Archive for January, 2010
What inspires you?
Jan 22nd
Everybody finds inspiration in different ways, but if we want to achieve our best we need to feed on those things, events or people that inspire us.
Liverpool played Spurs at anfield earlier this week, and some of the Liverpool fans decided it might help the team if they gathered outside the ground with their banners as the teams arrived. Liverpool duly won 2-0 and feedback from the coaching staff and players after the game said it help with their motivation for the game, knowing that the fans were solidly behind them. In an interview after the game Harry Redknapp, the Spurs manager, commented;
“You come here to Anfield, you stand there and listen to that crowd, and it’s the greatest sight in football.”
What inspires you and what effect does it have on you?
Consequence Management
Jan 22nd
One of the most important aspects of successful management is ensuring the people or team you manage understand the consequences of their actions.
People tend to have an innate desire to want to please, to want to achieve, to want recognition and to receive praise. As a manager it is therefore important to spell out to people what it is they need to do to achieve the above. If you analyse the role an individual has to perform there is a process they need to follow in order to achieve the desired result/outcome. If they understand this process and the steps they need to take they are far more likely to end up at the desired destination. The consequences of them doing this will therefore be positive.
However, they also need guidelines on what the consequences are if they don’t follow the correct process. Many years ago I sold double glazing and our office wasn’t doing too well. I was going into work each day half expecting the branch manager to call me into his office to fire me, results were that bad. One day during this spell we received a visit from the MD of the company who got us in a meeting and told us how disappointed he was in results. He announced that he would be coming back to see us in two weeks to review progress. He told us that on that morning in two weeks time he wanted us to think as we were about to get out of bed; “have I sold two orders in the last weeks?”. If the answer was yes, he wanted us to come to the office where he would be very pleased to see us. If the answer was no, we could have a lie in as we no longer had a job.
Having this spelt out so clearly to me had a truly liberating effect on me, as I now knew exactly where I stood and what was expected of me. In the next two days I went out and sold 3 orders. What had changed? There was no longer any uncertainty about my position. I wasn’t taught any new skills, but the meeting had enabled me to focus on the task in hand, as the future was now clear. I had specific consequences and I could influence the outcome through my actions.
Do your people know exactly what is expected of them and what the subsequent consequences are?
To help illustrate the point here is a clip from the Untouchables, where Sean Connery is testing Kevin Costner on his understanding of exactly what he will need to do to achieve his desired goal.
Why do women wear make up?
Jan 12th
A Skincare company, St Ives, has recently conducted a survey to find out peoples views on make up. Of the male respondents, 20% said they would like their wives and girlfriends to wear less make up, with a further 10% who would prefer them to wear no make up at all. (what it has got to do with men, I’m not really sure….)
What I found interesting was that 25% of women polled admitted using “heavy make up” to create a shield to mask their lack of confidence. It got me wondering what else people use to cover up issues over confidence. I have a beard which I grew when I was at university. The reason for growing it at the time was that shaving made my skin red, blotchy and very irritable, but I also noticed an increase in confidence as well. You wouldn’t think having a beard or wearing make up would make a difference, but it clearly does to some people.
I have worked with a senior manager at a Bluechip company who has to present each year to the 500 people who work in their department. They are very good on their feet, but each year they buy a new suit, specifically for the presentation, as the new clothes make them feel more confident and energised. I don’t think this is an isolated example either, as the clothese we wear put us in different moods.
A company I used to work for went through a phase where people didn’t need to wear a suit to work, “smart casual” became the order of the day. Within 6 months, all the men had shed the polo shirt and chinos and were back in their suit and tie, as pyschologically they felt this was more approriate attire for business.
The dress code and the way we look also has an effect on the people we deal with. I worked with a company where the Directors used to go out and see customers in company branded polo shirts and work trousers on the basis that it suited the nature of the industry they were engaged in. They experimented with wearing a suit and tie to go and see clients and found they received a completely different response, with the company directors they were meeting treating them with far more respect and professionalism. I don’t think it was a coincidence that their sales went up at around the same time either!
Research appears to back up the anecdotal evidence that what we look like (be it make up, clothes etc ) has an impact on how we are perceived in a business environemt. For example in a survey 64 per cent of directors said that women who wore make-up look more professional and 18 per cent of directors said that women who do not wear make-up “look like they can’t be bothered to make an effort”. In a survey of female business leaders, 22% of of CEO’s, senior managers and business owners said they had withheld a promotion or raise because of the way the individual had dressed at work.
Perhaps the way we look is not just about giving ourselves confidence but also about inspiring confidence in others.
