Positive Politics
Many people including me have spent an entire lifetime fundamentally unable to understand how politics works. Yet nobody disputes the fact that we have to have politics like food, water and air.
There was a discussion on Radio Five Live this week about the extraordinary Formula One racing season that recently culminated with Jenson Button becoming World Champion. Scandal followed scandal all year long apparently and just when it seemed there couldn’t be anything to top the last scandal, there was.
“Was politics good for the sport?” asked one commentator. Overwhelmingly “Yes” was the answer because the ensuing media scrum raised the profile of Formula One racing tenfold agreed the pundits.
So maybe it is the same in business? But I still can’t see how someone can say one thing with absolute conviction one day, only to say the opposite with equal conviction some time later.
Perhaps it’s just time and circumstance at work, and they change everything.Labels: whether politics is good for business
Promises, promises
Trust is an absolutely crucial ingredient when a business wants to develop and sustain competitive advantage.
Talking and listening are the important skills here because the directors have to be able to talk about, and listen to, anything that could conceivably have an impact on the organisation.
There are things that individual and collective members of a Board will always talk about, probably to excess, and these are often ‘business as usual’ issues.
There are things that the Board will occasionally talk about such as, depending on the nature of the business, contemporary marketing strategies.
And there are things the Board will never talk about, if it can possibly be avoided. This third category is invariably to do with jugular people issues, often specifically to do with members of the Board themselves.
The real deal here is down to people doing what they say they will do. And if they can’t do that, then they need to talk about it.
It’s that simple.Labels: doing what you say you will do
Danger signs
When any member of your senior team is effectively ring fencing their area of responsibility so that no one else really knows what is going on, that is a weakness.
I took a call from MD Emily a couple of weeks ago. She told me about her long standing finance manager John. “He is good at his job,” she said, “but now the company is growing so quickly I want him to get an assistant so that he can leave the ‘grunt work’ behind and concentrate more on strategy.”
“So what’s the problem?” I asked. “Well,” she said, “at his last appraisal he told me that he enjoyed the basics, reconciling the sales and purchase ledger, handling cash and so on. He doesn’t want an assistant yet he complains about all the work he has to take home each week.”
“So why don’t you appoint someone over John, someone that can take you forward more effectively?” “Oh, John would have to leave,” she replied. “So what? “ I said.
The fact is that there are some jugular areas of the business that require genuine openness and transparency between the top team members. You may be too close to your own business to recognise the symptoms, but when someone’s personal agenda overrides the needs of the business, there will be trouble down the line.
Sort it now.Labels: Dealing with difficult people issues now
First position
No matter how hard we try we can often only see our business and ourselves from first position. It takes usually someone else to make a point or two that can help us on our journey.
I’ve been writing blogs now for some three years and people often comment in one way or another. This week one female reader wrote:
“You write well and I always enjoyed reading your mailings. What has stood out for me recently is a sense of disillusionment, cynicism and irritation. And I was rather surprised as it wasn't something I'd noticed in your previous postings which had felt encouraging, optimistic, insightful in a positive way.”
So I went back over the last few months writing and part of my reply was:
“It all feels good at this end Lynn, just had a week in Italy, done lots of fishing recently. The only thing I can think of to match your analysis is that if I had one mentor, one ‘guru’ that I would aspire to be like, it is Alan Weiss http://www.summitconsulting.com And he is brutal. He is a brilliant speaker and consultant and I agree with just about everything he says, writes and does.
So yes I am trying to toughen up my act with clients, bureaus and time wasters, ‘cos I am now 60 and there isn’t time to mess about with idiots or well meaning buffoons. This does not mean that I don’t care or can’t find time and energy for people that need help, it just means that I am perhaps more discriminating, more assertive, more needing to make a difference where difference is needed.”
So, thank you Lynn, and everyone that writes because it is always helpful to get a ‘second position’ perspective on what we do. First position is not enough.
Labels: using feed back to clarify our position
Saying it
It is extremely positive for your business if you are able to give fulsome and generous praise verbally, whilst maintaining eye contact, whenever you feel it is deserved, to whoever it may concern.
Working on just such an exercise with an executive group recently only three out of twelve felt able to do this readily. Some leaders told me that they just “can’t do it” because they find it difficult to put the right words together or they feel embarrassed about allowing ‘emotion’ to show. “I mean,” said one, “I’m not sure how I would handle the reply.”
The business model requires us to clarify direction, develop trust and finally enhance performance. It works in that sequence. There are four groups of people where we are continuously looking to encourage great relationships. These are our colleagues, our staff, our stakeholders and our customers.
You develop great relationships by being able to acknowledge superb performance in others. It takes proper self esteem to do it properly, sincerely and effectively. It takes practice. But the pay off is much bigger than that.
When you can do this with praise, you can also do it with constructive criticism. The top leaders are able to do both.Labels: developing the ability to give both praise and criticism effectively
On the journey
If any one of your team doesn’t want to be on the flight path towards the Bull’s Eye, then it is best for all concerned if they get off. Successful organisations are trying to ignite the passion, harness the commitment and spread the enthusiasm of everyone on the payroll. Of course it’s a tall order but then so is the excellence that we all have to be aspiring towards. This is how we differentiate ourselves from everyone else.
I was talking with a sous chef in a London restaurant recently. Essentially the gist of what he was saying is that he wanted it to be like it was twenty years ago. “We invented dishes to order then. It was fun, it was spontaneous. Now I feel like I am on a production line.”
Then there is the talented stylist I met whilst conducting a Staff Survey that is building his empire so blatantly, but who has not the slightest interest in developing the skill, knowledge or attitude of his team of ten.
Another business lady, closer to home, who has been feuding with her Managing Director for four years said, “Well of course I want the Sales Director’s job but my three children have to come first.”
Four years indeed. What kind of slack is there in a business that can incinerate so much time, energy and ultimately, money?Labels: be on the journey or get off
Great expectations
Developing the personal brand of the Managing Director in alignment with the Bull’s Eye for their organisation is always something to be encouraged, but you can pay a price.
In an executive group forum we were discussing what makes each and every one of us special. What particular talent is it that each leader uses to bring most benefit to their business. The Managing Director of an extremely successful brewery, for example, said that he has visited all six hundred customers personally, “because our Bull’s Eye statement of excellence says we always try to offer outstanding personal service”.
Yet another, who retails both online and offline, cited the quality of her analysis and critical decision making ability. “Analysis first, people second” she said.
However another client who has been very successful in becoming the figurehead of his business went on to say “I sometimes find it hard enough to live up to my own expectations of myself, let alone other peoples”. We were talking about both the local and the national high profile he has created for himself and for his business and he added, “I get asked to do so many things that are of absolutely no value to my business and I just can’t fit them all in”.
And at the Abergavenny Food Fair yesterday I watched celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala being followed round by a BBC camera crew pretty much all day long.
So ‘know what you want’ is still the key to getting both your business and your personal life in alignment.
Labels: know what you want to get business an personal life in alignment
Mind the gap
So many organisations have a void between what the directors are hoping to achieve and what the managers are capable of, or are able to achieve. This gives rise to frustration and stress for all concerned.
The opportunity to join everything up or put the jigsaw pieces together is one not to be missed, but it usually takes a trusted outsider to do it. The reason this sort of thing happens is not hard to find. It is simply the fact that time and circumstance are changing every minute of every day of every week for all of us, no matter whether we work in the public, the private or the not for profit sectors.
This means that our original position on the business, the one we set out in a business plan last month or the one we spoke about at the company away day in the Spring, is out of date.
We can only see our business from the inside out, but very often time and circumstance impact our business from the outside in.
Business Plans and Away Days are OK things to have but the real driver of the business is the Monthly (Weekly?) Senior Team meeting where a professional chair determines three things:
1) What are we going to do?
2) Who will take responsibility for doing it?
3) When will it be done by?
The bullet point Action Plan from these meetings is the starting point for each months meeting. This is the dynamic, exciting, live part of your operation.
Do it like this and you will soon see where the gaps are in your business.Labels: exciting, How to find the dynamic, live part of your business operation
