CMI Magazine - Issue 3

NOT EVERYTHING WILL BE BETTER, BUT IT WILL BE DIFFERENT...

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To discover what’s on your agenda, we polled CMI members in July to ask which topics you want to see more of in the future…

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Digital leadership – managing teams and people well remotely; ensuring they keep developing; managing difficult conversations

Mental health – how to stay motivated and stimulate employee engagement; how to support staff (and furloughed staff); resilience

D&I – improving diversity in the workplace; racial equality and awareness; effective inclusive leadership

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Managing upwards (senior leaders)

Working from home – adapting to the new normal; managing people; staying motivated

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Technology – how to make the most of online tools

Changing the work culture

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Stress management

Sustainability – reducing waste; reducing your carbon footprint; the green economy

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Post-COVID skills and online training

12 Digital/remote recruitment

02 — SUM M ER 2020

Resolving conflict

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We hope you’ll find helpful insights into these topics – and others – in this edition of your magazine and online at managers.org.uk/insights, as well as on social media #BetterManagers

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Welcome

Let’s open our minds ANN FRANCKE OBE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CMI

his edition of cmi’s magazine is about what comes next.

The process of lockdown has come in waves. First, there was the crisis management period, when managers and leaders had to react decisively to an unprecedented set of circumstances. Staff were redeployed, operations were upended and whole business models had to pivot.

Then, as we established a new set of operating norms, we had to engage and communicate as never before, to make sure that teams and individuals were coping personally and performing professionally. It has been inspiring to witness how managers and leaders have stepped up to that aspect of the crisis.

Now, as we come out of lockdown, we all have to think about the next phase. What are the new working practices that we must implement – for example, for health and safety reasons? What are the new working practices that we want to retain because they’ve enabled us – perhaps to our surprise – to be more productive during lockdown? And, on reflection, what are the statues that we need to topple forever, the legacy ways of doing things that, thanks to the crisis, we realise are no longer fit for purpose? The crisis, like rising water beneath a building, finds the weaknesses in our foundations. There are ways of doing things that simply don’t work anymore, and we need to have the courage to shed them.

Forecasting is a dangerous business, but we’re lucky at CMI to have access to awesome collective intelligence. This edition of your magazine is built on the insights we’ve gathered through regular member polling during the crisis. It is built on the revealing personal stories that you’ve shared with us directly (see the Rethink section on page seven).

And it is built on the countless conversations we’ve had with members over the past few months (see Conversations on page 62).

If I were forced to identify the changes that I believe will stick around after COVID-19, I’d say...

We’ve learned – really learned – the value of different perspectives. By being forced to look at society and business in the round, we’ve come to realise that people of all backgrounds, races and socio-economic groups have a part to play.

Matthew Syed calls this “cognitive diversity” in his fascinating interview on page 44 – and congratulations to Matthew on winning this year’s CMI Management Book of the Year award.

Megan Reitz says on page 26 that we must make ourselves have different conversations and allow people – using her powerful phrase – to “speak up”. Rebecca Robins CMgr CCMI shows how younger people’s voices can be heard in the boardroom on page 38. I really feel that the dam has burst on the whole diversity debate. There’s no going back now – and that’s just great.

We’ve also seen that we must build resilient systems and organisations. We can see now that we were running on margins that were simply too fine. Just-in-time left us dangerously exposed.

Ian Goldin explores this on page 50.

And we’ve learned to move fast, to innovate at speed. Just look at what Sam Allen CMgr CCMI has achieved at the Sussex Partnership Foundation NHS Trust (see page 18). The way she and her team accelerated the process of digitisation by switching to digital consultations is incredible and shows just what well-led organisations are capable of.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to all CMI members for what you’ve done, and continue to do, at this extremely testing time. I know that many of you have been adversely affected by this crisis. It has been genuinely inspiring to hear your stories, and to read your comments and insights. Thank you for being so open and engaged throughout.

I do hope you enjoy this edition of your magazine, published digitally for the first time.

Please let us know what you think.

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Tweet Ann @cmi_ceo M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 03

Contents

07 rethink

26 Speaking truth to power

18 Accelerated digitisation

34 Rethinking boardrooms

Crisis? What crisis? Meet the CMI members turning COVID-19 into an opportunity for change The doctor will see you now... virtually.

Step inside the NHS trust that pulled off a huge digital overhaul amid a pandemic

Blah, blah, blah... Is that all you hear when certain people talk? Megan Reitz says it’s time to ask why that is Board meetings probably look pretty different right now. And that might be a good thing 44 Rebel ideas

Matthew Syed, author of the 2020 CMI Management Book of the Year, weighs up the value of cognitive diversity in difficult situations (one definitely springs to mind)

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26

“ W hen you’re deciding on what shot to play, you need to be highly realistic, humble and rational. But once you’ve decided to do something, then you need to be confident"

04 — SUMM ER 2020

50 Resilience

62 Conversations

56 Track-and-trace management

71 CMgr

Goodbye globalisation? Probably not, but we may have seen the back of ultra-lean just-in-time systems Psst! Want to know a secret? Lots of firms are spying on their employees.

Time to go in for a closer look...

The top takeaways from Ann Francke’s weekly COVID-19 livestreams, plus the latest from CMI in Hong Kong The winner and shortlisted candidates for the Chartered Manager of the Year Award share their experiences of delivering change 80 close

Are you delivering a people-first agenda?

Or is that just something you say? Let’s focus on the individual, even if that means ripping up the cultural rulebook

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44

56

50

80 M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 05

APPRENTICESHIPS CMI has been at the forefront of developing the Management & Leadership apprenticeship standards and is the only end point assessment organisation that awards Foundation Chartered Manager or full Chartered Manager status on successful completion.

74%

Of apprentices agreed that their apprenticeship was or is giving them the skills they need to achieve promotion in their current role.

80%

Of apprentices asked, said learning both the theory and practice of management will make them a more effective manager.

9 in 10

Apprentices agreed that their apprenticeship was or is giving them better career prospects.

Robyn successfully completed Team Leader/Supervisor Level 3.

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It has helped me to develop and get my promotion. It has prepared me for the next stage in my career.

Robyn Donaghy, Team Leader, Veolia Watch Robyn’s story

#ApprenticeManager

To find out more, contact us on: 01536 207465 apprenticeships@managers.org.uk managers.org.uk/charteredepa

rethink

“HOW THE CRISIS CHANGED ME...”

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, CMI has encouraged members to share their stories, and we’ve received hundreds of messages about your experiences. In this special edition of Rethink, we find out how four managers had their lives and thinking reshaped by the pandemic and lockdown --------Words_Emily Hill

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 07

“I LOST MY JOB. NOW I’M TRYING TO OFFER HOPE AND INSPIRATION”

08 — SUM M ER 2020

rethink

HOLLY SAXON, FOUNDER OF RESILIENCE AND PRESENCE BUSINESS COACHING

“Before COVID-19 hit, I was head of operations at a small startup tech company. Initially, the only difference was working from home. Then, a week in, I suddenly got a call – completely out of the blue – telling me I was losing my job. I had only been there a year and had taken a risk moving from a big corporate role, which I loved, to join the small business.

It was such a shock. Since then, I’ve been through a range of emotions.

Looking for a job was like a full-time job without the income.

“But I have remained positive and kept myself motivated. First, I knew I was very interested in mentoring in the apprenticeships space, so I signed up to a

tutoring agency. I’m now teaching maths locally.

“Next, I applied for and gained a non-executive role at REAch2 Academy Trust, which supports 60 primary academies across England. It’s a challenge, but ultimately it’s making a difference to the community and the lives of young children.

“Then I applied for and gained a role as head of programme delivery at Eastside Youth, a charity which supports young people in east London.

“Last year, I qualified as a business coach, so I have used this time to set up my own organisation, Resilience and Presence, and I hope to help others by offering support.

What’s changed most for me as a result of this

experience is that I feel even more passionate about helping others.

Things don’t always go as we planned, so how do we bounce back from that quickly? How do we make sure that we don’t freeze or stumble on our own emotions, or allow our anxieties and fears to stop us moving forwards?

“I’m not going to lie, I still have uncomfortable memories about losing my position. It was a negative experience that I won’t forget in a hurry. But for me, what’s fundamental about the COVID situation is that it allows you to take a step back and think: ‘What really matters to me?’ At the moment, the time just whizzes by because I feel I’m making a difference.”

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 0 9

“THIS CRISIS HAS BROUGHT US CLOSER TOGETHER”

10 — SUM M ER 2020

rethink

SIMON EVANS, HEAD OF NATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGERS, SAICA NATUR, PART OF THE SAICA GROUP

“When all this started, I had a team of six national account managers. Three were furloughed straight away and the rest switched to working from home.

“As they’re all account managers, pre-COVID-19 they would really only see each other when we brought them to head office for a meeting. So this has actually given us a better insight into each other. We’d schedule two Webex calls a day.

Sometimes, we wouldn’t even talk about work.

We’d present on our hobbies or something else of interest to us, so we’ve come to know each other a lot better.

“We have also stayed in touch with all our

customers as they wound down, and we’re now working closely with them as they wind everything back up again. I think this has improved our relationships with our customers as, again, we make more contact than we normally would (albeit via phone, of course).

“Every Friday morning, the guys who were on furlough would join the call and that kept them connected. Our business is still down by about 40 per cent compared with normal demand, but one of the furloughed account managers is back now. I feel we’ve used our time well and have a better understanding of what is important.

“At Saica, we make brown paper from recovered papers and had to make sure the mill kept going by securing the recycled fibres. The company has worked tirelessly to ensure all sites are COVID-secure, to keep our staff safe and well, and our supply chains open. We put distancing measures in place, and everyone who works in production has their temperature checked on the way in to work. We’ve had zero COVID cases.

“The biggest leadership lesson for me has been to keep talking and keep lines of communication open. By doing that more than ever, we’ve used our time wisely.”

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 11

“THE NEW NORMAL COULD BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO THINGS BETTER”

12 — SUM M ER 2020

rethink

JAMES DICKATY CMgr FCMI, SENIOR COMMISSIONING MANAGER, SELLAFIELD

“Nuclear risk could be perceived as being fairly similar to the virus risk, because in the event of an uncontrolled release of nuclear material you can’t see it and you can’t smell it, but it can float down and stick to surfaces, emitting radiation. This has the potential to prove fatal, because if it gets inside you, it will damage your cells and could cause significant health issues such as cancer.

“The moment people working with nuclear material join the company, we go on a radiological cleanliness course that includes training you how to wash your hands effectively and resist touching your face – two bits of good practice that also apply to COVID-19.

We’ve also instituted a

culture whereby if we see someone doing something that isn’t correct, we will go over and challenge them (in a polite way), explaining why we think it’s dangerous. We’re comfortable saying, ‘You haven’t got your mask on’. No one takes offence. They say, ‘Thank you for reminding me’.

This is the sort of new cultural norm that health experts are trying to encourage in the way we keep each other safe around COVID. “The nuclear industry in general has still been able to deliver during the COVID crisis. For example, new nuclear power stations continue to be built, and existing ones continue to supply power to the grid.

Sellafield has played its part by continuing

to receive spent nuclear fuel from EDF throughout so that it can be stored safely on our site.

“Ultimately, I think this crisis has taught me that we would all be better off if we worked from home more. In terms of the environment, we need to reduce our carbon emissions, and we could do that by reducing power consumption in offices and keeping the roads freer from traffic.

“My fear is that if we don’t build on that and instead go back to where we were, we’ll be missing a huge opportunity.

We’ve been forced into this situation, but it could be the beginning of a homeworking revolution that would have a really positive impact on both people and the environment.”

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 13

“COVID-19 TAUGHT ME TO THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND”

RETHINKING YOUR CAREER?

You’ll find a huge range of advice and resources about the issues covered in this section on CMI’s Leading through uncertainty hub. CMI members can also make use of our redundancy support service, including a free diagnostic session with a redundancy counsellor.

Search ‘redundancy support’ on our website -----And please keep sharing your experiences and insights with us at editorial@managers.org.uk.

We read every single one!

14 — SUM M ER 2020

rethink

RU WATKINS CMgr FCMI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ST ELIZABETH HOSPICE

“I have a background in business and the military. When the crisis hit, I threw caution to the wind. I knew that we had a model of palliative and end-of-life care that worked and also a call centre that deploys our nurses out into the community. If we could step that up, we could increase our capacity.

“Also, by using new technology, engaging with new partners and creating a logistics hub to get medication and equipment out into the community, we could meet the needs of the patients and their families over this emergency period.

“So that’s what we did. Within four days.

“Everybody was behind it because we had clarity of vision. Our nurses set up a virtual ward, which

meant they could talk to patients before they got to them and therefore see more people and cover a bigger area.

We also started to look at the data and map where the problems were. That enabled us to realign our resources when required.

“In normal times, this could have taken months or even years.

The wonderful thing about now is that the whole health and social care system we work in is saying that we need to embed this model into our future working.

The central mission – to look after the needs of individuals – drove the urgency and enabled us to do things in an agile and forward-thinking way. It changed the mindset. People just looked for solutions, fast.

“Leadership comes from the AngloSaxon word ‘loedan’, meaning ‘journey’, and management comes from the Latin word ‘manus’, which means ‘hand’.

Great leaders transform people by reassuring them and seeing their potential. In a commandand-control system in the military, you learn all this because conflict is chaotic and ambiguous.

You know you have to have the trust of those you’re working with. You also need to partner with people, because everyone involved needs to understand the mission and then just deliver.

“There hasn’t been time to cogitate during this crisis. You have to be clear about your vision, your mission and what the end goal is. Then people will get behind you.”

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 15

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP Be the best you can be

Being a member of CMI gives you professional recognition, alongside a vast array of career enhancing benefits and resources to help you achieve your goals and become a #BetterManager.

I AM SUPPORTED

I AM CONNECTED

“I receive trusted guidance, encouragement and support from an experienced CMI Mentor.”

“Live streams, podcasts, webinars and the social media community, help increase my network.”

MORE >

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THIS IS JUST A FEW OF THE MANY BENEFITS WE OFFER TO OUR MEMBERS SEE WHAT ELSE IS ON OFFER - managers.org.uk/memberbenefits

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The professional development and membership benefits offered by CMI are exceptional. The online resources and networking events help increase my commercial awareness and meet key industry experts. This has enabled me to facilitate my future career progression.

Brittany Lee Dixon, University of Derby

I AM INFORMED

I AM ON TRACK

I AM KNOWLEDGEABLE

“Insights and thought leadership delivered direct to my inbox, keeps my finger on the pulse.”

“The career development centre advice will help me to get my dream job.”

“Thousands of on demand, current validated resources, keeps me up to date.”

MORE >

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#BetterManagers

18 — SUM M ER 2020

Accelerated digitisation

“IF WE CAN COME OUT OF THIS WITH FLATTENED HIERARCHIES – CLEAR ACCOUNTABILITY BUT MORE DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP – I THINK WE CAN ACHIEVE A WHOLE LOT MORE” The inside story of how Sussex Partnership Foundation NHS Trust met the clinical, digital and leadership challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic --------Words_Andrew Saunders

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 19

sam allen, chief executive of Sussex Partnership Foundation NHS Trust, clearly recalls the moment she realised that a COVID-19 pandemic was about to strike the UK and that it was time to meet the challenge. It was a week or two before lockdown was declared, and she was driving back from a conference in Birmingham, using the time in the car to do some hard thinking.

“I’d stayed overnight with a good friend who works for a global bank.

It was obvious that things had really kicked in in terms of business resilience in the banking world. She had been on a call where they’d enacted their business continuity plan. They were splitting their teams in half and they were really very prepared.”

Although the NHS had its own well-established crisis plans, including a detailed response to a flu pandemic, these had not yet been put into action at a national level. “I started thinking, gosh, if this virus really does take hold, how might this affect the patients, families and local communities we serve? And what are the things that could sink us as an organisation? What if we can’t pay our staff? Our payroll team sits in a room together. It was clear that we really needed to get on the front foot.”

So on her return to HQ in Worthing, Sam brought together her top team and took steps to make sure that the trust would be ahead of the curve. “We took some bold decisions, quickly,” she recalls. “We made an early decision to enable and encourage homeworking and asked teams to develop solutions that would enable them to continue working while minimising their risk of exposure to the virus. We mobilised our Gold Command structure [a key part of the NHS’s strategic response plan for a major incident] and stood up our incident control room. That was a good week before the NHS declared a national Level Four incident. Looking back, I think all those things stood us in good stead.”

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“We took some bold decisions, quickly.

We made an early decision to enable and encourage homeworking”

20 — SUMM ER 2020

The trust cares for the mental health of some of Sussex’s most vulnerable people, including children

Employing around 5,000 people across 120 locations (including hospitals, community centres and clinics), Sussex Partnership Trust is responsible for mental health services for people of all ages across Sussex and some services for children and young people in Hampshire.

It works not only within the wider NHS system but also with a range of voluntary and charitable groups to tackle the many issues that contribute to mental health problems. “Good mental health is about having the right care and the right treatment, but it’s also about having somewhere to live and something meaningful to do. It’s much more than hospital and medication,” says Sam. Although the likely impact of the pandemic wasn’t clear in those early stages, Sam and her team decided on a two-part strategy, enabling them to move quickly and with maximum impact when required. The first step was to establish a small number of very clear goals, and the second was to make sure that every staff member was on board with those goals and kept fully up to date. “We very quickly got into a rhythm around communicating with the organisation to keep everyone up to speed via daily briefings and regular webinars.”

CRISIS RESPONSE

The three strategic goals they set were: to keep patients and their families and carers safe; to keep staff safe; and to make pragmatic and proportionate decisions in a timely way. It was vital to help staff cope with major and unplanned changes in their working patterns while also managing the fear and uncertainty of COVID-19 itself, says Sam. “I don’t have sleepless nights in this job, but I have had a few during the pandemic.

This virus has taken a lot of lives and been sad, shocking and scary. We’ve seen its impact on families, and in the health service we’ve seen the impact on staff, especially black, Asian and minority ethnic staff. It’s not just the physical ---------

“I don’t have sleepless nights in this job, but I have had a few during the pandemic”

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 21

impact – there’s the mental impact to consider too.”

But as every manager knows, the best strategy is worth little without great people and great execution. And Sam is clearly proud of the way that the organisation stepped up to the challenge. Take remote working, a key plank in the goals of keeping staff and patients safe. “When we started, we could support 150 people working from home at once. That was the capacity of our VPN [the virtual private network that provides secure remote connections into the central computer systems]. Within three weeks, we had scaled up that to thousands.”

As the wider NHS went into its COVID-19 incident response, the trust had to reorganise quickly in order to ease pressure on hospital A&E departments, traditionally an important source of crisis mental health support. The trust’s existing mental health helpline was expanded for patients to access services directly, backed up by five 24/7 assessment clinics. “We have managed to keep all our services open, with the exception of our memory clinics for dementia patients. They are paused but we’re working hard on how to get them open again too,” Sam says.

The trust’s remit goes far beyond the traditional hospital setting

# O F C O N S U LTAT I O N S ( R U N N I N G T O TA L )

N U M B E R O F D I G I TA L C O N S U LTAT I O N S C A R R I E D O U T T H RO U G H T H E N H S AT T E N D A N Y W H E R E P L AT FO R M

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12 K

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8K 6,664

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4K 2,370

2K 0

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Central to this new way of working was going digital – not only internally but externally too. Patient consultations that would normally be carried out face-to-face were rapidly transferred online wherever possible. “We had a simple vision that was clinically led,” Sam explains. “That any clinician should be able to offer a virtual consultation, and that any patient or their carer should be able to request one.”

The trust’s forward-thinking structure played a big part in making this huge shift possible. “When I was appointed chief executive in 2017, I did a bit of restructuring and created a new role, that of chief digital officer,” Sam says. “So now we have a chief nurse, a chief medical officer, a chief financial officer, a chief operating officer and a chief digital officer.”

A H E A D O F T H E C U RV E

Giving digital thinking a place at the boardroom table helped to embed it in the trust’s culture alongside clinical prerogatives. That meant that when called upon to perform such rapid changes, the organisation had both the technical and human capacity to respond. “A lot of my peers would have liked to be able to do this, but they don’t all have the infrastructure and digital leadership,” Sam says. “We’ve got the hardware and we’ve got the data warehouses.

We’ve got a clear vision and we’ve got the clinical digital leadership.”

--------Building bridges between disparate parts of the organisation, especially between "We’ve got the hardware management and clinical staff, has been and we’ve got the data a priority for Sam ever since her first job in warehouses. We’ve the NHS, working with a community mental got a clear vision and health team in south-west London. Getting we’ve got the clinical involved with CMI and becoming a Chartered digital leadership” Companion has helped put her on an equal footing with senior clinical colleagues, she says. “I decided to get Chartered Manager status. All of our clinicians are members of professional bodies. We hold them to account and they have codes of conduct. As managers,

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 23

we don’t have that in the NHS – something which has been the subject of much debate over the years. CMI is my professional body and it’s important to me.”

Sam admits that digital consultations are not suitable in every case and that there is still work to be done around safeguarding. For example, it can be hard to consult virtually with a patient in an abusive relationship if they are doing the call at home, within earshot of their abuser.

But making an online consultation a choice went a long way towards overcoming any misgivings and helped some naturally riskaverse clinical staff realise that sometimes it is worth giving something new a try. “I’ve had clinicians who were really quite anti it saying to me that actually, now they’ve done it, it works really well,” Sam says.

The trust has now undertaken some 16,000 digital consultations on the NHS’s Attend Anywhere online platform since lockdown commenced, the largest number of any trust in the UK. For Sam, it’s a “phenomenal” result.

Although NHS front-line staff have understandably been in the spotlight during the pandemic, Sam says that for many of them suddenly becoming a hero in the eyes of the public was something of a double-edged sword. “The public support and acts of kindness have been amazing and beyond anything we’ve ever experienced before. But heroes are typically superhuman figures who leap in to save the day.

Our heroes – the consultants, the porters, the nurses, psychologists and other staff – they are real people with the same vulnerabilities we all have. So it’s one thing putting them on a pedestal, but if they need help they should feel able to ask for it just like anyone else.”

S E I Z I N G T H E O P P O RT U N I T Y

As the death toll tragically mounted, Sam saw a small bright spot: that the crisis presented a chance for learning. She was determined that the trust wouldn’t miss this one-off opportunity. Traditional organisational boundaries were being overcome by collaboration and teamwork. Changes that would have taken months or years under normal circumstances were happening in days and weeks. And working with other NHS partners and local authorities has been a huge positive.

“The NHS is very hierarchical. This has been a real opportunity, and we’ve seen our clinicians take the floor as organisational leaders.

24 — SUM M ER 2020

NHS staff will need more than just rainbows in the weeks and months ahead

We’ve seen leadership everywhere. I’ve shed tears over the lives that have been saved by the dedication and skill of our teams caring for individuals with mental health issues and learning disabilities. If we can come out of this with flattened hierarchies – clear accountability but more distributed leadership – I think we can achieve a whole lot more.”

To that end, Sam has set up a learning project under the trust’s director of R&D, to capture the key lessons as they come to light, rather than waiting until afterwards, when memories have faded and insights have become blurred. “I want to capture that learning so we can continue to adapt and evolve. We’re going to be living with this virus for some time, so we have to make our response sustainable.”

L O N G -T E R M I S S U E S

Treating the pandemic as a major incident, for example, made a lot of sense but comes freighted with its own issues. “Major incidents are normally over within 24 to 36 hours. Our staff are tired and need the opportunity to reconnect with their families. We can’t just expect them to carry on doing what they’re doing now without that, or without good wraparound support for all the homeworkers. And what does it mean to join an organisation when your team is entirely virtual?”

As well as being a way to get something positive from the pandemic, Sam hopes the project will help the trust prepare for another looming crisis: the anticipated spike in demand for mental health care as the ripples from the --------initial acute phase spread. “Some of our staff will need support over the coming weeks, The trust has now as will some of those who have been through undertaken some 16,000 ICU and survived. Families and other groups digital consultations on the are struggling with the consequences of NHS’s Attend Anywhere lockdown. Domestic violence is up 25 per online platform since cent, and there’s bereavement and social lockdown commenced, isolation. There are reports that anxiety and the largest number of depression are on the rise. You can’t just pack away the ventilators and expect everything any trust in the UK to return to normal. We’ll be dealing with the psychological impact for years to come.”

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 25

26 — SUM M ER 2020

Speaking truth to power

“WE CANNOT AND WILL NOT REIMAGINE THE FUTURE OR LEAD IN WAYS THAT ARE AGILE, COMPASSIONATE AND PURPOSEFUL UNLESS WE ALTER OUR CONVERSATIONAL HABITS” Who are you talking to? Why them in particular? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to listen to some other voices too?

--------WORDS_MEGAN REITZ

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 27

irst the question was “When are things going to get back to normal?”

Then it was “What’s the ‘new’ or the ‘next’ normal going to look like?”

These questions clearly point to our longing for certainty and control; for someone, somewhere, to tell us “This is how it will be”. The questioners need to prepare themselves to be disappointed.

V U C A? W E H A D N O I D E A …

In recent years, debate in leadership circles has centred around the future of work. We’ve pondered what we might need to do to stay ahead and stay in control, as automation, artificial intelligence, the 100-year life and the gig economy gained ground apace. We’ve sagely talked about our VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) as if it were A Thing and wondered about how our leadership might need to change as a result.

And then this year happened.

We’ve been catapulted into (re)action in a manner no one could have predicted. (Well, it was predicted, but it remained hypothetical, improbable and rarely discussed in any serious scenario planning in the boardroom). We have experienced the fragility of our privileged existence. This crisis has brought other impending disasters such as climate change just that little bit closer to felt reality, and the mother of all recessions may well be round the corner.

Global existential questions are knitted together with anxieties closer to home: job insecurity, caring responsibilities, isolation and health uncertainties. For many of us, we’re at home at work, and we’re at work at home. While the blurring of boundaries makes distancing ourselves from work pressures even harder, those who are now being told to return to the office are experiencing a further rush of anxiety relating to safety on public transport and inside workplaces.

This perfect storm of events, culminating in high personal stress and critical concerns about organisational survival, has meant we

28 — SUMM ER 2020

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“This crisis has brought other impending disasters such as climate change just that little bit closer to felt reality” M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 29

--------need to re-examine – urgently – the way we manage and lead. Do we need “We need to enable to update our models of leadership employees at all levels and management to survive and thrive – but particularly in the context in which we now find those who have ourselves? If we lead in the way we’ve traditionally been always led, we’ll get what we’ve always silenced – to speak got. Is that a viable option? up with ideas” I have been engaged in these questions with many leaders over the past few months. The desire for change appears to be strong. The common goal that I’ve heard is a form of leadership that enables agility (another management concept that we now understand more energetically and pragmatically), compassion, and ethical practice aligned with multiple stakeholder needs (rather than simply shareholder greed).

But leaders are thwarted in this quest in one crucial way: they’re still listening to the same voices. Or, to put it another way, the same people are still being silenced and ignored.

Our way of seeing power, status and authority and our consequent expectations of who should speak up, be heard and lead remain the same. In other words, our conversational habits, and with them our management and leadership, remain the same.

W E ’ R E S T U C K I N O U R C O N V E R S AT I O N A L H A B I T S

Conversational habits shape who says what, who gets heard and what actions get taken. They have enormous consequences. You and I have habits around when we speak up and when we stay silent, many of them unconscious or seen as unquestionable common sense. We have habits around whose opinion we seek and whose we discount. These patterns influence our relationships, careers and satisfaction with life.

We cannot and will not reimagine the future or lead in ways that are agile, compassionate and purposeful unless we alter our conversational habits. Different people need to be able to say different things and be heard in different ways. We need to enable employees at all levels –

30 — SUMM ER 2020

but particularly those who have traditionally been silenced – to speak up about their ideas, challenges, ethical dilemmas, mistakes, anxieties and passions.

The pressure to enable “employee voice” has been growing for a while, but this pandemic has forced the issue. Permission to “speak up” is now a cultural value in many organisations, with leaders telling employees that their doors are always open.

But they’re still making one big mistake.

S TO P F I X I N G T H E I N D I V I D UA L

Leaders are still trying to fix the individual, insisting that employees “be brave” and speak up, rather than fixing the system by creating a culture of psychological safety where employees are invited to speak and are listened to without fear of being shamed, ignored or landed with even more work.

Recently, two leadership teams invited --------me in to help them. Both said they needed Megan Reitz is their employees to speak up more with ideas professor of leadership and also with issues of misconduct. Both and dialogue at showed frustration at what they called a Ashridge Executive “lack of bravery and assertiveness” shown Education (part of Hult by employees. So I asked the employees, International Business School) and the founder “What happens when you speak up around of Reitz Consulting. here?” In both instances, the response – in She is the co-author, all seriousness – was: “You disappear”. with John Higgins, of Speaking up is relational. It happens Speak Up: Say what when those in positions of power listen. needs to be said and Spending vast amounts of money sending hear what needs to employees on courses to make them braver be heard (Financial is doomed to failure unless you’re also Times Publishing, 2019), teaching your leaders to listen better. which was shortlisted Unfortunately, that’s not as easy as it for the 2020 CMI sounds. Leaders tend not to see that the Management Book problem might really be theirs. of the Year Award

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 31

A R E YO U R S TA F F SPE A K I NG U P ? A R E YO U S U R E ?

Megan’s research has identified three main reasons why leaders are overly optimistic about the level of transparency in their teams

Nearly every respondent in our survey of 5,650 people thought they were better than their boss at listening to others. It’s a bit like asking, “How good a driver are you?”

Most of us think we’re better than average. As long as “we’re not the problem, they are”, we’re unlikely to look in the mirror and commit to developing our skills.

1.

THE SUPERIORIT Y ILLUSION.

A DVA N TAG E B L I N D N E S S . A colleague of mine, Ben Fuchs, coined this term to describe our blind spots around bias and privilege. Many leaders have labels that convey status and authority in certain contexts.

For example, in many boardrooms, labels such as “male” and “white” convey status and mean that you’re expected and encouraged to speak up and your voice tends to get heard more easily than others. When we have these advantageous labels, it is nigh on impossible to imagine life without them – and that means we often assume that others’ experiences are similar to our own. If we can speak up relatively easily and get heard, we think others can and do too.

2.

A D E A R T H O F ( T R U T H F U L ) F E E D B AC K . If you’re perceived as powerful and then ask others to give you feedback, people will probably think twice before giving it to you straight. The questions we ask of others tend to be pretty poor: “Can you give me some feedback?” or “Was that OK, do you think?” Don’t be surprised if this results in a watery smile and a “Yeah, yeah, hmmm, all good” response. Similarly, just because “my 360 says I’m good at this”, it doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have any work to do.

3.

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HOW T O R E A L LY LIST EN U P Three suggestions to help managers and leaders change their conversational habits – and our collective future

Consider the last time someone challenged you. If you’re struggling to recall an occasion, then you’re probably scary or intimidating. You may think you’re approachable – and indeed you may be approachable – but you must be able to see yourself as others do. Ask yourself, “Who might find me intimidating? What can I do to put them at ease?”

1.

K N OW H OW S C A RY YO U A R E .

C H E C K W H O ’ S O N YO U R ‘ L I T T L E L I S T ’. It’s all well and good CEOs talking passionately about the importance of having a team that speaks up, but do they then pause and say, “but I do have my little list of the people who ‘fit’ and those who don’t”? Little lists can be helpful; after all, we need to discern, and we can’t listen to everybody and everything. But why are some people on your “listen to” list and others not? This is the territory of unconscious bias, so check your list.

Do the people you listen to look a lot like you? Who doesn’t appear on your list, and what are the consequences of not hearing their voices?

2.

K N O W YO U R FAC E . Have you ever sat in a meeting, spotted someone with their arms crossed and a huge frown on their face and immediately thought, “Oh my goodness, they hate what I’m saying”?

It’s an easy enough assumption to make. But maybe the offputting expression is in fact their “thinking face”. Do you have one of those?

What signals do you send out when you’re listening? As leaders, we need to be aware of the signals we send with our body language, and we need to consider how we respond when others speak up. It’s these micro-moments that teach people to speak up again – or stay silent.

3.

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 33

JUST ABOUT MANAGING PLC

Board agenda, Summer 2020

1. RETHINK THE BOARD 2. AOB

How COVID-19 is changing the boardroom --------Words_Patrick Dunne

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Rethinking boardrooms

he work of boards and executives – and their relationship with each other – has adapted to suit the urgent needs of the COVID-19 crisis. Yet the fundamental role of the board remains: to make sure that there’s the right vision and strategy, the right resources and governance – even if the vision right now is simply to survive.

Boards and execs will be somewhere on this spectrum:

+ PARALLEL UNIVERSE

HIGHLY EFFECTIVE

DOING EACH OTHER’S JOBS

EFFECTIVENESS

Ideally, you’ll be in the middle, with clear and well-understood roles and a healthy level of intersection, working together on the big things. In a less than ideal set-up, you might be operating in parallel universes or in the stressy muddle of trying to do each other’s jobs.

Finding the right balance of oversight and support through a period of high pressure is tough for boards. Some have formed COVID sub-committees or task forces. Others have formed two groups drawn from execs, non-execs and/or trustees: one focused on the here and now, the “Resilience” phase; the other on “Recovery and Resurgence”. These approaches can work if you recognise the need to adapt again later to avoid the risk of groupthink that comes from a narrower and less diverse decision-making group, or the feeling of exclusion among those not in the inner sanctum.

During such intense periods of work, chairs have to find the right balance of effectiveness and pressure, pace and rigour, while being sensitive to the pressure that executives are under. The aim is to try and keep your board near the middle of this chart.

PRESSURE

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 35

During the COVID-19 crisis, most boards haven’t needed to be told what the right thing to do is and have done their very best to balance the needs of stakeholders, recognising that people’s safety and wellbeing has been the top priority.

They have also been conscious that fresh approaches to risk management and building in resilience are now required. In future, I think there will be a greater focus on planning for consequences rather than for events, mitigation planning and achieving much greater levels of financial and operational resilience. Stretched balance sheets, over-complex supply chains and processes operating at capacity all increase an organisation’s fragility.

Decision-making is also likely to change. Classic strategy, annual plan and budget processes were already breaking down before the crisis. An overall vision and strategy to frame our decisions is still needed, but many boards have in practice been taking “lockstep” or “decision tree”-type approaches to investment, recruitment and other significant decisions for some time. In an increasingly volatile context, these approaches – where the executive has the freedom to proceed once certain preconditions have been met – provide greater clarity, flexibility and agility.

W E L C O M E TO T H E N E W D E C I S I O N - M A K I N G

Not all decisions need to be taken in the same way. The “early, mid, late” approach has served well those who adopted it through the crisis.

This is where you break big decisions down. First comes an early, short and focused discussion on the issues involved. Then, once the executive, perhaps with a non-exec buddy supporting them, has done some more detailed work and come back with a shortlist of potential choices, a mid-phase discussion is held where the board can be clear on preferences and parameters. Finally, the big decision is taken during a discussion with as much focus on whether the implementation plan is right as on the decision itself. This helps to avoid “smash --------and grab” decisions made in haste, and it often takes up less executive time.

“GIVEN THE PACE AT WHICH Given the pace at which so many decisions SO MANY DECISIONS HAVE have had to be taken – and without all of HAD TO BE TAKEN – AND the facts at our disposal – hindsight is WITHOUT ALL OF THE bound to reveal that we made some poor FACTS AT OUR DISPOSAL – choices. One thing I intend to do as a chair HINDSIGHT IS BOUND TO is to make sure we take time as a board REVEAL THAT WE MADE to reflect and learn – not just from the stinkers but also from the ones we got right.

SOME POOR CHOICES”

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T H E C H A N G I N G C O M P O S I T I O N O F B OA R D S

Angela Merkel and Jacinda Ardern have been model leaders during this crisis

Given the big changes in both context and strategy, the composition of boards will need to change. In a crisis, we experience the joy of seeing new stars emerge and the frustration of realising that others have proven less robust and adaptable than expected. Many board members, especially the “overboarders” (people who sit on too many boards), may feel that the changed circumstances are not for them.

Boards will also need to change their ways of working. I anticipate the increased use of apps such as Board Intelligence and Diligent, as well as a permanent change in how we communicate and the nature of board papers. Yet we also need to be careful about some of these changes: just because we made it work in a crisis doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do things. And we mustn’t forget about the bigger issues, such as our diversity and inclusion and climate change agendas.

During this crisis, we have seen some terrific examples of leadership from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. They and others have combined calmness, empathy, a grip on the detail and clarity of communication, such that they have engendered a level of trust. They have also shown humility as well as confidence. They’ve not just had an eye on today, but the future. The leaders of many organisations have been personally challenged like never before and risen to the challenge.

We must all remember these wise words, often attributed to Maya Angelou: “They may forget what you said, and they may forget what you did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”

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Patrick Dunne CMgr CCMI is a CMI trustee, experienced chair and the author of Boards: A practical perspective (Governance Publishing, 2019)

SEVEN WAYS BOARDS WILL CHANGE

1. There will be greater focus on planning for consequences, rather than for events.

2. Financial and operational resilience will be key.

3. Annual plans and budgets may give way to “lockstep” or “decision tree”-type approaches that enable greater flexibility.

4. Watch out for the emerging “early, mid, late” approach to

decision-making, which seeks to break big decisions down into three phases.

5. The crisis will reveal your organisation’s new stars.

6. There’ll be more use of board apps and other forms of communications technology.

7. Contextual issues such as climate change and diversity will keep rising up the agenda.

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 37

Rethinking

boardrooms

“OUR DECISION TO ESTABLISH A NEXTGENERATION BOARD WAS DRIVEN BY A BELIEF IN WHAT WE MAKE HAPPEN TOGETHER. THIS COLLECTIVE OF OUR RISING TALENT IS DESIGNED TO TAKE THAT TO ANOTHER LEVEL” When businesses review the way they organise and mobilise their boardrooms after this crisis, they may look to this example of a next-generation board for inspiration --------Words_Rebecca Robins

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M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 39

t the end of 2019, I was asked to comment for a think piece on the defining words and language of the new decade. The contribution I made was called “The Decade of ‘We’.”

In the context of where we now find ourselves, the phrase has taken on a new level of meaning.

Interbrand’s decision in 2019 to establish a “next-generation board” was driven by a belief in what we make happen together. This board – a collective of our rising talent – was designed to take that to another level. As a company with entrepreneurial DNA that had pioneered innovations in modern branding, it was time to make our own entrepreneurial investment in our talent.

We began the process by listening and sparring internally. We also tracked the culture of leading brands and how they were investing in their people. One of the fastest-growing brands in our annual Best Global Brands study, Gucci, accelerated from $8.8bn in 2015 to almost $16bn in 2019. A number of factors have played into that growth, one of which is the commitment that CEO Marco Bizzarri made around a more inclusive culture. Significantly, this included the creation of a Millennial Committee, which Bizzarri refers to as his “Shadow Comex”.

That prompted the question: how would we define our new board?

The current standard terminology is “Shadow Committee” or “Shadow Board”, but at Interbrand we want people to shine, and “shadow” didn’t feel right. Ultimately, we launched our next-gen board as “the Horizon Board”. It’s future-facing, horizon-scanning and fresh.

The idea of the board was promoted via an open application process. We called out to next-gen talent who were open to speaking up, to challenging the why and the why not, and to participating in a community that upholds fair and constructive debate. We invited people to submit short videos that spoke to their “super-skills”, the areas where they have particular strengths, while outlining what matters most to them and why they believe they can make a difference.

Early this year, after viewing dozens of application videos, the executive --------leadership team selected ten employees who would represent the young generation “WE LAUNCHED of the company for a tenure of 18 months.

OUR NEXT-GEN The Horizon Board was born – a diverse BOARD AS ‘THE collective of six women and four men, HORIZON BOARD’. based across three continents, in seven IT’S FUTURE-FACING, cities – New York, London, Madrid, HORIZON-SCANNING Cologne, Milan, Tokyo and Seoul. They AND FRESH” represent an eclectic range of disciplines

40 — SUMM ER 2020

across the business, including strategy, design, growth and client services. Cultural diversity and neurodiversity are two of the board’s most precious assets.

B O R N I N TO A G L O B A L PA N D E M I C

Interbrand’s Horizon Board is a great source of cross-cultural insights and views

The first board meeting was scheduled for mid-March 2020. At that point, some countries were in lockdown and offices closed, and three members of the board were already working remotely, in Seoul and Milan. As I write, the board members are yet to meet each other in person, but even with time zones spanning 14 hours (GMT -5 to +9), the whole team convenes on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

They report to Interbrand’s main board on a monthly basis.

The Horizon Board is already acting as a lens through which the business looks at a number of elements in our strategy. As we live through this period of rapid transformation, the Horizon team is co-creating Interbrand’s ambition and purpose. It’s defining what will inspire and motivate our next generation of talent, as well as identifying the kind of talent that we want to attract in the future.

It’s a poignant moment for them to set our new north star.

L E A R N I N G F RO M E AC H OT H E R

We hold a regular open forum, where I act as sparring partner and coach. The Horizon Board members have open access to connect with experts around the Interbrand network to explore and advance their ideas. We’ve also set up some two-way mentoring between the Horizon Board and team leaders across the business. The aim is to find shared value through conversations across generations and skillsets.

For both leadership and the Horizon Board, it’s about spending time with people they might not otherwise work with.

D I F F E R E N T VO I C E S

The leaders of global brands often talk about the importance of keeping a seat open around the boardroom table for the customer.

At Interbrand, we have another ten seats around our table.

Each person on the Horizon Board wants to make their mark, and it’s our responsibility to enable and advance that. If leaders and managers embrace ways of working where real change can take place, give a voice to rising talent, open up dialogues and keep listening, just think what we might make happen together.

---------

Rebecca Robins CMgr CCMI is global chief learning and culture officer at Interbrand

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 4 1

01

03

02

04

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MEET THE NEXT-GEN BOARD AT INTERBR AND 01 Agustina Bolatti

02 Cassie O’Neill

03 Geoff Miller

04 Jaime Asensio

05 Jordan Siff

Job: Junior designer, Cologne

Job: Senior business development manager, London

Job: Associate director, client services, New York

Job: Group analyst, growth, Madrid

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

The Horizon Board provides a superb chance to grow as individuals – working with diverse mindsets from around the network, learning from those within our board team, and benefitting from the experience of Interbrand’s senior leadership team. It’s a strong combination, leveraging creative ideas to benefit the future of our business.

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

Having an opportunity to work with a diverse, motivated and global team to shape the future of our business.

Job: Consultant, verbal identity, InterbrandHealth, New York

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

Experiencing the power of unique and diverse points of view coming together and shaping greater ideas. Having the opportunity to co-create with such talented people is beyond inspiring, and it’s a true reflection of Interbrand’s essence.

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What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

The best thing about being part of the Horizon Board is the opportunity to work with people all around the globe.

It’s great to be part of such a global company where the younger generation’s voices are heard and taken into account.

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

Working on the Horizon Board has meant getting to know my peers from across the world – an amazing opportunity that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. It’s all about the people!

05

07

09

06

08

10

06 Jungwon You

07 Manato Ushiyama

08 Margherita Cortesi

09 Meike Papenfuss

10 Valentina Suligoj

Job: Consultant, Seoul

Job: Senior designer, Tokyo

Job: Analyst, Milan

Job: Junior consultant, Cologne

Job: Consultant, Milan

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

The Horizon Board is the best way to experience an “intellectual democracy” at Interbrand. All the ideas are equally respected, regardless of your background, nationality or position.

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

The Horizon Board brings everything closer together.

We get to have a macro view with the leadership and bring it together with micro perspectives from the local offices.

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

We have been given a central platform to challenge the status quo, push brave ideas forward and shape the future of Interbrand. Giving us, the youngest employees, such an impact truly proves Interbrand’s entrepreneurial DNA.

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

Having the privilege to speak up on topics fundamentally relevant to the future of the company and sharing this privilege with a diverse global network of peers.

What’s the best thing about being part of the Horizon Board?

Being a member of the Horizon Board is an invaluable opportunity to feel part of an international network, and we’re contributing to its growth. We can have our say in the evolution of our company and its culture, and the leadership team is keen to hear that.

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 4 3

“NO ONE BRAIN IS ENOUGH”

44 — SUM M ER 2020

Rebel ideas

Intelligence isn’t built on the intellectual brilliance of individuals but on collective cognitive diversity This is the core idea behind the 2020 CMI Management Book of the Year We talk to its author, Matthew Syed

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 45

he author of the 2020 CMI Management Book of the Year is a broadcaster and champion table tennis player who competed twice for Team GB at the Olympics. One judge of this year’s award said that the winning book, Rebel Ideas: The power of diverse thinking, “encourages people to think beyond the everyday” and that it “tackles the big picture in a way that can be applied to my organisation on a day-to-day basis”. Another says, simply: “It’s beautifully written”.

We caught up with Matthew Syed in mid-lockdown to talk rebel ideas, the power of collective intelligence and whether the UK’s response to the COVID-19 crisis would have been different with a more cognitively diverse team overseeing it.

Matthew Rock: Can you give us a quick summary of what Rebel Ideas is all about?

Matthew Syed: My sense is that a lot of people say “diversity matters” but deep down, they think that it doesn’t matter that much or that it can actually be antithetical to the performance of an organisation. If you’re hiring diverse people, rather than the best people, it almost sounds like it’s opposed to meritocracy, which is an extremely important attribute in organisations. In the book, I argue that when it comes to complex decisions, strategic decisions, coming up with new ideas, making forecasts and predictions, it’s crucial, first of all, to have a team, because no one perspective is enough, no one brain is enough. But when you can optimise the cognitive diversity – that is to say, the different insights, perspectives and information – then you get a stronger result. The evidence on this is overwhelming, but the real point of the book is that this evidence is very deeply misunderstood.

MR: In what way?

MS: The major problem is that we tend to think about diversity almost exclusively in demographic terms – differences in gender, race and social class. But I think that the key concept is “cognitive diversity” – different thoughts and perspectives and insights.

These two things are often related, because our identities inform our experiences and the way we make sense of the world. But there are contexts where you can have people who look diverse but who think in exactly the same way because they’ve been in an organisation for

46 — SUM M ER 2020

Click above to watch the full interview with Matthew Syed

so long that they reach for the same metaphors, the same historical precedents to reason through problems. You’re not going to find that they’re ahead of the curve. They’re going to be disrupted and they’re going to miss the big picture.

MR: You wrote the book before the COVID crisis hit. How might the ideas be updated in the light of COVID-19?

MS: I’ve looked very closely at the UK government’s response to COVID. I think one of the problems is that there was insufficient diversity in the key SAGE group, the scientific advisory group for emergencies. SAGE was full of clinical academics, modellers and mathematicians but didn’t have enough front-line public health experts on communicable diseases.

Why is this relevant? The reason is that all of the planning documents were based on the idea that a dangerous epidemic would follow the contours of pandemic f lu.

And pandemic f lu spreads through the population – it’s pointless trying to contain it. So you get to herd immunity quite quickly.

All the documents published up until March 2020 started with lines like, “We are assuming for the purposes of this paper that we are dealing with pandemic flu”. But, of course, we’re dealing with a coronavirus.

The key question, then, is whether the coronavirus is different in some significant policy way? The answer to that is yes, because in South Korea and elsewhere in Asia, they’ve shown that it’s containable via mass testing and contact tracing.

We didn’t model that as an option and it wasn’t even considered. That’s why testing capacity wasn’t ramped up in those crucial early weeks. All of these decisions were based on the fundamental idea that this was going to be like pandemic flu.

Now it may well be that in the future we don’t find a vaccine and that the virus does spread through the population, but there’s no doubt that as of today, we would have been in a better place had we had a more cognitively diverse group at SAGE. MR: There are times when a sense of unity and common purpose are invaluable. George Orwell talked about the “emotional unity” of the British public during World War II. In a time of crisis, how can you avoid groupthink but keep a sense of common purpose?

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 4 7

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

MS: I think these are two fundamentally “I’m very gratified to win this different issues. If it’s only one person award. It’s a wonderful thing. determining the strategy, it’s very possible I wrote the book feeling that that it will be a poor strategy. This is why diversity is an issue of huge significance. Obviously it leaders put a team together to give them has a significance in terms advice. That's where diversity is important. of morality and social Having made a decision, however, you justice, but I also think it’s want to have unity of purpose. So I draw a probably the key factor that drives high performance in distinction between evaluation – where you business and management, need diversity – and execution, where you particularly in the field of need unity of purpose. innovation, but also beyond” MR: Looking beyond this crisis, is there – Matthew Syed, author of Rebel Ideas: The power a case to be made for leaders to dial down of diverse thinking (John their dominance characteristics?

Murray, 2020), winner of MS: The best leaders in the world at the the 2020 CMI Management moment know how to pivot between Book of the Year, awarded in association with the British leadership styles. So when they’re talking Library and sponsored by to the group, they have the humility to listen Henley Business School in order to make a better choice. But once a decision has been taken, they know how to galvanise and to occasionally dominate.

They pivot depending on where they are in the decision cycle.

MR: Are there organisations where you see these kinds of positive habits taking hold?

MS: I’ll take it away from business [to] sports. I remember interviewing the golfer Nick Faldo and asking what quality was important as a golfer.

For example, do you need to be supremely confident? And he said, “It’s very naive to think that you need to say, ‘I’m going to hit this ball. It’s going to be fantastic. It’s going to go in the hole.’ Instead, when you’re deciding on what shot to play, you need to be highly realistic, humble, and rational at that point.

But once you’ve decided to do something, then you need to be confident. You need to galvanise yourself in order to execute the shot.

The best surgeons, for example, are very confident when they’re wielding the scalpel and very humble when they re-evaluate what they could have done better after the operation has finished.

Matthew Syed was speaking to Matthew Rock You can watch the full interview with Matthew Syed by clicking on the tile on page 46, by going to managers.org.uk or by searching CMI’s social media channels. To find out more about his consulting business, Matthew Syed Consulting, visit matthewsyed.co.uk 48 — SUM M ER 2020

Rebel ideas

THE PROBLEM W ITH DOMINANT LEADERS AND THE POW ER OF CONSTRUCTIV E DISSENT united airlines flight 173 took off from Denver on 28 December 1978, flying to Portland, Oregon. Everything went smoothly until the final approach. The captain pulled the lever to lower the landing gear, but instead of a smooth descent of the wheels, there was a loud bang. A light that should have illuminated to show that the landing gear was down and secure failed to light up.

The crew couldn’t be sure that the wheels were down, so the captain put the plane into a holding pattern as they attempted to troubleshoot the problem.

They couldn’t see below the plane to check if the wheels were down, so they conducted proxy checks. First the engineer went into the cabin. When the landing gear has slid down into place, two bolts shoot up above the wing tips. These bolts were, indeed, up. They then contacted the United Airlines Control Center in San Francisco to talk through what had happened, and received advice that the wheels were probably down.

But the captain still wasn’t certain. What were in severe danger. The pilot was still focused had caused that loud bang? Why hadn’t the light on the bulb, oblivious to the dwindling fuel. on the dashboard illuminated? Landing without Perception had narrowed. You might suppose the wheels in place can generally be achieved that the engineer might have said: “We have to without loss of life, but it contains risk. The land now! Fuel is critical!” But he didn’t. We know captain, a decent man with long experience, didn’t from the cockpit voice recorder that he merely want to place his passengers in unnecessary hinted at the problem: “15 minutes is gonna danger. He began to wonder if the reason the really run us low on fuel here,” he said. light had failed to illuminate was because of the The engineer was so fearful of directly wiring. Or perhaps it was a faulty bulb. challenging the captain that he softened his However, as he deliberated and the plane language. The captain interpreted his remarks continued in its holding pattern, a new danger as meaning that while the fuel was going to get had come into play. The plane was running out low as they circled again, it wasn’t going to run of fuel. The engineer knew that the fuel was out. This was incorrect, and the engineer knew critical: he could see it disappearing on the it. Even at 18:01, when it was probably too late, gauge before his eyes. He also had a powerful and with the captain now focused on the plane’s incentive to alert the pilot: his life, and the lives antiskid system, the engineer and first officer of everyone on the plane, were on the line. were still struggling to state the problem clearly.

But this was the 1970s. Aviation culture was It wasn’t until 18:06, with the engines flaming characterised by a dominant hierarchy. The pilot out, that they finally made the information was called “sir”. The other crew members were explicit, but it was too late. They had gone past the expected to defer to his judgements and act upon point of no return, not because the team lacked his commands. It’s what sociologists call a “steep the information, but because it wasn’t shared. authority gradient”. If the engineer voiced his The plane crashed minutes later, piling into a concerns about the fuel, it might have carried wooded suburb, ploughing through a house the implication that the pilot wasn’t on top of all and coming to rest upon another. The lower the key information (which he wasn’t). It might left side of the fuselage was completely torn have been perceived as a threat to his status. away. On a clear evening when the airport had By 17:46 local time, the fuel had dropped to been visible since they entered the holding five on the dials. This was now an emergency. pattern, more than 20 people died, including Almost 200 lives, including that of the engineer, the engineer.

AN EXTRACT FROM REBEL IDEAS: THE POWER OF DIVERSE THINKING

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 4 9

50 — SUM M ER 2020

Resilience

“THERE’S A NEED TO SEE RESILIENCE, SPARE CAPACITY AND THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND SHOCKS NOT AS LIABILITIES BUT AS ASSETS” Just-in-time left many organisations just-about-finished.

In future, we need to value spare capacity and resources as key parts of an organisation’s ability to withstand shocks --------Interview with Ian Goldin

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 5 1

he coronavirus pandemic has shone a spotlight on the underbelly of globalisation. It has thrown into stark relief the good, the bad and the ugly of a highly interconnected business world with supply chains that span the globe.

And what COVID-19 has made abundantly clear is that globalisation has some major failings with multiple dimensions.

The biggest failure, of course, is the failure of the global community to be able to stop a global pandemic, but what that really is is a wider failure to understand systemic risk and a failure to empower the World Health Organization by giving it the resources, the reforms, the technology and the people it needs to stop pandemics.

And we are going to need that to stop the next pandemic, which could be even worse, just as we need stronger global institutions to stop climate change and future financial crises.

ON THE UPSIDE

Of course, globalisation does have remarkable levels of resilience engrained in its systems. When we go to the supermarket, there is an extraordinary variety of foods still available, and apart from some initial challenges that largely arose from panic buying, supply chains have been remarkably robust given the lockdown restrictions and the problems facing the shipping and air freight sectors.

Likewise, it is the demonstration of organisations’ digital resilience that has perhaps been the most remarkable strength to come to the fore during this crisis. Our collective digital strength has never been tested at this level before, and not only did the technology work, but it has shined.

What’s more, the majority of businesses have been able to reorganise their operations quickly so that workers could continue to work remotely, allowing them to service clients, win new business and continue their day-to-day functions. Some banks are even managing to conduct

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“Of course, globalisation does have remarkable levels of resilience engrained in its systems”

52 — SUM M ER 2020

trading from their people’s homes, which is truly remarkable given the complexities and security issues associated with such functions.

Then there’s the rapid response of the government in having created the furlough scheme, as well as other business support schemes.

And that’s not just in the UK, but across Europe and beyond.

So, for me, this is a glass-half-full situation.

TO O M U C H I S T I E D U P

However, the pandemic has also highlighted the issue of shorttermism in a lot of measurement systems used by companies and other organisations to report on their performance.

And it has shown up the short-termism of politicians too. They have always known that a pandemic is a big threat, but they’ve repeatedly kicked the issue down the road. They simply hoped it wouldn’t occur on their watch and so they’ve become complacent – just as they got complacent around financial integration in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

In the business world, this short-termism is reflected in the prevalence of just-in-time management and lean management thinking, as well as the outsourcing of all functions that aren’t regarded as “core”.

This has been exacerbated by increasing pressure from analysts and financial markets for quarterly reporting, as well as accounting standards that push firms to reduce the amount of working capital that’s tied up in the business – citing the old adage that working capital tied up in a business is working capital wasted.

And all this doesn't only apply to private profit-making firms; it also increasingly applies to the public sector. Hospital trusts are under pressure not to have spare oxygen or spare masks or spare personal protective equipment, because that’s all capital tied up in things that might not be needed. Similarly, firms running just-in-time supply chains don’t have spare parts or spare people or spare resources.

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 5 3

Running such lean operations means that a wrinkle anywhere in the supply chain can amplify and become a major knot somewhere else in the system. The effects can be dramatic.

T I M E TO R E T H I N K VA L U E

To combat this lack of resilience in overly lean and globalised supply chains, organisations need to change the way they operate – and the way they think.

There is already an awareness of this issue, but there is also a need to see resilience, spare capacity and the ability to withstand shocks not as liabilities – as they are currently – but as assets.

This will require a fundamental rethinking of accounting practices, and for businesses to ask themselves some pretty profound questions.

How much spare capacity is the right amount? A week? A month?

That depends where the next likely shock is going to come from. We’ve had a pandemic, so what’s next? Is it a tsunami in Japan, another Hurricane Sandy in New York, or a volcano erupting in Iceland? What is the threat we’re safeguarding against?

We know that these risks are multiplying, but exactly where they will come from and how much we need to prepare is a big question, because if we constantly prepare for everything and stock everything we might need, then that would be extremely expensive. Organisations simply don't have the resources to do that.

Instead, organisations need to think carefully about what it is they’re building resilience against – and it’s very important we don’t develop a nationalistic response when doing that.

As we have seen in the context of supply chains and their resilience in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn't make sense for any one country, even one with a pretty big manufacturing base like the UK’s, to try and do everything. After all, the whole principle of competitive advantage is that you specialise where possible,

---------

“How much spare capacity is the right amount? A week? A month?

That depends where the next likely shock is going to come from”

54 — SUM M ER 2020

preferably in what adds the most value to your economy. That means not doing everything.

This isn’t only true of manufacturing, where just-in-time management and lean thinking are most common; it is also true in finance, where holding less capital on the balance sheet ultimately increases your profitability because of the expense associated with maintaining a large capital base.

Building this kind of resilience into a globally connected business ecosystem is a much wider issue than many think, and will require lots of joined-up thinking.

Firstly, it is going to require shareholders in listed companies to value companies differently, taking into account the ability of a business to withstand shocks to the economy or its business model.

Progress has already been made here, in the shape of the increasing popularity of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing.

We could soon see shareholders preferring to invest in firms that are able to respond to shocks and are therefore more likely to deliver longterm sustainable growth.

This will require educating shareholders about the long-term benefits of resilience. Regulators will also require better ways of reporting organisations’ levels of resilience. Ultimately, these changes will require trailblazing businesses to lead the way.

But these trailblazers may be hard to find.

Many firms, having withstood the pandemic shock, will point out that their problem now --------isn’t one of supply, but of demand.

Until the economy recovers and demand Ian Goldin is professor of picks up, many firms won’t be focusing on globalisation and development building up supplies and introducing more at the University of Oxford costs. As such, the economy may be left facing and the director of the the same systemic risks it faces today.

Oxford Martin Programme on Technological and Economic Change. He is the author of The Butterfly Defect: How globalization creates systemic risks, and what to do about it (Princeton University Press, 2014). He was speaking to Matt Scott

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 5 5

56 — SUM M ER 2020

Track-and-trace

management

“THERE HAS BEEN A BOOM IN DIGITAL TRACKING TOOLS FOR MANAGERS, BUT ARE HIGHER LEVELS OF MONITORING A REASONABLE PRICE TO PAY FOR GREATER FLEXIBILITY ?”

As we move into an era of more homeworking and persistent safety concerns in offices, managers will need to weigh up the ethical issues raised by greater employee surveillance --------Words_Charles Orton-Jones

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 5 7

rack and trace is here to stay. Digital surveillance is now thought to be the best way of identifying potential virus-carriers, eventually offering us a route out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

South Korea has already proved how effective track and trace can be. The country’s infection curve wasn’t just flattened – it hit a brick wall. Jerome Kim, the director general of the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul, attributes that progress to “decisive and transparent leadership based on data, not emotion”.

What can we learn from this? Could you manage your employees better with your own version of track and trace? Is it possible – and ethical – to try and deliver productivity gains using data, not emotion?

Over the past few years, there has been a boom in digital tracking tools for managers. But these tools throw up complex questions. For example, with more people working from home, are higher levels of monitoring a reasonable price to pay for greater flexibility? What safeguards should there be against the threat of creeping 24/7 employer surveillance? Which activities are reasonable to track, and which are just plain creepy?

To answer these tough questions, it’s worth understanding the tools that are on the market and already being used by successful organisations. Only then can you make your own decisions on whether, and how extensively, to deploy them yourself.

W I T H G R E AT P OW E R . . .

At the most extreme end of the spectrum is Teramind, an employee monitoring service offering total coverage of every call made, message sent and website visited. Keystrokes are logged. Screenshots and videos can even be taken without the employee being aware.

The legality of US-based services such as Teramind in the UK remains an open question. The Employment Practices Code published by the Information Commissioner’s Office stresses the need to conform with the Data Protection Act and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which creates a right to respect for one’s private life and correspondence. The code offers detailed guidance, but also this concise summary: “The Data Protection Act does not prevent monitoring. Indeed, in some cases monitoring might be necessary to satisfy its requirements. However, any adverse impact of monitoring on individuals must be justified by the benefits to the employer and others.”

So there’s not necessarily a legal barrier to tracking your employees, but there may well be an ethical one. Hannah Elderfield is associate insights director at behavioural consultancy Canvas8. She’s dubious about tracking technologies, pointing instead to the trend towards

58 — SUMM ER 2020

managing work output rather than employee input. “Employees should be free to do what they want, so long as they deliver results,” she says. “Leaders should focus on building a high-trust culture, so there’s no need for constant monitoring.

“Ask yourself this: would you rather work for a company that digitally tracks everything you do, even when you go to the bathroom? Or an employer who respects your privacy and leaves you to work in peace?”

The secret, as CMI has consistently found, is trust. Trust is the glue that binds relationships and teams, and drives high performance.

L O C AT I O N , L O C AT I O N , L O C AT I O N

Perhaps, then, there’s a case to be made for tracking that complements a high-trust culture. Offices can now be transformed with sensors, for example. Enlighted, owned by Siemens, fits internet-connected sensors to office ceilings to monitor staff members’ positions. The firm claims its tech is now used by 15 per cent of Fortune 500 companies, and it’s using COVID-19 to market its technology --------as a way to enforce in-office social distancing. If an “FITBITS MADE employee tests positive for the virus, it’s possible SENSE BECAUSE THEY to identify every colleague they crossed paths with and which parts of the office need disinfecting.

ENABLED US TO SEE One other benefit of location tracking is improved WHETHER THERE WERE energy efficiency, as lighting and heating can be IMPROVEMENTS IN turned on only where they’re needed. The NHS trust THE BIOMETRIC DATA that runs the Thomas Linacre Outpatient Centre in AS A RESULT OF USING Wigan has installed 612 LED fittings and sensors THE DEVICES” for precisely this reason. The sensors also double up as asset trackers, enabling the trust to locate kit such as wheelchairs throughout the building.

A rival system by UbiqiSense uses door-mounted sensors to monitor the flow of people around buildings. The system recognises the shape of a person without identifying them, making it fully GDPR-compliant. The software also works with existing CCTV. Aarhus University in Denmark uses this system to monitor the distribution of students in lecture halls, helping to optimise room use.

I T ’ S O N LY A F I T B I T. . .

Tracking technology could even potentially improve the health and wellbeing of employees too. Fitbit, Apple Watch and Polar all offer fitness apps for corporate users. Staff are encouraged to wear one of these devices and enrol on a company platform. Medical Mutual, the largest healthcare insurer in Ohio, was an early adopter. Its in-house wellness manager says: “Fitbits made sense because they enabled us to see whether there were improvements in the biometric data as a

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 59

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result of using the devices. We’ve watched employees go from only achieving maybe 2,000 steps per day all the way to 8,000 or 10,000 steps.

We’re not so much focused on the number of steps as on that culture of movement. We saw that people were sedentary for hours, but now they’re moving for a 15-minute break instead of just sitting there.”

Find the idea of monitoring employees’ personal fitness odd?

What about keeping an eye on their feelings? Hull-based startup Moodbeam won the innovation prize at the 2019 Barclays Entrepreneur Awards for its bracelet with up and down arrows. Employees press up if they’re feeling happy, and down if they’re stressed or upset.

Crucially, the scores are anonymised, with managers seeing team or departmental data. Construction firms Morgan Sindall and Willmott Dixon are holding trials of Moodbeam, alongside procurement partner Pagabo. “The industry is starting to talk about the pressure that’s felt by the workforce, and this pioneering initiative provides a way to stay in tune with how staff are feeling,” says Simon Toplass, CEO of Pagabo.

“The data captured during the trials is completely anonymous and will be used to highlight any challenges and stress points on-site, as well as capturing when things are going well.”

The current turbulence makes tracking staff mood more important than ever, Toplass adds. “The COVID-19 pandemic has created added pressures for people, affecting their wellbeing both in and out of work.

Moodbeam’s wristband design allows workers to have a voice through discreet, anonymous feedback – by simply pushing a single button.”

Anonymity may well be the key here. Indeed, there’s a growing suite of tools offering anonymous employee insights. For example, employee engagement platform Trickle enables users to share anonymised ideas and concerns across departments. It’s already used by ScottishPower and boiler firm Vaillant. And now that track and trace is a reality both in civil life and the workplace, managers will have some tough choices to make about the tools at their disposal. The question, then, is how much intrusion employees – and managers – can stomach.

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IS TRACK-AND-TRACE MANAGEMENT THE WAY TO GO? Healthcare insurer Aetna International recently commissioned a survey of 4,000 white-collar workers in the UK, US, UAE and Singapore to find out whether employees would be happy to be tracked with devices such as Fitbits.

Two-thirds of employees said they would be happy to wear a fitness tracker.

Six out of ten worried that fitness data could be used to decide promotions or salaries.

71 per cent feared their employer would sell their data.

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 61

62 — SUM M ER 2020

CON V ERSATIONS Lockdown learnings from some of Britain’s best managers

To support members through the COVID-19 crisis, CMI’s chief executive Ann Francke has hosted live conversations every Friday lunchtime during lockdown. Leaders from large corporates, small companies, the education sector, the military and the health services have all dialled in to share their experiences and learnings as they grapple with this unprecedented situation.

-----In this special edition of Conversations, we look back at some of the highlights and enduring lessons…

On 21 March, as CMI switched to working from home, Ann shared her advice for remote management: be virtually visible, manage your team’s mental health, be agile when it comes to your priorities, and manage with a human face. Several months later, these lessons still stand. n 28 March, as Britain entered full O lockdown, Ann’s guest was Simon Blake CMgr CCMI, chief executive of Mental Health First Aid England. Simon advised acknowledging that this is not business as usual. “Eat well, don’t drink too much, sleep well and exercise,” he said. And we loved his way of checking in with the team: “How are you and what are you doing to look after yourself?”

I n their 3 April webinar, Air Vice-Marshal Warren “Bunny” James CMgr CCMI and Angela Owen CMgr CCMI, founder of Women in Defence UK, said that it helps to acknowledge that this really is a crisis.

They coined a crisis-management model that we’ve drawn on a lot ever since: ● Learn: understand what’s changing. ● Earn: earn the respect of teams in the way we do things. ● Return: know what you can give back (both in the way you coach and mentor and in how you’ll be better when this is all over.

CMI president Bruce Carnegie-Brown CMgr CCMI (pictured below) joined governance expert Patrick Dunne CMgr CCMI for the 10 April webinar. They noted that employee safety and wellbeing are now top of the list of priorities for all organisations – even if that has a detrimental effect on customer service. Patrick added that the crisis was changing the way boards approach risk and risk management. “We’ll think more about planning for consequences than planning for causes,” he said. Professor Ian Goldin explores this issue further on page 50.

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 63

As the crisis has deepened, so has its impact on jobs, with an estimated 650,000 lost so far. Kate Grussing, founder of Sapphire Partners Executive Search, and Susanne Thorning-Lund CMgr CCMI, a partner at Odgers Berndtson, offered these tips for job-hunting in these extraordinary times: ● Don’t be defeatist ● Stay up to date by finding the sectors that are hiring ● Network respectfully and update your references ● Get comfortable with using technology in the interview process ● Aim to be someone who works well in a crisis ● To advance your career, emphasise that you’re flexible, committed and patient ● Own your career development.

You may need to reinvent yourself Sir Charlie Mayfield CMgr CCMI, chair of Be the Business and QA Training, has educated himself about cloud computing during the crisis. “This is a great time to get that training done and complete it,” he said in our webinar on 24 April. niversity finances have been under U pressure for some time, said Professor Bob Cryan CMgr CCMI, vice-chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. COVID-19 is exacerbating that. On 1 May, he advised students to continue with university courses “because those degrees will impact you for the rest of your life and transform your life”. His advice came in the form of the acronym GROW: ● G enerous: Be generous with others and yourself ● R esilience: These are difficult times so use them to build your resilience.

This will help you for life ● O pportunities: Keep seeking chances for development ● W ins: Work on and seek those small, important wins.

64 — SUM M ER 2020

The best managers have shown great empathy during the COVID-19 crisis, reaching out to anxious team members, even over video-conferencing platforms.

On 8 May, Rebecca Robins CMgr CCMI from brand consultancy Interbrand introduced members to the phrase “lead with love”.

Tamara Box of the law firm Reed Smith observed: “Don’t underestimate what a difference it has made to see your colleagues and clients in their pyjamas, to meet their pets, to meet their children.

It creates a closeness that’s totally different to what you get in an office.”

CMI research with Engaging Works (EW) discovered that the majority of managers are happier working from home. “They’re not spending money on commuting… They feel better off. They feel more informed, and they feel more empowered,” said Mark, Lord Price CMgr CCMI, EW’s founder and the incoming CMI president, in our webinar on 15 May. At the beginning of the crisis, people were worried about food shortages, but the industry has shown incredible resilience.

On 22 May, we heard from Fiona Dawson CMgr CCMI, global president of Mars Food, and Steve Axe CMgr CCMI, group chief marketing officer of Nomad Foods, about how it has managed this. Both said it had been important to instil pride in employees’ keyworker status. And Steve said the crisis has shown how quickly things can get done: “Advertising campaigns used to take nine months. Now they can take 14 days.”

Lockdown put tremendous strain on individuals, families and organisations, but it also opened our eyes to the power of technology. Two of Britain’s most effective networkers – Vanessa Vallely CMgr CCMI, CEO and founder of WeAreTheCity, and John Jeffcock CMgr CCMI, CEO and founder of Winmark – argued that Zoom, Microsoft Teams and the like have allowed leaders to hear new voices within their organisations.

“Everyone’s become quite informal, [events] are quite intimate… the suits are gone and the informality has broken down barriers,” said John on 5 June.

“We must keep using this crisis as a catalyst for better workplace diversity,” said Elysia McCaffrey on 12 June

The Black Lives Matter protests across the world are a “watershed moment” for change, said Elysia McCaffrey, interim director of the Government Equalities Office in our 12 June webinar. “Not being racist isn’t enough. You have to be anti-racist.

You have to take really practical steps.”

“Leadership has become more human,” said Stuart Brocklehurst CMgr CCMI, founder and CEO of procurement platform Applegate, on 19 June. Stuart has spoken honestly with colleagues about the isolation he has sometimes felt living alone during lockdown. “It’s OK not to be OK,” he says.

Maggie Buggie CMgr CCMI, global head of innovation services and solutions at SAP, said that in her weekly team sessions, “we go around and say to each other, ‘What am I sad about? What am I glad about? What am I mad about?’” Emotional honesty is at the heart of great management.

oming out of the crisis, skills will rise to C the top of the national agenda. How do we give young people the skills they need in a tight labour market? How do we upskill those who have been made redundant?

The government needs to provide a north star in terms of guiding the direction, said Rachel Sandby-Thomas CMgr CCMI, registrar at the University of Warwick, and Euan Blair, founder and CEO of Whitehat, an apprenticeship education provider, in Ann’s 26 June webinar. This needs to be backed up by tax incentives and wage subsidies for employers.

Whatever we do, let’s not “restore factory settings”, said Rosalind Penny CMgr CCMI, deputy director of organisational development for the Royal Berkshire Trust, on 7 July. All organisations need to try to retain “a sense of boldness that the crisis has enabled.” Her fellow guest was Sam Allen CMgr CCMI, CEO of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, who is profiled on page 18. nd while this crisis has been profound, A the climate change emergency may be greater still – the ultimate test of leadership.

“The only effective and meaningful economic recovery is a green recovery,” said Dr Hayaatun Sillem CMgr CCMI, chief executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, on 14 July. “We can innovate our way out of this [in a way] that will give us a better economy, a greener economy, and a bigger economy,” said Lt General Richard Nugee CMgr CCMI, climate change and sustainability lead at the MoD. -----

To watch back any of Ann’s webinar conversations, click on the paragraphs above, visit CMI’s YouTube channel or head to our COVID-19 hub at manager.org.uk

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 65

Hey Paulina, how is the COVID-19 crisis affecting you in Hong Kong?

After a relatively calm period since the first wave of the outbreak, COVID-19 has surged again in Hong Kong, posing a much greater threat than before. Fear and anxiety have returned to the city.

I am quite used to conducting business and organising social gatherings via virtual communication because my technology business operates internationally across time zones. My professional and social networks are transcontinental. On top of that, “videoteleconferencing” was the subject of my PhD research at Imperial College.

Living and working amid the pandemic has affected me in some unique ways: ● My home has been turned into a studio since I began working from home.

There has been a significant increase in the frequency and duration of videoconference calls for all occasions. ● COVID-19 brings an added sense of urgency to prioritising safety and wellbeing in the personal and professional lives of myself, my friends and colleagues. ● There is much uncertainty and unpredictability in the business world caused by the pandemic. I have to stay very focused on handling all work tasks from my home office while navigating through these special times.

66 — SUM M ER 2020

“Hong Kong was one of the first places to initiate work-from-home orders and close high-risk venues such as schools”

Give us a flavour of the experiences of CMI members and partners in Hong Kong.

The impact of COVID-19 has pervaded Hong Kong’s society and economy, reaching deep into many industries. Local CMI members represent a diverse range of sectors, and they report unprecedented levels of change.

How would you characterise the management and leadership response in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has set an international example in dealing and responding to this disease. As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Hong Kong had reported just four deaths and just over 1,000 cases of infection as of the beginning of May. Our success can be attributed to a number of factors: ● A disciplined population that takes health and hygiene seriously and consistently wears masks, disinfects/washes hands and maintains social distancing. ● Past experience from the SARS crisis in 2003, which has helped inform Hong Kong’s government and health system regarding crisis management. ● Being one of the first places to initiate work-from-home orders and close highrisk venues such as schools. ● Effective control of public spaces (eg, restaurants) by limiting gatherings to no more than four people, plus screening the procedures in place at airports and other premises such as office buildings. ● Timely dissemination of health promotion and disease prevention information (eg, the ‘What You Need To Know About COVID-19’ webinar on 27 February, organised by CMI Hong Kong).

What will be the lasting impact on management and leadership in Hong Kong?

First of all, the COVID-19 crisis will accelerate the adoption and utilisation of technologies for work and communication purposes, leading to fewer in-person meetings, less travel, but more convening of people virtually online. Managers will have to be fluent and skilful in leveraging technology.

Hong Kong will probably see a wave of business restructuring in the coming months.

Teams will be streamlined and new work relationships will appear. Managers will need to cultivate an environment that is up to date and appropriate to the postCOVID business world.

Enhanced workplace health and safety measures are going to become a part of many organisations’ culture and practice.

A leader should enable and empower staff members to understand personal as well as workplace health and safety to prevent future outbreaks. Programmes should be implemented to promote and incentivise health and wellness among workers. ­ — Dr Paulina Chan CMgr CCMI is chair of the CMI Hong Kong board. This interview includes insights from other members of the Hong Kong board

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 67

GET INVOLVED CMI hosts a variety of digital events via YouTube and LinkedIn, from our Better Managers Briefings each week with our CEO Ann Francke, right through to professional development skills, top tips for managing and leading your team and current hot topics.

AS THE COVID CRISIS CONTINUES TO CHALLENGE US ALL, I KNOW THAT CMI MEMBERS AND OUR WIDER CMI COMMUNITY WILL BE STEPPING UP; WANTING TO BE THE BEST MANAGERS AND LEADERS THEY CAN BE, FOR THEIR ORGANISATIONS, AND FOR EVERY MEMBER OF THEIR TEAM. CMI’S AIM IS TO SUPPORT YOU IN THAT ENDEAVOUR. Ann Francke OBE, CMgr CCMI FIC

FIND OUT MORE: managers.org.uk/events

FUTURE EVENTS CMI’s thought leadership, research and online resources provide practical insight on critical issues for a 140,000 plus membership community and anyone looking to improve their skills, nurture high-performing teams and help pave the way for the next generation of managers and leaders.

DIGITAL EVENTS LIBRARY All of our previous digital events have been recorded and are available for you to watch at your leisure. These encompass a whole range of topics in line with the five key themes we have identified in our Better Managers Manual.

Each week our CEO, Ann Francke OBE, delivers the CMI #BetterManagers Briefing to support the CMI family and wider community. Ann is joined by special guest speakers to share their challenges and advice on topical issues.

JOIN US FOR ANN’S WEEKLY BRIEFING

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WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THIS YEAR’S CHARTERED MANAGER OF THE YEAR WINNER , HONOUR ABLE M E N T I O N A N D S H O R T L I S T E D C A N D I DAT E S : M A N I S H A M I S T RY, DA LTO N L E O N G , G R A N T C A M P B E L L , D E B B I E C A R L E S S , R I C K Y M A S S E Y, J E N N Y TAY L O R , PA U L H U G H E S A N D S A R A H G A R D N E R SECTION EDITOR _ MARK ROWLAND

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 71

HOW TO GET BU Y-IN In large organisations, it can be hard to get buy-in for yet another new initiative. The answer, says Chartered Manager of the Year Manisha Mistry CMgr MCMI, is to learn the lesson of social media platforms and let people come to you there was a point early on in Manisha Mistry’s project to deliver a digital-first mindset at Rolls-Royce when it didn’t seem to be working. The initiative involved reaching across the entire organisation – around 54,000 people. Mistry and her team had identified the need for regional digital champions and asked managers to nominate them.

This turned out to be the wrong move. Progress was slow, and the team wasn’t seeing the expected level of engagement from the regional champions. “We made it feel like a role, but in the wrong way.

It meant that the names that were coming in were selected, but they didn’t appreciate why or the value of it in addition to their day job.”

Mistry works within Rolls-Royce’s R 2 Data Labs – effectively a startup within the massive international organisation. It helps the organisation enhance or apply new data practices and solutions, supporting and accelerating the larger organisation’s digital development.

“When you’ve only got a team of four and “ It didn’t feel technical, you’re met with a global workforce that’s it didn’t feel top-down, significantly larger, the first step is just and it sparked new ideas unpicking it and understanding that you’re about how we could do not going to get everyone on board,” Mistry things differently when explains. “That really helps, because then it comes to learning it’s about the best power-to-weight ratio of and development” people you can directly influence, versus those who can’t be influenced.”

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Mistry and her team did this by creating networks, drawing on the power of social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook to connect people, but using internal communication tools. “It’s not always necessarily about your direct influence – it’s the influence of those around you,” Mistry explains.

After the initial setback with the regional champions, Mistry’s team started rethinking the overall approach. The conclusion was that the most technically savvy people weren’t necessarily the best choices. Instead, those who were most curious about the technology and the most willing to learn would deliver the most engagement. “They don’t necessarily have to be experts, but they have to want to go out and learn, play and experiment. It’s not a typical corporate approach. It has more in common with early-years education, learning through play.”

By opening the initiative up for people to come forward voluntarily, Mistry had accelerated the speed of the change. The next step was to look at how the team could really support the new champions. This included providing sponsorship for the champions for the time they put into the initiative and celebrating their achievements within their regions. “People want a sense of reward in what they’re doing. It makes them proud, and then you start to see more digital-first behaviours develop off the back of that,” Mistry says.

This turned out to be a game-changer. As employees started to feel that they could influence the future of the organisation, they became more proactive. Leaders across the organisation started talking about their team’s achievements in ways that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. “It didn’t feel technical, it didn’t feel top-down, and it sparked new ideas about how we could do things differently when it comes to learning and development.”

The initiative ended up delivering 151 per cent of its employee engagement target and 173 per cent of its learning delivery target. “It was incredible,” Mistry says. “You start getting people giving you ideas, rather than us soliciting them. We felt a little overwhelmed by what we were getting. The challenge became turning everything we had into easily consumable content. It was a wonderful problem to have.”

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 7 3

TOUGH STAFFING DECISIONS = BIG CULTUR AL GAINS As the new CEO of The Children’s Trust, Dalton Leong CMgr CCMI had to make some very difficult decisions. By holding his nerve, he was able to turn the organisation around when dalton leong started at The Children’s Trust, it was in need of an upgrade. The previous CEO had been in place for 21 years, and while he had done an excellent job, things had moved on in the intervening years. “It was effectively his organisation,” Leong recalls.

“It’s inevitable with any leader who’s in a position for that long.”

The charity’s culture was inherently linked to that previous CEO. Leong had to unravel it and create a new one that suited both his values as a leader and the requirements for success in the modern age. He brought a more corporate way of thinking to the charity, which allowed him to see things differently. “There was a need to do away with the silo mentality that might have worked well in the past but is less effective now.”

That silo mentality didn’t just exist between departments, but sometimes within the departments themselves. It didn’t fit with the way that Leong – very much a collaborative leader – wanted to work.

A lot of the change came down to finding the right people. Leong’s biggest challenge was filling the role of finance director. He describes it as the toughest hiring challenge of his career. It took several failed attempts to find the right fit for the role before he found the right person.

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Why deep thinking pays

Grant Campbell CMgr FCMI is a natural reflecter. As an academic, it’s in his blood.

But even for someone in academic circles he’s an extremely deep thinker. Leading the new chemical engineering programmes at the University of Huddersfield was a perfect fit for his precise and analytical brain.

“I give a lot of talks, and if somebody were to ask me how long it took to prepare a particular talk, I might say 20 years!” he says. “It probably took me a few hours to pull together the presentation, but I’ve been thinking about the topic for much longer.”

Campbell is just as precise in his reflections. He types them out, reviews them and rewrites them until he’s happy with their accuracy and depth. His previous reflections informed his work at Huddersfield as he tried to create some of the most distinctive chemical engineering courses in the country.

Writing out his thoughts helps Campbell hone his skills. “I find I can only teach by writing my own textbook first,” By that point, an interim FD had been appointed to the role. Some he explains. “Not a long people in the leadership team textbook, but a booklet were lobbying for them to stay on. that I give out to the Leong stuck to his guns. “When I students. They’re quite look back, what was particularly wordy, because I’m going pleasing was my resilience in the through my thought face of pressure; knowing I hadn’t processes, but the students got it right yet, but not giving up. like them because they take Now we’re reaping the rewards.” them through the thought With the right people in place, the organisation started to processes as well.” thrive. Regulatory ratings went from “Requires improvement” to “Outstanding”. The culture is now more open and collaborative. The organisation is financially sustainable and is exploring new services and new ways of delivering them. “Leadership is largely about creating a strong team around you, being clear and assertive about your expectations and, most importantly, doing it in an ethical way,” Leong says.

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 7 5

HOW TO BLEND INTROVERTS AND EXTROVERTS

“ My strongest instinct is always to fix a problem.

That’s always right at the front of my mind”

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As an extrovert, Debbie Carless CMgr MCMI has not enjoyed the lockdown over the past few months. Her team – the estates helpdesk at Solent University – is mostly made up of introverts. While they have seemingly coped better than she has, she spends a lot of time checking that they’re OK. It’s something that comes naturally to her.

“I read people as I work the room and make sure that everyone’s OK,” she says.

“I’m aware of other people outside of my team, and I do a lot of mentoring for people informally. People come to me with issues, and I use coaching techniques to help them find a solution themselves.”

While streamlining and digitising the estates helpdesk at Solent University, one of Carless’s first big challenges was to repair a strained relationship between estates and IT. It stemmed from unresolved issues that had arisen during the last facilities management software update.

The first meeting was tense, but Carless soon won them round by really listening to what they had to say.

“My strongest instinct is always to fix a problem. That’s always right at the front of my mind. But my experience has taught me that I should never assume I have the answer to fixing it. That needs to be drawn out from a good bit of understanding, which comes from listening to all the people involved.”

TR ANSFOR MING A TOXIC ORGANISATION glengormley high school in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland made the Belfast Telegraph after a damning report put the spotlight on its bullying issues and low exam results. Then Ricky Massey CMgr FCMI came on board as headmaster.

Now, the school is in demand among local parents. Detoxifying the school started with a very honest meeting with staff, in which Massey laid out the school’s poor financial performance, falling enrolment, toxic brand and sub-par results. He then set out his vision for the school, and what everyone could do to make it happen.“When you’re honest with [people], trust them with the truth and give them a vision of improvement, they will come with you.”

One of the best ways to develop a good culture, says Massey, is to create a space where staff are empowered to understand and develop their strengths. This might benefit the individual more than the organisation at times, but when faced with the risk of staff moving on, it’s worth it.

“People think it’s easier to motivate people in the private sector because you can give them more money, but in my experience, that makes no difference. What definitely works is investing in staff’s CPD, and providing the right challenges and support mechanisms to encourage their development.”

GETTING YOU R PEOPLE TO STEP U P Becoming an apprenticeship employer-provider should be fairly straightforward when you’re already providing lots of internal training – or so Jenny Taylor CMgr MCMI had thought. She has headed up IBM’s graduate training and apprenticeship programme since 2004, with a wellestablished team and processes.

Once the organisation started on the project, though, Taylor realised there was much more to it. “Although we prepared thoroughly, there were still new requirements that we hadn’t considered. It was a huge amount of

work and a steep learning curve for everyone involved.”

The main challenge was the need to create a new governance structure to oversee the apprenticeships. This primarily came down to selecting the right people for the right roles. “We had a management system, but it needed to be much more than that,” says Taylor. “We had to think about all of the work involved, define the roles clearly and then find the right people.”

All these roles were to be filled by existing team members, so Taylor had to encourage people to step up.

“For example, for the new quality management role, some members of the team didn’t feel they had the confidence to do that, even if I thought they would be perfect.”

Under this new governance structure, Taylor and her team have since passed the initial Ofsted inspection and so far have a 100 per cent pass rate for apprentices, including 100 per cent distinctions on the Junior Management Consultancy Standard. “It’s just phenomenal,” Taylor says. “We’re obviously doing something right.”

M AN AGER S .ORG.UK — 7 7

HOW TO M ANAGE ACROSS THE GENER ATIONS when paul hughes CMgr MCMI joined the Australian Air Force Cadets as commander of 3 Wing, he found little-to-no handover, low morale and not much direction. He knew he had to make some significant changes to turn things around.

The big challenge was getting everyone on the same page – no mean feat when you have a team of more than 2,600 people, with ages ranging from 13 to 78. “I had to adapt my style of communication for each age group. They listen and communicate differently,” he explains.

The 50-plus age group was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most set in its ways. It’s hard to argue that things need to be done differently when faced with more than 20 years of experience. Hughes encouraged those who had bought into his vision to encourage the more sceptical members of the team. The next move was to prove the plan worked with some quick wins. “ I had to adapt my style of Finally, Hughes uses what he calls “positive communication for each manipulation” to win hearts and minds and age group. They listen and encourage people to do what’s needed. “You communicate differently” have to take quite a charismatic approach.

They’ve got to believe in you as an individual, and they’ve got to believe in the direction you want to take the organisation.”

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HOW TO BE A W ELLBEING-FIRST M ANAGER Coalo had not long been a private entity when Sarah Gardner CMgr FCMI joined. It was previously part of Hounslow Borough Council, and Gardner was tasked with setting up the IT systems and processes.

However, she wanted to make a difference in other ways.

Coalo’s approach to mental health and wellbeing was quite traditional. As a big advocate of strong mental health, wellbeing and social value policies, Gardner approached the MD and asked if she could write the strategies, making a strong business case for why it was necessary. “I’m all about trying to improve things,” she says. “Whether it’s a work situation, a company, a project or people’s lives.”

Having written the strategies, Gardner ran

awareness days and training for staff to ensure it was properly implemented, drawing on her previous experience in project and change management.

She then moved onto other projects, helping to shape Coalo’s corporate strategy, working on its rebranding, redesigning the website and managing the company’s marketing.

Gardner is equally driven in her spare time. She is a trustee of the local food bank, vice chair of credit union Thamesbank and a commissioned officer in the Army Cadet Force. She really advocates making your free time count. “If there’s a purpose, I find the time for it. I get up early in the mornings. I look for opportunities to work and try not to waste any time.”

CHARTERED MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE Management House, Cottingham Road, Corby, Northamptonshire NN17 1TT 01536 207307 membership@managers.org.uk www.managers.org.uk — CHIEF EXECUTIVE Ann Francke OBE DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP Matt Roberts DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Niamh Mulholland HEAD OF RESEARCH AND INSIGHT Elizabeth Spratt HEAD OF POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS Daisy Hooper SOCIAL MEDIA AND CREATIVE CONTENT MANAGER Ola Masha COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER Rebecca Kearley

THINK EDITORIAL TEAM EDITOR Matthew Rock CONTENT EDITOR Rosie Gailor ART DIRECTOR Ian Findlay MANAGING EDITOR James Sutton ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Kieran Paul EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jackie Scully © 2020. Published on behalf of CMI by: Think, Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DH, 02037 717200 — editorial@managers.org.uk www.managers.org.uk/insights — Printed by Walstead Southernprint. Printed on UPM Fine. Produced at a factory that holds environmental management certificate ISO 14001.

— CMI is incorporated by Royal Charter and registered as a charity (No. 1091035). CMI does not necessarily agree with, nor guarantee the accuracy of, statements made by contributors or advertisers, or accept responsibility for any statements they may make in this publication.

— ISSN 0969-6695

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“ALMOST EV ERYONE PAYS LIP SERV ICE TO A PEOPLE-CENTRIC AGENDA, BUT W H AT COMPANIES DO BEHIND CLOSED DOORS OFTEN TELLS A DIFFERENT STORY” Words_Simon Caulkin in the covid-induced move to working from home, one business is booming: developing and selling surveillance software to monitor remote employees’ behaviour via their computers and phones. Some companies are quietly installing similar programmes in their offices, too.

People detest and resist this kind of tracking. It is self-defeating, damaging business performance by sabotaging trust on both sides.

(We examine this phenomenon on page 56 of this edition.)

“High trust is a dividend, low trust is a tax”, one author reminds us.

Mental and physical health are also casualties. People at companies where electronic monitoring is the rule are more stressed and unhappy, less energetic and burn out more than those who work in a trusting environment. Bottom line: surveillance is bad for the bottom line.

All this has been known for years and is backed by reams of research.

So why on earth does it get signed off? Unfortunately, you can ask the same question of many other management and motivation practices.

Take pay. Almost all companies use incentives and pay-forperformance programmes of one kind or another. Again, the evidence suggests that most fail to achieve their objectives and simply cause employee dissatisfaction. What’s more, whether it’s carried out in companies, university faculties or baseball teams, the research is

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unanimous: the wider the pay inequalities, the worse the performance. If pay is the most direct measure of an employee’s value to an organisation, how do you think they feel about one that pays them the minimum wage while the CEO receives millions?

Or consider employment security, a wellacknowledged component of a healthy, high-performing workplace. According to EMPLOYEES Gallup, what most people want more than AREN’T STUPID. anything is a steady job with a decent pay More than packet. At the launch of a recent Carnegie Trust report entitled Can good work solve the productivity puzzle?, representatives from the Bank of England, the TUC, of Americans McKinsey and the Royal Society of Arts believe they work all agreed: broadly, yes, it can. There are for a company simply no downsides. that doesn’t care Yet in today’s weightless economy, the about them and reality is that companies create “good work” only when forced to. Instead, they rely on contingent workers who can be are disengaged turned on and off and are increasingly from their work managed by algorithm. The reciprocity of the employment relationship of 50 years ago has disappeared. Meet the new work, same as the (very) old work, where all the risk and responsibility is borne by the individual, not the organisation.

The more you look at it, the harder it is to avoid the conclusion that while almost everyone pays lip service to a people-centric agenda, what companies do behind closed doors often tells a different story: they put shareholders first and people last.

At the end of the day, employees aren’t stupid. More than 80 per cent of Americans believe they work for a company that doesn’t care about them, and 75 per cent are disengaged from their work.

Across the board, we need to question our obsession with the performance of individuals and pay attention instead to the system that governs work. Managers need to start trusting and stop demotivating, remove the rules that prevent people from doing good work, cease measuring activity rather than the achievement of real purpose and above all do away with incentives that distort How would you priorities and divert ingenuity into gaming the system. go about putting Goodbye surveillance, inspections, performance-monitoring, people first? culture and engagement surveys, appraisals, and courses on Tweet Simon coping with change and other fake subjects that add no value. @nikluac Welcome to the organisation that really puts people first.

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NOT EVERYTHING WILL BE BETTER, BUT IT WILL BE DIFFERENT...