Earlier this month I became one of the Mayor’s ‘pioneers’ and signed up to the London cycle hire scheme.  Paris’ ‘Velib’ has been a great success, but I never thought a similar project would materialise in London.  Then, in June, cycle hire stations sprang up seemingly overnight all over central London, and before I knew it, the scheme was up and running.

Unfortunately I ended up waiting 3 weeks for my access key to arrive.  I kept a mental note of all the times I could’ve used a hire bike in that time and was surprised how many missed opportunities presented themselves.  My key finally appeared on the 24^th August, and on the 25^th I headed for a docking station with the intention of cycling up to a client meeting in St Pauls.  I left myself 50 minutes to travel the 2 miles, and was glad I did.

The first docking station refused to release any bikes, the lights remaining resolutely red.  I headed for the next station and was relieved to nab the last remaining bike.  Riding to the meeting was joyous. I cycle six days a week, but these bikes are so far removed from what I’m used to, it was almost like being a beginner again.  The design and gearing encourages a sedate pace and I bumbled along just delighted to be in the saddle and not on the Tube.  In fact riding in a suit, with my satchel perched on front of me felt rather European. Thankfully the relentless traffic reminded me I was in London and not Copenhagen or Amsterdam.

The parking process punctured my enthusiasm though.  I’ve purchased Malcolm Barclay’s excellent ‘Cycle Deluxe’ app for the iPhone, and used it to find a station close to St. Pauls before heading out.  The app informed me that there were four spaces available.  Unfortunately by the time I arrived there were none.  A frantic ride around central London ensued and I visited a further five locations, each progressively further from my destination, before I finally found a free dock.  By the time I got to the meeting I was sweaty, stressed and unimpressed.

Unlike Paris, London’s bikes have not been equipped with locks, and although each half hour access period is free, keep a bike for longer – say the duration of a meeting, and things quickly become expensive.  I can see the logic in this, but if you can’t find a free bike dock then you have a problem.  One blogger reported finding a bike abandoned in the city this week, the (presumably wealthy) rider having abandoned it in frustration.

This is a fundamental drawback of London’s scheme, bikes are not being adequately re-distributed throughout the day, meaning that locations in central London tend to fill up in the morning and empty in the evening.  Fine for commuters, but the scheme isn’t really designed for commuters, and until they iron out this glaring issue I simply can’t risk taking a bike to a meeting.

are often targeted as the reason why they are not achieving great results.  This creates a knock on effect – the managers continue to put pressure on the sales team to “close, close, close”.  The result of this pressure means that the sales person focuses on what they believe to be a closing technique.  The famous sales mantra from the days of power selling springs to mind “always be closing”.  I wonder if there is any logic telling sales people to do this or is it simply an attempt effect their mentality and develop an aggressive manner when selling, only concerned with getting a result.

I suppose every sales person should be concerned with getting the result they set out to achieve.  However the problem with only worrying about closing is that the rest of your sales technique and structure will probably suffer.  Where I do agree with the “always be closing” mantra is in as much that you should always be doing something to help you close the sale.  One analogy that we discussed during the workshops was that closing should be like the closing of the barn door once you have the cow in the barn.  The point being that closing the door should be a simple task once the cow has wondered happily into the barn, because they have wanted to.  The sales person must get the client to want the product/service that they are selling and then close behind them.  If you try to close when the cow is halfway through the door it can be a tricky process!!

So what will help you close the sale comfortably?  Firstly, have an objective.  Never go into a call or meeting with a see how it goes attitude, it makes it incredibly difficult to gain an advance or a close.  Secondly, use questions to develop a need to sell against.  Questions, when used effectively will help change the clients view of the issues and problems they are facing, heightening needs means that the client is more likely to look for a solution.  (the cow starts to move).  Thirdly, gain agreement from the client that they do have needs and recognise them.  Fourthly, when demonstrating how the product or service will help the client, make sure you gain agreement from the client that they do recognise this and are not simply nodding politely.  Finally make a clear suggestion as to what they should buy and ask for the business.  Do not ask “is that the sort of thing you’d be interested in?” or “how does that sound?” or any variation of the above.  You should have demonstrated exactly how it would help them and therefore it is question how much they should buy not whether they will buy or whether they like it!

So, always be doing something to help you close, listen for buying signals and respond quickly, using those opportunities to gain agreement and close.  Always seek to gain an advance from each call or meeting.  All of your closing should revolve around progress.  Good closing skills require all the key elements of sales structure to be used: good introduction, good questioning and need development, good use of the products features and therefore benefits and then an awareness of when to close and a confidence to do so.

There is little doubt that to develop & design a comprehensive programme is more time consuming than when working on a one off event. However, by spending genuine quality time in accurately understanding and identifying your training requirements you will almost always guarantee higher returns for the business.

To get a clear understanding of your company’s behavioural and cultural background and the challenges you are currently facing, we recommend that the Learning consultant actually spends most of their development time on site – “embedded” if you like – so that they are almost viewed as part of your organisation. This not only helps them to see at first hand where the challenges are, but also goes a long way to achieving participant buy in.  In our experience, participants are much more likely to respond positively to the training if they feel their input is valued and they are familiar with the trainer and his or her way of working.  If you’re going to pay for development work – make sure you can see or hear what you’re getting!

Once delivery begins, any effective ongoing programme should ensure a much more sustainable learning experience. We recommend that each module is delivered every 4-6 weeks, which allows enough time to put into practice what has been learnt back at work whilst still being close enough to keep the momentum and motivation going. We also encourage participants to keep a learning diary in between modules which helps them remain focused, as well as providing great points for review (successes and failures) at the next session.

Before committing to such a major investment, it’s always worth considering how will you actually support the programme internally? One way of doing this really effectively is by conducting a Senior Management Master Class before the programme actually begins.  This will not only provide this key group with an overview of the tools & techniques used on the programme but will also provide them with some clear guidelines on what they can do before, during and after each event to help their colleagues get the most out of it.  In our experience, doing it in this way makes a massive difference.

Finally, it’s worth remembering that we’ll also support you at every stage, ensuring that you get exactly the results you were aiming for.  It takes a bit more planning, but for the right type of organisation, a management or leadership development programme can deliver the most effective learning experience.

Do you always wear your “lucky” shirt and tie to a critical client meeting or have a coffee in the same café before a big presentation? Well, don’t worry you’re not alone in being just a little superstitious. From film stars to sportsmen and singers to politicians, loads of us adopt these peculiar rituals that we believe give us that little competitive edge or even save us from a complete disaster.  Here are a few of my favourites:

• Tiger Woods firmly believes that wearing red on the final day of a tournament will see him to victory.

• Guns and Roses front man, Axl Rose allegedly refuses to play in cities beginning with M.

• Cricketer, Mark Ramprakash, chews the same piece of gum throughout an innings, even placing it on top of his bat during breaks for lunch and tea.

• Former US President, Franklin Roosevelt refused to ever travel on the 13^th day of any month.

• Coldplay front man, Chris Martin, refuses to go on stage until he has cleaned his teeth.

• Eartha Kitt never stayed in a hotel room situated above the 8^th floor.

• Actor, Geoffrey Rush always takes a plastic Daffy Duck figure to awards ceremonies.

• Throughout his illustrious career, Michael Jordan always wore a pair of his of college basketball shorts underneath his more famous Chicago Bulls uniform.

• Meatloaf always tours with two teddy bears that apparently guarantee the success of his shows.

• And perhaps the weirdest of the lot, Huddersfield Town striker Malvin Kamara insists on watching the original Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory before every game.

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!!

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At Phoenix we always place a great emphasis on understanding exactly what it is our clients are trying to achieve.  This part of the training process is so valuable and yet it is so rarely done as effectively as it might.  At best, it involves a meeting with a selection of key stakeholders, whereupon broad objectives are agreed and content is designed around these.  In many cases it is simply based upon managerial observations and anecdotal feedback which does not always get to the root of the real development issues.  What’s more, the participants themselves are rarely involved in this process which is also not ideal.  By consulting with at least some of those who will actually be attending the training, you not only get a better chance of designing something relevant but also of establishing participant “buy-in”.

This is a particular concern when designing content for telephone sales workshops.  We are often told that the participants need help on a particular skill – for example, closing, negotiating or questioning.  No problem – we’ll design something around these and in many cases, what we design will work pretty effectively and provide the participants with some key tools and techniques that will improve their results.  But how much better could it have been, had we been able to do some real analysis and actually listen to the quality of calls that the participants have been making to their potential or existing clients.

Call recording equipment has been around for many years, however, it is expensive to install and has usually only been utilised at larger call centre operations.  Improved technology has however now made it very easy for any type of organisation to benefit from call recording and here at Phoenix, we have really begun to see just how useful it can be.  Phonecoach provide a very straightforward system which enables call recording simply by adding a prefix to the number dialled – there’s no hardware involved and all the recorded calls are automatically saved as MP3 files.

By being able to listen to exactly what is being said, by both sales person and customer, we are in a much better position to identify what’s working and what skills need further developing.  From a design point of view this “reality check” enables us to focus only on those areas that really need it, ensuring that the training is lean and extremely relevant.  Where appropriate, we can even use the recorded calls to illustrate key learning points during the training itself – which can also be very powerful for the participants.

For just £24 + vat, we can record up to 500 minutes of calls, which is usually enough to get a good selection of a team’s telephone sales activity over a week or so.  After some thorough analysis, we report our findings back to the client and only then, will we design a course based on what’s actually happening.  This ensures that any sloppy techniques can be instantly identified & addressed, leading to a direct impact on an individual’s sales performance. Which is, after all, exactly what any high quality sales training should do.

Time Management is a part of everybody’s life, both personal & professional. Below are some great quotes relating to Time Management which I hope you find thought provoking:

• “Time is the scarcest resource of the manager; If it is not managed, nothing else can be managed.” (Peter Drucker)
• “Time equals Life, Therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life.” (Alan Lakein)
• “I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.” (E.B. White)
• “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.” (Henry Ford)
• “The few things that work fantastically well should be identified, cultivated, nurtured, and multiplied.” (Richard Koch)
• “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
• “This loving person is a person who abhors waste–waste of time, waste of human potential. How much time we waste. As if we were going to live forever.” (Leo Buscaglia)
• “We live in deeds, not years; In thoughts not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs …” (Aristotle)
• “Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• “Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal.” (Elbert Hubbard)
• “A man who dares to waste one hour of life has not discovered the value of life.” (Charles Darwin)
• “Do something every day that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.” (Mark Twain)
• “Don’t start your day until you have it finished on paper first.” (Jim Rohn)
• “We think much more about the use of money, which is renewable, than we do about the use of time, which is irreplaceable” (J.L Servan-Schreiber)
• “As far as we are able to discover, no one, on their death bed, vowed “I wish I’d spent more time at work” (Rob Parsons)
• “If you have someone who is good in a crisis, get rid of them, otherwise you’ll always have one” (Anon.)
• “And remember that time waits for no one. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery.  Today is a gift.  That’s why it’s called the present.” (Anon)

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.

It read like this -

“I am working for the French Business Schools since 2004, and I am in charge of helping some French students to find a company based in London for their UNPAID Internships.

There is NO fees, NO expenses for your company as it is a TOTALLY UNPAID Internship (We are covering ALL the expenses, There is NO Costs, NO Expenses, NO Fees for your company).”

Having read it a couple more times and briefly mulled over the potential of employing a French student, my rather cautious nature kicked in and I quickly dismissed the whole idea.

A few days later, a colleague and I were reviewing a recent meeting with our online marketing consultants.  We had been told in no uncertain terms that we needed to undertake a major piece of analysis before we could begin to implement a truly effective campaign. Of course, this analysis called for the one thing we’re in really short supply of right now – our time.  However, as the prospect of late nights and a weekend spent in the office loomed, my thoughts returned to that email.

There were a few raised eyebrows when I put forward the idea at our weekly meeting and I must admit that I was as sceptical as anyone at first. However, having done a bit of research I begun to warm to the idea and a few days after having declared our interest, we arranged a telephone interview with our prospective intern – Ms Chéryl Bourjac.  Chéryl, who is originally from Guadeloupe, was in her second year at the ISC Business School in Paris and needed to spend six weeks working for a UK based company as part of her degree.

Although the conversation was brief, I felt thoroughly reassured by her enthusiasm and agreed there and then to offer a six week internship at Phoenix.

Chéryl has now been with us for two weeks and her assistance to all parts of the business has been invaluable.  She has already completed the first stage of the marketing analysis and has impressed us all with her strong work ethic and attention to detail.  At the same time, her English is improving quickly and I’m sure that she is learning a lot from working in a company like Phoenix.

Overall, I’m delighted that we agreed to the internship and I would certainly have no hesitation in doing so again.  I think that the scepticism we have for such placements probably stems from the concept of work experience which here in the UK has always been associated with surly school children showing little or no interest in the job.  In Europe, “Internships” are viewed as a key part of many College courses and provide a valuable experience for both parties – which is exactly how we both feel now.   If your company gets a similar opportunity, do please try it – if it’s anything like our experience, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how it works out.

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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.