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Featured Content Cover Story Positive Organizational Scholarship Interview with Professor Kim Cameron
Features: Editor’s Note Welcome to the June issue of P&P we hope you will enjoy this edition as much as we enjoyed compiling it for you.
Leadership: Positive Organizational Scholarship Professor Kim Cameron shares key insights from the research into how organizations can be both more productive and more positive places to work. Watch his interview to hear about evidence-based tool for leaders.
Career: The Imposter Phenomenon Our newest contributor, Kate Atkin introduces the imposter phenomenon and ways to deal with the feeling that we are not quite as good as others may think.
Recommended Reads: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Ann Francke, Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Management Institute recommends a book that reminds the readers of habits for establishing personal and professional effectiveness.
Articles Strategy: What We Can Learn from the Family Business Model Valentina Lorenzon highlights the key strengths of family businesses that other organisations should consider to copy to get more sustainable results, especially during negative economic conditions.
Change: Positive Change Management In this webinar recording with Eszter Molnar Mills, explore the key change management mistakes to avoid and learn how to minimise resistance, engage and motivate your people through positive approaches.
Business: A Practical Guide to Win-Win The Financial Times Essential Guide to Negotiations: a straightforward, practical guide that will tell you how to succeed in making business deals. Book review by Agi Galgoczi.
Words to Lead by: Kitty Chisholm Kitty Chisholm, professional coach, facilitator and Founder Director of Boardwalk, an organisation which supports women in achieving their full leadership potential, shares an impactful piece of advice she has received.
7 of the Best… LinkedIn influencers We share our list of must-follow influencers of the popular professional networking platform.
Your feedback would make us happy. Tweet us your opinion at @People_Purpose If you’re interested in contributing don’t hesitate to contact us: support@peopleandpurposejournal.com
Editor’s Note Welcome to the June 2016 issue of People & Purpose - the Positive Leadership Journal, I hope you will enjoy this edition as much as we enjoyed compiling it for you. We have been publishing the magazine for 8 months now, originally seeing it as somewhat of an extended blog where we can share exciting ideas, strategies and perspectives with our community of practicing and emerging leaders. Little did we know how rewarding this experiment would be both personally and professionally… Here you get to witness the academic equivalent of a fan asking for an autograph. I had the opportunity to interview Professor Kim Cameron of the University of Michigan and could barely contain my excitement. Prof Cameron’s research and writing has had a significant impact on my work and my thinking about organisational success and leadership behaviours, so it was a particular honour to speak with him. In the interview Prof Cameron shares the compelling story of how the discipline of Positive Organizational Scholarship came about, talks about his research into the performance enhancing effects of virtuousness and positive energy, as well as highlighting some evidence-based tools for leaders. In fact you can see the impact of Positive Organisational Scholarship in the recording of a webinar I originally presented for the Chartered Management Institute, looking at positive approaches to managing change.
We also bring you two new contributors, Valentina Lorenzon on family businesses and Kate Atkin on the Imposter Phenomenon. In our quest to share with you a selection of the best leadership resources, we highlight some of the most interesting LinkedIn Influencers and review the FT Essential Guide to Negotiations. Over the coming months we will feature interviews with more of our teachers, influencers and professional heroes. In the July / August edition we focus on women leaders and carry interviews with Lady Chisholm and Dr Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj, as well as the very impressive Coxless Crew, the first all female team, and the first ever team of four, to row the Pacific Ocean. We would very much welcome suggestions for future topics and contributors, please e-mail us at support@peopleandpurposejournal.com. Eszter Molnar Mills, Editor-in-Chief
Leadership Positive Organizational Scholarship Interview with Professor Kim Cameron
Kim Cameron is the William Russell Kelly Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, author of Positive Leadership and Positive Organizational Scholarship and number of other books on positive organizational scholarship. Professor Cameron shared some of his key insights with us on how organizations can be both more productive but also more positive places to work. When asked about the development of the discipline of Positive Organizational Scholarship, Cameron describes his personal story that began about 20 years ago when studying organizations that were downsizing: consolidating, retrenching and laying people off. He noticed in his research over a period of several years that when organizations downsize they tend to deteriorate in performance: productivity, morale, innovation all decline. He noted however that there are 10 to 15% of organizations that improve and flourish after downsizing.
“The question over time became, how do you explain those very few organizations that get a lot better versus those that do not? I had begun forming an impression over a number of years that the difference was something I referred to as virtuous behavior in the organizations that flourish. That is forgiveness and integrity, compassion, benevolence, optimism, hope and gratitude - all that we aspire our children to develop.” He worked with Jane Dutton and Robert Quinn on developing the discipline which they named Positive Organizational Scholarship: an empirical and theoretically grounded field of study focusing on the complexities of positivity at an organizational level.
“The field caught on because I think at our very core people believe if the world was more virtuous there would be no poverty, there would be no war. Everyone would be well educated. It would be the best of the human condition. We’re essentially studying not only how do you overcome problems and challenges but how do you unleash the potential in human beings to become the best they can imagine? We sometimes refer to that as positive deviance. We’re studying how you find the attributes of a flourishing thriving organization. If you could identify it then how do you predict it? How do you foster it? How you enable it? That is essentially how positive organizational scholarship emerged.” A variety of factors make a difference to organizations thriving, including virtuous practices. “We’ve discovered that when organizations develop or… institutionalize virtuousness by being more compassionate, more supportive, kinder to employees, forgiving of mistakes, it has a major impact on profitability, productivity goes up, quality is better, there are fewer errors.”
Virtuous organizations benefit from improvements across 6 factors • • • • • •
more innovation higher customer satisfaction customer retention employee satisfaction engagement retention
Another research finding is that relationships matter. Jane Dutton’s work highlights the need for high quality connections, which may be temporary interactions. Fostering high quality connections improve performance – they benefit employees and those they serve like customers, suppliers and people outside the organization. Positive energy is life-giving and has an organizational impact: positive energizers, people who leave others uplifted and energized are higher performers themselves. In terms of performance, Cameron states that energy is four times more important than influence and four times more important than information. Because everyone can be an energizer, this is not a zero-sum game: it leads to collaboration as positive energy is an attractor. Positive, energizing leaders • help other people flourish, which is positively energizing • are heedful, pay attention, and give people their focus as opposed to being distracted • are problem solvers rather than problem creators The mechanisms through which virtuousness leads to improved results include the heliotropic effect: all living systems are inherently attracted to the positive and avoid, or are diminished in the presence of the negative.
One theory is that inherent in the human condition is the tendency to do better when there are positive practices and a positive climate.
Another is the broaden-and-build theory, established by Barbara Fredrickson: “when you expose people to virtuous, positive emotions you tend to broaden their perspective. People can actually take in more information broadening and building.” This also buffers the organization against trauma: when they implement a variety of positive practices, especially positive leadership and institutionalizing virtuousness, the negative factors that almost always occur in downsizing tend to be diminished. Professor Cameron highlights some evidence-based interventions which have an impact on functioning including the fact that people who keep a gratitude journal are healthier and have higher levels of cognitive functioning, mental flexibility and creativity than their counterparts who keep regular diaries. People with contribution goals – e.g. I want to contribute, I want to make something better, I want to have something improve as the result of my efforts perform better than those who set themselves achievement goals.
Contribution is even more important than reward. “Most organizational reward systems are based on giving people stuff but as it turns out that much higher performance can be predicted if not only do you give people stuff but you give them the opportunity to contribute to somebody or something else” he adds. Cameron concludes by sharing tools developed to help organizations flourish, from ‘best-self feedback’ through a job-crafting exercise for increased meaning to ways of establishing the networks of quasars, the bright stars who have the potential to infect your organization with virtuousness and positivity. Kim S. Cameron is William Russell Kelly Professor of Management and Organization at Ross School of Business and Professor of Higher Education in the School of Education at the University of Michigan.
His current research focuses on the virtuousness of, and in, organizations and their relationships to organizational success. He is one of the cofounders of the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship at the University of Michigan
Career The Imposter Phenomenon
Have you ever wondered when you would be ‘found out’ or felt terrified at making a mistake because it ‘proves’ you are not perfect, and not up to the job? First defined by two American academics, Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes (1978), the prevalence of imposter phenomenon, especially among women, was highlighted by Sheryl Sandberg’s book ‘Lean In’. However, this phenomenon, often incorrectly referred to as the imposter syndrome, is not confined to women.
So what is the Imposter Phenomenon? First, let’s explore what it is not. The imposter phenomenon does not refer to people who really are imposters, for instance those charlatans or fraudsters who we might have the misfortune to meet from time to time. Nor does it refer to those people who ‘fake it until they make it’. Nor does it refer to those moments of self-doubt that we all experience from time to time. No, the imposter phenomenon is an intense, internal feeling of phoniness; a feeling that we are not really as good as everyone else thinks we are. It is a feeling – it is not actual phoniness. The internal fraudulent, inadequate or undeserving feeling is completely opposite to the objective evidence. We truly are competent, knowledgeable or skilled, but inside we just don’t believe it. So if it is just a feeling, where’s the problem? The issue arises because many of those who experience this feeling are successful, highly capable, intelligent people (men and women), who are holding themselves back, usually at work. In essence, the belief that they are not really as good as everyone else thinks they are prevents them from reaching their full potential, and it is highly stressful.
One common statement I hear from those who have imposter feelings is that they don't want to become over-confident, or heaven forbid, arrogant. However, there are those who experience a delusion about their own abilities in the opposite direction, believing they are far more capable than they actually are. (Some X-Factor auditions spring to mind, though maybe this applies to a work colleague too?). This has been termed the Dunning-Kruger effect, after Dunning & Kruger who described this over-inflated view of skills or importance back in 1999. However, if you experience imposter-type feelings there is little chance you will reach the extreme of arrogance, even if you start to acknowledge your success, skills and abilities. What will happen is that you will start to come across as more confident, self-assured, in control, and less apologetic and selfdeprecating. So, what can you do if you find yourself experiencing this phenomenon? Here are three ways that can help: First and most importantly, acknowledge it to yourself, and to someone else. It helps to talk about it with someone you trust and find you are not alone. Secondly, accept that no-one, not even you, will be perfect, no matter how hard you try. Ask yourself if 80% would be good enough. The chances are that what you consider to be 80% good enough will be close to someone else's 100%. Thirdly, acknowledge the role your skills and abilities have played in your success. Don’t put it all down to luck, timing or hard work. While these will no doubt have played a role, without your skills and abilities no amount of luck, timing or hard work would have enabled you to achieve what you have achieved. It is likely that if you experience the imposter phenomenon you will have some awards, accreditations or accomplishments under your belt, as well as a plethora of feedback from other people telling you that you are great at your job. So how come you think the awards judges, examiners and your colleagues are all wrong, and that you, just you, are right? Learning to accept positive feedback can also help overcome the internal "not good enough" chatter… something I am still working on! Kate Atkin MSc is a professional speaker, facilitator and coach. She has written two books, The Confident Manager and The Presentation Workout and regularly speaks on the imposter phenomenon with her talk entitled “Why do I feel like a Fraud?” in which she shares her own experience of the imposter phenomenon as well as proven strategies to overcome it. Contact Kate on 07779 646 976, email kate@kateatkin.com
Recommended Reads The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey Ann Francke, Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Management Institute, recommends a book that helps to remind ourselves of the guidelines and habits for establishing personal and professional effectiveness. Francke says the book was particularly impactful as she was introduced to it during a dedicated training programme that focused on providing opportunities for putting the habits into practice. Although Covey’s work is wellknown and you may have read it before, Ann Francke thinks that we all need to remind ourselves of these simple rules and principles. “They are standards really; such as start with the end in mind. Keep sight of what you are trying to achieve� and seek first to understand before being understood. Watch our interview with Ann Francke on the importance of developing professional managers, and the business benefits of well-led organisations, here. The book is available on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.
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Strategy The Family Business Model: What Can We Learn from It? Over 80% of private sectors companies in the UK are family businesses, with the majority of them being small – micro in some cases – and medium enterprises. Even though they represent an important source of revenue for the country’s economy and they are the backbone of its productive system, we sometimes underestimate their importance because, unlike their bigger counterparts, they often fail to make the headlines. Over the last few years, many family businesses have demonstrated their ability to face the challenges presented by the financial crisis and its aftermath; in many cases, showing more stability and resilience than non-family owned organisations. As a result, we are increasingly looking at the family business model as a source of best practice in the attempt to create a strong organisational culture and a high-performing, motivated workforce. All else being equal, which are the key strengths of a family business that other organisations should try to reproduce to get more sustainable results, especially during negative economic conditions? Strong identity. When it comes to family businesses, the company culture is usually deeply linked to the values and beliefs of its owners. The achievements and reputation of the company are the success and legacy of the family. This alignment - which, at times, can go as far as one or more family members embodying the vision and philosophy of the business – positively affects customers’ perception and engagement with the brand and its products. Family businesses are rarely seen as impersonal organisations only aimed at increasing their bottom line and keeping shareholders satisfied. High level of engagement. Even though levels of family involvement can vary considerably within the family business segment, these companies often benefit from the dedication and commitment of one or more family members who take pride in developing a successful business by investing both their time and money
to encourage its growth and improve its performance. Seen as a sign of reliability and strong management, this level of commitment has a positive impact on the perception that both internal (employees) and external (customers, suppliers and the wider community) stakeholders have of the business. Continuity and long-term strategic planning. At their best, family businesses can count on a stable management that benefits from the skills, knowledge and experience of multiple generations. In most cases, older members of the family prepare the next generation and provide them with the support and tools they need to guarantee a smooth transition, the retention of essential knowledge and the leadership continuity needed. Being more aware than other organisations about succession issues, family businesses usually make sustainable, long-term plans to minimise the impact of future leadership transitions and of any other disruptive change. However, not all family businesses are success stories. They also present a unique series of challenges that could threaten the survival of the company. Unlike other organisations though, they are affected by problems that, being mostly linked to their nature, are somewhat predictable. The same elements that create their success can turn into their worst downfalls. If not identified and addressed in a timely manner, issues like family feuds, emotional management and lack of structured governance can all affect the running of the company and damage the relationship between its stakeholders, both internally and externally. Similarly, some family businesses are unable to cope with organisational changes like growth and leadership change due to a lack of governance or of an appropriate succession planning. This means that, even more so than for other organisations, it is essential for family businesses to count on a strong leadership that is able to identify and find the right balance between the interests of the family and those of the wider business, especially when they are not aligned. Though highly important for the stability of a company, the involvement of family members adds an additional layer to the management approach: due to the deep correlation existing between the fortunes and reputation of the family and those of the business, decisions can sometimes be made in an emotional way that ultimately might clash with the success of the business. So, when it comes to leadership, what are successful family businesses doing well?
Use a lead-by-example style. The traditional family businesses leadership style is often associated with a hands-on approach. When not taken to the extreme of micromanagement, the ongoing hard work and commitment of family members is a great source of motivation, loyalty and increased productivity among employees. It also generates a sense of belonging and shared values. In such an environment, employees are treated like trusted members of the ‘family’ and feel deeply involved in the success of the company. Combine innovation and a cautious business approach. Family businesses are the result of the vision and entrepreneurial spirit of its owners; this usually means that they continuously look for new product ideas and services that can strengthen their identity and make them stand out from their competitors. On the other hand, even though they understand the importance of innovation, family businesses generally adopt a more cautious attitude towards change. Low risk, incremental growth and focus on long-term results are preferred to disruptive, revenues- driven strategies. Create structured processes but without sacrificing their flexibility. One of the benefits of the direct involvement of family members – especially in small and medium organisations – is the creation of leaner decision-making and implementation processes. This results in an improved response time to market changes and, as a consequence, in a powerful competitive advantage. At the same time, family businesses also need to create well defined roles and responsibilities at all levels of management and put in place clear plans and processes in order to avoid the lack of a structured governance system and high levels of informality when it comes to processes. Welcome non-family members at governance level. The involvement of nonfamily members provides a less emotionally-involved perspective and becomes key when the interests of the family and those of those business might differ or there is no agreement within the family. It also helps increase motivation and commitment among employees because it shows that decision making is not exclusively reserved to the family members. As an independent project manager and consultant, Valentina Lorenzon helps companies implement change and advises clients on strategic decisions like, for example, the development of new products, markets and propositions. Valentina is experienced working with companies of all sizes across different sectors and, has specialist expertise in supporting SMEs and family businesses. Get in touch here.
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Next course: Monday 26 - Wednesday 28 September 2016, 10am - 5pm at 200a Pentonville Road, London, N1 9JP (just 5 minutes walk from King's Cross station)
Join our programme to explore: • Becoming the leader you aspire to be and identifying your individual strengths and broadening your management skills • What your stakeholders and customers most appreciate from you and how to best meet their needs • A strength-based approach to developing a strong team and managing performance For more details and to book please click on the CMI logo!
Change Positive Change Management
In today’s fast changing environment agility and the ability to make change effectively is a key organisational requirement. Yet studies report that 30-70% of all change management initiatives fail to reach their intended goals. There is a significant risk attached to such setbacks as employees are increasingly tired of, and resistant to, organisational changes.
Watch this webinar to explore: • The key change management mistakes to avoid • Successful approaches to effectively leading change • How to minimise resistance, engage and motivate your people • Positive change management methodologies
In this webinar we follow Peter Drucker’s advice that “The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths, making a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.” We include positive leadership principles from Professor Kim Cameron’s research, which highlight the need for positive climate, communication, connections and calling orientation – all of which are crucial if our change initiatives are to succeed. Rather than seeing the need for change as a problem, we introduce the key ideas of David Cooperrider’s Appreciative Inquiry to help create positive and collaborative approaches to change, which reduce resistance and help leaders bring people along: • • • •
Appreciate the Best of what is Imagine What might be Design What should be Create What will be
Click here to access the webinar slides and the accompanying guide to developing a better understanding of your change project stakeholders. Eszter Molnar Mills is a strength-based leadership and organisation development specialist and the founder of Formium Development. An accomplished facilitator and qualified executive and team coach, she helps organisations and individuals reach enhanced performance by reflecting on what works, and developing skills and strategies for improvement. Eszter supports organisational change processes through consulting. She also works with individual leaders and management teams tasked with driving change through executive and team coaching.
Stakeholder Map 4-step template to plan engagement for your change project
Get your free copy HERE! Gain clarity about your stakeholders and devise the most appropriate engagement plan.
Business A practical guide to win-win
The Financial Times Essential Guide to Negotiations
This book gives you what it promises on the front cover – how to achieve winwin outcomes in all your business deals. A straightforward, practical guide that will tell you what is necessary to succeed. Geof Cox’s book has a great, logical and easy-to-follow structure: 1. Planning it 2. Doing it 3. Reviewing it The author acknowledges and reviews previous models for the negotiation process by Chester Karras, Roger Fisher & William Ury, Neil Rackham and others.
The suggested tools focus on preparation and communication skills as well as the effective use of set-piece negotiation models. Novices are warned about tricks and dubious tactics and for advanced negotiators, the author proposes strategies for complex situations, such as negotiating across cultures or with multiple stakeholders. In line with the style of the FT Essential Guides series, Cox uses practical case studies and examples, as well as easily adaptable tables and diagrams throughout his book. The task and results-orientated publication’s style is straightforward and easily interpretable. Reading Cox’s book itself is not a guarantee of success but following the steps, taking his advice and learning from others’ mistakes will definitely help you to achieve negotiation success in the long run. The book is available on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com. Ági Galgóczi is the Managing Editor of People & Purpose the Positive Leadership Journal. You can contact her via e-mail or you can follow her on Twitter @galgiagi
Photo credits: Positive Organizational Scholarship – Unsplash via Pixabay , Colin Mills, The Imposter Phenomenon - lassedesignen via Shutterstock, The Family Business Model: What Can We Learn from It? - Unsplash via Pixabay., Positive Change Management webinar - Romolo Tavani via Shutterstock A Practical Guide to Win-Win – Agi Galgoczi, Words to Lead by - Unsplash via PixaBay,7 of the Best…LinkedIn influencers PeteLinforth via Pixabay
Words to Lead by Kitty Chisholm, professional coach, facilitator and Founder Director of Boardwalk, an organisation which supports women in achieving their full leadership potential, shares an impactful piece of advice she has received:
Chisholm thinks this advice is helpful, particularly to those people who have a tendency for perfectionism: “In order to be clear about your goals, you need to be absolutely clear about your core values, because those values drive everything you want. Bring them to the surface. Name them.”
She says achieving those goals is more important than being right along the way. She warns against getting embroiled in conflict about rights and wrongs. You need to “Be prepared to be vulnerable and have other people be right” this is crucial in order to achieve your goals through other people. Find out more about Kitty Chisholm, her colleague Dr Shaheena JanjuhaJivraj and Boardwalk’s work on championing women leaders in our next issue!
7 of the Best… LinkedIn Influencers LinkedIn is the world largest professional social networking platform; it invites the world's foremost thinkers, leaders, and innovators to be Influencers. As “leaders in their industries and geographies”, they discuss news and trending topics. We suggest you follow these 7:
Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite Hootsuite is a social media management tool, and its chief executive Ryan Holmes is a great Influencer to follow. He frequently writes interesting and colourful pieces on leadership, management, success, career and others in an engaging tone. Gretchen Rubin She is a best-selling author and also has an excellent podcast on habits and happiness. In her various posts on the network, she gives tips, tricks and ideas to shape habits and ‘boost the happy factor’. Daniel Goleman Psychologist, science journalist and award-winning author, Dr Goleman regularly publishes insightful posts on the topics of emotional intelligence and leadership; on how to be a more effective leader and self-awareness.
Bernard Marr Best-selling author, keynote speaker and leading business and data expert, Marr writes on LinkedIn about Big Data and leadership. He reflects on popular topics and connects them with his fields of expertise; who knew that Big Data and Valentine’s day can work together in a post. Jeff Haden Business and leadership ghost-writer, speaker, Inc. Magazine contributing editor, LinkedIn Influencer. Haden publishes pieces on leadership, recruitment, success and various business topics. Have you read his article on the key factor that almost every hiring manager overlooks in our Hiring Issue? Liz Ryan, CEO of Human Workplace Human Workplace is a publishing, career coaching and consulting firm. Its mission is to reinvent work for people. The founder and CEO, Liz Ryan has an engaging and inspiring writing style. She publishes about job hunting, interview questions, toxic workplaces, careers and much more. Bruce Kasanoff The career coach and social media ghost-writer posts about job-hunting and what people should change to succeed, how to be a great leader and bring out the talents of your team, how to find talent and more. His articles are interesting and humorous. Agi Galgoczi
Who influences you the most on LinkedIn? Tweet us at @People_Purpose!
People & Purpose is published by Formium Development, a strengthbased leadership and organisational development consultancy in London, UK. The Journal’s Editor in Chief is Eszter Molnar Mills and its Managing Editor is Agi Galgoczi. We are privileged to have a great range of contributors – all leaders in their respective fields.
As a development consultancy Formium Development focuses on creating effective solutions, which allow clients to identify and build on their strengths and do more of their best work. Training and executive coaching is available for managers throughout their career path, including well respected internationally recognised qualifications in management and leadership from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Formium Development's aim is to help individuals and teams improve their performance and become more engaged and fulfilled within their work. Contact us: Website: www.formium.co.uk; www.peopleandpurposejournal.com E-mail: info@formium.co.uk; support@peopleandpurposejournal.com Telephone: 020 7416 6648 (International: +44 20 7416 6648)