Monthly Archives: September 2012

Did the earth move?

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As a Leadership Coach of a number of years, I may be about to say something that upsets my fellow coaches, or worse, loses me future business as a coach! But, I’ll risk it for the sake of sharing what I believe needs to be said.  As coaches (and probably as clients too) we shouldn’t expect too much from the ‘coaching session’ itself.

What do I mean by this?  Well, I know there are coaches (and I have had this feeling too at times), who worry that, if the ‘earth doesn’t move’ for their clients during the coaching session, they must being doing something wrong.  We dream of our clients having ‘eureka’ moments, where the lights go on, and the path to their future vision becomes clearly illuminated.  Not only is this an unrealistic expectation (at least on each and every coaching engagement), it also ignores the fact that people are very different in the way that they process information and how they deal with issues of change.  I speak from personal experience in this matter.

There have been times, when I have been receiving coaching, that I have worried about how I have been showing up in the session. Sometimes I have felt less than engaged, or sensed that I had made the session unnecessarily challenging for the ‘poor coach’. I know (with my coach’s hat on) that I needn’t have worried about that. Coaches, are, after all, professionally trained and skilled in both supporting and challenging their clients, as appropriate, however they show up.

What I do know, from personal experience, is that my ‘eureka’ moments have tended to happen far away from the coaching session, and at moments when I am least expecting it. You see, I like models and frameworks. I enjoy concepts, paradigms and theories. My preferred method of processing information Continue reading →

Throw away the ladder and start climbing

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Do organisations and companies really still talk about the ‘career ladder’?  Well, it seems they do. They still live on in the minds of people and, some companies and organisations do still promise rising talent a fast-track route up the ladder, in return for loyalty and extended service.

Reading Leadership Freak’s post today,  I was inspired by a much more meaningful metaphor for the 21st Century than the ‘career ladder’  -  that of “The Climbing Wall”.

photo source: journal.davidbyrne.com

Multi-directional  While ladders are unidirectional, stifling and create ‘log-jams’, on a climbing wall you may move laterally as well as vertically. You may even choose to take a downward step in order to gain a more favourable foothold that will help propel you on an upward journey.

Keeping Options Open  The climbing wall allows you, at times, to have your feet in two different places. Having ‘a foot in two camps’ as you navigate your career, allows you to weigh up your next best move. This may temporarily be challenging, but It keeps your options open, and provides greater flexibility. We are increasingly seeing people operate in this way in the world of work, having more than one job, straddling disciplines, and changing career more often.  The possible routes you can take on a wall are endless, limited only by your imagination, while the traditional ladder concept makes it difficult to change, typically forcing you to come off the ladder and start again on a new one.

photo source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

Cooperation  You also have more opportunity to cooperate while on a climbing wall than you do on a ladder. People can more easily climb side by side, learning from a mentor perhaps, or with a coach who is simultaneously supporting and challenging.  You can also see people who may be in your way, you can take detours and move around them, rather than sit patiently waiting for them to move up the ladder ahead of you.

Breadth and Diversity  Multi-directional “wall climbing” in organisations, connects you with so many more people, aiding diversity, creativity and collaboration. Of course, we need deep specialists, and, in some technical areas, such as medicine, engineering or law, it is important that people become ‘expert’ in their chosen discipline.  However,  everyone can benefit from a broad awareness of other functions and disciplines, helping them become even more successful in their chosen speciality in the long run.

In today’s economic climate, possessing  a breadth of skills and experience is vital, and being ready and prepared to move in different directions, as circumstances change, is an essential asset.  Waiting your turn on the ladder, blinkered to what is going on around, is a dangerous strategy, leaving you exposed in a rapidly changing world.  In evolution, those best able to adapt, survive. Being fleet of foot, multi-skilled and able (and willing) to change direction, are the attributes that will help people thrive in this rapidly-changing and increasingly unpredictable world.

To discuss your future career aspirations and consider how you can enhance the flexibility, resilience and adaptability you will need to succeed, simply submit your contact details on the Contact Us page and I will be delighted to contact you for an initial chat.

Woody – Leading without authority

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2012 is the 100 years anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie. Woody is a legend and is recognised as the “grand-daddy” of folk music tradition. But he was much more than that. He was a poet, a writer, and a social commentator. He spoke out against injustice at a time when it was dangerous to do so. He inspired new generations of musicians, from Bob Dylan to The Clash.

I attended a tribute and celebration to Woody this week in the traditional coal-mining community of Treorchy in the South Wales valleys.  This was led by Billy Bragg, who has worked closely with Woody’s daughter Nora, to put music to lyrics by her father that had never been recorded. Billy, like Woody, is a songwriter and performer in the Guthrie mould.  Politically active, angry about injustice, optimistic about humanity.  It was a touching, funny and moving tribute, where Bragg warmly and respectfully held up a lens into Woody’s world and into his incredible mind.


His legacy is enormous and more than I could ever do justice in this short post.  To discover more about Woody go check out the official website.  I do, however, want to highlight some words he penned that he called his New Years Rulin’s. These words were written as simple resolutions, and, although simple, are both profound and meaningful words of wisdom that would not look out of place in any self-respecting ‘self-help’ book….This is a selection of his Rulin’s (for a look at his original list in full go to this link)

  • “Dream Good”
  • “Stay Glad”
  • “Keep Hoping Machine Running”
  • “Love Everybody”
  • “Make up your Mind”
  • “Read lots Good Books”
  • “Learn People Better”
  • “Help win War – beat Fascism”       (note: Woody was not afraid to dream big and believe that his music could achieve big things. He famously had the words “This machine kills fascists” written on his guitar).

How appropriate might these simple guidelines be to leaders, in all walks of life, today?

Woody Guthrie was a special kind of leader. He had no formal authority, he had no position of power.  He did not command political position, nor did he operate within corporate, government or religious frameworks. Yet, he Continue reading →

Employee Engagement and the Half-Time Team Talk

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Employee Engagement. Hackneyed phrase or holy grail? Having recently read the MacLeod/Clarke report to the British Government (Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement) on the subject, I am convinced that a) there is currently no better way of describing it and b) it is fundamentally important. To quote from the opening section, “If it is how the workforce performs that determines to a large extent whether companies or organisations succeed, then whether or not the workforce is positively encouraged to perform at its best should be a prime consideration for every leader and manager, and be placed at the heart of business strategy.”

I will leave you to delve into the rich findings, recommendations and case studies in the report, and I do recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in the subject of employee engagement. Here, I will simply draw out some of the barriers organisations feel inhibit effective engagement, together with the key principles highlighted that are imperative for successful implementation.

Barriers

  • Lack of Awareness.  Some leaders are not aware of employee engagement and what it can do for them. Others are reluctant to get involved, concerned that it may be seen as too ‘soft or fluffy’.
  • Uncertainty about Starting.  Some who are interested are unsure how to get involved and started, sometimes fearful that it has to involve ‘buying a product’ and therefore entail expense.
  • Culture.  The prevailing culture and working practices get in the way of delivering engagement, even when leaders place great emphasis on it. Managers may not share the belief, and attempts to implement can be resisted.
  • Underestimating engagement. Some see employee engagement as another job on a tick-list that is achieved when the annual staff survey is completed.

Enablers

  • Leadership.  The importance of a Leadership vision (or ‘strategic narrative’ as it is described in the report) cannot be overstated. A widespread understanding of purpose, and each person having a clear view of how their role contributes to that purpose is paramount.
  • Engaging Managers.  While it is key that Leaders set the purpose, vision and direction, it is the engaged manager who is at the “heart of success” in any workforce.  As one contributor to the report said, “the line manager is the lens through which I see the company and the company sees me.”
  • Voice.  Providing employees with a voice – so that they are listened to, are not fearful of raising issues, know that their views will be heard and could be used to help define and change the direction of the organisation.  This is, of course, a cultural challenge for many organisations where ‘token gesture’ attempts to implement ‘speak up’ policies have failed to penetrate the DNA.
  • Integrity.   Consistency across the organisation between stated values and behaviours. “If an employee sees the stated values of an organisation being lived by the leadership and colleagues, a sense of trust in the organisation is more likely to be developed, and this constitutes a powerful enabler of engagement.”

Regular readers of my posts will know that I enjoy looking to sport for leadership lessons and parallels. So, this week, my attention turns to Continue reading →