We have launched our NEW IMPROVED 'Analysing your Motivational Maps' e-learning modules. The work has included a re-structure and the ability for delegates to download the analysis report either as
a printable document that they can annotate by hand, or
as an interactive one, which means they can save it locally and type their reflections in as they go.
We have also delivered two versions - one for Professionals, who want to get ahead in their career and one for Entrepreneurs who have started, or are thinking of starting, their own business.
We're delighted to announce that our own Kate Turner is taking people through a Motivation Challenge with everywoman Members.
Over a number of weeks, Kate unlocks some of the mysteries of what motivates ourselves and others via the 'Harnessing your Personal Motivators' Challenge
If you'd like to join the ewNetwork which offers fantastic value to access a number of specialist courses visit the everywoman site by clicking their logo below ...
A new grant is available for high growth companies to enable them to further invest in their leadership and management. The new grant (called the Leadership and Management Advisory Service) will pay up to £1k in grant funding and this needs to be matched by the company.
The eligibility criteria are:
• Private sector businesses and Social Enterprises
• Employ 2 – 250 people (Full time equivalents)
• Display the potential for high or fast growth defined as:
• If trading for more than 12 months, have the potential to increase turnover or employment by 20% each year for 3 years (Social Enterprises – 10% increase)
• If trading for less than 12 months, have the potential to achieve a turnover of £500,000 within 3 years of trading start.
For too long now, there has been a school of thought which suggests that performance management is about eradicating weaknesses. In some companies, they are even called ‘areas for development’. By focusing on the negative, surely we encourage a workforce of mediocrity? Wouldn’t our efforts be more richly rewarded by further developing peoples’ strengths and unleashing their unique talents? Also, when you are working with the strengths people already have, it is like pushing on an open door as people welcome feedback in these areas.
That is not to say weaknesses should be ignored and allowed to fester. Quite the contrary, they should be highlighted and understood so that practical ‘workarounds’ can be found, such as re-assigning parts of a job to others who have greater skill in that area.
So next time you have a performance management meeting with one of your staff, don't spend time looking for the negatives and then working out how you can balance this out with some positives (the old kiss-kick-kiss approach), but instead look at where the individual is performing well and work out (together) what it is that they are doing to create this high performance and how it can be repeated.
Foremost thinker Gary Hamel, professor of the London Business School and director of MLab has an interesting article The Hole in the Soul of Business.
It highlights some of what is at the heart of Motivational Leadership where we too believe that humanising the language and practice of management is a business imperative. Some of the happiest places to work (which translates not only to success on the balance sheet but, when times are hard, to employees that will rally round) are smaller businesses where personal relationships are strong and values are shared.
Aligning personal values and motivation to those of the organisation is set to become a bigger piece of the management agenda.
I was first drawn to this book after Andre Agassi was interviewed by Jonathan Ross and it became apparent that this was a man who had struggled with some demons over his brilliant and long tennis career. I was hoping it would be a book which allowed you to ‘get inside’ the psyche of a celebrated sportsman and perhaps bring alive many of the notions which Tim Gallway first wrote about in his book The Inner Game of Tennis. I was not disappointed.
Throughout the weighty volume, Agassi bears all. It is a story of an unhappy child who was forced to spend every day relentlessly hitting returns of serve for fear of retribution from his tennis-obsessed father. It is the story of an adolescent struggling to find his own identity and purpose whilst having the media spotlight thrust upon him. It is the story of a sportsman who hated his sport, who struggled with his self-talk in virtually every match and who, for much of his career, lacked direction.
We learn about how the search for perfection (instilled by his father no doubt) became so much of a distraction in his game that he failed time and time again. We see a man learn about the importance of flow, of letting go and just playing in order to allow his natural talent succeed. We hear about a man who finds his direction, his cause, his reason for being and how he uses this to power himself through to winning despite the odds.
A real page-turner and a fascinating insight into one of our best loved sportsmen.
The Inspiring Leader (unlocking the secrets of how extraordinary leaders motivate) John H. Zenger, Joseph R. Folkman and Scott K. Edinger
With a title like this I couldn’t help but be drawn to this book and it did not disappoint. This book purports to be different from others you see on the subject of motivation and leadership because it is based on analytical research and evidence rather than anecdote and theory and it does appear to do this well.
It takes on the subject of ‘inspiration’ and ‘motivation’, despite recognising that it is often seen as a 'touchy/feely' subject, simply because the authors have been convinced through their research that it is these qualities that make such a significant difference to the capability of a true leader.
The book blends facts and figures with stories of real leaders in real situations and encourages the reader, through suggested actions, to reflect on their own competence and develop their leadership capabilities.
Here’s an example of just one of the studies shared in this book:
- Leaders with no strengths in a particular competency (as identified via 360 feedback) they have an average effectiveness rating at the 35th percentile.
- When leaders have 1 strength, their effectiveness rating jumps to the 63rd percentile.
- When a leader has 3 of the 16 strengths assessed, this lifts their effectiveness rating to the 80th percentile.
If ever there was a reason to concentrate on developing strengths, this, surely, must be it.
Subjects covered by the book include the importance of self-belief, optimism, initiative, enthusiasm and responsible behaviour - all qualities and attributes that we know about but perhaps don‘t spend quite enough attention to when developing our leadership repertoire. It also talks about the importance of role modelling and the effectiveness of this in developing a high performing company.
An enjoyable read and one in which you can learn something new in every chapter.
Last week I found myself in a situation which I have not been in for years, perhaps ever.
I had enrolled on a training programme to help me build some very specific skills. I was excited about the course as I could see how the new skills would be directly applicable to my role and I was eager to learn from the other participants. I realised when I enrolled on the course and read the course outline that some of the programme would be going over areas I know very well, but I still felt the course would be of value as I would be listening to the information with ‘new ears’ since I would be applying the skills in a new arena – that of selling. I turned up to the course eager to learn.
Imagine my surprise when I was the only delegate there on time. Slowly but surely other delegates arrived and some twenty-five minutes after the allotted time, we started.
No introductions were made and so it wasn’t until the first activity some time later that I found out who my co-delegates were. Long before that though, it became apparent they didn’t want to be there. The trainer worked hard to get involvement from the delegates and even resorted to telling some jokes! (I am sure that was to check that there was a pulse amongst his audience!) I squirmed in my chair as I seemed to be the only one wanting to join in, wanting to learn. I was starting to feel like ‘teacher’s pet’.
The day continued much the same; very little positive input from the other delegates, a reluctance to share their own experience with each other, or indeed to demonstrate how the information we were being given might help them perform their role better.
The day dragged on and on (a day hasn’t felt that long for an age) but finally we’d finished the course. The delegates completed the obligatory ‘happy sheets’ and filed out the room, barely saying a word to their fellow delegates. I wondered what they had learned from the day.
As for me, I learned so much more than I expected. Yes, the course covered much of what I already knew but it felt different somehow because of those ‘new ears’. I have an action plan and I feel ready to apply my new skills.
But what I really learned was something much more useful; I learned that our insistence that delegates who attend our programmes must be ready to learn is absolutely critical. I learned our facilitated learning approach which involves every delegate is essential. I learned that our process for ensuring a good brief from the client regarding learning objectives and outcomes is robust enough. A long day, but on reflection, a valuable day.
I think I speak for many when I say I have never worked so hard to keep still! There is no doubt that the current recession in which we find ourselves, requires us to be more resilient, more determined and more resourceful than ever. As a result, the ability to manage our own time is becoming even more crucial.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I fell into some of the time management traps I tell my clients to avoid! As a result my working day had been getting longer and longer.
Realising that this is something that can not continue, I took a step back and thought about the key time management techniques that I regularly speak to my clients about. I thought you might like to know which ones have worked for me:
1) I looked at my Outlook calendar over the last few weeks and analysed the time I had spent on meetings, travel, client work, follow up work etc. I asked myself what inefficiencies I had unwittingly allowed to creep into my scheduling and then set out what I needed to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
2) How often do you find you are rushing from one meeting to another and you don’t have time to do the actions? One way of overcoming this is to schedule specific times when you will do this work. I have resumed my habit of booking and keeping appointments with myself.
3) I looked at the type of work I was doing and applied the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule). Since 80% of my paid work is likely to be coming from 20% of my activities, my job was to work out which 80% of activities were not delivering a good level of income. Once identified, I knew what I needed to do.
4) I now keep a separate, easily accessible ‘to do’ list. For some this might be your Outlook Task Bar or something similar, but for me a good old-fashioned list in a book works brilliantly. At the start of every day, I identify the big project(s) I am going to do that day and, where possible, I do this task in 45 minute chunks of time. At the end of the first 45 minutes, I look at my ‘to do’ list, and find some quick tasks which I can do. After 10-15 minutes I resume the original ‘big project’. This has worked wonders and I am even finding ways of applying it when I have meetings for most of the day.
I now feel I am back in control of my diary – well, almost!
I’d like to tell you about a new style of management; the ‘flip flop’ style. This isn’t about hairy toes being displayed by managers who should know better on ‘dress down Fridays’. This is about managers (who should also know better) who ‘flip’ into being aloof, directorial and ‘out of touch’ with their team and then ‘flop’ into being too friendly and too concerned with how their staff view them. The result is a team who is left confused about what is expected of them, unsure how to ‘be’ around their manager and uncertain about what good leadership looks like. Sound familiar?
I often find when I start coaching managers that they use this ‘flip flop’ style. It’s like they see these two extreme styles of management as the only ones available to them.
Through working with managers, they are soon able to see that it isn’t this black and white.
The style of management we advocate leads and develop high performance. To do this you need to display both high challenge AND high support at the same time.
To test this out for yourself, see how you would handle the following scenario:
The performance of your team, and the relationship between you and them is good. However, you are starting to feel a little left out of things, and miss the direct involvement. Would you…
A Leave things as they are
B Discuss the situation with the team and then initiate changes in ways of
operating
C Take steps to ensure that you re-secure your direct involvement in all
decisions
D Take the opportunity to provide more advice to team members
If you have answered anything other than A, you need our help! Contact us to find out more about the High Challenge/High Support style of leadership and hear about the results this can bring to you and your organisation.
