in the aftermath of the trial and conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris for the murder of Stephen Lawrence I tread with care, recognising just how much people can - in the words of my neighbour - feel justified in carrying out the most awful acts of violence. The murder of Stephen Lawrence has been a bitter reminder of this fact throughout the last eighteen years. At the same time, it seems to me that we need to show ourselves - and each other - enough compassion to recognise that we are all, more or less, racist: to see the differences in the "other" is the natural response of one who fears. For me, the important question is this: having had a racist thought, what do I do next? And equally, how do I respond to the racist thoughts of another?

I responded to my neighbour's text as best I could and with the intention of keeping the door open to communication and understanding. This was not because I have an intrinsic need to be on good terms with this particular neighbour or even because I'd like to be able to talk to him about the noise he makes. Rather, I recognise that his comments may well be a sign of how tender issues of race are for him and, whatever my own perspective, I want to see beyond my own response to understand a fellow human being.

Emotions after the event

2012-01-09T06:55:00.048Z

Amidst the various commitments I have today - coaching calls, project calls - I am expecting a visit this afternoon from PC Jane Kilduff of Lewisham Police.

Jane called me last week to follow up the photos I submitted following the riots on 8th August last year. She wanted to get some details from me in order to prepare a statement which I shall sign today. After her call I sat down and read the posting I wrote at the time, entitled There were riots outside my front door today. I realise that the notes I captured in that posting are, perhaps, a useful addition to anything I could say now, offering testimony written so soon after the fact. I also realise that none of the sentiments I expressed at the time have changed.

In our call, Jane asks me questions about what happened that day and I notice something happening as our call proceeds, a rising of emotion that I didn't feel at the time of the riots because - I knew it even then - I was in shock. When I put the phone down I sit for a few moments with the emotions - not fear, not anger, but grief, sorrow...

As I write I am aware of the way the work of Elizabeth Kuebler Ross has been used in businesses to describe our natural responses to change in the workplace. My own response is part of the same cycle. In this moment, though, I simply write in the awareness that something happened last August which changed my world and which stimulates some sense of loss in me. I can seek to rationalise that - to understand what it is that I feel so sad about and still, I can only approximate. I decide not to rationalise in this way and take a moment to sit with the emotions.

Finding the points of leverage in your life

2012-01-05T06:50:00.078Z

Last year, several times, I mentioned Richard Rumelt's book Good Strategy Bad Strategy as part of a series of postings on developing your strategic thinking. I feel drawn to his book as the New Year begins.

In particular, I feel drawn to return to the concept of leverage. Rumelt defines this in various ways, pointing to what he calls the "pivot point" that will magnify the effects of focused energy and resources. His examples include President Ronald Reagan's speech on 12th June, 1987, at the Brandenburg Gates in West Berlin. Reagan - knowing of the gap between Mikhail Gorbachev's claim that the Soviet Union was liberalising and the facts on the ground - took the opportunity to say: "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalisation: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" His speech had the effect of highlighting to Western Europeans the imbalance that existed between a system that allowed free movement of people and one that had to restrain its citizens with barbed wire and concrete. This in turn gave political leverage to Reagan.

In my own life, I am often delighted by small acts which have a disproportionate effect. In 2007, for example, I was contacted by a former colleague who had been asked to join a project team as a coach. She wasn't available to say yes but she thought of me and passed on my name. I worked extensively with the team's client that year and one of the people I coached has often referred potential clients to me since. This simple act on the part of my former colleague continues to make a big difference in my life. In similar fashion, I have written before on this blog about the ease of giving vouchers from my local supermarket - incentives to spend more money in exchange for extra reward points - to people who are already spending that amount of money at the till. Sometimes this small incentive clearly makes a big difference to someone for whom money is tight. Always it brightens the day both of the giver and the receiver.

It's not that I want to focus in this posting on giving and receiving. Rather, if you are wanting to take some of the hard work out of achieving results - to achieve more and with greater ease - looking for and acting on the points of leverage in your life can yield a bonus prize of easy results. Perhaps you are spending a disproportionate amount of your time and energy on managing someone who you know, in your heart of hearts, is in the wrong job. Tackling the issue head on takes time and energy and still, in the longer term, you know it will benefit you and the person concerned. Perhaps in your own work you are holding on to a task you really hate when actually, delegating it to a member of your team could support their development and free your time to leverage your natural strengths. Perhaps as a parent you are constantly trying to steer (control?) the activities of your teenage child when actually it's time to loosen the rein a little, saying your piece and being ready to support whilst recognising you cannot protect them from all the dangers of the world.

I wonder if this idea of leverage has any resonance for you, right now. Are there areas in which you find yourself expending time and effort with little by way of return? Are there opportunities you're currently missing to take some small action that will make a disproportionate impact in your life or the lives of others? As you enter the New Year I invite you to take five minutes to identify five fruitless activities you need to let go of and five easy wins you have yet to harvest. Please share them here.

Happy New Year.

Go big or go home - starting the year with lessons from Lady Gaga

2012-01-03T07:01:00.046Z

It's January, 2012 - the beginning of a new year. The turning of the year is often a time for reflection - a time when we look back at the year just gone and forward to the year ahead.

Lady Gaga's rise to fame reminds us just how much can change in a short space of time. You may not remember - believe, even - that as recently as the autumn of 2008, Lady Gaga was the little-known supporting act to a reunion of the erstwhile boy-band, New Kids On The Block.

Recently I was intrigued to come across a case study (from the Harvard Business School, no less) exploring the decisions Team Gaga faced when an untimely action by rapper Kanye West put Gaga's future at risk. In a summary of this case, the heading Go big or go home highlights the decision that opened up in what could well stand as a lesson in how to assess and manage risk.

"But let's keep it light" you may say, "and step gently into 2012". So for now I offer this question as you look forward to the year ahead: what's your 'go big or go home' decision for 2012 - the one that could transform your future?

If you're willing to share, please use the comments box to do so. If you prefer to read about Lady Gaga, click here.

Putting a smile on the face of life in 2012

2012-01-01T00:01:00.015Z

2012. Some people believe that the world ends this year - based on the prophecies of the Mayans, whose calendars extended as far as 2012.

Maybe it will, though it doesn't need to end without humour, as some of our colleagues in the marketing industry have been reminding me with the Lynx 2012 ad. In case you haven't seen it yet, take a moment to watch it by following this link.

Whether you're celebrating the beginning of a new year or anticipating the end of the world, I hope life puts a smile on your face in 2012 - or that you put a smile on the face of life.

Asking the right questions as the year draws to a close

2011-12-31T22:00:00.010Z

This was my last posting of the year for Discuss HR and also published on the HRUK group on LinkedIn. As the year draws to a close I thought you might enjoy it here, too:

Recently I came across a talk by Icelandic President Olafur Grimsson, describing how Iceland bounced back after firstly the world financial meltdown of 2008 and then the Eyjafjallajokull volcano sent Iceland high-speed into economic meltdown.

It’s easy to forget the drama of Iceland’s experiences (unless, of course, you had money invested in Iceland’s apparently safe and secure economy) in the light of the wider events of 2011 – the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Colonel Gaddafi, dramatic events in a number of Middle Eastern countries, freak weather events in Japan, Thailand, Australia... to name but a few. More locally, Berlusconi finally stood down as Italy’s long-standing Prime Minister and, in the UK, London saw anti-cuts protests, protests against plans to raise tuition fees and protests – together with people in countries around the world – against capitalism and its effects. In the summer riots shocked the nation – one of them right outside my front door. As I write, the fate of the Eurozone is still in the balance.

Outside my front door, Monday 8th August, 2011

Some alternative thinkers see these and many other events as part of a significant transition to a new epoch. A number of authors have written about the Mayan prophecies for 2012 and one of them, Diana Cooper (in her book Transition to the Golden Age in 2032: Worldwide Forecasts for the Economy, Climate, Politics and Spirituality), points to a twenty-year period of transition before we enter a new, "golden" era in 2032.

All this probably seems more or less remote from our day to day world of work: what, you may ask, does any of this have to do with HR? As the year comes to a close, I come back to the talk I mentioned at the top of this article. Watching it, one of the things that strikes me is how, in responding to the events that befell Iceland in 2008, Grimsson – as new President – identified and responded to some of the key questions that were raised by those events. Grimsson highlighted the social unrest that followed the world economic events in a country that had a lasting history of peaceful democracy and which threatened that democracy: Iceland’s response – to initiate and execute comprehensive political, judicial and social reform – was borne out of the conviction that the issues of the day required an appropriate response and that anything less would not be sufficient.

Writing the last pre-Christmas posting for Discuss HR, I find myself wondering what are the key questions for you as 2011 draws to a close – what are the issues you face and what would be a sufficient response? Some of these questions will be key for you as an individual. Some of them may be key questions for you as an HR Practitioner and even for HR as a whole. I hope you’ll share some of those questions as comments (and perhaps your answers) below.

For my part, I wonder if the key questions that face us all are the questions that connect us both with our heads and our hearts. These are questions which, whilst stimulating thought and reflection, remind us of what really matters to us in our work and our play. For this reason, my own key questions at the end of the year are these:

As the year draws to a close, what has been most significant for me about 2011?
What do I celebrate about this year – what needs of mine have been met? What do I mourn – what are the needs I really want to meet that have yet to be fulfilled?
Looking forward, what’s it time for - in my life, in the life of my business? What are the outcomes I most desire in 2012?
What are the implications of my desires and aspirations in terms of where I invest (my time, money, energy and other resources) in 2012?
What factors in the world around me are most significant for me in 2012? What challenges will I need to overcome in order to make progress towards my desired outcomes?
What resources do I have that will help me to meet those challenges and to make progress towards my desired outcomes?

Saying goodbye to 2011

2011-12-23T08:00:00.045Z

Today I post my last post of 2011 before enjoying a full ten days' holiday. My first posting of 2012 (and my second, and third...) is already written and scheduled for publication.

In the period prior to Christmas I have been sharing tales of my new kitchen and these continue. The process has been slower than I anticipated (and I knew it would be slow) with the usual knock-on effect of unanticipated delays. In particular, the new door to the back of the house has not yet arrived which means that the current back door has to be kept in use. This, in turn, means delaying the conversion of this back door to a window and - until this conversion can take place - building the units along the side wall.

It's a curious reminder of one of life's inconvenient truths: sometimes things just take longer than we anticipate. When we understand this we can bring compassion and humour and adapt to new realities - though some prefer to find someone to blame than to accept what is true. It seems to me that it's a good thing to be reminded of this truth as we enter a time of reflection - moving from the end of one year to the beginning of another.

So, I close by reiterating my best wishes to you for the end of 2011 and for 2012. And by sharing just a few photos from the kitchen at 14 Albion Way.

So much of the kitchen is currently in the dining room...

...or outside in the garden...

...whilst work in the kitchen goes on

Sending seasons greetings

2011-12-19T06:38:00.035Z

The year is drawing to a close. I am grateful that my work is quieter than usual in the week leading to Christmas, especially as the work in my kitchen continues. It's been a challenge to work effectively against a backdrop of noise and dust.

The work is, though, turning a corner. Some of the noisiest work - stripping back the fireplace and making a hole for a new back door - is done now. Wills has been plastering the new ceiling which gives a first glimpse of the kitchen as it will be in future.

In the midst of a busy day I take a moment to think of all the people who - well, people - my life. I have been busy sending cards and greetings and still, this is not enough to reach everyone who matters to me. I feel playful, and take the opportunity to write my good wishes on the last of the old paper in the kitchen. Soon it will be gone, though my good wishes remain.

In words often attributed to Confucius (see this interesting explanation of the origins of the phrase) we do indeed live in interesting times. Our futures - individual and shared - are uncertain. The kind of material prosperity we have come to take for granted may or may not be ours - may be some of ours but not all of ours - in the years ahead. As I write I wish you prosperity of other kinds - prosperity in your own resourcefulness, spiritual prosperity, prosperity of wisdom, prosperity in love, friendship and the richness of emotions experienced fully as well as prosperity of many other kinds. May you find you have everything you need to enjoy 2012, whatever it may bring you.

Helping leaders who want to take some of the hard work out of achieving results

2011-12-16T06:18:00.023Z

It's still all change at 14 Albion Way. The back of the house is changing dramatically as the kitchen window is replaced with doors.

This week Wills has been removing brick work so that on Wednesday night I slept with a hole in the back of the house. It was covered with large sheets of board, which made me realise just how much insulation the bricks provide.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning the window came out leaving the kitchen exposed to the elements. Leaving the house at 11am to conduct an assessment I dusted myself off - the dust is everywhere! - and walked away not knowing quite how much progress would be made during the day. I was, though, confident that supper would be very simple!

I started this series of postings with the intention of celebrating so many people who have contributed to my life since I set up my own business in 2002. Today I am celebrating Jason Stein at Heart of Business in the US. Jason has been an extraordinary source of support this year as I explore how best to market my work. I want to make it easy and simple for those people to find me who most value my help. With Jason's help I have come to the simple statement to describe my niche: that I help leaders who want to take some of the hard work out of achieving results. It's so simple that I have been hesitating to put it out there.

I wonder, how does it land with you?

Taking a moment to reflect

2011-12-14T06:26:00.035Z

The kitchen is not photogenic right now. The kitchen sink has been moved temporarily. There will be a new sink in the position it now holds - but not yet. The fridge has also been moved though not yet to the position that will be occupied by the new (larger) fridge. Gary and Wills are rearranging the plumbing to be ready for the new layout. They have also been building the frame of the new door that will be at the end of the kitchen. This is the stage where the old kitchen has largely been dismantled and foundations are being laid for the future building of the new kitchen.

I have been happily working around this, though it does present challenges. Gary and Wills have been understanding about the need at times to avoid the noisy work so that I can field coaching calls. At times I, too, need to understand that in my normally peaceful home office I will hear the background noise of a kitchen in progress and field the occasional interruption. As I write I hear the noise of a drill. We are getting clever about filling the kettle ahead of turning the water off and I am enjoying the excuse to nip out at lunch for a sandwich (though M&S' salmon and cucumber is beginning to wane).

I have adapted my pattern of work to some degree and am going gently on myself: this is not the time for radical new thinking or for projects that demand deep concentration. Instead, I take a moment to reflect.

I am so blessed in my work. Yesterday the opportunity to explore with one client her response to the conclusions of an assessment I conducted recently - and this in the supportive frame of helping her to progress her career. The day before working in partnership with coaching clients, fielding and and working with whatever comes. Some are looking for practical ways forward with the knotty issues of their lives as leaders. Others are looking for someone to witness and support their inner process. All are looking to move forward in their lives. It is still amazing to me that I can be paid to do something I feel deeply privileged to do.

As I sit and reflect - and even in the midst of drilling and background banter - I sink into the experience of needs met. In this moment I feel a deep sense of gratitude and peace. It's always available to me.

Meet the workers

2011-12-12T07:35:00.072Z

In recent days, I have been writing about progress in my kitchen. Today, I thought it's time to introduce the workers - Gary and Wills.

Gary - camera shy - is nonetheless in the house

Gary has proven rather camera-shy, so I offer this photo of his coat and scarf, sitting in the dining room. I first met Gary in the late 80s when I was furnishing my first home and he had a furniture shop in Blackheath. Stripped pine was all the rage - the cupboard in the photo is one I bought from Gary. Later, he closed his shop and started to offer his skills in the home. Painter and decorator is definitely too narrow a label. Interior designer is a label Gary shuns. Nonetheless, he combines a talent for design with a vast array of practical skills.

Amongst the moments I have most enjoyed in working with Gary are those moments where we disagree. I think "you can't possibly strip back a wall to the bare bricks" but Gary says "let's try it and see - we can always plaster over it if you don't like it". We do, and the effect is wonderful. Gary says, "You can't possibly paint a bathroom purple" and here, too, we try it and see - my deep purple bathroom has often been admired in recent years. I recognise that my creative self is well and truly indulged in the process of working together and balanced with Gary's creativity, wealth of experience and practical skills.

Wills - Gary's co-worker and right hand man

Wills is less camera-shy. He and Gary are working together in my kitchen as they have done in the past. Wills is hard-working, diligent and easy to get along with. Last week I enjoyed watching Wills open up the fire-place and I appreciate the care he has taken to minimise the passage of dust into the rest of the house. He and Gary seem to me like brothers - Gary, especially knows how to "wind up" his work companion and Wills seems easily to take the bate. I enjoy having them in the house.

In the spirit of celebrating, I take a moment to reflect on how deeply in I trust Gary and how much I appreciate his contribution in my life. It's not just that I enjoy the work he does for me - which alone would be enough. He has been a key-holder of my home for the last twenty years, as he has of many other clients. His work contributes to my need for beauty and creativity. I enjoy his sense of fun and play. I love having practical support.

If only it were not so early in the morning, I might want to raise a glass to Gary and Wills.

Making the successful senior hire

2011-12-10T05:57:00.017Z

This posting appears today as a guest posting on http://scrivrec.blogspot.com and is written for all clients who want to get it right when hiring at senior levels.

Recently I had a feedback session with someone (let’s call him John) I assessed for a senior role in a client organisation. I had highlighted to my client organisation that John showed long-term development needs in areas key to success so he didn’t get the job. What I didn’t know ahead of our feedback meeting was that, prior to our interview, my clients had pretty much told him the job was in the bag. It didn’t make for an easy start to our discussion.

The impact of making – or failing to make – a successful senior hire can readily be counted in pounds, shillings and pence. The man or woman who is well-suited to their new job brings a fresh eye, seeking to understand where their part of an organisation needs to go and how to get there given where they’re starting from. The early results include double-figure percentage improvements in key areas - such things as employee engagement, sales, profits or customer satisfaction.

Contrast this with the costs of getting it wrong. These can include the slow demise of key areas of the business as chaos sets in and staff slowly bed into a new and ineffective approach – or leave. They can include the gradual seepage of poor results from the area under a leader’s control to connected areas, as sales start to reduce in response to poor delivery times, for example. They can include major opportunities that are simply overlooked by the man or woman in charge. They include the costs of managing an individual and even of managing him or her out of the business and recruiting again.

In short, when you make a senior hire, you need to get it right. My aim in this posting is to give you some clear and simple tips for doing just that.

Clarify your aims

The more you know what you want from your new hire, the more likely you are to get it. Before you dust off the job description of your departing leader, take a long, hard look at your organisation today. What are the challenges currently faced by your organisation, for example? And to what extent is your organisation designed to meet today’s challenges? (Is it time to re-shape the job, to re-grade it, or even to get rid of it altogether?) What other factors do you need to take into account? (These might include the need to create a diverse team at senior level or your organisation’s real appetite for change – it’s surprisingly common to see organisations invest an agenda for change in just one job and to wonder why a talented new hire flounders in the face of so much resistance). Only when you’ve explored these – and other – questions is it time to move to the next step.

The next step includes shaping a clear job description, person description and critical success factors for the new hire. If you’ve thought carefully about the job, writing the job description should be easy and effective, identifying the over-arching purpose of the job and five to eight key areas of accountability. Just one page should do it – clarity reduces as length increases. Understanding the competencies needed for the job requires a sound grasp of what it takes to succeed. Defining critical success factors serves to highlight the particular aspirations of the hiring manager.

Take care not to over-egg what’s needed. I remember being tasked with assessing candidates for one organisation’s first HR Director role. Their aspirations for someone at the leading edge of HR thinking seemed way beyond what was needed in an organisation that needed initially to get the basics right. It also seemed unlikely that they would attract the person they described. They didn’t, with the effect that their new incumbent started his new job with an uneasy sense that he wasn’t what they wanted, even though he was perfectly well-suited to the job that needed to be done.

Get the right (wo)man on board

There’s an area of competence that just isn’t mine when it comes to getting the right (wo)man on board. This is the area of generating a number of likely candidates for the job. Often, my clients use head-hunters for this purpose and, at times, I’m horrified by poor quality of the results – it surprises me that so few head-hunters have skills in assessing the capability of the candidates they put forward. The bottom line is this: whatever your process for generating candidates, you need to know you have a sound approach in place to test their suitability for the job.

One way of thinking about this is to ask yourself what steps you have in place and what purpose they serve as you seek to assess the suitability of each candidate. An interview with the hiring manager is essential, for example, to test the chemistry between candidates and their potential future boss, though it’s unlikely to be sufficient to test the competency of your candidates. Equally, as well as having a way to assess the capability of key candidates for the role for which they have applied, you need to think about how to assess their fit to your organisation. As you map out your recruitment process, you need to identify what outcomes you need from each stage in the process and how you will design the process to deliver. Key outcomes include assessing capability for the job, assessing fit to your organisation, securing a good match to key colleagues (including complementary skills and good “chemistry”) and identifying strengths and areas in which development is needed.

One challenge that I often encounter at this stage is this: assessing capability for the role requires specialist skills which few HR departments possess. At the same time, hiring in external help is expensive so that organisations choose to use it quite late in the process. This can lead to the kind of miscommunication I described right at the beginning of my posting.

Creating the conditions for success

If you think that making the successful hire finishes when your preferred candidate accepts the job, you are missing any number of opportunities to support a successful on-boarding.

A robust assessment process, for example, will generate insights into the strengths and areas for development of your chosen candidate and these can be used to increase the chances of success. When it comes to strengths, for example, you may want to allocate key tasks in order to leverage the strengths of your new incumbent from an early stage and position him or her as a successful new hire. Equally, you need to think ahead of time about how to plug gaps in your new hire’s capability. This might be a matter of coaching or some other form of development – in any case, coaching at a time of on-boarding can pay high dividends. Equally, a realistic appraisal of your new hire may guide you to reshape the role to allocate responsibilities elsewhere to which s/he’s just not well-suited.

You may want to ask what other support your candidate needs in the early stages. This can range from a clear job description to moral support: you need to judge ahead of time how likely it is that your chosen candidate will feel nervous and need reassurance on the job. Equally, you can give the most confident new hire support by managing the messages that accompany their arrival in a new organisation – letting people know, for example, precisely what their role is as well as what makes them equipped to carry out their role.

And what of the unsuccessful candidate? Sponsoring feedback is just one way in which you can let them know how much you appreciate their (albeit unsuccessful) application and wish them well for the future. For John, this is what turned disappointment around and opened up opportunities for new levels of success in future – building goodwill and helping him to let go of the idea he had done a “bad job” at interview and to identify key areas he needs to work on if he is to secure – and succeed in – the job of his dreams.

I wonder, what have been your successes – and mistakes – in making the successful senior hire?

Getting started in the kitchen

2011-12-09T07:38:00.084Z

There is a fine layer of dust throughout the house today. Work on the kitchen has started. Gary and Wills have taken great care to minimise the passage of dust from the kitchen to the rest of the house, creating a cover for the door which Heath Robinson would surely admire. Even so, we know from experience that dust will travel.

One of the aims yesterday (Day 1) was to reveal the chimney breast. It may be possible to make a feature of the bare brick work.

The initial work reveals a bit of a mixed picture: the brickwork is not as pretty as it can sometimes be. By the time I get to see it, Gary and Wills have already come up with a plan B - suggestions about how to display some of the brick work whilst repairing and covering some that really isn't attractive.

By the end of the day, the unused pipe has been removed and some of the brick work has been stripped back on the adjacent wall with the aim of sealing it and varnishing it so that it can stay bare. By the time they leave the house, Gary and Wills have popped the cooker back in place, cleaned the surface and uncovered the sink and surrounding area so that I have the use of the kitchen after they've gone.

Whilst they have been working, I have been reflecting on the years I have spent in the house. During this time I have taken decisions to set up my own business, to study neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and nonviolent communication (NVC), to train as a coach... all decisions that I didn't foresee when I moved in in January, 2000. I didn't anticipate the decisions, I didn't anticipate the deep learning that would come with the decisions. I have experienced the almost paradoxical combination of living at the edge of my comfort zone and beyond and becoming increasingly connected and comfortable with myself.

I couldn't have done this without support. Some of it has been professional - working with a number of wonderful coaches over the last ten years, taking courses, as well as the support of Hoss, my wonderful accountant at Brooks Carling. So much of it has come from friends and colleagues, including some I have met along the way.

My family, too, have been an enduring presence. If ever there's an advanced school of learning, it is in the family. Sometimes my experiences of family have stimulated me to explore new ways of doing things. Sometimes I have applied new learnings in the context of my family - whether they like it or not. Often, they have been on tenterhooks - how would I fare as the owner and director of my own business...?

As I write, I take a moment to sit with the sense of gratitude I feel for so much support in my life. I am reaching for words to describe what it means to me and find them inadequate in this moment.

Kitchen adventures

2011-12-07T07:53:00.048Z

It's functional, but it's not pretty.

I've been without an internet connection for five whole days. Nightmare! I was almost thirty years old before I made any significant use of a computer. Now, I use it every working day. I have been doing my best to keep up in recent days using the tiny screen and keyboard of my Blackberry.

I've been itching to post. I am about to embark on a long overdue adventure: replacing my old kitchen. I can't begin to tell you how excited I feel! When I say old, I really mean old... When I moved into my home in January, 2000, the kitchen was already in need of an update. My friend Alan drew the the picture below when he visited.

Even in 2000, my friends knew it had to go...

The trouble is, the rest of the house was also in need of an update. Oh! And in 2002 I took a decision I had not foreseen earlier - to leave full time employment and set up my own business. Setting up Learning for Life (Consulting) took time, energy - including emotional energy - and all sorts of resources. And in the meantime, believe it or not, I got used to the kitchen.

In recent weeks, planning for this transformation, I have been acutely aware of how grateful I feel to so many people in my life. So many people have supported me on the great adventure of the last ten years. I thought I'd share this kitchen adventure with you along with my thanks. I'll be sharing photos, ups and downs, and thank yous over the coming days.

Please share your comments. I value your support.

Reflections from the dentist's chair

2011-11-30T05:19:00.064Z

Yesterday I went to the dentist to have a filling. In the midst of a busy morning - getting things done before going up to Blackheath - I didn't give it a second thought. When I sat down in the dentist's chair, however, I could feel my body tensing and I experienced waves of emotion.

My dentist, Lydia Pink at Sparkly Smile Dental Practice in Blackheath, is utterly fantastic and I knew - my rational brain knew - I had nothing to fear. We've done work together with nary a problem. No, this was the emotions of a much younger me, stimulated by being in the same situation many years earlier.

This was not "the same situation", of course. As a child having my first fillings, I don't remember ever having an anaesthetic. Dental techniques were not as developed then as they are today. More importantly still, empathy was not then in fashion: I don't remember anyone showing any understanding of my fears. Back then, I didn't have what I needed to handle the situation alone. No wonder it still casts a shadow in my adult life.

I wonder what responses are stimulated in you by reading this posting. Perhaps you, too, have fears about letting someone loose with your teeth. Perhaps you are ready to shut out these or other emotions - in yourself, in others. It's easy to deny them (by projecting them onto others, for example). It's easy to judge them. And still, the bottom line is this: both you and those you live and work with experience emotions in the here and now that reflect your childhood experiences.

The role that emotional intelligence plays in our effectiveness at work and at home is now well studied and documented. As a leader, you are likely to be far more effective if you are able to embrace emotions - your own, others' - and have ways to respond. Your ability to respond effectively makes a difference in the moment. It also makes a difference over time.

And Lydia? She was quick to acknowledge my emotions and to accept them. She took time over her work, telling me ahead of time what would happen and checking in with me to see how I was doing. What I did notice and welcome were tears, which I take to be the grieving of a much younger me for the needs that were not met in my childhood dentistry experiences. I wonder if I am letting go of the fears I felt then and everything that came with them.

Locked in conflict?

2011-11-28T05:38:00.000Z

If you're locked in conflict and don't know which way to go, take a moment to watch this short clip on YouTube. I offer it because it may help you to reconnect with your sense of humour (it's funny!) and also because it offers a key insight into conflict and why it persists.

A number of thinkers in the fields of negotiation, mediation, communication and conflict highlight the need to let go of positions and focus on interests. Maintaining a position involves taking the view that only one course of action - often requiring a particular response from another - will work and seeking to persuade that other to follow your path.

When you can understand what needs will be met by your preferred course of action you can find alternative ways of meeting those needs. Equally, if you're willing on both sides to understand each other's needs, you can explore ways in which both people's needs can be met. Strangely, when you identify actions you can take to reach your desired outcomes and which do not depend on a particular response from another, the conflict tends to go away. In case you need it, remember the mantra "you can't change the others, you can only change yourself".

Marriages can be saved, business deals can be struck, countries can avoid war by letting go of positions and connecting with underlying interests.

Developing your strategic thinking: sharing your strategy with others

2011-11-25T05:50:00.102Z

In recent days I've been writing about developing your strategic thinking and in this posting I come to the question of how to share your strategy with others.

This question implies that you do have a strategy. It's been interesting to me in recent days, reading Richard Rumelt's recently published book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, to notice how he differentiates between having a strategy and communicating it. The bottom line? It's not enough to be charismatic and engaging - you need to engage people in a strategy that is more than just "fluff".

In case you want to develop your skills in communicating strategy and getting people on board, I offer a number of suggestions below:

Observe how others communicate and engage others: Any number of historical figures have had to communicate a vision to and engage others, including Churchill, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and more recently, Barack Obama. Even as I write, my list gets longer, and I am especially thinking of people who were successful in engaging others in a vision for the future that was subsequently realised. Desmond Tutu, for example, is widely associated with South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission which played an important role in a successful transition to post-apartheid South Africa. In the UK Aneurin ("Nye") Bevan is recognised as championing what has become known as the National Health Service - free health care for all Britons. Not all such leaders have been popular or have championed causes which win modern day support - any number of political or rebel leaders nonetheless successfully championed a cause. The more you engage with their story the more you develop your understanding of the many different ways in which leaders engage others in a vision and strategy for the future;
Get behind the examples to understand the theory: My old favourite, Goleman's book The New Leaders, outlines research which identifies different leadership styles and how they work in practice. It's a great place to start if you want to understand the impact of communicating a vision and how you can cultivate this style as one of a number of styles you need to lead effectively. For an example of what different leadership styles look like in practice, you can do worse than hunker down with the grainy old war film, Twelve O'Clock High. This film shows two different leaders leading the same group of men in different ways and with dramatically different outcomes. If you can get past the subject and the age of the film it is the perfect companion to Goleman's book;
Develop your communication and speaking skills: If it's speaking that's holding you back, there are many ways to develop your skills. Toastmasters has often been used by leaders to develop skills in speaking publicly. Others have trained in neuro-linguistic programming (or NLP), nonviolent communication (NVC), Roger Schwarz's Skilled Facilitator Approach and other approaches in order to develop a wider range of communication skills. Of course, you don't need to go through training to develop your skills in communication. As an alternative you might want to seek out opportunities both inside and outside work to practice and develop your skills. These may range from sitting down with your team to talk about the future to speaking at conferences or facilitating discussions. A good coach can support you in identifying steps you can take which provide growth as well as supporting you in re-framing old fears about speaking.

This is my last posting - for now - on how to develop your skills in thinking strategically. It's been quite a series - and at the same time, I recognise the limitations of these suggestions: if you want to develop your abilities in this area, you need first to identify what specifically you need to develop in order to move forward. "Strategic thinking" involves quite a bucket-load of skills.

If you have questions that you'd like me to grapple with, please share them using the comments box below. Many of my postings are inspired by and reflect my work with people in leadership roles. Equally, if you have other comments or suggestions that could help readers to develop their ability to think strategically, please share them.

Developing your strategic thinking: shaping a compelling strategy

2011-11-23T04:27:00.141Z

In recent days I have been writing about how to develop strategic thinking, recognising the importance as a leader of the ability to see the big picture, to shape a compelling strategy and to communicate in ways which engage. So what does it take to shape a compelling strategy? I offer a few ideas and suggestions to get you started:

Firstly, you might like to carry out some research:

Get curious about successful strategies: There are many ways to come at the question of shaping a compelling strategy and all of them have something to offer. One place to start is to think of the businesses that have been highly successful and to get curious about why: what is their strategy? I think instantly of organisations that have consumer appeal (my own favourites include First Direct banking, Ikea and Pret a Manger). One example that has become an internationally recognised case study is the Seattle Pike Place Fish Market. One downside of its fame is that the DVD (for which, follow this link) is priced at corporate prices, though the book (When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energised Workplace from the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market) is easily available. Another favourite of mine is Clive Woodward's autobiography Winning! because it highlights what it took to turn aspiration into practical strategies which in turn led to the England Rugby team's World Cup win in 2003. Remember, too, to look close to home - to parts of your organisation that have been highly successful or to organisations you have worked for yourself;
Get curious about unsuccessful strategies: Famously, Gerald Ratner's strategy for his jewellery business was a winner until, in 1991, he shared it publicly. He talks about this on YouTube in a plug for his book. Look around you to find examples of strategies that haven't worked. Some of them may well be inside your own organisation. Many of them will be out in the wider world: what was Lehman Brothers' strategy before it went bust in 2008, for example? And what was the ailing Apple's strategy prior to Steve Job's return in 1997 as CEO of the company he had co-founded? In truth, one of the easiest ways to access examples of bad strategies is by reading what some of the academics have to say about bad strategy, which leads me to my third suggestion...
Read what thinkers about strategy say: Currently I am reading the recently published book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt - it's a goldmine of examples of both good and bad strategy and it also includes thought-provoking ideas from the author on what differentiates the two. An enduring favourite is Jim Collin's Good to Great which reflects the findings of detailed studies of what differentiates organisations which have been successful over time from those that have not. Equally, Sydney Finkelstein's book Why Smart Executives Fail and What You Can Learn From Their Mistakes includes insights into the errors that smart executives make in shaping and executing a compelling strategy.

When you've carried out your research, you might like to distil your learning in two areas in particular:

Distil your learning into key measures of a successful strategy: Rumelt's Good Strategy, Bad Strategy highlights the risk in shaping a compelling strategy which fails to address key challenges or which fails to translate grand aspirations into a concrete plan. Before you shape your own strategy, I suggest you identify key hallmarks of a successful strategy - these are the measures against which you will test your own strategy before you start to think about how best to communicate it to a wider audience;
Shape your approach to creating a successful strategy: Once you know what your key measures of success for creating a successful strategy are, you are in a position to shape your approach to shaping your strategy for your own business or part of the business. Your approach may vary depending on the needs of the business - from sitting down with a blank sheet of paper, through consulting with those you lead to engaging the support of specialist consultants.

Once you've distilled your learning and designed your approach, you're ready to...

Shape your strategy: It's tempting to offer key pointers for your strategy and - at the same time - this topic seems too important to summarise in just one bullet. By now, though, if you've taken time to broaden your view (follow this link to read about this subject), to do some research into what differentiates successful strategy, to distil your learning into key measures of a successful strategy and to shape your approach you're ready to execute your approach in order to shape a successful and compelling strategy.

I wonder, do you have experiences you can offer here to help other readers? What have you found most helpful? Equally, what questions would you like me to address in future postings?

Developing your strategic thinking: broadening your view

2011-11-21T06:19:00.009Z

In recent days I have been exploring the theme of strategic thinking and what it takes to develop your strategic thinking.

In practice, leaders who think strategically combine strong cognitive capability (or at least, strong enough) with a good dose of curiosity. They also apply their curiosity to the right canvas for their role - looking sufficiently broadly and far ahead to be able to make sound decisions and taking into account a range of factors: thinking, for example, about which other parts of the organisation will be affected, about the future implications of a decision and about the impact on a decision of future events. Strong strategic thinkers are always curious - they don't wait until they have a task to do before seeking out new information. Instead, they are constantly and systematically seeking out information relevant to their job.

So if you are thinking about how to develop your own ability to think strategically, you might want to ask yourself: how curious am I? And what are the things I'm curious about?

In case you're wondering how you might develop this broader view, I offer just a few suggestions and resources below:

Understanding your current context: This is about understanding the context of your current job and implies seeking answers to some key questions: What's the external context in which your organisation sits right now? What is the overall strategy and aspirations of your organisation? How does your role fit into the wider organisation? How does it contribute to the wider organisation? Who are your key customers? Which parts of the organisation do you need to collaborate with and how? What other considerations (e.g. organisational culture and politics) have an impact on your role and with what implications?
Looking at the bigger picture: The question "what's the external context in which your organisation sits right now?" is one that merits further exploration. Some of the strongest strategic ideas come from people who have insights that others miss because they are constantly scanning the broader environment to see what's changing and thinking about the implications of those changes. Making regular time to explore wider social and economic developments is one way to do this. How? You might start by asking senior leaders in your organisation (and beyond) what publications they read on a regular basis - the Financial Times, Economist and Harvard Business Review are just a few old favourites. One way to find out what some of the world's leading thinkers are thinking about is to dip into the library of 20-minute talks available on line at www.TED.com - this is just one way to broaden your thinking. Engaging with other people can also be a great way to broaden your thinking - for example, by joining your trade federation or other external body;
Developing a strategic mindset: Perhaps you enjoy reading books. If you do, books to stimulate your ability to think strategically include The McKinsey Mind: Understanding and Implementing the Problem Solving Tools and Management Techniques of the World's Top Strategic Consulting Firm (by Ethan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga), Competitive Strategy and Competitive Advantage (by Michael E. Porter) and The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking (by Barbara Minto). Equally, if you prefer to step into an environment that stimulates your thinking, one colleague recommended the work of Richard Olivier under the Mythodrama brand (see http://www.oliviermythodrama.com);
Exploring an alternative world: In the corporate world, it's easy to imagine a world of people who are also working in corporations. In practice, many are not. Recently I heard a statistic that in my own country, Great Britain, 50% of the population are working at any one time, whilst 50% are not. The percentage of people who actually work in our major corporations is small. Looking outside the corporate world to stimulate a broader awareness is one way of developing your ability to think strategically. One colleague, for example, responded to my request for ideas by writing: "It doesn't get more strategic than the North American Indian practice of considering all decisions they make based on the impact decisions are likely to have on the following seven generations.... clearly they didn't have analysts and a stock market". If you want to explore this further, check out www.g7sp.com/php. In my own City of London, St. James's Church, Picadilly has a long tradition of sponsoring speakers from many different traditions under the name Alternatives, many of which are available on line. This is just one way to broaden your thinking beyond the confines of your own organisation.

I'd love to hear from you. If you have followed up on any of this suggestions, which did you find most helpful and why? And if you've found other ways to develop your capacity to think strategically, would you be willing to share them here?

Strategic thinking: more insights into what it looks like in practice

2011-11-18T05:15:00.049Z

I was struck this week by two comments on a discussion thread I initiated as I prepared to write about strategic thinking, and how to develop it.

One came from Alan Wingrove, on the discussion group Human Resources UK on LinkedIn. Alan's comments serve to illustrate just why strategic thinking is so important at senior levels, as well as hinting at what it takes to develop it. He also makes a couple of reading recommendations:

I currently coach owners and senior managers around their vision and strategy and in my previous 'life' I delivered leadership development at a 'strategic level'.

One continual challenge is to move them from the immediate (day job) to the future (the more holistic view). As John [another contributor] says, learning the theory is different to being able to do it, which is a change of mindset. As I became more and more senior I found myself having to take a more and more external view, to evaluate the impact these external events would or could have on my organisation. For example, I still hear owners of businesses tell me that they have little interest in the current Eurozone crisis, as they cannot see how it effects them. The truth is, it may not immediately, but the longer term effects definitely will.

This necessitated a change in perspective, which I find people grasp best through case studies and the power of stories. I do tend to agree with you about books like 'Good to Great' and I have just finished reading 'Good Strategy Bad Strategy' by Richard Rumelt. In this, he gives excellent examples of how some organisations have flourished through good strategy and other household names have 'bombed' through bad strategy, where people have not considered what is coming over the horizon - and he looks at the thinking of those creating the strategy.

A second posting by Fiona Pearson on the same thread also points to the realities of developing strategic thinking:

For managers in new roles the shift from operational responsibility to a wider remit is not always easy especially when day-to-day issues still demand attention. In the current climate people are often bridging two roles while reshaping is progressing. A common complaint I hear about newly promoted managers is a sense of frustration that they are not “thinking strategically” enough and are overinvolved in operational priorities and detail. New reporting relationships, perhaps into the senior team can highlight a surprising lack of awareness of strategic issues. Managers now charged with developing a vision for their service can flounder, unsure where to start, not daring to ask because everyone else seems to do it with ease. Previous experience of contributing to strategic planning often only exposes people to snapshots of the process rather than the full map. The underlying complexities described in an earlier comment can seem impenetrable.

I wonder, do these comments ring true for you? And what have you found useful in developing your ability to think strategically?

Strategic thinking: what does it look like in practice?

2011-11-16T06:34:00.049Z

On Monday, I wrote about strategic thinking in my post Developing your strategic thinking. But what does it look like in practice?

Now this, in my view, is often quite challenging to identify. Why? Well, there are several reasons. Firstly, we're told that strategic thinking is rather difficult to do (and yes, perhaps it is) and yet, in practice, a great strategic thinker makes the complex quite simple so that his insights are hard to spot. Secondly, the great strategic thinker often sees things ahead of others. When he or she first has an idea it may be seen as sheer lunacy by others who haven't seen it yet. In hindsight, it may seem rather obvious.

Some of the issues and ideas in the Western world that reflect the strategic thinking of our forbears are in the social rather than the business realm. Who in the Western world would question the idea that slavery should be illegal? How many people would really believe in 2011 that women should be denied the right to vote? How long will it be until same sex marriage, or women priests or inter-racial adoption are just non-issues? For this reason, insights into strategic thinking can be found in many historical speeches (as well as insights into how to share a vision in ways that are compelling). Writing this article I made a note, for example, to get my hands on A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King.

The business world is equally littered with stories of famous business people whose predictions, with hindsight, look utterly ridiculous. One of the most famous of these was by Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM who, in 1943 said "I think there is a market in the world for maybe five computers". More recently, Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., is said to have said in 1977 "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home". It took Bill Gates to turn this round and to hold the vision of a computer in every home. (And as I write, I wonder how many people might say "What, only one?").

One example of strategic thinking in practice was supplied by my colleague in the coaching profession, Emma Chilvers. Emma offered a link to an extract on YouTube from the film Other People's Money - follow this link to see just one example of strategic thinking in practice. From the business world, I was struck by Ray Anderson's response to questions from his customers about what his company, Interface Carpets, was doing to support the environment. Anderson went from not having an environmental vision for his company to having a vision for his company which recognised unequivocally the need to manufacture products in ways that are totally sustainable. Anderson speaks of his personal epiphany in the DVD The Corporation, itself a visionary film. You can also see what Anderson says on YouTube by following this link.

And how do you develop your ability to think strategically? Keep reading! I'll be offering some thoughts on how to develop your skills in this area over the coming days.

Developing your strategic thinking

2011-11-14T05:16:00.066Z

Recently I have been assessing candidates for senior roles - a steady trickle of leaders who have their next (and often more senior) role in their sights. Over time, as well as seeing the unique strengths and areas for development of each individual, I am starting to build a view of the patterns across all the candidates. One area has particularly intrigued me - the area of thinking strategically.

Now, "strategic thinking" is a rather awkward term, not least because you find as many definitions as you find people talking about it. Some people think of the kind of deep and detailed analysis that major companies make when they invest in the support of the McKinsey's of this world. Some people think of the level of decision-making they like to delegate just one or two levels up the chain. So, for my purposes in writing, it seems important to define the term.

First things first, I am talking about a behaviour - or more properly a cluster of behaviours. In particular, I am talking about the ability some leaders have to take a long-term and holistic view of the sum of activities for which they are responsible, setting clear direction based on an understanding of their internal and marketplace context as well as their aspirations for the future.

In truth, whilst the need to think strategically is particularly apparent in an organisation's most senior roles, it exists from the beginning of our careers. Early in our careers, for example, it is the difference between executing a task and seeing the full range of tasks for which we are responsible and the context in which we conduct them. In our first supervisory role, it embraces the need to understand the full range of tasks to be executed by those we supervise and the impact they have on other areas of the business. With each elevation to a new role the scope of our thinking needs to expand if we are to be truly effective - I often think of people in new roles as needing simply to raise their heads a fraction to achieve a new line of sight: looking more broadly at the context in which they are working and a little further ahead.

Why is strategic thinking so closely associated with leaders at the most senior levels of an organisation? Perhaps because, at more senior levels, leaders take on responsibility for deciding on the direction of the organisation and the implications of that direction for the work others do and the way it is structured and organised. And in what way is strategic thinking more challenging at these levels? In truth, strategic thinking is about the underlying ability to absorb and process diverse and increasingly complex data, crystallising it into core themes. It also involves going beyond what is known and certain to make informed guesses about what is possible in the future. My goodness it looks simple when leaders do it well! At the same time, the levels of cognitive ability required increase as we take on larger and more senior roles.

But what if you need - or want - to develop your capacity to think strategically in preparation for success in your new role? This is a question that one client posed in a recent debrief following an assessment and a question I'll be exploring in the coming days. I'll be sharing my ideas - and I hope you'll share your ideas, too.

We will remember them

2011-11-11T11:00:00.010Z

11am on Friday, 11th November, 2011. In many places there is silence right now, as people remember those who have died in war.

Growing up with this ritual, I found it meaningful to remember those who had died in what we call the First and Second World Wars with the intention of recognising the horror of war and of seeking to avoid war in the future.

Now, it pains me to reflect on how much war there is now in the world and how Great Britain's politicians have been proactive in embarking on conflict at the expense of many lives.

This is what I reflect on right now.

Simple tools for stepping up to the next level in your new job

2011-11-10T05:37:00.047Z

Finally, you've got the job you were after. Your (current, or maybe new) employer has seen in you the characteristics they are seeking for the next level of senior management. Now, you need to work out what those characteristics are.

Maybe you have the support of a mentor or an HR department - of someone who can offer you a clear job description and behavioural competencies. Maybe not. Either way, you can do worse than use the consultant's old favourite - the two by two grid - to take stock of where you're starting from on your path to establishing yourself as an effective player in your new job.

It works like this. You create a two by two grid and, along the top, you write (left hand column) "senior managers do" and (right hand column) "senior managers don't". On the left hand side you write (top row) "I do" and (bottom row) "I don't". Then you can brainstorm, taking care to think about which box each behaviour belongs in. The resulting grid highlights four areas:

Strengths you can leverage in your new job (top left). These are the behaviours you have already developed that are well matched to your new role;
Areas for development (bottom left). These are behaviours which, if you invest in developing them, will help to position you in your new role and to increase your personal effectiveness. As it happens, some of them may be quite simple for you to develop - unrealised strengths. Others may be less natural to you;
Behaviours to let go of (top right). These are things you do and which may have served you well in previous roles. Now though, it's time to let go of them or to convert them into strengths in your new role. Converting existing behaviours into strengths happens when you are able to take a behaviour to the next level and in this way to adapt it to the needs of your new role;
No go areas (bottom right). These are things you don't do and which people in your target role don't do either. You can ignore them for now - unless they hold some kind of attraction to you. If they do, you may need to find new ways to meet the needs these behaviours have met for you in the past.

Overall, your answers in the grid offer the basis for a quick-view assessment of your readiness to excel in your new job as well as the basis for more detailed developmental planning. I offer an example below - and I wish you success in your new role!

	Senior Managers Do	Senior Managers Don’t
I do	· Establish clear and challenging goals for the area under their control · Provide clear responsibilities to staff and hold them accountable for results · Put in place clear processes for managing risk in the team	· Do things themselves that they could delegate to their staff · Get lost in the detail of individual initiatives and lose sight of the overall agenda · Let staff ‘delegate upwards’ and determine the agenda
I don’t	· Influence effectively – socialising ideas individually before presenting them at meetings · Establish a clear vision for their area and communicate it to staff · Think about who’s best placed to do what in the team and allocate roles or tasks accordingly · Celebrate success with their staff	· Take the credit for the work of their staff · Hang out in the pub with their staff – except on carefully chosen occasions

On shame and guilt

2011-11-09T06:00:00.055Z

It's a few days since I wrote about Milton Rokeach's book The Three Christs of Ypsilanti and something is lingering with me still. It takes a while to trace it back to Rokeach's book and then, in turn, to its final pages. Nor do I find it all in one place with a neat quote to share. It is the difference between the feelings of shame and guilt.

Rokeach, sharing conclusions towards the end of the book, highlights the difference between two (whom he names Clyde and Joseph) whose feelings of shame seem to be linked to a sense of incompetence. The third (whom he names Leon) has feelings of guilt which seem to be linked to forbidden impulses and the striving for goodness. Something about this distinction is sitting with me.

Perhaps the quote I seek is contained in the final paragraph of Rokeach's Afterword. He says:

"I found out from my "teachers", the three Christs of Ypsilanti, exactly in what sense they were trying to be God-like. They were striving for goodness and greatness, and such strivings, I came to understand, are really the strivings of all human beings. The main difference between the three of them and the rest of us who are also striving to be God-like is that whereas the rest of us can bring ourselves to admit the impossibility of our ever becoming absolute or infinitely moral or competent, the three Christs found it difficult to admit such an impossibility. Nonetheless I learned that what all of us have in common with the three Christs is that we all strive to maintain and enhance our self-conceptions and self-presentations as competent and moral. This is one of the major ways in which humans who would be Christ or Christ-like are distinctively different from other human beings".

As I write I reflect on the implications of what Rokeach says. It seems to me, for example, that having made this distinction, our feelings of guilt and shame can guide us to our deepest yearnings towards goodness and greatness. And when the emotional charge is high, there is scope for us to understand the underlying beliefs we impose on ourselves and perhaps the disproportionately high expectations.

Equally, as leaders, observing such feelings in others, we are able to make finer distinctions for understanding that feelings of guilt reflect yearnings to do good, whilst feelings of shame reflect yearnings to be competent. If we know what our staff may be telling themselves, including those things of which they may not be consciously aware, we know better how we might respond.

More deeply still, I notice that reflecting on this distinction stimulates compassion in me for self and others. For surely such feelings reflect not only our yearnings and strivings, but also a lack of acceptance of - and compassion for - our fundamental human nature.

I wonder, what does this posting stimulate in you?

Great expectations

2011-11-07T06:11:00.000Z

Yesterday I wrote about beliefs in a posting about Milton Rokeach's wonderful, touching and thought-provoking book The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. This book raises an issue which is present in all our lives - the seemingly intractable nature of some of beliefs. I am thinking especially of those beliefs formed in childhood which continue to have a strong emotional resonance and often to hold us back, even when our thinking brain knows they are irrational and has every proof that it's time to let them go. Thinkers in the field of neurolinguistic programming (or NLP) have coined the term "limiting beliefs" to describe such beliefs and offer techniques for changing or out-framing them. These are the beliefs that, quite simply, hold us back.

Recently, the issue of limiting beliefs turned up for a client in one of our coaching sessions. Positioned in a new and senior job she reported significant progress across a number of areas. Everything was on track. Why then, I wondered, did she not seem more happy and optimistic? When I explored this with her up came a stonking great limiting belief: roughly, if I celebrate my successes and expect too much (hence "great expectations") it will all go wrong. As part of our discussion, she recognised that if only she could celebrate her successes more she would feel less anxiety about the future and be more relaxed. Still, knowing this was not enough to allow her simply to let go of her old belief. (It rarely is).

There are all sorts of ways to respond to a limiting belief. One way, for example, is to act as if it isn't true - in the words of Susan Jeffers to feel the fear and do it anyway. Using this approach implies, in this case, taking small steps to notice and celebrate each success as it comes. The benefit of this approach is that, over time, we have real experiences that demonstrate our old belief is not true. This is about beginning to walk new neural pathways. Another way is to demonise the part of us that holds the belief, calling it our "gremlin" for example, subjecting it to ridicule and, in this way (or so the theory goes) laughing our limiting belief right out of town. Perhaps you can guess that I'm not a great fan of this approach, both because I prefer a more compassionate approach and because I've seen how often the limiting belief, banished in this way, continues to exercise a powerful force in the lives of the very person who has dismissed it as rubbish.

At the same time, part of making changes is to recognise that you don't have to have all the steps to your end goal mapped out in advance. Sometimes it's enough to know that you don't want your life to be circumscribed by the power of a limiting belief and to ask yourself, if this is my end goal, what might be my next step? This question draws on the wisdom of the person who is going to make the change. For me, a useful first step when it comes to limiting beliefs is simply to get curious - not with the aim of changing or suppressing your limiting belief, but simply to understand the territory you're in. To this end, I offer some questions to ponder next time you find yourself bumping up against your own limiting beliefs:

What is the belief you're holding?
What is the impact in your life of holding this belief?
What more might be possible if you didn't hold this belief?
What part of you is holding this belief?
What does it want for you?
What relationship do you have with the part of you that's holding the belief?
What relationship do you have with the belief itself?
Was there ever a time in your life when you remember not holding this belief? When?
Does anyone else in your life (especially but not only family) hold this belief?
What is it you're really wanting in relation to this belief?
What else do you know about this belief?
What more does this belief want to tell you?

If you're willing to share, please use the comments section to tell us about your limiting beliefs - from your experiences of successfully moving beyond the limitations of an old belief to your experiences as you play (yes, play) with the questions above.

Reflecting on the nature of human beliefs

2011-11-04T06:02:00.062Z

"Every man would like to be God,

if it were possible; some few find

it difficult to admit the impossibility"

Bertrand Russell

Power

Some things have to be done. So for me, no good holiday is complete without seeking out the best book store in town and having a root around. This is one of the things I did in New York recently when I visited the wonderful Strand book store, which boasts 18 miles of new, second hand and rare books and the tag line where books are loved.

Often I come away from my book shopping experience with books I have been hankering after for a while and this was no exception. In addition, I also came away with a book which was new to me - though by an author known to me - Milton Rokeach's The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.

Rokeach was a social psychologist practising in the US in the middle of the twentieth century and with a particular interest in beliefs and values. In July 1959, Rokeach brought together three men at the Ypsilanti State Hospital in Michigan, who had all been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and each one of whom believed himself to be Christ. Rokeach's interest in the nature of beliefs and values was such that he wanted to study the impact on the three men's beliefs about their identity of meeting with other men who also purported to have the same unique identity. Rokeach and his colleagues worked with the three men for a period of two years, organising regular meetings between the men and observing the men's responses.

Many years later, writing an Afterword in 1981 to the book he had written in 1964, Rokeach had cause to reflect on the nature of his experiments, recognising that he, too, had played God in the way that he imagined he could change the men by "omnipotently and omnisciently" arranging and rearranging the men's daily lives, expressing some regret that he had not seen this at the time he first wrote the book and sharing his growing discomfort about the ethics of the experiment he had conducted all those years before. It does, indeed, seem unlikely that such an experiment would be conducted today by Western scientists. It seems to me that this fact serves to highlight rather than to diminish the book's value.

Rokeach approaches his task from the point of view of the theoretical scientist, beginning, for example, by making some theoretical distinctions about different kinds of beliefs and ending - even in his afterword - by sharing key learnings. His aim in conducting his experiment was to test some of those beliefs, which he did. Even so, it's striking to me that his book serves to bring the reader into close contact with the three men he studied. It is by no means easy to understand the way they view the world and still, I found myself responding to them with compassion - that is, a fellow feeling with three men seeking to make their way in the world.

Throughout the book, Rokeach underlines how the delusions adopted by the three men serve a purpose even though we may not know what that purpose is. As it happens, their beliefs are sufficiently far from reality that it's easy to dissociate ourselves from these men. At the same time, for me, Rokeach's study serves to illustrate how we form certain beliefs in response to our early circumstances and how we continue to maintain those beliefs long after our original circumstances have changed. It also highlights to me how a belief does not sit in splendid isolation in the human psyche. Rather, it is part of a system of beliefs which are inter-connected. To change one belief is to open up the need to change other beliefs that are connected. This issue affects not only the three Christs of Ypsilanti. Rather, it is one with which we all grapple.

I write more about the nature of beliefs elsewhere. For now though, as I write, I am sitting with the experience of reading a book which is, in some ways, the most intimate of books. It is a study about three (perhaps four) real men. And as we read about those men we get to see glimpses of ourselves.

If you don't play your music, who will else will?

2011-11-01T06:04:00.050Z

Amongst life's many pleasures is lunch with friends, sometimes professional friends. And sometimes one thing leads to another as it did last Friday.

Let me tell you first of a series of synchronicities that have taken place over time. In 2008 I found myself sitting next to a man at a seminar. He didn't stay for the full duration but we spoke briefly and exchanged cards. I had no idea at the time that this man, Len Williamson, would go on to become a trusted and valued friend. Via Len I went on to meet some of his trusted friends, including Emma Chilvers (look out for mention of Emma in the coming days) and Cees Kramer.

Over time I have come to realise that Cees' work with an organisation called Dialogos in many ways chimes with my own interest in aspects of communication. On my recent trip to New York I finally bought William Isaacs' book Dialogue and The Art of Thinking Together: A Pioneering Approach To Communication in Business And In Life and I'm looking forward to reading it soon. Meantime, I was curious about Cees' invitation to an evening on Friday with long-time contributor in the field of leadership, Canadian Michael Jones. I accepted the invitation gladly.

Let me confess that I had not heard of Michael Jones (at least, not of the Michael Jones in question!) until I received Cees' invitation. I was intrigued to hear of someone who combines his own particular style of piano playing with talking about leadership. Listening to Michael speak on Friday evening I was also struck by his gift for telling stories and in this way revealing some of the deeper truths of our lives.

One story had particular resonance for me. Michael, a pianist from a young age, nonetheless found himself working in the field of leadership. Playing the piano had taken second place. At a business event when the hotel he was staying in was quiet Michael spotted a piano and spent some time playing - a mix of classical repertoire and his own creations. After a while he became aware of an elderly man emerging from the not-as-empty-as-he-thought lounge, shuffling slowly towards him.

The man asked Michael what he had been playing and Michael listed the names of the composers whose music he had played. "No, not that - the other stuff". It became apparent to Michael that the old man was asking him about his own music. The old man quizzed him about his own music and, learning that this was something Michael played only for his own pleasure, encouraged him to share it with a wider audience. "If you don't play your music", he asked, "who else will?" This question stands as an invitation to us all and implies another invitation, too: to recognise the music in our lives that only we can play. If you don't play your music, who else will?

As I write I am enjoying the feelings of gratitude to Cees for extending an invitation to join him in the intimate setting of Bridewell Hall to enjoy Michael's talking and playing. I wonder, what does this brief glimpse of Michael's work evoke for you?

And in case you'd like to find out about Michael's work you can learn more at www.pianoscapes.com.

The missing dialogue

2011-10-26T06:47:00.066+01:00

Just before I turned off my Blackberry at the beginning of my flight to New York last week I picked up a message from my friend Len Williamson about an article he is planning to write. It's called The Missing Dialogue. I reply and ask him, can I share his thoughts on my blog? I'm pleased to pick up his yes as I land at Heathrow on my return.

Len points to the work of a number of thinkers in this field - David Bohm, Bill Isaacs, Daniel Yankevich - and highlights the phrase from JMW (Len, who is JMW?) - "all that is ever needed is a conversation". He also notes how easy it is to fail to have those conversations we most need to have. On a teleconference with clients he hears three missing dialogues being played out and reflects on the pain and expense of failing to hold the dialogue.

In his brief sketch for his article Len writes:

The missing dialogue is the one that has the most potential to reduce stress in your life, move you towards meeting your goals and help you to fulfil your potential. Everyone has at least three missing dialogues and most have many more. The three you will have will be at least one at home with your partner, one or more at work with your colleagues and at least one at play with your friends. The dialogue is missing because you avoid it. You avoid it to protect yourself and others from the assumed consequences of having the dialogue. Paradoxically, this avoidance creates stress for you as you do not follow the path you want to take. It also holds you back from progress towards your goals and it limits your potential. This paper shows it is possible to have these missing dialogues in a way that does not lead to all the fears you have about the consequences of doing so.

This is a rich topic. I agree that all sorts of people fear the possible outcomes from conversations and I notice how this keeps people from dialoguing with themselves - let alone each with other. I notice how much people lack skills in this area and how, even when people have skills and choose to open up the dialogue, this offers no guarantee of a constructive response. In my own life I increasingly put out the invitation even when I believe there will be unwillingness or lack of skill on the part of my partner in dialogue: whatever the response I know more as a result of opening the dialogue than I did before.

One dialogue that is often missing in key relationships in the workplace and elsewhere is this: how shall we dialogue with each other? As a regular reader you already know how much store I lay by establishing ground rules for dialogue in a wide range of conversations. Sometimes these are ground rules I follow myself and which help me to stay centred and on track in the most difficult of conversations. In some relationships I have agreement to a shared set of rules - amongst fellow practitioners of Nonviolent Communication, of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and of the Skilled Facilitator Approach (and because I've written about all three on this blog I have created links to the library of postings in each area).

I wonder, what are the missing dialogues in your life at present? I encourage you to take time to identify and reflect on them and, if you feel bold enough, to share one or two of them here. I also wonder what this subject evokes for you and what more you're interested to know. Please leave your comments as a way of supporting Len in writing his article.

Embracing my inner diva

2011-10-21T06:33:00.099+01:00

Hurrah! I'm here. Today I have my first rehearsal in New York for two concerts.

In recent days I have been sharing a joke or two with clients about coming to New York to indulge my inner diva. I recognise that it's only relatively recently that I have felt comfortable to own the diva within, because of the negative associations I have with the word. I remember, for example, singing a number of years ago in a concert with Jessye Norman. The choir and orchestra members were banished from our normal backstage areas in order to keep our humble germs out of Ms Norman's breathing space. This, surely, was the behaviour of a diva.

Today I take a moment to reflect. What does it mean to be a diva? I turn to Caroline Myss, whose book Sacred Contracts highlights the presence of archetypes in our lives and explores their implications for our learning. One of the key messages I took from Myss's book is that each archetype has a light attribute and a shadow attribute - if you like, the power to do good or the power to do harm in our own lives and to the lives of others. I was sufficiently intrigued by Myss's theory that I bought her Archetype Cards and I take a moment to look for the card which relates to the diva. I am disappointed when I find none.

I turn next to Roger Hamilton's book Your Life Your Legacy, in which he explores what you might also term archetypes in relation to generating wealth. I know that one of these archetypes is the first cousin of the diva - the star. And I also know - because I have completed Hamilton's on-line diagnostic - that my own star energy is high, second only to my creator energy. Turning to the brief initial descriptions of each archetype, I read The Creators set the stage, the Stars steal the show. This, I think, begins to tell me something about my inner diva.

Applying Myss's concept of the light attribute and the shadow attribute to Hamilton's description of the wealth profiles I begin to explore the two sides of the diva. The origins of the word diva are, of course, in the Italian word for a female deity - a goddess. More recently the word has come to be applied to - as Wikipedia currently has it - a celebrated female singer. Hamilton says of the star: Stars get their most valuable feedback in the limelight, and find their flow while on their feet. As a result, they are able to evolve their attraction on the fly, and it is their personal magnetism that is their greatest value. The essence of the star is to create a unique brand which attracts others and in this way to touch the lives of many. For the diva this unique brand centres around singing and performance. Building on Hamilton and Myss, I recognise the role the diva plays in stepping into the limelight and shining a light out into the world. She is there to express herself through her singing and in this way to inspire others.

What then, of the shadow attributes of the diva? The diva in her shadow side can seek to eclipse others for personal gain. Or she may compromise herself in some way, failing to express her unique brand and in this way eclipsing herself and depriving others of her own kind of leadership. Perhaps the heart of the shadow attributes of the diva is, by failing fully to embrace her inner diva, to keep herself or others small.

I think back to that backstage experience of Jessye Norman and recognise that it's not always comfortable to be around a diva, even when she's doing what she needs to do in order to perform. Perhaps my own inner diva was challenged in the presence of someone who was so fully embracing and living out her diva identity.

If my own fate includes a strong dose of the inner diva, I wonder, what about yours?

How well are you listening to your customers?

2011-10-19T05:44:00.088+01:00

Yeah! Today I'm flying to New York! I'll be flying out with members of the London Symphony Chorus to sing in two concerts this week at New York's Avery Fisher Hall before flying back after our concert on Sunday. I'll be back at my desk in time for work on Monday!

Along the way, I had an experience I still find very strange. And I must confess, it concerns one of my favourite organisations - First Direct. Over the years, I have regularly taken out travel insurance with them so it seemed quite straightforward to phone them up again, to get put through to their insurers and to renew my insurance. But no - this is roughly the conversation I had when I spoke to a representative at Aviva: What's the purpose of your visit? I'm going to New York as a member of an amateur chorus to sing in a couple of concerts. So it's a professional trip? No, we're amateurs - we're not being paid. But it's not leisure... Well, yes, in my eyes it is - singing is something I do as a hobby. Quite quickly, I was asked to approach a specialist insurer for this trip.

I found it hard to get any clear explanation about why I would not be insured as a member of the LSC. I have been insured for business trips under the same policy in the past so even if they were classing this as a professional trip why would this policy not cover it? I asked the person on the phone what risks he saw that would not also apply on any other leisure trip and he didn't have an answer. I decided to let the team at First Direct know I wasn't happy. They gave me another number and encouraged me to phone and try again. The explanation was clearer this time, though I didn't enjoy it very much. We don't class this as a leisure trip because of your singing commitments. And yes, we do insure people for business trips, but only for work in administration. I asked if I could check my understanding, expecting to get a simple, yes, that's right. Instead, I got another explanation, which seemed to me to be a little longer and still, essentially, the same as the first one. I could see the risk that we might go round in circles without ever getting to the point where the person talking to me would say, yes, that's right, these are the reasons why we won't insure you.

After talking to a few members of the choir (has anyone else had an experience like this? Who are you insured with for this trip?) I visited my local Post Office, picked up a leaflet for their travel insurance and made a call. I made sure to check that they really would cover me on my singing trip and the representative seemed rather amused when I told her about my experience with Aviva. Yes, we'll cover you for this and other singing trips.

As I sit here and write I am wondering what I needed from Aviva that I didn't get - recognising that it wasn't just insurance. I know I wanted a clear explanation that I could understand - not just that I could understand the words but also that it would make sense to me in a way that the explanation I received just didn't. Also I wanted the representatives of the organisation to stand behind their explanation - to act as if it made sense to them. When I checked my understanding and didn't get to a clear, yes, that's right... I found myself wondering if the reasons for the no made sense to the person I was talking to.

And why does this matter? It matters to me as a customer. It also matters to Aviva, because customers have a voice - they tell their friends about their experiences, they put it on the internet. One man, after his guitar was broken in the hands of America's United Airlines, and having exhausted all the possibilities for raising the issue with them without gaining compensation, wrote a song about it and posted it on YouTube under the heading United Breaks Guitars. At the time of writing, Dave Carroll's song has received close to 11,000,000 hits on YouTube.

Mmm... maybe I should write a song about Aviva...

When emotions rise high in the workplace

2011-10-10T06:01:00.009+01:00

Recently, I was surprised when someone responded to a posting I’d made on a discussion forum by saying that I’d been a bit “harsh” in my posting and describing it as “inquisitorial”. Initially I was stunned: I couldn’t square the response with the content or – more importantly – the spirit and intention of my posting. It took the response of a second member of the forum, which included a number of inferences-presented-as-truths, for me to become aware that a misunderstanding of gigantic proportions had occurred.

One member of the forum responded by writing an impassioned plea: “I have watched the 'warm' exchanges and have become more convinced of the futility of communicating anything other than data via email, forum postings or equivalent batch communications. Texting with emoticons helps but it is still a very poor option. Chatting helps because of the instant nature of the responses. Face to face is the name of the game or telephone/Skype as a second best. To communicate well we need the subtleties of body language and tone of voice... Have we not learned the lessons that we teach to others?” Niels Bohr, physicist, is variously quoted as saying that the opposite of a fact (or a trivial truth) is a falsehood but that the opposite of a great truth may also be true. I wonder: what are the opposing truths of electronic communication in the third millennium?

My colleague on the forum summarises one side of the case and echoes a view which is widely held by those who train others in communication in the workplace. They point to the greater risk of misunderstanding between people by e-mail, when inferences are easily made. They also point to the greater likelihood that people will reach a new understanding if they take time to communicate directly. Receiving an e-mail from a colleague who is angry or upset, you may choose to respond in kind – it’s easy for one angry e-mail to stimulate strong emotions in the recipient who may well react in the same vein rather than taking time to process the emotions the e-mail stimulates before choosing a wise response. The wise response may well be to pop your head round your colleague’s door and say “Wow! I got your e-mail and I can see you’re not happy. Can we talk?”

So what is the opposite of this point of view? Personally, I wonder if it’s good enough in the third millennium to say that e-mail is simply for communicating data and anything else belongs elsewhere. There is, of course, the question of what constitutes “data” – isn’t it all (including the angry e-mail) data? There’s also the question of how we work today. I have any number of clients who have colleagues, clients and other key contacts on different continents and who need to communicate effectively across geographies and time zones, making face-to-face and even telephone communication challenging. Above all I wonder if the opposite point of view is this: that it’s not the medium of communication (e-mail, phone, face-to-face) but the skills we have in communicating – the emotional intelligence – that make the difference, no matter what medium we use. Even the man or woman who stops to think “Oh! This is not one to respond to by e-mail”, for example, is succeeding in his or her communication because s/he brings insight and understanding as much as because s/he chooses to communicate face to face.

For me there are two truths to add here: that communication is inherently difficult and that organisations could be far more effective in addressing the challenges inherent in communication. On reflection, I wonder if my posting stimulated strong emotions in at least one of my colleagues. I say this without judgement – not least because I, too, experienced strong emotions on reading his words. This is the “amygdala hijack” Goleman describes in his books on emotional intelligence. At the same time, there are things we can do that make it more likely that we will be successful in our communications. Some of them take time and effort to learn – it’s not easy to master your emotions in the moment, for example. Some of them can be translated into simple rules, such as “check your inferences before you respond”. One of them is to accept that successful communication is possible only when we accept and embrace the full panoply of human experience and the role it plays in communication, which is often messy and difficult before it’s successful.

Recently I pointed to some of my favourite resources in this area in a blog posting entitled Handling Objections. I wonder, what is your truth when it comes to communication in the workplace?

As a leader are you "judge and jury"?

2011-10-06T05:52:00.025+01:00

On Monday, after spending four years in jail, the young American Amanda Knox was dramatically cleared of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher after her initial conviction was over-turned.

Knox's original conviction was based on DNA evidence which was later found to be unreliable. As I write, an article in the New Scientist has highlighted that even before the trial that led to the conviction of Knox and her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, there were questions about the strength of the DNA evidence on which the case against the pair rested.

It's hard to imagine the experience of Meredith Kercher's family members following her death. We can barely understand the depth of grief and loss, the yearning for answers (Who killed her? Why?), the desire for justice for their daughter. It's a little easier to understand the pressures that members of the police face to get to the answers to those questions.

There is a risk that, for all sorts of reasons, the police respond to the pressures they face by seeking not so much to uncover the truth as to construct some credible "truth" that will lead to a conviction. A point comes when evidence is met not so much with open curiosity (what is this telling us?) as with a clear intention to convict (can we use this to support our case?). After a while, the detective is blind to the very truths he has uncovered because they no longer support him in his aim to convict. Perhaps the original case against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito was built in this way. Perhaps it was not.

All this is a long way from the workplace of my readers and still, I wonder if there is some message here for you as a leader. I wonder if, at times, it seems easier to you to make a case against a member of your team or a colleague in the board room, in order to meet some needs of your own. Perhaps, for example, it's easier for you to judge your team member as "lazy" or "incompetent" than it is to see how much s/he is struggling in a new job and to recognise how much you, as manager, have failed to provide the guidance and developmental support s/he needs. Perhaps, in the Boardroom, it's easier to dismiss your colleague with a few swift judgements than it is to wonder, "what are his real concerns?" and to explore together what needs you both have that need to be met if you are to come to an agreement that works for your department as well as hers or his.

The signs that you are doing this are easy to spot. Maybe you are looking for the evidence that supports your case, for example, and dismissing any evidence that might tell another story. Perhaps you are more concerned with being "right" (and proving that the other person is "wrong") than you are in building mutual understanding. Perhaps you are rooted in a single truth rather than open to new information and the possibility that you may, in time, come to a new perspective.

As a leader are you "judge and jury"? Do you want to be? If you do, I recommend you ask yourself why and explore your answers fully. Maybe, in time, you'll come to a new perspective.

Working as a team to handle objections

2011-10-04T07:09:00.003+01:00

Recently, I wrote a posting about handling objections, in which I pointed to a number of resources that are available to the leader who is learning to handle objections in negotiations. I also asked colleagues about their experiences and fielded an interesting example from someone who, like me, is interested in what Roger Schwarz calls a 'mutual learning approach'.

Using this approach an objection is not taken as some kind of tactic to achieve the best outcome for the person raising the objection. Rather, it's seen as a statement of genuine concern. By understanding the concern that sits beneath the objection, the person negotiating can think about whether he (or she) can adjust his approach in order to meet the needs of the person objecting, whilst still meeting his own needs. This is negotiation with the aim of creating outcomes which meet everyone's needs - a "win, win" outcome.

My colleague's example speaks for itself so, with his permission, I share it here:

Recently, I had an experience that may be relevant. When I work with clients I use a charge sheet for different services with different rates for non-profits and for commercial organisations. I show this to clients on the first business development meeting and I am transparent on how I come to the figures and engage in discussions about the costs and numbers involved.

In a recent discussion with a client there was an objection to the amount listed in the invoices. I kept the discussion open through my choice of questions. Originally I didn't understand his needs with regards the objection. I also had a need that I didn't want to have to manage a unique costing structure for this client and potentially for every client.

Exploring the need to modify the amount listed on the invoices, I learned it related to the charge rates of another consultant who happens to be the former MD within my client's company. My rates were considerably higher. Now that was a potentially embarrassing, risky situation! I can remember the slight glow in my cheeks as I realise the comparison and how my client explained that "Head Office" would see these rates.

In exploring the rates using the mutual learning style, we were able to accommodate and resolve this issue through increasing the transparency of the documentation to show the time I spent on planning and documentation.

I was genuinely trying to be transparent, curious about the client's needs. I explained my reasoning, understanding that we both had information that was different - me and my client. We were doing our best to be mutual learners.

Revisiting our sense of identity

2011-09-28T05:01:00.073+01:00

Tuesday evening. As I write my alarm is set for a 5am start tomorrow, when I'll be packing my bags to go to Glasgow as a member of the London Symphony Chorus. We'll be singing in our fourth out-of-town concert in just two weeks, performing our third work - James MacMillan's St. John's Passion. This is the opening concert of the new season for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio on the evening of Thursday 29th September 2011.

For a few weeks now I have been aware of how busy we've been as a choir and this feeling has been all the more intense in recent days as I struggle to find time for the most basic tasks and make jokes about the risk that I shall soon run out of clean underwear. Today though, I notice something else: how strong is my sense of identity as a singer right now.

Of course, we all have multiple identities, related to all sorts of activities and relationships in our lives. At home we may be parents, children, spouses. At work we may be professionals of some sort, as well as managers, leaders, team members. Our hobbies confer additional layers of identity. And then there is the sense of identity that comes with our gender, sexuality and much more besides.

Often, there is an interplay between our sense of our identity and additional layers of truth, so that it's hard to say with confidence "Yes, this is who I am". If we hold too tight to our sense of identity we miss the opportunity to learn and grow. Our identity as parent becomes stuck at a time when our children were still children, for example, and we miss out on the joys that can come when we allow our relationship to develop as we and our children develop. At the same time, our sense of identity supports us in the world, acting as a compass or guide.

As we move through our careers there will be times when our sense of identity is one or two steps behind the role we inhabit. A promotion often leaves us with a sense that, somehow, we don't belong. My title is Director of X, Y, Z but who am I to be in this role? We find ourselves looking over our shoulders and wondering who will be first to notice the incongruity.

The sense of discord (no musical pun intended) is a healthy one because it invites us to explore who we really are. Is this the right role for me, and if it is, who am I becoming in this role? And if it's not, who am I and what role might be right for the person that I am? At the same time, we may find that layers of identity that were laid down when we were very young - perhaps even laid down by our parents when they were very young and handed down to us - are still in the mix, long after they relate to any objective reality.

It's time to explore who we have become and who we want to become. It's also time to uncouple those things we confuse with who we really are, such as behaviours borne of habit, or the labels we place on ourselves (or others on us).

Is it "accountability" when senior heads roll?

2011-09-27T05:49:00.071+01:00

24 September 2011. Just days after the shock announcement that UBS has identified and arranged the arrest of "rogue trader", Kweku Adoboli, the news came through that UBS CEO Oswald Gruebel has stood down from his post. The Bank's chairman, Kaspar Villiger, said that Gruebel "feels it is his duty to assume responsibility for the recent unauthorised trading incident".

I notice that my heart sinks when the response to failures in the public domain (in politics, or amongst public servants, or in highly visible senior roles in the commercial sector) is to let some senior head roll. What does it mean to assume responsibility in this context - and others like it? There are, clearly, two ways in which someone takes responsibility. The first is to acknowledge some error that has enabled failures to happen. This is taking responsibility for what has happened in the past. There is also the question of who will address the underlying causes of an issue that has happened in the past or the systemic weaknesses that allowed it to occur. This is taking responsibility for sorting out what happens in future.

It seems to me that when heads roll the people concerned perform a rather strange double face. On the one hand, by falling on their swords, they appear to say "mea culpa" and others have the option to say "quite right, too!" At the same time, they tend to say nothing about what it is, precisely, that they take responsibility for so that even as they say "mea culpa" they walk away from any real responsibility they may have. Equally, even as they say "mea culpa" they may be walking away from holding others to account by whose acts an error occurred. And of course the man - or woman - who leaves their job in this way does nothing to address the underlying issue, leaving this to a successor who comes in unsullied to the role.

There is, of course, the question of appearances. Who knows what conversations UBS Chairman Kaspar Villiger may have had with CEO Oswald Gruebel about the need to appease shareholders with decisive action. I wonder, are shareholders, journalists and other interested parties really so naive?

For my part, I'd like to see a more robust form of accountability in the public domain. At the very least, public statements would say more about what it means to "take responsibility" in cases such as these. Perhaps Kaspar's statement would say "Gruebel was concerned that such a thing could happen on his watch and realised he had not been doing all he needed to to ensure robust risk management in the bank" or "whilst Gruebel is proud of the work he has done for the bank he realised it needs somebody else to get to the bottom of what happened and to make sure it can't happen in future". Then, at least, we would have some insight into what "responsibility" means in this context. Personally, I find that responsibility - accountability - comes when there is a level of detail in the public statement which makes meaning transparent.

I realise that I am standing on my soapbox right now and I am ready to step down from it - for now. I wonder how you respond to the rolling of Oswald Gruebel's head?

Handling objections

2011-09-23T06:01:00.081+01:00

It's price negotiations time. The prospect of handling sensitive discussions is looming and so is the question: how do I handle objections from my clients? In truth, your current and long-standing clients can be the ones who are getting the best deal as a result of your long history of agreeing an increase that doesn't quite work for you. So where do you go from here?

It's easy to come to these discussions seeking to dismiss your clients' objections - even seeing your clients' concerns as "objections" stimulates a certain way of thinking. I wonder, how are you viewing the possibility that your client might express concerns? What does the word "objection" evoke in you? And then there's the question of your underlying philosophy as you approach your discussions. I particularly raise this question because for many people, this lies outside their conscious awareness: what beliefs are your bringing to your discussions of which you are not even aware?

Personally, I favour approaches which come from the desire for everyone to come away a winner - this will come as no surprise to regular readers of my blog, who know how much I favour Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication and Roger Schwarz's Skilled Facilitator Approach. You can find out more about Rosenberg's approach by browsing the website for the Center for Nonviolent Communication or reading his book Nonviolent Communication: A Language for Life. Equally, you can root around on Roger Schwarz's website, sign up for his newsletter, buy articles, or his book The Skilled Facilitator Approach.

But what about handling objections? Amongst my fellow students of Schwarz's Skilled Facilitator Approach some point to the books that spring from what's known as the Harvard Project: William Ury's Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation, Roger Fisher and William Ury's Getting To Yes: Negotiating An Agreement Without Giving In and Bruce Patton, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen's Difficult Conversations: How To Discuss What Matters Most.

Others recommend the VitalSmarts series which includes Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler's Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, and by the same authors Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Talking About Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behaviour and Influencer: The Power to Change Anything.

I also wonder about Neil Rackham's SPIN Selling, recognising that this gives an overall framework in which to view objections - and recognising that many other authors and thinkers have tackled this same subject.

I wonder, in what situations do you handle objections and what resources (books, ways of thinking etc.) have you found most helpful?

When peace breaks out in the workplace

2011-09-21T04:41:00.060+01:00

The United Nations' (UN) International Day of Peace (also known as "Peace Day") is celebrated on September 21st each year to recognise the efforts of those who have worked hard to end conflict and promote peace. The International Day of Peace is also a day of ceasefire - personal or political. But what, you may ask, does Peace Day have to do with your life in the workplace? The answer is easy to determine.

As you reflect on this question, I invite you to reflect on any relationships you have in the workplace with people around whom you feel less than comfortable. Perhaps you've had an unfortunate experience or experiences in relation to that person, group, team or department. Perhaps you'd like to enjoy greater ease in your communication with them. Perhaps the mere thought of them stimulates emotion in you. You are not at peace.

In all likelihood, your life at work (and maybe at home) is just a little bit harder as a result. Thinking about that person stimulates thoughts and feelings in you that you don't enjoy. Working with them seems to be a real grind. The tiny impacts accumulate over time, using energy that you could otherwise put to good use and without any real return on your mental, emotional and physical investment.

What would your life be like if you were at peace in relation to that person or people? How would it be different for you - mentally, emotionally, physically...? I invite you to imagine how your life would be different and how your experience of life would be different if only you were at peace. I invite you to take time to imagine this more peaceful life and even to try it on for size. What does it feel like to be truly at peace?

And here's a harder question: what would it take for you to be at peace with that person or people, no matter what their behaviour? Because here's the rub: if you are thinking that your experience is only down to them, you're giving away your power to make a difference in your own life and, as a result, you're missing the chance to be truly at peace. Meantime, the nagging unease, the frustration, maybe even the anger and the fear, continue to eat away at you. Your ease, your effectiveness and your well-being are all affected.

There's something more. As a leader, you need to know how you can achieve peace when faced with behaviours you find difficult because you need to be a role model in this to those you lead. Your personal Peace Day is an example to your staff. It also provides the basis for you to coach and support them when they're finding it tough to get along with their colleagues.

I wonder, what do you take away as a result of reading this posting? And what are your personal next steps towards living your life in peace?

Photo copyright, iStockphoto.com, Sue McDonald

From another point of view

2011-09-20T04:21:00.057+01:00

Friday, 16th September, 2011.

I was up at 4am this morning to travel to Bonn, arriving in my hotel at about 1pm local time. Having checked into my room my first task is to find the best possible option for making a 90-minute phone call to the US which is scheduled to take place at 6pm. I've already established a cost of about £800.00 from my hotel room and of about £180.00 from my mobile. There must be a better way. The hotel point me to a road which has a number of what they call "call shops" and I make my way to find out more. Entering the first one I come across I find that the cost is less than 14 Euros - about £13.00.

Is it me or is the manner of the man who answers my questions one of irritation? I know I'm not looking to pay Rolls Royce prices and still, I'd like a little of what some people call "service". I leave with the information I need and walk past Beethoven's birthplace before a hasty lunch and making my way to the Beethovenhalle where I shall be singing in the evening. I have special dispensation to leave our rehearsal to make my call and I do this.

In the call shop - a kind of internet cafe - I am directed to booth 6 where I make my call, joining colleagues from around the world. I am perched precariously on a chair which squeaks noisily every time I adjust my position and still, I am able to participate fully.

When I finish the call my time is tight - my concert starts in little more than half an hour and I have to get back to the Beethovenhalle. Still, it has made a huge difference to me today to find a low-cost way of making this call. I take a few moments to thank the man and to tell him how much difference it has made to my day. He seems surprised and we get talking. "Sind sie Deutsch?" (Are you German?) he asks. I say no and our conversation takes a new course. He asks me where I come from and how I came to learn German and I ask the same of him. He came from Somalia three years ago and has been grappling with the challenges of this language since that time. When we say goodbye I find I have, without thinking, extended my hand and we shake hands.

I come away with a different perspective. The grumpy man of the afternoon has become a human being - someone for whom speaking in German poses challenges and someone, too, who is ready to go beyond the strictly transactional and to connect with another human being. I wonder how much my own diffidence - both about taking out my rusty German and brushing it off and about about asking the questions of the entirely ignorant as I make my first ever visit to a call shop - were factors in my experience in the afternoon.

Either way, as I look at things from a new perspective, everything changes.

Hidden influences in the world of work

2011-09-16T06:11:00.060+01:00

My nephew, who is an aficionado of QI and a fan of obscure and quirky facts, recently shared a couple from the world of classical music - that Beyonce is a distant cousin of composer Gustav Mahler and that Pierre Boulez was preceded by a brother who died before he was born and who was also named Pierre.

Boulez' experience reminded me of the work of Bert Hellinger in the field of family constellations, which suggests that to be named after a dead relative, whilst a loving and well-meaning gesture by one's parents, can bring unintended and unhelpful consequences as all sorts of aspects of the parents' experiences - their grief at the loss of a child, for example, or the weight of an increasingly idealised image of the deceased - increasingly become entwined in the experience of the young child.

The principles that underpin family constellations apply as much in the workplace as they do elsewhere in life, so that I was curious a while back to listen to John Whittington sharing his experiences as a constellations practitioner with a group of fellow coaches. I write on the subject today from the perspective of an interested lay-person, curious about the hidden influences that shape our experiences in the world of work.

There is of course, the direct transfer of our experience of family dynamics into the workplace. It's a common experience for even the most senior of professionals to expect their line manager to behave towards them in the way their parents did - or to hope that their line manager will offer something of the love and care they yearned for from their parents but didn't get. Such expectations are often outside our conscious awareness, or perhaps we're aware of them but haven't stopped to question our assumptions about the relationship between a manager and the person s/he is managing.

Some examples reflect responses to experience in the workplace. In one organisation, for example, a mistake by one employee cost the company a significant sum of money. But there was a larger cost: after the employee was dismissed his colleagues understood that to make a mistake was unacceptable and their assessments of risk included a large and unacknowledged dose of the irrational. This habit quickly became ingrained in the company's unwritten rules: because nobody addressed the issue head on, no conscious decisions were made about what adjustments were needed in the company's approach to risk and yet many adjustments were made. These were not always for the commercial good.

In his talk John Whittington gave an intriguing example of constellations, when he described how he had asked a group of students on an MBA course to stand in a circle in order of age so that the youngest would end up standing next to the oldest. When they did, something didn't feel right to Whittington and he said so, waiting patiently until one of the group owned up: they had been lying about their age.

Why does this matter? To work with constellations is to recognise the hidden forces at play in the workplace and to engage with them - in other words to engage with the full range of information that is available and to shine a light on information that is otherwise hidden. This opens up new possibilities for making progress in areas where previously the organisation, or people within it, were stuck. It also opens up the possibility of improved health and well-being for the organisation and those who work within it.

When it's time to look again at your organisation design

2011-09-14T06:45:00.001+01:00

Sometimes, it's hard to improve on what comes my way so I offer here a brief posting from Seth Godin with a link to some organisation charts of well-known organisations by cartoonist Manu. Which one rings true for you?

Manu's funny brilliance aside, this collection of org charts might help you think hard about why your organization is structured the way it is.
Is it because it was built when geography mattered more than it does now? Is it an artificact of a business that had a factory at its center? Does the org chart you live with every day leverage your best people or does it get in their way?

Ten years after the day that became known as 9/11

2011-09-11T00:01:00.059+01:00

It was bound to happen. Ten years after the day that became known as 9/11, the events of 11 September 2001 have been extensively revisited. I have been aware of television programmes, radio programmes. Today I heard a review of a drama on the subject.

So many things have been in my thoughts. In recent days, I have become aware of facts that were previously unknown to me. Almost 3,000 people died as a result of the events of that day, for example, of whom about 46 were twins. I have been struck by occasional glimpses of testimony and especially by the woman - mother of one of those who died - who said her life ended on that day. I wonder if she knows that, insofar as this is true, it reflects choices she has made rather than some inevitable reality. I remember the shock of the seeing the first images of the twin towers with flames and smoke billowing from them and finding it hard to comprehend that no, this was not some disaster movie but real life. I think of so many other events that escape our attention and which, still, affect so many people around the world.

As it happens, just as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, my dear friend Len Williamson sends through a link to an 11-minute talk by Julia Bacha on TED. Take a look at what Julia Bacha has to say about the world's interest in nonviolence, he writes, and I do. Bacha highlights how one community in Palestine successfully used peaceful demonstrations to persuade Israel to move the boundary away from their lands and onto the official 'green line' boundary. She also highlights how little the world's media does to cover nonviolent action. If you want your cause to be heard, it may help to use violence.

For better, for worse, those behind the attacks on America's Twin Towers in New York and on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. wanted to be heard. If Bacha is right in what she says, there's just one thing we need to do if we want something different going forward: to let go of paying attention to violent protest and to train our attention on those who speak to their cause by the means of nonviolent action.

I say amen to that, even whilst recognising that I, too, have a way to go in learning to ignore the violence and to engage without fail in that which is not violent.

Enjoying Beethoven? After the event

2011-09-07T06:11:00.054+01:00

If you're quick, you can still catch Beethoven's Missa Solemnis on BBC iPlayer following Sunday's performance as part of the Prom series - just follow this link.

I say this with a little trepidation - as a member of the London Symphony Chorus I was on the concert platform and feeling just a little anxious on the night so I know I gave a slightly less than optimum performance. The thought of being seen on screen giving anything less than the perfect performance is not easy for me.

And even as I share this, I am fully aware of the folly of such a high expectation: performance is, by it's nature, a bit of a messy business - a perfect entry here, a less than perfect ending there. To think this way is also a form of vanity - as if the experience of members of the audience depends on me and me alone. In truth, the end result is the sum of the parts just as it is in any other "workplace".

If the feedback of friends and family is anything to go by, there was enjoyment to be had regardless of any nerves, mistakes and omissions. Some played "Spot the Dot" and others bathed in the magnificence of Beethoven's music. And equally, I notice how much - as I watch the recording - I enjoy seeing my colleagues sing and with no thought of any mistakes they may be making.

Such is life! There is always a gap between our perceptions of ourselves and the perceptions others have of us. There is, too, the risk that we believe our own story about what others might think.

The mistakes are done and nothing about the performance will change. Still, there is much to enjoy. The question is: will I choose to enjoy it?

Go to the funeral - it means more than you think

2011-09-01T06:16:00.006+01:00

Hospitals and funerals are two places we rarely want to go. Even when we feel genuine love and concern for the person involved or his/her family, we're distracted by how going to those places makes us feel - awkward, afraid for our own health or mortality, guilty, sad or a whole host of other emotions that may arise.

Alan Dobzinski describes how this situation came up for two of his clients - both leaders in their respective organisations. Click through to Alan's blog to learn how skipping a funeral had huge repercussions for one leader.

Don't let the bear market ruin morale

2011-08-26T06:05:00.036+01:00

Thanks to Carrie Bedingfield, CEO of Onefish Twofish marketing consultancy, I picked up a link to an article on communicating to staff during bad times, called Don't Let the Bear Market Ruin Morale. It's a succinct reminder to leaders to keep communicating with their staff through the bad times with a few thoughts on what and how.

This is a big topic - so much of the way staff feel about their work is down to the way their leaders communicate with them. And depending on your style of communication and the relationship you create with those you lead, you may or may not get to hear about how they really feel in the workplace. At the same time, there's a paradox at work (as there so often is). Communication is hard work! And at the same time, the more you get it right, the more your work becomes easy.

How are you communicating with your staff during these hard times? And to what extent does your communication with staff reflect the way you are communicating with yourself?

Meditating: a personal experience

2011-08-24T06:42:00.072+01:00

Monday morning. When my alarm goes off it interrupts a seemingly interminable dream of the not-so-pleasant variety.

In the dream, I turn up at 7pm prompt ready to sing in a concert. I open my bag to find that everything I expect to take out of it - my music, my concert clothes - are not there. It seems that we are singing with a second choir who have things organised - they are able to offer me a black top with the regulatory below-the-elbows sleeves. I ask if anyone has a skirt or trousers and several people tell me they'll check - before disappearing into the dream ether. I look around me and find the entire contents of my wardrobe seem to be at hand - except, that is, anything black. 7.30pm comes and I discover the concert doesn't start until 8pm - I have an extra half hour to fill the gaps. Except that I don't manage to fill the gaps: I just have more time in which to feel stressed and run around trying to find clothes and music unsuccessfully.

Waking, I notice how some details of the dream are totally true to life (the bag I open at the beginning of the dream is one I'm using a lot right now) and others are strangely off beam (I am always ready for a 7.30pm concert in time for our warm up, which is usually at about 6.40pm). Others are, of course, figments of the dream-state imagination. I also reflect that it's not surprising to have had this dream at this time. It's not just that I am returning to work after a break and face the prospect of several weeks of busy-ness at work and in my hobby as a singer. It's also that in the past week my dreams have indeed been varied and vivid.

This seems to have been a side-effect of my time spent at Oxon Hoath on retreat. This was a brief sojourn - I arrived on Tuesday afternoon and left after lunch on Friday. Still, I have been meditating up to five times a day. In the morning, I have done two full meditation rounds before breakfast, comprising 'asanas' (simple yoga exercises - not nearly as stretching as the one shown, though this photo tickled me rather), 'pranayama' breathing, meditation and a gentle return. We have also meditated as a group before lunch and then, in the afternoon, I have enjoyed two more meditation rounds.

What does the meditation comprise? After the preparatory asanas and pranayama breathing, I close me eyes and repeat a mantra that has been given to me by my teacher - over and over for a full twenty minutes. The effect is a slowing and deepening of my breathing. As my thoughts arise I simply let them go, returning to the mantra. Sometimes my thoughts are active - a kind of inner chatter. Sometimes, my mind is more still.

In our shared discussions, people get to ask all sorts of questions which range from questions about the experience of meditating to questions about the body of spiritual teaching from which the approach springs. Questions about meditation can reflect or stimulate a certain anxiety (am I doing it right?) which spring from the belief that somehow there is such a thing as the perfect meditation to which we can all aspire. It reminds me of discussions about sex, except that the word "transcend" replaces the word "orgasm". My teachers have always, however, highlighted that every experience is OK.

My own experience seems quite mundane in the moment - a gentle falling away of inner chatter and an increasing sense of peace. It's easy to tell myself that in some way I am falling short. My vivid dreams tell me, though, that something is happening - some release of stress, perhaps, or a greater connection with self. And if this is the result of just two days' meditation, how much more is possible over time? For doesn't it make sense that, like exercise, the effects of meditating on a regular basis are cumulative, like exercise or gardening?

In truth, even the act of arranging my schedule to make it possible to meditate has an effect. By doing this I am giving priority to a certain way of being, perhaps even to being over doing. For to a greater or lesser extent, the act of meditating brings me to greater stillness within myself, or opens my awareness to the greater stillness that is already within.

Meditating on leadership

2011-08-23T06:24:00.018+01:00

Yesterday was my first day back at work after a short break - spent in the depths of Kent at the Oxon Hoath Retreat Centre on a TM retreat.

TM - or transcendental meditation - is one of the first meditation techniques to become popular in the West. Like many other 'alternative' approaches, it attracts a wide range of responses - from those who revile it, through those who are interested in its benefits from a purely pragmatic point of view right through to those who are deeply versed in the spiritual thinking and teachings that lie behind it.

I fall squarely in the middle of this spectrum (at least for now). I was attracted to TM as much on the recommendation of a good friend who is also a highly successful businessman as I was for any spiritual reasons - though I do enjoy the opportunity to learn more that is on offer at Oxon Hoath. My friend's experience on starting to meditate was typical and included such things as increased concentration and effectiveness.

What on earth, though, has meditation to do with leadership? Well, quite a lot. Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee, whose careers have focused on conducting research into what differentiates the most outstanding leaders, include a whole chapter on Mindfulness in their book Resonant Leadership. Why is it important for leaders? Here's a quick brainstorm:

Practices such as meditation which support mindfulness help to clear the mind, leading to increased clarity of thinking and improved decision-making;
Clearing the mind also reduces levels of stress by releasing stressful thoughts and clearing the mind - a bit like clearing a blocked cognitive 'drain';
Sustaining mindfulness through regular meditation or other activities helps leaders to sustain the high levels of performance needed to lead effectively over time (and to know when it's time to stop and rest): mindful leaders can lead effectively for longer periods during the day and over time.

Perhaps at the heart of the benefits for leaders lies the role leaders play in shaping the direction of an organisation or part of an organisation. How can you shape the direction of an organisation if you are anything but clear thinking - mindful?

If you'd like to enjoy a glimpse into the experience of meditating you'll find I have more to say in my next posting. If you would like to look into the possibilities to train to meditate, you might like to make contact with the Meditation Trust, who offer courses in the UK. Alternatively, Peter Russell's book The TM Technique is recommended as a very clear introduction.

Lessons in leadership from the conductor’s podium

2011-08-19T06:30:00.011+01:00

This article is one of two I offered this week for publication on Discuss HR. Take a look to see which one got posted!

Recently, I reached a point when I could look back on half a lifetime as an active member of the London Symphony Chorus. As such, I have enjoyed the extraordinary privilege of performing alongside many leading professionals whilst still being an amateur, enjoying my love of music whilst pursuing my career. Today I take time to bring both interests together in order to ask: what have I learnt about leadership as a member of the London Symphony Chorus?

In case you read Janice Caplan’s article last week, I preface this article by highlighting differences between the concert hall maestro and line managers in more traditional workplaces. On a day-to-day basis, for example, it is our “voice reps” who ensure that we have enough singers for each concert and who will soon notice if attendance is poor. Our music director, on the other hand, is attentive to the quality of our singing. The re-audition is our only one-to-one though, as well as re-auditioning chorus members every three years, a good music director will attend to an individual’s contribution on an ongoing basis.

Conductors have a variety of relationships with us. Some of them will work with us on a regular basis over a number of years whilst others will be rare partners in making music. Some have inspired us to new heights in our music making whilst others have left such a poor impression that the queue to sing under their baton is perilously short.

Amongst the leadership qualities I notice conductors often show a life-time commitment to music-making. Leonard Benstein, for example, died just weeks after we recorded his own work, Candide, in December 1989. Sir Colin Davis, now in his 80s, conducted my parents many years before I first sang under his baton.

Some conductors are driven by a vision and, like musical entrepreneurs, spend many years in pursuit of their vision. Whilst hindsight makes a career look easy, the truth is it takes hard graft, persistence and a tolerance of uncertainty to succeed. Davis’ Wikipedia entrance references the “freelance wilderness” he himself described, beginning in 1949. It’s only with hindsight that he’s become known as a great champion of the now much-loved music of Berlioz. In a similar way, Richard Hickox worked hard to develop his reputation as a champion of British music, slowly earning the license to conduct and record works that were barely known and rarely performed. The persistence of both men has afforded opportunities to me to sing an extraordinary breadth of music.

At the level at which we sing, conductors relentlessly pursue high standards as well as interpreting the music. In his pursuit of musical perfection Hickox never finished a rehearsal early, for example, and Davis is consistent in urging us to sing slightly ahead of the beat and in encouraging us not to “chew” our vowels. In rehearsal, such conductors show extraordinary attention to detail. Still, the moment comes when it’s time to let go of refining the details and engage with the spirit of a piece. In my early years with the Chorus, when Hickox was our music director, I appreciated his pep talk ahead of a concert, which helped me to step onto the platform with a strong sense of connection with the music.

The best conductors are themselves fine musicians and in this sense they lead by example. If they’re not, it soon shows: when one conductor repeatedly berated the chorus in rehearsal we were quick to notice that the error was his and slow to forgive him for his behaviour towards us. The relationship between a conductor and musicians can be tricky and this is often a function of his (or her) world view and personal confidence. Solti famously never worked with amateur musicians, for example, so that when we were scheduled to sing with him in 1997 we sang alongside professional singers. In rehearsal his assistant conductor repeatedly asked to hear the ‘professionals’ and then the ‘amateurs’. This was not a move which earned our respect even though we were thrilled to have the opportunity to sing with him (an opportunity thwarted by his death just days before the concert).

There are other ways in which conductors lead by example. The conductor is, for example, the visual centre-point for the audience as well as for all the musicians. If (s)he slips, there’s nowhere to hide. What’s more the conductor is the chief interpreter of the score, and every performance carries his personal stamp: no critic expects to write “great performance – except for the conductor”. I vividly remember a performance of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony, conducted by Daniel Barenboim at London’s Royal Festival Hall. It’s rare for me to be carried away by a performance of Beethoven’s 9^th – it is too frequently performed and uncomfortably and persistently high in the voice. Barenboim stood on the podium and barely moved a muscle in a performance that had everyone involved completely spellbound. His was the courage to do something that is rarely (if ever) done and to risk the extremes of success and failure. More recently, Martyn Brabbins showed a different kind of courage when he conducted Havergal Brian’s rarely performed Gothic Symphony, conducting 800 singers and 120 orchestral players as well as soloists.

Some of the conductors whose leadership I have most enjoyed have inspired me with their love and generosity. It has always been a pleasure to sing under the baton of Antonio Pappano. I always think ‘ice cream seller’ when I work with Pappano. At the same time, more than any other conductor, he radiates a quality I can only describe as love – for the music he conducts and for the people he works with. I feel safe in his care as well as inspired to perform from a place of deep connection with the music. How can I do anything other than give of my best?

As it happens, Pappano was Barenboim’s assistant at the Bayreuth Festival some years ago: leadership in the world of music includes nurturing the next generation. I remember watching one quietly understated act of sponsorship some years ago, when the chorus was rehearsing Mahler’s 8^th Symphony alongside the National Youth Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Part way through the rehearsal Rattle signalled to the young timpanist to take his place on his podium so that he could walk back into the hall and listen to the assembled forces. I remember thinking that this was no accident – that this was as much about sponsoring this young man in the role of conductor as it was about any need to test the balance of sound from chorus and orchestra. (And yes, I was delighted to watch the young man concerned, Robin Ticciati, make his debut conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican).

So, vision, commitment, pursuing high standards, leading by example, love and generosity – these are some of the qualities it has been my privilege to observe amongst conductors. What qualities do you observe – and appreciate - amongst leaders inside and outside the world of work?

Accountability: are we getting it right?

2011-08-17T07:23:00.016+01:00

This blog posting was one of two I offered for posting on Discuss HR on Thursday 18th August. Take a look to see which one was posted!

On Monday evening, 8^th August I was at home in a quiet side-road in the suburbs of South East London when I became aware that there were far more people on the pavements than I am used to seeing. Looking down the street towards the Shopping Centre (which is just two minutes walk away) I was shocked to see a line of police officers carrying riot shields. I watched the scenes that unfolded, which culminated in two cars being set alight before the young men and women involved moved on.

The implications for the organisations we work for have, without doubt, been significant. A variety of organisations (magistrates’ courts, prisons, the police etc.) have played a very direct role in restoring law and order. Retailers have been coping with damage to their property as well as the cost of stolen goods. Diverse employers have had to make decisions about employees who have been identified as participants in the riots.

The rhetoric of politicians has been predictable. Prime Minister David Cameron, following his first emergency meeting, was quick to condemn the acts of rioters, setting up a moral dichotomy between the bad guys and the good guys (those who took part in the riots and those who were in some way affected by their actions or involved in responding to them). Having quickly coined the term “broken Britain” he laid out plans on Monday to “turn around the lives of the 120,000 most troubled families” by the next election. As well as recognising the direct impact on many organisations of last week’s riots I invite you to consider what politicians’ responses tell us about the dos and don’ts of accountability.

Accountability is a tricky term, with multiple meanings and applications. The banking crisis in 2008 highlighted questions of accountability between organisations – the banks to governments, for example, and governments to their electorate. Within organisations, it raised questions of who is accountable to whom – and how to hold people to account. When we get accountability wrong, we mask the problems of our organisations even whilst appearing to take action. This is the “sound and fury” approach to accountability, characterised by vociferous complaints and maybe even decisive action – without ever taking long enough to get to the root causes of a problem or issue. It has its benefits – at least on the surface: in particular, it can protect an organisation’s leaders from the pain and vulnerability that comes with owning their mistakes.

When we get it right, something deeper and more lasting occurs. Accountability is no longer a matter of blame and condemnation when something goes wrong. It is an ongoing dialogue between parties (a manager and employee, one team and another, or members of the Board) about desired aims and outcomes, who will do what and when in order to move towards those desired outcomes, what’s working and what’s not working and what needs to happen next. In an accountable organisation, for example, feedback at annual appraisal time comes as no surprise and is openly shared as the basis of a discussion, rather than given under the cover of anonymity as a stick used to beat the unsuspecting employee.

It seems to me that there is a paradox at work at the heart of every effective system of accountability. When we strip out blame we create the opportunity for a deeper and more productive mutual dialogue because we make it safe to be “in the wrong”. At the same time, in a true system of accountability, each party knows that it may be them who has the hardest lessons to learn. By creating safety for everyone involved we make it possible to engage in the very depth of the dialogue needed to hold people to account. In other words, true accountability is safe – but not the easy option.

If our country’s politicians act with wisdom in their response to the recent riots, they will understand that the louder the sound and fury, the more key people are likely to be let off the hook. I hope they will take time to investigate the complex factors which, together, stimulated the riots and to take the most difficult learning for themselves as well as to mete out justice to others. Closer to home I wonder, how has your business been affected by the riots? What do you see as the key lessons in organisations if they want, truly, to create effective systems of accountability? And what is the role of HR in facilitating accountability in their organisations?

Talking about leadership

2011-08-12T06:14:00.000+01:00

Monday, 8th August. This afternoon I finished my first draft of an article about leadership, drawing on my experience as a membership of the London Symphony Chorus. The article will be published next week, on Discuss HR as well as here on my blog. I mentioned a number of conductors I worked with and wondered, afterwards, if any of them have spoken about leadership. My first stop has been YouTube, which is such a fabulous resource.

Perhaps because he was one of the last conductors I mentioned in my article, I looked first for interviews with Antonio Pappano. It has been a rare treat for me to sing under Pappano's baton and I feel blessed every time. I always find myself thinking of Pappano as having something of the ice-cream seller about him - there's something about his Italian/Essex/American accent and his looks that makes me think gelato. This takes nothing away from my deep respect and affection for him - in truth, these are simply qualities he transmits in abundance and which I mirror back. I found a number of interviews with him and dipped into one in which he talks about the genre of verismo in Opera - just follow this link to hear him.

It led me in turn to another in which I listened to Jonas Kaufmann singing Vesti la giubba under Pappano's baton. Kaufmann's singing is powerfully emotional and - as Pappano describes in his interview - nonetheless perfectly controlled.

Now... back to leadership.

There were riots outside my front door today

2011-08-08T23:10:00.001+01:00

There were riots outside my front door today. This is not something I ever thought I'd say.

As I left my home office at the back of the house at about 6pm this evening I was surprised to notice the number of people lingering outside in the normally quiet side-street in which I live. Looking down the street I was shocked to see police in riot gear.

The scenes that followed were not pretty. The police were significantly outnumbered by the people on the street, who looked young, included many black men - and white men and women, too. They started to seek out items they could throw - the local dustbins, wheely bins, items from front gardens (including mine).

Most of the projectiles were aimed at the police. Soon, though, the small number of cars parked on the street became targets. First one window was broken. Then another. Over time the cars went from being a side show to becoming the main attraction as it became increasingly clear that there was a determination amongst the rioters to set them alight. Soon they had succeeded and, given the fire hazard, it was time for the rioters to move on.

For a while I sat indoors wondering if it was safe to be in the rooms overlooking the street. Then I ventured out to ask the police if it was safe to pop down the road for some food and fresh air. They encouraged me to stay safely at home, in case the rioters returned. As I returned home, two young men were in front of my gate and I asked if I could come through and encouraged them to get away from the proximity of the still burning cars. We got talking.

Were you involved this evening? I asked. No, not us, we're good boys. We're just covering up our faces because we don't want to risk losing our jobs if we're seen. But they (pointing to the police) - they've got to understand that if they keep taking our jobs away, we're going to do something - they've got to understand.

When they announced there were riots in Lewisham on the 7pm news bulletin I knew to give my Mum a ring and to pop a status update on Facebook. People have been leaving messages all evening and the phone has not stopped ringing. It's a touching reminder of the love people have for me. As the evening has unfolded I have been watching the BBC 24-hour news of riots in Lewisham, Peckham, Hackney, Croydon, Birmingham.

The phrase "mindless thugs" has been used so many times. The risk is clear. Young people crying out to be heard are dismissed by the simple use of a label. And because they are not being heard, they shout louder. The police, seeking to do the best for their community, are also not being heard. Neither side is able to see beyond the label - "police", "rioters", "thugs"... with each new label we become a little less human in each others' eyes.

I want to be clear. I do not favour the kind of action these young people took this evening and I want them to be held accountable. At the same time, I want them to be heard. It seems to me that this is a time for sorting the wheat from the chaff, until we have stripped away the acts of mindless destruction - perhaps even the violence on both sides - to understand the real concerns on all sides.

For me, though, right now, it's time to sleep. My dreams cannot be any stranger than the reality of this evening's events.

What's going to waste in your organisation?

2011-08-08T06:48:00.001+01:00

Recently I have been finding new pleasure in gardening. Last year I planted courgettes and tomatoes in my back garden. This year I have added runner beans, broccoli, cucumber and more besides. I find a joy and stillness in the daily activities of watering the vegetables and attending to the weeds. Nothing is more satisfying than the twilight slug raid.

This has been reflected in my reading, too. Last night I read the first 30 pages of Bob Flowerdew's book, Composting, and yesterday I tried an intriguing recipe - using beetroot leaves - from Monty and Sarah Don's Home Cookbook. The Dons' recipe involved taking the leaves from some fresh beetroot, blanching it for five minutes and then gently frying it in olive oil with some chilli and garlic. I added some seeds - a favourite! - and also some beetroot which I'd boiled separately before cutting it into eighths and adding it to the remainder. I served the lot on fresh toast. It was totally divine.

"I hate waste, especially wasted food". This was the first sentence of the preface to the recipe. It made me wonder: what's going to waste in my life because I don't recognise its value? And yes, it made me wonder, in the organisations I work with, what's going to waste because nobody can see its worth?

Do you have any thoughts about the hidden treasures that might be going to waste in your life or organisation?

When we discover areas in which we need to develop

2011-08-04T06:26:00.055+01:00

On Tuesday, I wrote about playing to our strengths. Today, I'm wondering if I'm going to contradict myself. What if you have an accelerated career and then, suddenly, you bump up against a limitation that could trip you up if you go any further on the path you are following? This was the experience of one client I assessed recently.

After our initial feedback session he did all the right things. He tested the assessment feedback against the perceptions of a variety of colleagues, recognising the value of diverse perspectives. He looked for ways to bridge the gap in his repertoire, seeking out a mentor with strengths in the areas in which he needed to develop. He started to explore a wider range of possibilities for his next career move, recognising that there could be benefits to moving diagonally rather than straight up the ladder. These benefits include:

Broadening his experience and in this way broadening his understanding of the business;
Building on his strengths whilst opening up opportunities to close the gaps in his repertoire;
Broadening his understanding of the range of roles in which he could succeed. This in turn carries the potential to build confidence and self esteem by reducing the pressure that comes when you have only one target role in mind.

As a result of his actions, what looked for a moment like a full stop turned out to be something quite different, opening up a broader range of possibilities than my client had previously had in his sights.

How does this work to his strengths? How might it work to yours? Taking action to develop in areas in which we lack strength may reveal an as yet hidden talent. This can lead to a new injection of energy and momentum in our careers as leaders. And yes, in truth, it can lead us to discover an area in which we lack natural ability.

Initially, this doesn't always feel good. Some high performers, faced suddenly with a situation in which they lack the skills they need, start to weave a story about how they were never as good as they thought they were, how they lack what it takes to succeed... suddenly, their self esteem takes a dramatic tumble.

Others, though, recognise that they can't be good at everything. The most canny amongst them are able to weigh the likelihood that they can bridge the gap and assess the benefits if they do. Perhaps they will decide that it's essential to bridge the gap and easy to do: clearly, this is a "tick yes" scenario. Perhaps they will recognise that it's essential to have these skills and hard for them to develop in this area: this can be a "tick delegate" scenario. The best leaders know when to delegate and they also feel comfortable about sharing their limitations openly as well as their strategy for plugging the gap.

When in your career have you come up against areas in which you lack the skills you need to succeed? What strategies have you used to plug the gaps?

Playing to our strengths

2011-08-02T06:01:00.081+01:00

I have been carrying out a number of assessments in recent months. By the time of the assessment the people I interview, who already hold senior roles, have been short-listed for a new job. From time to time, I interview someone who, whilst he or she has everything it takes to succeed in the role, lacks a certain clarity about what s/he wants. S/he can't answer the question "is this job for me?" because s/he doesn't know what job is for him or her.

It's not uncommon. Many of us develop skills along the way and get good at all sorts of things. At the same time, we may be unaware that the skills we have developed do not match our natural strengths. Indeed, some of our natural strengths may lie dormant - barely developed, let alone used.

I was reminded of this recently, when I received an e-mail from a client with whom I have been in correspondence about a potential coaching client in his organisation. "Do you know of a suitable venue for the two of you to meet?" he asked. I was taken by surprise: I didn't know that we would be meeting away from the client's offices. I scanned our correspondence and quickly found this request, which I'd completely overlooked in a previous e-mail: "And, she'd prefer to meet off-site, can you recommend a suitable location?"

My first response was: "How did I miss that? It's not like me to overlook something like that." Perhaps, though, it is like me to overlook the details - except for the fact that, over the years, I have learnt to be meticulous in following things through. Is it a natural strength for me to pay attention to detail? I don't know for sure. I do know, though, that a moment like this offers an opportunity to step back and ask: "Is this strength innate or acquired?"

What's the significance of this? The bottom line is simple: the more we are developing and using our innate strengths, the more likely we are to be in the flow, working successfully and with ease. The more we are using strengths we have developed though they are not innate, the more we may find our work hard and be prone to errors. In the case of the people I interview who don't quite know what they want from their next job, well - they may be doing something they're good at, something even, in which they excel. But somehow it's not giving them joy. And because they lack practice of connecting with their true strengths, they feel somehow at sea - lacking a sense of connection with themselves via their innate strengths.

I want to add that this is one perspective, with which not everyone would agree. Whilst I have not read Alex Linley's The Strengths Book: Be Confident, Be Successful and Enjoy Better Relationships by Realising the Best of You, for example, I am aware that this posting reflects the theory he and his co-authors put forward. (I am aware of this because I have had the experience of having feedback using Linley's theory with the help of Gill How at Buonacorsi Consulting). Equally, I was recently told about Matthew Syed's book Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham and the Science of Success by someone who had just started reading it and whose understanding was that this book highlights the importance of practice in creating successful outcomes.

Perhaps the place both theories meet is in the area of flow - that place where we are both happy and successful because we are cultivating the gifts that come to us most naturally.

I wonder, what do you think?

Taking it personally: the other side of the coin

2011-07-29T05:42:00.062+01:00

So, you've decided the last person you want to talk to is your colleague Sandra. You can't stand her. If you see her coming you change your route (the last thing you want to do is get in the lift with her). You can't see the good in anything she does. And as the leader of your team, you have made it very easy for your team members to ignore any directives that come from her department. Perhaps Sandra is in your Finance Department (why can't we process invoices the old way?) or HR (let them choke on their policy handbook!) You don't care.

You think your dislike is all about Sandra. Who does she think she is?! She turns up out of nowhere full of new ideas and expects you to jump to her tune. You notice every little thing you don't like about her (that she's female, a "dumb blonde", too posh, unjustly promoted... the list goes on and on). And all the time you're thinking about Sandra, you don't begin to notice what's really going on for you.

A start in this direction would be to use a few phrases that take ownership of the way you're thinking about your colleague. I notice that when I think of Sandra, I have really strong feelings - of anger, frustration, hatred... I'm telling myself that there are all sorts of things wrong with her: that she's female, a "dumb blonde", too posh, unjustly promoted... The more I tell myself these things, the more my feelings intensify. The more I tell myself these things, the more I feel justified in behaving towards her in ways I would never behave towards anyone I respect.

Noticing what's going on on the surface is just the beginning. What's going on underneath? My guess as your observer is that behind the anger and hatred lies some fear - and it is just a guess. Perhaps you're afraid that you don't have what it takes to organise your troupes to respond to her requests, even though, deep down, you know you need to. Perhaps you're finding it hard to accept that people younger than you (and women, too) are starting to overtake you in the hierarchy of the organisation. Perhaps... perhaps...

Perhaps you find Sandra a little intimidating. You're putting on your best brave face and doing your best to stay safe and formal but underneath it, you'd love to know that she's as human as you are. You'd love to know it - and you're waiting for her to show some sign. You hope that if you push her just a little she might just crack - without you having to reveal your own fears and vulnerabilities.

Some readers might imagine that you're a junior member of the team, old and unsophisticated. I have sometimes met you at the most senior levels of organisations. Sandra knows who you are and in what capacity you - and she - work. What's hardest for you and Sandra - at what ever level you work - is to see that your current behaviours are simply your best attempts to meet your needs, needs that you probably don't even recognise. They're not the most effective strategies for meeting your needs but that hasn't stopped you from continuing to use them.

What would I say to you? It's time to get under the skin of your needs and really understanding them. That way you can begin to find ways to meet them - ways that work. Perhaps, in order to do so, you need to face your fears. I know that's hard for you.

What would I say to Sandra? Perhaps she, too, needs to get under the skin of your needs and understand them. She needs to understand her own needs, too. A first step towards understanding your needs and hers may well be to know that your behaviour is about you and not about her.

And as for you, as reader of this blog, I wonder, what does this blog posting evoke for you?

Taking it personally

2011-07-27T06:56:00.072+01:00

Taking on a new team, my client* faces a wall of resistance. The signs are sometimes subtle, sometimes open and obvious. How is it that you are never able to get through to one colleague by phone, except when you phone from a number other than your own? How many times have you seen colleagues take a sharp left rather than join you in conversation as you leave the building to walk to the car park? How is it that meetings are always formal and never friendly? How is it that it's Team A's members who are always late?

The obvious signs of resistance are far easier to deal with than those which leave us to infer. An open statement of resistance allows us to ask questions and find out what's going on. The hidden signs - perhaps the quasi hidden signs - are more challenging. We can observe the behaviours and notice the patterns and still, without more information, we can only guess what they denote. Are they signs of resistance or dislike? Or are they simply signs that Jo is an introvert and prefers not to walk to the car park with his colleagues? Or that people from Team A are more likely to be late to meetings - to any meetings - than colleagues elsewhere in the building.

We can of course, ask questions. "I notice that five members of your team have been late to meetings in the last three weeks and that members of other teams have been on time. Is there a reason for that that you know of?" It can be so easy. It can be so difficult. Sometimes these patterns of subtle resistance stimulate feelings of vulnerability, leaving us slightly off balance. (Perhaps, we think, they're intended to do this).

Trusted colleagues join us in wondering what's behind the behaviours. He doesn't like it that you're female (a "dumb blonde", too posh, got promoted over his head etc. - the list goes on). And of course, if you are, there's nothing you can do to change your inherent characteristics or the circumstances in which you find yourself. You start to feel stuck.

It's time to step back and remember:

Your own conjectures or those of your colleagues may be right - or they may be wrong. You don't know unless you check them out. (And yes, even then, you may not get an honest answer);
Insofar as your colleague does think you're female (and that's a problem) or a "dumb blonde", or too posh, or got promoted over his head - well, that's about what your colleague thinks rather than about you;
Underneath your colleague's thoughts lie some unmet needs that even he has not yet identified. I say this with confidence - if he has, it seems to me he wouldn't be mentioning your gender or the colour of your hair;
If you're feeling vulnerable or off balance it's a sign that there's something about the way you're thinking that has you feel that way.

It's time to do your work: to tease out what you know to be true and what is pure conjecture on your part (or the part of your colleague). And if it feels hard for you to ask the questions that will lead you to the truth, well "hard" is where your work begins.

I wonder, what does this posting evoke for you?

*This example is a composite from the experience of multiple clients and all identifying information has been changed.

Revealing the secrets of the boardroom

2011-07-22T06:18:00.041+01:00

Thursday lunch. My friend Len and I are sharing our thoughts and experiences about working at board level with client organisations. What are the secrets that reveal themselves as the layers slowly peel away? Even as I write I find myself scanning so many experiences - of directors who are afraid to give feedback to their CEO about behaviours which limit the effectiveness of the board, of CEOs who were good before circumstances changed and are unable to change to meet the needs of the circumstances, of individuals quietly sidelined in a conspiracy of silence by men and women who don't want to address the issue of board level incompetence, of people who, at root, know this role is not for them and yet who dare not admit it for fear of the implications of seeing what they know to be true.

Len loves helping senior leaders to engage with problems and issues that look insurmountable. I love helping senior leaders to improve the bottom line whilst nurturing and maintaining a healthy ecology - personal, team, organisational. Boardrooms fascinate us both - because (for Len) so many problems look insurmountable which actually are not, because (for me) so often the barrier to improving bottom line results is the ability of individuals to engage with themselves and with each other in ways which make things happen.

In the end, so many of the secrets of the boardroom are human secrets - including the secrets that board members hide from themselves. When did we tell ourselves that it's somehow desirable to be anything other than human in the boardroom? This is not, after all, a fate we can escape. Addressing challenges in the boardroom involves engaging in a level of dialogue with ourselves and each other that is uncommon in our culture and, at the same time, a pre-requisite of outstanding leadership at board level. Perhaps, though, this is a subject for another day.

When heads roll

2011-07-20T04:18:00.054+01:00

It's the season of high profile resignations in the wake of the News of the World phone hacking scandal - but are such resignations a sign that the individuals concerned are being held (or holding themselves) accountable?

Rebekah Brooks was amongst the first to go (though, in the view of some, not before time) when she stood down from her role as Chief Executive of News International. Sir Paul Stephenson followed just days after, resigning from his role as Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Sir Paul's resignation was followed just one day later by the resignation of his direct report, John Yates. In public life, such resignations are not uncommon. Big news stories are often accompanied by cries of some modern equivalent of "off with his head". A waiting game ensues. Can I hold on to my job or is it time for me to go? When the head rolls some appetite is satisfied and still, I wonder if such resignations really equate to the true execution of accountability.

One of the reasons I hold this doubt is because such big name resignations can lead us to imagine that failure is a "one problem, one person" affair. So often it isn't. Andy Coulson's resignation in January of this year from the role of Director of Communications to the Prime Minister happened not because he had done something inappropriate in his new role. Rather, it followed a long chain of events, including stories of phone hacking under Coulson's watch at News of the World and David Cameron's appointment of Coulson in the first place, despite pressure not to. Coulson's resignation had the appearance of accountability whilst also appearing to let others off the hook (at least for the time being) whose actions were also questionable.

Another reason why I question whether such resignations equate to the true execution of accountability is because they are rarely accompanied by a full investigation of the facts. Without this, there is no getting to the root of - and addressing - the problem. Coulson's resignation from News of the World, for example, stemmed the pressure - at least temporarily - for a full investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World. The decision not to investigate more fully looks extremely naive today - and possibly even then. It's also interesting to wonder if, in the wake of Coulson's resignation from the post of Director of Communications to the Prime Minister, David Cameron got off rather lightly. As long as there is no investigation of the facts, the problem lies dormant and unsolved.

Are Britain's businesses any different? I confess that as I ask myself this question I notice many times from my life as a consultant in which there was quiet collusion in ongoing problems in business. There may be quiet complaints about the failure of senior management to address a problem (even quiet complaints by senior managers) and yet it is a brave man or woman who speaks up. (As I write this I am acutely aware of the death this week of Sean Hoare, who broke the story of phone hacking at News of the World). Perhaps it is for this reason that the phrase the fish rots from the head has become such common parlance in business.

True accountability involves many things. It involves creating clear agreements up front about who will do what and by when. It involves knowing up front how you will check in on progress and how you will address any problems as they arise. It involves following through to find out when things are on and off track. So far, so good. Crucially, it involves having the courage to hold conversations that are testing for everyone involved when things go wrong and holding them in the awareness that everyone involved in the conversation may in some way be found to have failed. Creating the environment in which such conversations are possible requires skill and determination.

Even as I write I recognise that there is so much more to be said on this topic. For now though, I wonder, what is your experience of accountability? And what challenges do you face in holding yourself - and others - accountable?

Going Gothic

2011-07-19T04:29:00.070+01:00

We did it! Nine choirs (including three youth choirs), four soloists, a rather large orchestra (circa 120 players, subdivided into smaller orchestras and brass bands) and Maestro Martyn Brabbins: together, we performed Havergal Brian's Symphony Number 1, the Gothic Symphony on Sunday, 17th, July, 2011 at London's Royal Albert Hall.

It's about thirty years since it was last performed in the UK (and yes, a scattering of singers in our midst sang at that last performance). It may be thirty more years before it's performed again. The sheer scale of the piece (and attendant costs) make it a major undertaking to bring it to the concert hall. Even in the Royal Albert Hall, the stage has to be extended to accommodate the performers.

No doubt the audience comprises fans of this little known composer and a whole load of "musos" - especially composers, curious about such an audacious piece. There is a sense of excitement and curiosity at the beginning of the concert. Even amongst the performers there are many who have not yet heard the whole piece. The choristers have not yet heard, for example, the first movements of the piece which are purely orchestral. Nor have we heard the soloists in full.

There are many surprises. A glockenspiel solo in the early movements takes my breath away. Surely it's the percussionist's dream - an opportunity to show both the full range of the instrument and the skills and panache of the performer as well as to bring this music to its audience. It would bear hearing again. Susan Gritton is superb as she sings from the distant heights of the Royal Albert Hall, requiring a steely confidence as well as fine tone. She has plenty of both. Even in the midst of the choir I enjoy the stereophonic effects as different singers sing their separate parts. I am full of admiration and respect for Martyn Brabbins for taking on a challenge of epic proportions. (In an introduction to the piece by musicians in Brisbane, Australia, entitled The Curse of the Gothic Symphony, one person describes it as "the musical equivalent of climbing Everest, trekking to the South Pole, sending a man to the moon").

To reach this point is the culmination of a long journey. As one of the singers, I am aware that I have joined the road after many miles have already been travelled and still, it's been hard work. In the end, the response of my colleagues varies, from those who are glad to be done with this abominable piece to the (albeit tiny minority) who are truly elated. I sit somewhere in between: I am totally thrilled to have had this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform this piece. It has taxed me, yes. It has intrigued me, yes. I would certainly sign up to sing it again, with all its strange quirks.

Above all, I celebrate this rare opportunity to showcase Britain's rich choral tradition. Even without Harvergal Brian, this has been a rare opportunity to bring together a dedicated population of amateur singers and we have collaborated with a great spirit of cooperation and respect.

Now though, it's definitely back to business. The ladies of the London Symphony Chorus have a break now, and I'm glad of it. If you'd like to hear the performance you can follow this link to find a recording. I'll be resting my vocal chords and - for a while at least - writing about other things.

Reflecting on A Simpler Way

2011-07-14T04:29:00.006+01:00

It's Tuesday afternoon as I write and I find myself reflecting on the cycles of nature and how they play out in our work.

Last week, for example, I was at home on Monday, as I usually am, coaching by phone. The weather was so glorious that I had breakfast in the garden before starting my work. Later I enjoyed lunch outside in the shade. I notice how being in nature settles me so that I feel more grounded. Later in the week the sunshine was followed by rain and a different rhythm to my schedule though the afterglow of a sunny day was with me for several days.

This week, I'm still tired after a demanding weekend. I was all lined up for a meeting this afternoon, cancelled at short notice. I get to write this blog posting and to catch up with other tasks. My body is calling out for sleep... sleep...

The industrial era made machines of us all. The introduction of mechanisation gave a steady rhythm to manufacturing work and we organised ourselves around the machines that served us. It was important to start on time, finish on time: important because the machines needed our care and attention to do their job.

How does this play out in our post-industrial society? There is a risk that we organise ourselves around needs that no longer exist, measuring our contribution by the number of hours we work. Anne Wilson Schaef, author of The Addictive Organization: Why We Overwork, Cover up, Pick up the Pieces, Please the Boss, and Perpetuate Sick Organizations, sees this as a symptom of addiction in organisations and outside of our collective conscious awareness. Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, is an advocate for a different way of life and so are Margaret J. Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers who, in their book A Simpler Way, draw parallels with nature to invite us to a life that is less arduous and more delightful.

When we check in with our own rhythms as well as the rhythms of nature we know that there are times when we are raring to go and times when we need rest and restoration. When we check in with the rhythms of our work we know there are times we need to go flat out to meet a deadline and times when such effort is not needed. How often, though, do we act from this conscious awareness? How often do we work hard because, somehow, it's the done thing, looks good, scores points with the boss... even when, deep down, we know it's costing us and even know it brings no benefit in terms of the quantity or quality of our output.

I wonder, how do you respond to Wheatley's and Kellner-Rogers' call to a life that is less arduous and more delightful?

Musings at the start of the week

2011-07-12T06:29:00.014+01:00

Monday morning. I've been all round the houses this weekend - to a school visit on Friday as part of the Pearson Teaching Awards judging team (and when the visits are national they can be a long way away), to my niece's Hen Party in Bristol on Saturday (catching up on Friday night with a treasured friend) and then to Birmingham on Sunday to join 599 other singers in our first joint rehearsal of Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony, which we'll be performing on Sunday 17th July, 2011 as part this year's series of Prom Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.

So, it's been quite a weekend! I wish I could say more about my school visit on Friday and - because I am committed to the judging process and want to maintain confidentiality - I can't. My niece's hen party was a blast as well as a reflection of so much that makes her who she is (and her parents the ones who have and continue to nurture her). We have a buffet lunch as her guests - circa 35 assorted friends and family - gather in Bristol before going on a treasure hunt around Whiteladies Road, gathering answers in response to a whole load of clues and ending up with afternoon tea, scoring, prizes and much hilarity. We get changed for dinner before a boat trip and then supper - a rather wonderful and ample supper - in a Chinese restaurant tucked away somewhere near the harbour. On Sunday morning I catch the first train to Birmingham to sing. It isn't early - 9.30am from Bristol - and it isn't fast, meandering cross country on it's way to Brum. Not early - though it seems like it! The last few days have involved early starts and late finishes and they're catching up with me.

Our performance next Sunday will be only the 6th performance of Brian's Gothic Symphony since he completed it in 1951 and tickets have been sold out for some time now. Why so rarely performed? Members of the Havergal Brian Society will certainly protest at any suggestion that it is because this music is in any way lacking. Rather, the symphony requires huge forces (including 6 - 800 singers, 190 orchestral players and soloists) a venue which can house both performers and an audience, funding and a conductor who is sufficiently audacious (or mad) to undertake to conduct such a complex and demanding piece.

As I travel back from Birmingham after our rehearsal I reflect on those people who are prepared to take on something which others have not - or only rarely - dared. The composer, in sharing his or her work, faces the unknown in terms of the response s/he may get - a response which may change over time. What may seem mad to some inspires the admiration of others. And at the time of creation there is no knowing what the life story of a piece may be, including the life-story of the composer's own relationship with his or her work.

This is, of course, true for us all. This has been amply illustrated this weekend as the demise of the News of the World follows revelations whose impact reverberates far beyond the empire of Rupert Murdoch. It seems to me that many people have their hands dirty right now - the journalists who hacked phones, the leaders (Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson) on whose watch they acted, the police who took money in exchange for information, the police who decided not to investigate, David Cameron... the list goes on and on. Our actions follow us long after we have taken them.

The response of some is to look around them, seeking to determine what will be acceptable and taking care to be above reproach. This strategy is utterly exhausting and largely ineffective - with so many people out there and with such diverse views there is always a judge. And still, it takes courage to do the best we know how in a given moment, knowing that those who set out to judge may have little or no understanding of our aims and intentions. The more ambitious the aims, the more we expose ourselves to judgement, to possible failure and perhaps, worst of all, to insignificance. We all want to make a difference.

Reasons not to be human in the workplace: reason 4

2011-07-05T05:14:00.055+01:00

To be fully human is to engage with the full range and depth of our experiences and to know that they are just that - our experiences. As a broad generalisation, Western cultures sponsor rational thinking and discourage the expression of other aspects of our experience such as bodily sensations (our gut reaction) and feelings. What's more, over time, we take this bias to mean that, insofar as we have emotions, sensations etc. which are not rational, there is something wrong with us as individuals. This is the opposite of the very "rational", scientific approach we espouse which promotes curiosity about what is - and still, this cultural blindness exists.

Since those from whom we learn come from this background they are not always good teachers when it comes to being fully human. What's more, since we come from the same background, we are also indoctrinated in a certain way of being. This can present a particular challenge for those of us who enter the professions likely to be reading this article – including leaders, members of the HR profession, trainers, consultants, coaches. Many people are drawn to these professions precisely because (like me) they didn’t thrive in the environments in which they grew up and they want to see something different. At the same time, they lacked role models from whom to learn and face the risk of hypocrisy as they seek to educate others whilst overlooking (or struggling with) their own limitations.

Learning to do something when we don't know how and may lack role models to learn from - well, it's a messy business! In truth, being fully human is a more messy business than many of us choose to engage in in public. It involves doing things that don't work out as we hope and even doing things we later regret. When we embrace our humanity it's all par for the course. When we don't embrace our humanity we live constantly in the shadow of the belief - our own and others' - that somehow we should be different.

I wonder, what are your aspirations for being human in the workplace? For you? For others? I'd love to read your comments in response to this posting.

Reasons not to be human in the workplace: reason 3

2011-07-01T06:08:00.032+01:00

Recently, I wrote a posting for Discuss HR entitled To what extent is it really OK to be human in the workplace? My aim was to explore the extent to which we feel able to express ourselves fully and authentically in the workplace and to explore some of the reasons why we don't. In this posting I highlight what I'm calling "Reason 3" and expand on it.

A third reason why it can be hard to be fully human in the workplace is this: it’s not always fully welcomed by others. This can be a little circular. It takes trust, for example, both to share ourselves fully and to receive each other as we share. As part of my own practice I am a student of Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication and make it my aspiration and my discipline to share my feelings, needs and observations and to make clear requests as well as to seek to connect with the feelings and needs of others. Recently I fielded a request from a colleague and decided to explore the request with her so that I fully understood it before saying yes or no. This was received as a criticism which was not my intention. Suddenly, I found myself seeking to handle a conversation with someone who was acting on an inference (that I was criticising her) as if it were true.

Oftentimes, in the workplace we find that our open and honest self-expression is not received with a glad heart by others. There are many reasons for this. Perhaps, for example, the way in which we express ourselves is itself a problem, especially if we put forward our opinion as if it were some universal and ultimate truth (who wants to be on the receiving end of this hidden assertion?) Perhaps the person who is receiving our thoughts is not open to different perspectives. Perhaps we want to express our feelings in an environment which discourages acknowledgement of emotions. Perhaps our sharing triggers difficult feelings in the person with whom we are speaking.

Equally, it's often true that our fear that our honesty may not be well-received is as much of a problem as any evidence that it isn't. As long as we have this fear we are likely to express ourselves indirectly or even not at all. How many of us, for example, choose to withhold any expression of our emotions at work, even when to do so could provide valuable information - helping those we lead, for example, to share in our excitement about a new project, or helping our line managers to know that we've been procrastinating on a task out of fear of failing.

When have you withheld open and honest expression of what's going on for you out of fear that it might not be well-received?

Reasons not to be human in the workplace: reason 2

2011-06-30T06:40:00.025+01:00

Yesterday, I wrote about the fears we have of being wrong - a subject I also addressed recently in a posting entitled On being right - or wrong. Like many, I took my own fears of being wrong into my first job when I entered the workplace. Later, I learned of a second challenge when it comes to the authentic sharing of our human selves: it’s actually rather hard work!

Perhaps the first experience I had of working in an environment in which such sharing was encouraged was as a volunteer, supporting Ian McDermott and his colleagues in training large groups of people in neuro-linguistic programming (or NLP) with his organisation, ITS. This was set up with the expectation that, as a member of the support team, I would have as much learning opportunity as participants. As a team member I was allocated a learning partner, for example, and supported both by a team coach and by a team leader. I used to love the morning “huddle”, in which we came together at the beginning of the day to check in and to prepare for the day ahead. I felt supported in being myself as well as relishing an environment in which people were looking out for my successes. This was quite new to me.

At the same time I quickly learned that, as much as it was safe to share what was going on for me, the invitation was always for me to learn. This was quite different from what I often experienced in the workplace where the invitation was to collude. This was the difference between “yes, your colleague was in the wrong” and “so what’s the learning for you?” I came to welcome this approach which led me quite quickly to recognise my love of coaching and still, it required of me a willingness to take responsibility for myself and for the quality of my experience which was new to me and for which, initially, I was ill-prepared.

It's not difficult to see that Reason 2 is intimately connected with Reason 1. In a culture in which we widely hold the belief that there is a right and wrong answer to everything, it seems likely that, in order to feel OK about ourselves, we will seek to prove that we are right and that others are wrong. Talking with our allies about those people we believe are in the wrong is a relatively safe way to maintain our position that we are right.

Being human in the workplace invites us down a different path. On this path, the invitation is to own our feelings, our experience and our own limitations at a given point in time as well as our strengths and our successes. It is an approach which is compassionate and which, still, requires commitment, discipline and the willingness to learn. It is an approach which implies staying on our own side of the street (yes, I wrote about this recently - just follow this link) and leaving others to do their own learning. Once we have embraced this approach we are constantly in process and inviting new learnings. It is hard work.

I wonder which approach do you favour?

Reasons not to be human in the workplace: reason 1

2011-06-29T06:02:00.048+01:00

I found a first clue as to why we might not feel fully at ease in being human in the workplace in my experience of joining the workplace: one thing I took from my upbringing was the idea that there was a “right” and a “wrong” answer to everything – and the idea that often I was wrong. I entered the workplace (as much as the rest of my life) with a fear of learning that yes, I was indeed wrong. This did not make it easy for me to share my fears and to seek the help and support I needed early in my career. Another way of putting this is to say, if you are afraid of being wrong AND you fear that being wrong in this particular instance means there's something wrong with you then the stakes are high when you express yourself honestly: you risk finding out that you are indeed, fatally flawed. (Kathryn Schulz talks about this on www.TED.com. I wrote about her recently in a posting entitled On being right - or wrong where you will also find a link to her talk).

One factor that contributes to this is our tendency to compare our own inner turmoil with the apparently serene exterior of others. If you take a moment to imagine two swans gliding across the surface of life whilst frantically paddling beneath the waters, you can begin to imagine what this might be like: one swan knows he is paddling away under the surface and yet he doesn't imagine that his mate is doing the same because he cannot see beyond his friend's serene appearance. Moreover, for fear of being judged, he is also doing his best to look serene.

And yes, I'm not sure that swans think in this way - though I do know that humans do. I remember, for example, a conversation I had with friends towards the end of our university studies when I shared how scared I'd been on arrival of not being good enough. A number of people looked totally surprised - they'd never guessed. One by one we shared our feelings and realised that, yes, we'd all felt that way and done our best to hide our fears. We had been afraid to share ourselves fully. It took many experiences for me to learn, finally, that I was not alone in putting on a brave – but not entirely authentic – face. For a while, it seemed to me that everyone had it sussed – everyone but me, that is. I wonder how many others would share similar experiences - if only they dared - of hiding their human face because their upbringing and education has not prepared them to show themselves fully at work.

The implications in the workplace are profound. The very people who enter the workplace with this fear of being found out (some people call it the "imposter syndrome") rise through the system to become our most senior leaders. When this happens, the culture they create supports the idea that there is a right and wrong answer (and, by implication, that they are the owners of the right answer) and this in turn creates a climate of fear as well as organisations whose performance is way below their potential. The result - if nothing serves to intervene - is a system which perpetuates the problem.

I wonder, what has been your experience in this area?

To what extent is it really OK to be human in the workplace?

2011-06-27T07:58:00.024+01:00

Last week I wrote about how we respond to being "wrong" and I also wrote a posting for Discuss HR called To what extent is it really OK to be human in the workplace? It seems to me that both postings touch a similar theme. This is how I started my article:

We all agree (do we?) that emotional intelligence has a significant role to play in the workplace. Words like “authenticity” and “integrity” are widely used and have a strong appeal with organisations looking to recruit people who display these qualities. At the same time, in many organisations, people hold the belief that they have to show their best side in order to succeed and invest time and effort into creating a professional mask and identity. To what extent is it really OK to be human in the workplace?

As early as 1973, Dr. David McClelland published a paper, Testing for competence rather than for intelligence, in which he argued that classic aptitude tests (the type that might, for example, predict performance in school exams) were a poor predictor of later performance in the workplace. He posited the idea of testing for competencies – those attitudes, traits or behaviours that differentiate the more outstanding performers in a particular job. McClelland’s ideas have since been widely tested in the workplace even whilst scientists have been making significant discoveries into the workings of the brain.

Daniel Goleman, himself a student of McClelland, has been widely credited with coining the term “emotional intelligence” and his book Working With Emotional Intelligence outlines a model for effectiveness in the workplace which draws significantly on the work of McClelland and others. Emotional intelligence recognises that our effectiveness in the workplace reflects our ability to tune in and respond to the full range of information available to us, including our own emotions.

You might expect, then, a growing trend towards encouraging authentic self- expression in the workplace. You might also expect that this would lead to higher levels of engagement at work. You might even expect that this would be desirable to employers: higher engagement leads to improved work outcomes as a result of increased discretionary effort. But is it really so? Working (as I do) as a coach to senior leaders I notice how often I am party to the sharing by clients of thoughts, feelings, desires that they hesitate to share with colleagues, even whilst they wish their colleagues would understand them better. Surely there’s some paradox at work when all the research points to the benefits of such sharing and still, it’s not happening?

Reflecting on my own experience, I see some clues as to why this might be so. I'll be sharing some thoughts about this in the coming days. Meantime, I wonder: what has been your experience of being human in the workplace?

On being right - or wrong

2011-06-24T06:55:00.050+01:00

Once more www.TED.com has come up with a great resource in the form of a talk by Kathryn Schulz On Being Wrong. This reached me via Stuart Reid* who commented:

There is quite a lot in this TED talk from Kathryn Schulz that helps to explain why the 'unilateral control model' is so powerful. Schulz has a view that one reason why we care so much about being wrong is that we often feel that if we are wrong there is something wrong with us - so we insist instead that we are right. And she also makes the point well that feeling we are right is often not a reliable guide to what's going on out there in the real world.

Leaders who are attached to always being right are easy to spot. They rarely ask for input from those they lead in order to form a plan and even when they do it's their own ideas that prevail. They have people reporting to them - sometimes very senior people - who think twice before putting forward an idea for fear of the public humiliation that will follow. They think their staff are rubbish ("they have no ideas to offer at all") and they may overlook the fact that some very talented people come and go from their watch. They are often disappointed with the outcomes from their staff and rarely take responsibility. Of course, it's not just leaders who have this kind of experience - it's colleagues, spouses, parents and children...

I want to add that, in our culture, this is not uncommon. Take a moment to notice when you have wanted to be right even though you knew you were wrong, when you were really hard on yourself or on someone else for the things that didn't go to plan, when you were afraid of the consequences of a mistake or escaped into your head to think about it instead of to feel it.

How much compassion do you have for your own mistakes? And for the mistakes of others?

*And yes, if you follow Stuart's link, you'll find all sorts of additional treasures to explore.

Preparing for interview: it's your mindset that counts

2011-06-22T04:06:00.021+01:00

How often we give our power away when we are preparing for an interview (or to make a presentation, or..., or... or...). It seems the world is setting out to remind me of this right now. I have been assessing a number of people for senior leadership roles recently. It's a topic that has cropped up recently with a coaching client (as it does from time to time). And I have been following a discussion thread on the HRUK group on LinkedIn with the heading: What's the one piece of key advice you would give to a candidate preparing for an interview?

I make an initial response as follows:

This is a question I find myself exploring with coaching clients - i.e. in a situation in which I am the advocate of the person being interviewed.
What I often find is that the interviewee holds the mindset "I need to prove I'm capable of doing this job" rather than I mindset of "I'd like to establish whether or not this is the right employer and the right job for me - whether we are well matched". The energy that goes with the first mindset is quite different than the energy that goes with the second.

So, for the interviewee, my first piece of advice would be to explore and choose a mindset that serves them in fulfilling their intentions.

I particularly notice the response of another correspondent with which I tend to disagree:

However, taking Dorothy's point a stage further, it all starts wih having the right positive mindset to win the interview.
Around 90% of my clients have previously failed at interviews because of self doubts, excessive nerves and negative thoughts. The focus then becomes on 'I hope I don't freeze' etc rather than I will make sure I impress!

My concern is this: setting out to "impress" can set up the idea that somehow all the power is in the hands of the interviewer. When we hold this point of view, we are liable to think we have to do something more than be ourselves, to wonder exactly what the key is to being successful, to feel increasing levels of anxiety (because, after all we don't know). In other words, self doubts, excessive nerves and negative thoughts are the natural corollary of thinking we have to impress.

On the other hand, when we view an interview as a mutual exploration (are we well matched?) our attention is not only about any decisions a potential employer might make (which are out of our hands). It is also with our own needs, helping us to think about what information we need in order to know to what extent the job we are discussing might meet our needs. This is a more balanced perspective and tends to leave us feeling more powerful. And yes, it helps to hold the belief that the right opportunity is out there - and this may or may not be it.

There is a paradox at work here - as there so often is. Some interviewees with skills in influencing will set out to impress - and be empowered by this. These are people who have the ability to put themselves in the shoes of a potential employer and to understand precisely what they need to do to influence or have an impact on their interviewer(s). If you know you have these skills - then yes, set out to impress. Either way, the aim is to choose an approach which empowers.

On my own side of the street

2011-06-20T05:32:00.080+01:00

I have been facilitating an on-line discussion amongst former colleagues in recent weeks and I notice just how hard I have been finding it to stay on my side of the street.

What do I mean when I use the term "on my side of the street"? I have to give credit here to Anne Wilson Schaef. It's hard to characterise Wilson Schaef whose career has taken her through working as a therapist and dealing with women's issues to looking more widely, looking at organisations and whole societies. A theme that runs through her work (as I understand it) lies in her concern for wholeness and health and her belief that individuals, organisations and even whole societies are susceptible to the dysfunction of addiction. Wilson Schaef also explores those ways of living that she sees as more natural and healthy and it was in her book Living in Process: Basic Truths for Living the Path of the Soul that I came across and enjoyed her concept of living on your own side of the street.

What does the person do who stays on their own side of the street? Let me illustrate this with my experience of the discussion I mentioned right at the beginning of this posting. When I stray from my side of the street, for example, it would be easy to notice how Person A, who opted not to comment until after a decision had been made expresses his discomfort with the decision and to feel frustrated - why did he not express his views as part of the initial consultation? Or to be horrified by the way Persons B and C are expressing their views and to feel somehow responsible. Or to wonder if, in the light of the debate that has ensued, I got something wrong when I consulted colleagues in the first place. To stray from my side of the street is to focus on what's going on outside of me and to be guided by it - leading to confusion and a sense of being a victim. It also carries with it the temptation to move from victim to perpetrator ("if you felt so strongly about it, why didn't you express your view when you were asked?", for example).

To stay on my side of the street, on the other hand, is to notice what's going on in me and to take responsibility for my own experience. It is to notice that, yes, I opened up a question and I wasn't entirely prepared for the response - not so much the range of views but the manner in which they have been expressed. Equally, I wasn't quite prepared for the reality that even having consulted with colleagues the ultimate decision would sit in my hands because navigating a discussion amongst 75 members of an on-line group who have no prior agreement about how to take decisions is unlikely to lead to 75 people saying "yes, let's go with that". To stay on my side of the street is also to choose my response. I have, for example, wondered about saying, "having consulted with you and taken my decision, I'm now signing off this discussion". It's an option, though for now, I have decided to hang on in there. One reason for staying is because I want to stay abreast of the body of opinion in the group and by guided by it. Another reason is because I know that, in so far as I am triggered by others' behaviour or am taking it personally, it is guiding me towards valuable learning.

Wilson Schaef points out how tough it is to stay on our own side of the street precisely because we equate taking responsibility with having caused something and assign blame (as if, for example, I am somehow responsible for the fact that there are diverse views amongst the group or for the way group members have expressed their views). At the same time, she highlights how, when we can let go of viewing human behaviour in terms of cause and effect (and assigning blame) we empower ourselves. I would add that, by example, we offer a way for others to empower themselves.

I wonder, do you aspire to stay on your own side of the street? And to what extent are you succeeding?

Leadership levels: knowing your job

2011-06-17T06:16:00.001+01:00

Finally, I’ve embarked on my reading regime – the one I mentioned in my post Exploring the inner game of leadership. I’m starting with a book which continues to attract warm recommendations, Jim Collins’ Good to Great. In it, Collins shares findings from research into those companies who have gone from showing solid performance to showing outstanding performance in the marketplace.

Early on, Collins lays out a neat hierarchy of work levels. It’s not rocket science or even entirely new and still, it serves to remind us of levels of work with which we are familiar and also to highlight an additional level, the Level 5 leader, which is the subject of Collins’ book. I highlight it for another reason – but first, let me share Collins definitions:

Level 5 Executive: Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

Level 4 Effective Leader: Catalyzes a commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards.

Level 3 Competent Manager: Organizes people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of pre-determined objectives.

Level 2 Contributing Team Member: Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with others in a group setting.

Level 1 Highly Capable individual: Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills, and good work habits.

What does this hierarchy evoke for me? I want to highlight the role that adaptability plays in success. The more strategies you have to meet your goals the more likely you are to succeed (and yes, I’ve been there, too – using a strategy that didn’t work last time either and hoping that by trying harder, it will work this time).

As you move through the hierarchy of work levels to which Collins refers, it helps to know clearly which level of work you are employed to do and to develop strategies that work at that level. It also helps to know how the level to which you aspire differs from your current work level. Oftentimes poor performance stems from applying habits from the level of work below the level at which you are employed to contribute. Oftentimes the promotion you feel frustrated you have not have yet achieved is withheld because you do not yet show you understand at what level you will be required to contribute in the job to which you aspire.

I wonder, what comes up for you as you read Collins' Level 5 Hierarchy above?

Reflecting on the importance of perceptions

2011-06-15T07:24:00.049+01:00

5pm and I'm walking through the market in Lewisham on my way home from a meeting in the City. It's always a good time to pick up a bargain and cucumbers are especially cheap right now - five for a pound. Our continental cousins have been saying no to salad since a number of deaths from e-coli have been attributed to poor hygiene in the vegetable department (follow this link if you're curious to read more). It seems it doesn't matter that the underlying reasons for the outbreak have not been determined - the rumour was enough to make the difference to sales, and with devastating impact on agriculture in Germany.

As it happens, I have had several conversations today about marketing for small businesses. Here, too, it's the rumour that makes the difference. Many people who start their own businesses are unprepared for the reality that it's not enough to do a great job for your clients to be successful - you have to attract clients in the first place (and, yes, retain them) in order to do a great job for them. How many small-time entrepreneurs have fallen on the sword of their own pride when it comes to sharing with others what they do, believing that "the cream always rises to the top" and "if I do a good job, the business will come". Maybe it will, but if it doesn't: what then?

This is often an extension of the beliefs they held when they were working in the organisations they left behind (and in which my clients mainly work - so, yes, there's a thought here for you, too). Somehow we tell ourselves that it's in the interests of our employers to spot and nurture talent and, yes, I agree. But if you're looking for new opportunities - to broaden your skills or gain your next promotion - it's good to remember that it's not always enough to have what it takes. Other people have to know that you have what it takes and that you want that opportunity. As long as you're sitting there thinking someone else ought to be doing something to further your career, you're giving away your power to make things happen.

One place where this fundamental difference - between being "good" and being seen to be "good" shows up is in the 360 degree questionnaire. (I use the Hay Group's Emotional Competence Inventory from time to time, for example). Such questionnaires do not give an objective insight into the competencies you display at work and still, they do give an objective insight into the competencies you are seen to display at work. Like the German cucumbers you saw if you followed the link above, it doesn't matter that you have all the skills and attributes needed to progress if nobody knows you do.

I wonder, how willing are you to openly share what you want at work? And if you're not, what stops you? (And here's a clue: if you're looking outside yourself for answers to that second question, try again. The answer sits with you).

Leadership and the art of getting people on board

2011-06-13T05:36:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago I posted a link to an article by Scott Adams, creator of "Dilbert" and observer of our life at work. The article, How to Get a Real Education, reads like a 10-minute MBA and is full of examples from Adams' own experience as a student of entrepreneurship at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY.

One of them hit the subject of influencing - and boy! do you need to be able to influence if you want to lead others! Adams writes:

The dean required that our first order of business in the fall would be creating a dorm constitution and getting it ratified. That sounded like a nightmare to organize. To save time, I wrote the constitution over the summer and didn't mention it when classes resumed. We held a constitutional convention to collect everyone's input, and I listened to two hours of diverse opinions. At the end of the meeting I volunteered to take on the daunting task of crafting a document that reflected all of the varied and sometimes conflicting opinions that had been aired. I waited a week, made copies of the document that I had written over the summer, presented it to the dorm as their own ideas and watched it get approved in a landslide vote. That was the year I learned everything I know about getting buy-in.

I wonder how it lands with you. What is your experience of influencing others? And with what challenges? With what success?

Speaking candidly about Candide

2011-06-08T07:55:00.040+01:00

Soon after I joined the London Symphony Chorus it was my privilege to perform Leonard Bernstein's Candide under the leadership of the great man himself. This experience was captured on camera by Deutsche Grammophon and I still have the DVD. You can find extracts on YouTube (my, we were younger then!)

Approaching a performance some 20-plus years later a certain nostalgia sets in amongst members of the chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra as we share memories and recollections. They are not all flattering to Bernstein who was not always an easy man - one soprano reminds me of how critical he was of our then pianist in rehearsal. I recall Bernstein smoking on the concert platform during rehearsal and remember how staff had to approach him to ask him to stop. We all remember how the cast was besieged by flu. At the same time, many memories are treasured. This was our last performance with Bernstein who died soon after. The cast was superb. Even some of our own chorus members had solos to sing.

These memories don't augur well for our present-day conductor, Kristjan Jarvi though he may not know it, predisposing us to make comparisons and to resist his approach. This is coupled with a certain pre-concert anxiety which compounds the effect: we look for clearer directions than we are given (especially as we are asked to make movements, grappling with our scores, watching the conductor and dying... dancing... waving). And even as we get clear about those movements we wish for more rehearsal time than we have.

Come the night, though, everything comes together and we - I at least! - enjoy ourselves hugely. Our present day cast is also superb. Rory Kinnear as narrator holds the story and engages the audience so that we are laughing from the very beginning and don't stop until we have finished the piece. Andrew Staples in the role of Candide has the kind of guileless quality the role demands. Kiera Duffey, as Cunegonde, puts on a superb performance of the song Glitter and Be Gay, scaling the song's great heights with ease as well as conveying its comedy. Kim Cresswell throws all vanity to the wind to give a hilarious performance in the role of the old lady.

Can we forgive Jarvi for not being Bernstein? In the end it is the old man who prevails - not necessarily as a conductor but because he composed this wonderful piece with the same quality of tunes-manship that we enjoy so much in West Side Story and with orchestration which adds to the beauty of every note. So, it will take something more from Mr Jarvi to usurp him.

Oh! And PS: we award "man of the match" to David Jackson, percussionist, for his athletic sprints between various instruments in the piece's overture.

Exploring the inner game of leadership

2011-06-06T06:07:00.094+01:00

I confess, today I'm in book heaven. I have been drawing together reading recommendations to supplement my own research and thinking about the inner game of leadership. In particular, I'm exploring the key attributes, characteristics, competencies that provide the foundations for effective leadership at director level. I'm especially interested in those characteristics that are often unseen and still essential to succeed at this level. These characteristics are often conspicuous by their absence: you don't notice when someone has them but - oh boy! - you do notice when they're absent.

Right now, I'm planning to write a paper on the subject and gathering together a number of books to read. In case you'd like to join me in my reading, here's my list as it stands today. Some books I have already and know well. Some have been landing on my doorstep in recent days. (And of course, in case you're like most senior leaders and only get to read a book if you're on a plane well, then, look out for my brief paper which I'll be publishing later this year). Here's the list:

The New Leaders: Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee: This is an old favourite of mine, rooted in research into what differentiates the most outstanding leaders. I've worked extensively with this research so I'll be dipping in rather than reading from scratch.
Resonant Leadership, by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee: The New Leaders tells you what it takes, Resonant Leaders explores how to get there.
Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values by Fred Kofman. In the words of Ken Wilber: Kofman "takes us on a thrilling tour through what business would be like if it had both a heart and a mind - a conscience and a consciousness". There are some challenges in this topic (look out for some reflections on this).
Why Smart Executives Fail by Sydney Finkelstein and Why CEOs Fail by David L. Dotlich and Peter C. Cairo. Both books explore the characteristics that derail senior executives and CEOs (respectively).
The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter and James Noel. This book explores how to develop leadership throughout organisations so that leaders are constantly coming through the organisation.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, by Jim Collins. This book is beloved of many leaders who value the distillation of deep and extensive research into a highly readable book.

Right now, I'm beginning to explore the findings in Jim Collins Book, Good to Great. I'll keep you posted. Meantime, what thoughts do you have about the hidden characteristics of the most outstanding leaders at director level? And what has it taken you to succeed at this level?

Speaking the unspoken

2011-06-01T06:01:00.100+01:00

Last week I returned to a topic of interest to me - Joseph Campbell's work around the hero's journey. You can read a brief description of the hero's journey by following this link. As leaders, we are called at times to embark on a journey for which we feel ill prepared. The journey begins with the seed of an idea and yet the precise destination may be unknown, as is the "how" of the journey. Joseph Jaworski wrote a compelling account of his own hero's journey in his book Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership. As I mentioned in my blog posting last week (On the threshold of change), leaders also face another challenge: that of having to decide how to respond when those they lead are saying no to their own personal call to adventure. Over the years, and even at the most senior levels, I have seen men and women baulk when it comes to addressing the symptoms they see that an employee is saying no to this call.

How do you know that an employee is saying no to some journey that is opening to them - if only he or she would take the first step? Sometimes, you can see that an employee is doing a great job and could easily progress - if only he or she would own the talents which everyone else can so clearly see. Sometimes an employee is clinging tightly to a role in which he or she is performing badly. This may be a role which has grown faster than the role holder or perhaps a role to which the role holder was never well suited. Sometimes the employee is doing a perfectly good job for the organisation and still, he or she never quite sparkles (even though his or her eyes light up when talking about a hobby or some other activity outside work). Sometimes an employee has something to face which may be nothing to do with work - an illness, for example, or the breakdown of a marriage or intimate relationship. Whatever the situation, you are witness to another's call to adventure when you can see some incongruity, some discrepancy, between the "where I am now" and the "where I might be" or even "where I need to be" of an employee.

Maybe this issue is yours to address as a responsible leader, as it is, for example, when an employee is failing to deliver the minimum requirements for a job. Sometimes there is no requirement on you to speak with an employee and still... Either way, your self talk is highly instructive, highlighting what you fear most about addressing the issue with your employee. Often, the fear expressed on the surface is a fear for the leader's employee. Underneath it, however, lies some fear for yourself. Typical examples of leaders' self talk (together with examples of the kind of the thing the leader is not saying) include:

He's done so much for the company I owe it to him to make it work in this job. (I'm scared of speaking honestly with him about his performance for fear of being criticised after all he's done for me);
She's been such a loyal friend over the years - how can I do this to her? (I'm scared of being seen as a poor friend if I tell her plainly that she's not doing a good job);
If he get's promoted what will I do without him? I owe it to the company to hold onto him as long as I can. (I'm scared that my boss will be angry if he finds out I've encouraged him to move on);
Her marriage is not my business - how can I possibly talk to her about it? (I'm scared of putting my foot right in it and being held responsible if the whole thing goes wrong).

I have also seen how the most outstanding leaders have a different kind of self-talk, which propels them into action. Here are just a few examples:

He's done a great job so far but now the job is growing faster than he is. I owe it to him to be straight about this and to help him find a way forward;
Knowing her as well as I do, she may well not want to hear it and still, I need to let her know this isn't the right job for her. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?
I know my boss might not like it, and still, I owe it to John to support him in moving forward - he's got such outstanding talent. And yes, that will also leave some headroom for other members of the team to grow;
I can see how hard she's working right now when she needs to take care of her marriage. It's time for me to check in with her and explore what support I can give right now.

The truth is, we might be criticised - up, down or sideways, we might lose a friend, our performance indicators might suffer for a while, the list goes on... And still, when we are able to know this and still to take action we offer a gift to those we lead, whether or not they choose to take it. This supports those we lead on their own hero's journey. It's also part of ours.

On the threshold of change

2011-05-25T04:33:00.062+01:00

In April 2005 I wrote an article which I subsequently published here on the blog under the heading Joseph Campbell and the hero's journey. It is a posting to which I return again and again in my work with leaders. In the meantime, Robert Dilts (from whom I learnt about Campbell's work) and Stephen Gillighan have added to the literature in this area by writing their own account of The Hero's Journey, which I have recently added to my Amazon wishlist.

Campbell discovered a number of key steps in the hero's journey, reflected in myths and stories from around the world. It's easy to wonder why these are of relevance in our modern world (who do you know, for example, who has recently slain a dragon?) until we recognise, quite quickly, the metaphorical significance of the hero's journey. It is, fundamentally, about our human experience and reflects the invitation that faces us all at some point in our lives to step out beyond our comfort zone in response to some kind of call to adventure.

The leaders I work with, being human, face the challenge that every other hero faces: the challenge of being called to embark on a journey without knowing where it will take you; the challenge of being drawn towards outcomes you don't know how to achieve*. This is the very nature of the hero's journey. Over my years of conducting research into what differentiates the most effective leaders I have found that one of the attributes of the most outstanding leaders is the ability to combine both an appetite for results with a tolerance for risk. It is by risking failure that we are able to do things that have not been attempted before. Such a leader is able to respond to the call to adventure (step one in the hero's journey) and to step over the threshold (step 2).

But what if you are hearing the call to adventure and feel unable to respond? Maybe it helps to know that you are not alone - or maybe not. The truth is this: life calls us repeatedly to step over the threshold and the signals it sends us get stronger and stronger. The longer we wait the more likely they are to include those things we most fear - illness, job loss, the break up of our most intimate and valued relationships. We may know this and still, we fear what may come on our journey every bit as much as we fear what may come if we say no to the call. Saying no to a call to adventure comes, fundamentally, from our most heartfelt desire for safety. This is the time when our yearning for safety competes with our desire for change. The paradox is this: as soon as we cross the threshold, our guardian or mentor will appear. This is the nature of the hero's journey. At the same time, as long as we refuse to cross the threshold there is no guardian, no mentor. It's a lonely place to be.

Sometimes, as coach, I am the guardian whose student stands before me and for whom still, the time has not yet come. I can offer many options and ideas to explore and yet... it takes a commitment to cross the threshold - it takes having crossed the threshold - before these options carry any weight. And you? If you are the hero, called to a journey for which you are not yet ready, what can you do? I wonder if a starting point is simply this: to notice - and stay with - where you are; to ask yourself "where am I?", "what is true in this place?" and "how is it for me to be here?"

*Leaders also face another challenge: that of having to decide how to respond when those they lead are saying no to their own personal call to adventure. I say more about this on Friday.

On the rise of women to the board room

2011-05-20T06:35:00.033+01:00

The Apprentice is back. For anyone who's not familiar with this particular brand of car crash television, the viewer gets to watch groups of young people attempt tasks set by Sir Alan Sugar before taking a drubbing in the Board Room. A shortlist of participants from the losing team then take a further drubbing before Sir Alan Sugar identifies his loser of the week with the words "You're fired!"

This week, Gavin left the programme, but it was not Gavin who caught my eye. No, it was Zoe in the following interaction:

Zoe: "I did what I was told but didn't get a chance to shine"

Sir Alan: "Well, that could have been your fault!"

This interaction brought to mind the recent recommendations by Lord Davies: that UK listed companies in the FTSE 100 should be aiming for a minimum of 25% female board member representation by 2015. Follow this link for more information and to download a copy of the report.

Some people I have spoken with have expressed the view that it's time to influence the men, as if it's a change on the part of the men of this world that will make the difference. (After all, are they not the turkeys who have no incentive to vote for Christmas?). My own view is that the truth is more complex. Either way, in case you are a woman aspiring to fulfil a director level role, I invite you to pause a moment to reflect on the interaction above.

What are the implications of Zoe's comment? It seems to me that, tucked away in Zoe's assertion that she didn't get the chance to shine is the implication that her chance to shine is in the gift of someone else. In truth, many times in our careers, others do have it in their gift to help us to shine. At the same time, the higher we go up the ladder, the more (it seems to me) we need to own that we, too, have it in our gift to shine.

As long as we look to others for some kind of opportunity or even permission to shine, the more we give our power away. As long as women give away their power so easily - expecting something of others but not asking for it, for example - it can be said that they are not ready to step into the role of director. But then, "power" is in itself a concept that women struggle with - and men, too. A subject for another posting, perhaps.

I wonder, how do you respond to this vignette from The Apprentice? And how do you respond to the recommendations of the Lord Davies report on women in the boardroom?

From the school of NLP: the "problem" and the "outcome" frame

2011-05-19T06:02:00.000+01:00

If you listen to Radio 4 in the morning, one of the questions you will commonly hear is "Who's to blame?" I confess, my heart sinks when I hear this question. I have such a yearning for a life without blame.

It's possible that this question is common in your life, too. If you have children it may be a daily discussion. Perhaps you take the view that when a fight break's out there's someone to blame. Perhaps your children want to prove themselves blameless by blaming each other. In business, too, the same question is often lurking in the environs of a problem or issue. In many organisations, the idea that some is to blame is woven into the very fabric - the culture - of the organisation.

The way we view a problem or issue has a significant effect on the way we experience it. We experience the difference: in the way we view things, in the way we feel (our emotions, our bodily responses), in the stories we tell ourselves. Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) has captured this difference in the problem and the outcome frame. As you read this posting, you can test this difference by taking a problem or issue, applying the questions below and noticing your responses.

What sort of questions do we ask when we are thinking of an issue as a problem?

What's the problem?
Why is it such a problem?
What are the implications of not solving it?
Why haven't you solved it yet?
Who's to blame for the problem?
Why are they to blame?

Before you move on, just take a moment to notice the effect on you of viewing an issue through the lens of these questions.

What sort of questions do we ask when we are thinking of an issue in terms of our desired outcomes?

What do you want?
How will you know when you've got what you want?
What will be the best thing about getting what you want?
What other benefits will it bring?
What resources do you already have to help you achieve your desired outcome(s)?
What is your next step?

Again, I invite you to take a moment to notice the effect on you of viewing an issue through the lens of these questions. I also invite you to notice, which set of questions (or style of questioning) is more familiar to you? This will vary from person to person.

This is not to suggest that you abandon either set of questions entirely. If you're working with someone who has a strong problem focus, for example, exploring the problem with them helps to build rapport. Only when they know you're hearing them will they be willing to look at the problem or issue through another lens - the outcome frame. Equally, if you are seeking to encourage change amongst people who want things to stay as they are, it may (just may) help to explore the problems associated with not changing before you even attempt to explain the benefits of change. For me, what's key here is the awareness that you do have an option. You can look through either lens at any moment in time. Building an awareness that you have an option opens up new possibilities.

I wonder, how do you experience the difference when you use a problem or an outcome frame?

Sometimes it's all in the framing

2011-05-18T06:30:00.063+01:00

One of the achievements of neurolinguistic programming (or NLP) has been to identify the impact on our experience of the way we frame things. I am reminded of this by a conversation with a client who is grappling with a particular issue*.

At the outset of our conversation the camera is up real close. The focus is on the response of a particular group of staff who are just not producing the goods. It doesn't feel good to be the person who is battling away to get things done and constantly faced with the question of "what can I do differently?" when staff in a matrixed organisation seem always to be too busy, to lazy, or too inept... The word "impasse" springs to mind. I notice that it seems quite lonely, too: being the person - the only person - who has a role to play in making things better.

Take the camera back a little and different parts of the picture begin to emerge. The organisation has decided to drive higher levels of performance out of this particular group of staff. This implies raising their skill levels so that they can do work which is currently beyond their capability. It also implies increasing levels of efficiency (getting the same people to do more work per day or week). Is it possible? I don't know. Is it the sole responsibility of my client? Well, actually, more people come into view when we view the issue from a distance. My client's boss. The line managers of the individuals concerned... Something else comes into view - or perhaps into focus. It's the question, "what's possible?" It's not that the goal is impossible, it's more about the "hows" and the "whens". It's the question of "is the current plan a good one - or does something need to be changed? And how might my client find out?"

In other words, when we take a few steps back we expand the scope of our vision so that we can see more and, by seeing more, we have greater insight into a problem or issue. Sometimes, it's all in the framing.

Back to NLP. One of the classic ways of framing a problem or issue is by using a problem or an outcome frame. Look out for a posting on this on Friday. Meantime, I invite you to take an issue that's current for you and to step back a few paces to see what you can see from a distance that you can't see up close. Are you willing to share?

*I've taken care to keep my description vague so as not to share any information which is confidential or can identify my client.

Learning from the squirrels in my garden

2011-05-16T05:28:00.042+01:00

I have been watching the squirrels in my garden this weekend, burying nuts in my garden which will in time begin to sprout. I'm not sure the squirrels ever seek to retrieve them. I was discussing this with a friend recently, laughing with her about the fact that squirrels have extraordinary ingenuity when it comes to penetrating "squirrel proof" nut dispensers which means that they have an unlimited supply of nuts - and still they haven't worked out that they no longer need to bury them.

In truth, we are all in some way the recipients of the kind of programming that perpetuates behaviours that no longer serve us. Some of it is handed down from one generation to another (telling your children not to put coats on the bed long after the era has gone when other people's coats might mean head lice and other unwelcome creatures). Some of it may well be as ancient as the squirrels' (is it possible that our propensity to obesity in the modern era reflects the same survival instinct in an era of abundance?).

A good way of checking in with ourselves is to ask, simply, "do I know why I am doing this?" If the answer is no, we have the opportunity to change our actions. If the answer is "no, and still I feel compelled to do this" the path to change may require intervention at deeper levels - in our beliefs, for example, or even in our sense of who we are.

It's easy to beat ourselves up for doing things we don't understand and still, it's natural. The bigger mistake is to imagine that all our actions are totally rational. One reason not to deny this aspect of our humanity is that it takes up time and energy to perpetuate this belief in the face of over-whelming evidence to the contrary. Another reason is that the unintended consequences of this form of denial are many and not very pleasant or life-serving.

I wonder, what are the behaviours that you find hard to change, even though they seem to be serving no purpose?

When you're looking for new ways of thinking

2011-05-13T06:36:00.018+01:00

Sometimes, testimonials come totally unsolicited as a joyful surprise. This is one of them, from Rob Mesrie on Facebook BranchOut.

I confess I didn't know BranchOut existed. I do, though, know Rob. During our work together as volunteers for Ian McDermott at ITS' NLP and Coaching trainings, I came to hold Rob with high regard. I count him as a dear friend and join him as a member of the mutual admiration club.

This is what he wrote:

“Top rate coach. Never falters from creating a space that gives you access to a way of thinking you had never even considered.”