Last Sunday’s 2^nd Round debacle for England in the World Cup was a chastening experience for a lot of us who harbour hopes of witnessing football success for the national team in our lifetime.  On the past two weeks’ evidence, we’re going to be waiting a long time!

To some extent, Saturday’s 4-1 defeat by Germany wasn’t a surprise, following the poor performances of the group stage – and the epithets ‘abject’, ‘inept’, and ‘disastrous’ which were to the fore in the aftermath, were pretty well justified based on what we saw on the pitch.  One commentator, ex-England winger Chris Waddle, who made it to the semi-final with Bobby Robson’s England in 1990, has judged that the England team performed acceptably for about 45 minutes out of 360 en route to their failure.

I know I’m not the only person thinking about this, but I do find it astonishing that individuals of such proven pedigree (a lot of them are stars at some of the best clubs in Europe) should have looked anything but world-class in this tournament; and it set me thinking: was there something about how they functioned as a team (or a squad) that contributed to this?

Anyone who’s read Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team (an excellent book, quick to read and full of insights, but avoiding the infantilising tendency of many in that bracket), will know that he posits five things that get in the way of building a successful and performing team:

1. Absence of Trust
2. Fear of Conflict
3. Lack of Commitment
4. Avoidance of Accountability
5. Inattention to Results

So, I thought I’d just look at the England football performance through the prism of Lencioni and see if anything chimes.  Of course, the only people who currently know the truth of the matter are within the England camp, and for now that hasn’t been shared with us (no doubt a tell-all book will follow), so don’t phone, it’s just for fun…

Dysfunction 1: Absence of Trust — This occurs when team members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another and are unwilling to admit their mistakes, weaknesses or needs for help.  Without a certain comfort level among team members, a foundation of trust is impossible.

In relation to England, one might briefly highlight the following as having been damaging to trust within the camp:

-          John Terry’s infidelity with his England and Chelsea team-mate’s partner.  Although as one of England’s best players JT’s team-mates were never going to want him out of the team, t was clear that many regarded this as ‘crossing the line’ and will have regarded his actions as a breach of trust.

-          The Capello Index.  Only a month before the tournament, Fabio Capello signed a contract with a media company to participate in a website by ‘marking’ his players game by game, based on their performances in the World Cup matches.  It’s hard not to laugh when one imagines what scores he would have given, hindsight is a wonderful thing!  However, as was pointed out at the time, it smacked of an error of judgement and will have damaged the ‘comfort level’ among the squad members.

Dysfunction 2: Fear of Conflict — Teams that are lacking on trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered, passionate debate about key issues, causing situations where team conflict can easily turn into veiled discussions and back channel comments.  In a work setting where team members do not openly air their opinions, inferior decisions are the result.

-          After the second match, against Algeria, John Terry spoke out in an interview, and said that there would be a clear-the-air crisis meeting that night at which everyone would speak their minds, good or bad, and get things off their chest.  At the time, I remember thinking ‘good’, that will help them to overcome whatever inhibitions or problems there are, which clearly there must be.  However, tellingly, Terry was smacked down by his manager publicly (through ‘back channels’?) told he had spoken out of turn (Absence of Trust again), and 24 hours later Frank Lampard denied that any ‘crisis talks’ had taken place.

-          It is well documented that Capello has an authoritarian streak, and a command-and-control management style, so from the outside it looked like he had prevented any dissent being aired.  Not good for the team by Lencioni’s theory.

Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment — Without conflict, it is difficult for team members to commit to decisions, creating an environment where ambiguity prevails. Lack of direction and commitment can make employees, particularly star employees, disgruntled.

-          Wayne Rooney was explicit in saying that he preferred to play a lone striker’s role up front, something which was denied him by the manager.  John Terry revealed explicitly (whether with tacit support of others I can’t say) that he thought Joe Cole should be starting the games, again overruled.  Steven Gerrard was asked to play wide on the left (not his natural position), and Frank Lampard was expected to play more of a holding role (not his natural one either).  If these four were the England ‘star employees’, would it be a surprise if they showed a lack of commitment, if they felt they were not listened to?  Wayne Rooney in particular looked disgruntled.

-          As a postscript here, I was struck how Joe Cole, in an interview the morning after England’s exit, prefaced his comments about the team’s exit by saying that ‘on a personal level, obviously I’m disappointed I didn’t play more’.  Not the words of a committed member of the squad; rather, someone thinking about himself first.

Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability — When teams don’t commit to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven individuals hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviours that may seem counterproductive to the overall good of the team.

-          This dysfunction is less obvious in relation to the England team.  There was no lack of ‘taking responsibility’ in words at least, with every poor performance followed by interviews in which the captain or others shouldered the collective blame.  However, there is always a suspicion that that is lip service, and Wayne Rooney’s outburst “Nice to see your own fans boo you, that’s what loyal support is” after the Algeria game smacked of someone not admitting accountability to me.

Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results — Team members naturally tend to put their own needs (ego, career development, recognition, etc.) ahead of the collective goals of the team when individuals aren’t held accountable.  If a team has lost sight of the need for achievement, the business ultimately suffers.

-          Need I say more?!  The tournament ends, and the players head home to their lovely lives, their lovely wives, and their lovely weekly pay-packets, playing in teams where they are completely valued and the systems of play are built around them.

-          The England players looked beaten down, uninspired, and afraid to express themselves.

-          Meanwhile, we see in the South American sides (4 out of the 8 quarter-finalists are from there: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), and in Germany also, a very evident relish for representing their country, with sparkling team play and performances that are greater than the sum of their parts.

At least the next 8 games should be more fun to watch!!

Mike Brearley, ex – England cricket captain and now President of the Pyscho-analysts society, talking about leadership.  The actual title was “Leadership – Theory and Practice” I focused straight away on the prospect of an “almost childhood hero” talking about leading my real childhood heroes into cricketing battle against the Australians in the 1980’s.  Brearley was/is regarded as one of the most intelligent and astute cricket captains of all time,  using what are broadly termed “man management” skills to get the best out of his team of hugely talented but hugely diverse characters and personalities.  Sports like Cricket and Rugby often produce teams made  up of a wide variety of personalities and social background.  (I am sure there are other examples but those two sports stand out for me as the prime examples.)  Cricket captains also have to contend with managing players who have to go out and perform fundamentally on their own but as part of a team.  So pulling them all together is a massive challenge, as well as having to deal with the tactical aspects of the game.

My colleague and I turned up on the night, anticipating Brearley describing how he managed to get the best out of Botham, Boycott, Willis, Dilley et al and win the Ashes in amazing circumstances in 1981.  A lecture containing cricket anecdotes that could be passed on in a superior manner at our local club or even better at Lords, so we could be overheard sounding knowledgeable.  (Maybe I am just speaking for myself).  I think maybe twenty per cent were in our camp.  Obvious cricket fans, waiting for one of the most successful captains to tell us how to do it!

As we found a spare couple of seats, I remembered the whole title of the event – The Freud Memorial Lecture, Michael Brearley, Leadership – Theory and Practice.  Not Mike Brearley talks cricket!  The depth of the occasion struck me.  We were going to be listening to a genuine expert, not just in cricket, but in Psychology.  He is a psycho-analyst, not just an ex cricket captain.  Brearley spoke for about forty five minutes, mentioned cricket about five times, but mentioned Jung and Freud about fifty five times.  It wasn’t what I expected but it was extremely interesting, fascinating and challenging.  I work with managers and leaders almost every week, I consider myself to know about management and leadership, but what came out of the lecture for me was that I know very little beyond the practical issues involved.  What Brearley alerted me to was the depth of the subject and all the issues that lie behind the day to day “stuff” that revolves around management and leadership issues.   He talked widely about narcissistic leaders and the reasons for their decisions, he discussed decision making amongst managers and “self image”.  He explored “sophisticated bullying tactics” and how leaders try to cope.  He also discussed how leaders don’t simply lead, as in the dictionary definition (from the front) but position themselves all around and amongst the team. One element of the discussion focused on “born leaders” and there was some research, from Canada I believe, that examined traits in children and how they related to their future roles.  The trait most associated with children who went on to be the leaders was generosity and not what you might expect, i.e. confidence or positivity.  That would certainly be one conversation that I would bring to the training room to help managers and leaders think about what is really required to be successful.

All of these subjects were hung off the back drop of Jung and Freud’s theories and ideas, which added the depth and interest and the challenge.  I left feeling much more knowledgeable and “expert” not as I had expected being able to recount cricket stories but by being able to link leadership and management theory and practice by understanding and quoting Brearly’s expertise and knowledge.

Image via Wikipedia

I’m often asked by potential customers, what exactly are the key differences between open and tailored training. This got me thinking that it might be useful to develop a quick reference guide that will help you make a more informed decision.

Open Courses

1. Open courses provide the participants with a brilliant overview of their chosen subject – whether it’s Introduction to Sales, Essential Management or Inspirational Leadership.
2. Open courses enable you to work alongside individuals from different industries but often with very similar concerns. They also provide you with great networking opportunities!
3. Open courses provide an off site learning environment to discuss openly challenges & concerns which in some cases individuals feel more open to talk about when not in the company of colleagues.
4. Open courses represent a highly cost effective solution where only one or two individuals require development in a particular area.
5. Open courses give individuals a new set of skills and the opportunity to practice them in a ‘safe’ environment and build their confidence to apply the newly learnt skills back in their own workplace.

Tailored Training

1. Tailored training provides you with a comprehensive training needs analysis conducted in advance of any events we deliver on your behalf.
2. Tailored training enables us to include a wide range of disciplines within a single given event.
3. Tailored training will meet a specific requirement through the unique design to match the objectives of the individual or group.
4. Tailored training offers the possibility to design a specific programme for the whole organisation where everyone will be involved, this enables lasting change which is encouraged and supported internally & externally.
5. Tailored training can be designed specifically to a given company and industry with a choice of ‘best fit’ Learning Consultant
6. Tailored Training allows more flexibility with training dates and location.

I hope this was useful and if you would like to discuss either option in more detail please get in touch and I will be delighted to help.

This was no doubt partly due to the fact that we couldn’t really offer our clients anything along these lines, but more so due to my belief that this type of training was the very antithesis of everything that makes Phoenix special.

Our focus has always been on delivering practical, results based training where the emphasis is on what gets done differently once participants return to work, not on how many credits they have been awarded or what type of certificate they will receive.  In my experience, too much training is simply commissioned on the basis of what form of recognition the participants get.  Traditionally, this is meant to provide some form of motivation but if the training is not up to scratch, then no matter what they receive at the end, participant levels of engagement will still sink very quickly.

Having said all that, we have often wished for some kind of independent recognition for the quality of our delivery and content and who better to provide this than the Institute of Leadership & Management – the world’s best known accrediting body.

Through their endorsed award scheme, the ILM have provided us with the ideal solution.  Phoenix have been able to retain all the best aspects of our programmes’ content and delivery, whilst adding an assessment section that ensures the participants put into practice everything that they have learnt on the course.  In many ways, the additional assessment has really strengthened our offering and it fits perfectly with our results focussed training.  Now participants and their colleagues will see exactly how the learning has been used, as it has to be documented on a regular basis over a six week period.  A 500 word case study is also required which again will indicate the participants’ understanding of the content and how best to use it.

On successful completion of both the course and the assessment, participants are indeed awarded an ILM certificate however, for most participants this is only a subsidiary benefit.  The real prize is becoming a better manager and leader and being able to demonstrate this to their colleagues.

Phoenix currently deliver ILM Endorsed open courses in Essential Management Skills & Inspirational Leadership and are about to offer endorsed modular programmes in both Management & Leadership Skills.  Our unique approach, style of delivery and focus on results will remain as strong as ever, but with the ILM’s Endorsement our products are now even more attractive to a wide range of clients & participants across the world.

I will always believe that good training should be about improving performance and delivering results, but if you can achieve this and also provide participants with some kind of appropriate recognition then perhaps we have an ideal solution.

Written by Oliver Osmond – Sales Director

Image by Hamed Saber via Flickr

One of the first things that I was taught on becoming a leader, and a message that I have heard throughout my career as a leader and people manager, is the need to lead people from the front.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently and I believe that if you take this literally you will only find trouble.

So what does leading from the front actually mean?  Does it mean blazing a trail with everyone else following, or something different?

If your definition of leading from the front is the first one, I’d urge you to try it and see what actually happens.  If you were to really physically lead from the front, just have a think about what you’d actually see.  Your view would only be of what is in front of you.

Now, lots of people say that is a good thing, and ‘vision’ is one of the words that people often refer to when they talk about leading from the front.  However, in order to have ‘vision’ you need to be able to see the full picture and you can’t do that from the front; but you can see the full picture if you start leading from the back.

Leading from the back you can see the road ahead, but crucially you can also see the team and most importantly the individuals within it.  John Adair states that in order to be a successful leader you need to be able to ‘achieve the task’, ‘build the team’ and ‘develop the individual’.  Adair also states that you need to be able to identify which of these areas you need to focus on at any given time.

Remembering that starting to lead from the back rather than always leading from the back is a vitally important differentiation.  Sometimes you will still need to be at the front forging the way ahead or protecting your team.

“Your job as a leader is to develop people to a point where you are no longer required” is the number one Golden Rule of Leadership. It’s easy to see that being at the front all the time will minimise the opportunities for people within the team to develop and grow, and subsequently you will always be required.

So what does leading from the front really mean?

“If you want people to demonstrate a behaviour, go there first!” is another Golden Rule of Leadership that is a truer reflection of leading from the front.  Role modelling the behaviours that you need your people to demonstrate as they work to achieve the task is the right way to lead from the front.

The behaviours you demonstrate set the tone, the pace and desire of your team. If any of those are not currently there, you need to look in the mirror first.

So, if you want to really lead from the front, lead with your behaviour rather than taking the lead all the time.

Martin le Comte – Head of Learning

The challenges seem to be similar for most clients: one day you have your people nicely corralled in your workplace under your blanket supervision; the next they’re out there somewhere, hopefully in some sort of gainful employment, but hand-on-heart you have not got one clue!  They’re either out on the road and visiting the office is seen as dead time when they could be out earning, or they’re working from home with all its negative connotations of swinging bits of lead!  Additionally, all your traditional management tools and techniques are now being severely challenged.  What to do?

In the last ten years or so I have been a remote worker, a remote manager and latterly, both.  So, in keeping with my philosophy that there are always simple answers I set the grey cells to work. This trawled up an interesting case study that has clearly had an impact on my own ‘remote management’ success.

Image by slworking2 via Flickr

Let’s cut to the chase.  Remote working has its challenges for both worker and manager.  When viewed as separate challenges they contradict each other.  The worker needs to motivate ‘self’ in the knowledge that there’s no-one else around to do it for them.  They need be inspired to get down to work.  They need to resist the temptations to do nice things instead of important things.  They need to feel trusted to get on with it and they feel grateful for the flexibility. Just to be clear – motivation, inspiration & trust.

The manager, applying traditional workplace management assumes that the remote worker will need discipline and organisation in order to discharge their duties.  Accepted, the worker may well need to be organised and disciplined (for themselves) however if the manager wants and needs ‘evidence’, the manager’s behaviour is likely to be interpreted as ‘surveillance’.  Interestingly some brief research shows that the internet is littered with ways of ‘knowing where your people are’ and IT solutions for knowing who’s logged on to the server.  How useful is this information to the remote manager?  Frankly – I think it’s a waste of money.  The whole ethos of remote working is underpinned by reduced cost and flexibility for the worker delivering tangible increases in productivity, quality and engagement.  I would assert that, in order to get the most from remote working, the manager needs to discard any notion of ‘surveillance’.  Controversial? – read on!

Try a quick case study for yourself!

You delegated a report to one of your team on Friday with an achievable deadline of noon today, assuming he disregards all other work, which you have instructed him to do.  It’s Monday and you’re travelling between meetings and you need an update.  You call your remote worker and you can hear his car engine in the background and he fumbles to turn off the car radio!  You expected him to be at home ‘working’. You’ve already checked the server and he hasn’t logged on today.  You’re not looking forward to your next meeting, your blood pressure is rising, your language is deteriorating and you’re rueing the day your company went to remote working. In your opinion, there’s no way he’ll be able to get that report done with enough time for you to read and understand it before your meeting with the MD at noon.

Think about what you’d say to him, how you’d say it and what you want him to say.

• How does the call go?
• What does your tone of voice and challenging language do for the conversation?
• How ‘trusted’ will he feel?
• How motivational do you need to be?
• How inspiring do you need to be?

……or were you thinking of dishing out a good telling-off?  You were?  You are not alone!

Well, a few years ago I was in this very position: not the manager, the worker!

My manager called me and immediately challenged me on what she could hear in the background, ‘Where are you exactly?’ Sure enough I wasn’t at home.

I was challenged on my progress with the report and accused of ‘taking advantage’ (different wording though!).

I was reminded that my contracted hours were 9-5 (which I knew).

She went on to explain that she was having huge problems managing the team remotely and that she was considering solving her problems with an action plan where we [her team] would call her between 7.30 and 9.00 am every day to review the plan for the day.  I would also have to spend every Monday with her.  Finally, she explained that not delivering the report by 12 noon was unacceptable and she would be recording this incident as evidence for my up-coming review.  I listened, mainly because I didn’t get a chance to speak.

She eventually ran out of expletives and thinly veiled threats and waited for my reply.  I explained that I had emailed the report to her at 11pm the night before (Sunday) and she should check her BlackBerry!  I went on to say that in that email I had explained that I had finished the report over the weekend so that I could drop my boys off at school in the morning. Which, incidentally, I had been told was one of the perks of remote working. I had also explained that I had called at the supermarket on the way back to buy something for lunch so I could work through the day uninterrupted to make sure tomorrow’s ‘drop-deadline’ was met.

For the next few months I went into the office 9 to 5, Monday to Friday.  I did exactly what was expected and no more.  Passively aggressive I admit but I began to enjoy Sundays again.  She got the bare-minimum of effort from me and I got my weekends back – result. What little respect I’d had for her was gone.  Actually, she never really got it back before she left the organisation.  Integrity prevents me from elaborating!

Here’s a challenge for every remote manager reading this.  Remote management is NOT management.  It’s leadership.  If you feel the need to ‘manage’ your remote worker then it is not working.  Why not bring them back to a ‘workplace’ where they can be ‘supervised’.  If you do this, they will still know you don’t trust them but at least you’ll know what they’re up to – and you’ll get…..the bare-minimum.  Still!

Is there a simple answer?  Of course there is.  It’s underpinned by trust.  [At this point you could do worse than reading 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team' by Patrick Lencioni or save yourself a few hours and accept that you need ‘trust’ to permeate your remote team and that’s YOUR job].

Demonstrate your trust, often and consistently. This is very simple but does require you to suppress any desire to monitor and control, at least in the traditional sense.

Our watchword for training here at Phoenix is practical, so if you need some pointers try these hints, tips, do’s and don’ts:

• Set the ground rules for home working VERY clearly and precisely and be seen to work to them yourself
• Don’t question what your team are doing unless you need to know – most of the time YOU DON’T.  No really – YOU DON’T.
• Consistently ask about achievements, not what’s been done
• Praise the effort that you don’t see – you’ll know from the quality and quantity of the outputs
• Do regular, scheduled, meaningful one-to-one’s – don’t just drop in
• Pre-arrange phone conversations where possible
• Don’t keep your diary and movements a secret from your team just to ‘keep them on their toes’
• Encourage your team to share their diaries but allow ‘private’ time
• Praise their ability to manage work-life balance
• Balance the need for team meetings against the need for the team to get things done
• Track outputs over activity
• Give developmental feedback on evidence not assumption – this needs you to change as well as them!

Overarching all of the above, here’s one of those ‘training room’ check-lists….

Step 1 – Get to know your people

Step 2 – Get to know your people better

Step 3 – Go back to step 2

I know. Sorry.

After spending the last two years as a successful sales manager, managing a diverse team across hundreds of square miles, I can honestly say that I did not ‘manage’ to change anything about the people in my team. I just changed me – style, language and skill set – that’s all.

Just to be clear, the solution to successful remote working is not technology, it’s people. It’s you, and your leadership.

Written by Lawrence White, Senior Learning Consultant

Well another year has passed and it’s time for a new set of New Year resolutions that you won’t stick to past the end of the first week.

I’ve heard this comment many times over the last couple of days and have been guilty of saying it to others as well.

Statements like that seem a bit negative really, why won’t your friend be able to abstain from drinking, why won’t you be able to lose that couple (in your dreams, more like a stone) of pounds that you have gained over the last six months and why won’t you be able to look after yourself more and get fitter? The answer to all of these questions is, of course, you can if you really want it enough.

There a couple of things that I really want to achieve over the next six months or so, I know I can do it but I don’t want to tempt fate by telling everyone what they are just yet… I have decided to be one of the people who actually wants to achieve something first before I tell everyone what it is I am trying to achieve. I have made the mistake too many times before of telling people what I am going to do only to end up with egg on my face.   Having said that I don’t have the best track record with resolutions, maybe that is because I kept telling everybody what my resolutions were and they kept telling me that I wouldn’t stick at it past the first week. Isn’t it funny how if you keep telling someone something, eventually they will believe it!

I suppose what I’m really talking about here is setting myself a couple of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound (SMART) goals.

Someone once told me that ‘the difference between lots of activity and lots of productivity is a good process’.

SMART is a good process and like many of the leadership and management tools and processes, the most work comes up front. I find that coming up with a really Specific goal is actually pretty hard.

In order to make SMART work there are some things that need to be considered:

Specific – “What is happening or where are you currently?” “What exactly do you want or need to achieve and why is it important to you?” and “What difference will achieving it make?”

Once you have identified the goal you want to work on, using the remainder of the SMART model will really help to support you in making it happen and keep the negativity at bay. There are a couple of quick and simple ideas for each of these:

Measurable - Make sure that your goal is tangible; can you see, feel and quantify the difference?

Achievable - Do you have the resources that you need to make this happen? E.g. learning to drive, do you have access to a car to practise in?

Realistic – In the ‘real’ world opposed to  the ‘happy clappy’ training world is this a practical goal?  My advice would be to have lots of small check points along the way as opposed to one massive goal. Taking this approach has a dual purpose. 1. It is easier to measure small steps and every time you reach one of the milestones you have achieved something. 2. You will keep both the internal and the external negativity at bay.

Time Bound – So when are you going to start and when will you need to achieve your goal by?

Ok, got all of that?  Now, all we need to do is start doing it rather than just talking about it.  One of the things that I really want to achieve this year is….

See, already I nearly gave the game away and told you about my resolutions before I had even started.

I’m off now to rewrite some of my resolutions.

Good luck to you all, I promise to tell you later about mine if you tell me about yours.

Well, my last few weeks have felt like a real rollercoaster ride.  Eight weeks ago I was happily leading a successful team of sales managers, delivering financial solutions to the mass affluent market in Yorkshire.  Today, I’m sat in my new London office with my new colleagues enjoying excitement and challenge in equal measure and looking forward to a new chapter in my life, returning to a dedicated role in people development.  When asked if I’d like to contribute something to the blog my thoughts went back to a previous role – that of Induction Delivery Manager looking after the needs of around 3000 new hires for a large corporate. In particular my thoughts turn to two key areas.

Firstly, close attention to the emotional journey any new-hire is likely to go through is crucial to their success.  The on-boarding process needs to recognise that journey and help the new-hire celebrate and retain the emotional and motivational ‘highs’.  It also needs to anticipate and recognise the potential lows and help the new-hire deal with the associated emotional impact.  Having now been both recruiter and ‘recruited’ the experiences have, once again, put the different perspectives into sharp focus.  One thing is undoubted, both the hiring manager and the new starter have a common interest at the outset – success.  The question is what does ’success’ look like for both and are they similar?

The challenge this throws squarely in front of the hiring manager – ‘how do you have a generic on-boarding process that caters for the needs of individuals?’.  It boils down to one thing – know your people.  Not just your new-hire but those people you already have that are likely to be the key influencers in the individual’s early development.  Checking in regularly with you new-hire is crucial.  You need to pulse check motivation.  As managers we often correlate motivation with productivity.  What’s missed is the link – development.  In order to be more productive I need to develop.  A strong belief I have brought with me to Phoenix is that, in order to develop, individuals have to have to want to learn.  For new hires or ‘old hands’ or indeed anywhere in between, the effective manager will know how to motivate the individual.

This brings me to the second part of successful on-boarding of the ‘new-hire’.  That of being aligned with the company vision, goals and values.  I spent my first day in the training room with Bill (MD and trainer) observing Phoenix’s Essential Management open course here in London.  It re-affirmed the pre-hire belief that my own values and beliefs were aligned with that of my new employer.  Imagine if they weren’t!  And it’s not just being ‘told’ the company values – as a new hire it’s vital to see those values coming through in the behaviour of leaders, managers, peers and teams.  Again this confers a responsibility on the manager to explore the individual’s values and ensuring that those of the company are communicated in a way that demonstrates that ‘you’ve made the right choice’.

Having had my confirmations that I’ve made the right choice I’m now on the lookout for lots of work – ah, the power of motivation!

Tip 1 – Set aside time to be seen by the people who you manage

This sounds easy but amidst the turmoil of a modern management career it is so easy to forget that your primary objective is to gain results through the efforts of others. Pick someone you admire for their management skills and see how they do it. The chances are that they will spend time understanding what makes people tick and how best to leverage the efforts of people.

Tip 2 – Don’t confuse busy with effective

Most managers work long and hard but the real high flyers, and the ones who seem to rise in the organisation most quickly, are the ones who know how to concentrate on the important issues whilst at least keeping the fires at bay. Pick the most important three issues each day and deal with them first before anything else. This requires some real thought but this process will teach you just how to focus on the things that matter.

Tip 3 – Get a good grounding in the financial aspects of the job

It really does not matter how you do this but, like it or not, the real essence of a manager’s job is to benefit the organisation more than he or she costs the organisation. If you understand how best to do this and can communicate the results in financial terms then you will always be sought after since you add value.

Tip 4 – Look after your own health

Again, this is easier said than done. If you are fit and healthy then you will find that you have more energy and therefore you can work hard and smart. Combine this with the other tips and you become a natural working machine that produces results time after time.

Tip 5 – Keep learning

Any modern management role will be demanding and new skills are the only real job security that exists in the workplace of today. Keeping up to date and demonstrating that you can apply new skills is an excellent way to demonstrate your value to the business.

Clearly during a recession, many training budgets are cut and any money spent has to be carefully considered.  It appears that the general trend is to invest in one’s managers.  To me it makes absolute sense.  It is the managers that will influence higher levels of performance within a team.  Too often money is spent on a sales team for example, in an attempt to increase performance, however if unsupported by the management team, much of this investment can be wasted.  We have found that by combining sales training with a really strong management development programme, results are much, much better.

Managing a team in an economic downturn is extremely challenging.  Motivation is generally lower, there is negativity everywhere and managers are really tested.  I am delighted to see this trend towards investing in managers and training them to ensure that they can deal with the problems and situations they are confronted by.  The response I have had from recent management groups, is that they are excited by what they are learning and recognising that, even though general levels of motivation are lower than they’d like, they can see ideas, techniques and skills that will help them.  Middle managers are often expected to be motivated and expected therefore to motivate their team members.  They need support as well!  Training helps to motivate managers and therefore have a positive effect on their teams which of course effects the level of its achievement.  I am pleased that management training now appears to be regarded as very much “results focused” and not something a bit “touchy feely”.