5 Leadership Words

Feeling in a reflective mood, I thought I would list the most outstanding qualities of the most effective leaders I’ve ever worked with or for.

These were the 5 words that came into my head after not very long thinking about the question:

Integrity
Humility
Kindness
Support
Fairness

Strange how words like Hard, Decisive, Ruthless, and Disciplinarian did not come into my head. That probably says more about me than anything else.

Anyway, can you offer 5 words that describe the most effective leaders you have worked for or with?

By the way, I’m not saying I’m right. I’m just saying when I remember the best leaders I’ve known my five words Integrity, Humility, Kindness, Support and Fairness are the ones I personally would use to describe them.

Would love to have your take on this!

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Learning for business through drama

This was me as Sam Pickles pleading with my 'daughter'
Rosie to visit her estranged mother, Dolly.

Annie, as a drunken Dolly, tells her daughter Rosie
that she shouldn't hate her.

Annie and I got back from our week on a residential summer drama school and I didn't really give much feedback on my Blog. We were 2 of a group 24 completely unconnected people thrown together with two directors and two assistant directors. The task was, starting from scratch, to rehearse and perform in a public setting - within a week - the Australian play (set in the 1940's) called ‘Cloudstreet’ by Tim Winton

An amazing week for many reasons. I've been thinking about what I learned in that week from a business/organisation perspective;

1 – Getting out of the comfort zone …. A long way out!! ... is good!

2 – Seeing two talented directors illustrate real leadership

3 – The joy of being part of a team committed to delivering a product in a very tight schedule

4 – Realising how much we rely on others when the chips are down and when we feel vulnerable and out of our depth

5 – Seeing how much business can learn from the arts

6 – Keeping going when half way through the week our heads were telling us ‘we’ve made a big mistake coming here’

7 - Feeling the exhilaration of a successfully completed ‘project’ that customers enjoyed

8 - Realising life needs to be as much about doing different stuff as that stuff we are used to doing every day

More pictures can be seen here on Annie’s Blog

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What is the meaning of work?

Prompted by my friend Mark Foscoe in a recent comment the question is .... What is the meaning of work in 2008?

‘Work’ and ‘career path’ bear little resemblance with when I started at age 16 as a junior clerk in the National Health Service in 1969.

In those days it was a highly structured and predictable career path. One set out on that path and moved ‘up the ladder’ until eventually reaching the level of competence that one’s skills and experience merited. It was all very predictable.

Nowadays, it seems to me, nothing is predictable anymore and I think we have much more personal control of our destiny and our career direction.

I think it is a terrific time to be starting out on a career because individuals are far more likely to do the things they ‘want’ to do rather than follow a path that is mapped out for them based on history.

Each to their own of course and I’m pretty sure some may argue the lack of structure is a negative thing ….

I would be fascinated to get your take on this one and thanks again Mark for sowing the seed.

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The future workforce?

My friend Brian Galbraith from Perth, Australia recently sent me a copy of a new report – published this month by IBM Global Business Services.

The report is called 'Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce.'

There are 4 key isses to emerge for the future of workforce development - according to this worldwide research. The report was written after interviews with 400 Human Resources Executives in 40 countries

• Create an adaptable workforce – my take on that - encourage the frontliners who actually do the work
• Leadership Gap – my take - find inspiring leaders
• Talent – my take - find your talent and nurture it
• Workforce Analysis – my take - HR to use information to help transform business rather than simply gather and collate information for transactional purposes.
  

These 4 conclusions, needless to say, are music to my ears.

If you want to read the full report go to this IBM Website to download it:

http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/html/2008ghcs.html

Simplicity Blog in the Top 100

I was delighted to hear from one of my Simplicity friends John O'Leary that Simplicity Blog has been selected as one of the "Top 100 Management and Leadership Blogs" by HR World.

Click here for the evidence!

I'm never quite sure about these polls and who selects the Blogs but I am nevertheless thrilled to be mentioned in the same company as two of my heroes Tom Peters and Seth Godin.

I was particularly pleased that Simplicity Blog was in the category Creativity and Inspiration.

No fawning over Trevor please .... Compliments are very nice but just send me money....ONLY JOKING FOLKS!

PS - This is posting number 850 since I started Simplicity Blog in January 2005.

For love or money?

A wonderful example of the entirely different priorities and cultures of two teams in football on Wednesday as Manchester United won the European Champions League.

The organisers decreed that a non player representing each club should lead the team up the steps to receive their winners and losers medals.

The losers, Chelsea decided that their club ‘icon’ was Peter Kenyon the Chief Executive – a pen pusher – the man who controls all the business interests at Chelsea on behalf of the billionaire owner of Chelsea football club.

The winners, Manchester United decided to give the honour of leading then team up the steps to Sir Bobby Charlton – one of United’s all time great players.

Summary:

The Chelsea view of the world of football is all about business, money and profit and they choose a pen pusher as the most appropriate person to represent them to the watching audience of millions of football fans worldwide on TV.

Manchester United believe that a front liner – one of the greatest ever players to wear the red shirt - is the best possible role model to represent the club. Of course United have pen pushers too but they are in the background - where they should be - doing vital work.

SAYS IT ALL DON’T YOU THINK?

Cometh the Hour Cometh the Man

Someone will be a hero or a villian in a few hours time!

My beloved Manchester United play Chelsea in Moscow in the Final of the European Champions League later today - Wednesday.

I've been a passionate fan of Manchester United since 1963 when I was 11 and this is without a doubt the biggest match for United since I began supporting them. This match also makes history as the first all English European Champions League Final.

I am nervous but I have faith in my team and in our unique and immortal manager - Sir Alex Ferguson - a living legend.

Friend of Simplicity - Dave Wheeler

My Friend of Simplicity interview today is with a good friend and fellow simplifier Dave Wheeler who lives in Little Rock Arkansas in the United States. I met Dave a few months ago through the Tom Peters Blog. He and I immediately hit it off as two people sharing similar opinions about leadership, front line employees and simplicity.

TREVOR: Hi Dave – Tell me a little about your career.

DAVE: Well, the majority of my professional life was spent in the U.S. Air Force. The first 12 of my 24 years were spent as an Aircrew Life Support/Survival Training specialist. We inspected and maintained a wide variety of aircrew survival equipment from oxygen gear, life rafts, survival kits, and parachutes for example. We loaded tons of equipment on aircraft. But the best part of this field was training. We trained them how to use the equipment, how to escape and evade and how to survive in five different biomes. I essentially got paid to go camping in places like Guam, Thailand, the Philippines, and got to duct tape officers to trees when they screwed up in evasion scenarios. It gets no better than that.

My last 12 years were spent as the military equivalent of a Business Consultant. The title was Director of Quality, Performance, and Productivity Management. I worked directly with Group and Squadron Commanders to "design and deploy" a complete performance management systems for their each organizations in the part of the wing. We started at senior leader level worked down to the lowest frontline group they had. I also trained and certified an “in house” consultant to keep them on track and moving forward. I facilitated strategic and human resource plans, built balanced scorecards of key performance metrics, customer and supplier identification and relationship management strategies, survey design, semi-annual audits of their systems to find strengths and areas for improvement, and training, training, training were the basics. It was the best job on the planet and an invaluable "hands on" education on the challenges and barriers to "doing” effective leadership on the job from the Boardroom to the Floor. I sometimes will pick up a book on leadership and management and wonder "Buddy, have you ever seen a workplace or spoken to a frontliner in your life?” Many can tell you a bunch about "what" to do, but they often don't have a great deal to say about the specifics of execution, the “why’s" or the “hows". I think that's the one thing the "Boardroom to Floor" scope of the consultant's role gave me. After leaving the military I went to back to school, was the Warehouse and Delivery Manager for a furniture store for a time, and have spent the past 6 years progressively as a customer service representative/technical support specialist/Manager/Training Manager in the Telecommunications industry. Decades of leadership and management experience to be sure. Blue collar and frontline to the core.... that would be me!

TREVOR: What stirred your initial interest in leadership?

DAVE: I think the one thing that unites everyone who has had a job is that at some point we have said to ourselves "if I ever get to be in charge here, things would be different". We had a list of things in mind we would change if we had the chance. . Funny thing is those lists were usually 1000% on point as to what the real issues were or what needed to be done to work smarter, more productively, and more efficiently. This is why I went straight to the folks on the frontline when I was told to figure out a way to work around a 25% reduction in staffing and 18% less funding. I always told myself if I ever got to a supervisor position, I would not forget what it was like to sit in that chair on the frontline and I would be the leader that I wanted to work for. I’ve managed to keep that attitude in every job I’ve had and it has served me well. I worked for some terrific leaders early in my career who kind of went against the "rank=knowledge" paradigm of the military and gave me a opportunity to “get out of the chair” and do some low level leading on some project teams. My interest in leadership was simple. First, I wanted to make sure I didn’t disappoint the folks who showed trust and confidence in me. Second, I didn’t want to go back to that frontline chair. The Air Force is unique in the fact that although, I was a relatively senior enlisted person the position I had essentially made me the V.P. of Quality. I had a seat at the conference table with “the big guys” and was a regular backbencher in meetings with the even bigger guys. I was able to listen, watch and learn. There are few folks I respect more than the Air Force officer corps from the lowest ranking Lieutenant to the most senior General Officer. The competition for advancement begins day one and the slightest mis-step can effectively keep a person from getting a position of command. They were generally assigned to a unit for 2-3 years and then move on. In that period that get constant assessments of their units performance, a degree of accountability not seen in the corporate world today. I was definitely lucky to work for and learn from some terrific leaders and I got to observe up close some terrific bad examples as well.

TREVOR: I know you are a great advocate of the Baldrige Quality Framework – can you briefly outline why you think this is important in a business?

DAVE: Well, to put it “Simplicity” I hope, if you have read a book about management or business practices over the past 30 or 40 years you will notice a few recurring themes. They talk about the need of involved and engaged leadership, customer focus and relationship management, data driven decision making, strategic planning, employee well being and satisfaction, managing the processes that produce your products and services, and using a balanced scorecard of metrics to continuously monitor and improve performance. These are the seven core things that an organization “manages”; it’s the stuff that we do on a daily basis. Most management books tell you what to do. They offer little as to why it is important and even less on how to go about doing it. That’s why The National Malcom Baldrige Quality Award’s Criteria for Performance Excellence is such a “value added” tool.

What exactly is the Baldrige Quality Framework? The Criteria for Performance Excellence is a framework that any organization, in any industry, of any size can use to design, “deploy”, and continuously improve a “world class” closed loop performance management system. Oh, and it’s free as well. Each of those seven core items listed above is addressed as a part of the system. The system has two pieces. There is a Leadership Triad that is the leadership, strategic planning, and customer and market focus categories make up. This is the piece of the puzzle that Senior Leadership is responsible and accountable for in any organization anyway. The “Results Triad” are the things that Senior Leadership and the rest of the organization “do” to produce the products and services the company is in business to produce. The categories in the this part are employee focus, process management and the actual data of the “balanced scorecard” of key customer, operational, financial, work force, and process/supplier data. The Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management category is the data driven decision-making piece. It gives the management system the agility and continuous improvement capacity to react and adjust quickly to changes in customer needs and expectations or the competitive environment. Nothing difficult about the basics to be sure, just a better way of organizing the stuff we need to be doing anyway.

Why is a systems based approach a better way of doing business? In many organizations stuff often gets done in isolation. How often do key initiatives not get funded, or folks don’t get the training or other tools needed to produce good results? How many people look at a vision statement or mission statement and not see where their job links to the big picture? “That would be all the time Dave” you reply? The major benefit of a systems based approach is it enables all levels to link and align with company strategy. The Senior Leadership of air mobility might say departure reliability is a strategic imperative. If my army customer is waiting at “Base A” and needs to be in place at “Base B” with x number of troops and equipment at x hour, we had best be launching our planes on time from my base to be at Base A on time to get them moved. My piece of the puzzle in Life Support to make sure planes left on time was to make sure they were properly configured with all the survival equipment required for that type of mission and insuring all aircrew members were certified and current in their training. The Wing Leaders strategic imperative became one of mine so I could plan, train, and allocate resources to make sure that a late departure wasn’t because we didn’t do our job. Aircraft provisioning and aircrew training became key processes that we monitored and continuously tried to improve. Knowing the CRITICAL processes enabled me to identify the customers and suppliers for each. I knew their requirements and limitations, who to talk to for feedback or get involved in trying to do it better. A great snowball effect and possible only because we could align and link to what was really critical rather than spend time on the worthless many. Systems rule!

How does it work? Go out to www.nist.gov and you’ll see the link to the National Quality Award site. Next, just download a copy of the Criteria for Performance Excellence and read the overview and core values. The Criteria doesn’t tell you what to do because it’s not prescriptive. For example, the Strategic Planning Category has two Areas to Address. One is Strategy Development. The other is Strategy Deployment. The Criteria just asks questions and asks you define what process you use to align with that item. For example, Strategy Development will ask you to describe the processes you use for strategic planning, who are the participants, or how do you determine what your strategic advantages and challenges. How can you produce an effective plan if you don’t know those for goodness sakes? In Strategy Deployment, it asks you to describe how you translate goals and objectives into action plans and how do you insure that these items translate into resource allocations company wide or what human resource plans do you have to insure you can meet your key goals and objectives. If you have a process to meet that item…great. If you don’t, develop one. You will easily recognize many of the “questions” as concepts the books you have read pointed out you need to be doing. The Criteria take it a step better by giving you a framework to align with that helps show you how to make it work in your company.

Simple, free, and a process that leads to improving performance, productivity, and results. It gets no better than that.

TREVOR: Like me you have great faith in front line employees. How can managers get the best out of front line folks?

DAVE: You build a relationship with them. You become a team. You share accountability for producing results with them so you have a choice. The folks you lead can be your allies or your enemies and your actions help them decide which category they will place themselves in. I have found that making sure they know what the performance expectations are, understand how their performance is going to be measured, and getting the hell out of their way works great. We create an environment that promotes trust, teamwork, and continuous learning and improvement. My job is making their job as easy as possible. I give feedback, coach and develop, and get them the stuff they need to excel. It actually is easy, I’m just the kind of “boss” I wanted to work for when I was sitting in that chair on the frontline.

TREVOR: What do you see as the three greatest qualities of an effective leader?

DAVE: Number One is credibility. Second, would have to be credibility. Finally, yeah, credibility for sure.

My credibility is my leadership capital. Credibility + Consistency = Trust. Trust + Collaboration = Teamwork. If I’m not credible, we won’t be able to work in an environment of trust, teamwork, and continuous improvement. I can have allies or enemies. The best piece of leadership advice I received was from a General I worked for who said he would rather have everyone inside the tent “pee-ing” out than on the outside “pee-ing” in…paraphrasing the Lyndon Johnson quote about J. Edgar Hoover. Crowded but dry immediately became my goal for both the condition of my tent and my leadership ability!

TREVOR: Do you think the leadership model that you knew so well in the military is interchangeable in business or not?

DAVE: Absolutely. I just finished a great book “Leading from the Front, No Excuses Leadership Tactics for Women” that was written by former Marine Corps Captains Angie Morgan and Courtney Lynch. They take their “lessons learned” from their time in the Corps and describe ten key practices to become a great leader. One that struck a chord with me and reminded me of a cornerstone of my leadership style was the “True Leaders Dedicate Themselves to Service~Take Care of Those You Lead” concept. My Father was also in the Air Force and he was a disciplinarian and stickler for detail. I recall he would show up in at his troops barracks early Saturday morning and escort them to the barbershop for a haircut or to inspect the cleanliness of their quarters. He was accountable for their appearance and condition of their quarters and he was doing his job. But he also knew them. He was forever in his pocket when folks needed something, if he had troops deployed somewhere he was always making sure their families were cared for and ok. I grew up thinking I had 20 brothers because there were always extra folks at the table on holidays that couldn’t be with their families. As Captains Morgan and Lynch point out “Be it on the battle field or off, I made sure the needs of my troops, both personal and professional, were met.” Take care of those to the right of you and the left of you and they will take care of you. I just shake my head when folks say that being a leader means you can’t discipline someone or hold them accountable for their performance and their actions. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Let one person slide or not pull their weight on a high performance team and see what that does to the team’s attitude and your credibility. “Leaders constantly recognize and demonstrate how important those under their command are to them and their mission,” observe the Captains. That captures it perfectly because it is the absolute truth.

TREVOR: What do you see as the main challenges for modern leaders?

DAVE: I think leaders will be fine. I think Managers however are in trouble. I really found your friend Brian’s observation that leadership is a decision, not a position to be most profound. Some would argue that the difference between being a manager and a leader is semantics. I would disagree. You don’t have to be a manager to assume a leadership position on a team or in the workplace. You also shared some research from your dissertation with me Trevor that pointed out the differences between the two were in their attitudes and actions… proactive versus reactive. Issues like employee retention, service quality, and an ever-changing competitive environment will place a premium on maximizing the skills, talent, and knowledge of the front liners. Credible leadership can make that happen. A manager who only has positional authority will most likely fail because their folks will bail. The costs of turnover are incalculable on damaging a company’s reputation with their external customers and in their community as being an employer of choice for those seeking career opportunities

TREVOR: Finally Dave – I know you have connections with England - tell us about that – and are we likely to see you over here in the UK at any time in the future?

DAVE: My Dad was stationed at RAF Northolt and I lived in Ruislip from 1958-1962. It is strange but I can’t remember stuff from three days ago but I do recall a great deal from the days in England. I think my screams are still echoing in the halls of the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussard’s, I recall rides on the tube to London, fish and chips wrapped in newspaper. I recall a Pan American 707 sitting on the ramp at Northolt on flat tires when the pilot mistakenly thought he was landing at Heathrow. I lived at 12 Cranley Drive and recall a nice couple up the street that always had a kind word and a tin of sweets for the kids in the neighbourhood. I knew them as the Krogers. It turns out however that the folks at 45 Cranley Drive were actually named the Cohen’s and in 1961 they were arrested and charged with espionage as Soviet spies. Those were interesting days indeed and a great time for sure. A trip to the U.K. is a possibility; one that I would say is more distinct than remote. Trevor, I promise you will know when it happens. I’ll be knocking on your door to pry you away from the keyboard long enough to go play a round or two (or twenty) of golf!

Manchester United and Sir Alex - CHAMPIONS!

I am on cloud nine on this glorious Sunday

Manchester United won the Premiership Title this afternoon for the 10th time in the 16 seasons of the existence of the Premiership. An unparalleled record in English football. The Manager Sir Alex Ferguson is 66 years young and still has the enthusiasm and passion of a teenager! I would say if you really want to study leadership – look no further than Sir Alex. Click here for the BBC Report of this afternoon's wonderful historic events.

Friend of Simplicity - Tom Asacker

It is my great pleasure to introduce another 'Friend of Simplicity' - Tom Asacker who lives in Exeter, New Hampshire in the US.

Tom and I first came across each other ‘virtually’ about 6 years ago when Tom kindly sent me copies of his first two books ‘Sandbox Wisdom’ and ‘The Four sides of Sandbox Wisdom.’ Tom subsequently published the equally successful book ‘A Clear Eye for Branding.’

We have kept in touch ever since those early days of virtual communication and Tom is one of my first 'virtual' friends. Tom has often provided me with the wisdom of his advice.

In his ground breaking book 'Re-Imagine!' Tom Peters described Tom Asacker as a ‘Marketing Guru.’ You can see more about Tom here


TREVOR: Tom, I really appreciate you taking time out of your very busy schedule Tom to pass on the benefit of your wisdom to me and the readers of my Simplicity Blog. Tell us a bit about your career to date.

TOM: Thanks for inviting me Trevor. So, how much time do you have? It’s been quite a twisted and bumpy road. :) Upon graduating with a degree in Economics, I began my career with Burger King Corporation in their children’s marketing division. After a few years of clowning around, I left to join a high tech division of General Electric. I spent ten years there, during which time Jack Welch became CEO. He began to rapidly discard businesses that weren’t going to be number 1 or 2 in their industries which was our business unit so I participated in a management buyout of that company from G.E.

I eventually left that business to join a start-up medical device company as President and Director of Marketing. While there, I received a few patents and awards for innovation and design. The business was also eventually recognized by Inc. Magazine, MIT and YEO as a fast growth, innovative company. Any way, I ultimately had a vision collision with my non-operating partners, and so, I left. Are you beginning to see a pattern emerge? :)

I then started a strategic brand consultancy; wrote and published a book; wrote and published three more books; was increasingly asked to speak to organizations about my concepts; and . . . here we are today. I guess I followed the advice of the great 20th century philosopher, Yogi Berra: “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

TREVOR: Many people in the UK work as single handers and struggle with how to effectively ‘market’ their work. Can you provide a couple of pieces of golden nugget advice on self marketing?

TOM: There’s really no difference between successful product and service marketing and self marketing. The key is to be other-focused and provide compelling value to ones audience. It requires a shift in mindset away from worrying what people think about you and your business, to being obsessed with how you make others feel about themselves and their decisions in your presence.

I don't know why so many people and organizations get this wrong, but I have a guess. I think it's because being genuinely interested in others, and working to understand their feelings and motivations, is tough: it's imprecise, messy, and time consuming. It's much easier and faster to talk about something that we know a lot about . . . us and our stuff.

It's also easier to simply bury our heads and focus on getting things done, isn't it? "Five sales calls to make . . . better get hustling!" "Two ads to create, as well as a capability brochure and a direct mail piece. No time to think." But guess what? That's great news for single handers who get it! Because by being other-focused and truly interested in their audience, they’ll stand out. Simply because no one else is doing it.

TREVOR: What companies do you rate highly as role models in effective marketing and why?

TOM: There are a handful doing it right, but none as effectively as Apple. Their products, retail outlets and marketing communication are all culturally relevant, aesthetically appealing and entertaining, and they do a great job of focusing on the customer’s identity and experience and bringing it to life instead of focusing on their products.

TREVOR: You are also an internationally renowned business speaker Tom – what makes an effective speaker?

TOM: An “effective” speaker in what way? In ones ability to make a lot of money as a speaker? That’s simple: become a celebrity. :) On the other hand, if you’re asking me how to effectively convey ones ideas to an audience through the spoken word, it’s pretty much the same as it has always been: ethos, pathos and logos. Establish your moral character and credibility, appeal to people’s emotions by connecting to their beliefs and values, and back up your appeal with facts and data. The main difference today is that you have to be much more entertaining and engaging to hold an audience’s attention.

TREVOR: You have received great recognition for your entrepreneurial and innovator skills. What advice do you have for those who feel there is an entrepreneur inside them ready to change the world?

TOM: They don’t need my advice, because if they truly have a passion for improving people’s lives, nothing can stop them. Passion sells! It’s not what you know or who you know that determines breakthrough success. It’s how much you care about others, how much you believe in your idea, and how stubborn you are. As Goethe wrote, “In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm . . . in the real world all rests on perseverance.”

TREVOR: What do you see as the main challenges for leaders and managers in large organisations in the next few years?

TOM: The main challenge is the mental shift that’s required when thinking about the marketplace for products, services, causes, ideas, etc. The fundamental notion that customers are rational actors, who are simply trying to optimize their individual marketplace choices, is defunct. Value can no longer be reduced to a simple relationship between benefits and price.

Today’s modern marketplace is about subjective well-being, as opposed to material gain. People are not only trading their time and money for products and services, they are also expecting happiness as an integral part of their experiences. As such, customers are constantly on the lookout for better “value.” They not only want the brands they choose to be reliable and fair, they also want them to look good, be good, and do good. Yes, they want to save time and money, but they also want to be uniquely acknowledged, involved and engaged.

So to stay relevant, organizations must evolve with customers’ evolving concept of value. They must frequently reinvent themselves to stay fresh and uniquely add value to the brand experience. It requires vision, belief in collaborative innovation, empathy for the customer, and a passion for experimentation.

TREVOR: Finally Tom do you have any plans to come to England so that I can buy you that pint of real English beer I owe you?

TOM: I don’t have any near term plans to visit, so why don’t you come over to my side of the pond. I’ll buy you a pint of real New England maple syrup. :)

TREVOR: It's a deal my friend! - Thanks again for your time.

Friend of Simplicity - Brian Ward

Brian Ward of Affinity Consulting, Edmonton, Canada

Today I'm launching 'Friend of Simplicity' a new feature on my Simplicity Blog. I intend to publish a series of interviews with people who have influenced my thinking about leadership and management.

I am delighted to say the first interview is with my good friend Brian Ward who is based in Edmonton Canada. Brian and I first ‘met’ about 6 years ago through a discussion board on Brian’s excellent leadership website.

TREVOR: Hi Brian – Can you tell me a bit about how an Irishman ends up living Edmonton, Canada?!

BRIAN: Hi Trevor. What a penetrating question to start with! I came to Canada mainly to afford my three daughters a better life, better opportunities. They are all adults now, and have graduated from university, and are well on their way to making a success of their lives. Dublin at that time, in the mid-eighties was in a bad state economically…not like now!

When people ask me why I emmigrated to Canada, I tell them that, but I also sometimes reply by saying ‘greed’. As you can imagine, this normally sets them back a little. But it also sets up the conversation to focus on the topic of motivation. This topic has always fascinated me. We all act out of self-interest, even when we are acting to help others. When others benefit from our self-interest, then we have what is often referred to as a win-win outcome. I believe that we need to be totally honest about our motivations, AND we need to pursue our goals in an ‘ecological’ way. By ecological I mean that we maintain a balance of fairness, we don’t play zero-sum games i.e. you must lose in order for me to win.

TREVOR: So tell me about what Affinity Consulting can offer online to folks here in the UK?

BRIAN: We work with leaders to help them and their teams achieve their goals. We help them get focused on what matters to them, and to maintain that focus. In organizations today there are so many distractions and competing entities and priorities, it’s very easy to get sidetracked and achieve mediocrity. To start with, folks in the UK can visit our articles website Excellence 2.0 at www.excellence2.com

TREVOR: I am very interested in the FACET model – can you explain what it is about?

BRIAN: Gladly. FACET is actually an acronym. It came about when I was coaching a senior leader, and we got talking about servant leadership. This resonated with him, but he was struggling to put the pieces together. So he asked me if I could come up with a 360 degree questionnaire that he could give to his staff, his boss and some other folk. We looked at a number of ‘off-the-shelf’ surveys, but none of them appealed to him. We had been using a customer satisfaction survey in a previous project with this organization, and he asked if he could just take that survey and give it to his staff, whom he saw as his customers. Well, it didn’t fit very well, but it did inspire the development of the FACET Model.

FACET stands for Focus, Authenticity, Courage, Empathy, Timing. You can read an article on our Excellence 2.0 website at www.Excellence2.com which explains it more fully.

TREVOR: I have often used your quote ‘Leadership is a Decision, Not a Position’ – can you elaborate on that for me?

BRIAN: Certainly. I come across many managers who are in management positions and doing a reasonable job, but have not made the decision to lead. By that I mean they have become caretaker managers, with a focus on control. To be a leader, you must decide on a new destination where you want to take people. That’s where the FOCUS in the FACET Model comes into play. Examples include Jack Welch of GE ‘Be the No1 or No 2 in each of our businesses’; Sam Walton of Wal*Mart with everyday low prices; Fred Smith of FedEx with overnight parcel delivery. I’m sure you can probably add to that with UK leaders such as Sir Richard Branson, Sir Alex Ferguson…I’m quite certain that they didn’t get their knighthoods by being ‘managers’!

TREVOR: From your experience of both the UK and the Canadian business cultures do you see differences and/or similarities?

BRIAN: Yes, there are many similarities and differences. I suppose you could describe Canada as being ‘mid-Atlantic’ as far as its culture is concerned. There are many British ex-pats here, and they bring a tremendous work ethic to this country, which everyone benefits from. Of course we are also part of the Commonwealth, and any time members of the Royal Family come here they get a great reception! There is a proud British heritage in this country…we still have the Queen adorn some of our currency!

On the other hand, we have a lot in common with the USA. We drive on the same side of the road, for one! We have an open and vast country, with major cities and highways that draw a lot of their architecture and culture from the USA, who are our greatest trading partner.

So I think I see a blend of European and North American cultures here, with cities such as Toronto and Vancouver having a more cosmopolitan feel.

From a management perspective, US research and practice exerts a great amount of influence on us, especially in the field of marketing and sales management. We tend to have a more ‘hyped’ approach to marketing and selling, less than the US but more than the UK.

TREVOR: What do you see as the main challenges for business leaders in 2008?

BRIAN: Well, for 2008 and beyond, I see so many challenges. The biggest one for CEOs is how can they keep their jobs, and keep their integrity. In many instances they are under intense pressure to produce results that are short-term, and this can make them lose sight of some of the fundamentals to long-term growth. Foremost amongst these is trust. WorldCom, Tyco, Enron and Conrad Black being really clear examples of where greed (there’s that word again) results in a zero-sum game. I think it is critical for CEOs to focus on playing a win-win game, and being truly authentic.

TREVOR: When we met in Dublin a couple of years ago you were doing some voluntary work building homes – can you remind me what that was all about?

BRIAN: Yes, thank you for asking. When we met in Dublin, along with our good wives, Judy and Annie, I was a Board member for the Edmonton affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. Judy and I were visiting Dublin with a group from the USA on an international build, which they call Global Village. Habitat for Humanity is a cause that is near and dear to me, and this gave me the opportunity to work on building homes (and building hope) for low income families in Dublin, my city of birth. It was a wonderful experience. And of course we got to meet you and Annie for the first time and had a few pints of Guinness together!

TREVOR: Finally Brian is there anything you miss about the UK apart of course from Manchester United with whom we both share a passion?

BRIAN: Oh, yeah, Man. Utd. Come on the Reds! I miss the telly a lot. Game shows especially, such as Terry Wogan (a fellow Irishman)…the ones here are all about the money; the weather believe it or not, as we get long sub-zero winters here; and fish and chips…not the same here I’m afraid!

TREVOR: Thanks a lot Brian.

Front liners know best yet again!

I think it is timely for me to say I feel honoured to have so many fabulous readers who make outstanding comments to Simplicity Blog. Thank you all so much.

Among many comments on my Simplicity posting on Wednesday this week, my friend John O'Leary said this:

“I was working with frontline workers to redesign workflow in an Ontario sawmill. When we solicited cost-saving suggestions from one worker and learned of a simple and quick fix that would save the operation millions of dollars, we asked him why he didn't mention it before. He replied, "I did 10 years ago, but my supervisor told me to just stick to my job, so I did."

Everyone who reads my Blog, my articles or my books will know I have a passion for enabling front line workers to just get on with the job with no interference. I also call for the obliteration of petty, silly rules and the 'control' attitude of some managers.

John's powerful comment reminded me of one of my favourite quotes from the great management guru – perhaps THE greatest – the late Peter Drucker who said;

“Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.”

Sums up the supervisor in John’s story perfectly wouldn’t you say?

Amen to Mr Drucker's words and thanks again to John – I just had to make a special posting of this one!

‘Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing’ - Albert Schweitzer

I remember my first week in the first senior healthcare management job I ever had. I was 22 and had got this job at a relatively young age in those days. Any ideas of pretentiousness were quickly dispelled by events.

I discovered that I had walked straight into something of a mini crisis in the Transport department. The Transport department consisted on one van driver and a relief driver who covered in the absence of the full time driver. My arrival coincided with a long spell of sickness for the relief driver and then after I had been in post for less than a week the full time driver went sick. I was assured this was not linked to my arrival!

Although my job was of course much wider than merely managing the transport it was nevertheless a small but important part of my duties and so I was immediately on the spot.

I had numerous demands from all the other departments who had been awaiting my arrival as the new hospital manager and yet there was a mini crisis in one small department.

I searched around and asked people what were the contingency plans for such an event. There were no plans as this had never happened before.

I suddenly became aware that I was alone here and had to do something. The only solution I could think of was to 'become the van driver' for a week until the regular driver came back to work after his sickness. And so my new smart office clothes that I had been proudly wearing for just three days were hung up and I donned the overalls and tunic of the van driver. I read the shift duties and asked around to become familiar with the duties. I was loading dirty laundry and unloading clean laundry I was a courier service delivering post and blood samples between hospitals and health centers. I was a 'people carrier' transporting nurses back and forth to the neighboring town for their training sessions. At the same time I was trying to fit in learning about other and bigger elements of my exciting new job.

Although this was not exactly how I had envisaged starting my career as a manager I still remember it well and I think it stood me in good stead for future challenges.

Having ‘been there and got the tee shirt’ I felt in a good position when challenged about the efficiency of the department – I was speaking from an informed position.

Over 20 years later when I was managing mental health services we had a staff crisis owing to industrial action and a work to rule.

I was telephoned by the Manager of a residential unit for Older People with mental health problems to say that the weekend coverage was stretched to breaking point and there were concerns that patient safety may be at risk unless we could approve overtime.

We were not allowed to pay overtime and so I offered to work two 12 hours shifts on the Saturday and the Sunday as an unqualified Nursing Assistant if it would help. The manager of the unit was grateful if a little suspicious about my motives and agreed that I could provide a pair of hands for two shifts to help cover the immediate crisis.
Those two days were as informative and instructive for me as any in my whole career and I learned so much. Working alongside the front line staff in such difficult circumstances was a profound experience that I will never forget and although I had always prided myself in how much I felt I could empathise with front line staff, this experience proved to me that we never truly know what it is like until we do it.

Moving on another few years I started a job as a Locality Manager and I wanted to get a feel for what it is really like to work as a District Nurse or Receptionist or Health Visitor and so I planned to spend at least one day working with a member of each of the professions I was accountable for. I planned it in partnership with the professionals concerned and there were a few cynical people who again were presumably suspicious of my intentions and motives. On the whole though I was received very well and again I found the learning to be very special. I felt privileged to be able to share the time with those staff and I am convinced it gave me much greater awareness of some of the things they have to deal with in the everyday sparring that goes on. There is simply no better experience than ‘doing the job.’ When circumstances dictate you have to ‘get your hands dirty’ and remember where you came from and why you are there.

I feel it should not be something we only do as leaders when there is a crisis. I would suggest all leaders or aspiring leaders would be well advised to build into their regular regime some time spent alongside their front line staff.

Leadership Lessons

‘Walking the talk’ means getting your hands dirty. You never lose the responsibility of making sure the job gets done. Your credibility is linked to how dirty you are prepared to see your hands become.

The Journey Through Change

Many times I see reluctance to accept change – including my own. I decided to summarise the typical story:

Stage One – Some research is done to indicate we need to change.

Stage Two – We rubbish the data and ask for more evidence of the need to change.

Stage Three – More evidence gathered which confirms the need to change.

Stage Four – We rubbish the data again but say that we are prepared to discuss it but make it clear we do not intend to change.

Stage Five – We reluctantly discuss proposed changes but remain unconvinced this is a positive way forward and complain that the old ways are better.

Stage Six – We gradually accept that changes may be required as we see others seemingly accepting the need for change.

Stage Seven – We get involved with others in implementing the change.

Stage Eight – We begin to see benefits in the new way.

Stage Nine – We start to promote the new way to others less happy with it.

Stage Ten – We become champions of the new way and start persuading others this is really the way forward (and, by the way, we supported it all along really)

Stage Eleven – Someone suggests changes to the new way.

We return to Stage Two …… and start again

Ok I accept that is very simplistic - what else would you expect from me? However I honestly believe there is a lot of truth in this from my experience in management for over 3 decades so do you agree broadly this journey through change is fairly typical or am I way off mark?

Achieving SUSTAINED Excellence - learn from these guys!

I think the ‘traditional’ world of management can learn a tremendous amount by looking outside its own ‘backyard’ and look at, for instance, sport and entertainment.

This last weekend has seen Manchester United forge ahead again by five clear points at the top of the English Premier League.

Also this weekend I was fortunate enough to see The Eagles play another fantastic concert to 20,000 fans at the O2 Arena in London.

One common factor about the phenomenal success of both Manchester United and The Eagles is how they have sustained excellence at the very top level for such a long time. It is not overnight success that blows out after a couple of years. We are talking high performance over a very long period.

Tom Peters famous best seller and the book that popularised management in the early 1980’s was called ‘In Search of Excellence.’

Even allowing for my obvious and self-confessed bias I suggest that Manchester United and The Eagles have achieved excellence and more importantly sustained it.

So …. Three questions to consider:

1 Just what are the ingredients that enable not only the achievement of excellence but sustained excellence for both The Eagles and Manchester United?

2 Can we apply those ingredients in the more traditional world of management in business?

3 If not, why not?

I will be fascinated to receive your comments on this.

49 Commonsense Business Observations

In the busy world of business do you, like me, ever have times when you could just do with a book to fill in an hour or so? You know - those times when you have the time but not the means to do some quick and simple learning through reading something that will leave a positive mark.

I have the answer for you.

Joel D Canfield is a friend from the US who I met through Tom Peters Blog. Joel has written a super little book called ‘49 Commonsense Business Observations’ and I have just read it in about one hour. It is written, unsurprisingly in commonsense language and is full of practical tips and ideas about how you can use commonsense to grow your business and your reputation. I recommend this book highly.

Joel and I share a common view about the need for commonsense to underpin all aspects of business and management. He uses this book to illustrate how you can add value to your work and your business through commonsense.

Joel places great emphasis on integrity, honesty and an ethical approach in business and as such he clearly is a man you will do well to take notice of. I know Joel wants to receive feedback about his book and you can see more about him and how to order Joel’s book on his web site. Later this year Joel will be publishing his follow on book called ‘The Commonsense Entrepreneur’

One of the joys of the internet and Blogging is the opportunity to ‘meet’ like minded people with whom I develop friendships that will last. I know Joel is someone who has terrific expertise and commonsense that I will be calling on regularly to increase my learning.

Good luck Joel – you deserve to succeed

The Big Question - Are you Manager or Coach?

If you have employees reporting to you in business these days, do you prefer to be called a manager or a coach? Nailing my colours to the mast - I love the word ‘coach’

This is not a new thing for me. I’ve ALWAYS had a problem with the word ‘manager’ when it comes to describing the relationship between the person in charge of a group of people at work. I’ve always held the view that people ‘manage’ themselves.

We manage ‘things’ – we ‘coach’ people is one of my favourite expressions!

Coaching of employees raises the ‘value’ of the relationship for both parties as far as I can see.

These days I feel privileged and honoured to be described as a coach for a few clients I work with. My ‘job’ is certainly not to ‘manage’ them. My role is to 'get alongside' the person and then it is our task working together to find ways in which they can solve any issues they may have. We plan how they can get to work on things they are good at and that they enjoy.

That description is a million miles away from the traditional description of a ‘manager.’

‘Manager’ to me implies status differential and demarcation on an organisational chart. ‘Manager’ implies somehow that one partner in the relationship is more important. That is not how I would describe my idea of effective working relationships.

Management is about rules and coaching is about getting the best out of people.

Real joy for me comes from seeing people flourish and thriving in their work and that they look forward to going to work.

In the NHS whenever I was described on my job description as a ‘manager’ I never saw myself as ‘managing’ people. I always felt our relationship was one of adults working together.

I think the best managers are actually 'coaches' - even if their job description describes them as a 'Manager'

In a nutshell it’s not about rules it’s about relationships.

My Thought for the Day

Whilst preparing to write a review for a colleague of Sir Richard Branson's book ‘Screw it Lets Do it’ I revisited the book.

I was reminded as early as Page 2 about why I think this is the best business book I’ve read since I read Tom Peters ‘In Search of Excellence’ 25 years ago.

I just love this extract and if this style is good enough for Sir Richard it is certainly good enough for me. How I wish all managers agreed with Sir Richard's view of the world.

‘Then there are those silly little rules that someone has invented for baffling reasons. I always think that if you set up quangos or committees, they will find something useless to do. The world is full of red tape, created by committees with too much time and an overbearing desire for control. Most red tape is a tangled mess of utterly useless, nonsensical jargon. If I want to do something worthwhile – or even just for fun – I won’t let silly rules stop me. I will find a legal way around the rules and give it a go.’

Complexity and Simplicity

I’ve been thinking about the very legitimate discussion that happens now and again between those who think simplicity is not the real world of business and life. I'm pretty sure some believe the world is full of complexity and maybe they think that simplicity as a mantra is a naive view.

Of course I accept that not everything in business is simple.

Of course there is complexity and it is hard work to try and work out for instance how the heck the NHS works in the UK if you don’t happen to work inside it. Actually even if you do work inside the NHS it is difficult to work out how it works!

My entire argument is that things do not have to be as complex as we make them.

Two things to illustrate my point.

Firstly I love story telling – it is perhaps the most under used skill of any manager or leader. It is such an effective method of communicating. We learn the skill from our Parents and Grandparents if we are lucky. We can carry on the tradition by telling stories to our own children and Grandchildren. So the brilliant news is you don’t need to go to business school to learn this skill. And yet mangers and business schools are already polluting story telling with unnecessarily complicated language by calling it

‘The use of narrative’

It is not 'the use of narrative' - for crying out loud IT IS STORY TELLING!

Secondly how many of you know anyone who goes to sleep at night hoping, praying and dreaming that their work will be more complex tomorrow?

I rest my case on Simplicity

Are Bad Manners now the norm in Business?

My friend and Business Associate David Wike raised an interesting issue with me in our latest email conversation. David was let down recently by a potential business client/customer who failed to show for a pre-arranged appointment.

When David rang to ask why he never showed the person explained he sent an email telling David he would not be able to make the appointment. David had not checked his e mail before leaving home and so he was oblivious to the email until he got back home.

I guess the person’s defence is he sent the e mail but as far as I’m concerned that is not enough.

I admit I am a bit obsessive about effective communication (actually I’m more than a ‘bit’ obsessive about communication) and I would probably double check the appointment but that is no excuse for what I consider bad manners.

I am increasingly surprised in modern society how some people are simply not conscientious enough to make sure they tell people if they cannot do something or make an appointment. Or even to simply respond to emails – we are talking basic communication skills here and good manners. This is not rocket science.

I believe email is the most fantastic form of communication ever invented BUT it is not fair to rely simply on email to transmit very important messages without checking.

In business we all have personal responsibility to demonstrate good manners and high ethics in our communication. I may be old fashioned but I see no defence whatsoever for such bad manners

Am I exaggerating the problem? - What do you think?