Edge Summer 2017

INSPIRING GREAT LEADERSHIP

SUMMER 2017

TAPPING THE TALENTS OF SIX GENERATIONS Plus The curse of status Neuroscience nirvana Why banter is bad for you

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Contents SUMMER 2017

Update 8

All the latest developments in leadership and management

Debate 13

Mailbox

14

Guest columnist Marshall Goldsmith on life after work

15

Our regular LBGT+ columnist Christopher Hallas examines the importance of allies

Insider INSIGHT FROM THE INSTITUTE OF LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

17

Sharper Edge Chief executive Phil James on the new-look Institute journal

18

News Authenticity debate; positive reaction to website; board elections and AGM; conference on the multidimensional leader

21

Talent takes many forms Kate Cooper, head of policy and standards, on why diversity and inclusivity are high on the leadership agenda

22

A day in the life of Brinda Murugasu; events calendar

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The Edge Interview 24

Edge meets Serena Standing, a trustee of the Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust

Spotlight THE MULTI-GENERATIONAL WORKFORCE

30

Coming of age Accommodating eight different generations at work

34

The 100-year life

36

Busting the millennial myth

38

Case study BDO

40

Case study Chemoxy

23

In the Hot Seat Margaret Ross, chief executive of Waverley Housing, talks about her biggest leadership and management challenges

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5

30 Making it Happen MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE

79

53

Managers make you happy

54

Banter can be bad for business

58

Neuroscience Your brain is your most powerful business tool

Vision

Beyond Borders

Live & Learn

SETTING THE LEADERSHIP AGENDA

INTERNATIONAL INSIGHT AND BEST PRACTICE

MANAGING MENTAL, PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING AND DEVELOPMENT

43

From start-up to big hitter Susir Kumar explains what it takes

44

The curse of being a high-status project manager

48

Conscious leadership

50

48

Corporate maturity models: a powerful methodology

61

Sake as a recipe for success

62

Japan Welcome to the land of hard work

78 Management Dilemma How can I hit my diversity targets?

66

79 Wellbeing Bring Your Dog to Work Day

Future of Work

80 The rock star approach to public speaking

STRATEGIES FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS

82 How to present a webinar

Transforming the education system in Niger State

69

Leadership apps

83 Inspiration Directory Your go-to development resource

70

84 Book Club

72

86 Leadership Legend How relevant is the balanced scorecard in today’s business context? Charles HampdenTurner investigates

Building the workforce of the future The management shift

74

Social health in the age of overload

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77 Coaching column Jeff Matthews

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Contributors

DR RONI AJAO

REBECCA BURN-CALLANDER

CHARLES HAMPDEN-TURNER

Dr Roni Ajao is executive director and founder of MRL Public Sector Consultants. She was previously at PwC, where she was employed as a senior consultant in the government and defence services practice. Prior to that, she was a consultant within the government and public sector practice of PA Consulting. She also spent eight years working within the strategic and local levels of government.

Rebecca Burn-Callander is a former enterprise editor of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. A business and economics journalist, she has worked across national newspapers, magazines, radio and TV throughout the course of her career. Author of The Daily Telegraph Guide to Investing, she is currently working on her second book – The Daily Telegraph Guide to Brexit for Business.

Leading management thinker Professor Charles Hampden-Turner received his masters and doctoral degrees from Harvard Business School. He has written 21 books, including Riding the Waves of Culture, the bestselling guide to crosscultural leadership, which was coauthored by Fons Trompenaars. He is also a past recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and a Rockefeller fellowship.

VLATKA HLUPIC

DAVID JACKMAN

TIM MAUGHAN

Vlatka Hlupic is an international thought leader and author of award-winning book The Management Shift, which was listed

by Forbes as one of the top eight business books in 2014. She is a professor of business and management at the University of Westminster and a former adjunct faculty at the London Business School.

She is also founder and chief executive of consultancy The Management Shift and the Drucker Society London.

Previously head of education and ethics at the Financial Services Authority, David Jackman is now is a visiting fellow of Cambridge University Judge Business School and leads the UK’s input to ISO standards on sustainable communities.

The author of The Compliance Revolution, he is working on a second volume, Corporate Maturity, which is supported by research undertaken with the Institute of Leadership & Management.

Tim Maughan is a freelance business and industry journalist, now based in Osaka, Japan. He originally hails from northern England and started writing professionally in 1997, following the completion of his journalist training. After spending time as a local and court reporter in Sussex, he worked for Reed Business Information in London for nine years.

There, he specialised as an automotive, transport and business writer.

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Editor’s Letter

7

Generation game Work in the era of the 100-year life By

H

ave you ever wondered what it would be like to meet your 100-year-old self? And if you did, what do you think they would say to you as you are today?

Perhaps: “Get out of that dead-end job and retrain as a rocket scientist. You’ve still got 30 years left in the workplace. You may as well do something you love.” Or maybe: “Stop hanging around in the hope that your boss will leave. She’s not going to retire until she’s 82. Life’s too long to have a job you hate.” It could be worse. They might say: “Stop working those ridiculous hours. You don’t know it yet, but you’re going to outlive your spouse by two decades and you’ll spend most of that time regretting that you didn’t see more of each other.”

There’s no denying it, having an imaginary conversation with your 100-year-old self is a pretty sobering experience. I tried it after reading Andrew Scott and Lynda Gratton’s book, The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, and it made me think differently about many things – not least how I wanted to approach my career.

Their book was the inspiration behind this issue, particularly the Spotlight special report on the multigenerational workforce.

As Andrew Scott himself notes in an article on page 34, greater longevity throws up a host of questions for both organisations and individuals. In particular, it is forcing us to re-examine our assumptions around

Sally Percy a traditional three-stage life that is defined by education, work and retirement. In future we can look forward to more of a multi-stage life instead.

Creating workplaces that are inclusive of all generations is an urgent priority – not only to accommodate greater longevity, but also to improve the country’s productivity and to enhance its skills base. It should be an issue for all of us because, regardless of our gender, ethnicity and sexuality, one thing we all have in common is that we are getting older every day.

CREATING WORKPLACES THAT ARE INCLUSIVE OF ALL GENERATIONS IS AN URGENT PRIORITY You will have noticed that this issue of Edge has a completely different look and feel from the journal you are used to. We’ve redesigned it and relaunched it as a quarterly publication. I am thrilled to be working with you as your new editor.

Since our aim is to both inform and challenge, we hope that each issue of Edge will leave you with plenty to think about during the course of your daily work. I would love to hear your views on your new journal, so please write in. And do let us know any ideas for articles that you may have.

I look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, enjoy the summer! sally.percy@lidpublishing.com

Edge is brought to you by: LID Publishing Editor Sally Percy sally.percy@lidpublishing.com Art Director Kate Harkus Chief Subeditor Luisa Cheshire Digital Reporter Matt Packer Account Director Niki Mullin Editorial Director Ben Walker Publisher Martin Liu Institute of Leadership & Management Pacific House, Relay Point, Tamworth, B77 5PA. Chief Executive Phil James Head of Research, Policy & Standards Kate Cooper Head of Membership Janet Payne For advertising sales, please contact Niki Mullin on niki.mullin@lidpublishing.com Publishing Published in the United Kingdom by LID Publishing, 1 Adam Street, London WC2 Disclaimer Copyright 2017 The Institute of Leadership & Management and LID Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Material may not be reproduced without permission of the publisher. While we take care to ensure that editorial is accurate, independent, objective and relevant for the readers, Edge accepts no liability for reader dissatisfaction rising from the content of this publication. The opinions expressed or advice given are the views of individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Edge, The Institute of Leadership & Management or LID Publishing Ltd. Edge takes every effort to credit photographers but we cannot guarantee every published use of an image will have the contributor’s name. If you believe we have omitted a credit for your image, please email the editor Printed by Asendia www.asendia.co.uk

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Update

8

British workplaces are not ‘faith friendly’ Up to a million British people may have experienced workplace harassment, discrimination or bullying because of their religion or beliefs, a new report suggests.

According to The Belief at Work study, published by market research consultancy ComRes in April, British employers are struggling to manage expressions of religion and beliefs among their workforce.

The study gathered informal insight from workplace leaders, and surveyed HR managers and adults in paid employment in Britain, to test awareness of seven protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. Additional questions about religion and belief were posed to set a baseline of available data about awareness and understanding.

“We found that HR managers have a very different view of what’s happening in their workplace from many workers,” said Katie Harrison, director of ComRes Faith Research

Centre. “Many HR managers say they make provision for employees to pray at work and observe holy days and religious festivals, but workers say that’s not happening.”

Harrison suggested that an “acid test” of whether people felt able to talk freely about their beliefs in the workplace was the “Monday morning conversation” where people catch-up after not seeing each other for a couple of days. “Do people always say what they did at the weekend, or do they leave out the part about pursuing a religious or belief-related activity because they feel uncomfortable to say so?”

She added that some people revealed that they were reluctant to mention that they pray, while others felt upset that religion was the butt of jokes in a working environment where people have become much more aware about making disparaging comments about gender or disability.

Organisational resilience relies on leaders balancing risk with opportunity Business leaders need to get better at balancing risk with opportunity if they want to set their organisations up to survive in the long term. This is the key finding of a major study into organisational resilience, conducted by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and Cranfield School of Management.

According to the study, which consolidates half a century of management thinking and over 180 academic papers, conflicting management advice has left senior executives reluctant to intervene, with “the subsequent organisational paralysis leading firms to potentially sleepwalk into disaster”.

The report highlights the benefits of pairing agile thinking with robust systems, pointing out that successful

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organisations do not look to achieve ‘zero risk’, but rather experience ‘zero trauma’ from business setbacks, adapting to ensure future success.

Commenting on the research, David Denyer, professor of leadership and organisational change at Cranfield, and author of the study, said: “Great businesses are built by leaders prepared to take the bad with the good. They recognise the tension between consistent defensive behaviours that stop bad things happening, and progressive, flexible ideas that allow the good to prosper.

Put simply, senior leaders must manage the tensions between control, action, performance and innovation if organisations are to be truly resilient – and this requires paradoxical thinking.”

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BAME employee networks must be managed better Many businesses are mismanaging their employee networks for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) employees, new research suggests.

According to a study by Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey, a researcher at the London School of Economics Department of Management, individuals are missing out on progression opportunities, and company growth is stalling because leaders are not using BAME networks to best effect.

Instead, he argues, they are disconnected from both common organisational goals and the wider employee culture.

Ashong-Lamptey makes five suggestions for organisations that want to use their minority networks more effectively.

He suggests that business leaders must

provide more psychological support to the networks and engage members in initiatives that promote wider engagement.

They should also arrange career development sessions that explore how network members should navigate the organisation and negotiate with their superiors. Furthermore, network members should be given a voice to participate in other groups outside the organisation, helping the company to improve its visibility.

In addition, cultural identities should be connected to the wider workplace to improve business practice, and the skills and knowledge of network members should be employed when an organisation enters new markets or is engaging with promising new BAME recruits.

Shutterstock

Self-employment is a lonely business Loneliness is one of the biggest workplace issues facing the self-employed, a new report by Aldermore has found.

While almost all (93%) of the selfemployed workers surveyed by the specialist bank said that they enjoy being their own boss, over a third (39%) admitted that they suffered from loneliness as a result. The issue was particularly common among 25–34 year olds, with over half (54%) saying that they have experienced this feeling.

Sadly, money was another pressure for the self-employed with over half (55%) of those currently self-employed being concerned by the irregular income and irregular

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work (52%) they receive. In addition, more than four in ten (44%) respondents to the survey said that they are often not paid by clients on time, with almost one in five (19%) having concerns around winning new business.

Work-life balance can be a further issue, since over a quarter (28%) of respondents believed that the pressure of managing a large workload meant that they had no time left for themselves.

Nevertheless, self-employment does generally appear to be a positive experience, since 82% of respondents believe it has given them a greater sense of control over their own destinies.

IS YOUR PEOPLE DATA WORKING FOR YOU?*

79% of UK HR leaders believe all people decisions should be based on data and analytics, but only...

34% use data and analytics to make people decisions

92% of all respondents struggle to gain strategic insight from people data

21% of UK mid-sized organisations now employ a chief people officer to put people data at the heart of their business

45% say that they could identify top or bottom performers using data *Source: The use of people science in fast-growth companies, Fairsail

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International Update

10

Women are better suited to leadership Women are better suited to leadership than their male counterparts in most areas, but not all. This is the key finding of research by Professor Øyvind L Martinsen, head of leadership and organisational behaviour at the BI Norwegian Business School.

Together with his colleague, Professor Lars Glasø, Martinsen surveyed the personality traits of more than 2,900 managers – including more than 900 women, over 900 in senior management and nearly 900 from the public sector.

The pair found that female leaders score higher than men in four of the five categories measured.

These categories were initiative and clear communication, openness and ability to innovate, sociability and supportiveness, and methodical management and goal setting.

But the research did indicate that women fell behind men in the emotional stability and ability

to withstand job-related pressure and stress category. Commenting on the research, Martinsen said: “Businesses must always seek to attract customers and clients, and to increase productivity and profits. Our results indicate that women naturally rank higher, in general, than men in their abilities to innovate and lead with clarity and impact. These findings pose a legitimate question about the construction of management hierarchy and the current dispensation of women in these roles.”

Glasø said: “The survey suggests that female leaders may falter through their stronger tendency to worry. But this does not negate the fact that they are decidedly more suited to management positions than their male counterparts.

“If decision-makers ignore this truth, they could effectively be employing less qualified leaders and impairing productivity.”

Poor sleep exacerbates bad behaviour Just one bad night’s sleep makes it more likely that employees who displayed unwanted behaviour one day at work will display a similar type of behaviour the following day.

For a study by Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, a group of working professionals was asked to indicate how well they had slept each day for ten consecutive working days. They were also invited to rate the extent to which they engaged in unwanted behaviour. For example, had they taken a longer lunch break than allowed that day, or had they been rude towards a co-worker?

The study found that people who engaged in unwanted behaviour on one day were more likely to engage in it again the next day if they slept badly during the night connecting the

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two days. Commenting on the findings, researcher Laura Giurge said: “This study shows that the display of unwanted behaviour is not a fixed character trait. It can vary from day to day, even within the same person. Whatever the reason for starting it, a night of poor sleep can make it harder for someone to stop doing it, especially among people with a low moral identity.”

She added: “Tiredness apparently can make it harder for people to overcome the feeling that they have failed at being a good and moral person and, as a result, they do not try again the next day. This can lead into a possibly destructive cycle that could help to explain why unethical behaviour is so persistent in some organisations.”

For more on international leadership and management, see Beyond Borders, pages 61-67

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A leader decoded: Eddie Jones Who is he? Now, he is head coach of the England rugby union team and in high favour after transforming their performance. He previously coached the national sides of Australia and Japan. Aged 57, he was born in Tasmania to a Japanese-American mother and an Australian father.

Leadership style: He believes in getting the basics right. In 2015, he wrote an article for the Daily Mail, where he said: “You have to get that balance between fundamental skills and being obsessed with winning.”

Greatest triumph: It was arguably Japan’s 34-32 win over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup, the team’s first win at the tournament in 24 years. After the match, a stunned-looking Jones commented: “It was a pretty humbling experience today. I had to look at the score at the end of the game to see whether it was true or not.”

Leadership philosophy in a nutshell: “The first thing you need to do is understand the values that are going to be important for your team.”

THE THREE MAIN REASONS WHY STAFF LEAVE*

35%

Boredom or frustration

Shutterstock/Alamy

In brief Why men don’t take up parental leave Men are not taking parental leave because they are afraid of damaging their careers and harming family finances, said experts giving evidence at a Commons select committee in March. In January, the Women and Equalities Committee launched a parliamentary inquiry into whether fathers are being failed in the workplace after government figures estimated that the take-up rate for shared parental leave, which was introduced in 2015, is just 2-8%.

In April, a cross-party group

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31%

of 44 MPs wrote to Equalities Secretary Justine Greening, asking for fathers or second parents to have a statutory entitlement to three months of non-transferable paid parental leave, at the same rate as maternity pay.

Manchester Met is a leading university for the disabled Manchester Metropolitan University has become the first university to achieve the top ‘Gold’ status in Business Disability Forum’s Disability Standard since the assessment was introduced in 2004.

The standard uses a thorough set of ten criteria to

*Source: A survey of UK HR directors by Robert Half

Work-life balance

30%

evaluate performance across every aspect of an organisation.

Only organisations scoring more than 90% in the standard achieve a Gold rating – Manchester Met was

one of just five organisations in this category. The university was particularly praised for its disability services team, which provides in-depth assistance for disabled students, as well as its

Stagnant career prospects

HR teams, which have developed support for disabled employees.

More women work into their 70s The proportion of women in the UK who are working into their 70s more than doubled between 2012 and 2016. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, 11.3% of women only stopped working after the age of 70, up from 5.6% four years earlier. In total, around 150,000 women are believed to be working into their early 70s.

Meanwhile, an estimated 15.5% of men were in their early 70s when they stopped work last year.

See The 100-Year Life, page 34

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Update

12

‘Sensation seekers’ make better CEOs, says research

C

hief executives who search for exciting yet risky experiences – such as flying small aircraft – make more innovative leaders, a new study suggests.

Researchers from the Desautels School of Management, McGill University, compared the performances of 88 chief executives who were also pilots with 1,123 who were not in US firms between 1993 to 2003. They found that firms with a pilot chief executive were able to increase their number of patented products or services by 66.7%, and the number of citations of these patents by 43.9%.

Jingjing Zhang, assistant professor of Accounting at Desautels School of Management, said: “Our research demonstrates that companies led by ‘sensation seekers’, who display the same thrill-seeking tendencies as pilots, are able to generate more patents with greater market impact than their peers. This is because chief executives with this particular personality typically improve innovation effectiveness and pursue more diverse and original projects.”

FROM THE BLOG Catch up with the latest Edge thinking online at: www.institutelm.com/researchnews/edge-articles.html. Here is an extract from a recent article: How should bosses stamp out productivity problems?

Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane startled the business community in March with his view that the UK’s productivity crisis “is the result of management failings”.

In a headline-making speech, Haldane sketched out a picture of a business landscape in which “non-frontier”, or “laggard”, firms are falling short of more innovative companies and creating a drag on UK Plc. In his assessment he said weaknesses in management processes

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and practices go a long way towards explaining the “long tail of low-productivity manufacturing companies”. These poor practices are most pronounced in sectors where competition is weak, and in familyowned firms where management control rests with the eldest son, he said.

“A one-standard deviation improvement in the quality of management raises productivity by, on average, around 10%,” he added.

What are bosses to make of this advice – wrapped as it is in some rather pronounced barbs towards their community? The Institute of Leadership & Management’s head of research, policy and standards, Kate Cooper, commented: “I’m always a bit suspicious of claims that an ‘x’ percentage change in a certain direction

will lead to ‘y’ percentage improvements in particular parts of the system. Undoubtedly, if you improve processes, you will yield greater efficiencies. But to me, this sounds very much like the project-management arena, and frameworks such as Prince2, where everything becomes about process and numbers. That poses a risk that managers could lose sight of the quality of the outcome those processes are meant to produce. Yes, by all means get your systems right – but be sure that you have also empowered staff in your organisation who are able to work with the systems, critique them and make recommendations for their improvement,” she added.

“Crucially, those staff must be assured that their thoughts will be listened to and acted upon.”

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Debate MAILBOX

13

SHARING THOUGHTS AND IDEAS 13 Mailbox

I

am seeing more seminars being run that address the issue of return on investment (ROI) of coaching. This, you could say, is wonderful – it means there is a shift within the HR department towards measuring the effectiveness of the coaching that is delivered. Unfortunately, I would question this. Whenever I speak to HR specialists in the industry, a lot of them say: “We struggle to get all of our managers onto the courses because they are too tied up in the operations of the business, and those that do attend do not have enough time after the course to implement their learnings.”

Now, I know there are companies that continue to measure ROI, and are vigilant about re-visiting training implementation at regular intervals. But I would say they are in the minority. That’s because we live in a culture of ‘quick-fixes’: we think we only need to do something once and we’ve got it.

Besides, if it looks good on the surface, don’t challenge it!

14 Marshall Goldsmith

Coaching is not a one-off fix

WHY DO COACHES NOT INSIST ON REVISING THE TRAINING ON A THREE- OR SIXMONTH BASIS?

15 Christopher Hallas

Why, then, do coaches not insist on revising the training on a three- or six-month basis? Why do we not request weekly performance updates from managers? Why, when we sign a training contract, do we not include quarterly reviews as part of the delivery, and charge for it as an automatic part of the programme? If we know, as coaches, that ‘feedforward’, as posited by Marshall Goldsmith, is the only way of guaranteeing the effectiveness of execution, why wimp out of this being a mandatory part of our coaching?

From my research, it seems that managers are only interested in training and coaching when the ‘pain’ gets too much, or the point of contact is an advocate of training, or it looks good for the organisation’s investment in people. I would be interested to hear what Edge readers think about the effectiveness of corporate training, and whether we are seeing a shift from one-time fixes to a commitment to continual learning and development.

Email me at Rachael@mypocketcoach.co.uk

Rachael Orchard, accredited coach, Diploma MInstLM

What’s the difference between a commander, a leader and a manager?

During my 22-year career as a naval officer, I have been commanding, leading and managing people.

I have heard these terms being debated forcefully as though they are three different skills. In a work context, people often wonder what someone does as a commander, which is different from a leader, which is different from a manager?

Yet I am not a supporter of the ‘differences paradigm’ as I call it.

As I look back, and since I researched and published an article on this subject, I can now conclude that I have been doing the same thing whether I was a commander, a leader or a manager. This is an area where Edge could focus in future.

Iftikhar Ahmed (FInstLM)

Shutterstock

GET IN TOUCH If you would like to share your views on leadership or management, or content that you would like to see in Edge, please email the editor at sally.percy@lidpublishing.com. Letters may be edited for publication.

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13/04/2017 14:55

Debate MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

14

What is your plan for ‘life after work’?

For retirement to be happy, it also needs to be meaningful

N

o matter where you are in your career, it is always a good idea to think about what you might want to do when you retire. What will your ‘life after work’ look like?

Do this now because time passes very quickly. Every executive I have ever met is amazed by how fast the years fly by.

Do this now because today people live a lot longer than they used to, and they are a lot healthier at 65 than they were in the past.

If you have had the drive and energy to become successful, it is unlikely that you will want to suddenly slow down when you retire, so you had better have a plan. Most people don’t want to ‘do nothing’ all day or sit around talking about the person we ‘used to be’. We have hopes and dreams, goals and ambitions. We want to contribute to the world, make it a better place – not ‘retire’ from it to lead a ‘life of leisure’. For most of us, the prospect of sleeping in late and lazing about all day may sound good in the short term, but holds little allure in the long term.

The happiest ‘transitioned’ executives that I have met continue to make a contribution to the world. They don’t just reflect on what they did in the past. Here are six major themes for you to consider as you explore ideas for your future:

1

Wealth – some have more, some have less, but most of the people I run across agree that while it can be used to pay for nice homes, fast cars and fine dining, it can’t purchase meaning.

2

Health – is critically important to enjoying life.

Good health is a combination of luck, a healthy lifestyle and medical care.

3

Relationships – are very important and key to emotional wellbeing.

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4

Making a contribution – most of us seek to give back, or even leave a legacy. Being able to help others as we have been helped is important to us.

5

Meaning – work that has meaning is important to our sense of wellbeing. We want to feel that we are making a real difference in the world.

By

Dr Marshall Goldsmith

6

Happiness – everyone I have ever met wants to be happy. But true happiness cannot be bought – it has to be lived!

When you set your goals for your later years, you might choose to volunteer, or work on projects that make the world a better place. You might choose to change to a job or a career where you have more opportunity to serve. I still teach and give classes, but I focus more on advising people

THE HAPPIEST ‘TRANSITIONED’ EXECUTIVES THAT I HAVE MET CONTINUE TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD how they can have a great rest of their lives rather than just work harder and ‘make more money’.

You might have 20 or more years to live after your primary work has finished. So, when you reflect on what you will do next, ask yourself: how can I make a contribution? How can I find meaning?

What will make me happy? How can I make this time count for both myself and the people around me? The answers to these questions will help you to create a wonderful ‘life after work’.

Dr Marshall Goldsmith is a world-renowned business educator and coach. He is also the author of numerous books including ‘What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful’

13/04/2017 14:55

Debate DIVERSITY

15

Allied to the cause Leaders and managers play a crucial role in creating LGBT+ friendly workplaces

I

n my latest column I’m continuing to explore some thoughts on those LGBT+, LGBT* and LGBTQ acronyms, as well as the much longer LGBTQQIAAP. Here the focus is on an ‘A’. This particular ‘A’ stands for allies.

Put simply, allies are people, groups, organisations, or even nations, which join with others to give or get support, usually in order to achieve something together. A great example of a recent global allies programme is HeForShe (often referred to as He for She) – the solidarity campaign for the advancement of women, initiated by UN Women. Its goal is to engage men and boys as agents of change by encouraging them to take action against negative inequalities faced by women and girls.

Similarly, LGBT+ allies are people who do not necessarily identify as LGBT+ themselves but support people in the LGBT+ community. Note that I’m avoiding the terms ‘gay’ and ‘straight’ here.

While ‘gay’ is often used as an umbrella catch-all term, many individuals within the diverse LGBT+ community feel that it excludes them. The term ‘straight allies’ also has its own difficulties since many LGBT+ allies don’t like to define themselves as straight. They feel that the term pigeonholes them. It’s telling that Stonewall has recently moved from using ‘straight allies’ to the simpler ‘allies’.

The influence of leaders and managers While everyone has a role to play in making our societies and workplaces LGBT+ friendly, leaders and managers are particularly crucial. For me, there are three dimensions to their role:

1

The scope that leaders and managers have to influence and take action – for example, they can lend credibility to a cause, set agendas and possibly unlock resources.

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2

Readiness and willingness to act – they can identify priorities and determine which issues should be pursued – or not.

3

Ability or preparedness to act – championing LGBT+ equality in the workplace doesn’t require special skills, but leaders and managers can champion more effectively if they are aware of particular LGBT+ issues.

By

Christopher Hallas

Organisational commitment Organisational backing of equality, diversity and inclusion should embrace commitment to LGBT+ equality and creating LGBT+ friendly environments. An organisation itself can effectively come out as a committed LGBT+ ally – although this commitment is ultimately expressed through the people within the organisation, and the actions they take. Organisations can make their commitment public in publications, on websites and through other media.

Leaders and managers can act as LGBT+ friendly role-models, whether or not they identify as LGBT+ themselves. LGBT+ allies can work with LGBT+ staff networks to develop more allies and friends, or to build supporter networks and programmes. In my own workplace, the University of Greenwich, we have a creative LGBT+ Allies Programme where participants undertake awareness-raising activities, help organise and support LGBT+ staff network events, and visibly promote themselves as allies by wearing allies badges and using allies logos.

The more people say about something, the more important that matter becomes. And if more people come together in support of one another, it is more likely that they will achieve their shared goals.

Christopher Hallas is director of student and academic services and senior LBGT+ champion at the University of Greenwich

13/04/2017 14:55

The Institute of Leadership & Management Conference

Why Vision isn’t enough: The Multi-Dimensional Leader

Vision is essential for leaders to respond effectively to a business environment that continues to transform at a rapid pace. Visionary leaders have the inclination to look ahead, to innovate, the resilience to take risks and cope with the unknown.

However, successful leaders require many different capabilities- there is no single secret to leadership achievement. Our conference explores leadership success from many perspectives, offering a multi-dimensional view. We will provide advice, tools and techniques that will assist leaders in developing their own approach to leadership capability.

Speakers include: Professor Kiran Trehan, Professor of Leadership and Enterprise Development, University of Birmingham Jim Rees, Ultra Cyclist, Ironman Triathlete, Author and Executive Coach Perry Timms, Founder and Chief Energy Officer, PTHR

Tuesday 27th of June 2017 13.30-17.30, registration from 13.00 Venue: Snow Dome, River Drive, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 7ND

This event will be followed by The Institute of Leadership & Management AGM To join us for this free event please book via www.institutelm.com/event_listing/conference-2017.html

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12/04/2017 19:21

Insider

17

NEWS AND VIEWS 18 News Debate on authentic leadership; new website; AGM

21 Setting the Standard & Webinars

22 A Day in a Life; Events 23 In the Hot Seat

Sharper Edge

I

’m delighted to bid you a very warm welcome to your new Edge.

You will have already noticed the significant uplift in the look and feel of your journal, and perhaps started to explore the inspiring and informative articles that are packed between its covers. As your professional body, the Institute is investing in the quality of everything that we offer you, with a particular focus on this publication. It is very exciting to be working with our new partner, LID Publishing, as we transform our vision for Edge into reality.

People often ask about the benefits of belonging to a professional body such as the Institute of Leadership & Management.

Yet all too often membership bodies give a response that focuses on the most tangible perks of the membership offer – the magazine, for example – while ignoring the less tangible. These include the powerful benefits of belonging, of connection, and of commitment to personal development, behaviours and standards.

I believe that with the new Edge, however, we have a publication that very clearly demonstrates the value of membership. From the thud on the doormat to the water-cooler conversations about its contents, the new Edge will deliver on its promise to inform and challenge.

For our members, Edge is a powerful and meaningful expression of the

017_EdgeSummer2017_Phil.indd 17

We aim to inform and challenge By

Phil James

Institute’s purpose to inspire great leadership – everywhere.

As Edge evolves, I hope that you will see a focus on real people, doing real things. This is your journal, and we really want to hear from you about the value you get from its pages. We want to hear your stories and learn what inspires you, so that we can share your insights and experiences with others. It’s all

AS EDGE EVOLVES, I HOPE THAT YOU WILL SEE A FOCUS ON REAL PEOPLE, DOING REAL THINGS part of what the Institute of Leadership & Management is about. So, please engage in whatever way is best for you.

As well as investing in this physical magazine, we want to ensure that Edge has a strong digital presence, so check out the articles that we publish via our website, Twitter and LinkedIn, and let your own voice be heard.

I hope that you enjoy your new Edge and that you will feel inclined to pass it on to your colleagues, friends and family before stowing it on your bookshelf for future reference.

I also hope that you will write in and share your views on the journal.

Enjoy, be inspired and spread the word!

Phil James is chief executive of the Institute of Leadership & Management

13/04/2017 14:55

Insider

18

Authentic leaders are self-aware

A

uthentic leadership is inextricably linked to self-awareness. That was the conclusion reached by panellists at a discussion on what authentic leadership looks like on a daily basis, which was hosted by the Institute of Leadership & Management in March.

Facilitating the event, Kate Cooper, the Institute’s head of policy and standards, suggested that “having an awareness of yourself must be a requisite of being authentic”.

“The more self-aware a leader is, the more authentic they will be,” concurred Tibisay Vera, founder of neuroscience-based coaching consultancy Sparkling Performance. She recommended that leaders use mindfulness techniques and 360-degree feedback to improve their self-awareness.

According to Catriona Deakin, CEO of certification company Corgi, self-awareness is about “knowing your limitations and what your strengths and weaknesses are”.

Drawing on her own career transition from being a sports presenter at the BBC, to taking over as host of the consumer finance Share

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Radio Morning show, Georgie Frost pointed out that so-called ‘weaknesses’ are not necessarily real weaknesses. In fact, not having a financial background turned out to be an advantage for her. “The weakness of not knowing about money meant that I was there with my listeners,” she said.

Sally Percy, editor of Edge, explained that she had discussed authentic leadership with the CFOs and accountancy firm leaders she had spoken to for her book, Reach the Top in Finance: The Ambitious Accountant’s Guide to Career Success. “They had wide-ranging views on what it means to be authentic,” she observed, “but many of them talked about the importance of being able to bring your whole self to work.”

Authenticity is one of the Institute’s Five Dimensions of Leadership. In a research paper published earlier in 2017, it said: “Authentic leaders are recognised by their integrity, and so inspire trust. They know – and are true to – their values, and while acting ethically, also have the courage to challenge others to do likewise.”

To read about the rise of conscious leadership, see page 48. Tibisay Vera explains how neuroscience can be used to improve business performance, on page 58

Above Authenticity panellists from left to right: Georgie Frost; Tibisay Vera; Kate Cooper; Catriona Deakin and Sally Percy

SHARE YOUR RESEARCH If you have undertaken any research into leadership and management, written a paper or participated in a best practice case study, we want to hear about it. We may even be able to feature it in Edge.

Email us at: research@ institutelm.com

13/04/2017 14:54

News

19

Institute to hold board elections

Website gets warm welcome

We have had a great response from members to our announcement that we are recruiting trustees and a deputy chair to our board this year.

This response shows that you are as passionate about our mission to inspire great leadership as we are. Also, you really want to make a contribution to the development of leadership in the 21st century.

You can learn more about the shortlisted candidates by watching their video statements on our website. If you are a professional member, you can also place your vote online. To find out more and to place your vote, visit: www.institutelm.com/ about-us/current-vacancies.html Online voting closes on 2 June 2017. The successful candidates will be announced in early June and their selection ratified at our 70th AGM on 27 June 2017.

We would love you to join us at the AGM, which starts at 5.30pm. It will be a good opportunity to meet the newly elected trustees and Institute staff, and to network with other members over drinks and canapés. The AGM takes place at The Snowdome, Leisure Island, River Drive, Tamworth B79 7ND. To reserve your place, visit: www.institutelm.com/events/event-listing.html

The Institute launched its new website in December 2016 and statistics show that it has been well received by members. As of mid-March, the website had been visited almost 60,000 times, with over 16,000 members logging in.

If you would like to give your feedback on using the site, please email: marketing@institutelm.com

MEMBERS LOVE...

Top five document downloads from the Learning Resources section 1 A n Introduction to Leadership Styles

Shutterstock

THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL LEADER If you are planning to attend our AGM, you might also want to join us beforehand at our afternoon leadership event, which starts at 1.30pm.

Renowned speakers will be addressing the following topic: Why Vision isn’t Enough: The MultiDimensional Leader. They include: Kiran Trehan, professor of leadership and enterprise development at the University of Birmingham; Jim Rees, athlete, ironman and executive coach; and Perry Timms, founder and chief energy officer, PTHR. Book your place at www.institutelm.com/event_listing/ conference-2017.html For more events, see page 16. Perry Timms also writes on page 69

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2 M entoring vs Coaching – Do You Know the Difference?

3 Understanding Yourself 4 Communication Overview 5 H ow to Adapt your Leadership Style To access the resources, which are exclusive to members, log in to your web account

59,512 Website visits

311,844 Page views

16,157 Logins

436

New members joined

6,519 Student member activations

13/04/2017 14:54

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12/04/2017 19:21 04.11.2015 15:42:50

Insider SETTING THE STANDARD

D

21

Tap into talent

iversity and inclusivity have been high on our agenda recently. I hope that many of you managed to join our ‘Leading Inclusively’ webinar series.

Over the years, we have published reports on the underrepresentation of women and the different expectations of millennials and their managers. Then, in 2015, we released Untapped Talent: Can the over 50s bridge the leadership skills gap? Our research did not find much evidence of intergenerational conflict, with younger workers appreciating the experience and emotional stability of their more senior colleagues.

But we did discover that over-50s were not being encouraged to continue to develop, or to take on new challenges, and that high potential was closely associated with youth.

As a result, we concluded that there is a wealth of untapped talent that employers are not accessing because of preconceptions about ambition and enthusiasm declining with age.

Last year the Centre for Creative Leadership also published some research that surprised many. It challenged the notion of job-hopping millennials, producing evidence that 49% wanted to stay with an organisation for more than ten years. This serves as a valuable reminder that preconceptions are often incorrect.

It is well established that a diverse workforce brings many benefits. Diversity is often cited as a source of innovation and creativity. Cross-cultural intelligence

Diversity is a source of innovation and creativity By

Kate Cooper

contributes to competitive advantage when a workforce reflects an organisation’s customers and suppliers.

Yet cross-cultural intelligence is not confined to diversity as we might usually understand it. We are currently investigating how well leadership and team-working cross over from one culture to another by focusing on services personnel who transition from the armed forces and assume a wide range of roles within civilian organisations.

In 2012, insurer Prudential revealed that 64% of US veterans experience difficulty when transitioning from military to civilian life. Finding a job was identified as the greatest challenge, with transferring military skills to a civilian environment being a major hurdle.

We hope that you have contributed to our research by completing the survey. Soon we will publish the report, which will provide an insight into the sort of leadership and teamwork that is needed to meet the needs of 21st-century organisations, and how the contribution of military service leavers may be redefined.

David Jackman, a visiting fellow of Cambridge University Judge Business School, has developed a model of corporate maturity based on his experiences in the financial services industry (see his article on page 50).

We are working with him to explore how the pursuit, and achievement, of corporate maturity is relevant to those seeking to grow small businesses, and the importance of authentic leadership in achieving that maturity. Please get in touch if you are the owner of a small business and would like to contribute to this work. Email: research@institutelm.com

WEBINARS The Institute runs free ‘Learn at Lunch’ 30-minute webinars most Wednesdays from 1-1.30pm. To find out more, visit: www.institutelm.com/ events/webinars.html

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Check out these Leading Inclusively webinars, which you may have missed: LGBT policies in the workplace 15 February 2017 bit.ly/2oh2SfR

Race and ethnicity in the workplace 8 February 2017 bit.ly/2oNeo3a

The experience of shared parental leave 1 February 2017 bit.ly/2o6nuoF

13/04/2017 14:54

Insider

22

Events

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF

Brinda Murugasu

T

ogether with my business partner, I run a training consultancy based in Kota Kinabalu, the coastal capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, for the hospitality industry.

On a workday, I wake up at around 7am. I prepare for my day by checking the website of the Malaysian Association of Hotels, Hotel Group Network and TripAdvisor for news. Then I head out to meetings with my clients, which are three- and four-star hotels based in Kota Kinabalu. The city’s tourism business is growing fast, thanks to increased interest from Chinese travellers. But it can be a challenge for hotels to find Chinese-speaking staff.

In the past, I worked as a director of training and human resources for large international hotel groups. Now I put these experiences to good use with my local clients, helping them to set up training systems, as well as customer service and leadership programmes. Our consultancy has recently finished a project with the Sabah Tea Resort, which is based in a sprawling tea plantation, located at the mouth of Mount Kinabalu and surrounded by rainforest. With that client, we rolled out our

Tourism is growing fast

supervisory programme focused on team briefing, brainstorming, setting of standard operating procedures and the creation of action plans.

Usually, my business partner and I have lunch with our clients, or we might eat with prospective trainers. Some afternoons, we could have a meeting with the Malaysian Association of Hotels, Sabah Chapter, or the Malaysian Institute of Human Resources. We may also check in with the local government’s Human Resources Development Council.

While my working day formally finishes at 5.30pm, I usually spend some time after that reflecting on what I achieved that day and planning for the next day. I'm also lucky to have friends who own a little bistro, Meet+Wine in Kota Kinabalu, which I often frequent to unwind after work and enjoy a good glass of wine and some amazing food.

I am a late sleeper, so I tend to go to bed between 11.30pm and midnight. A nice cup of warm chamomile tea sets me up for a good night’s sleep.

Brinda Murugasu is a director of Blue Elephants Training Consultants, Malaysia

If you would like to feature in A Day in a Life, email: sally.percy@lidpublishing.com

EVENTS CALENDAR Below are some upcoming events being organised by the Institute of Leadership & Management 17 May 2017

Coaching Futures: Coaching in 3D virtual worlds

Webinar

24 May 2017

Coaching Futures: Coaching at a distance

Webinar

31 May 2017

Coaching Futures: Coaching for a virtual reality

Webinar

13 June 2017

Event for leaders and managers in financial services

City & Guilds, London

27 June 2017

Why vision isn’t enough: The multi-dimensional leader (conference). Followed by AGM

Snow Dome, River Drive, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 7ND

12 Sept 2017

Event for leaders and managers in financial services

City & Guilds, London

F or more on events, see page 16. To view recordings of past webinars, visit: www.institutelm.com/events/webinars.html To find out more about events organised by the Institute, email: jane.nicholson-biss@institutelm.com

Title Brief description.

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weblink Title

13/04/2017 14:54

Insider

Member Q&A

23

IN THE HOT SEAT

Margaret Ross This month, Edge meets Margaret Ross, chief executive of Waverley Housing

What are your biggest leadership and management challenges right now?

businesses, we have to do more with less while operating under considerable political pressure. The Scottish housing sector has been tasked with building 50,000 affordable homes by 2020. This is creating a huge skills challenge. At the same time, we are affected by changes to welfare reform and the benefits systems, which could impact the financial viability of social housing and put more demands on the frontline staff.

Today’s business environment is constantly evolving, so it’s crucial for me to have a talented and engaged team of people who are willing and able to adapt. But it’s tough building strong teams in the face of recruitment and retention challenges. At the same time, I also have to contend with technological and cultural change that will affect how my organisation operates in the future.

What is Waverley Housing doing to develop its people?

Are the expectations of today’s workers different from workers in the past?

Today’s workers increasingly prefer flat, collaborative organisational structures, with few hierarchical levels, and looser leadership. The move to more flexible and mobile working, with performance being measured on outcomes, can be a tricky concept for some employees to understand – especially if you try to introduce ‘downtime’ to encourage healthy working lives. I find working to employees’ strengths, and breaking down silos to encourage greater collaboration and innovation, are critical. The big challenge is giving employees a sense of purpose in order to create a culture where they are happy to be involved and accept responsibility.

How does the general context of housing impact the challenges you face?

To work in social housing, you need to have ‘a business head and a social heart’. Like many other

023_EdgeSummer2017_MemberQA.indd 23

We have been trying to build capacity through our modern apprenticeship programme, as well as training and development. We need to inspire people so that they turn away from negativity and create ideas instead. This is particularly the case with frontline staff. The level of uncertainty within social housing is high, but this should not be seen as a threat. Rather, it is an opportunity to develop great leadership teams.

What are you focusing on in terms of your own development?

THE BIG CHALLENGE IS GIVING EMPLOYEES A SENSE OF PURPOSE

I am focusing on empowering others to think: “Yes, we can do that.” I aim to release energy and build capability through every conversation.

I also want to become more transparent, more willing to listen, and to be able to inspire individuals and teams to reach their full potential. I am encouraging staff to ask questions and back their judgement. I continue to watch my own behaviour.

My goal is to dare to be different!

Would you like to feature in ‘In the Hot Seat’? Email sally.percy@lidpublishing.com

13/04/2017 14:53

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The Edge Interview

13/04/2017 14:53

Serena Standing

25

Educating Ely Serena Standing devoted more than a decade to improving the life prospects of students in some of London’s toughest schools. Now she wants to do the same in the Fens By Sally Percy

Photography Martin Figura

Y

ou would expect the granddaughter of a silent movie star to take on new roles with aplomb. And in this respect, Serena Standing does not disappoint.

Standing, who is descended from Lives of a Bengal Lancer actor Sir Guy Standing, has turned her hand to a host of occupations, from catwalk modelling and radio presenting, through to archaeology, art consultancy and youth development over the course of a long career. Time and time again she has reinvented herself, making her a great example of someone who has led a multi-stage life. Her latest incarnation is as an executive coach and the holder of not-for-profit positions, including being a trustee of the Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust.

While her career may seem diverse to an outsider, Standing herself is adamant that a

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I’VE WORKED OUT MY OWN LEARNING, WHICH HAS BEEN KEY

Left Serena Standing in the grounds of Ely Cathedral

common thread runs through it. That thread is education. Always devoted to learning, she was reading at the age of two. But a combination of extreme left-handedness and dyslexia held up her writing, and she ended up being labelled a backward child. After being dismissed as “not university material”, she married at 17 and had two children by the time she was 21.

For some women, that might have been the end of their educational journey. Not so for Standing, who attributes her success to date to “bloody mindedness”. When told there was something she wouldn’t be able to do, she always made a point of doing it. “That set my character up,” says Standing.

“I’ve worked out my own learning, which has been key, because I’ve helped many young people to do the same.”

It was after a spell at BBC Radio, where she worked as a presenter among other roles, that Standing took control of her own education. She re-sat the A-levels that she had

13/04/2017 14:53

The Edge Interview

26

previously failed and went on to read Ancient History and Egyptology at University College, London, where she gained a first. “As a subject, history is about questions,” notes Standing, when pressed about what attracted her to her degree subject. “Questions form the basis of learning. If you ask them, you can learn.”

Aspiration and achievement By the late 1990s, Standing had evolved into a management coach with consultancy GHN. GHN’s then chief executive asked if she could build up a charity called Hanover Foundations that aimed to help young people develop crucial personal skills.

“I thought it was a jolly good idea,” she recalls. “So I wrote some practical schemes for people aged between 14 and 21 that got them to look at what they could do with their skills and what they could do with their lives.”

Standing realised there was an opportunity to ask the large businesses that she had worked with in a coaching capacity, such as Deutsche Bank and retailer Marks & Spencer, to sponsor the activities of the new charity. These sponsors covered the cost of 200 ILM-trained mentors who went into schools to work with young people. During the course of a year, the mentors would spend an hour with a student on ten different occasions.

“In that time, they would help the student to set goals, undertake goals and achieve goals,” Standing explains. “The sadness was that a lot of those children had no aspiration at all. They came from generations of non-working families. But the programme was very effective. Children began passing their exams and they developed personal skills. And there was much less crime and social unrest in the schools where we worked.”

It was testament to the charity’s success that it later got funding from the schools themselves, as well as from the government as part of the London Challenge, a project to raise standards in London’s worst performing state secondary schools.

Alongside Hanover Foundations, Standing also co-founded the Hanover Partnership, a private coaching consultancy that worked with teachers, aspiring board directors and other private clients.

Unfortunately, Hanover Foundations had to close in 2011 when its funding dried up, and Standing also stepped down from the Hanover Partnership to focus on her own private clients.

She is clear that she has learned an enormous amount from the years spent with both organisations, however. “Delivery is so important,” she says. “You have to have the right people delivering the right things. In fact, one of the key elements of leadership is getting the balance between delivery and process right. The more you load processes on, the more difficult delivery can be.”

024-027_EdgeSummer2017_Interview.indd 26

LEADERSHIP LESSONS Who has been your real-life leadership inspiration?

“Louis Sherwood – he was a brilliant man who started his career by running financier James Goldsmith’s US operations. He went on to become chairman of West Country broadcaster HTV, and a director of Halifax Building Society, among other jobs. Even though he had a frantic schedule, he always managed to do many pro bono roles. He gave his time and his funds, believing passionately in everything he did. To me he represented excellence.

I still thank him for all the lessons he taught me – belief, humanity and the importance of cutting out frills to focus on the essentials.”

What does a good leader look like?

“Someone who can inspire, guide and bring out the best in employees. They should also be prepared to drive forward and hold a course of action.”

What’s the greatest challenge you’ve faced as a leader and how did you overcome it?

“Raising funds to meet the ever-expanding need for Hanover Foundations’ activities. We had the idea of involving large corporates by training their staff in return for sponsorship of the charity. We also worked with these companies to create work experience opportunities for young people.”

What’s the most important leadership lesson that you’ve ever learned?

“You need to have key influencers at the right level. Kids Company pipped us to a very significant government grant and contract because of the influence it wielded. In this instance, it did not matter that our work was demonstrably effective.”

Above Serena Standing moved to Ely in 2014

What’s the secret to your own success?

“I keep on keeping on and I keep on asking questions. I want to understand what society needs as it develops.”

How does the Institute of Leadership & Management make a difference?

“The Institute of Leadership & Management undertakes some very important research projects.

In the past, as well as continuing to promote lifelong learning, it has explored the implications of flexible working, the gender balance in financial services and tapping into the over-50s talent pool.”

How do you like to relax at the end of a long day?

“I like reading, going to the theatre or cinema, entertaining, spending time with my family, planning projects and planning travels.”

13/04/2017 14:53

Serena Standing

27

CAREER TIMELINE

A new challenge

the quality of the training that is made available to teachers, and ensuring that funds are In 2014, Standing moved to the picturesque wisely spent. Separately, Standing is a member cathedral city of Ely to be closer to her son and of Ely College’s Academy Council, where she is his family, and she is still adjusting to the biting monitoring its plans to develop new apprenticeFens wind. While her location has changed, her ships. “There’s so much need around here,” she commitment to education hasn’t. Soon after her says. “I want to be an integral part of organising arrival, she was snapped up by the Diocese of Ely development for local people and leading them to to serve as a trustee on its multi-academy trust, the real opportunities.”

Standing’s involvement with which consists of 30 academies LIFE IS A LEARNING the Institute of Leadership & and associate academies.

Management stretches back to Since the Bishop of Ely is the PROCESS. 1990s. Together with a friend, Church of England’s lead bishop I HATE THE IDEA Margaret Lloyd, she wrote some for education, Standing is at the of its first personal skills training heart of the action when it comes OF MY BRAIN NOT material on topics such as peer-toto academisation. She sees the WORKING peer mentoring. She still believes benefits of the policy, arguing that that the institute’s mission is when schools join an academy trust, “they can take advantage of the trust’s highly relevant today. “It offers a wonderful opporability to provide the best training and continuing tunity for people who want to go on being educated,” she says. professional development for its members”.

Naturally, Standing has no intention of Standing sits on both the trust’s finance and estates committee and its standards stopping her own education. “Life is a learning and ethos committee, as well as on the main process,” she says stoutly. “I hate the idea of my board. She is also responsible for overseeing brain not working.”

024-027_EdgeSummer2017_Interview.indd 27

1969 – 72 Worked at the BBC in a variety of roles including radio presenting 1972 – 82 Studied A-levels and for an honours degree in Ancient History and Egyptology 1979 – 90 Lectured on archaeology and ran a tourism business offering tours of the main archaeological centres in the Middle East 1990 – 98 Chief executive of Art Addition, a corporate and private art consultancy 1994 – 99 Consultant to GHN, providing career advice and training to 16-35 year-olds.

Studied for a masters degree in Professional Development with the University of Strathclyde and a postgraduate coaching and mentoring qualification from The Work Foundation 1997 – 2011 Chief executive of Hanover Foundations 2005 – 2015 Co-founder and director of Hanover Partnership 2011 – present Runs her own private client-coaching business Not-for-profit roles 2008 – 2016 Chairman of the Philological Foundation 2015 – present Trustee of Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust 2016 – present Member of the Academy Council of Ely College

13/04/2017 14:53

THE SECOND WAVE

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12/04/2017 19:20

Spotlight

29

THE MULTI-GENERATIONAL WORKFORCE 36 What are the real expectations of Generation Y?

34 How to have a career that spans six decades in the era of a 100-year life

38 Why age is more than a number for accountancy firm BDO

40 Knowledge transfer is a winning formula for chemical contractor Chemoxy

Shutterstock

30 Coming of age: making work meaningful for eight different generations

029_EdgeSummer2017_SpotContents.indd 29

13/04/2017 14:53

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Spotlight

13/04/2017 14:52

Multi-Generational Workforce

31

Coming of age People from eight different generations may soon share the same workplace.

What will that mean for their employers?

By Rebecca Burn-Callander

Illustration Stephen Collins

A

century ago, the life expectancy of the average Briton was just 51 years. Fast-forward to 2017, and an improved diet, modern medicines and advancements in technology have added decades to our lifespan.

Newborn baby girls can now expect to live to the ripe old age of 83, while boys will live to 79, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Although this improved longevity is good news for the individual, it presents some interesting challenges for society.

Today, it is not unusual to find up to six generations working side by side in many organisations.

This may soon become seven, or even eight.

Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has found that the over 50s already account for more than 30% of the UK’s working population. UK state pension legislation is now shifting to cope with the ageing population, and the retirement age is to rise from 65 to 68 for

030-033_EdgeSummer2017_Spotlight.indd 31

those born after 1978. There are even suggestions that it may move again, to 70 or beyond.

Cultural shift So the question for managers is this: can the modern workplace cope with the changing demands of the multi-generational workforce?

UBS, the global financial services giant, recently commissioned a report into the trends that will impact the workplace of the future. It found that 75% of managers in companies see managing a multi-generational workforce as a significant issue.

“The workplace is becoming far more complex,” observes Jürg Zeltner, president of wealth management at UBS. “Companies that continue to advocate the same approach to their employee base in 10 years’ time will be at a significant competitive disadvantage.”

Managers from some of the world’s largest organisations have started analysing their human capital to make sure their business model can survive the coming changes. Some are

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less worried than others. Claire Hall, chief people officer at McDonald’s UK, believes the fast food giant has future-proofed its working practices. “At McDonald’s, we employ thousands of people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, many of whom are working parents and want the flexibility to balance childcare with a job,” she explains. “We also employ students who need the flexibility to balance a job and academic work and studies. We employ older people who just want a few shifts a week. Each of these groups have different lifestyles, but they all need a flexible role that doesn’t limit their career progression or enjoyment.”

At StreetTeam, a young software company for the live entertainment industry, founder Callum Negus-Fancey has done away with traditional office protocol altogether in order to actively attract and retain an age-diverse workforce. “We have unlimited holidays, no set hours, it’s all resultsfocused,” he explains. “Some people want to work from home, some want to work through the night or start at 6am to be home and see their kids to bed. Our culture here has been a powerful tool for recruiting people of all ages.”

But being forward-thinking has its own challenges. “It can be hard to get older recruits to

WORKERS’ ROLES WILL BE REDEFINED BECAUSE OF AUTOMATION ‘unlearn’ their old habits,” admits Negus-Fancey.

“We have to invest heavily in training, and I personally spend a day with all new recruits to explain why we are built this way.”

Some managers may fear that both very old and very young workers will struggle to adapt to the fast-changing workplace. Carl Reader, resident business adviser at the Daily Express and the boss of accountancy firm D&T, explains: “The younger generation has grown up with instant messaging and is reluctant to pick up the phone and have conversations, while older workers can struggle with email. Between the two extremes of the age spectrum, there is a divide.”

According to John Timpson, boss of high street locksmiths chain Timpsons, issues can also arise when workers are no longer able to do their job because of advanced years. “Some older people simply lack the speed and stamina to do a job they once did supremely well,” he says. “Many over-60s want to carry on well beyond the needs of the business.” If someone is no longer able to do their job, and is creating more work for others, the situation must be managed delicately, he advises. “Change their role and perhaps reduce their amount of responsibility to make the most of their mature

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WAYS TO OPTIMISE THE TALENTS OF AN AGE-DIVERSE WORKFORCE A paper by the Institute of Leadership & Management, with Ashridge Business School, entitled Attract: Grow: Engage suggests leaders and managers can benefit from age diversity within the workplace if they follow these guidelines:

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Audit your workforce and give ‘experience’ a name and status.

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Emphasise the value of listening, teaching and learning.

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Find ways to keep older people involved with the organisation after retirement, for example, as contractors.

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Highlight the return on investment that comes with training older workers who are likely to stay with the organisation for longer.

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Challenge out-dated attitudes and language towards age.

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Appreciate that everyone can keep learning, however old they are.

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Create flexible working policies that support workers at every stage of their career.

talent, but you mustn’t create a new role just for the sake of it.”

Replaced by robots?

The pressure of adapting to new technologies adds to the strain on older workers, according to Reader.

“We’re going through another industrial age, where workers’ roles will be redefined because of automation, robots and artificial intelligence,” he said. “The learning of new technologies to date has been based on the ‘carrot’ - ‘I want to learn this’. In future, it will be ‘stick’. Without certain skills, you’ll be unemployable because they won’t need humans stacking shelves in Tesco.”

New research from workplace consultancy Peldon Rose has found that older employees are already beginning to feel marginalised. Fewer than one in four of those aged 55 or above said their company appreciates them, and 80% suffer from, or have suffered from, workplace stress.

A report by the Institute of Leadership & Management also highlights that the talents of older people are being frittered away by organisations. According to Untapped Talent: Can over 50s bridge the leadership skills gap?, the over-50s

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Multi-Generational Workforce

may be viewed as loyal, skilled and knowledgeable by their employer, but they are still likely to lose out on progression opportunities to fresher-faced colleagues.

Meanwhile, younger employees present their own unique challenges. “A post-milliennal [born after 2000] has had a very different upbringing from a millennial [born after 1983] or Gen X [born between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s],” says Reader. “You can’t even get a medal in a school sports day nowadays. Someone who is always treated like a winner, even if they finish 20th in a 19-person race, presents a challenge for managers.”

Timpson agrees: “We find it much tougher to educate those under about 23, many of whom leave school unprepared for the world of work.”

McDonald’s employs nine generations in its 110,000-strong staff and, according to Hall, reassuring each person that they have the opportunity to advance their careers is key to keeping them engaged. “Whether you employ a recent schoolleaver who is taking their first step towards leading a team, or someone who’s recently retired but enjoys mentoring young people, every employee needs to be reassured that they have opportunities for career development, irrespective of their age.”

Benefits of age diversity Being age agnostic isn’t just a legal requirement, it’s actually good for business, says Hall. According to a

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recent survey of McDonald’s customers, 84% said that they like to see a range of ages in the restaurant team, and 60% expect better service as a result. Where restaurants have a diverse age range of people working a shift together, employees are also up to 10% happier.

There are many other benefits to creating age-diverse teams. “The difference in generational strengths and insights is an amazing opportunity,” comments Dan Rogers, founder of people management firm Peakon, which helps to advise companies on employee engagement.

“Bosses should look to combine older and younger workers on projects, so that their unique outlooks and skills complement each other.

Managers should foster the tech-savviness, understanding of new cultural and digital trends, and enthusiasm that millennials can bring, while also making available to younger workers the experience, perspective, and focus of older colleagues.”

But beware of concentrating too closely on age, warns Timpson. Organisations should look at personality instead. “The main thing is to have positive personalities in your business,” he concludes. “Age is not a great indicator of attitude.

The way you treat colleagues should be based on the way they are, not by reference to the year they were born.”

Rebecca Burn-Callander is a business and economics journalist, who was formerly enterprise editor of the ‘Daily Telegraph’ and ‘Sunday Telegraph’

ADVICE FOR MANAGING AGE-DIVERSE TEAMS Management gurus and business experts all suggest that communication and training are vital for managing age-diverse teams. Matt Deighton, managing director at Sofas by Saxon, which specialises in manufacturing the iconic Chesterfield design, says: “Having a diverse age range means we have a lot of different voices and skill-levels on the floor. Adopting an approach that encourages integration and interaction between all members of staff is absolutely essential. We plan our teams so that there is a good mix of older and younger employees, which ensures that there aren’t any cliques formed that are driven by age,” he continues. “We also have a training and mentoring system in place, which facilitates

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the exchange of knowledge between the more experienced staff and the staff who are just learning their trade.”

“Be alert to different needs at different life stages and act on it,” is the advice from Martin Woolley, chief executive of media agency The Specialist Works, which employs 145 staff in offices across the UK, US and Europe. “We give young staff the opportunity to have fun together by giving time and budget to let off steam. There is the chance to ‘Walk Away’ if they hit a major target – they get the afternoon to go to the pub together, with drinks on us.

“For parents with young kids we put more emphasis on giving them family time. Over 30% of our staff have some sort

BE ALERT TO DIFFERENT NEEDS AT DIFFERENT LIFE STAGES AND ACT ON IT

of flexible arrangement that allows them to do pick-ups or drop-offs, have flexibility to see their kids at appointed times if they need to, or work from home a day a week. And for the older staff, they may need a parking space close to the office, or to be near natural light. In all cases, we try and do these things discreetly and without fanfare so

staff don’t perceive favouritism.”

It can be tricky for business leaders to motivate staff from different age groups together, notes Reader. “We’ve attempted team-building days, but found evidence of the age problem,” he said. “What works for one group doesn’t work for another.

We tried trips to the theatre, bowling, or just drinks out, and the levels of engagement were wildly different each time.”

Rather than try and find a one-size-fits-all brand of entertainment, focus on regular one-to-one meetings with every team member, Reader advises.

“Try to explore their issues, find out what’s stopping them from reaching peak performance, and coach them on how to help themselves.”

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The

year life How can we manage careers that span six decades?

By Andrew Scott

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great deal is written about the ageing workforce of the advanced economies. Much attention focuses on serious problems concerning pensions, illness and social care. But relatively little attention is focused on a more positive challenge – how do we reshape life in response to growing life expectancy?

If we are to understand this reshaping of life, it is critical that we recognise that longevity isn’t the same as ageing. In fact, in a statistical sense, longevity is the very opposite of ageing. Longevity is about being younger for longer – according to

mortality rates, it really is true that 70 is the new 60. More profoundly, growing life expectancy is about all stages of life. If we live for longer, we will design our lives and careers differently. Just as new technologies are redesigning the nature of work and disrupting the institutional settings established in the 20th century, so increases in longevity are disrupting the career paths and work patterns established in earlier times, when life expectancy was much shorter.

According to the Office for National Statistics, life expectancy at birth for a female UK baby boomer was 83, but for a girl born today, it is between 95 and 107. That is a lot of extra years, and simply stretching out our current three-stage life

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Longevity

of education, work and retirement to fit doesn’t seem very appealing. Based on plausible financial assumptions, someone in their mid 40s will probably have to work into their early 70s to finance a reasonable pension. For an 18-year-old, that could mean working into their late 70s. A 60-year career seems neither desirable nor feasible.

A 60-year career As a consequence, Lynda Gratton and I suggest in The 100 Year Life – Living and Working in an Age of Longevity that we will see the rise of a multi-stage life and career. Working a 60-year career secures the financial assets needed for retirement, but it doesn’t support other key intangible assets. For instance, which education and skills can we learn at 21 that will last through to 78? Our health and mental wellbeing will also not flourish with 60 continuous years of hard work. So, instead, life will become multi-staged with transitions between roles and sectors. Some transitions will be forced upon us as a result of technological obsolescence; others will be a choice. Each stage may have a different focus – one may be based around financial accumulation and hard work, another may require a better work-life balance or a social contribution.

Between each stage, there will be a need for rest and recreation – rebuilding skills, establishing new networks and investing in new professional identities and attitudes.

For organisations, the implications of all of this are profound, and they are only just being felt. The most immediate source of tension is around retirement. More people are staying in the workforce beyond what is commonly regarded as ‘retirement age’. Some continue in their job but with a reduced time commitment. Others leave, but act in a freelance capacity, start up a business or take on a different role. Hence organisations need to arrive at standardised, transparent policies that give individuals time to prepare an appropriate path while minimising risk from discriminatory practices.

SAME PROBLEM, DIFFERENT GENERATION Just like retirement, graduate recruitment is becoming a fuzzy concept that is characterised by greater heterogeneity. As the youngest individuals in the workforce, millennials have the greatest longevity prospects – which leads to some striking differences in behaviour. The first is the creation of a post-teenage stage, which has postponed the adoption of previous markers of adulthood such as marriage and children.

This phase is often spent pursuing entrepreneurial activities, as witnessed in the streets of Williamsburg and Shoreditch. Secondly, as they face the prospect of a 60-year, multi-stage career, they are likely to raise many more questions about purpose, value, identity and future pay-offs with regard to their current role than past generations.

Similarly, members of the workforce who are in their 40s also face issues. Aware that they have to work for longer, they are naturally curious about the available options. And since many firms look to exit workers in their 50s, this group will be restless. Even if that risk of exit is low, they will be aware that they have another 30 years of work ahead of them so they will

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Business dilemma The list of challenges that employers need to respond to in the face of longevity is large – adjusting graduate recruitment; amending retirement policies; working on mid-career on-boarding; shifting learning and development to an indiviually curated structure; creating organisational structures that can deal with the required diversity of working practices; finding ways of overcoming promotional blockages and unpicking the natural tendency for salary to rise with age; making older workers more expensive.

The obvious question is: why should firms bother? In answer, we are likely to see a sharp

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IF WE LIVE FOR LONGER, WE WILL DESIGN OUR LIVES AND CAREERS DIFFERENTLY

wonder if they need a career shift.

The need to make this decision will be made more acute by the natural pyramid structure of so many firms, which limits promotion opportunities.

It stands to reason that if people work for longer, then promotional opportunities will be fewer, leading to a host of HR challenges.

It is striking that so many of these problems are similar across the different generations.

Much analysis of the workforce starts by exploring how different each generation is and how different their needs and demands are. Yet the reality is that all are struggling with one common issue – longevity and the need for longer careers. In response, workers of all ages are increasingly after similar blends of personalisation, flexibility and age agnosticism in employment policies. Yet these clash with current employer policies that are based on standardisation, conformity and age stereotypes. Those policies arose naturally from the lock step of a three-stage life whereby each age cohort moves through its career path in unison, making promotions, salaries and performance assessment easier to coordinate.

dichotomy. On one side will be those firms that need and value high human capital workers – they will be forced to adjust to ensure a steady stream of talent. On the other side will be firms, which in light of the rise of robots, will be less willing to adjust and will continue to release older workers who have either become too expensive or less valued by the organisation. Finding ways to maintain productive employment and work options for this latter group in a world of high life expectancy will be a profound policy challenge.

Andrew Scott is a professor of Economics at London Business School and co-author, with Lynda Gratton, of ‘The 100-Year Life – Living and Working in an Age of Longevity’ (see page 84 for a review)

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Busting the millennial myth

he millennial generation gets a very bad press. Frequently stereotyped as the ‘me, me, me’ generation, it is thought to consist of individuals who resolutely put their own best interests ahead of their organisation’s interests, refuse to undertake any task that might be considered remotely mundane, and expect instant – and generous – feedback. Not only that, but they are supposed to be famously disloyal to their employers – moving jobs regularly in a relentless quest for apparently greener pastures.

That’s the perception, but what is the reality?

We set out to answer this very question when we researched millennials’ attitudes towards business, especially in the context of employee ownership, during the course of 2016.

What we found when we surveyed nearly 750 employees across all age groups who worked for employee-owned companies was that many of the unflattering perceptions that have been

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What do 20- and 30-somethings really want from the workplace?

New research into attitudes in employee-owned businesses reveals some surprising truths Writing Peter Neville Lewis & Dr Ruth Yeoman

peddled about millennials are simply not true.

They actually share lots of characteristics and attitudes with their older colleagues, including a preference for meaningful work, a need to feel respected, and an appreciation of the benefits of working for an employee-owned organisation.

Having said that, millennials do undoubtedly place a greater emphasis on certain aspects of working life than some of their more mature peers. Given that millennials will make up half of the global workforce by 2020, according to PwC, it is absolutely essential that leaders and managers understand what motivates this particular generation. We hope the following pointers will help them on that journey.

Financial goals are not enough There is a popular assumption that millennials are not motivated by money. That assumption is unfounded. According to our research, money is as much of a motivator for millennials as it is for any other generation. The difference for millennials is

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Millennials Perspectives on Work

that work has to be about more than money – both for them as individuals and for their organisation more broadly. The concept of organisational purpose lies at the very heart of much millennial thinking. They see financial success as less of an end product in itself and more of a by-product of having the right organisational goals and people policies in place.

Business is a team endeavour This attitude towards financial goals feeds into another millennial belief: since business is a team endeavour, profits should be shared. Employeeowned businesses are well placed to tap into millennials’ preference for profit sharing. Still, ensuring that an organisation’s entire workforce benefits appropriately from its success is an important consideration for all businesses, especially in an age of growing populism and mounting concerns around the “people who have been left behind”.

METHODOLOGY FOR RESEARCH Nearly 750 employees working in employeeowned companies across all age groups were surveyed online for the research.

Respondents were asked to indicate their ages in five categories: under 30; 30-39; 40-49; 50-59; and 60 and over. The category ‘under 30’ was used as an indicator to best identify millennials for the purpose of the research.

Work is a means of personal development Personal development stands out overwhelmingly as the factor that motivates millennials in the workplace – much more so than for older generations. This is the natural consequence of the

THE CONCEPT OF PURPOSE LIES AT THE VERY HEART OF MUCH MILLENNIAL THINKING

CUSTOMER SERVICE - WHAT SERVICE? One of the most interesting findings old-fashioned to millennials. For them, of our research was that millennials it is dealing with the functional aspects seem to attach less importance to of a service or providing back-up to a customer service than other age service that has already been bought. groups. Nevertheless ‘seem’ is the Customisation is actually what operative word here since millennials the millennial generation is more probably have a very different view of interested in. So they see customer the meaning of customer service as finding service compared with Importance of customer out what a customer their older colleagues. client service by age wants, co-creating that In fact, it is likely Under 30 product or service with that the very concept them, and tailoring of customer service 30 and over it to their exact 1 = very low comes across as slightly 5 = very high requirements.

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fact that they are at the start of their career journeys, which explains why personal development decreases in importance with age. The next most important motivator for millennials is meaningful work, which is also important to other age groups.

Employee ownership is appealing It is clear that the employee ownership model has a strong appeal to millennials. Our study found that if they move jobs, millennials would prefer to work for another employee-owned business. Nevertheless, they are prepared to be flexible on this point since they recognise that employee-owned businesses still represent a comparatively small proportion of the job market. When it comes to engagement, millennials appear to be more motivated by the employee-owned business model than their more mature colleagues.

Some final thoughts

Managers should coach Like their peers in other age groups, millennials are not keen on command and control management structures. Our research found that they prefer to work for managers who coach them effectively and give them clear instructions and feedback.

They also see visionary leadership as important although, interestingly, slightly less important than their more mature peers.

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Our research overwhelmingly reveals that millennials – along with other generations – want to work for well-organised businesses that trust their staff and have innovative and caring cultures. Unlike other generations, however, they are less willing to put up with workplace cultures that veer towards heavy-handedness and micro-management.

As the global skills shortage worsens over the coming years, particularly in areas such as IT, employers will have to compete ever more fiercely for the services of the millennial generation, which is generally better educated, sharper and more mobile than those that have gone before. Any employer that ignores this does so at their peril.

Peter Neville Lewis and Ruth Yeoman wrote ‘Busting the Millennial Myth – The Power of Purpose’. To find out more about the report, email peter@principledconsulting.biz

GREAT EXPECTATIONS Managing Generation Y The findings of this research into employee-owned businesses supports previous research conducted by the Institute of Leadership & Management and Ashridge Business School – Great expectations: managing Generation Y. According to that 2011 study, graduates want a boss who is more of a coach and a friend than a manager in the traditional sense.

Top three priorities in the workplace for graduates

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Challenging/ interesting work

32%

A high salary

24%

Advancement

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Power in numbers Age diversity adds up for accountancy firm BDO By Andy Butterworth

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tereotypes have a habit of sticking. Ask people to describe an accountant, and most would refer back to the image of the Monty Python ‘bean counter’.

But the accountancy world is changing, and so is its workforce.

Today, accountants need to be much more than number crunchers. The businesses we advise want to work with engaging and empowering people of all ages, and from all walks of life.

Automation, globalisation, regulation and technology are shaping our future. But it is the diverse and intelligent people behind these forces that really drive value. Any firm that underestimates the power of its people will fail to succeed in the future.

BDO is a big business. We employ 3,500 people across the UK and 68,000 internationally. Our UK revenues exceeded £400m for the first time last year, with profits increasing 22%. We credit that success to our investment in talent and technology.

At the end of last year, 980 people were promoted internally. That’s almost a third of our workforce. But accountancy is a profession where demand for great people outstrips supply.

Providing clear development opportunities, and doing so in an environment that rewards innovation and collaboration, is crucial in helping people to reach their potential.

Every stage matters Many people have a lifelong career in accountancy; others don’t. Some start early, others late, and many have career breaks. But regardless of when or where people start their career, we’re unwavering in our belief that people need

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YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE YOU SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY

backing throughout the whole of their journey.

Supporting working parents is one priority.

“On becoming a parent, life priorities often change,” says Anna Draper, a partner at BDO and keen champion of the firm’s inclusion and diversity network.

“We want to be known as a family-friendly firm, so supporting people through the transition is very important to us. As well as ensuring that we have a competitive financial package, it is crucial that we have a flexible and supportive return-towork approach.

“One thing I would stress is that people should never underestimate the importance of confidence. Companies must provide a working environment that enables everyone to retain or develop their confidence, particularly as they return to work.”

The firm now has parental leave coordinators to support returning parents, and a web-based

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Case study BDO

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THE APPRENTICE’S PERSPECTIVE Mia Fisher Mia Fisher joined BDO’s school leaver programme in 2013 and has never looked back. “My plan was to go to university, but when my parents talked to me about an apprentice-style route, I knew it was the right option for me,” she says.

“It is a steep learning curve going from fulltime education straight into the workplace, but I am progressing all the time and I get to learn from industry experts on a day-to-day basis. The support you get from your mentors, colleagues and all the other trainees is amazing.”

portal that serves as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for all guidance and support, as well as independent external coaching and an internal ‘buddy system’ to help people at every step of the way.

Millennials ABOUT BDO Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP operates across the UK, employing 3,500 people in its tax, audit and advisory teams.

Internationally, the BDO global network spans 158 countries, with 68,000 people working out of 1,400 offices worldwide.

The firm has a multigenerational workforce and is committed to playing its part in ensuring that all people, regardless of background, can have a successful career in accountancy.

The age of its workforce ranges from 18 to 70 years old, and it will have more than 1,100 people on its trainee programmes this year.

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Much attention is given to the leaders of the future – the millennials. There is a reason why Simon Sinek’s recent video about understanding millennials in the workplace was viewed more than 50 million times within the space of just a few weeks.

They are big business.

By the end of this year, we will have more than 1,100 trainees in our organisation - the majority of whom are ‘millennials’. We offer four trainee programmes for people wanting to start their career in accountancy: graduate, school leavers, summer intern and summer school. This year, an additional 350 students will be recruited onto one of these programmes.

I believe that no matter how long you’ve worked in the industry, or how well you think you understand a client’s needs, young people have the ability to make you see things differently. Genuine business advisers need to have a digital mind-set and think innovatively, which is where students can really stand out. Millennials are in the driving seat because they will future-proof our business.

The long-termers But it’s not all about the young. The age range of our workforce is larger than ever – spanning more than 55 years.

Jeffrey Webber (70) is a director at BDO, providing tax support to professionals, such as other accountants, lawyers and financial advisers.

When he started in the profession more than

40 years ago, there were no laptops, internet connections or mobile phones. Furthermore, audit files and tax returns were all handwritten.

Adjusting to the change has been part of working life, he says. “For every year that has gone by, new technologies, ways of working and innovations have changed the way we operate – but that is what keeps things interesting. When younger generations come into the profession, it’s not all about experienced people supporting them – they can also support and educate you. Their energy inspires me, yet I know I help guide them, too.”

A change of career We also have many people in our business that came into the industry at a later stage. Nick Poulter is one example. Having previously worked in publishing and online media, as well as owning a café, Poulter decided he wanted to be on the ‘other side’ and advise like-minded people on how to run their business.

“At the age of 30, I decided it was time for a change. Most firms I approached about their training programmes dismissed me straight away because I wasn’t a school leaver or a graduate, he says. “In reality, I was both of those things, but many firms just saw my age. BDO (formerly PKF before the two merged in 2013) was the only firm that acknowledged the value of my experience and understanding of business.”

Audit trainee David Cheaveau also moved into accountancy after spending five years at the Metropolitan Police. “I have a great story to tell, and that intrigues the clients I work with,” he says.

“It’s incredible how skills can be so transferable from one job to another, and I am grateful that BDO could see the potential in me.”

Andy Butterworth is chief operating officer at BDO LLP

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Winning formula Middlesbrough-based chemical contractor Chemoxy is skilled at tapping the talents of its multi-generational workforce By Paula Tinkler

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hemoxy is the largest independent chemical contractor in the UK, and our success depends on our talented, multi-generational workforce. To build our highly skilled team, we have consistently hired the very best candidates for the roles that we offer, regardless of age. This is something that has served us very well as we have grown.

As of March 2017, Chemoxy had 145 employees, ranging in age from 17 to 70 years old. The company is always on the lookout for fresh talent, but ‘fresh’ is not necessarily the same as ‘young’. In the last five years, 23% of our new hires were aged 50 or older – a statistic that highlights our balanced approach to staff recruitment.

At Chemoxy, we do not try to move our staff on once they reach a certain age. Instead, we are firmly committed to maintaining a multi-generational workforce that has a successful blend of talent, enthusiasm and experience. As Julie Bennet, our HR manager, puts it: “We look for the best person for the job, with the right skills and competencies. Age never comes into it.”

While Chemoxy will always aim to hire the best candidate for a role, regardless of age, it is also very aware of the huge benefits that a multi-generational workforce offers. One of the major advantages of having a mixed-aged staff is the diverse range of skills and talents that the different age groups bring to the table. For example, while younger employees are more likely to be familiar with social media, older employees will be more comfortable communicating in

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person. This means Chemoxy can cater to a wide customer demographic.

Knowledge transfer

Right Chemoxy’s senior development chemist, Gavin Stephenson (left), and development chemist, Sean Champion

Another benefit is the experience exchange that takes place across the generations of staff. When we employ an older worker, we can immediately tap into the breadth of knowledge that they have gained during the course of their career. This presents a great opportunity for the generation of workers who are just beginning their careers, such as graduates and apprentices, to learn from someone else’s accumulated experience and skills.

Being able to work with a knowledgeable colleague plays a major part in their development. We particularly see this in the maintenance team, where the age range spans 53 years.

Chemoxy tries to maximise the benefits of intergenerational knowledge exchange. We have established peer mentoring, tutoring and work shadowing programmes to allow younger staff members to learn directly from their elders. Our experienced employees also produce comprehensive job notes and manuals that their colleagues can refer to for guidance. Not only does this approach provide younger workers with ready-made role models, it helps to bridge the age gap socially, ensuring that everyone gets along and the different generations happily co-exist.

The more mature members of Chemoxy’s staff are also able to introduce their less-experienced colleagues to useful industry contacts. Meeting influential people within their area of expertise, and having access to a wide network of peers, can

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Case Study Chemoxy

both be very beneficial for younger employees, giving them a head start that they would not have had otherwise.

Of course, this set-up is not just a one-way street – younger employees also have a lot to share with the older generations. Using new technology is almost second nature to them, so they have skills that older staff may not possess. The existence of a multi-generational workforce allows younger, tech-savvy staff members to support everyone else in adapting to new technologies. This is their way of returning the expertise and training they will have benefited from themselves.

Loyalty programme Another advantage of Chemoxy’s multi-generational workforce is the continuity and stability that it provides. Experienced employees help to mould new, young staff members into workers who are ideally suited to their job roles. So Chemoxy ends up with people who are both highly specialised and loyal to the business, which supports our growth and expansion into new markets.

Proof of the fantastic level of staff retention that we have is the average length of service, which stands at 15 years. Many of our staff members work for us for numerous years, often starting from a young age.

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ABOUT CHEMOXY Chemoxy International is one of Europe’s largest independent chemical contract manufacturers.

It specialises in the custom processing and manufacturing of a variety of environmentally friendly solvents for paints and cleaning products.

Based over two sites in Middlesbrough and Billingham, Chemoxy employs over 140 skilled workers in a wide variety of roles.

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Besides having a balanced recruitment policy, Chemoxy also goes to great lengths to ensure that all of our staff members receive the same treatment. For example, we assess each request for flexible working hours on a case-by-case basis, ensuring that the needs of both the individual and the company are judged on their own merit.

Furthermore, Chemoxy offers the same health options for all employees, regardless of age, since the company recognises the benefits of having a healthy workforce. This fair treatment of all staff keeps everyone happy and prevents issues relating to ageism from emerging.

Over the past few years, Chemoxy has experienced unprecedented success in both domestic and international markets thanks to our multi-generational workforce. We are confident that the workforce model we have created will continue to produce results well into the future.

Paula Tinkler is commercial director at Chemoxy

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Vision

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SETTING THE LEADERSHIP AGENDA 44 The curse of status Why top project managers can perform worse than their lower-ranking colleagues

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o stand at the helm of a fast-growing business – one that is making the move from small start-up to global player – requires great perception. In this situation, a leader must be able to identify the core assets that make the business what it is, and the values that form its core.

In my case, leading a company in the services sector, I quickly realised that our core asset is our people and I have tried to lead accordingly. I focused on creating team cohesion and boosting employee wellbeing, since I found that if team members feel well looked after, they take care of our clients better than I ever could.

We also see expansion as a way to offer constant development opportunities for all our team. As a result, staff retention is high at all levels of the business.

Safeguarding the core assets of your business, and becoming the custodian of the brand DNA, becomes not only more important, but also far more challenging as a business expands.

Nevertheless, fear of altering the unique recipe that made the business a success in the first place must not stop leadership from embracing the fresh perspectives of new team members.

Each stage of a business’s growth journey will require a different kind of leadership. The key is to understand the relationship between top-down and bottom-up

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48 Conscious leadership How to navigate the rapidly changing business environment

50 Corporate maturity A powerful methodology for driving business leadership

From start-up to big hitter Rapid-growth businesses must safeguard their core assets By

Susir Kumar

initiatives. ‘Top down’ is often regarded as an ugly phrase, yet the role of the leadership is to embody company culture from the top, leading constantly from the front on the value and brand. In doing so, it provides clear guidelines and a remit within which bottom-up initiatives can take place.

A significant identity shift takes place as a business swells from 25 to 250 people, and then from 5,000 to 50,000. Rapid growth also sweeps the business into the world of M&A – Intelenet has changed ownership four times in the past 13 years. But the constancy of our brand and the stability of our senior

DIVIDE YOUR GROWTH JOURNEY INTO DIFFERENT STAGES leadership team has allowed us to forge a successful path through these changes.

My experience of leading an organisation through a period of rapid expansion has taught me the importance of right-sized ambition. It can be easy to rest on your laurels after periods of intense growth. It can also be easy to get carried away and create unrealistic expectations about how simple it will be to sustain growth. Even if growth is happening very fast, divide your journey into different stages, and ensure that you remain perceptive to the individual requirements of each one.

Susir Kumar is founder and executive chairman of Intelenet Global Services

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Vision

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High-Status Leaders

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The trouble with track records Why project managers with a high status can perform worse than their lower-ranking colleagues By Balazs Szatmari

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Vision

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P

roject management plays a critical role in almost every organisation. If a project fails to meet its targets or deadlines, or exceeds its budget, the effect can be devastating.

So the project manager’s performance is key.

Steering a project towards success requires the leader to ensure that team members do their work effectively. It also demands that the leader has a clear vision, clarity in reason, practical scheduling and the ability to attract a talented and efficient team.

There is stress associated with motivating the project team to make sure things get done.

Fortunately, good leadership can be cultivated and modified in line with the organisation’s culture to generate the best results.

Playing the game My colleagues and I studied the video games industry to find out how the status of a project leader could influence the quality of their project. The industry was a good subject since it requires demanding project management skills.

We set out to discover whether having a high status as a project leader makes a project better, and whether this kind of leader can garner the necessary support.

American video game producer and designer George Broussard is an interesting example. He co-founded the video game publisher 3D Realms, and he also led the development of the highly successful video game, Duke Nukem 3D. After the game was released, critics went wild with praise, and the title sold about 3.5 million copies, making 3D Realms extremely wealthy.

In 1997, Broussard announced a sequel to the game, called Duke Nukem Forever. But after 12 years of development and spending an estimated budget of at least $20 million, 3D Realms ended up having to sell the rights and intellectual property associated with the game to another development company.

So, here we have a very talented game developer, a highly successful company that had already proved itself in the past, and a title that everyone loved – critics and gamers alike.

Yet mixing these ingredients resulted in the biggest failure in the industry. How could this happen?

Everyone who has some experience of teaching might agree that asking a question in the right way can sometimes help in finding the answer.

Our research project set out to explain similar cases by asking not how could this happen, but posing that question from an altercentric perspective: how could everyone let this happen?

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WE FOUND THAT PROJECTS LED BY TOP MANAGERS WERE MORE LIKELY TO FAIL

Failing to perform Since project management was a pivotal issue in this saga, it led us to examine how a high-status project leader might influence the quality of projects. We were interested to discover whether high project leader status, which is considered very beneficial for project performance by both researchers and practitioners, leads to a higher variance in project performance, and therefore more failures.

You would have thought that a senior manager with an impressive track record and connections should consistently perform better than middle managers. To a point that is true, but we found that projects led by top managers were more likely to fail than those of managers further down the hierarchy. And it is important to bear in mind that even one failure can be fatal for any organisation.

Earlier studies revealed that projects led by people with high status are judged more kindly and less severely by their peers. We suspected their projects could go one of two ways: they might either fly sky-high because everyone enthusiastically jumps aboard or they might fail relatively more often, because people are less critical of these projects and turn a blind eye to their flaws.

What we actually found is that a combination of fear and unconditional support can lead to highstatus managers delivering less successful projects than lower-ranking managers. This is because teams are less willing to critique the ideas and management approach of high-status managers.

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High-Status Leaders

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MIDDLE LEADERS COME UP TRUMPS The video games industry is inherently innovative – up-front investment is high and outcomes are uncertain. We polled 349 projects from a large online database that documents the development of video games since 1972, and for which a single project leader – or ‘producer’ in video game terms – could be identified.

The quality of the video game projects was gauged by combining the scores from critics with customer reviews, taking into account the size of the project’s budget and how innovative it was. We looked to determine if the project’s quality surpassed expectations, according to the available budget. We also looked to see if the game had succeeded

despite resistance from within the development firm, or within the market. We studied the status of the project leaders, comparing their importance in past projects.

Our analysis revealed that project leaders with a higher status contribute to better-quality projects, but only up to a point.

Projects delivered by leaders with very high organisational status are generally the same quality as projects run by low-status producers. It’s just that the variation in project quality is much bigger. The results revealed that leaders with a middle-ranking status typically deliver projects that attain the highest quality.

Our study demonstrated that having a high status can result

As a result, they are permitted to proceed with their project, even if the approach may be flawed.

On the other hand, middle managers receive the critical feedback that allows them to produce better results than their high-status counterparts.

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Choose your project leader wisely Companies should bear status in mind when deciding who should lead projects. Just as subordinates are careful not to beat the boss at golf, middle managers are less likely to call their superior’s judgement into question on projects they are leading. Yet one of the most important aspects of any project is that critical analysis is allowed to take place. If important projects are only entrusted to managers with high-status, critical analysis is less likely to happen and more projects are likely to fail. In addition, when managers are evaluating projects early on, they should make sure that they like the project itself, and not just the individual who is leading it.

Previous research had shown evidence of a positive relationship between status and performance. Where an individual has high status, he or she usually has a more central network position. A central network position, in turn, has been associated with stronger influence and higher product development performance. Thus, a project leader’s status, as indicated by his or her central network position, should have a positive influence on project performance. This is because having a higher status provides a project leader with access

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STATUS CAN ALSO GENERATE IRRATIONAL SUPPORT

in irrational resistance being overcome and it can also speed up innovations. Also, new ideas have to be sold to top management, and support for them has to be drummed up throughout the whole organisation. It is the job of project managers to sell ideas and get people on board with them; here the research found that status could help them to turn ideas into implementation.

Nevertheless, high status may also lead others to support projects that will fail. Then, if this is not recognised, organisations can end up allowing a senior manager to frame their failures as successes, further compounding the manager’s high status to the detriment of the organisation.

to high-quality resources. Moreover, since highstatus individuals are more powerful than others, there is less need for them to compromise with other members of the organisation, with the risk that the market fit of a new product or service could be adversely affected.

A very high status can also have negative consequences. It has been argued that gaining status is an end in itself. Hence, high status might lead to complacency (i.e. lack of motivation to perform even better). Furthermore, due to their network position, high-status project leaders are often sought out for help and advice, because they are very visible, and perceived to be extremely competent. This is likely to lead to distraction and information overload, which can negatively impact on performance. Therefore, we believe that very high status may decrease the performance of project leaders.

Since high-status individuals usually want to protect their position within the organisation, they might do what they can to overcome any organisational resistance. So status may not just suppress irrational resistance, it may also generate irrational support. We argue that high-status project leaders, due to their network position and image, are inclined to deliver projects that deviate from expected performance not only in a positive, but also in a negative, direction.

Balazs Szatmari carried out a PhD study on how the status of a leader could influence the quality of a project, with Dirk Deichmann and Jan van den Ende at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

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Vision

Wake up to the world Conscious leadership is crucial to navigating a complex and rapidly changing business environment By

W

Gina Hayden

e are sailing into unchartered waters thanks to megatrends such as climate change, demographic shifts, the rise of populism and the digital revolution. And the skills we need to lead in these fast-moving and fluctuating circumstances are different from what we needed before.

Gone are the days when the leader ‘knew’ the answer and could lead his or her management team steadily into a bright and certain future. Today, the future really is anyone’s guess. So, what, then, does it mean to be a great leader in times like these?

Leadership for today’s world Among the confusion, a new form of leadership is emerging. It is leadership that aims to find a new way through our infinitely complex and intricately interconnected world. The need for this kind of leadership is clear from the rising importance of sustainability, popular demands for companies to be more socially responsible, and the expectations of customers that the

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companies they do business with are transparent, act with integrity and have a clear set of values.

Today it is just as important how we make a profit as it is that we make a profit. Employee surveys show that people want to bring their whole selves to work and be able to express their values in their roles. They look to find meaning in their work through connecting to a higher purpose, rather than being a wage slave. This trend is particularly noticeable among millennials – those born between 1980 and 2000.

Leaders who are well equipped to deal with our modern challenges can be thought of as conscious leaders. In other words, they bring a certain level of consciousness and quality to the way they live that suits our dynamic environment. According to Singularity University, the Silicon Valley think tank, it is critical that leaders have four different personas. They need to be futurists, humanitarians, innovators and technologists. This is a tall and challenging order, and a far cry from the bygone era when leaders were heroes.

If we focus more closely on these personas, we can discern four zones where new-breed leaders can develop themselves to excel.

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Conscious Leadership

Self-mastery In self-mastery, conscious leaders are on a journey of ongoing self-development where they move ever further away from reactions that are based on control, fear, survival and power over others. This equates to strong self-management.

Rather than becoming attached to personal viewpoints and being hooked into right/wrong thinking, conscious leaders develop the ability to see things from multiple points of view and can integrate a diversity of perspectives into their own.

This has obvious advantages in a complex world where, in many situations, no one person has the right answer. Equally, conscious leaders are in touch with their own sense of purpose and with the stand they want to take. They are well acquainted with their values, and they manage themselves in such a way that these aspects of themselves – their purpose and their values – are integrated and consistent. The outcome is a high level of authenticity, with others placing increased trust in them.

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business or organisational life as a vehicle for transformation.

Thus, the chief executive of a chemical company may want to revolutionise the chemical industry through her company’s performance and innovative partnerships. Or the chief executive of a manufacturing multinational may look to increase the performance and significance of each one of his employees so that they can have an uplifting effect on their communities.

Time to upgrade Old-style leadership won’t cut it in this brave new world. We need a leadership upgrade where people feel they can fulfil their personal purpose while having a positive impact on the world.

Unless we upgrade ourselves as leaders, we risk unconsciously leading our organisations into extinction.

Gina Hayden is a co-founder and director of the Global Centre for Conscious Leadership. She is also author of ‘Becoming A Conscious Leader: How To Lead Successfully In A World That’s Waking Up’

Conscious relating The second zone deals with how conscious leaders manage their relationships. It is where they draw on the collective advantages of ‘We-Q’ – collaborative intelligence – rather than ‘I-Q’. While being mindful, present and even-keeled in their interactions, conscious leaders also look to create opportunities for collaboration across previously perceived boundary lines. This is not just about playing nicely; it’s a distinct innovation advantage. Multinational consumer goods giant P&G forms partnerships with external inventors, joint ventures, research centres, start-ups, suppliers, and even competitors, to drive innovation that accounts for more than 50% of its new initiatives. Exercising We-Q in an interconnected world requires conscious leaders who are adept at looking across borders, spotting opportunities to join forces and harnessing energies to achieve something great.

Systems insight Conscious leaders have a highly developed awareness that life is one continuous interconnection, one indivisible whole. They realise that what happens within their organisation’s own four walls has an impact outside. In fact, it can possibly have an undesirable effect on the very things that sustain the organisation’s well-being. Conscious leaders consider the ripple effects of both their own actions and their organisation’s actions on the wider stakeholder universe – their community, customers, employees, shareholders and suppliers, as well as society and the planet more broadly. They look to create balance, benefit and wellbeing in the system by taking responsible action. Having the widest possible perspective gives them competitive advantage in a world that is always watching.

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Collective responsibility Conscious leaders don’t just have insight into the wider system; they also have a sense of collective responsibility towards it. This manifests itself as an inner calling to contribute positively to the areas they believe need attention and reformation, and they use

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ARE YOU A CONSCIOUS LEADER? 16 important questions to ask yourself Self-mastery 1 What is the game that you want to play?

2 What does being an authentic leader mean?

3 What are the other ‘right answers’?

4 What are the most courageous stands you need to take in your organisation?

Conscious relating 5 How are you amplifying connections, strengths and diversity in your organisation?

6 How are you leveraging collaboration and collective intelligence from your organisation?

7 What is the context or bigger purpose you are holding for your team?

8 With whom could you partner to bring this purpose to life?

Systems insight 9 Who benefits from your purpose?

10 Where would you choose to recast the boundary lines with your ‘competitors’?

Selfmastery

Systems insight

The conscious leader Conscious relating

Collective responsibility

11 What does win (you), win (them) and win (society/ planet) look like?

12 Who benefits when your organisation benefits?

Collective responsibility 13 How is what you are creating, through your organisation, adding to the net benefit for humanity?

14 How much growth is sufficient and what is enough?

15 How much responsibility are you taking for the effects of the end-to-end processes in your supply chain?

16 What does a healthy whole system look like for your organisation?

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Vision

Doing business like a grown-up Corporate maturity models are a powerful methodology for driving business leadership By David Jackman

C

orporate maturity is a new term for business, but it is also one that offers a great deal of potential to help companies and organisations think anew about how they develop and perform.

In daily life, maturity is a familiar concept. We frequently regard individuals (of any age) as being more or less mature. Importantly, that judgement will

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probably determine how we deal with that person and the value that we set by their opinion. We recognise that maturity is not age-dependent, but is more about an individual’s qualities than the years they have existed on the planet.

A picture of health?

In the same way, the maturity of an organisation is readily discernible, if sometimes only intuitively,

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Corporate Maturity Models

and our view of its maturity will influence the organisation’s reputation and value. It may also determine whether or not we do business with it.

The value of corporate maturity is that it is a summative evaluation that pulls together all that is really important in terms of corporate health and potential – the quality of an organisation’s judgements, its long-term vision and sustainability, its prudence and integrity, the quality of its people and their professionalism, its trustworthiness and its underpinning attitude towards risk and inventiveness, flexibility, resilience and creativity. I first used maturity models to evaluate firms when I was a financial services regulator. Having long seen the limitations of process-based rule making, I found maturity offered a new perspective to categorise firms in terms of their internal culture, governance, customer and community outcomes, and underlying corporate ethics.

It is remarkable how a rump of regulated firms still sees statutory regulation as an unnecessary imposition. These firms fail to appreciate the wider value and purpose of regulation, so they try to do as little as possible, treating compliance as something of a game. Usually such firms are eventually caught out, and then they may be fined or de-authorised.

Yet an even larger group of firms retreat to a similarly immature reaction of the ‘comfort blanket’ of over-the-top, institutionalised, industrial-scale compliance. Because they cannot seem to see the ‘wood for the trees’, every box must be ticked in an unthinking way – a highly expensive and ineffective solution, as the mega fines post-2008 eloquently demonstrate.

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Values-led businesses It is possible to take a more enlightened approach, however. Between 2009 and 2013, extensive analytical work was carried out on information relating to the FTSE 100 and the Euro Stoxx 50, as well as other publicly available information from a range of jurisdictions. It demonstrated that companies with good governance and a generally more mature approach (as measured by a complex index) consistently delivered an improved return on assets.

These firms were described in the original regulatory model of 2002 as values-led businesses, although much more is required to earn this descriptor than simple adherence to an ethical code. The category can be divided into two: those that see a marketing advantage in making a series of ethical-cultural-governance improvements, and those that develop sets of practices because that’s fundamentally the way they want to operate.

In other words, some firms attempt to create and project maturity for business benefits, while for others that commitment is more embedded and self-determined. The first type is dependent

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on a business case and might be successful in the short term, but this position can be vulnerable and fragile. When maturity comes from internal drivers and quality leadership, it not only appears more genuine, it is likely to be more robust when tested, and deliver better results in terms of company performance as well.

While it is used as an effective regulatory tool, corporate maturity should also be seen as a powerful methodology to drive business leadership. Corporate maturity gives an organisation a clear and sound direction because it is the basis of a set of qualities that are understood and valued by investors, customers and employees, as well as by potential employees, shareholders and suppliers.

It is also fundamental to any senior management or board understanding of how business culture develops and operates. Corporate maturity provides one of most useful levers of change that can be consciously determined and shaped into a series of practices that I term as ‘soft engineering’.

So much of business practice and education is based on quick fixes and simple solutions, yet we know that this is rarely realistic and often covers up a problem with sticking plaster. Focusing on what really matters long term is bound to be difficult, challenging and thought-provoking – and require some involvement and investment – but, ultimately, it is much more likely to be worthwhile.

CORPORATE MATURITY GIVES AN ORGANISATION A CLEAR AND SOUND DIRECTION

David Jackman is a visiting fellow of Cambridge University Judge Business School. He was previously head of education and ethics at the Financial Services Authority PARTICIPATE IN OUR RESEARCH PROJECT David Jackman is currently authoring a book entitled Corporate Maturity. It sets out the ways that organisations can develop their maturity through: • Having a deeper understanding of their place, purpose, values and ethics • Engineering ‘ethical space’ in which maturity can be allowed to flourish • Focusing governance on the quality of decision making and understanding unconditionality • Allowing outcome evaluation to drive the business • Understanding the completely fundamental interaction between businesses and the community and wider society This approach is being supported by a joint research project with the Institute

of Leadership & Management. The project will give SMEs an opportunity to discuss the elements of the concept in detail and carry out a self-assessment. They will also receive a toolkit to help with implementation and to develop appropriate measures for their business.

The research will be based on a members’ survey and a series of interactive regional workshops, which will be advertised shortly. Look out for details of these workshops so that you can get involved. We are also looking for a series of case studies of learning and good practice that can be disseminated by the Institute and form part of the textbook. Do contact us via this email address if you feel you can provide a suitable example for us to learn from: research@institutelm.com

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12/04/2017 19:20

Making it Happen

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MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE 53 Happiness or tears?

Fewer managers will result in frustrated employees

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or a few years now, many academics, as well as business leaders, consultants and management gurus, have supported the idea that the source of employee satisfaction can be found in management innovations. One of the ways to achieve this seems to be nothing short of obvious: let employees be their own managers!

Recently, Professor Gary Hamel of London Business School argued that ‘managers’ as a category will soon cease to be.

His view is that, in the near future, management tasks will be shared more equally among all employees. As a result, companies could make drastic cuts in middle management and employees would be happier. Or maybe not?

The problem is that, so far, no research has been able to prove that there is a real correlation between decentralised decision-making and workforce satisfaction. Putting in place a decentralised system would require a high level of personal investment from employees, who would have to adjust to new ways of working on a daily basis. Consequently, the move could actually reduce their satisfaction. Then, of course, the organisation has to consider the financial cost of this approach.

By promoting a horizontal structure rather than a vertical hierarchy, such management innovations would transform the nature of the interaction between staff on the same team. Managers often have the mission of defining the framework within which tasks should be performed, and play the role of facilitator when problems arise. Yet if employees who may have similar levels of responsibility practise self-management instead, there is a risk that some team members will feel isolated, and team cohesion may be harmed.

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54 Inappropriate behaviour What happens when office banter goes too far?

Happiness or tears?

A world without managers would be dystopia rather than utopia By

Nicolas Arnaud

‘LIBERATION’ REQUIRES EMPLOYEES TO BREAK THEIR ROUTINE

58 Wired for success Using neuroscience to boost business and personal performance

This goes against the notion of happiness at work.

The new manager-less organisation would be built on the premise that each person agrees to share information with others. It is widely recognised, however, that holding on to information and knowledge is an important source of in-company power. As a result, such a radical change in culture could strengthen the ‘political’ aspect of internal relations that leads to alliances and compromises being formed.

This, in turn, could have a direct negative impact on employee wellbeing and economic performance.

Freed from organisational constraints, employees are supposed to reach a new level of contentment within a horizontal structure. Yet this ‘liberation’ requires them to break their routine and invest in analysing company processes with the aim of boosting agility and reactivity.

The amount of time and effort needed for such an exercise should not be underestimated, especially when it involves employees who have never used this sort of approach before.

Their workload and responsibilities increase and they tend to feel that they are doing managers’ jobs, but without any rise in salary or status. How can this situation be motivating?

Giving employees more influence on the way an organisation is run affects how each person relates to his or her job. If the nature of the work evolves, then the nature of the firm’s commitments, such as pay, bonuses, career development and job security, also has to change. The big risk is that instead of creating happiness, this evolution actually creates frustration, then a withdrawal of commitment.

Nicolas Arnaud is holder of the chair in managerial innovations at Audencia Business School, France

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Making it Happen

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Walk the line How can managers stop banter from morphing into inappropriate workplace behaviour?

By

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Tracy Powley

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Inappropriate Behaviour

S

arah is a middle manager in a manufacturing company. One day she fell prey to every woman’s nightmare – she came out of the ladies’ toilets with her skirt tucked into her knickers.

As she walked down the corridor, two male colleagues behind her noticed and joked to her about it.

Embarrassed, she hurried away and assumed that would be the end of it. But since then, every time she sees one of them, they make the same joke.

This has been going on for three years.

By her own admission, Sarah “doesn’t need counselling”, but she’s fed up with her colleagues’ jesting. Her heart sinks when she sees them and she finds herself making excuses not to work with them.

In another organisation, the HR department included two male managers named Chris. One carried a bit of extra weight. He was known as ‘Big Chris’. The other was slight of frame and not very tall. His colleagues called him ‘Little Chris’. Neither liked the names that their peers used to differentiate them. They were a constant reminder of their physical appearance, which both felt very self-conscious about. But neither could quite find a way to ask people to stop, for fear of seeming unnecessarily ‘touchy’.

A bit of banter?

Such incidents go on in workplaces up and down the country, and are often dismissed as ‘just a bit of banter’. Yet the reality is that they erode workers’ confidence and chip away at their self-esteem.

Basically, they grind people down.

Organisations are constantly being reminded that they need to foster collaboration and the pooling of skills and ideas if they want to maximise creativity and get better outcomes. But if team members feel uncomfortable with colleagues, are guarded and closed in their interactions, or, worse, have stopped talking to each other altogether, that collaboration, cooperation and innovation will be suppressed.

Last year we conducted a survey that examined the effects of workplace banter. One in four respondents admitted that banter affects their communication with others, while one in five said it demotivates them. Significantly, one in five respondents also said that they think up to two hours a day is wasted on ‘banter’.

Most organisations would be deeply concerned if they thought that two hours of productivity was being lost every day or that 20% of their team was feeling demotivated. In fact, we suspect the true figures may well be higher, since many organisations simply don’t want to look at, or admit to, these behavioural difficulties. But the truth is that

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MOST UNCOMFORTABLE BANTER

70%

66%

Point-scoring or one-upmanship

Jokes being offensive

62%

60%

Being the butt of an ongoing joke

An unwanted nickname

incidents of inappropriate behaviour are damaging workplaces and they are damaging individuals.

So, when does a ‘bit of harmless banter’ become something less acceptable? When does a joke ‘cross the line’? Navigating these ‘grey’ areas in terms of what is acceptable at work is a real challenge for organisations and their managers. It isn’t bullying.

Often no complaint is made. But one person’s hilarious joke is another’s offensive remark.

Enter the killjoy It is no surprise that managers often do not know when to step in to a situation that is causing discomfort to a team member. And even when they have a sense that things are going too far, they don’t want to be seen as a killjoy.

Of course, banter can play a very positive role in creating a sense of camaraderie in teams, and we all need to be able to enjoy working with our colleagues and have fun at work. Nevertheless, there is a line that should not be crossed. Managers often get drawn into exacerbating the situation, however, in the belief that ‘ribbing’ someone else in the team can help to motivate everyone. If people laugh (including the person being ribbed) it must be having a positive effect, right?

Wrong. The trouble is, if managers leave these behaviours unchecked, uncomfortable situations can escalate. We worked with one organisation where the banter, and particularly the levels of swearing, had ramped up. Then, one day, an employee stood up and called a colleague one of the most offensive terms you can use – in front of the rest of his team. He was dismissed for gross misconduct, but it brought the department up short. The organisation realised that because managers had not stepped in earlier, the

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12/04/2017 19:20

Inappropriate Behaviour

high levels of swearing and ‘one-upmanship’ had become normalised – to the point where someone felt it was acceptable to swear directly at a colleague in such an offensive way.

When banter becomes bullying A more extreme case illustrates how uncomfortable situations can be a precursor to bullying and leave a lasting impact on the person who is the butt of the so-called ‘joke’. Last year, four men were put on trial, accused of religiously aggravated attacks on their work colleague. They are said to have mocked his Christian faith by tying him to a makeshift crucifix and daubing crosses over his face and body. The perpetrators’ defence was that it was “just banter”.

The ‘line’ can be hard to determine – it is often different in different working environments. Still, one thing our survey shows is that once banter starts to become personal and it is directed at an individual, it is likely to make them feel very uncomfortable. And if that joke starts to run and run – a phrase we use to describe this is “something passing into folklore” (as it did with Sarah) – it can have a hugely detrimental effect. That feeling of being singled out or picked on, even when there is no malicious intent, is very excluding.

In a world where inclusion and inclusive leadership are much debated and aspired to, managers and organisations seem worryingly unaware of the negative effects that banter can have. Neuroscience tells us that feeling excluded (social pain) activates the area of the brain associated with physical pain.

Think back to the sharp feeling of rejection associated with being the last person to be picked for a school sports team, for example. We feel exclusion acutely and it shuts us down.

Action plan So what should organisations, HR departments and managers do to manage inappropriate behaviours?

The first thing is to move beyond their policies.

Many will have dignity-at-work policies or codes of conduct. But because banter situations are not clear-cut, people need to discuss them so that they really appreciate what is acceptable, what isn’t, and what part they play in it all.

A very simple, but effective, action is for managers to discuss with their teams what they think constitutes ‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’ behaviour in their particular working environment.

This starts to raise awareness of how others might feel, and helps everyone to become more aware of the impact that their comments and humour can have on their colleagues. Using specific examples grounds the discussion in a day-to-day context, which helps people to be clearer about where that

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57

SAY ‘NO’ TO NICKNAMES

20% of people believe that up to two hours of their working day is wasted on workplace banter

25% of people say it affects their communication with others

10% say that banter crosses the line once a day

1in5 say it demotivates them

10% say that management never deals with banter

Think about the nicknames you have had or known others to have. Who chose them? Very rarely do we decide to call ourselves something else. Nicknames are usually given to us by other people who are ‘having a bit of a laugh’. They often stem from some joke or mishap at work, or are related to physical appearance.

And that’s the problem with nicknames. Once they stick, it is really hard to undo them. One participant in a workshop we ran for years had been called ‘Batteries’. Something to do with stayingpower or resilience, perhaps? (Think the Duracell Bunny). No, actually he wore a hearing aid, and when the batteries started to go his teammates would shout at him: “Hey, Batteries!” He hated it, but laughed along anyway because if he did otherwise, he would be seen as a spoilsport.

Of course, there are a number of people who genuinely love their nicknames and are very happy with the associated banter. The important thing is not to make an assumption about who is happy and who isn’t. Managers have a key role to play here. If they sense that a nickname is unwanted or inappropriate, they can check it out with the person concerned and lead the way by only using that individual’s real name. Others will soon get the message and follow suit.

elusive ‘line’ is. It is important to position these discussions positively. If people feel that they are being treated like naughty school children, managers will often get push back in the form of, “Can’t we even have a laugh now?” or, “This is political correctness gone mad!” Managers need to emphasise that it is absolutely OK, indeed important, to have a laugh – just not always at someone else’s expense.

Everyone should feel able to ‘bring their whole selves’ to work, but this won’t happen if people feel mocked for something they have said or done, or the way they look. Some simple discussions can help people to know where the boundaries are, and enable managers to feel more confident about stepping in to nip things in the bud. That’s the start of building a genuinely inclusive workplace.

As a final thought, we did a piece of work with three London wholesale markets where we helped them to consider how to create a more respectful working environment. When we went back to evaluate the results, one unexpected benefit emerged. Besides people feeling happier and more comfortable that the levels of swearing had abated, one team member commented: “We have a better quality of joke now!”

Tracy Powley is director of operations at Focal Point Training and Consultancy

13/04/2017 14:48

Making it Happen

58

Wired for success How can you apply neuroscience to increase your personal and business performance?

By Tibisay Vera

T

he human brain is the most powerful business tool in existence. Yet harnessing its full potential is a challenge.

Fortunately, new developments in brain scanner technology, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, are starting to provide us with deeper insight into how the brain works.

By practically applying concepts and techniques derived from neuroscience, leaders and managers can enhance their personal performance, as well as the performance of their organisation.

The results can be a competitive advantage and an improvement in wellbeing.

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Our brain is plastic Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at any age â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to change and to adapt by creating new neural pathways and connections. Our brains are continually shaped by our experiences and thoughts. In other words, what we think, how we behave and what we do all lead to physical changes in our brain structure.

This plasticity has colossal implications for managing human potential. Research confirms that we can retrain our brain to change old habits and create new ones, adapt behaviours (including leadership styles) and achieve high performance â&#x20AC;&#x201C; independently of past experiences.

For example, we can switch from acting

13/04/2017 14:48

Neuroscience

habitually to acting deliberately (goal-directed), and from acting deliberately to creating habits, in order to improve effectiveness and performance. Habits are characterised by unconscious and ‘automatic’ behaviour. We usually tend to associate them with bad behaviours and addictions, but they are actually the brain’s way of helping us to execute activities quickly and effectively.

Recent research has identified specific areas in the brain that are involved in forming habits and putting us on ‘autopilot’, such as the dorsolateral striatum (part of the brain that is involved in decision making) and the amygdala (part of the brain that is linked to pleasure and fear). By doing simple exercises at work and at home, we can activate these parts of our minds so that we proactively create habits that help us to achieve peak performance.

Time to focus Focus has been defined as the ability to think about one thing while filtering out distractions. From a brain perspective, the ability to focus seems to be driven by two main processes: 1 Deliberately paying attention to what matters from moment to moment; and 2 Suppressing background distractions.

Paying attention to what matters from moment to moment Leaders who know how to manoeuvre their brain’s reward system can apply strategies that enhance both their own and their team’s focus and attention. Dopamine, a key neurotransmitter that is associated with creativity, euphoria and motivation, controls our internal reward system.

When our dopamine levels are high, we experience a boost to our drive, focus and concentration.

Here are some exercises that we can use to trick our brain into releasing more dopamine: Set tiny short-term goals that can be achieved on a daily basis. Since our brain does not differentiate between achieving big, long-term or tiny, shortterm goals, the level of dopamine released tends to be similar in both cases.

Organise team activities that involve seeking and pursuing. Our ancestors had to hunt in order to survive, so our dopamine flow increases when we are engaged in pursuit.

The combination of continuous tiny achievements, unexpected achievements and pursuit is an effective way of increasing motivation and main-

058-059_EdgeSummer2017_GreyArea_v2.indd 59

taining focus. But, being constantly on the hunt for a dopamine boost can turn a person into a Wolf of Wall Street figure who is driven by greed, negative competition and addictions. So when leaders and managers design reward policies for their staff, they should be sure to balance the brain’s anticipatory/motivation (dopamine-driven) reward system with its consummatory/pleasure (opioiddriven) reward system. A new area of research is innovative reward policies that balance performance and wellbeing.

Research in neuroscience has demonstrated that dopamine neurons fire at the anticipation of a reward, but then reset.

Therefore a win or an achievement may not result in the pleasure we expect (even though it motivates us). The ‘pleasure’ phase of the reward is actually associated with the opioid and endorphin neurotransmitters. Hence organisations should include endorphin-boosting activities in their regular calendar, such as daily laughter, listening to music and group physical exercises.

Suppressing background distractions Scientists have recently confirmed that our brain relies on an active suppression mechanism to avoid being distracted by irrelevant information when focusing on a task. Yet engaging attention and goal-directed behaviour is where most organisations invest their resources, even though this is just the beginning of being focused and achieving high performance.

If organisations adopted tactics and strategies that helped us to activate our brain’s suppression mechanism, our focus and performance would automatically increase. Self-awareness has been identified as a key mechanism for helping us to activate this system.

We live in an age where distractions are embedded in our communication channels (emails, the internet, open-space offices), and in our emotions (anxiety, depression, negative thoughts, stress). Techniques such as mindfulness, yoga, brain-based profiling tools (preferred identity versus adapted behaviour), 360-degree feedback and coaching can be used to raise self-awareness and manage stress and anxiety.

The sublime balance By applying principles from neuroscience and developing strategies that take advantage of the way our brain has evolved to function, we can give ourselves an edge. Ultimately, it all comes down to finding the sublime balance between reducing our internal interferences and activating the circuits in our brain.

59

Five ways to unleash the full power of your mind

1

Proactively manage your ‘brain plasticity’ by challenging the way you think and act to create new neural pathways in your brain.

2

Master the ability to switch from acting habitually to acting deliberately, and from acting deliberately to creating habits.

3

Use quest activities or aim to achieve ‘tiny’ short-term daily goals in order to stimulate dopamine release.

4

Encourage activities that boost the opioid system, such as daily laughter, music and group physical exercises.

5

Use mindfulness, yoga, coaching and other techniques to raise self-awareness and manage stress.

Tibisay Vera is founder of Sparkling Performance, a neuroscience-based coaching consultancy

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12/04/2017 19:19

Beyond Borders

61

INTERNATIONAL INSIGHT AND BEST PRACTICE 61 A recipe for success Forging relationships over rice wine

O

ver the course of my career, I have come across many different business and leadership cultures. While navigating these cultures, I have made mistakes, but I have also achieved some great successes. I know from personal experience that understanding what is and isn’t appropriate can be tricky. Nevertheless, as leaders, the responsibility falls to us to learn and adapt when cultural norms vary widely from our own.

I certainly had to adapt when I transitioned from working for a large American bank to working for a Japanese pharmaceutical company. Neither the organisational culture nor the national culture could have been more different from what I was used to. Nevertheless, certain behaviours quickly became part of my normal mode of operation. These included remembering to use ‘-san’ at the end of someone’s surname when addressing them, receiving a business card with both hands and reviewing it carefully to show respect, allowing silence in meetings for reflection, and being mindful of the speed at which I was speaking.

While those behaviours mattered, my deeper aim was to develop a sound understanding of local customs and to build more effective relationships. So I asked the team’s most senior Japanese leader to arrange a group dinner with other senior leaders on the evening prior to my first official meeting. I had heard it was important to establish strong relationships before conducting business and I wanted to get off to a good start. After a traditional meal and hours of conversation, aided by plenty of sake (rice wine), we left the restaurant and passed a karaoke bar. Next thing I knew, I had joined several leaders in an impromptu

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62 The dark side of diligence Japan’s long working hours

When sake is a recipe for success It helps to practise your karaoke if you want to do business in Japan By

Adrienne Gibson

66 Classroom champions Leading change in Niger State

evening of singing that lasted until the wee hours. This proved valuable in encouraging those leaders to speak openly during the meeting the next day. It also helped me to build strong, long-lasting relationships.

The experience showed me that understanding local customs and norms is key when doing business with other cultures.

Yet understanding on its own is not enough.

You must also embrace those norms and adapt your own leadership style if you want to engage the locals and build rapport with them. When you show this level of respect, you are more likely to be well received.

Thanks to my Japanese counterparts, I have become a more adaptable and effective leader. Some of the most important lessons I learned from them include recognising the

THE BIGGEST LESSON THAT I HAVE LEARNED IS THIS: DON’T ASSUME – ASK! value of taking a longer-term view of business instead of short-term decisions based solely on profits, and that slowing down change programmes to ensure genuine, rather than surface-level support, delivers greater success. Also, as my karaoke experience testified, investing in individual relationships inside and outside of work boosts personal commitment.

Finally, the biggest lesson that I have learned is this: don’t assume – ask! Most people appreciate it if you show an interest in their culture, a desire to adapt and a willingness to respect their ways of working. Being curious and taking a genuine interest often results in far greater learning, and, ultimately, leadership success.

Adrienne Gibson runs Genesis Global Consulting, a leadership consulting and executive coaching company based in London

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Beyond Borders

13/04/2017 14:47

Japan

63

The dark side of diligence Scratch beneath the surface of Japan’s economic success story and you’ll find a tough work culture, where neither failure nor dissent is allowed Writing Tim Maughan

Illustration Luis Mendo

I

t’s Goidō train station, on a weekday morning. This is the time when columns of overcoat-clad office workers dutifully walk through the concourse of a station serving a satellite town before boarding trains which – with split-second punctuality – will deposit them in Osaka, a teeming mercantile city, and the heart of Japan’s second metropolis.

Many of these workers enjoy good salaries, and decent workplace conditions. Some, though, will face a full working day, topped up with hours of compulsory overtime. The

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Beyond Borders

64

individuals who depart Goidō on the 7.15am train may not see their satellite town again until 11pm.

In certain lines of work, danger and the risk of death are occupational hazards. A soldier knows the nature of the job before signing up; a deep sea diver goes into the sea, aware of the risk to life and limb. But the Japanese word ‘karoshi’ recognises workplace mortality in what is ostensibly safe, white-and-blue-collar work. Put bluntly, it translates as death by overwork.

In December 2015, Matsuri Takahashi, an employee of Dentsu, Japan’s largest advertising public relations company, jumped to her death from her Tokyo office. She had worked an astonishing 105 hours of overtime in October 2015.

Such was the controversy around her death that Dentsu’s president, Tadashi Ishii, resigned.

Clocking up the hours Unfortunately, Takahashi will probably not be the last Japanese who works herself to death. Florian Kohlbacher, director of the Economist Corporate Network, North Asia, says: “In an international comparison, working hours in Japan are among the longest. Generally speaking, people tend to be diligent and hardworking. They are assigned a task, and they make a real effort to do it. In Japan, you are evaluated by how much effort you put into

JAPAN: THE FACTS GDP

$4.383 trillion

Population

126 million Life expectancy at birth

84 years Median age

46.9 years Senior business management roles held by women

7%

Sources: The World Bank data.worldbank.org/country/Japan, Worldometers - www.worldometers. info/world-population/japan-population, Grant Thornton – Women in Business 2017

something. It is not necessarily about the outcome, it is more about the fact that you are working hard and trying, putting an effort into something.”

I spoke to a retired engineer in Furuichi, another one of Osaka’s satellite towns. He said: “The prosperity of Japan depends on the sacrifices of the workers. That is common sense. Japan lost the war [World War II], so after the defeat, we knew we had to work harder than anyone else.”

Referring to the Japanese asset price bubble in the 1980s, he added: “Before the bubble, staff would take a holiday with their manager. Today, this is not true. People are happy just to work for a prestigious company.”

The engineer also said that, in the past, an employee, in good faith, could share a joke about their job. Not now. It is what you are seen to do, not the actual performance of the job that matters.

As the engineer explained frankly: “It is a terrible system based on flattery, not performance.”

In Japan, there are 16 national, or public, holidays. Masashi Kurosawa, associate professor in organisational studies and corporate strategy at Kobe Gakuin University, explains that a worker can also expect to get ten days’ discretionary holiday per annum. But there is a grey area in that a week, with its seven days, is just that. Weekends are not, as they are in the UK, regarded as automatic holidays.

CASE STUDY

The story of the small businessman Kenjiro Imanishi lives in Kanmaki, a small town some 15 miles to the southeast of Osaka. In early spring 2017, he wound down his sports car sales company, which he had established in 2004. The vintage cars he sold, he says, are becoming less popular with buyers, and it is proving increasingly difficult to source the right cars. Imanishi worked from 10am to 6pm, six days a week.

His two staff, both fellow mechanics, worked the same hours. “This is normal or better than other jobs,” he explains.

In Japan, Saturdays and Sundays are not automatically considered as holidays. So Imanishi’s staff worked weekends. Wednesday was a holiday, as was the first Tuesday of the month.

The mechanics were also given an extra day’s holiday each month if they

062-065_EdgeSummer2017_Japan.indd 64

were participating in a car-racing event. Years ago, as a young mechanic, Imanishi worked some overtime hours.

Saying “no” has not traditionally been an option within Japanese culture, he reveals.

Speaking about the Japanese work culture in general, he says: “People do the same things as others, work overtime, and so they cannot say no.

It is different from loyalty; it is forced loyalty, because there is no choice.”

The irony, as Imanishi explains, is that many Japanese workers do not work to their full capacity, or they work inefficiently during normal hours.

If they did, there would be no need for overtime. “People work slowly, and waste time, so they need to work overtime.”

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Japan

65

CASE STUDY

The story of the proud office worker A 39-year-old Japanese man, who chose to remain anonymous, explains what his job entails: “I work at a bio venture company. One focus of Abenomics is extending the healthy lifespan in Japan and improving people’s overall wellbeing. I have worked for the company for five years and my job is to make sure that it runs properly.

“As a full-time employee, the official hours are nine to six, but I never go home at 6pm. The salary is yearly, so once a year a contract is drafted and signed. The contract contains details regarding overtime, but overtime is included in the yearly salary. If you show results, you can negotiate higher.

“This is different for part-time workers or contract workers. They all get paid by the hour. If you are a fulltime employee, it is not about the [set]

hours. It is expected that employees will work for longer than their officially stated hours.”

This office worker usually goes to work on Saturdays, but Sundays remain sacrosanct – a treasured day off.

Does the job tire him physically and mentally? He says: “I overcome my mental and physical exhaustion through willpower. I don’t think working is the cause of my health problems.

But yesterday morning I did throw up. I then went to work as normal.”

He adds: “Honour is definitely connected to the Japanese working culture. I cannot speak about the long working hours on behalf of all Japanese people, but for me, the working culture is a source of pride.”

Note: The author would like to thank Benjamin Perry for conducting this interview and providing a translation.

Illusion of happiness Japan has what is seen as a ‘high context culture’.

The UK is the opposite – low context. In a nutshell, this means that Japanese people – you could describe it as expediency – tend to smile and declare that things are all well, even if they are not.

Confrontation, under any circumstances, should be avoided.

When I go to the convenience store in Japan, known as the ‘conbini’, the staff shout “Irasshaimase” – “Can I help you?” as the door opens. A Westerner arriving here for the first time would be amazed by their energy and attentiveness. But with time, you understand that these staff members are just going through the motions – they must behave in this super-energetic way. On the outskirts of Osaka, such workers are only paid around £4 an hour.

Tellingly, Japan was ranked in lowly 53rd place on the World Happiness Report 2016.

Julie Kimura, an associate professor at Mukogawa Women’s University, in Hyogo, western Japan, explains how she knows a university where research students, working in science, actually sleep on futons in rooms next to the laboratory.

The idea being that the students – in order to

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IN JAPAN, YOU ARE EVALUATED

BY HOW MUCH EFFORT YOU PUT INTO SOMETHING

appear diligent – will stop their work only when their lecturer goes home. They will then sleep near their workplace. The next day, the students will wake up and walk the short distance to the laboratory.

It is this need to be seen to be doing the right thing – the idea of working hard – that sits at the core of the Japanese work culture. At the same time, there is a culture of silence. The more that I researched the Japanese work environment, the more unassailable was the wall of silence that confronted me.

Dentsu did not respond to my email asking what changes, if any, the company had implemented after Takahashi’s tragic death. A Japanese website, not connected to Dentsu, hosts what is referred to, sardonically, as the ‘Most Evil Corporations’ award, which publicises Japanese firms that mistreat their staff. I also contacted them, in a bid to find out more about the website and the companies it highlights – yet I did not get a response.

Japan clearly has a problem with its working culture, but it is not a problem that anyone wants to discuss.

Tim Maughan is a business journalist based in Osaka, Japan

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Beyond Borders

66

Classroom champions Good leadership is core to transforming the education system in Niger State within the Federal Republic of Nigeria By Dr Roni Ajao

N

igeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Niger State is home to around four million people, including nearly one million primary and secondary schoolage students. The largest state in the country by landmass, it has 3,347 schools â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 89% of which are located in rural areas. Unfortunately, these schools are part of an education system that has plunged into crisis.

But state governor Dr Abubakar Sani Bello is committed to transforming the system.

Over the past decade, a lack of investment in education has resulted in crumbling buildings, overstretched and demotivated teachers, and rising student drop-out rates. The average teacher-to-student ratio in Niger State is 1:53, but in some schools it is as high as 1:175. Low remuneration has led to many teachers running businesses on the side, which explains why the rate of absenteeism among teachers is high. Classrooms lack even the most basic facilities, such as chairs, desks, pencils, books, blackboards and chalk. Some schools also lack sanitation facilities, science labs and security. Unsurprisingly, education achievement levels remain disappointing, with Nigeria holding a low position in most international measures of socioeconomic status.

until 2019, is to improve the standards delivered by teachers, as well as the associated infrastructure and facilities available in primary and secondary schools. International management consultancy MRL Public Sector Consultants is advising the government on implementing this programme.

The programme has been divided into three phases. The first phase was a fact-finding mission to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges within Niger Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s education sector. We undertook a census of the whole state, exploring the standard of infrastructure in schools, as well as gathering baseline education statistics (BES), such as the total number of schools (primary and secondary), pupils, teachers, subjects being taught, and the academic and professional background of teachers and support staff. We also ran a change workshop with the University of Cambridge to train and develop the change leaders who would be expected to manage the change process. In total, 95 people working in education from across the state attended the workshop, including teachers, vice principals and representatives from the Education Directorate.

We wanted to learn their views on what they thought the problems were, how these problems could be addressed, and what they as individuals could do to champion and support the change.

Time for change

Focus on development

In 2015, the state government embarked on a major change programme called Transforming Education in Niger State (TENS). The overarching aim of the programme, which is scheduled to run

This year, the programme moves into its second phase, which focuses on training teachers, vice principals, head teachers, administrators, education quality control officers, education secretaries

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Nigeria

67

GOALS OF THE TENS PROGRAMME

1

To identify the current problems and challenges within the educational sector at both primary and secondary level in Niger State.

To develop and implement interventions and programme initiatives to address the problems and challenges within the sector.

To transform all Niger State primary and secondary schools in a sustainable way by improving the educational standards, refining learning outcomes and enhancing the standard of the learning environment.

To provide an education and pupil experience that will empower pupils by

2 3 Clockwise from left The TENS programme aims to tackle Niger Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s education crisis

4

MORE INFORMATION To find out more, or to support the TENS programme, visit www.tens-niger.com You can also follow us on Twitter @tensprogramme, on Facebook via TENS Programme, and on Instagram @tensprogramme Or contact roni.ajao@mrl.uk.com

enhancing teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; skills and improving learning access.

To develop mechanisms to review and put forward recommendations on the implementation of the curriculum to reflect the needs of pupils and the labour market.

To update and review teaching methods to ensure best practice and applicability with the National Curriculum for enhanced performance in national exams.

To identify and implement operational and process transformations within the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

5 6

7

and communicate with education officials and agencies across the state. We also want them to enhance their report writing and listening skills, and to have access to online resources that keep them up to date. Ultimately, we believe that by improving the individuals within the system, we will improve the system itself.

Besides training, the second phase will involve infrastructure investment. We are exploring opportunities with international donor agencies such as DFID, USAID and UNESCO, as well as private foundations and venture philanthropists. If we can create conducive learning environments, students are more likely to come to school and teachers are more likely to stay in school. We are also working with agencies on how we can increase the number of girls attending school and prevent them from dropping out early â&#x20AC;&#x201C; either to get married or for other cultural and religious reasons.

MRL Public Sector Consultants

Definition of success

and other individuals within the sector. One of the most important findings from our research was that training has been severely neglected. The BES survey revealed that two-thirds of 30,000 teachers in Niger State schools had not been on a training programme in the last five years.

So we are working with the Institute of Leadership & Management and ILM to develop training materials that will support senior teachers, vice principals, teachers and other support staff to help lead and support the change process while becoming more efficient as teachers. We want them to learn how they can maximise the limited resources they have, improve processes, work together more effectively as a management team

066-067_EdgeSummer2017_Nigeria.indd 67

The third phase of the project will be a review of the first two phases. We will evaluate the impact of what we did and draw up some lessons learned.

Then we will ask ourselves: have we achieved the changes we wanted, and can the changes be sustained? These lessons learned could then be used as best practice around the world.

We will measure success by the number of teachers, vice principals, head teachers, education secretaries and others in the sector who have been trained by the programme; how many more children are attending school; how many more girls are attending schools; progress in educational attainment; and school infrastructure improvements.

We hope that we will see some great outcomes in all these areas.

Dr Roni Ajao is executive director at MRL Public Sector Consultants

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12/04/2017 19:19

Future of Work

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STRATEGIES FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS 70 Tomorrow’s teams What leaders need to know about building the workplace of the future

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n just over ten years, we’ve seen a few hundred apps balloon to over seven million. So how can leaders and managers find the ones that will help them the most? A search of ‘best leadership apps’ reveals 7.4 million results to wade through. So the aim of this column is to give you the 2017 zoom into getting the best out of your mobile device.

First, think about the areas of your leadership ‘life’ in which apps could serve you better. My mnemonic is the five ‘O’s: 1 Organised (my tasks) 2 Open (communications and exchanges) 3 Optimised (my work) 4 On point (insight and intelligence) 5 Original (creativity)

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Organised Task/to-do apps exist in abundance. This is also a priority area since you, as a leader, need to be on top of your game so that you can be there for those you lead. Personally, if there were an Olympics of personal-level task/to-do apps, I’d award the medals as follows:

Bronze Todoist Silver Wunderlist Gold Google Keep

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Open In the 21st century, leadership means being the chief conversation officer – and getting away from the quagmire that is the email inbox. The ability to have short, direct conversations and chats makes Slack the winner for me. But if your security protocols don’t like it, and you’re a Microsoft Office 365 user, then Teams is the alternative. Both are thread-based exchanges, with direct messages and a clean flow of conversation that keeps people in touch and can negate unnecessary meetings. Also consider

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72 Management shift The journey from a ‘lifeless’ to a ‘limitless’ mindset

74 Age of overload The social implications of living in a fully connected world

The Five ‘O’s of leadership 3 apps

HipChat and, if your organisation uses it, Yammer. WhatsApp may be popular, but when groups are involved, its user experience is worse than email.

Your smartphone has the power to make you more effective in work – and in life By

Perry Timms

Optimised This is less about individual to-do lists and more about shared and collective responsibility for work, projects, updates and activities. Project management apps are, again, in abundance. My Olympic winners are:

Bronze Kanban Task List Silver Trello Gold Asana

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On point How you stay informed and how you manage intelligence are crucial leadership traits given the rapid pace of 21st-century work. So you need tools that can give you insight and help you to store, retrieve and curate that insight. There is Flipboard, which provides knowledge from social media and online news feeds, coupled with Evernote to curate and store those articles. TED Talks will keep you stimulated, while Blinkist and getAbstract will give you compressed literature to read on the go.

SlideShare and Medium will give you decks and blogs from thought leaders across the globe. Quora allows you to get the answers you need from others.

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Original Being creative is where inspiration and impact are found. Use Canva for graphics, Directr for video addresses, Piktochart for infographics, Haiku Deck for image-based presentations, and Penultimate, Paper, Sketch or Whiteboard for your drawing and mind-mapping skills.

Show up as an artist if you want to attract interest from others.

Perry Timms is founder and chief energy officer of PTHR – www.pthr.co.uk

13/04/2017 14:46

70

Future of Work

Tomorrow’s teams It’s the responsibility of today’s leaders to build the workforce of the future By Emma Cerrone

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reating the workforce of tomorrow requires leaders and managers to accept that the days of experience, titles and being in a job for life are now gone. Instead, they must keep reinventing themselves and they must keep learning. Only then can they effectively create the future job roles, as well as the products or services, which the digital economy will demand.

That’s why leaders and managers have to prepare their people for immense change ahead.

There is no place for once-a-year training courses, ticking outdated boxes on staff appraisals, or delegating responsibility to others. Those in charge of tomorrow’s workforce must lead through the middle, taking both an interest and a stake in every project and every area of performance. They must also empower their people with the mindset, skills and behaviour to make an impact on their own – and trust them to do so.

It is essential to be able to tap a diverse talent

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pool – both inside and outside of the business. No longer do – or should – ideas come just from the top. They should come from every level within the organisation, as well as externally from suppliers and, crucially, from customers.

In our fast-changing world, leaders must be prepared to upskill themselves with a growth mindset. They must also have the humility to learn new digital skills and to evolve their own behaviours and learning patterns. Also, they must adapt to different working patterns, and new customer journeys and touch points. They can’t leave this to others in the chain below them to do on their behalf. It is clear that no matter how traditional a company is, it will die unless it becomes a digital business.

Tomorrow’s teams must be packed full of diversity of age, background and thought. Only then will they be able face the stark challenges of artificial intelligence, automation and robots. If you fear change, then so will your people. If you embrace it, then you will take them with you, reinventing and securing your company’s profit and

13/04/2017 14:46

Workforce Management

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purpose. Automation gets a bad press, but leaders and managers should confront this challenge head-on. They must demonstrate how automating the small tasks – and freeing up time for tomorrow’s workforce to be more customer-facing, creative and influential – is beneficial to both the organisation and its employees.

Solving the problems your customers face You also need to ask yourself this big question about your workforce: does my team represent my customer base? Are we solving problems for people we have no understanding of, because we are not like them?

In many sectors, product teams still create customer solutions without any real tangible insight into, or ideas about, the lives of those they are designing for. Yet it is likely that if you looked for it, you would find that you already have that knowledge in your business. You have the people.

They just may not be in the right places – or roles – to make the right impact.

The people that you need know your business inside out. They understand how to solve the problems your customers face, they know what products or services your customers want and, importantly, they grasp the ways in which customers can and will interact with you through digital channels. That’s because, if you have the right diverse team in place, your employees will be just like your customers.

Of course, not all employees will understand that this influential change is possible unless they receive the right digital-skills coaching.

Once they do, you would be surprised at the business-changing ideas that flow. When they gain a mindset to make an impact directly – often an impact they never believed they were capable of having – new possibilities arise fast.

This could be driven by their new understanding of the importance of empathy and how it relates to teamwork, knowing how apps are created and used, or which digital marketing channels are most effective. Ultimately, they will realise that this digital shift is a positive, and not a drawback.

Your people drive your organisation’s metrics.

They allow it to capture vital data that identifies gaps, strengths and weaknesses. As a result, each of them drives revenues. But, at present, uncertainty is the only certainty. So your people must have the mindset, skills and behaviour to recognise that, adapt to it and not be scared by it. Only then can they fuel your organisation’s productivity and success as the workforce of tomorrow.

Emma Cerrone is co-founder and partner at Freeformers, a workforce tech company focused on creating the future workforce now

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CASE STUDY Working at lightning speed “As a 24-year-old finding his feet in the future workforce, I believe the difference between today’s workplaces and those inhabited by previous generations is that everybody now must be empowered to operate at lightning speed. This means a need for far more autonomy and trust than ever before, giving young people the chance to grow and develop each day – through advice, education and also through mistakes.

“My own managers provide the tools, knowledge and inspiration that I need, but they also encourage me to constantly try new things. My managers also respect the fact that, as a young person, I have knowledge to offer that is useful to the company. We apply the concept of reverse mentoring where I

learn from my leaders and managers, and they are happy and willing to learn from me.

“Today’s digital companies scale rapidly, so it won’t be long before I need to step up and take on more responsibility. I am preparing for a future role that may not exist right now. That’s why I am project managing one day, speaking at events the next, and involved in reverse mentoring a CEO while running Facebook ads, writing email copy or coaching teams for clients as diverse as banking, retail and technology.

The only way to successfully create the workforce of tomorrow is to start with your young people today. Ensure that you are as willing to listen to them as they are to learn from you.”

Anthony Adeloye is a coach at Freeformers

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Move with the times To succeed in the modern economy, leaders must create a team mindset that is limitless rather than lifeless By Professor Vlatka Hlupic

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indset is at the heart of success corporate hierarchy, and want to be treated as associates, rather for any organisation, regardless of than as subordinates. whether it belongs in the traditional or ‘gig’ economy. Organisations that Five levels of maturity get the basics of the employment relationship wrong will fail to thrive At each of the five levels of management maturity and in the modern economy. So while the organisational culture, there is a different driver for performance hiring arrangement at taxi-service and innovation. At Level 1, the dominant mindset is ‘lifeless’ and platform Uber looks different from a conventional employment the corresponding organisational culture is ‘apathetic’. This is contract, for example, the human factors remain the same. the lowest individual level, and most adults will be past this No organisation can produce an innovative climate if it has developmental stage. Very few organisations would have a crita ‘command and control’ structure with people who follow a ical mass of employees anchored at this level. It is characterised rulebook rather than seek out new opportuniby negativity, self-destruction, complete lack of ties. So, leaders need to be able to understand confidence and motivation, and fear. Nothing MINDSET IS AT the connection between the causes and the could get done, and no organisation could effects of culture. And they need to encourage survive in even the short-term with employees THE HEART OF performance and innovation that is allied and leaders operating from this level.

SUCCESS FOR ANY to the common good. Discipline is mainAt Level 2, the individual mindset is tained through a system of accountability, ‘reluctant’ and the organisational culture is ORGANISATION IN honest communication and adherence to the ‘stagnating’. When people move from Level 1 to ANY ECONOMY organisation’s positive values.

Level 2, they still have a lot of negative thought The concept of ‘levels’ of management and energetic patterns, but they are able to do maturity and sophistication of leadership some work. Nevertheless, they will usually do styles, organisational climate and performance – from the highly the minimum necessary to get a salary. They feel stressed, tend dysfunctional Level 1, to the unbounded and passionate Level 5 to blame others for problems, and are wary about trying new – is firmly backed by research described in my book The Manage- initiatives. Some organisations have groups operating at this ment Shift. At the highest levels of leadership and management, level, which means they will struggle to prosper beyond a shortwhich can be measured via questionnaires, innovative ways to medium-term time horizon. of operating are part of the culture. People are empowered At Level 3, the mindset is ‘controlled’ and the organisational to think of new services, technologies and ways of working culture is ‘orderly’. People develop traditional employee-boss within a collaborative environment. This approach particu- relationships. They accept and expect to be micro-managed. larly suits innovative distributed teams of freelance specialists, They do what they are told to do and they accept formal power since research shows that knowledge workers tend to ignore and hierarchy within the organisation. They are reluctant to

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13/04/2017 14:46

Mindset

Five levels of management maturity

Individual Limitless Organisational Unbounded

Individual Enthusiastic Organisational Collaborative

Individual Controlled Organisational Orderly

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try any new initiatives. There is a strict division between formal leaders and followers, with leaders tending to use an authoritarian, command-and-control leadership style. Levels 1, 2 and 3 correspond to traditional management – and these levels are predominant in the majority of organisations today.

A fundamental shift in performance, innovation and engagement happens when a critical mass of individuals moves from Level 3 to Level 4. The dominant mindset becomes ‘enthusiastic’ and the culture becomes ‘collaborative’. People become creative, engaged, empathetic, enthusiastic, happy, motivated and passionate about their work. They are focused on making a difference for customers and the world, and they develop a collective mindset based on teamwork. This is where the emergent leadership style occurs – power and authority are distributed, decisions are made on the basis of knowledge rather than formal hierarchical position, and natural leaders can emerge according to the situation, and the skills and knowledge required.

People are intrinsically motivated in the way that volunteers are, and they experiment with new ideas. Innovation is embedded in the organisational DNA, and work becomes fun.

This is the level where a paradigm shift (or ‘the management shift’) happens. Employees at Level 4 can occasionally reach Level 5, where mindset becomes ‘limitless’ and culture ‘unbounded’, with anything seeming possible. People reach an energetic level of collective consciousness at this level. They have a strong intuition, as well as the purpose and passion to make a difference.

They feel energised and connected to their deep inner wisdom, and they are able to achieve amazing outcomes.

Levels 4 and 5 represent the future of work. These are the levels where innovative teams should operate – leading to more innovation, better engagement and more value creation for businesses.

Professor Vlatka Hlupic is an international thought leader and the author of award-winning book ‘The Management Shift’, listed by Forbes as one of the top eight business books in 2014

IMPACT OF THE GIG ECONOMY

Individual Reluctant Organisational Stagnating

Individual Lifeless Organisational Apathetic

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We are moving towards a ‘gig economy’, which features distributed teams and new entrepreneurial ways of delivering services outside conventional contracts and organisational set-ups. Internet giants such as the transport brand Uber, and the holiday firm Airbnb, have an army of ‘gigging’ contractors, rather than conventional employees.

Freelance workers bring many benefits to those who contract their services, such as new skills that are not available internally, a fresh outlook and new ways of thinking. Their involvement can lead to a

step change in creativity and innovation, development of unique products and services, and competitive advantage.

All the evidence linking high levels of motivation and leadership ability with high performance is as relevant in the gig economy as it is elsewhere. Furthermore, the quality of leadership is crucial. Leadership can best be improved when an enterprise is understood as a community, based on relationships. It is not a set of resources, which may be the assumption in a corporation. Neither is it just a set of transactions.

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Future of Work

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Age of overload In this extract from her latest book, Fully Connected, Julia Hobsbawm explores what it really means to live in a networked world By Julia Hobsbawm

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13/04/2017 14:45

Fully Connected

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ir Tim Berners-Lee is the godfather of the current connected world, having invented the worldwide web. But the birth father of connectivity as we know it was Thomas Alva Edison, who, just 150 years ago, ushered in mass connection. He was the pioneering inventor of devices ranging from the phonograph to the electric lightbulb. Edison had studied the cable telegraph system extensively, and had written about it at length. He devised the original carbon transmitter, the basis for that most common form of connected technology we still know today – the telephone network – for the Bell Telephone Company.

The digital telephone made its appearance in the 1980s, but evolutionary echoes of Edison are with us in today’s network technology. There is surprisingly little change from the days when we used manual carbon-filled glass tubes and magnets and batteries in small batches, to now, when Elon Musk is using passive magnetic sources to create levitation for his subsonic Hyperloop transit system. There is one crucial difference between then and now, however: human behaviour. Where we were once users of networks – travellers on trains and boats and in cars, people picking up a telephone (cautiously initially; no one ever thought the telephone would catch on, and it was originally designed exclusively for business use) – now our lives are so embedded in, and on, networks that we behave as if we have actually become them.

Limitless possibilities Where does all of this connectedness lead us? The advances and benefits of networked technology in the advanced and developing worlds cannot be overstated. Of course, I love being connected. I take it for granted. Don’t we all? Skyped medical consultations. Webinars. Conference calls. Sharing and posting clips from YouTube, or uploading documents to cloud-based document-sharing apps such as Dropbox or Slack. Email, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, FaceTime, WhatsApp, Snapchat... The list is endless; so are the possibilities.

Life can be spent in a series of windows within windows, opening and widening onto yet more.

Connection comes before conversation, via iPad or laptop. The mobile phone is used less to speak into than to text on or to scroll through. If I want to know something, of course I turn first to Google or Wikipedia, BuzzFeed or the BBC. Getting our information and relaying it to others in this way has become second nature. Connection is movement, mobile. Nothing stands still, and nor do we.

Technology companies sell us limitless possibility.

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Finite somehow equates to failure. The blue, blue sky of online storage always beckons.

There may be convenience, the necessary thrill of innovation. There is also a radical reshaping of the way we live and work to factor in. Despite the manifest benefits of this connected age – the medical, mechanical, cultural and commercial advances – it also exacerbates, complicates, accelerates and infiltrates our lives, creating more problems alongside the many solutions.

Our lives today are full of cognitive dissonance, all based around some of the tensions that happen when you put human beings, with their natural limits, in a computerised social world that is literally programmed to be without limit and never switched off. Unlike computers, we do not have limitless storage, nor do we have unlimited time. We still only have 168 hours in the week, a number that has not changed fundamentally since the Sumerian calendar first began to express time in terms of cycles.

The 20% of my time per week that is spent ‘managing’ my inbox (including having to look at the ‘clutter’ folder, which still manages to swallow emails I need), feels like a necessary cost of modern living. Even if the mind feels – as the 19th-century Romantic poet John Keats described his “teeming brain” – too full of things to express and too time-poor to get them all out, before “I cease to be”.

HUMANS AND MACHINES ARE IN FULLY CONNECTED OVERDRIVE

Health risk Find me anyone working in an office, a school, a call centre, a warehouse, a parliamentary chamber, a public state frontline service, a non-governmental organisation or a university who does not struggle with overload, who does not admit that much of daily life is not working well or indeed properly.

Individuals and institutions share many of the same problems: we are already full to capacity.

Humans and machines are in fully connected overdrive – and starting to become entwined as never before. We are firmly entrenched in an ‘age of overload’. We can never have imagined that absorbing so much information while trying to maintain a healthy balance in our personal and professional lives could feel so complex, dissatisfying and unproductive.

Something is missing. That something is ‘social health’, a new blueprint for modern connectedness. In 1946, the World Health Organization defined ‘health’ as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. What we understood by ‘social’ in the middle of the last century now desperately needs an update.

Julia Hobsbawm OBE is an honorary visiting professor of ‘networking’ at Cass Business School

This edited extract of Fully Connected by Julia Hobsbawm is published with the kind permission of Bloomsbury.

Readers of Edge can get a 30% discount on the book by ordering it at www.bloomsbury.com and quoting CONNECTED at the checkout

13/04/2017 14:45

Promote your training and courses to over 10,000 leadership professionals in Edge Are you interested in promoting your courses to over 10,000 members and learning development professionals at preferential rates?

Our members are committed to inspiring great leadership and to improving their own, their team’s and their organisation’s performance through improving leadership and management skills.

Existing advertisers say: We have been advertising in ‘Edge’ for over two years now and have found it to be a very effective way of raising our corporate profile and reaching potential students.

Advertising options: For entry into 4 issues: £240 for text listing with contact details £285 for enhanced entry with list of quals £350 for logo alongside text listing £495 for quarter page advert

Find out more by contacting Niki Mullin, Business Development Manager on email: niki.mullin@lidpublishing.com mobile: +44 (0)7764 989599

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12/04/2017 19:19

Live & Learn

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MANAGING MENTAL, PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING AND DEVELOPMENT 78 Management Dilemma How can I hit my diversity targets?

79 Bring Your Dog to Work Day The pros and cons of canine colleagues

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f you have an ILM coaching qualification, the discipline of reflective and reflexive practice should be second nature: you step back from your work, think about it, and possibly do something differently as a result.

But how many coaches, once qualified, actually continue with this practice? As a coach supervisor, I often meet coaches who say that one of the reasons they don’t continue with reflective practice, continuing professional development (CPD) or supervision is that they “aren’t doing any proper coaching”.

At a recent NHS coaching conference, there was some discussion on “capital C coaching”. The conversation explored the difference between a formally contracted ‘Coaching Conversation’ and any kind of purposeful conversation between two people – ‘coaching’. Yet ask those who “aren’t doing any proper coaching” what they like about their one-to-one conversations, and a common theme emerges: they usually give examples of how their leadership in the one-to-one domain has improved since qualifying as a coach.

I have long held the view that coaching is a craft. For me, the word coaching points towards an ability to lead in the domain of the one-to-one conversation – to be able to intervene effectively so as to support the other person in whatever the conversation is designed to achieve. The style, rhythm and degree of

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80 Rock your presentation Learn to wow the audience 82 How to present a webinar Sharpen your online presenting skills

Remember to reflect Like any craftsperson, coaches must keep their tools sharp By

Jeff Matthews

83 Inspiration Directory Your go-to development resource 84 Book Club Edge reviews top leadership titles

formality will depend on the roles assumed and the contract agreed. ‘Coach and client’ is one style, but what about ‘mentor and protégé’, or ‘manager and team member’? All these relationships involve coaching skills, but applied differently.

Leaders and managers, as well as professional coaches, should be encouraged to reflect and review. They can then chart their mastery of new skills. Perhaps we need to coin a new term – coaching and leadership supervision – for a programme that combines reflection, supervision and skills development in one-to-one conversations? After all, coaching is a valuable skill – and skills need practice. Here are some final thoughts on how to sharpen your coaching skills: Change your mindset. See coaching as a way of approaching all one-to-one management conversations.

Set yourself a process goal for one-to-one sessions. Target a skill to develop or refresh in the next month.

Keep a learning log of key oneto-one exchanges, as well as formal coaching conversations.

Review the learning log with a supervisor.

Read one article per month for CPD (see www.institutelm.com).

Go to a coaching CPD event (see www.institutelm.com for details).

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Jeff Matthews has been a coach for over 25 years. He is currently working with the Institute of Leadership & Management on ways to meet the particular needs of its coaching members

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Live & Learn MANAGEMENT DILEMMA

Time, talent and tackling targets A problem shared is a problem halved, so what did our Fellows have to say about a diversity dilemma?

The dilemma “I work for a company that is very committed to diversity, particularly bringing women up through the talent pipeline. We now have diversity and inclusion targets in place for female promotions, with managers’ success in this area being measured.

“I want to ensure that these targets are met, but if staff promotion prospects are likely to be at least partly linked to years served, how do I allow for employees who may have taken a career break or switched to part-time hours in order to accommodate caring responsibilities?”

How our Fellows responded “I have often found that time served can be no more an indicator of future success than a theoretical understanding of leadership and management. When recruiting, I generally favour the demonstration of potential through a reflective understanding of strengths and development areas that a colleague has. If you are supporting talent management, then coaching is a great way to support development and reflective practice.”

Illustration by Janne Iivonen

Viv Buckland

“How about offering funded or subsidised CPD, learning and development, or masters degrees to identified talent pools, regardless of gender, race etc? Those who take career breaks or time out to raise children should be invited back for ‘keeping

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in touch’ days or weeks while they are away. If they are seen to be adding value, and have developed new skills while out of the workplace, they will be able to maintain parity. For all staff, put in place learning and development plans that draw on the activities they do in life, not just in an office.”

Christopher Allen

I am fully supportive of diversity. It’s the concept of putting a target on diversity that concerns me. If we believe that our business processes favour some groups of people inappropriately, then sort out those issues. Otherwise targets may try to force round pegs into square holes. In the past, I was forced to promote the wrong candidates to meet an ‘in-house’ target. The result was that we lost the people who should have been promoted and we were left with managers who were not the best fit for the job. In business we should choose the right person with the right skills.”

Andy Sleet

“Enforce fairness from top to bottom.

Take the time element out of the promotion appraisal process and focus on measuring performance against a relevant set of core competencies. This means you put the right person in the right job.”

Tony Kerley

“Promote talent not time. Recognise the gifts not the gender. Result? No dilemma.”

Raymond McGovern

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79

Live & Learn WELLBEING

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Office pawlitics

ankind has been working with dogs for possibly as long as 34,000 years, ever since people supposedly employed wolf cubs to guard their caves. Yet dogs are largely absent from the modern workplace, except when they are used for assistance or security purposes.

There are signs this could be changing, however, and the result may be more paws padding the corridors of power in future. Internet search engine Google is renowned for its love of dogs, for example. Closer to home, Nestlé has adapted its head office near Gatwick Airport to enable “employees and dogs to work together in a happy and safe environment”. The owner of the Purina pet food brand welcomes dogs as long as they’re “pawthorised”, which is not as bad as it sounds. First, the dog owner has to complete a questionnaire about their dog and its habits. Then a specialist assesses the dog to make sure it will be well behaved in a work environment. Finally, the dog has to pass a three-month probation period.

Sounds just like any other recruitment process, right?

A survey by Purina found that employees are healthier and happier when they can take their pets to work, while nearly half (47%) of 18-24 year-olds surveyed said that they view bringing a pet to work as a perk. Still, deciding to admit pooches into the workplace is a major management decision. So what are the pros and cons?

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The pros

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Stress reduction. Various studies show that having a dog around reduces human

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Bring Your Dog To Work Day happens on Friday 23 June, but there are both downsides and upsides to having canine colleagues By

stress levels. Not only is stroking a dog very therapeutic – for both us and them – dogs also make us laugh and smile. The result is that we’re happier and more productive at work.

Healthier employees. When a dog is in the office, its owner is forced to take a break. Going for a walk with your dog will clear your head, recharge your energy levels and help your posture.

It can even prevent deep vein thrombosis.

PR gold. A company that allows dogs to come to work is often seen as a forward-thinking employer that understands the human-dog bond.

Welcoming dogs in the workplace can therefore make recruiting good people much easier.

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Julie Bishop

The cons

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Distraction. Dogs can be distracting, especially if there is a new addition to the office pack. Watch out for unnecessary fussing of the dog and too many doggy chitchats.

Anti-social behaviour. Dogs slobber, chew, whine and bark. They spill their food and water everywhere. Even worse, they can get into fights with other dogs and act aggressively towards humans. Some employees may be scared of dogs, especially if they come from cultures where dog ownership is not common.

Allergies. People who are allergic to dogs can suffer from sneezing, runny noses and skin rashes. They may also have breathing difficulties if they react badly to the allergens found in dogs’ hair, skin cells and saliva.

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Ultimately, any organisation that is looking at creating a dog-friendly working environment has plenty to think about, but that shouldn’t put them off doing it. The first step would be to draw up a ‘bring your dog to work policy’ and take the idea forward from there.

Julie Bishop is founder of social recruiting site Jobhop.co.uk

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Live & Learn PRESENTATION SKILLS

Rock your presentation How can you deliver a speaking performance that wows?

By

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resenting ideas and information with impact is a vital skill for leaders. And yet few phrases depress me more than ‘presentation skills’. That might seem strange coming from someone who has just published a book on how to present more effectively! However, much of Rock Your Presentation was written during professional conferences when the ‘skills’ of the speakers weren’t good enough to hold my attention.

Let’s face it: we are all mildly ADHD in our digital world. If we’re not gripped early on, we take to texting or making that all-important call to the plumber, rather than subject ourselves to death-by-PowerPoint or what I call ‘losing-thewill-to-live syndrome’.

But what if a talk or pitch could be as direct, memorable and moving as music? Think of the way a three-minute song bypasses your rational radar and moves you in ways you can never forget.

A great outcome for a business or professional speech – whether it’s imparting inspiration to 100 jaded salespeople or simply briefing your team – would be to affect your audience in a similarly moving and memorable way.

What would it take to create this hallelujah effect if you had just the spoken word and no guitar or natural sense of rhythm to rely on? How could you make a talk on digitalisation or health and safety as gripping as a powerful rock number, without sacrificing depth or rigour?

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Creative connections Well, that’s exactly what my book Rock Your Presentation is all about. Steve Jobs remarked that “creativity is just connecting things”. Here are some of the connections that can usefully

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Nigel Barlow

WHAT IF A TALK OR PITCH COULD BE AS DIRECT, MEMORABLE AND MOVING AS MUSIC?

be made between the world of music and that of presenting to help you give more compelling and exciting talks: A different key changes emotions – you can accomplish this in speaking by pausing for personal reflection or interjecting an emotional story.

A three-minute song is a wonderfully compressed and rich form of information. Use some of its devices to enhance the impact of your message – strong opening bars, a storyline and a memorable climax.

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Going unplugged is a way of touching hearts in a musical performance. In a talk, it means dispensing with technology, sitting down, even in a large conference room, and making the experience an intimate conversation with your audience.

In a pitch situation, this can be especially effective.

The listener may already have been subjected to an overwhelming wall of PowerPoint.

A strong chorus is mostly what we recall from a song. So what’s the chorus in your presentation – the essential part you want them to remember even if they forget everything else? Keep returning to it, only unlike in a song, use different ways of reinforcing your core message.

A protest singer wants to change something for the better. Whatever you are speaking about, learn how to protest about what needs improving and you will unleash your true passion for the topic.

I think you get the idea – music is a fertile ground of inspiration and insight for the speaker.

Beyond pop advice Traditional presentation skills tend to favour logic, whereas the Rock Your Presentation approach is logic plus emotion. This means challenging much of conventional ‘pop’ wisdom, such as: ‘Outline what you’re going to tell them.’ Why? When they discover you are going to address a bullet point list of seven areas, they will lose the will to live. Life’s just too short.

Instead surprise, amaze and hook them in, like the enticing opening bars of a song.

‘Never read your own slides.’ Why not?

I like to break that invisible fourth wall between myself and the audience by sharing some of the punch lines, illusions or quotes on my slides with them.

Magically this transforms the talk from a message pushed at the listener to a conversation with them.

I’ve done this with 1,000 people in the room. You can, too.

“If you’re nervous, take three deep breaths.”

This is rubbish advice from people who don’t do it themselves. If you are nervous, you can’t take deep breaths. The trick is to have some practice that stops you getting into this state in the first place. For me it’s a simple and very effective technique called transcendental meditation. It helps you not to be fazed in public speaking – or in life!

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TOP TIPS FOR ROCKING YOUR PRESENTATIONS

1

Short version.

The audience’s attention span is more limited than yours. Try halving the number of points you are making, and condensing the DNA of your presentation into a tweet.

2

Perform! You may have been advised to ‘be yourself’, which is fine, but you must be your animated self. Film the first three minutes of your talk on your phone.

Then . . .

3

Rehearse. Ideally in the actual room. If not, do it in the garden or in the car where nobody can hear you scream.

Especially rehearse your start and ending – people remember the first and last things.

4

Life by PowerPoint.

When I’m coaching speakers, I wear a T-shirt that says ‘80% out’. Yes, that’s what you should do with your first deck of slides. And remember that visuals should be striking and memorable.

5

Silence is golden.

Nervous speakers gabble. Pause often to look into your audience’s eyes. Just as great music is in the gaps between notes and silence, so it is with public speaking.

‘Mono-tonous’ means exactly what it says.

Embodying your message An audience doesn’t just hear your words. We live in a visual age where judgements are made about how you look, often within the first few minutes.

Short of plastic surgery, there’s not much you can do about your physical appearance – but you can change how you move.

Standing behind a podium is very distancing, as is the opposite – wandering incessantly across the stage because you think that will hold your listeners’ attention.

The most important device is to move with purpose. Stand firmly and deliver your thoughts, while maintaining natural but definite eye contact with an individual on the other side of the room you are addressing.

TAKE A LEAF OUT OF BOB DYLAN’S BOOK. HE SAID HE PLAYED FOLK BUT WITH A ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ATTITUDE Yes, use your arms and body, but practise in front of a mirror so it becomes natural. You don’t want to look like a politician chopping the air mechanically.

Above all, move closer to the listeners. Actors call the invisible boundary between them and the audience ‘the fourth wall’. Break it early by moving into the room; it will feel more like a conversation than a lecture.

Next time you speak, take a leaf out of Bob Dylan’s book. He said he played folk but with a rock ‘n’ roll attitude. Approach your next speech, briefing or lecture with this attitude and, by unleashing your raw enthusiasm, you will touch your audience. They won’t be moved by your skills as much as your passion.

Become a true ‘amateur’ by subverting and rejecting the ‘easy listening’ approaches of mainstream presentation skills. The word amateur comes from the Latin word amare, meaning to love. Show how you love what you are talking about and you will accomplish far more than by being a slick professional. You will rock!

Nigel Barlow is an agent provocateur, author, creative coach and keynote speaker on innovative change.

He is also the author of ‘Rock Your Presentation’ (Little Brown Book Group).

To read a review of his book, see page 84

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82

Live & Learn HOW TO...

How to… run a webinar What do presenters need to know about using these popular online platforms? Edge explains

W

ebinars are all the rage these days for very good reason. They are an incredibly costeffective way of connecting with a large number of people, in a variety of different locations. Because they can be recorded, they also offer flexibility – someone who missed a live webinar can watch it another time at their own convenience. They may even watch it over and over again.

The webinar format is ideally suited to delivering education or marketing-related messages while the presenter gets the buzz of being able to engage with an audience without the stress of having to stand up and speak in public.

The basics of planning a webinar appear to be simple – you find the right software, build a set of slides and prepare a talk. Yet, like many other activities that appear outwardly easy, running a good webinar requires a lot of effort behind the scenes. So what are the key things to think about?

1

Shutterstock

The information you include and how you present it. If you want to keep your audience engaged, your slides need to be simple, clear and colourful, and you need a large number of them.

Don’t overwhelm your slides with bullet points or overly complicated charts. Experts recommend that you have one slide for every minute that you plan to speak in order to avoid the risk of people switching off and checking their emails instead.

2

Your voice. It’s easy to forget that your voice is the most important tool that you use during

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the webinar. So you need it to be in full working order on the big day. Do voice exercises, for example humming up and down the musical scale or repeating phrases such as “the blue bluebird blinks” before the webinar begins. These will help to improve your resonance.

3

A rehearsal. It is important to rehearse your webinar beforehand. Just don’t do it on the morning of the event itself or you could tire your voice and sound less energetic when it comes to the real thing. The more you rehearse, the less you will rely on your notes when you are speaking on the webinar, and the better you will come across.

4

The audience. One of the most daunting things about presenting a webinar is the feeling that you’re talking to yourself for 45 minutes or so. But don’t think of yourself as ‘talking’; think of yourself as having a conversation with someone who is sitting just opposite you – even if you can’t see them. You can also use polls during the webinar to engage with your audience and ask their opinions.

If you’re running a Q&A session at the end, prepare some questions to answer in advance, in case no one comes up with questions on the day.

You can always pretend that they came from the audience. No presenter wants to finish a webinar with an embarrassing silence that could easily have been avoided.

5

Feedback. Finally, make sure you ask to see the feedback on your webinar after it has taken place.

This will give you valuable insight into what went well and what you could do better next time.

For more on speaking skills, see Rock Your Presentation on page 80

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83

Live & Learn INSPIRATION DIRECTORY

Inspiration Directory FOR YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS To feature your business in the Inspiration Directory, contact niki.mullin@lidpublishing.com

10Eighty Warnford Court, 29 Throgmorton Street, London, EC2N 2AT 020 7947 4130 liz.s-montefiore@10Eighty.co.uk www.10eighty.co.uk An ILM-accredited centre offering eight in-house development programmes: Being an Effective Leader; Coaching for High Performance; Managing Difficult Conversations; Managing Performance; Playing to Strengths; Developing a High-Performing Team; Powerful Career Conversations for HR Professionals.

3gHR 10 Diddenham Court, Grazeley, Reading, RG7 1JQ 0344 543 2121 enquiries@3ghr.com www.3ghr.com The Circle Management Development Programme from 3gHR is a practical, high-impact series of modules aimed at first line managers and managers of managers. Circle has been delivered throughout the UK and Europe and is designed to be flexible. Our delivery methods range from short two-hour sessions through to one-day modules.

The Academy of Leadership & Management 0845 890 2549 info@academylm.co.uk www.academylm.co.uk

01924 385 600 info@azure-consulting.co.uk

www.azure-consulting.co.uk Registered centre of ILM, offering accredited coaching, leadership and management development qualifications.

Cherith Simmons Learning & Development 135-137 Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2AT 01932 856 565 enquiries@cherithsimmons.co.uk www.cherithsimmons.co.uk ILM-endorsed Commissioning and Procurement Programme; ILM Level 2 Award in Team Skills; ILM Level 3 Award and Certificate in Leadership and Management; ILM Level 5 Award; Certificate and Diploma in Leadership and Management; ILM Level 5 Award and Certificate in Leadership Improvement; ILM Level 7 Award and Certificate in Leadership and Management.

GBS Corporate Training Oakmere, Barley Way, Ancells Business Park, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 2UT 0845 481 1644 theteam@gbscorporate.com www.gbscorporate.com

Workplace, executive, corporate and life coach training by distance. Blended learning up to ILM Level 7; CPD. Train with the longest established coach training company in the UK and Europe.

Quality Education & Development Ltd (QED) 25 Manor Gardens, Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, BN6 9UG 0800 0938 419 or 01273 301521 mail@qedcoaching.co.uk www.qedcoaching.co.uk ILM Levels 2–5 Leadership and Management; ILM Levels 3–7 Coaching and Mentoring/Coaching Supervision.

Worth Consulting Ltd The Coach House, Coach Road, Redbrook, Monmouth, NP25 4LX 0160 071 5517 info@worthconsulting.co.uk www.worthconsulting.co.uk Levels 2, 3, 5 and 7 Leadership and Management (Award, Certificate and Diploma); Levels 3, 5 and 7 Coaching and Mentoring (Award, Certificate and Diploma); Level 7 Coaching Supervision (Certificate and Diploma).

Levels 2, 3 and 5 in Leadership and Management.

Leadership and management/coaching and mentoring courses. ILM Levels 3, 5 and 7, Leadership and Management; ILM Level 3, Coaching; ILM Level 5, Coaching and Mentoring; ILM 7, Executive Coaching and Mentoring.

Investors in Learning Ltd 0800 118 2304 info@investorsinlearning.com www.investorsinlearning.com

Azure Consulting Ltd 4 Lakeside, Calder Island Way, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF2 7AW

ILM-endorsed Stakeholder Management and Leadership Development; ILM Level 3 Award/ Certificate/ Diploma in Leadership and Management; ILM Level 2 Mentoring.

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Noble Manhattan Coaching Ltd 01305 898 074 ian.jefferis@noble-manhattan.com www.noble-manhattan.com

Your Total Coach 9 Cotterstock Road, Oundle, Peterborough, PE8 4PN 01733 314012 info@yourtotalcoach.co.uk www.yourtotalcoach.co.uk Registered centre of ILM, offering accredited coaching qualifications from Levels 3–7 in Executive Coaching and Mentoring.

13/04/2017 14:43

84

Live & Learn BOOK CLUB

WHICH BOOKS SHOULD BE KEEPING LEADERS AND MANAGERS AWAKE AT NIGHT? EDGE REVIEWS SOME OF THE MOST INTRIGUING TITLES AROUND

The 100-Year Life Authors Lynda Gratton & Andrew Scott Price £18.99 Bloomsbury

A 100-year-life can be a great blessing, but only if you use it wisely

Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott’s treatise, The 100-Year Life, is not aimed specifically at managers. Nevertheless it is packed with invaluable insight that they cannot afford to ignore. The book effectively takes

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the reader on a thought-provoking journey to meet our 100-year-old self, exploring the ramifications of greater human longevity on family, finances and the workplace. It also questions the assumptions that many of us have around a three-stage life, with education being the first stage, followed by employment and then retirement.

Since many of us can expect to be adults for over 80 years, are capable of working for most of that period, and have not saved enough to do otherwise, the book argues that the threestage life will be pretty much defunct in future. Once we have tired of our first career, we might take a career break, go back to study and then embark on a completely new career.

Sounds exhausting? Apparently the trick to managing a multi-phase life is balancing phases of intense activity with more restful periods so that we can preserve our vitality. Either that, or work shorter weeks.

The authors contend that we should not feel bitter about the truncation of our so-called golden years.

Instead, they say, our longer lives present a great opportunity so long as we avoid burn-out and are committed to reskilling ourselves. They also claim that the traditional threestage life actually serves to reinforce ageism in the workplace: we’d make far fewer assumptions about people’s career choices if it didn’t exist.

So what does all this mean for managers and leaders? It requires them to explore how they can create a diverse, dynamic workforce that can tap into the strengths of several generations while supporting workers to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Reviewed by Sally Percy

The Second Curve Author Charles Handy Price £8.99 Random House

Never settle for easy; always challenge yourself more!

There is a hill in Derbyshire called Thorpe Cloud. It’s a pretty sort of place, next to the babbling River Dove, deep in the Dales. It’s hardly a

Rock Your Presentation Author Nigel Barlow Publisher £13.99 Little Brown

A presentation is more than just a presentation; it is a performance Surveys regularly suggest that most of us are more afraid of public speaking than we are of death. But why should we give in to primeval terror when

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85

Edge is looking for readers to review management and leadership books for Book Club. If you are interested, email sally.percy@lidpublishing.com

EVERYTHING HAS A LIFESPAN. THE CHOICE IS TO CHANGE FUNDAMENTALLY, OR RAPIDLY DECAY king among mountains, rising to just 942ft. But it’s shaped beautifully, like a child might draw a hill. You exert yourself for the climb, then ease your legs as you roll over the summit.

If a second-curve thinker were climbing Thorpe Cloud he might advocate paragliding away before he got to the easy part. There’s little point hiking beyond the peak because, after that, the only way is down. If you accept the cen-

addressing an audience? It turns out that all we need to do is channel the creative genius of our favourite rock star and a dazzling performance is all but guaranteed.

This is the message that Nigel Barlow’s book, Rock Your Presentation, blasts out loud and clear.

A keynote speaker and creative coach, Barlow promises to stop the reader inflicting the following on their audience: death by PowerPoint, tedium, fidgeting and losingthe-will-to-live syndrome.

Drawing on a host of musical analogies, Barlow explains the significance of the opening bars (the start of the talk, to you and me), the need for a verse and chorus (the chorus being the part you don’t want the audience to forget), how to speak

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tral premise of The Second Curve, that the lives of everything – jobs, organisations, even governments – are essentially shaped like Thorpe Cloud, you must also accept the premise that there are points when you have to abandon a good gig when it would be easier and possibly more lucrative to stay.

The trick in life, says the book, is to avoid the descents. On the way down, life might require less exertion, but it is fundamentally less fulfilling.

I came away from the book thinking Handy’s second-curve thesis is largely right, as challenging as his message might be. Certainly, his examples from the worlds of commerce ring true – companies cannot merrily stump along doing much the

at the right tempo, and the secret to writing great lyrics. He also explores how speakers can build showmanship into their presentations – by making the right entrance, using props and walking among the audience. One of his best tips is to pause and survey the room before the presentation begins. As he puts it: “The silence is gathering strength, and when you speak, it’s as if your words have more power.”

Barlow is clearly a music lover.

The text is littered with references to musical greats such as David Bowie and Bob Dylan. If you’re not as devoted to music as Barlow, you might find some of the references rather gratuitous, but if you are a public speaker who happens to share his passion, you will love this book.

same forever and expecting to grow at the same rate until kingdom come.

Everything has a lifespan. The choice for most companies is to change fundamentally, or rapidly decay.

Handy manages to entertain even when you think him wrong. His central thesis is compelling and scalable – he applies second-curve thinking in colourful ways, to everything from democracy to education to social justice.

I found myself flicking back to reread many of the illuminating examples Handy cites from his long and illustrious career.

It is wonderful that, at 84, he has been able to make sense of his experiences in such a useful way. I felt privileged to share his wisdom.

Reviewed by Ben Walker

CHANNEL THE CREATIVE GENIUS OF YOUR FAVOURITE ROCK STAR FOR A DAZZLING PERFORMANCE Barlow challenges some of the established ‘norms’ around public speaking, inviting the reader to consider things differently. By emphasising the importance of performance, he also highlights the needs of the audience. Regardless of your musical knowledge, Rock Your Presentation will give you a fresh perspective on public speaking and plenty of good ideas to put into practice.

Reviewed by Sally Percy

13/04/2017 15:01

Leadership Legend

86

The balanced scorecard What does this legendary strategic management tool mean for today’s leaders and managers?

T

he balanced scorecard is a memorable contribution to the leadership of organisations, but I have some problems with the metaphor. All metaphors are like and unlike what they describe. They are generalisations that we know will break down. Yes, indeed, internal benchmarks must be balanced against external customer satisfaction, just as backward-looking financial performance must be balanced against forward-facing learning goals. At this level, the metaphor works beautifully. Yet in any pair of scales, when one side goes up, the other side goes down, and that is more problematic.

Does it follow that measurable engineering excellence detracts from customer satisfaction? Or that mastering our learning goals detracts from financial performance? In the very short run, the costs of learning reduce profits, but in the longer run the organisation that learns the fastest will prosper the most.

In their subsequent book, Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Achieve Synergy, authors Robert Kaplan and David Norton come closer to what is really needed.

You must weigh internal benchmarks against external customer verdicts in order to INSIGHT What is the balanced scorecard?

First published by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in 1996, the balanced scorecard is a strategic performance management tool that is used by organisations worldwide.

The theory is that measuring progress in four interdependent categories – financial performance, customer satisfaction, internal business processes and employee learning and growth – can support organisations to meet their strategic objectives.

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By

Charles Hampden-Turner

discover how much of this internal excellence customers really require. After all, they are paying for this wonderful precision.

Can they afford it?

In short, what really matters is whether the internal benchmarks truly reflect what customers are looking for. To what extent are these measures in synergy with each other? Do the heights of engineering excellence make a difference to the customer, or are you gilding the lily? Many customers, according to Harvard business professor Clayton Christensen, are over-served – given products of quality in excess of what they need and can afford to pay for.

The same applies to financial performance. This can be improved by all manner of gimmicks, such as buying back your own shares and causing the price to spike, or outsourcing to cheaper locations and declaring your employees redundant. But none of this informs you about the future and brings you essential knowledge. What is needed is to master knowledge that subsequently improves financial performance.

Of the balanced scorecard’s four elements, some are leading indicators and some are lagging ones. Should something go wrong, customers and those who serve them can tell you at once, so mistakes are remedied. But if you wait for this to show up in financial performance, it may already be too late.

To pursue profit is to value what you take out of a company to the neglect of what you put in. Balance is a means to synergy, but modern companies can be unbalanced for quite a while. Several platform companies are losing vast sums of money but expect to gain when, like Amazon, they have an unassailable lead over rivals and can charge more.

Charles Hampden-Turner is a British management philosopher, and was a senior research associate at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge

13/04/2017 14:41

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