Paul's realworld blog

Is politeness getting in the way of productivity – how to say ‘No’ to time wasters

2012-01-26T05:48:00.000-08:00

Everyone keeps telling us they are really busy. Whenever we interact with managers on workshops they are snowed under. They really value the time away from the office taking stock, but that’s a different story. When we meet with clients, or try to arrange meetings with prospective clients, finding time to meet is getting more and more difficult. I had two meetings this week which make me question this though...

The other day, we had a meeting arranged with a prospective client. We’d met with them before, got along really well and had a really open, exploratory discussion. This meeting was a bit of a follow-up, but was intended to get into more specifics. After 40 minutes of pulling teeth I was exposed to my own interviewer’s trick I use when I’ve had enough of the interviewee. It goes something like this - “So any more questions you’d like to ask me?!”. What the body language and intonation really mean is “No. Good. Then bugger off!”. The person I was meeting with clearly didn’t want to share anything, learn from what we had to say or explore options. Waste of time and train fare.

Today, I’ve literally just got back from a meeting we had arranged with another prospective client. An hour’s drive away. Nice place, sat down to play with the iPad (which is all you can do with an iPad no matter what anyone tells you!), ordered a coffee. Lady approaches, here we go. “Are you Paul?” I’m so and so”. Great, and? “The person you were going to meet is.....on holiday”. Great. Thanks. She’ll call us when she’s back? Great, I’ll hold my breath then shall I?

Got me thinking, as I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about this issue of people being too busy. I’m convinced it’s not that people are too busy, but they are choosing to work on too much stuff at once. These two situations also make me wonder if we are just too polite, or lack the courage to decline meetings we don’t see the value in. If we are that busy, why commit to meetings we have no intention of getting any value out of! If the two people I’ve mentioned above had just declined the meeting invite it would have saved everyone a load of time to get on with all of the million and one things we supposedly have on! Including the lady who was so busy she was on holiday. And I ask you, which is ruder, saying no in the first place, or making someone else waste their time in addition to yours?

So, easy tips on how to say ‘no’:

Just say it. Go on, practice. “I’m sorry, no”. However, do also....
Provide reasons - this shows we have thought about our response and people will find it easier to accept if they can see a rational reason
Empathise - state that you acknowledge their position and recognise its importance to them. This signals that our ‘no’ is considered so we are refusing the request not rejecting the person
Provide alternatives - this demonstrates we do want to help, we’re just not able to at the moment. It generates actions which may still be helpful

Here’s an example:
‘I’m sorry, I’m going to say no to a meeting rather than waste your time. Things are really busy at the moment, I’m being tasked with other stuff and not able to treat development as a priority. I’d be happy to learn more about what you do if you want to send us some information and I anticipate things freeing up in 3 months’ time so you could make contact again then’.

A pragmatic approach to developing L&D strategy

2012-01-17T06:02:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity recently to talk to a client about their Management Development strategy. It got me thinking. In my experience many HR/L&D (HRD from now on) people find it a real challenge to (succinctly) define their people development strategy. This might seem harsh, but if you are an HRD type person then I challenge you to verbalise it. Go on, try it. In 30 words or less.

This is partly because we HRD types hold the intuitive belief that developing people is inherently important and (probably) has an impact on the business. Of course we’ve never been able to prove it, despite all the work on training evaluation and human capital measurement. I also have a strong feeling that we suspect deep down that ‘training’ doesn’t really work. However, in the current climate I reckon that the ability to make a straightforward, succinct business case for continuing to invest in management development is not only in our interest as a business, but our fellow HRD professionals’ too. If not, then how can we demonstrate that we really do add value to the organisation?!

So, in simple terms this is our take on defining management development strategy.

Defining people strategy should really be no different to defining business strategy so we’ll start there first. Business strategy is really about understanding the environment in which the organisation operates, in order to find ways to develop a competitive advantage, or simply continue making money. We know there is tons of research on strategy, but in essence the kinds of things we would consider when developing strategy are:

§ competitors - who they are, what they’re good at compared to us

§ the economic situation - what’s happening now and what might happen in the future that will impact us

§ customers - who they are and what they want

§ the market – where do we intend to sell our stuff

§ our offering – what are we selling and why is it better than everyone else’s offering

§ and other stuff such as legal or environmental issues and how they might impact on the market place we operate in

Of course, when talking about management development strategy, not all of this applies, at least in the same way. What does apply though is the following:

Business environment.

In this I include the economic situation and the market. Even though HRD is an internal function we still need a firm grasp on what is happening in the outside world. HRD professionals need to talk to their senior managers and understand as much as they can about what’s happening in the market in which the company operates – what are the constraints, challenges, opportunities? This provides our context for how we add value to the business. Even though we cannot shape the external environment we can play a major role in shaping how the business positions itself and how capable it is to compete in the external environment through its people.

Competitors

Many businesses would kill to have no competition, yet this situation is exactly what almost all HRD functions enjoy. Internally we are the experts and there is no other competition for delivering our service. Even the use of external consultants and specialists tends to be policed by the function! If this was a business it could become complacent. I wonder if this is why HRD functions tend to be criticised so much by line managers?!

Customers

Some big businesses (think Tesco) spend millions on understanding their customers - who they are, what they want, and how they behave. HRD has a great opportunity to do the same. The people in your business are your customers, but, as with external customers, your managers and employees all want different things. If you were a business, you would segment customers by demographic, how old they are, where they live, where they work, how many kids they have, what they purchase and why etc. The challenge for HRD functions, therefore, is to first identify who the different employee ‘segments’ are. Then find out what those different groups of employees want from you and the company as a whole. For some it may be more money, for others more holiday or flexible working. Our own research on the reasons people give for leaving companies actually reveals that the number one reason is to do with lack of career progression and development. Eureka! If that’s true of your company then all of a sudden you have a proper piece of strategic information – your people desire development from the company, if they don’t get it they will leave. This costs money and loses intellectual capital, which means we need to invest in developing and retaining people in order for the business to compete and thrive….

So what does this prove? Well business strategy is driven by information. Without a thorough understanding of the kinds of things we have talked about, your the business will not be able to make informed decisions about how to compete and grow. It’s the same with people decisions – without good info you will not able to make informed decisions about where to spend your (limited) development budget. Or influence those who do decide where it gets spent! HRD professionals need to think about how to gather sensible people information and then use it to make the case for being specific about where to invest in people development – because it will complement the business strategy, rather than simply being a good thing to do.

However, as HRD pros we struggle with people metrics. This is partly because it is difficult to measure behaviour - no-one has yet made the absolute empirical linkage between people satisfaction and performance - but it is also because HRD professionals tend to view defining metrics as the end point - I used to spend hours, days, discussing HR metrics with colleagues when I had a proper job. We never got much beyond absence and turnover. Metrics are not the end point, they are the means to the end - which is helping the business align its people processes to help it compete.

I believe in keeping it simple, maybe all we do need to do (as a starting point) is look at absence and turnover, maybe performance ratings, employee satisfaction ratings, exit interview data. We could then look at the numbers by age group, grade, gender. The point is we need to start somewhere to provide us with some clarity over where the business needs are.

We’ve started to develop a ‘Learning Strategy Review’ process based on some of the things we’ve talked about above. It’s still a collection of ideas, but if you’re interested then get in touch – we’d love to pilot it with you. And we won’t even charge you. Now there’s a strategy for winning new customers…..

5-a-side leadership

2011-03-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

I’ve been playing football now for many years. Despite deciding to retire as I approached 39, next week still might be my last game, as I approach 41. We only play 5,6,7 a-side and I do it for the exercise. To paraphrase The Full Monty I ‘might not be right good, but I’m ‘ere’ and I always put in 100%. Clothed. The reason I still do it is mainly because I enjoy it. At least I did until I started playing for a local group of ‘dads’ a few months ago. Tonight was going to be my last game for a number of reasons, but the main one is why I’m sat writing this, whilst still cooling down – in all senses of the word.

I’m currently running a series of workshops called “Coaching for Performance” for a client and one of the main pieces of learning is that positive reinforcement is much more powerful than negative in encouraging the behaviour you want. I refer to experiments on pigeons during the workshop where you can quickly make them turn in continuous circles simply by giving them food every time they turn in a certain direction. Those of you with kids do the same thing with the ‘star chart’. (I think it’s funny when our kids walk round in circles, but we do keep having to explain the reason why to the teachers). What we do is define the piece of behaviour we want to reinforce and give the kids a star on the chart every time they do it. It works. Of course there is also a place for a good telling off (good for stress relief) when unacceptable behaviour occurs, but praise will always generate longer lasting effects. I had an example of how criticism can sap the life out of you during a recent Coaching for Performance workshop. I put up a statement – ‘as a manager you get the people you deserve’. The intention was to provoke a bit of thought and I hope you kind of see where I am coming from. However, we spent several minutes ‘discussion’ when one of the workshop attendees asked “how do you define ‘deserve’?”. OMG. Imagine working for this person? Imagine trying to discuss a new idea? Imagine querying the way things are done? Imagine presenting a piece of work where you had not defined ‘deserve’!

And that’s what makes the difference for me at football. I enjoy it on a Wednesday as our main aim is to have a good game, but a good game is defined by everyone contributing equally and there being a bit of banter. If someone makes a mistake then they get awarded ‘taxi of the match’ and there is as much kudos attached to that as ‘man of the match’. Most weeks, every one gets something of the match, I usually get ‘crunch of the match’. The other week we even invented a new category, although it escapes me for now. Ironically it’s the Mondy ‘dads’ (as most of the players on Wednesday are too young for kids!) who need to revisit their ‘star chart’ thinking as tonight was a classic example of how it is possible to win, but not enjoy the game. Some examples. A lot of these are subtle, but are unbelievably annoying and, of more relevance, don’t get the best out of me, and that’s where, as an average performing team player I’m heading with this.

1. the ‘do as I say’ routine

Another thing I espouse on our Coaching for Performance workshop is that ‘no-one likes being told what to do’. Maybe it’s just me (I hate being told what to do), but when you are running, or working your behind off the last thing you want is people stood there giving orders. Especially when you set out on a course of action and you receive an instruction to the contrary. It generally makes me want to stand still. Made more annoying when combined with….

2. the ‘lead from the back’ routine

This is a subtly different approach to the do as I say. It still involves a bit of giving orders, but is made worse by the perpetrator standing still and not putting the effort in they are criticising others for – “come on (insert name), make sure you get the ball!”.

3. the ‘exhale of breath’ routine

Again another subtle one, but usually deployed when someone misses a chance or makes a mistake. Subtly communicates that the person who made the mistake is useless and, of course, the breath exhaler would have succeeded. If only they weren’t bringing up the rear issuing instructions…..

4. the ‘out and out criticism’ routine

Eventually they get frustrated and exhaling turns into blatant criticism. “Come on (insert name), you’re better than that!” springs to mind. Of course if the individual was putting as much effort in as everyone else then they wouldn’t have as much breath to exhale or waste on criticism and they might actually understand that it’s a lot easier to gripe when just being an onlooker.

5. the all out row

This is normally the last resort and usually happens after all of the above have not had ‘the desired effect’. It can be initiated by either the one doing the criticising or the one on the receiving end (criticisee?). At this point the team falls apart completely, the irony being that whilst the row is going on the rest of the team lose focus and the whole team suffers. The other team just laugh.

So, what can we learn? I reckon there’s stuff for teams to reflect on in addition to individual leaders. Teams work as one and support each other. Criticism breaks down the team, simple as that. Every member of a high performing team can display leadership, regardless of title. So, whether you are part of a team or lead a team….

1. Hold every team member as equal to all the rest. If you don’t then either get out of the team yourself or remove the team members you can’t hold as equal. If you don’t then your lack of respect will manifest itself in one of the ways I’ve already outlined.

2. Assuming you have the right team, let them get on with it. Don’t tell them what to do all the time. As soon as you start issuing instructions for every small task the team will quickly learn to wait for you to tell them what to do. This will frustrate you – if you find yourself saying “I wish my team would display more initiative!” then you are guilty of this.

3. Encourage, don’t criticise. People respond to praise. It makes them feel that a) you’ve noticed their efforts and b) they’re contributing to the team. Even if you have team members who perform less well than others, praise every small thing they do. Like the pigeon they will do more of what they get rewarded for and it will build their confidence. Criticise though and you will breed resentment. Criticise whilst not putting the effort in and you will lose respect quicker than an Egyptian politician.

This might all sound simplistic and idealistic, but I have one last football example. A few weeks ago I was part of a team who were by far the weaker team on paper. What we did have was strong team spirit and we went for it. The other team of ‘superstars’ didn’t put the effort in, they got complacent. We scored the first goal, and then another. They got frustrated. We encouraged each other every single time someone did something positive.

We won.

I’ve changed my mind about change

2011-01-25T03:34:00.000-08:00

I used to relish change. So much so that every two to five years I would make sweeping changes in life. 2000 was a great year – I changed jobs, crashed my car, split up with a long term girlfriend, moved house, twice, and met Mrs Everitt (wife not mum). 10 years and a 40^th birthday later I now find the new Coronation Street music and credits really disturbing. It’s just not the same and, worryingly, I find myself uttering what has been my Dad’s catch phrase all of my life – ‘leave it as it is’. Also annoying is the incidental sound effects they’ve started adding to the Street. Listen and you’ll now hear distant police car sirens, cats meowing and all sorts. Which got me thinking. Am I becoming more change averse? Is it an age thing? Or does there come a point where change becomes a distraction?

Our daughter lost ‘Bunny’ yesterday. Bunny has been a family member for the last four years which, when you put it into perspective, is the whole of our daughter’s life. She loves bunny. When I shout, or she falls over, Bunny provides reassurance. We tried to retrace our steps today to find Bun, but he was nowhere to be found. Now, on the way back to the car our daughter started to be a bit whingy. She didn’t want to walk, she was cold, too hot, hungry, thirsty and wanted me to carry her. Typical four year old stuff. But it was only when she was in the car crying and repeating ‘Buuuuuunnnnnyyyyy’ that it occurred to me. The behaviour wasn’t just naughtiness, it was because the fact that she had lost Bun was sinking in and she was starting to feel the loss! Now I took the management approach – ‘well that’s what happens if you’re careless, you should learn to look after your things’. On reflection I doubt that will have sunk in. Maybe I should create a policy around looking after personal property?

What can we learn? We often include stuff on change management in our leadership workshops and the fundamental facts are that a) people take a bit of time to get used to change and b) as a manager the behaviour you see is not always what you might think. You will have spent countless hours thinking through your brilliant idea for change, but the first time your people hear about it, it will come as a major shock. They will need time to think it through in just the same way as you have and also to consider what it means for them. I doubt my daughter was actively resisting change this morning, but the loss of Bun will have a major impact on her emotionally.

It’s just lucky that ‘Uncle Mick’ has already bought her a new Disney Princess for her birthday. So, if you are thinking of implementing changes in your business then send your HR Manager to buy some Disney Princesses. Or Ben10s.

Get in touch with your emotions

2011-01-18T05:54:00.000-08:00

Following on from my last, rather reflective, blog it’s now time to look forwards to this year. OMG! (to appear to be all down with the kids). How on earth are we going to match what we did last year?!?!? Exactly what I thought this time last year! Regular viewers will remember that one of our earlier lessons was ‘something always turns up’. But that doesn’t always help when you’re sat there BEFORE it turns up!

Anyway, it made me think about how emotions impact how we perform. As some of you may know I’m a Formula 1 geek. I watch the practice sessions just to see if a team have changed the end plates on their front wing. Exactly. However, last year it went down to the wire – four of ‘em could win the championship at the last race. Against all odds Sebastien Vettel won it. 23 years old, Formula 1 World Champion. Talk about commitment, potential and performance. Arguably Mark Webber should have won it as he was leading the championship with a couple of races to go, but he faded. The whole thing made me think about the unbelievable pressure that these guys must have been under. Forget the ‘I don’t feel any pressure’ statements for the benefit of the press. I don’t know about you, but if it was me, I’d have been awake for 6 weeks non-stop worrying about ‘what if’! Which, apart from being about 3 stone too fat, and not being able to qualify for a superlicence solely on the basis of owning an S-Max, probably explains why I’m not, and never will be Formula 1 World Champion. I worry too much about what might or might not happen. It’s called a lack of ‘reality testing’.

We don’t know the ins and outs, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that how these guys handled the pressure impacted their performance. Webber made a crucial mistake at one of the final races which cost him dearly. Was it because it was raining, or did he just tighten up too much under the pressure? This is not to be critical of Webber. Earlier in the season he crashed into the back of another car which made his car flip backwards at around 200mph. Check the crash out here and see how you would react if you were him..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOBKA9q_DWU. After the crash it showed him walking back to the pits. His reaction? He looked at the camera and shrugged. A bit. Vettel, on the other hand, had a clear objective – win the final race and let the rest sort themselves out. He won. Faultlessly. Ferrari blew it for Fernando Alonso as they chose to cover Mark Webber’s strategy in the race, assuming Vettel was not the trheat. Under race pressure they backed the wrong horse. And Ferrari have since announced an ‘engineering reshuffle’. So, imagine it. You’re in a position where this is it, you’re required to deliver the performance of your life. Heart rate is normally around 190bpm in a race anyway, but one mistake and that’s it, a lifetime’s ambition missed. Do you play defensive, or go for it?

As a leader, what can we learn?

Resilience is an important trait for leaders. Being able to handle the pressure is critical when big things are demanded from you under difficult circumstances. Fortune favours the brave...

But this on its own is not enough. You might be able to handle the pressure, but those around you are looking to you for guidance, support and reassurance. The people you manage/lead take their lead (literally) from you. How you behave impacts how they behave. What you do becomes normal for them to do. Like kids, your people will learn what’s acceptable, and what’s not, from you. The best leaders are able to manage their emotions. They recognise that how we feel impacts how we behave towards others and they manage this appropriately. We know of many (surprisingly senior) people who regularly fly off the handle with their people. The result being that people feel insecure as they can’t always predict how the ‘leader’ will behave that day, depending on their mood. No surprise they are also often left feeling demotivated - “what’s the point putting any effort in when they behave like that!”.

Bad news impacts how we feel. The best leaders don’t shoot the messenger, but seek to learn from it. They involve others in finding the solution and turn it around so that people see solving the problem as their mission, rather than moaning about the manager behind their back. We had a client last year where we did a piece of work which meant presenting some bad news. The bad news? Senior managers tended to blame people when things went wrong, didn’t communicate effectively, were perceived as being unfair to people etc. etc. I got shot. Which meant I spent ages worrying about what I could have done differently and what it would mean for the future.....

That was the year that was

2011-01-04T02:24:00.000-08:00

It might not be published in time, but as I sit here it’s new year’s eve and, therefore, time to reflect. Traditionally I really dislike new year’s eve. And I mean REALLY dislike it. To me the passing of another year is one less year left in the bank of life and one year less to achieve everything you want to achieve. I also tend to look forwards and don’t like looking backwards too much. The last 6 years have been a bit like climbing a very high mountain in that respect – look down and you’ll petrify yourself with fear!

However, in the spirit of good leadership new year is the one time of year when I do look back and celebrate success. So, no cutting sarcasm or irreverence from me today.

And I have to say 2010 wasn’t that bad! Just like 2009 in fact. At the start of this year I was brushing up the CV. 2009, I thought was a fluke. We had a great year, but if it wasn’t for X and Y we could have been in trouble. 2010 started quietly and I thought that it was a delay from the recession – in 2009 people were still spending as they had a budget from 2008, but in 2010 their 2009 budget would have been slashed. However, it picked up and guess what? In 2010 we grew by almost 20% over 2009 which means we’ve grown every single year since being in business.

More importantly we’ve added more clients this year than ever before, in addition to continuing to work with most of our existing clients. We had more referrals than ever, more enquiries coming in through the website and we even won a tender for a public sector client!! Though most of our clients are now in London we did work in Switzerland and even a little bit for an organisation in Dubai.

One of the biggest differences was the addition of Ruth to the team. Ruth actually enjoys the stuff that us consultants hate – cold calling! And she’s brilliant at it! Mind you she does a lot more than that, she understands the business and is able to engage with potential clients in an intelligent way and it’s this that leads to new business. So this year we added clients from retail, scientific services, public sector, construction, professional services and media. We also did more work with a client from 3 years ago – they needed help and gave us a call.

We also did a bit of personal succession planning and added twins to the family.

So, we end up positive. I feel the business has real momentum now. We no longer talk to clients about what we could do, we talk about what we have done and have good testimonials and case studies to rely on. It’s this that’s generating referrals and I also reckon that we approach clients differently now – more assured and confident.

I hope 2011 continues in the same vein. We’ve got work in the diary up to and including July which is pretty good, but no matter how much I try to uncover the secret to growing a successful business there is only one constant I come back to – keep pushing. However, we really value working with our clients – I see them as our work colleagues so we aim to have a bit of banter in addition to delivering.

Which means all I have left to say is a heartfelt thank you to our existing clients and welcome to our newest clients we hope we can keep delivering for all of you. Also thank you to the team who helped us deliver this year – Dave, Emma, Anna, Steve, Jo, Leszek and Ruth.

Happy New Year!

Are you ahead of the curve?

2010-10-12T05:27:00.000-07:00

I have a friend, actually a few friends, who are ALWAYS late for things. So late you can set your watch by them. Meet you at 8.30pm? Aim to be there for 9. And you’ll still be there first. It got me thinking.

I was early for a client meeting this morning (which gave me time to draft this blog). On the way every single traffic light was on green, the M25 was clear, even in the roadworks, the sun was shining etc. etc. You know the type of day? Have them often? There are, of course, times when we’re late and everything seems to conspire against us – usually old people leaving the house at 9.30am. I call it shuffle hour and it just crosses over with the end of rush hour. Anyway, have you ever been in a rush and repeatedly dropped your car keys? Got in the car to realise you have forgotten something so you have to go back in the house? Twice. Switched the engine on and the petrol light comes on? We all have. Stressful and annoying, especially if it means you leave at the beginning of shuffle hour….

But today I was early. I was up early, left early, everything went well and I arrived early. No stress! The fact is a bit of forward planning not only makes us feel more prepared it is significantly less stressful and this makes us more likely to be in ‘flow’ when we get to where we need to be and, therefore, more likely to perform at our best. This is what I call being ahead of the curve. If you find yourself consistently being late and unprepared for things then you are behind the curve. I firmly believe that a bit of personal organisation makes us significantly more productive. At least I hope so as we’ve just pitched for a piece of work with a major potential client to run a series of workshops around personal effectiveness!

So what’s the secret? Well getting ahead of the curve can be really difficult to do, especially in organisations. One argument that many of you by now will be shouting at the screen is “that’s easy for you to say, consultancy boy, what with your working from home easy life..! What about the rest of us who are mega busy and in meetings all the time?”. Two things to say on that. Firstly, mega busy? Does everything that you do add value to your business and/or move you towards your key goals? Is your busy-ness just a load of random activity? Can you be clear on the outcomes you produce? What about your personal goals? How many of you wish you could give up the day-to-day corporate grind and do something you are passionate about?

Secondly, meetings. Again the same challenge. Does every meeting help you achieve your goals (work and personal) or are you just attending because it makes you feel a) important or b) busy? If you’re attending for either of these reasons then you are putting yourself behind the curve. We have several clients where the day consists entirely of meetings and I’m sure many of you have the same problem. I’ve seen some outrageous meetings in some of our clients, but our old friend the NHS is a fantastic example of how to waste time. Everyone arrives late, either because they were already in a meeting that started late and then overran, or they hadn’t been informed which room the meeting would be in, or they just assumed they knew which room it was in. No-one is clear on the purpose of the meeting, no-one has prepared or read the briefing information that was sent out in advance. There’s lots of innocuous pleasantries at the start of the meeting. Just as it is about to start someone’s mobile rings because they are double booked for another meeting and they are wondering where the person is. At this point other people leave to go and get a coffee or print out the stuff they now realise they should have brought with them. When the meeting finally starts no-one is really tuned in and by now they are realising they are going to be late for the next meeting. The outcome of the meeting? To have another meeting! Absolute true story.

So where to go from here? First you need to be focussed on your purpose and goals in life. Sounds a bit hippy, but I challenge you to take a few minutes and think it through. What does good look like for you in life/work? What are you trying to achieve? Where do you want to get to? Then evaluate everything you do against these goals. Is all your activity absolutely necessary or is it just noise?

Secondly, prioritise (strictly) the things that are urgent and important – work on the important/urgent stuff when it becomes critical, but make sure your day is focussed on that alone and don’t get dragged into the noise. If it is that critical then everything else can wait. Having done that aim to spend more and more of your time on the important/non-urgent stuff. This is where the value is and it will move you towards your goals. For those of you who manage others delegate more them – both tasks AND responsibility.

Thirdly, evaluate the meetings you go to. Are all of them absolutely necessary? If you call the meetings what is their purpose? Meetings should be to discuss ideas or make decisions only. I bet you spend a significant amount of time in meetings where people go round the table and ‘update’ each other on activity. This is activity about activity! And I bet you won’t be able to repeat a single piece of what someone else has updated you on within one hour of leaving the meeting! So, question every meeting you have and the need for meetings at all.

Fourthly, eliminate all the extraneous stuff that gets in the way of your performance and means you arrive at things feeling stressed and harrassed. Pack your stuff the night before, plan the journey the day before, have backup plans – what if the trains aren’t running properly?, Aim to catch the train before the one you need. Schedule travelling time between meetings – if it takes five minutes to walk from one end of the building to the other then you WILL be late if you schedule a meeting to start immediately after then end of another one. Plan your time to enable you to read essential material before each meeting.

If you do all that then you’ll have time to enjoy the blog!

Paul Everitt

http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Entrepreneur = Ego?

2010-09-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

I have been reading ‘Sales on a Beermat’ by Mike Southon – the Beermat Entrepreneur recently. Two reasons. Firstly I’m rubbish at sales (I think) and secondly one of our clients have asked him to do a session for them and I’m helping them co-ordinate the programme so I was due to meet him. I wanted to read the book and then meet him to see what I could learn. Now as an aside this programme is a bit of a speaker-fest. They wheel in a bunch of book writers to ‘inspire’ the troops. I’m into applying learning not entertaining people to earn my money….but they have nicer cars than me so maybe there’s something in it…Anyway the book is great – very easy to read, practical and thought-provoking so I was really looking forward to meeting Mike. He’s a very interesting bloke, but (by his own admission so I mean this in the most respectful way) has quite a strong ego. He got me thinking about the other entrepreneurs I know and they tend to be the same! We all have a bit of an ego. I do, I like to think that I’m good at what I do and add value. The difference is I judge myself against what I think about me, the entrepreneurs I am thinking of like everyone else to think they’re good at what they do!

But they are very successful. So, does success breed the ego or do we need an ego to be successful? Not sure, the answer is probably a bit of both. Would it fit with our clients? No.

Which leaves me in a bit of a dilemma. Conclusions? We talk a lot about authentic leadership in our business which is really about being true to yourself. That’s probably it - be yourself.

Paul Everitt

http://www.rworld.co.uk/

I know how Peter Andre feels

2010-09-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

I was running a leadership programme recently and at the end of the day found out that one of the attendees decided not to continue with the programme. Whatever the reason it got me worrying and taking it personally – is it me? Walking home it hit me how awful it must have been to be Peter Andre between his early career and his resurgence last year! I was first thinking that ‘celebrities’ must be incredibly thick-skinned – imagine regularly being told or reading that people don’t like your work! Let’s face it, not everyone can like you or what you do, but it’s hard to take. No matter how much you rationalise it, unless you have rhino-skin then it must have an impact.

Hence, Peter Andre. 10 years ago I thought I knew what I was doing. Now I’m not so sure and it’s troubling. This business requires a thick-skin and steady nerve. If we lose business we take it personally, if we feel that what we do is not having the impact we think it should we take it personally. Both are positives I think as it means we always strive to do the best we can, but it’s easy to see why Pete, bless him had his dark days! As it happens day two of the workshop went really, really well. They do love me after all…..

But it also got me thinking about the leadership aspects of this. During the programme we were talking about performance. Some of the group had people who were good, but thought they were outstanding. Others had people who were excellent, but thought they were nothing special. Both people have big blindspots as they view reality in a skewed way. We then got on to how to deal with these people. The person I mentioned above who left the programme had already been labelled as high potential and the “I’m too good for this programme” vibes were very strong. All very polite of course (except when you stand at the front looking at everyone’s face!). She may well be, but it really got me thinking about the dangers of telling people they are ‘stars’. Some of ‘em might start believing that all they need to do is show up and fame and fortune will follow. For me people with true high potential are constantly evaluating their performance and seeking to learn about themselves. In jargon terms this is learning agility and the best performers have the ability (and desire) to extract learning from every situation. Viewing things as beneath you is not learning agility.

Conclusions? For those who think they are the best thing since sliced bread – tell them they’re not, but give them clear feedback why. For those who think themselves useless? Tell them they’re not, but give them clear feedback why. Spot the pattern??

Sounds simple, so why don’t we do it? We don’t want Pete crying on us (again), that’s why? So, deliver the message honestly and sensitively, base it on fact and think about the person you are dealing with – do they need building up or a poke in the eye? But whatever you do don’t cop out

On the other hand many leaders don’t seek feedback themselves. I personally like to improve my self-awareness, but many times on workshops I see leaders not spending time on examining their feedback. So, if you want to develop as a leader have the guts to give people regular, honest feedback and also ask them for feedback about you. You might be surprised what you might learn.

Paul Everitt

http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Is it too much to ask to know where we stand?

2010-09-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

As a consultant you get used to, quite frankly, being treated like dirt. Or maybe everybody hates us….Apparently we can be used for our knowledge and ideas, but then left high and dry when it comes to actually employing us. Some recent examples. We employ Ruth who is a great business developer. She loves cold calling so is a real asset to a business like ours where we hate to feel like we’re not loved. Ironic really given the subject of this blog. However, she does a great job of securing appointments for us. Now we’re not in the business of selling 'products'. We like to add value and if you’re not in the market then we won’t push you. So Ruth will always qualify an appointment to make sure we could add value. I had one recently – it was with Kent County Council. I wouldn’t normally name names, but if you’re in our business and get the ‘opportunity’ to meet with Hugh Martyn then I would advise you to save your petrol money. My, let’s call them, 'nonsense' detectors have become very finely tuned in the years we’ve been running realworld. I can pretty much tell if someone is wasting our time or not. Early on in the correspondence my detectors were buzzing with Hugh, but he seemed to have a need so we persevered and eventually he agreed to meet us. I’m just reading a book about the Paras in Afghanistan and on reflection it was a bit like setting up a Shura with the local official – it takes ages to arrange, he is only interested in what’s in it for him and it is impossible to agree anything meaningful. Anyway…one hour’s drive, arrive at KCC in Maidstone early, girl comes to meet me in reception. Can’t remember her name, but she worked for Hugh (at least for the last two months as she had only just joined the team). Hugh? He had ‘just been called to an important meeting’ so the meeting would be with her.... No problem she could tell me all about their plans and priorities. No she couldn’t. Could I perhaps tell her about what we did? Having already sent Hugh company information I polited it out for 20 minutes and left. Another example. Ruth set up a meeting at another council. I won’t name this one, but they are based in Oxford. They had a definite need for 360 and were attracted to us as we were cost competitive. Made the trip, park and ride and all, and had a good meeting. Great, I thought. Nice guy, good rapport, we could provide them exactly what they need. Sent follow up information including the offer of a free 360 to show what we could do. Still waiting for any kind of acknowledgement……Is it a public sector thing? Not so sure as I have a private sector example. I had a good feeling about this one - they even used my summary of their needs in their briefing document. But, after a second positive meeting it took almost 6 weeks to find out we had not been successful.

And this is my point. In the absence of information human beings will fill in the gaps for themselves. We will literally make stuff up in the absence of information. If you as a leader always thought that it is best not to communicate to your people as they only turn it into rumours then you are wrong. They make stuff up because you don’t tell them. Imagine going through a series of medical tests that could be serious. How do you feel when the doctor’s don’t give you a straight answer? It’s the same when you don’t keep your people informed. They want all the news, good and bad. In the absence of anything it will increase their levels of anxiety and it will reduce overall levels of productivity. How to deliver the message? Research shows that if you tell people bad news in a positive way they are more likely to accept it positively than if you deliver good news in a negative way. What if you don’t know the full story? Tell them you don’t know, but let them know that you appreciate that they must be concerned. This alone will put their mind at rest. It will also begin to generate a bit of trust and they will learn that when you don’t know you don’t know rather than suspecting you do know and then fearing the worst.

So, whatever you do make sure you always let your people know what the current situation is and don’t ‘nonsense’ them. They’ll thank you for letting them know where they stand…..

http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Motivation.... if you can be bothered to read it!

2010-08-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

I read a good book recently by Daniel Pink called “Drive. The surprising truth about what motivates us”. I recommend it. But you don’t really need to read it as the principle is simple and I’ll give you a quick summary of the key messages for free.

The book really makes the point that many of us do lots of things not because we have to, but because we want to. Think of everyone who spends hours and hours on hobbies without getting paid or who do voluntary work. Why? Because they choose to and they get a sense of satisfaction from it. The book argues that we need to find ways to tap into this “intrinsic” motivation rather than relying on traditional things such as pay - which is classed as “extrinsic” motivation. As soon as we offer the kids a fiver to empty the bins they will forever expect a fiver when asked to do household chores.

Make the link to work and the psychology shows us that using carrots and sticks are less effective in terms of motivating people to sustained levels of performance over the long term. It might create a spike in the short term, but not the long term. But, of course, we all need a certain level of income to live. We all need to ensure that we can pay the bills, but beyond that we look for greater things. Also for certain jobs which require a level of routine, reward in terms of extra pay might produce higher levels of productivity, but where jobs require a level of creativity or problem solving reward in the form of pay does not produce additional levels of performance.

To make us feel truly motivated at work we need to find ways of enabling people to want to do what they do rather than have to. In fact we can’t make people feel motivated we can only create an environment that is motivating! The issue is that as soon as we link people’s efforts to pay then what they do becomes work and work is by definition a drudge. Think of your hobby. If you suddenly had to produce what you do in order to earn money then I guarantee you would enjoy it significantly less. Enough of the theory, two recent experiences to demonstrate the point….

Firstly, the negative aspect. We recently had a weekend camping in Poole. Without the kids. Highly motivating, but not the point. Yesterday I received a gift from Dorset Police letting me know that I had been done for speeding. Irritating. The reason though is that the feeling of being “enforced” made me feel incredibly frustrated. It’s not the points as I currently have no points on my licence so I can live with three. It’s not the cost either and it’s this that links to the above. If there was a special lane on the motorway where there was no speed limit, but you could pay, say £500 extra per year to use it I would do it like a shot. Not because I’m a teenage speed freak, but because I would be happier paying to choose how fast I go rather than being constrained on how fast I can go! I know it’s the law, blah, blah, blah, but it kind of makes the point. Will it stop me speeding? Unlikely. All that will happen is that I’ll put it down to bad luck and buy a speed camera detector to get around the constraint. Your people will do the same – they’ll spend more energy finding ways around the ‘rules’ than if you didn’t have rules in the first place.

And now for the positive. I just watched “The Undercover Boss”. Basically Chief Exec’s of companies go back to the “front line” to see what life is really like. During the programme they meet some really interesting characters. Two examples spring to mind. There was one guy working for Tower Hamlets Council who had created his own vision for the market he ran including a computer generated image of how the market could look in the future. Not because he was asked to, but because he wanted to. There was another guy who worked for a recycling company who insisted on keeping the site clean just in case members of the public came on site. Not because he was asked to, but because he wanted to. Oh, and all whilst he was suffering from cancer and taking holiday for his treatment rather than going off on sick leave. At the end of the programme the Chief Exec reveals themselves to the people they have met and rewards their good work – not with money, but with a thank you. None of them have turned round and asked for more money and without fail they have all welled up with pride and replied along the lines of “hearing a thank you means more to me than anything else in the world”.

The point is that there are lots of people in companies who put in huge amounts of additional effort because they want to. If you manage people then rather than trying to write policies and procedures designed to stop people doing things, why don’t you find ways to encourage them to do more of the innovative things they are already doing? The book highlights three ways to do this:

1) give people a clear sense of purpose.
2) give them autonomy to decide how they do their work.
3) provide challenging work that is neither too easy nor too difficult for people to do.

Oh, and say thank you once in a while….

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Too busy to get things done.

2010-08-24T06:16:00.000-07:00

We’ve recently been working with a client who are, let’s say in the public sector and deliver healthcare…

Working with them has been an education. Having said that there have been absolutely no surprises – it is EXACTLY as you would imagine.

But, three things hit me yesterday as I was trying to use the photocopier - in between being quizzed on how many copies I was making. Quite how me not using a couple of reams of paper would rescue the organisation from a multi-million pound deficit I’m not sure. However, at least someone was carrying out one of the tasks in their job description by asking me…..I wonder what the copier police would have done though if I had said I planned to use 100 reams of paper? Or if I had asked them to do the copying for me so they could then count each individual page used…? Maybe I would have then seen the true power that they hold… Mind you they weren’t equipped with a high visibility vest so they couldn’t have been that important. Speaking of which I went to Silverstone a couple of weeks ago for the Grand Prix. Best weekend I’ve had there in several years. Apart from the high-viz. Tickets were checked four times on the way to our seat, but the most impressive moment came when we went to sit down at the top of the grandstand. Someone had place a flag on the railings behind us. I know that sounds serious, but wait until you hear what happened as a result of this outrage. We were approached by a high-viz who asked us if the flag was ours. No. Why? Well, the flag was also behind where he had to sit. For ‘security reasons’ the flag needed to be removed. Fair enough, not our flag, but why? Because the high-vizs on the ground needed to be able to view the high-viz in the stand at all times. Oh, of course, that makes perfect sense…

Anyway back to my (main) points. First. As I was stood at the copier I noticed that the place was full of stuff. Piles of paper towels, medical equipment not being used, rubber gloves etc., etc., No cups near the water cooler of course, but stuff all over. Stuff all over, but no resources to deliver the service?!?! Water water everywhere nor any drop to drink (there you go Mr Lakeland, the first time since the age of 14 that I’ve referred to The tale of the Ancient Mariner!!).

The second observation….no-one smiles. At all. Everyone looks down, dour and grumpy. Ask a question (where are the cups for the water cooler kept?) and no-one knows the answer. It’s almost as if people are being forced to work there against their will! To compound this everyone seems to get used to the fact that there are never any cups near the water cooler. So do we need a cooler? If not we could maybe save the cost of its upkeep? If we do value it then presumably the people who do get thirsty either die of dehydration before the cups arrive or they are too scared to approach whoever is Vice President of water coolers for fear of catching grumpiness? Someone take responsibility to improve the situation!!

Third. Everyone is mega mega busy (especially the people who monitor how many photocopies are being made throughout the day), but producing what? It seems that being late for meetings and over-running on meetings is a good thing. It means you must be really busy and important. Surely? Couple that to the fact that no-one ever knows where the meetings are or where the people who are supposed to be in the meetings are and it becomes chaos. Everyone communicates via mobile phone because of this, but someone must be picking up the cost of that. I have not attended a single meeting that started on time, where everyone had pre-prepared (or even knew why they were there), did not get disrupted in some way or had to finish before everything was covered. I deliberately avoid saying meetings that finished early because they never do. They over-run to the point where it becomes unbearable and everyone runs to the next meeting. We’ll arrange another meeting to review what we were supposed to have done in this meeting….

The lesson? Stop and take stock. Please. Break the cycle.

1) set some meetings rules - everyone turn up on time having read the information needed, discuss, make decision, leave, act.

2) get organised. Focus on what’s important and urgent. The latest request is not always the most important/urgent request.

3) take responsibility. Question why, take the initiative to investigate, just do change.

4) if it’s that unbearable then leave. Please.

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Assumption + lack of common sense = frustrated customer.

2010-08-24T05:52:00.000-07:00

I decided the other week to fix something on my car myself. It’s taken me around three weeks to do the job fully, but at least it saved me £1.50. It’s also made me drive slower – amazing what replacing something critical on the car does for your driving confidence...

Anyway the Haynes manual said to ensure you replace all bolts that are removed with new ones. Having spent several hours “simply removing” the bolts (grinding them with an angle grinder and hitting them with a big hammer in other words) it was time to fit new ones – refitting being the reverse sequence to removal of course. Simple. Apart from the fact that it involves the local VW dealership.

I called them to order the new bolts. No problem they’ll be here tomorrow they said. I made a special trip and they were indeed there. But, the nuts that go with the bolts weren’t.....these are sold separately to the bolt. Obviously.
I was a bit frustrated. But, as usual it got me thinking. Was it my assumption that the bolts would come supplied with the nuts? Or could the garage have helped? Putting aside the fact that VW are so stingy as to make you buy the nuts separately to the bolts they belong to, surely when ordering a bolt it’s reasonable for the garage to ask “will sir also be needing new nuts?”.

Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly drove me nuts.

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Can you support someone who is a right misery guts??

2010-08-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

Andy Murray is about to play Rafa Nadal. He’ll probably have lost by the time you read this, but no matter. As usual everyone is now getting revved up as we have a British hope of sporting success. Those who supported the England football team now seem to have reverted to being British which means they may as well support a Scottish tennis player.....

Anyway, stake in the ground time. I find it extremely difficult to support Andy Murray for the simple reason that he is a right miserable git. It’s like watching a less funny version of Harry Enfield’s teenage character Kevin when Murray is interviewed so I have no inclination whatsoever to get excited. If he can’t be bothered to express himself then neither can I. Which got me thinking....if you manage others how much of an impact does your demeanour have on your people? We can all associate with people who determine the mood in the whole office by their own personal mood.

So if you find yourself admiring Andy Murray for his outgoing personality and ability to inspire others, it might be time to think about whether your supporters are really supporting you or are they just trying to get excited because the players they really want to support have gone elsewhere?

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Do we need our fans onside?

2010-08-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

Apologies. I’d resisted the urge to jump on the world cup bandwagon like everyone else at the moment (Italian Bolognese Walker’s Crisps anyone?!?), but I’ve just been watching the news about the (apparent) unrest in the England football team camp.

The pressure seems to be on the manager and it occurred to me – what would you do? I have a colleague who experienced something similar. He was appointed into a company as a senior manager, but his team pretty much revolted against everything he tried to change or implement. He had best intentions, but the outcome was the worst possible for him and he left. I guess it shows the power of not having your team on your side and, of course, the power of having them onside. How do you ensure they are? Involve them and listen to them for sure, but also know when to be decisive and stick to your guns. My colleague? He should have taken some harsh decisions earlier and got rid of at least one of the dissenters, just like the French football team manager did recently. In addition he should have been more flexible in his approach as there was no single solution to achieving what he wanted. He wanted to do it one way and the team wanted to do it the other. Maybe he should have gone with the team. After all they’re the ones who deliver the performance on the pitch....

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

We can't rely on good service to get us out of recession.

2010-08-24T05:39:00.000-07:00

Or at least so it seems...

5 separate incidents recently that require blog comment.

Firstly, had the car serviced at our local garage recently. Seemed a bit expensive but there you go. Got it home, 20 minutes later noticed that the price of the service seemed to include a free dent on the door! I went straight back to the garage and they took responsibility and were very apologetic, which was nice of them. Anyway it got fixed, but the bloke that delivered the car back had the attitude of “oh well these things happen”. Do they?! He seemed completely incapable of understanding that the next time the car needs servicing I might take it somewhere else for fear of it coming back damaged....

Then yesterday. Rach wanted some special shoes and a local shop sells them. We went in and, of course, they didn’t have her size. When she asked Madam Surly if they had any in the backroom the answer was a firm no. Excellent, no “Oh I’m terribly sorry, but if you give me your details we can order them for you and let you know when they are in?”. You would think that £50 for a pair of flipflops might be business worth fighting for, but that’s another sale we can chalk up to the internet.

Today, Debenhams. OK it was a Sunday and they seemed to employ only either students or OAPs. My brother wanted some jeans. We couldn’t see the size he wanted so we asked the kid who was stacking jeans on the shelves. A long shot we knew at the time. He had a cursory look, but no there were no jeans anywhere in the store. Apart from the two pairs that I found a minute later!! My brother then wanted a new suit jacket so whilst he faffed around I thought I’d try a new pair of work shoes. Except that the “assistant” was too busy serving someone else. Fair enough, but I at least would have expected some kind of acknowledgement - “sorry sir, I’m just dealing with these people and I’ll be straight with you as soon as I can”? or “just one moment sir, I’ll ask a colleague to come and help you...”. Another £85 lost to the internet....My brother finally bought his suit jacket and went to pay for it. Now today Debenhams were advertising £10 vouchers back if you spend more than £40, which he did. 5 minutes after paying we had to walk back to the checkout to ask for the vouchers that the student had forgotten to give him.

The point? Firstly, no wonder high street retailers are pushing their online businesses because the only point of having a store is for people to try on what they want and then go and buy it online from somewhere else or somewhere where you can get a response. Secondly, surely if any business needs to take advantage of every possible sales opportunity?! I ask our competitors to model themselves on Debenhams and our local Ford garage.

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

All of your employees are show-offs!

2010-08-24T05:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day where a) it was sunny and b) the temperature squeezed to about 10 degrees. Which of course meant that everyone with a convertible HAD to put the roof of their car down (at least where I live).

One estate agent type chap caught my eye. Not only was he special in that he had a convertible, but it was also a brand new one! Oooooh I thought, whilst zipping up my fleece, I wish I was as cool as that. If only they made a convertible S-Max then I might be!

Whatever, it made me reflect on what it takes to put the roof down on a, let’s face it, chilly day and then park up – still with the roof down. It got me thinking about why someone would behave in a way that deliberately attracts attention to themselves and then it occurred to me that maybe, as human beings, we all secretly need attention from others. Now I spent three years giggling in the library before getting drunk whilst “studying” Psychology so I know that to be true. The point is that if you employ people or have people working for you they probably spend much of their day metaphorically putting their roof down in the office for you to see. Most managers spend all of their time focussing on what needs to be done rather than focussing on who gets it done. Most managers (mistakenly) believe that it is them that does the work – it isn’t. Or it shouldn’t be.

People are capable of more than you think, but they also like you to recognise the fact by telling them. When they do a good job, tell ‘em! Or, if all else fails, buy them a new convertible car so that everyone else on the high street can think they must be cool.

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Great course! What did we learn? Oh....

2010-08-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

Much of our time is spent delivering workshops either for intact teams or groups of people. The other week I was observing a workshop and helping the client out by facilitating the group in the afternoon after the formal content had been 'done to them'.

The workshop was great, everyone was buzzing, the speaker was a genius (at repackaging basic stuff). And he left. The problem is that virtually nothing has happened since. Very few (if any) people will have applied any of the learning and the organisation still has the same issues. So was the workshop that great?

From my observation point at the back (trying not to look too critical...) I started to notice some very subtle behaviours in the group. There was lots of seeking-permission eye contact from less senior people towards the most senior people in the room. It was like kids – they do things bit by bit to test out when their behaviour will be disapproved by the parent. It was amazing – this highly scientific research proved that there are subtle behaviours which give people permission NOT to act!

We’ve all seen it and experienced it before. We hear about a new change initiative or we receive some “training” that is positioned as being the company’s saviour. Admit it or not this always causes some uncertainty deep inside and, ashamed to admit it you may be, but you probably secretly wish it would all go away. If you’re a manager just reflect on that for a minute and bear it mind the next time you come up with another great idea for change....
What was happening in the situation I describe was a combination of things. Next time you’re in a meeting or training workshop see if you can spot them:

1.People make jokes which have juuuust a hint of cynicism to suggest that the joke is really aimed at the message/speaker/initiative. They don’t openly challenge or discuss, but make a nervously delivered “joke”.

2.People, especially managers, start to discuss completely different topics. This is an elaborate ruse to avoid getting into the difficult discussions around what the workshop content means in terms of actually doing things differently. All of a sudden the group is back into comfort zone and will spend ages talking about something they want to talk about rather than talking about what they need to talk about.

3.Everyone watches the boss’s behaviour. If they make notes, everyone makes notes. If they whisper into colleagues’ ears (usually the second in command) then everyone else immediately loses focus and starts to wonder what they were saying. If they leave early you may as well take the course evaluation seriously as thank god that the food was good, the venue adequate and the session not too long.
Subsequently, there were two pieces of interesting feedback from the workshops. The first was that not enough action planning was being done, there was too much deliberation. The second was that there was not enough time for discussion. Hmmm

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Do leaders need to be polite?

2010-08-24T03:57:00.000-07:00

I’ve had two very different customer service experiences today.

The first was in the dentist where they seem to have employed (of course) the rudest receptionist in the world. When I arrived there was no-one in reception so I sat down. Then she came down the stairs – the unsmiling one. She ignored me and the other bloke in reception and went into one of the dentist’s rooms. Poor chap. Then she came out again, still no acknowledgement, and ducked behind the desk. I went upstairs and 5 minutes later was back downstairs stood in front of the desk. Still no acknowledgement so I broke the silence which was followed by “name”. Having a 3 year old who never says please or thank you you get trained into saying “please!” every time someone should say it and doesn’t. I had to bite my tongue three times during the “conversation”. It culminated in a request for the next appointment....”19th May 9am?”. At this point I was writing a cheque for the treatment and before I could reach for my phone (to check my calendar) the question was followed up with a “yes?”. I’d had enough at that point and snapped back to give me a chance to answer!

Then, this afternoon I went to B&Q, the place where the only smile that comes with the service is when they are telling you that the item you ordered 15 weeks ago is still not in stock, despite them ringing you earlier in the day to say it is. But that’s another story. B&Q was quite quiet, one person in the queue in front of me. When I got to the cashier he was THE most polite person I have ever met. I was greeted with a “sorry for the wait” yet I hardly waited at all. I was called sir and thanked with a goodbye. Incredible.

So what. Well we know the dentist is a six monthly trauma anyway, but I’d certainly look forward to going back to B&Q more than the dentist based on these experiences. The customer service angle is pretty obvious, but what about leadership? Well as a leader your role involves lots of small interactions with your people. During each of these interactions you can choose to have a positive impact or negative impact on the person you are talking to. On many workshops people will say to us that respect is one of the things that the best leaders possess. The question though is how to gain respect? Simple. Treat everyone else with respect. Be polite, smile, thank your people and they’ll keep buying from you!

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

Sales! 70% Off!

2010-08-24T03:52:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year! Like most of you we’ve started the year with a mix of depression and optimism. Business last year was good.....

At the start of last year we felt physically sick at the thought of what the recession might bring, but it was our best year yet and we met all of our goals. Woohoo, even I tried to celebrate! As for this year, we already have a good amount of work in the diary, but the never ending quest for more will continue. We’re going to hire a business development person this year, but more on that in the coming weeks.

The thing I wanted to comment on was what’s going on in the High Street regarding the “sales”. Like most people we went to the sales over Christmas anticipating the bargains galore. 70% off in some cases! It was all rubbish and I didn’t buy a thing. Apart from a shirt in Zara. I’ve noticed a few strange things happening and I wonder if it’s a general market trend or me being cynical? Firstly many of the retailers seemed to only display their cast-offs in the sale i.e. the stuff they hadn’t sold previously. So, yes it might have money off, but it was rubbish in the first place. Surely to feel like you’re getting a bargain you need to feel that you’re saving money on something you actually wanted? Secondly, the quality of a lot of stuff I looked at seems to be lower than it has been previously. We all know that most of our clothing now comes from low cost countries (I have been looking to buy some Loake shoes recently. Proper shoes, by appointment to the Queen no less, but even the Loake website states that the style I want is “hand crafted in India”!), but it seems to me that the quality is getting worse. The final observation is that this new era of low cost is also coming at the price of service. Much of the High Street seems to be a jumble sale and the approach seems to be “pile a load of rubbish on racks at slightly cheaper price than before and if it’s not in stock or in your size then tough”. The likes of Tesco are a bit cleverer of course - you can still “save” money if you now buy two tins of Roses for £10 (whereas last year they were £5 per tin anyway) or three bottles of 2litre Coke for £3 (who wants 6 litres of Coke? Said the Columbian...).

Anyway it made me think about our business. Should we be offering three coaching sessions for the price of two? Maybe. Should we advertise 70% off our consultancy rates on the website (only for this to apply if you spend a minimum of £100000 per year with us)? Perhaps. Our business is built on adding value to the people we work with. We aim to add value and make your life easier as a basic product. If we start to reduce the quality it’ll soon die. We do flex our rates, but that reflects the different clients we work with and the industry sectors they are in. If we started using consultants or trainers with less experience (like the bigger consultancies interestingly!) and charging you a bit less we would soon have a much bigger problem on our hands. The basic psychology of sales is that they make people buy more because they think they are getting a bargain. If what they are buying is no longer a bargain then surely the business cannot be sustainable for the long term. Richard Branson is right – give the customer what they want and deliver it cost-effectively and with great service. We hope that in 2010 people continue to refer us based on the good work we do. We do not want to get sucked into competing purely on who is the cheapest. My Loake shoes are never in the sale, but I’ll still buy them....

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/

The power of having a mission.

2010-08-24T03:45:00.000-07:00

Last week I (stupidly) decided to repaint the hallway. The trouble is that repainting the hallway means repainting the stairs which means repainting the upstairs landing.

So I bought a new sander - as the old one broke as soon as I needed it and sanding by hand is possibly the most mundane task in the world! But this brings me to my point. Having sanded and undercoated 11 door frames, banisters, stair strings and skirting board (trying not to get paint on the carpet!) I finally got round to the last bit – gloss paint. Undercoating was tricky, but at least it dries fairly quickly. Gloss is stickier and takes longer to fry. And we have a three year old. So I needed to get it done as quickly as possible whilst she was out to give the paint the best chance of drying before she returned. Cue Mission Impossible music....

It was whilst I was painting the 7th door frame that I finally got bored and found myself muttering that this was a never ending task. And then I found myself thinking “no I’m on a mission”. The missions was simple – to get the job done as quickly as possible to give the paint maximum drying time. And that simple realisation made me carry on working, with renewed purpose and motivation. There was no “mission statement” on the wall, no committees, no mention of shareholder value or stakeholders. Just a simple purpose. Having a clear mission made me focus on the job in hand and work harder! The end result? No finger marks in the paint. Apart from my own....

We always do work on developing mission with leaders and this example just proves the point. If you provide people with a clear reason to do what they are doing and keep them focussed on the end goal they will work towards it. Of course you need to reward them when they achieve the goal too.

Paul Everitt
http://www.rworld.co.uk/