Leaders are followed because people trust and respect them and this tends to be achieved through the leaders behaviours rather than the skills they possess.

Being able to modify your behaviour to meet different circumstances is an important facet of successful leadership. Effective Leaders need to be able to use a variety of styles to suit both the situation they find themsleves in and the people they are leading. Understanding your natural style of leadership is the first step in this process and how you can adapt this to meet different demands. Below is a link to a simple test created by The University of Kent to establish what is your natural style of leadership and gives you pointers on how this can be received by the people you lead:

What type of Leader are you?

Do the test and find out if you are Napoleon, Florence Nightingale, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela or Ghandi!

Three months on and she was on the verge of handing in her resignation. Why? Mary was bored and was feeling under utilised and under valued. She was going into work and carrying out duties that she did not find challenging or stretching. Mary had been bought in to help set up and run a new department in the company which involved selling a new service to a section of the market that were unfamiliar with it and the benefits it could bring. This challenge tied directly into her previous experience, but instead of being given the freedom to shape and influence the direction of the department she found these decisions being taken at Board level by people with no real experience in this area.

Mary was going home each day boiling with frustration, full of ideas on how to improve performance that were being ignored by Directors who had fixed views on what should be done based on little more than emotion and anecdotal evidence.

Sadly this is a fairly common picture up and down the country with Business Leaders not prepared to “take the risk” of creating an environment and culture which allows talented people to flourish.  Too often Leaders feel the need to keep control in the belief that they should know best and have all the answers to the issues faced by the company.

Instead Leaders should be looking to empower their people whenever possible. To do so isn’t to abdicate your responsibility as a Leader, instead it’s an opportunity to recognise the importance of your team members and give them a platform to demonstrate their potential. As a result your people will feel valued and their commitment and loyalty will increase.

Here are 6 tips on how to take the first steps to empowerment:

1)      Clearly define their responsibilities. Unless people are absolutely clear what is expected of them, there is the chance they will fail to meet expectations and also will not understand why. This will breed resentment and uncertainty, a recipe for disaster. Do they know what success looks like?

2)      Give them authority equal to their responsibilities. Having defined their role and responsibilities allow them to make the necessary decisions within that remit. Constantly asking for permission on minor issues only serves to decrease morale and drive.

3)      Give them knowledge and information. Information is power and open communication and sharing of appropriate levels of information is important to ensure people feel valued and able to contribute effectively.

4)      Trust them. Giving them responsibility involves letting go of the apron strings. Discuss and agree outcomes and then let them get on with it, letting them know where you are should they need help and advice along the way.

5)      Give them permission to fail. If they never take risks, they will never grow. There are many opportunities on projects etc for people to fail that aren’t catastrophic to the overall goal. By allowing people to fail, they can learn and develop their decision making skills. Remember what happened when you made mistakes? What did you learn?

6)      Recognise them for their achievements. This is a critical part of the process. If they don’t receive praise and recognition for their performance, where is their incentive to strive and challenge themselves?

How many of these 6 steps are you already practising?

If you were to ask your staff how empowered they feel, what do you think they would say?

What more could you do?

Mary? She decided to have a meeting with the Directors and challenge them to follow the 6 steps above. Three month later, Mary is happy in the role, and the department is now starting to take great strides towards achieving the agreed goals. Surprising how much can be achieved with open communication and a frank exchange of views….

Watching the Oscars last weekend and the various winners coming up on stage to make their acceptance speeches, I found myself thinking about Michelle Pfeiffer who I had been watching in Frankie and Johnny the previous evening.

While Michelle has been nominated for an Oscar three times, she has never actually won one, although she has won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe during her career to date. At the peak of her career she was an A list actress, a superstar in the world of acting, and it was at the height of her fame that she came out with the following quote;

“I still think people will find out that I’m really not very talented. I’m really not very good. It’s all been a big sham.”

She’s not alone in having these thoughts; here are Kate Winslet’s thoughts on her acting career;

“Sometimes I wake up in the morning before going off to a shoot, and I think, I can’t do this; I’m a fraud. They’re going to fire me — all these things. I’m fat; I’m ugly… “

How can 2 award winning actresses, widely regarded as among the best in their field, believe such things about themselves? These beliefs are surprisingly common and are known as the “Imposter Syndrome”.

The Imposter Syndrome describes how people suffer from the feeling that they are imposters and they do not belong where they are and they don’t deserve what they have accomplished through their own talent and hard work. Instead they tend to attribute any success they have to luck, help from others, timing or the ability to fool others into thinking they are smarter than they really are.
Unless they learn to deal with this self doubt, people suffering from the Imposter Syndrome will sell themselves short, become risk averse and will hold themselves back from achieving as much as they could.

So how can you break this thought process and accept the skills you have? Here are 6 tips on dealing with the Imposter Syndrome:

1. Separate feelings from fact. There are times you’ll feel stupid. It happens to everyone from time to time. Realize that just because you may feel stupid, it doesn’t mean you are.

2.  Recognise and accept your strengths. Instead of blaming luck or others when something goes well for you, accept you have played the major part in the success you achieve. Be proud of what you have done. If you don’t believe in yourself why should others?

3.  Develop a new response to failure and mistake making. Henry Ford said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”  Instead of constantly beating yourself up for making mistakes learn from them, put them behind you and move on.

4.  Develop a new script. Your script is that automatic mental record that starts playing in situations that trigger your Imposter feelings.  When you start a new job for example, instead of thinking, “Wait till they find out I have no idea what I’m doing,” try thinking, “Everyone who starts something new feels awkward in the beginning. I may not know all the answers but I’m smart enough to find them out.”

5.  Visualise success. Professional athletes spend time before an event picturing themselves succeeding and getting a sense of the feelings they will have when they reach their goals. The successful people in sports and business don’t think in terms of failure and defeat, expect success and you are far more likely to achieve it. Don’t wait until you feel confident to start pushing yourself. Courage comes from taking risks. Change your behaviour first and allow your confidence to build.

6. Keep a journal. Write down what you do. It doesn’t have to be war and peace, just a note of the tasks you have completed, the challenges you have faced, how you felt before during and after. This will build up a dossier for you and act as a reminder for you of just what you are capable of the next time you encounter self doubt.

Do you ever feel like a fake?

When do you feel like that?

How have you tried to deal with these feelings in the past?

What could you do differently in the future?

Who said what….

1) “I just never know if I’m going to pull it off, I have terrible  grave concerns about my own ability.”  Matt Damon

Bellamy found his first meeting with Steve Peters, the Sports Psychologist, to be transformational giving him a calm and fresh perspective on situations. There has been a distinct impact on his performance on the field with 6 goals in his last 7 Premier League games. He’s also not been booked in his last 9 games.

Bellamy puts the change down to his work with Peters which has helped relieve him  of the tension he felt in games, where he was driven by a fear of failure. Instead he is learning to take a different perspective on situations and this is helping with life away from football as well;

“‘Ten minutes into the first meeting it registered,’ Bellamy says. ‘This is not about me becoming a better footballer, I’m not interested in that. If it helps my football, then great. If it helps me after football, that’s more important.

If it helps me deal with not being able to fall back on football, to enjoy my life, my wife, my kids, stop stressing over things that I don’t have…

I’ve spent too much of my career believing that I’m only judged on what I win or the impact I’ve had crazy thought that I have to win something, otherwise my career’s a complete failure. It’s ridiculous. Will a trophy change me as a person? No. Will it make me a better player? No. So what the hell am I worried about?’

He adds: ‘If I’d carried on the way I was going… I was just torturing myself day in, day out. What happens when I finish, thinking everything I’ve done in football is just a waste of time? ‘No-one else is believing this. I am.’

It is interesting that Peters rates ‘fear of failure’ as one of the psychological states that must be eliminated before a team or an individual can be successful.

“Everyone is different, but there are some common conditions that athletes suffer from,” Peters says. “Anxiety is one, and reducing it is vital for performance. Anxiety is brought on by fear of failure, which can stem from fear of letting people down or being overwhelmed by the significance of an event. It can arise when expectations of you are high. It’s important to recognise it and reduce it. Fear of failure has no place in high level sport.”

So how does Steve Peters think you can do this?

“First of all you spend time getting to know a player and understand how his mind is working. Players have to learn to get inside their own heads and work out what’s going on in there.

“They need to work out what’s happening in their heads now, and work out what needs to happen, then we identify the barriers that are stopping their minds from working as effectively as possible, and remove them. Why is there fear of failure? Why is there anxiety or nervousness? When we know, we can remove it. We can switch off the part of the brain that’s causing it.”

On match days, he says it is crucial for players to have a “strict mental warm-up plan” that prevents them from falling into old negative habits.

Peters is insistent that anyone can control their mind. “You don’t have to let it lead you. You can reconstruct your personality and tap into the strengths within your own brain to contain the bits that have been hijacking you without you realising it.

“I ask people to see in themselves what they need to be doing and help them get there. If you said ‘I want to get fit’ and you went to a gym, you could go there and train yourself and do really well, but you would probably be better going there with a strength and conditioning coach who can work with you. It’s the same with the mind.”

The methods used by Peters don’t just apply to people in the world of sports. Everyone in all walks of life face similar situations and a coach can help you identify the factors that are preventing you moving forward and achieving the goals you have. Self limiting beliefs are very common and as Peters explains having someone by your side to help you through the process can aide you in understanding the changes you need to make to improve in the areas that are of importance to you.

What is holding you back?

Who do you have to help you beat the fear of failure?

www.thecoachbusiness.com

Link to The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters

People leave their managers not their jobs.

Research has shown that a majority of people leave their jobs not because they don’t like the work they do, but because they don’t get on with their Boss. The major reason cited in exit interviews is the relationship they have with their line manager, and as managers we have a responsibility to consider the impact we have on those around us with our actions.

There are a number of examples of poor management techniques which contribute to the breakdown in relationship between management and staff, here are 10 of the most common:

1)   Not listening and not making people feel valued

People like to deal with those people who are professional and who make them feel valued. Too often a poor manager will not take the time to actively listen to their staff, instead choosing  to check their e-mails, take phone calls and allow a variety of other interruptions whilst they are having a conversation/update/meeting with their people. How frustrating does it feel when you have the feeling that someone is not really paying attention to what you are saying? How do you think others feel when you are doing this to them?

2)   Micro managing – shows lack of trust

If you spend all your time checking up on what others are doing, how do you find the time to do your own job? People will never give of their best if they have the feeling that they are not to be trusted or that they constantly have someone looking over their shoulder and checking up on them. If you expect the worst of people that is what they will usually deliver, as that is what you are looking for!

3)   Too much focus on the task and not the individuals

If a manager has too much focus on achievement of a task they tend to disregard the individuals involved in helping achieve said task. Their behaviour is impersonal, they don’t tend to have any interest in how their people are feeling, and praise recognition and encouragment are in short supply. This is another example of people not feeling valued and can quickly lead to disenchantment.

4)   Not enforcing standards

People need to have a clear understanding of their roles and expectations, and it is equally important that, having defined the standards that are expected, these are enforced. Too often a poor manager will fail to take the appropriate action when standards are not met and this then sends the message that the standards are not important or relevant. People respect a manager when they display strength, integrity and a sense of fair play. Not enforcing standards implies these qualities are lacking in a manager.

5)    Not communicating expectations effectively

If people don’t have a clear understanding of what success looks like how will they know if they have done a good job? “If they don’t get shouted at,” is not the right answer! When people understand what is expected of them and how they can meet those expectations they tend to have a greater degree of confidence in their ability to meet those expectations – assuming those expectations are realistic in the first place!

6)    Lack of feedback – positive and negative

If you dont take the time to tell people how they are doing, how will they know if they are meeting expectations? If they receive regular timely feedback they will have a greater understanding of what they need to do in order to achieve their objectives, be it a continuance of current behaviour or a correction in their activity. If the feedback is presented in a constructive, objective and calm manner it can be a great development tool to help people grow and improve.

7)    Using communication on a need to know basis only

Another quick way to frustrate people is to keep them in the dark about issues that have some bearing on their role in the organisation. If plans and other areas of the business are treated as secrets not to be shared with other departments, how can staff gain an understanding of how they can play an effective part in the achievement of company goals. Effective communication of the company vision and objectives has an important role to play in improving employee engagement.

8)    Making decisions and then asking for feedback

If people are to take ownership of their departmental/team goals they need to feel that they have a part to play in the decision making process. Weak managers will view their role to be the one to have all the answers and to hand the decisions made down to the workforce. If the decisions are being made from the top down what is the point in asking those on the ground floor for their thoughts? If the decisions have already been made what difference will it make if they think it is a good idea or not? At best it is an exercise in patronisation!

The final decision should rest at the top, but it is good management practise to canvass opinion from the relevant sections of the company, before the decisions are made. It is quite often the case that the people at the sharp end will have the experience and knowledge to best know how to handle certain situations, doesn’t it therefore make sense to obtain their feedback before deciding on a particular course of action?

9)    Passing the buck

I know one manager who announced to a new member of staff on their first day that any success they achieved in their role would be down to the manager, but they would get the blame for anything that went wrong! How do you think that member of staff viewed their manager?

The art of good management means taking responsibility when it is due and allowing others to take the credit when it is deserved. Poor managers look to point the finger of blame away from them at every opportunity, this only has short term benefits for the manager, as their limitations are soon identified.

10) No sense of humour

If you don’t enjoy your job, why should the people that work for you? A sense of humour is a vital element in the make up of successful managers, it indicates you are working for someone who is in control, someone who is relaxed and someone who is confident in achieving success. It doesn’t prevent you from being professional as there is a time and a place to have a laugh, and a time and a place to fully focus on achieving objectives, but a little lightness goes a long long way.

Think about the best managers you have worked for, how do their qualities match those listed above?

Now answer the same question about the worst manager you have worked for or with……

How do you compare?

We discussed Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Human Givens, but I think this 10 minute video does a great job of explaining where money fits into the motivation ladder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

After appearing on a phone in last week, this week seemed to be a week to listen to them!

This one was a football phone in and a football fan had called in to justify why he and his fellow fans thought it was a good idea to boo their own players. Jason Roberts, a professional footballer, was aghast at the idea.

“How can you possibly think that booing your own players is going to help them?”

“It might not help some, but there are definitely some players who want to prove you wrong when you boo them”, was the confident reply.

A player at Spurs had a different view;

“when your fans get behind you it’s the most exciting feeling possible. It’s so important that a player feels appreciated by his own fans – otherwise he has to fight against them as well as the other team and their supporters.”

Whilst at Liverpool Fernando Torres said;

“With just 45,000 fans there, that roar they give makes you think you have wings on your feet.”

I wonder if the fans at Chelsea give him the same sense of invincibility?

There doesn’t appear to be any logic in the football fans argument that booing your own players will make them player better. It also begs the question why in other environments, work and home life for example, do we spend so much time telling people what they are doing wrong rather than telling them what they are doing well?

There has been an example of this in the last week with the row between Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron, with the French president expressing rage at the constant criticism and lectures from UK ministers.

Sarkozy bluntly told Cameron: “You have lost a good opportunity to shut up.” He added: “We are sick of you criticising us and telling us what to do. You say you hate the euro and now you want to interfere in our meetings.”

You wonder if there would have been a different interaction if Cameron and the Government had taken a more positive approach, whilst still having the same goals they currently have….

Recent research suggests that the vast majority of what children hear consists of them being told not to do this and not to do that. If we are not taking the time to explain what they do well, and why they do it well, how can we expect them to grow and improve?

In work environments, the more enlightened managers and leaders spend their time trying to “catch people doing something right” and then giving them suitable levels of praise and recognition. In doing this it is important to bear in mind that the praise needs to be specific and related to a specific behaviour or action, rather than praise for praise sake.

There are many Business Leaders who have been influenced by the work of Ken Blanchard and he believes if he had to choose just one thing to teach about for the rest of his life, he has no doubt that “catching people doing things right” would be his lasting message. His research has shown that positive reinforcement and redirection can help increase productivity.

Think about somebody that you have worked with and admired. How did they behave? How did they treat you? How much belief did they have in you? What impact did this have on you?

Now think about somebody who you worked for that you didn’t respect or admire and ask yourself the same questions.

Research in the States has shown that 64% of people leave their jobs not because of the company or the work conditions, instead they leave because of the Boss they work for. This demonstrates that the way we motivate at work is key.

The question is, what type of fan are you?

 
A few days ago I was listening to a radio phone in, as a friend of mine had been invited on to discuss the latest research which suggested that men are quicker to say “I love you” to a new partner than women were. Before my friend (www.glow-coaching.co.uk ) was interviewed the presenter spoke to a pyschologist who declared that those men who did say “I love you” first were likely to have done so as their goal was to have sex, and they knew that women were more likely to agree upon receiving this message.

However this would not apply to women who said it first as they had different emotional needs and would say it for different reasons. The research from the study has a number of interpretations and it has been interesting to read the different views people have on the findings of the various studies on the subject.
These views are usually formed by our own experiences and they then tend to dictate how we react to different situations. For example if you are in a relationship and your partner has declared their love for you, how did you react when they first told you?

Did you make the assumption as the psychologist suggests that they were after “something”?

If you were the first to say it, how did you expect/hope your partner to react?

When working with people on their communication skills, be they leaders, sales people, people wanting career coaching or dating advice etc, one of the key areas to discuss and consider is how the person/group you are communicating with might feel and react to the message you are giving.

Too often people will make the assumption that the people they are communicating with will have exactly the same view of the situation as them, and they will fail to consider how else they could feel about and interpret a situation. Being able to walk in another persons shoes for a while is a great asset to have in effective communication.

As an example to demonstrate this let’s assume you have a situation you are trying to resolve with a member of your team.

A simple and effective way to come up with a potential solution that will suit everyone is to put three chairs in a triangle, facing each other. Sit in the first chair and describe how you feel about the situation, what you think the issues and potential solutions are and so on.

Then move to the second chair and imagine you are the other individual. Then you need to describe how you, as the other person, thinks and feels about the situation. The challenge with this is “staying in character” and making sure you are expressing what you believe the other person will be thinking and how they are viewing the situation.

Having done this, move to the third chair. The movement between chairs is important as the physical act of changing chairs helps you take on the new thought processes. In the third chair you are playing the role of an objective observer and in this role you need to give some objective advice on what you see and what needs to be considered.

Sound crazy?

Try it, you will be surprised how effective it can be!

The starting point is to remember that everyone has a different view of the world, and it won’t be the same as yours.

If you can catch a glimpse of their view you are in a far better position to achieve a successful outcome to any communication you engage in, even winning the affections of your partner!

What can you see here?

A young woman?

An old Lady?

Or both?

“The funny thing is, people’s perceptions of what a song is about is
usually wrong a majority of the time. But they’re still going to read what they
want to into it. ~ Vince Gill

post script…..

Jimmy Savile, who passed away this week, expressed the importance of considering others point of view when asked some years ago about his show, Jim’ll fix it;

“I never to this day, had a favourite Fix it, because I never looked at it from my point of view. For most of them, that was the biggest thing that ever happened in their lives at that time, so they were all favourites”.

RIP Jimmy.

Do you know why your clients buy from you?

People and companies buy products and services either because they need them or because they want them. If you can understand what is motivating your potential customers you will be able to tailor your sales pitch to better suit your clients, thus making it easier for them to make the decision to buy.

For example people buy electricity because they need it rather than because they want it. On the other hand people tend to buy house plants because they want them, rather than need them. Every purchase made will have a need or a want behind it, and understanding what the driver is,  is key to making successful sales. This is the case if someone buys a bar of chocolate at the train station or if they decide to buy a house, the difference lies in the amount of thought that goes into the decision and the amount of information required to enable the decision to be made.

Based on the strength of the need and/or the want the type of sale you make breaks down into one of three categories:

1) Hostage Sales: This is where the need for the product or service is the over riding driver in the decision making process. A company’s printing requirements might be an example of this. They need brochures and business cards to send out to potential clients, the need here is far greater than the want.

In these instances the client is making a choice as to which company to use rather than whether they should have the product or not. From a sales point of view it is therefore important to sell the benefits of using your company, so you may want to focus on the reliability and speed of service in addition to the quality of the finished products.

The danger with these types of purchases is that the client can feel resentful of the company they are buying from, as they need to have it and feel as though there is no choice in the matter. This can lead to them “bad mouthing” you to friends and colleagues. Companies in a near monopoly position can often suffer from this and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest this happens with the likes of BT, Sky, British Gas and so on. This is why excellence in customer service is such a critical factor for companies in this position, because f you don’t look after your clients they will happily jump ship as soon as they find an alternative supplier.

2) Emotional sales:  Here the want for the product or service is greater than the need for it. The individual or company can do without the product and it can often be an impulse purchase. A magazine or newspaper subscription can be an example of this. It’s a nice to have but you can live without it. When times are tough, if the client doesn’t feel there is any huge value in the subscription then it will soon be cancelled.

Customer service is still important, but the key criteria here is the quality of the product. If the articles in the magazine are of interest to the reader and they derive real value from them then the client is likely to view the subscription as more of a need to have than an impulse purchase.  From a sales point of view it is important to focus on how the product or service will enhance the lifestyle of the individual or company, perhaps the product will be a status symbol for them or provide a feel good factor.

The potential danger with Emotional Sales is that the client does not perceive any lasting value in repeating the purchase, so you find yourself in a position of constantly having to find new customers as you are not building regular repeat business. Building brand and company loyalty is a major factor in achieving success in this area of sales.

3) Sustainable sales: The ideal scenario for a company, as the clients have both a strong need and a strong want for the product or service. They like the product, they like the service and they understand how it benefits them to have the product and to buy it from you. This could be something as simple as a solicitor’s office having a regular contract to have flower displays in their reception. The general manager of the practice who bought the contract believes that the flowers are a symbol of the success and friendliness of the practise and as such send out a strong message to potential clients. To stop the contract would be a sign to clients that the practice has started to struggle.

The potential danger is that the client could decide to cut back on such expenses, but the bigger danger is that the client could decide to change suppliers. They still view the flowers contract as important, but believe they might get a better deal/service from one of your competitors.  Having landed the contract it is important to look after your clients and maintain the level of quality, in both product and service, that intitially persuaded them to buy from you. That’s why it’s always a little puzzling to see the huge offers open to new customers of Sky, BT  etc that are not available to their existing customer base. Yes they need to entice new customers, but what message are they sending out to existing ones?

If you arre operating in the 4th zone, where the perceived need and want are low you won’t be making many sales! This happens when the sales person spends all their time talking about the features of the product or service rather than linking these to the benefits that they bring to the clients. Having the latest digital print facilities to produce company brochures with mean nothing to your clients.

However if you can demonstrate how this means you can produce smaller print runs, reduce turnround times and improve quality, which in turn will result in you being able to provide 250 new brochures by the end of the week in time for the exhibition your client has on Saturday; increases the need and want of the client for your services.

Think about your clients, do they buy because they need your services or because they want them?

How can you increase the desire to buy?

“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, “Make me feel important.” Not only will you succeed in
sales, you will succeed in life.”

Mary Kay Ash