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I came across this organisation chart recently. Rarely have I seen the functioning of business more clearly explained!
When those at the top look down they see only poo, and the further down the organisation they look, the more poo they see!
And when people at the bottom look up, all they see is arses!
Does that strike a chord? Next time you find yourself seeing poo, consider the view they have of you...
Maybe it's time to start thinking differently. Nobody sets out to do a crap job, so if we can create the right environment we'll soon start growing roses instead. Then the sky's the limit!
If you'd like to find out more about organisation and culture change, give me a call at the UK Leadership Academy.
Posted on 09 May 2012.
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Posted in category: Standard
At the weekend I had the pleasure of working with young people from a local school on their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition.
It was great to be outdoors in the Spring sunshine, and to enjoy a large slice of chocolate cake in the tea rooms at Avoncliffe on the Kennet-Avon Canal.
It's also great when you feel you've possibly made a difference to these young folks lives. The de-brief at the end is always an opportunity to facilitate accelerated learning of life skills, and I try to make the most of this.
One group of girls were within a whisker of failing, mainly due to poor attitude at camp, but they'd upped their game on the second day to scrape through.
There was one girl in particular who stood out as being a challenging individual, continually interrupting and arguing: "Yeah but..." We spent some time as a group exploring this behaviour, which she justified because she'd been brought up to always speak her mind and not to allow others to "walk all over her."
The real eye-opener came when we talked about people's varying perspectives and the possiibility of two different views both being right. Her problem was not so much because of expressing her opinion, it was more to do with showing disrespect for other's opinions by using the "but" word.
So her homework now is to come up with some strategies for expressing herself whilst showing empathy with others. If she can do this successfully, she will be a long way towards fulfilling her full amazing potential. We wish her well.
A question for you now: do you ever find yourself using the "but" word? Does this put you at odds with others and destroy your efforts at maintaining rapport? Just notice yourself doing it (in a non-judgmental way) and think of other more resourceful ways of disagreeing respectfully.
Created on 18 April 2012.
Last updated on 03 May 2012.
Wow!
When I first heard those words a couple of weeks ago, they stopped me dead in my tracks and made me really, really think.
This, surely, is the stuff of which major breakthroughs are made.
How often we all, as human beings, fail to really listen with all our senses, missing out on a rich seam of inquiry which could lead us to whole new ways of thinking, acting and being.
As leaders we can tap into this latent source of potential by tuning in to those important unsaid thoughts, words and messages, and bring them to the conscious awarenes of oursleves and our teams.
It can help us dig beneath that cordial veneer and root out the issues that are holding us back from achieving our full potential.
As coaches and leaders, let's not stifle potential by failing to speak the unspeakable truths we need to confront if we are to move forward - 'Confront the brutal facts', as Jim Collins says in Good to Great.
Will you make an Easter resolution to start acting promptly whenever you hear important things not being said?
We're certainly going to make it a part of our regular practice here at the UK Leadership Academy.
Posted on 05 April 2012.
Recently I blogged about the "Triangle of Disempowerment" - Perpetrator, Victim, Rescuer - and how we can break the cycle by avoiding the role of rescuer.
The other day, when I was coaching an executive, I realised it's not only rescuers who perpetuate disempowering behaviours: we can do just as much damage by giving sympathy.
This executive wanted to manage his anxiety about an upcoming 1-2-1 with his "unpleasant boss".
Now, as a coach I don't always go with what clients want, instead focussing on what they need. To me it was clear the anxiety came from his attitude towards his boss, so we needed to stop the harmful programmes he was running and replace them with something more empowering.
I gave him a whole range of options including: writing a list of all the things his boss is good at; making up stories around what makes his boss the way he is (How much pain is he in? What traumas did he suffer as a child? etc.); and imagining how someone else (Einstein, Ghandi, Micky Mouse) would handle his boss in a similar situation.
He clearly had a lot of attachment to believing his boss was "unpleasant." He may choose to hold on to it and continue as the victim. If he does, we'll have to do some digging around his need to continue playing out the old scenarios, and find some new perspectives to make him more resourceful.
It would have been all too easy to sympathise with him for having a nasty boss and work on reducing his anxiety. But that would just have been a sticking plaster and wouldn't have addressed his real problem.
Do you sometimes find yourself sympathising with people when what they really need (but may not want) to hear is: "Get a grip"?
At the UK Leadership Academy, we believe in helping people achieve thier full amazing potential. To do this they need to be challenged and stretched.
For their sake, don't sympathise!
Posted on 27 March 2012.
Last week I was lucky enough to meet some great students from Cleeve School near Cheltenham. I was there to tell them all about the amazing experience they'll be having when we all head off to Namibia in July.
Well, as you can see it's a stunning landscape. But there's a lot more to the desert experience than that...
As the song goes "...In the desert you can remember your name 'cause there ain't no-one for to give you no pain."
In other words, you get tiime to reflect. And that's a very rare commodity for young people in today's always-on society where they're used to watching the TV, texting, emailing, having several chat conversations on the go, and doing their homework all at the same time.
Inner peace is something they know nothing of, so when they hit the desert and are bereft of all their usual interrupting stimuli it will be an immensely powerful experience. A rare chance to get to know themselves in this modern, hurried world.
And the people of the desert are incredible teachers too. Their hardiness in one of the harshest environments on the planet is a lesson to us all. I met the Bedouin people when I visited the Moroccan Sahara a couple of years back, and a more hospitable race you could not wish to meet.
Would you benefit from taking some time out to get to know yourself?
You don't have to go to the desert - just walking in the English countryside gets us out of our usual environment and helps us to get new perspectives.
Try it. I'm certain you'll feel calmer, stronger and more productive. It's highly recommended!
Posted on 14 March 2012.
I had the immense privilege of meeting former broadcaster and mountaineer Mags MacKean at the Bristol Yes Group earlier this week.
It was great to hear her amazing story and learn some of the insights she gained along the way.
Mags certainly challenged some of my assumptions, which is always good! (Those of you who know me will know how I love to be challenged.)
One of my main take-aways was the concept of the triangle of disempowerment...
How often do we rush valiantly in to rescue someone in difficulty? It's our natural instinct to want to help, but are we actually helping them or just perpetuating the cycle?
To break the cycle we need to leave them to decide and take responsibility for their own actions. Then they have the choice of whether to continue as a victim, or change their response to create a new reality.
Hands up everyone who was bullied at school! Whenever I say that at a seminar nearly everyone puts their hand up - including many of the most successful people.
When I was bullied no-one rescued me, and it was miserable for a time. But then I started to stand up for myself. I became more resiliant, more confident, and my self-esteem increased no end. If some kind soul had 'rescued' me I'd never have learnt those essential skills I needed to survive and thrive.
Here at the UK Leadership Academy we believe in helping our clients to become stronger, fitter and more agile by giving them the chance to develop the skills they need to thrive at work, at home and at play.
Consider these action points:
Posted on 01 March 2012.
I had the privilege of attending Australian maesto Wilson Luna's Millionnaire Entrepreneurs Incubator Bootcamp at the weekend. What a mind-blowing experience!
You may know that I originally came from a marketing background and I'm a Chartered Marketer, but I felt like a mere beginner and will be making a lot of changes here at the UK Leadership Academy.
One of the key things we'll be focussing on in future, is being more effective at communicating the massive value we give our clients. For example, how many Leadership organisations put up half their fee as a results guarantee? We need to get the message out there more, and we will!
1. If you want to build your Leadership Team get in touch with us now to GET MASSIVE RESULTS - GUARANTEED!
2. If you want to find out how to grow your entrepreneurial business, and would appreciate the directness of a Grodon Ramsay, contact Classicus Events for more info about Wilson's programmes.
Both these actions will help you create massive value for your business!
Created on 30 January 2012.
Last updated on 30 March 2012.
Whoa, where did the last month go? (No, that's not the BIG QUESTION!)
Far from being a wind-down to Christmas, December went by in a blur of activity, and I was privileged to attend some great seminars and events as part of my constant quest for more and deeper knowledge.
There was some mind-blowing stuff - too much to detail all of it here. So just one highlight for you, and one which is especially appropriate now, as we look ahead at the year to come...
It was the excellent Prof. Peter Hawkins who posed the BIG QUESTION at an Association for Coaching seminar in glamorous Chepstow, on the subject of Leadership Team Coaching - particularly relevant to us at the UK Leadership Academy.
In the context of what's going on in the world, with depleted resources, financial chaos, and social and political upheaval, he suggests we need to look beyond our normal boundaries and ask ourselves, "What can we/I uniquely do, that the world of tomorrow needs?" Talk about a game-changer, it completely stopped me in my tracks!
I still haven't really answered it fully, but I sense that what I'm doing here at the UK Leadership Academy is important to helping leaders become more integrated human beings, able to make a fuller contribution to the world.
In fact, that relates well to one of my favourite leadership quotes from Warren Bennis: "There is no real difference between an effective leader and a fully integrated human being."
Happy New Year!
Posted on 03 January 2012.
People frequently talk about values as being important, but when it comes down to it, so often it's money that talks.
As American advertising legend Bill Bernbach once said, "A principle isn't a principle until it's cost you money."
So it was great to hear Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll talking about putting safety first. When she took on the job, one of her first acts was to shut down a platinum mine in South Africa for seven weeks due to it's poor safety record, costing the company many millions of pounds.
It would have been so easy to let it run and tinker about trying to make incremental improvements, but she wanted a radical change in the way the workers in the mine viewed their role in safety. It was a change in attitude she needed, not more systems and procedures.
So the mine was shut and football stadiums were hiered to accommodate the 50,000 workers and put them through a crash course in health and safety. And it stayed shut until the job was complete.
The message was clear: we do not compromise on safety for the sake of cold, hard cash.
One of our core values at the UK Leadership Academy is getting results for our clients. And we don't compromise.
We've been asked to pare down programmes to fit in with budgets, but we know they won't work so we walk away from the business. It has cost us money, but it's preserved our self-respect, dignity and sense of purpose.
Think about your values. What messages are you sending out about them?
Created on 21 November 2011.
Last updated on 23 November 2011.
It's a simple concept we're all familiar with: the power of reinforcement.
And yet, it's one we so often ignore in our working lives.
So it was great to hear Crossrail and CMI Chairman Terry Morgan talking about reinforcing values at an addess earlier this week. (Incidentally, he summarised leadership priorities as Vision, Values and Behaviours.)
His basic point was this: most organisations have a set of values, but how many actually live and breathe them? For most, it's just lip sevice.
I recently heard of one blue chip company's convention, where the directors were banging on about the importance of everyone being aligned to the organisation's values. The very next day they could not name a single value when asked. Sad, but oh so true.
Terry told of the importance of putting your money where your mouth is. He's put in bonus schemes where the payout is linked to individuals peer ranking on their behaviour against the company's values. The top 10% get their bonus doubled, the bottom 10% lose theirs. Harsh, but it sends out a message.
Compare that to most organisations where values are preached, but performance is rewarded regardless. The long-serving GE Chairman Jack Welch said one of the most difficult aspects of his job was getting rid of top performers whose behaviours were not consistent with the company values.
But if we're serious about building and maintaining a robust culture, do we have any other choice?
Posted on 10 November 2011.
Isn't it funny how some themes just keep on coming up?
Last week I heard Ken Hames deliver a fascinating and inspirational presentation, in which he talked about some of the passions that drove him to make the Beyond Boundaries TV series. It was simply amazing to see the incredible resourcefulness of young people with physical and mental disabilities as they overcame immense challenges.
After Ken's presentation I asked him, of all the leadership qualities, if he had to pick one as being the most important, what would it be? His answer was "The ability to listen."
Then, on Friday, I interviewed David Heath MP, Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, for the UK Leadership Academy's Leadership in Action series. During this fascinating interview I asked David the same question. "Listen first, then decide," was his succinct reply.
I've only been blogging a short while, but when I look back on my blogs to date, two of the six have been about listening.
And listening to other experts on leadership, the value of this skill is starting to become abundantly evident. If we don't listen effectively, we won't be able to get all the facts and gain a true understanding to make the best possible decisions.
If you'd like more on listening, check out my earlier blogs:
Endangered species: active listening skills
People Need a Good Listening To
And if you'd like a good listening to, give us a call and we'll see what we can do.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Posted on 01 November 2011.
At the UK Leadership Academy we're great believers in putting our hearts into what we do.
So I'd like to send out a big thank you to the lovely Dr Joanna Martin, my public speaking mentor, for uncovering a piece of research proving beyond question that passion pays.
A group of 1500 college leavers were asked to choose between (A) following a career they believed would give them a good financial return and enable them to live the life of their dreams; or else (B) forgetting about the money and just doing what they believed in. Over 80% (1255 people) chose the practical route, with a mere 245 choosing to follow their passions.
20 years later, 101 of the 1500 had become millionaires.
Now, this is the startling bit: only one of them came from the 1255, the remaining 100 came from the passionate 245. That's an astounding 40.8% success rate against a meagre 0.08% for the practical group.
Those who pursued their passion were over 500 times more likely to become millionaires!
And we see this all the time with businesses too: those driven by a passion for worthwhile purpose consistently out perform numbers-driven organisations.
If you're enthusiastic, evangelical even, about what you do, you will enthuse those around you - staff, customers, suppliers etc. - to help you in your mission. Enthusiastic people give a great customer experience; and satisfied enthusiastic customers lead to more repeat business and more recommendations and referrals. Compounded over time, this produces truly stellar results.
What is the purpose of your business, and how effectively are you harnessing the passion needed to make it a reality?
Let me know, I always love to hear your stories.
Posted on 07 October 2011.
Chances are you need one!
Yesterday I called to speak to a potential client at a nearby District Council, and asked the person who took the call to put me through.
She answered the phone and was caught up in a fit of the giggles. How wonderful! Councils can be such stuffy places, and here was someone clearly having a good time and enjoying their work.
You know, it's so easy for us to get caught up in our day to day tasks and lose touch with the fun side of what we do. And it's not good for us to take life and work too seriously.
According to gelotological studies (gelotology: the study of the physiological and psychological effects of laughter) laughing is highly beneficial, reducing stress, releasing endorphins, improving digestion and lung function. Sounds good to me.
In my experience, a happy workforce is a productive workforce. Making sure we all take time to have a little fun goes a long way to boosting morale and, with it, performance.
So let's think seriously about laughing our way to success!
Created on 21 September 2011.
Last updated on 23 September 2011.
Do you listen to your people? Do you give them an adequate opportunity to communicate?
Innergy have just run a poll to find out what are the key factors in employee engagement, and way out in front (with 39%) was just that: having a platform to communicate.
I'm certain this highlights something I've been aware of for a very long time - especially with larger organisations: just how frustrated people feel about not having an adequate voice. I know from experience there are so often people crying out to give their ideas and views on how the business is being managed.
That's one of the things that is really important to us at The UK Leadership Academy: harnessing the collective power, experience and wisdom of teams to create a culture of high performance.
So what sort of things can you do to enable your people to give feedback, good or bad? In fact, it's all good - there is a rich seam of lode waiting for you if you can successfully address the 'bad' stuff and turn it to your advantage.
I was with a prospective client yesterday and, besides the usual suggestions scheme (which is working well for them) they also have a 'rumour board' where their staff can express any concerns. What a great idea.
If you'd like to take a look at the full survey results, pop over to the Innergy Business Forum.
Oh yes, another great finding from a UKLA perspective was that Values were the second most important consideration. This is something we bang on about all the time - it's what binds teams together. But I'm not going to get sucked into a rant about that, you'll be pleased to hear!
Created on 16 September 2011.
When I'm not doing my stuff for the UK Leadership Academy, I often help out on Duke Edinburgh's Award expeditions.
On one recent expedition, I took a rare back-seat and watched as another leader gave the initial briefing, and was quite shocked by the scene that played out before my eyes.
Now, these are not your average disenfranchised inner city kids. No, they were some of the very brightest students from a top London public school, they were the cream of the crop.
And yet, their listening skills were, quite frankly, appalling. They were sitting around in groups, and when asked to turn to face the instructor, merely twisted their heads in his direction, more intent on what their friends were up to. (The bunch to the right is a different group, I had to protect the identity of the culprits as their dads are all rich and powerful!)
A while back I read an inspiring story in Malcolm Gladwell's excellent Outliers, The Story of Success. It tells of a school in the Bronx - Lou Gehrig High School - that was turned round by their KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Academy. In maths, 84% of their students are at or above their age grade, compared to 16% for the South Bronx as a whole. Pretty impressive.
You're probably thinking, "Yes, but they only pick the best." Understandable, but wrong: entry to the programme is by lottery.
And at the core of their programme is active listening, where they have developed what they call the SSLANT model:
Think: when you're listening, are you always truly engaged? Try the SSLANT model for yourself, I'm certain you'll get so much more out of every conversation.
Created on 08 September 2011.
Four of the leader team on Samgyal
I'm just back from Ladakh in northern India where the UK Leadership Academy has been running a leadership development programme for the British Schools Exploring Society's Himalaya 2011 expedition.
What an experience!
Thirteen Trainee Leaders, forty-three Young Explorers plus a leader team of fourteen, split between two valleys high up in the mountains four days trek from the nearest civilisation. It was quite an undertaking.
In such a rarified atmosphere (quite literally) learning is accelerated as people become more open and the intensity of events creates more opportunity. When forty people are stuck together for three weeks they need to learn strategies to get along and get things done effectively despite any personal differences.
The TLs had the chance to step up and take responsibility, supported by myself and Steve Garrett in the other valley. They learnt a variety of teamwork and leadership concepts and models which they were then able to put to the test in real situations. They also developed their personal skills and were able to pass these on to the YEs through a guided mentoring programme.
It was a real privilege to see the young people develop and grow. We had some amazing breakthroughs and came away feeling we had made a significant positive difference to a number of lives.
Thank you to BSES from the UK Leadership Academy for giving us this opportunity.
Created on 26 August 2011.
I had a call from one of the UK Leadership Academy's clients in the third sector, about a tricky little problem she had to manage...
...she had a colleague she liked, but who wasn't pulling her weight.
There had recently been a lot of organisational change, destabilising the team and impacting badly on morale.
She really wanted a period of stability - the last thing she wanted was another upheaval. She was worried that cutting her colleague loose would lead to further angst and uncertainty, and undermine her attempts at restoring morale, which so far appeared to be working.
...it became clear that other team members knew the issues, and were well able to take up the slack while this colleague was on sick leave. Other issues had come up while she was away which raised serious questions around governance in her department.
...give the team a break, get her off the bus and don't replace her. Reach a fair compromise agreement, save her salary and empower the team to take on her responsibilities, giving them some extra reward and recognition in return.
No-one likes a free-loader - especially when it's their boss.
Leaving her in place would have wrecked morale and sapped everyone's energy. Now they can get on with their jobs free of the politics and bitching that was starting to gnaw at them.
...if they're the wrong people. Get them off the team and let everyone else perform to their highest standards!
It sounds harsh, but it's always best all round.
Created on 18 July 2011.
Last updated on 06 September 2011.
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