Feb
6

Personal Effectiveness – The View from Everest

 

There are many opinions on what it takes to be personally effective; a view from the top of the world offers another perspective!

How can this perspective be applied to your effectiveness at lower altitudes?

To find out how, read on….

At 8,848 metres, roughly the altitude at which planes fly, Everest is the highest mountain in the world. On 23rd May 2008, at 6.30am, I stood on its summit!

 

 

The climbing of Everest is a good test of personal effectiveness because it is such a challenge to climb. It was first climbed in the year that Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, 1953, by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing.

Since then, fewer than 3,000 people have ever been to the summit. There's a reason for this  – it’s hard work and, potentially, dangerous! For every 10 people that have summited Everest, one person has died. Above 8,000m is referred to as the death zone because you can’t survive for more than a few hours, due to the extreme cold and lack of oxygen in the atmosphere.

You have to be effective to get to the top.

You’ll know that many authors have defined Effectiveness as "Doing the right things" (and Efficiency as" Doing things right"), so my blog is about doing the right things.

I want to use my experiences, during this expedition to Everest, to illustrate The 3 Ps of Effectiveness:

1. Purpose

2. Perseverance

3. People

 

1. Purpose

So what are the right things around Purpose?

Everyone needs a sense of purpose – the reason for doing something (that answers the ‘why’ question). It’s that sense of purpose that gets you going in the first place. Goethe said “What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” The boldness to begin comes from a sense of purpose and you have to be bold to climb Everest.

So, why did I climb Everest? What was the purpose?

Well, for me, I had a dream from an early age of climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents (The Seven Summits) and Everest just happens to be one of them (highest in Asia). I also read many books on the early attempts on Everest that had inspired me. I'd spent many years imagining what it would be like to climb Everest and on building a personal commitment to it. Attempting Everest was to be the culmination of many years' climbing mountains around the world.

The learning applicable to lower altitudes is that, if we are to be successful at a difficult and challenging undertaking, we need to have a Purpose to get started, to “feel the fear and do it anyway”. Entrepreneurs find that purpose when they first have an idea but where do the rest of us find that sense of purpose? It really is important to find purpose in our work if we are be fully engaged and therefore effective.

 

 

2. Perseverance

To be successful, people need to persevere; success doesn’t always happen instantly or without effort!

On summit night, there's every reason to turn back: it’s very cold, tiring and dangerous. Of the eight people in our team, five turned back! What gave some the Perseverance to push through the pain and others not? The Purpose has to be big enough to find the strength to Persevere but I also enjoy climbing at altitude because it energises me. This may appear surprising and is more mental than physical – it’s mentally uplifting.

Strengths are well documented in the world of positive psychology. The definition of a 'Strength' is something that you are good at  which energises you. This is important when it comes to the second P. The energy to persevere has to come from somewhere. There is a line in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ that I love “So where does the strength come from to see the race to it’s end, it comes from within and when I run I feel God’s pleasure.” Now, I’m not religious but I can still relate to this. I feel pleasure from pushing myself at altitude with the beauty of the mountains around me. Perseverance also comes from experience. It is easier to Persevere when you are less out of your comfort zone – you have the confidence that everything will be alright. This comes from similar experiences on other mountains.

The learning applicable to lower altitudes is that we should seek out tasks that play to our Strengths; tasks that energise us as that will help us to persevere through challenging times. It also helps to have experience so that the stretch isn’t quite so great.

 

 

3. People

People are the third key to effectiveness. We can only achieve so much on our own.

Massive credit should be given to the Sherpas; the local guides and porters who carry equipment up the mountain to the high camps and who are close by on summit day. Even more important is the relationship of trust you develop with your climbing partner. For me, this was Pete with whom I tent shared throughout the expedition. We were both as committed to summiting as each other, were of a similar pace and on summit night kept each other going alternately when the other tired. It was this teamwork which helped us both to Persevere and made the whole experience more enjoyable. It is so hard to reach the summit that you have to overcome your own mind and body to make it and it’s much easier when you share the experience with a like minded team member.

The parallel in business is that you need the right people in your support team and the right partners, coaches or mentors to be effective.


Edmund Hillary, who was the first to summit Mount Everest in 1953, said “In conquering the mountain we conquer ourselves”.

I really believe this to be the case and it’s the same in business. You could say “in conquering the challenging objective we must conquer ourselves”. We must connect to the purpose of what we are doing, we must persevere by aligning ourselves with our strengths and experience. Finally, we must gather the right people in the support team around us and partner with, or receive coaching from, someone we trust.

Do you have a clear Purpose? Are you sufficiently aligned with your strengths and experience to Persevere? Do you have the right People around you?

How does the view from Everest translate into your work? We'd love to hear your thoughts so please let us know by adding your comments below.

 

Look out for next month's blog on "Your Role as a Business Partner".

 

Posted by Mark Procter

Posted in Personal Effectiveness | 1 Comment
Jan
6

How to be a Mentor – 7 Tips

 
You’ve been asked to be a mentor. You’re delighted, but have no idea what’s involved!
What does a mentor do? What will the mentee expect? How much time will it involve? What do you need to do to get started? What can you expect from the mentee?
 
And finally . . . . what’s in it for you?
 
These are all common questions that people ask when they first step into the role of a mentor.
 
If you want to know how to get it right first time, read on . . . . .
 
7 Tips for Establishing an Effective Mentoring Relationship
1. Get to know each other first
 
Before you embark on the mentoring relationship, take time to get to know each other personally. This doesn’t mean you have to share your darkest, deepest, secrets! Spend time finding out about each other’s careers, interests, experiences and motivators. You may also wish to share a little about your personal life, although this certainly isn’t a requirement of the role!
 
Knowing each other on a personal, as well as professional basis will really help both people feel comfortable in the relationship.
 
2. Clarify the purpose of the mentoring relationship
 
Mentoring relationships are usually, but not exclusively, set up by the organisation to support people to develop and enhance their career potential.
 
Whilst a great idea, often the reason why mentoring has been chosen and the purpose of the relationship are not explained.
 
Spending time talking about and agreeing the purpose of the relationship and what you hope to achieve from it will help you keep on track. Remember too that there should be something in it for the mentor as well, not just the mentee!!
 
 
3. Agree the groundrules for the relationship at the outset
 
Agreeing the groundrules for how you will work together will ensure that both parties’ expectations are met.
 
Groundrules might include:

how often you will meet
how much time is feasible for the mentor to give to the mentee
the type of support the mentor is able and willing to provide and the type of support the mentee anticipates they may
need (see tip 5 below)
what you’re both happy to talk about and what would you prefer not to discuss
the expectations you have of each other about preparing for your meetings and keeping to agreed meeting times
the ‘rules’ about cancelling scheduled meetings
how you will handle urgent requests to talk from the mentee.
 
These are just a few examples of groundrules you could put in place; there may be other groundrules that you and your mentee wish to agree on.
 
4. Clearly define the responsibilities
 
The mentee often waits for the mentor to organise everything. This is prone to difficulties as the mentor is most often a senior member of management with calls on his/her time from everyone.
In my experience, the most effective mentoring relationships are ones where the mentee takes responsibility for driving the relationship. This includes:
 
setting up a suitable time and place to meet
putting together an agenda, if appropriate
being fully prepared before meeting with the mentor
giving feedback to the mentor on the usefulness of their sessions together
making realistic requests for additional support and time.
 
As the mentor, you have responsibility for turning up on time, giving the mentee your undivided attention and keeping your meeting commitments. If you frequently cancel meetings, you send the message that the mentee isn’t important to you.
 
5. Consider the possible contributions you can make as a mentor
 
It’s likely that you’ve been chosen to be a mentor because of your knowledge, experience and great people skills! Some of this will be of great value to the mentee; but which parts?
 
Typical, valuable, contributions from a mentor include:
organisational experience – providing help on ‘how to get things done around here’
knowledge of career options – helping the mentee to see all the possible options available to them
networking – sharing your experience of networking and helping the mentee to work out how they establish their own network
people skills – providing coaching on managing relationships at work
life experience – providing support on personal issues and work/non-work challenges
organisational sponsorship – promoting the mentee’s visibility within the organisation.
 
Don’t just assume that you know what they need – find out what they need right now and what will be most helpful. Remember, unwanted advice is often heard as criticism!!
 
6. Agree what you will do if the relationship isn’t working
 
Despite the best intentions of both the mentor and mentee, it’s still possible that the relationship won’t work for one or both of you. How will you handle this? Be proactive about this possibility right at the start and agree what you’ll do should this situation arise.
 
7. Help the mentee find other sources of support
 
Even if the mentoring relationship is a great success, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to help with every challenge the mentee faces. So who else can they count on for support? Helping the mentee to establish other relationships, both within the organisation and externally, will ensure that they have the appropriate support to meet their needs.
 
Encourage the mentee to become increasingly self sufficient, establishing a network of people that they can turn to for support and, in turn, support.
 
Finally, the mentoring relationship won’t last for ever. Many mentoring schemes have a defined lifespan – one year, 18 months, maybe two years. If this is the case, at the end of the scheme, make sure the mentee is ready to move on and can find others to support them if necessary. You may both decide that there is value in continuing the relationship beyond the formally defined period. In this instance, it’s worth revisiting the purpose and groundrules as you may need, and want, to make a shift in the way you work together.
 
For those of you that are about to embark on a new mentoring relationship or perhaps want to re-engerise an existing mentoring relationship, I hope these tips have been useful and help you both to have a fruitful relationship.
 
We’d love to hear your experiences of being a mentor, or a mentee, as well as tips that you’d like to share. Please do add your comments below.
 
Look out for next month's blog on "Everest and Effectiveness".
 
Posted by Julie Turner
 
 
Posted in Coaching, People Management | Leave a comment
Dec
5

Handling Presentation Horrors

 
You’ve prepared your presentation, you know your subject, you’ve even rehearsed in front of the dog (but he wasn’t interested). So, why are you still having nightmares about what could go wrong?
 
When I work with groups to develop their Presentation Skills, I always ask them about their worst fears so that we can tackle them head on and work out ways to: (a) limit the chances of their worst fears coming true and (b) have a plan up their sleeve to cope with the situation if it does happen.
 
The most common presentation horrors are detailed here, along with some ideas to help you minimise or negate the impact they have on delivering a fluid and effective presentation.
 
So typically, what are the top 5 presentation horrors and how can you handle them if they happen to you?
 
 
1. Your mind goes blank
 
Most of us have experienced this phenomenon – you are mid flow and then, suddenly, your mind goes blank. Being thoroughly prepared and rehearsing your presentation is likely to reduce the chances of this happening but what if it happens anyway? Calmly taking a sip of water might bring your thoughts back but if not, in my experience, the best approach is to be honest and move on. Rather than staring intently at your notes (which now look like they’ve been written in Double Dutch) or blinking at your audience like a rabbit caught in headlights, be honest – calmly say something like:
 
“I wanted to make a specific point about this but it seems my mind’s gone blank – I’ll move on for now and come back to it, when it comes back to me!”
 
Chances are, as soon as you move on, the point you wanted to make will find its way back to the front of your brain.  You will be forgiven for this if you handle it well.
 
 
 
 
2. Your audience don’t seem interested
 
To limit the chances of this happening, find out as much as you can about your audience beforehand and include facts, examples and anecdotes that relate to them and their situation. Involve them by asking rhetorical questions to keep them engaged. Use humour where you can – even serious subjects have opportunities for a light touch. If you’ve done all this and they still seem uninterested, be brave and say what you see:
 
 
“So, it looks like there’s a lack of enthusiasm in the room – if this isn’t hitting the mark it would be good to know what you need from me to put this right…or perhaps there’s some other context that I’m unaware of?”
 
This type of statement demonstrates that you want to do a good job and will have the effect of either re-energising your audience or opening up a discussion about what’s going on for them.
 
 
3. You don’t know the answer to a question
 
As long as you’re thoroughly prepared, it’s unlikely that you’ll be asked a question that you don’t know the answer to. If there’s any area of your presentation you don’t feel comfortable with, think about questions you could be asked and find out the answers in advance. You could also talk it through with a colleague.
 
What if you are asked a question which gets into more detail than you’d anticipated or covers an angle that you haven’t explored? Worst policy – wriggle your way out of it by making stuff up (this is NOT a good idea!). Best policy – be honest – say you don’t know or that you’d like to look into the answer in more detail before responding and make sure you get back to them. Don’t over apologise and lose credibility. Keep it brief and move on so that you don’t draw more attention to the fact that you can’t answer the question. You also have the option of using your audience as a resource – ask them what views or experience they have on the matter – if you’re lucky, one of them might just end up answering the question for you!
 
 
4. You have a technical hitch
 
First, as a preventative measure, make sure you know how the equipment works – I always arrive early and test it out. However, if it goes wrong anyway, DON’T PANIC!  I’ve seen people frantically pulling at leads, pushing buttons or simply staring in disbelief at the offending article. This isn’t a pretty sight. Instead, suggest a 5 minute breather and assertively ask for help.
 
This approach takes the attention (and pressure) off YOU and invariably leads to someone coming to your aid because they think they know how to resolve it (or they know someone who can). If the problem can’t be fixed quickly, resort to an alternative solution – see what other equipment you could use in the moment to help you convey your message (a flipchart or whiteboard, perhaps).  If your laptop dies and you are reliant on your slides to continue, make sure you’ve printed them off in advance and have a soft copy on a memory stick too.
 
 
5. Your audience aren’t “behaving” themselves
 
Ever experienced this… someone talking or whispering while you’re presenting; someone who makes comments that indicate a personal agenda that’s very different to yours; someone who is continuously tapping on their laptop or smart phone as you present? All of these are annoying and distracting – not just for you, but for the rest of the audience. If someone’s behaviour is annoying you, chances are its annoying and distracting for others too!
 
The best advice I can give is to: assertively NIP IT IN THE BUD. I learnt this lesson the hard way very early in my career. I let a situation snowball because I didn’t know how to tackle it.  Don’t let that happen to you.   Use a “light touch” to avoid your feedback coming across as confrontational, but DO be assertive. Highlight that the activity is distracting and ask the person if they need to take 5 minutes away from the presentation to get something done.  The distracting behaviour is more likely to stop once they know it’s been recognised.
 
********
 
These are just some of the horrors that can happen, despite the fact that you plan, prepare and rehearse your presentations in advance. I hope I’ve given you some ideas about how you might cope with them to ensure you continue to deliver effective and engaging presentations.
 
We’d love to hear about your Presentation Horrors and how you’ve handled them, so that we can share ideas. Please add your comments, "horrors" or tips in the box below.
 
Look out for next month’s blog on how to be an effective mentor.
 
Posted by Gill Bonello
Gill
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments
Nov
7

Maximising the potential of your Coaching Conversations

 
It’s well known that Coaching is one of the essential tools in a leader’s toolkit. So, do you have it readily accessible in your toolkit or is it buried so deep that it rarely sees the light of day?
 
 
 
How do you ensure that Coaching is a readily accessible tool that helps you to grow and develop your people?
 
And how do you ensure you get the best results from your coaching activity?
 
The well known GROW model is a great structure for managing coaching conversations but, to really maximise your effectiveness as a coach, skilful use of a number of fundamental communication tools is required. (Click here for more detail about the GROW model for coaching.)
 
In this blog, I share my thoughts on how to use these skills so you can ensure Coaching is part of your leadership toolkit!
 
When working with coaching groups, I always start by asking what are the key skills and attributes of a coach. Of course, the list varies, depending on the group, but there are two skills that appear at the top of the list every single time:
 
Listening & Questioning
 
We all know how to listen and ask questions, but how do we best utilise these skills in coaching situations? If you can hone your questioning and listening skills, you'll be well on the way to conducting effective coaching conversations.
 
 
Listening
 
Listening is key in order to demonstrate that you value and respect the person you’re coaching. If you don’t listen, how can you ask the ‘right’ questions? But how do you actually listen and give your full attention to what the person is saying? So often, there is other ‘noise’ going on, either internally or externally, which stops us from truly listening.
 
Someone once said to me  "are you really listening or are you just waiting to speak?" . For me, this is a brilliant question in its own right. I’m sure you can think of many situations where you were doing exactly that…. waiting to speak! If there is something, front of brain, that you want to share with your coachee, it will stop you from listening as your brain will focus on what you want to say next. Whilst your coachee is talking, explaining their  situation, it's tempting to start thinking of ways to solve their problem – but, as a coach, this is NOT YOUR job! Doing this will stop you from listening and may even mean that you miss some vital information that would help you get a full and accurate picture of the situation.
 
So, if you find yourself thinking about solutions at this early stage, jot them down as they come to you (but don't share them yet – save them until later when you have a complete and accurate picture of the situation) and then get back to listening. A great test to check if you're really listening is to see if you can accurately summarise what you've just heard!
 
 
Questioning
 
The GROW model provides you with a framework for asking questions in a structured way and you may have already developed your own repertoire of questions for each of the four stages.
 
Over the years I have developed my own bank of questions which I have 'at my fingertips' and can readily access at the appropriate time. For each stage of GROW, I'd like to share one or two key questions that may help you too.
 
 
GOAL – The Steven Covey principle of Begin with the End in Mind is a useful starting point for any coaching conversation so the question:
 
“What do you want to achieve?”
 
be it in this coaching session, short, long, or medium term, is a good place to start and I would follow it up with a subsequent question that asks:
 
“How will you know that you’ve achieved this/been successful?”
 
as this will help the coachee to visualise success so they are clearer about what they do and don’t want.
 
 
REALITY – This is about getting the coachee to articulate the current situation and, sometimes, it’s important here to grow the sense of problem and need so that the person creates their own motivation to act!
 
The questions:
 
“In what way does it IMPACT you, when ……?”
 
and
 
“How would it help if you were to resolve the situation?”
 
will help to develop a sense of dissatisfaction with the current situation and create a sense of need to do something about it.
 
 
OPTIONS - This is where possible solutions are discussed. It's useful here to help the individual really think through all the possibilities for themselves. Sometimes, you may have additional ideas that have not emerged from the options' generation discussion. You could, of course, just tell them your suggestion but that goes against the spirit of true coaching where your job is to help people realise their own potential in order to maximise their performance!
 
 
In these circumstances, I would pose the hypothetical question:
 
"What would happen if you put "x" in place?"


as this helps the coachee to consider other options. This question is more helpful than asking:

"Why don't you just do "x"?

as this is more leading and may not encourage the coachee to think the idea through.Of course, even if they do think it through, they may not act on it but at least they will have thought about another perspective!
 

WILL – Here, we're working to identify and clarify what they will actually do. This is one of my most used questions and gives me a real sense of how committed the coachee is to undertaking the work required.
Once the action and plan has been developed, you can ask:
 
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to seeing this through?"
 
And, if their response is low, you can then ask:
 
"What needs to happen for it to be a 9 or 10?"
 
so you can then help them to think through what else needs to happen to increase their chances of success.
 
Really listening to what your coachee is telling you and subsequently asking good, open, questions will help you to really understand the context in which they are operating. Listening and then formulating the 'right' questions will ensure you help the coachee to generate their own solutions to which they are committed to achieve.
 
So, to what extent do you Listen and Question effectively in coaching conversations? Is coaching readily accessible in your leadership tool box?
 
What tried and tested questions do you use that you'd like to share with others? We'd really love to hear from you so please add your thoughts in the comments box below.
 
Look out for December's blog which is about How to Handle Presentation Horrors.
 
 
Posted by Caroline Lewis
ghgghf
Posted in Coaching, People Management | 1 Comment
Oct
3

Business Partnering – How to Develop your Credibility

   
Does your role involve you helping senior managers make effective business decisions?
 
   …Have you moved from being a specialist 'expert' to working alongside managers in a more
                               consultative way?
 
                             …Is there an expectation that you need to be operating as a business partner with your
                                   internal or external clients?
 
All of these scenarios require you to rely on skills which are in addition to your specific area of expertise but still require you to demonstrate credibility and gain trust.
 
So how can you develop your credibility? In this blog we offer three simple techniques that will develop and enhance your business partnering skills.
 
 
Your credibility will be built up over time and will depend on your ability to help clients get better results through analysis of needs and development of appropriate solutions. If you win their trust from the start, it will make your partnering job all the easier. There are three simple things you can do  at the outset of a new project or business relationship to demonstrate your credibility…………….. 
 
 
1. Demonstrate your understanding
 
So often we nod and say we understand, but what is really impressive is if we are able to demonstrate our understanding by encapsulating, or summarising, the situation as we hear it.
 
This will give you a head start on getting to grips with what may be a complex scenario and, by demonstrating your ability to interpret and understand the complexity of the situation, your client will think you have a good head on your shoulders!
 
Achieve this by asking open questions, paraphrasing as you progress through the conversation and summarising at the end.
 
 
2. Control the process 
 
 
Controlling the process is all about  managing the conversation effectively. Sounds simple but how often do we fall into the trap of jumping from topic to topic because it is not clear where we were meant to be heading in the first place?
 
By controlling the process of the conversation, you are taking an early opportunity to demonstrate you’re a safe pair of hands. If you can elegantly organise the conversation to ensure it is effective, then your client gets a preview of what you could provide as an on-going partner and will be impressed and reassured! Don’t assume that your client will have an organised agenda or has thought about how to structure the conversation and don’t let yourself be intimidated into deference by the person’s seniority! 8 times out of 10, they won’t have had time to think about this and you get an 'easy win' in terms of your credibility.
 
 
One of the things I always do when I first sit down with clients is use a simple PEA introduction to set the overall purpose of the conversation, the endpoint that each of us wants, and the agenda we’ll need to cover to achieve that. (Take a look at our Meetings Blog for more info on using PEA.)
 
Additional elegance comes in your ability to signpost your way through the meeting. At each stage, neatly summarise where you’ve been and point the way to the next part of the agenda. This will enable both of you to stay on track and ensure you don’t walk away with only half the information you need.
 
 
3. Challenge the Client’s Perception
 
 
 An early chance to demonstrate that you can be a 'critical friend' will demonstrate good value. The trick here is to 'be curious' rather than ‘challenging’ and use a light touch.

 
“I notice that you want to implement the new process in the next month and you have also talked about anticipating some teething troubles. I have a few questions about your timescale; perhaps we can come back to this later?” 
 
By tactfully picking up on ambiguities, discrepancies, assumptions and limited perspectives, you signal to the client that your contribution will be substantive and your focus will be broad and strategic.
 
So how do you spot these? Look out for changes in body language that could indicate uncertainty or avoidance and listen out for aspects that are glossed over. Often, a question to check whether you have correctly understood will be enough to challenge their perception.
 
So, what are your tips for developing credibility? What are your experiences of becoming a business partner? If you’ve got any additional tips that you'd like to share, we'd love to hear from you - just add them into the comments box below. Also, if you try any of the tips above, let us know how you get on.
 
Look out for next month’s blog on Coaching Skills.
 
 Posted by Shona Ward 
 khl
Posted in Business Partnering | 5 Comments
Sep
6

Two Fundamental Truths about Leadership

 
With so many differing views on leadership, how are you supposed to make sense of what you should be doing as a Leader?
 
What do you need to do to get it right?
 
If you want to know how to get it right, read on…….
 
To start with, it’s worth going back to the fundamentals.
 
When running my leadership programmes I often ask participants to name the Axioms (self evident truths) of Leadership.
 
How would you answer that question?
 
I often get lists of traits such as trust, integrity, communication, etc. Of course, all these are valid as they are about how you lead but they don’t define the truth about leadership.
 
For me, the Two  most fundamental  Axioms of Leadership  are: 
 
1.      To be a leader you have to be going somewhere
 
2.      To be a leader you must have followers.
 
Let’s examine what I mean by each of these:
                                                                                                           
 
1. To be a leader you have to be going somewhere
 
Leadership is about going somewhere, preferably to a better place! Leadership guru Warren Bennis rightly observes – “Too many bosses are driven and driving but going nowhere”.
 
At every level of an organisation, managers should be going somewhere as well as managing the status quo. You don’t even have to be a people manager to be a leader. You just have to have an idea to improve how things are done – to work ‘on the business’ as well as ‘in the business’. Your idea may be a process improvement, an improvement to customer service or a new product or service offering.
 
In other words, I’m talking about having a Vision.
 
I am reluctant to use the word Vision as it is so over used in leadership development but what I mean is an Aim. Steven Covey says “Begin with the end in mind”. So make sure you have a clear idea of where you are going and communicate this to others.      
 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

   So, where are you going?

   And, do your followers know?
 
 
2. To be a leader you must have followers
 
It’s possible to talk about self leadership but leadership is really about bringing people with you. To be a leader you must have followers. But why should anyone follow you?
 
This question was addressed by Goffee and Jones in the book “Why should anyone follow you?” 
 
This question prompts self reflection:
       
        What are your strengths as a leader?  
 
       What is it about you and the way you lead that would cause others to want   to follow  you? 
  
The emphasis on     the word want is deliberate: a leader may be able to get compliance, where others have to follow, but commitment, where people want to follow, is much more likely to get the best out of them – harnessing their energy, creativity and perseverance.
 
Goffee and Jones advocate more than authenticity – that you should “be yourself – more, with skill”. In other words, be self aware or aware of your natural strengths and weaknesses and then selectively reveal yourself using your acquired skill.
 
To summarise, there are two very important questions that you should ask yourself regularly:
 
1.      Where am I going?
 
2.      Why should anyone follow me?
 
So, do you know where you’re going and why anyone should follow you?
 
What are your Fundamental Truths (axioms) of Leadership?  "To be a leader…….."  Fill in the blank in the comments box below and if you want to share more, tell us how these truths impact on the way you lead?
 
We’d love to hear your thoughts so we can compile an exhaustive list to share with other leaders. We look forward to hearing from you.
 
Next month, look out for our Blog on Business Partnering.
 
Posted by Mark Procter      
 
Posted in Leadership | 1 Comment
Aug
1

Difficult Conversations and How to Handle Them

 

Do you ever PUT OFF having those ‘DIFFICULT’ conversations?

 
Is it because you:
… don’t want to upset people
… find it hard to use the right words
… wonder how they will react and if you’ll cope?
 
Do you want a straightforward, memorable, tool to help you prepare for and handle these difficult conversations?
 
If so, then read on. Handling difficult conversations is one of the most challenging things you’ll have to do as a manager or leader. It requires thought, preparation and skill to get it right.
 
So, whether you’re about to hold your first difficult conversation or if you’ve held many before and want to improve your technique, meet …………..…..
 
 
 
DEBRA
 
5 easy steps to follow from the start of the conversation through to the end.
 
Describe the issue and the impact of the issue: Explain that this conversation is an opportunity for each of you to have your say; it’s a discussion. Remember, you may find out something you don’t know! Explain the impact that their actions are having on the work / team.
 
 
Establish the reasons and get agreement that this is an issue: This is a real chance to let your team member talk! Use appropriate, open questions and listen to their responses. Through skilful use of open questions, try to get agreement that this is a problem. If you're able to do this, it's easier to work together to generate solutions.
 
Behaviour required:  Remind your team member what’s expected of them and what constitutes ‘acceptable’ behaviour. When someone has 'broken the rules', you should state the behaviour / standards required and ensure they understand what’s expected.
 
Resolve the issue: If a problem exists, you need to discuss and agree an improvement plan. The best way to do this is to encourage them to suggest solutions to increase commitment, buy-in and motivation.  

 

 

 
 
Actions to be agreed: Ask the individual specifically what they’ll do differently and how they’re going to meet the target agreed. A great question to ask here is: “How will we know?” so that measurable targets can be agreed. It’s a good idea to let them know how you’re going to support them with their action plan. Finally, set a date to review progress and make sure you do actually follow up!
 
So in 5, easy to remember, steps you’ll be well placed to handle those difficult conversations with confidence, knowing that you’ve got a structure to guide you through.
 
So when are you likely to need DEBRA by your side? How will she help you through this process?
 
You’ve read this far, so make it worth your while – take some action! Let us know how you get on and your thoughts on how DEBRA helped you.
 
If you’ve got any additional techniques that you’d like to share about handling these types of conversations, we’d love to hear from you – just add them into the comments box below. Look out for next month's blog on The Truths about Leadership.
 
Posted by Caroline Lewis

 

 

 
 
 
Posted in People Management | 3 Comments
Jun
23

How to Improve Meetings – 7 Tips

 

What a WASTE OF A DAY! Back to back meetings and most of them either a waste of time or totally disorganised!! Now I’ve got my day job to do! Does that sound familiar?

Do you get frustrated by poorly managed meetings?

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt – GREAT MEETINGS DON’T JUST HAPPEN!! The chair and everyone else at the meeting has to take responsibility for making sure it runs smoothly, efficiently and achieves its purpose. So, how do you do that? Of course what you will find in this blog is not rocket science; frankly it’s common sense but as we all know it’s not always common practice!! So, if you get frustrated by ineffective meetings, the 7 TIPS below will help you to review and improve the meetings you attend so that they get the job done without wasting time.

1.  Know your purpose – are you clear about why the meeting is taking place and what needs to be achieved? Is it to share information or make a decision? If you’re not clear, others might not be too. Ask the person who’s invited you to share the purpose of the meeting.

2.  Be clear on the output for each discussion topic – most agendas (that’s assuming of course there is one!) simply list topics for discussion. Agendas need to describe the output for each agenda item and the suggested time. For example, do you want to update each other, gather ideas, make a decision, and so on. If this isn’t clear either, find this out too.

3.  Do YOU need to be there – some people invite everyone they can think of to their meetings. Ask yourself why you are attending the meeting. What do you need to contribute? Do you need to attend the whole meeting or just one or two agenda items?

4.  Avoid AOB (any other business) – AOB can be a nightmare! I’ve seen meetings go on for another hour discussing ad hoc points raised by participants. Do you raise ad hoc items that are better discussed off line or in another meeting? If you’ve got something to add to the agenda, let the chairperson know in advance so that they can make a decision about where and when to talk about it.

5.  Kick off meetings with a PEA! – well managed meetings will provide you with the purpose of the meeting, the endpoint (where you want to get to) and a brief walk through the agenda and the outputs for each agenda item. Suggest using a PEA to kick off the meetings you attend.

6.  Make meeting notes work for everyone – I’ve been to lots of meetings where the actions that are emailed after the meeting bear no resemblance to what I remember being discussed! You can avoid this by using a white board or flipchart to note down agreed actions or any other notes you need. Everyone can see them as they are created and clarify them if necessary. Don’t leave the chair to do this – offer to do it yourself.

7.  Manage the time – as each agenda item is introduced, is it clear how much time is allocated to it? Knowing this will help the meeting to stay on track. If the chairperson isn’t actively managing the time, offer to take responsibility for this. If you need more time for an agenda item, agree it as a group and decide how you will manage the rest of the agenda as a result so that you still finish on time.

So when is your next meeting? What will you try out from these tips to improve the effectiveness of your meetings? You’ve read this far so make it worth your while – take some action. Then drop us a comment afterwards to tell us about the differences it made.

If you’ve got any additional tips that you’d like to share for making meetings more effective, we’d love to hear from you – just add them into the comments box below. Look out for next month’s blog on Handling Difficult Conversations.

Posted by Julie Turner

Posted in Meeting Tips | 3 Comments