Archive for August, 2010
Having a tough conversation
Aug 23rd
Recent research has suggested that poor management skills in local government is resulting in more than two thirds of the average working day being wasted by junior staff, with another survey revealing that trust in managers across business in general is falling. Yet another survey indicates that just 14% of people interviewed felt their managers excelled at people management skills, whereas 44% of the managers involved in the research believed they had excellent management capability.
At the core of a good people manager is emotional intelligence; good managers understand themselves and their own strengths and weaknesses. It would appear in the third survey that the managers interviewed do not have a realistic understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Successful managers have the ability to understand others and to interpret the emotional and non verbal behaviour correctly which then provides them with the platform to communicate well with their people. It is interesting that in the research carried out that managers were observed either avoiding discussions about poor performance or were extremely uncomfortable dealing with it.
Effective leadership has many facets but at the centre of it all is communication. Leaders need to be able to share a vision and show how the efforts of others can help achieve that shared vision. They need to listen and they have to be willing to have “tough conversations”.
People enjoy receiving praise and recognition for a job well done, but first of all they need to know what a good job looks like. If poor perfornance is not being discussed with them, how will they know if they are doing something well? The role of a manger should include spelling out what is expected of people, what the standards of acceptable performance are and the consequences of both meeting and failing to meet those standards. People like to know where they stand, they want to know whether they are doing a good job or not. A manager is failing in their duty if they don’t give appropriate feedback at regular intervals.
Why do managers fail to lead as well as they might? The Chartered Management Institute suggests this might be due to years of inadequate training and development and the number of people who “reluctantly fall into management positions”. One telling statistic is that 63% had no management training before taking up a managerial post.
Ruth Spellman, chief executive of CMI, said: “We’re desperately short of good leaders in this country – just look at how many FTSE 100 companies have sourced CEOs from abroad and how many Premier League clubs have foreign managers. We’re crying out for much-needed home-grown leadership talent and it’s frustrating that employers are failing to capitalise on the dormant leadership skills that their employees don’t yet realise they have.”
Why do business use coaches?
Aug 18th
A recent survey by CIPD has asked, amongst other things, what the declared purpose of coaching is within their organisation. Approximately 40% of them identified performance management as the key reason with a third citing leadership and change management.
When it comes to managing performance it is surprising how many managers fail to clearly identify what “a good job” actually looks like for their team members. If the team do not know what success looks like how are they going to achieve it?
Bad news sells?
Aug 15th
Paul McCarthy is sports editor at the News of the World and last night he tweeted:
“Chris Bascombe has yet another #lfc exclusive that will devastate Liverpool fans and further exposes the unedifying situation at Anfield ”
Shortly after Chris Bascombe tweeted:
“If anyone thinks Hicks and Gillett have spent last 4 months trying to sell LFC, think again. They plotted to refinance 290m worth of debt”
and then:
“Americans blocked from trying to refinance debts by the rest of their own board as recently as July. Fight for future of LFC gets messier”
As a Liverpool fan my eye was obviously caught by these tweets, but I was also interested by the pessimistic view taken by Chris over this news. I don’t believe there are many Liverpool fans out there, if any, that trust Messrs Hicks and Gillett, the American owners of LFC, in anything they do. Their actions since taking over the club have long since lost them the goodwill and trust they had when they first took over from David Moores.
It therefore comes as no surprise to hear that Hicks and Gillett have been trying to retain control by renegotiating the loans on the club. Far from being devastating the news that the board has blocked them from doing this is actually good news as it demonstrates who actually has control at Liverpool. To successfully sell the club it needs the Board of Directors to be in charge and able to over rule owners whose interests do not appear to match those of Liverpool and the fans.
When this view was pointed out to Chris on twitter he replied:
“The blocking of Americans’ refinance plans is actually reassuring. Suggests balance of power has shifted. Future still uncertain, though.”
From this reply it would appear that Chris initially took a pessimistic view of the information he had discovered, only able to see the dark side of owners still trying, and failing, to retain control of the club. If he had taken a more optimistic view of the situation he could have seen this as great news for Liverpool fans as it suggests that Hiccks and Gillett are edging closer to the exit door, as they no longer have control of the decision making process with other members of the board now voting against them.
The tone of his article would therefore have been vastly different, but then there is also the adage that bad news sells more newspapers…….
Here is the article, so you can judge how different it could have been:
Is the internet making you stupid?
Aug 14th
Interesting article in the saturday review section of The Times today. American writer, Nicholas Carr, is suggesting that use of the internet is changing the way we think and absorb information. Apparently we are no longer able to/interested in reading books or long articles as the internet is wiring our brains differently, making it difficult for us to concentrate or think deeply about single issues.
I tend to agree with the main thrust of his argument, but what I found a little puzzling was that he has chosen to write a book about it. If we now think differently because of the internet who’s going to buy it?
Just in case it’s:
The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember
Nicholas Carr: Atlantic Books.
Life coach required – any volunteers?
Aug 9th
With the news that the nation’s favourite sweetheart is looking for a life coach is life coaching is about to become all the rage in the UK?
Cheryl is said to have sought help from a life coach following her illness with maleria and is reported to have turned to Tony Robbins for guidance. Simon Cowell is apparently in favour as he asserts that everyone in the States has a lifestyle guru to help guide them.
A personal coach can be a great help as coaching can bring about rapid, effective and lasting change to your confidence, motivation, work/life balance and success. I think the interesting aspect of this story is the person who is looking for a coach. The perception you have of Cheryl is that she is a strong, independent and confident individual, but even someone who has enjoyed her level of success still needs someone to bounce off and to give her the space to reflect.
On a related note Tiger Woods has just produced his worst display in a tournament since he turned professional. It’s interesting to note that he doesn’t currently have a coach…….
Perhaps it’s time you followed Cheryl’s lead……
Cool ad for Nokia…..
Aug 3rd
I used to think I was good at table football :-(
Love how clever advertising is getting these days! 
