Phoenix Training

Posts Tagged ‘Management & Leadership’

How to Buy Training

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Twitter is often described (rather wonderfully) as being ‘Device Agnostic.’ At Phoenix, we like to think of ourselves as being ‘Industry Agnostic.’ That is to say, we work across a broad range of industries, from Media to Manufacturing, from FMCG to Financial Services. There’s a very simple reason for this, the skills we specialise in – Leadership, Management, Communication and Sales, are transferable. In other words, good management looks the same in any organisation, and the same can be said for almost all soft skills training. Ultimately – soft skills are all about people, and successful training is all about making people better at what they do.

Our broad experience has taught us much, but today I’d like to focus on one key area – Buying Training.

Many organisations make the mistake of buying training as a reactive response to a perceived problem – i.e. arranging sales training if the figures have dropped off, or management training if staff morale is low. The problem with such reactive training is that it tends to be generic or (to coin an awful HR phrase), ‘sheep dip’ in nature, the kind of training that tackles the symptoms and not the cause. Typically this approach to training results in a short-term lift but changes nothing in the long term, effectively offering very little return on investment, and in the worst case, actually disengaging staff and hindering their development.

With that in mind here are four things to think about when arranging training:

1: What are you trying to achieve?

Before arranging any training, it is vital to have an understanding of what you want to achieve, and why. Put simply, the training must be designed to address the requirements of the participants. Sending sales people who struggle to close deals on a ‘closing skills’ course, may appear to be logical at first sight, but what if the underlying reason for their difficulty lies elsewhere – for example in poor questioning skills, or in the way they are managed? So talk to your staff, and talk to training providers, be open to new ideas and be ready to have your assumption challenged.

2: Train the right people!

You’d be amazed how often our trainers hear the phrase ‘my manager needs to go on this course.’ When thinking about training, you need to make sure that you are focusing on the right people. For example, if a sales team are underperforming, then it may mean that they need some help, but what about the sales manager? Is the team’s performance down to them? Perhaps the manager lacks the skills to motivate and support their staff effectively. If this is the case, then all the sales training in the world will not address the root cause. The same goes for middle managers, ask yourself, can any of their issues be traced upwards? What behaviours do the senior management team display, and are any of the negatives trickling down. Senior people can find it hard to admit that they’d like some support, but there’s nothing remedial about good training, personal development can only be positive.

3: Make the training relevant!

Sadly we often meet clients who have previously suffered poor training. Sometimes this is down to weak delivery, but often the cause is simpler – the training was not participant relevant. If participants cannot see how to link what they are learning back to their own roles, then at best they may find the training interesting, but not particularly useful, and at worst they may be bored and irritated. In order to be effective, training must be made relevant on a personal level. In practice this means effective pre-course consultancy – ensuring the provider understand participant requirements as well as organisational ones. By keeping group sizes small you can ensure that participants are able to fully engage with the trainer, and understand how to apply what they are learning to their workplace.

4: The importance of support.

Before embarking on any training, whether it be a one day course or a full blown programme, we’d recommend that you think very carefully about how you plan to support the training. Effective support is absolutely key to the success of any training event; without support it is almost impossible to embed learning and sustain any long term improvement in performance. Staff should come back from any training event feeling excited, motivated and eager to put new ideas and skills to the test. Invariably not everything new they try will work first time, they may meet resistance from colleagues, lack the confidence to make changes, or just struggle to transfer classroom learnt skills to the reality of the workplace. If there are no systems in place to support newly trained staff, then the vast majority of them will lapse back in to old habits, effectively rendering the training worthless. On the other hand, well supported staff will maintain momentum and continue to improve and develop. There are many ways of providing support, but in our experience there are two broad methods which prove particularly effective when combined:

Firstly, ensure that management are fully aware of what the training entailed. This may mean just reading the course agenda, arranging a debrief with the provider, with the stakeholders, or just pending time speaking with their staff about the training. Only by understanding what the training entailed can managers hope to provide valuable support. There’s nothing more damaging to training effectiveness than a manager who appears disinterested, or simply expects their staff to improve post-training, without offering to support them!

Secondly, ensure that staff take responsibility for their own development. At Phoenix we ask participants to complete a personal action plan. This doesn’t have to be anything major, just a commitment to trying out some new ideas or making a few changes on the back of the training. Ideally these plans should be shared with line managers and followed up on – if the participant has met their goals then this is an opportunity for praise (and a great indicator of success), if they are struggling then it’s an opportunity to provide further support and encourage development.

James Ashburnham, Client Manager, Phoenix Training

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Team Building Day – Yapp Brothers – by Marina Wirkner

Monday, January 11th, 2010

I recently had the honour of co-facilitating a Team Building Day with Yapp Brothers Wine Merchants.  Being part of the Sales team here at Phoenix, it was a fantastic opportunity for me to see up close exactly how this type of event is successfully conducted.

yappThe focus of the day was about working more effectively together and increasing trust and communication throughout the team. Following a consultation with two members of the Executive team, an event was designed that would highlight the business challenges that were currently being faced and the positive impact that effective teamwork, communication and collaboration would have on both the results and the engagement and motivation of the whole team

I had heard a lot about team building days previously and I always wondered what they were about and what participants actually learn on a day like this. Even more importantly, I had questioned how what happened on a team building day would link back to the everyday working environment. I have to say though that the whole event really opened my eyes; it was delivered in a really unique style, incorporating high levels of creativity, interaction and challenge!

One of the things that I noticed was that initially the participants were a bit reluctant to put all their trust in each other believingScoop that they were in competition, although that was never in the brief they received. Once they realised that by working together they could achieve more, they began to share information and resources with amazing results.

Through effective communication, collaboration, teamwork and trust, everyone worked more efficiently and tasks were finished far quicker. The difference in the levels of individual and collective motivation, commitment to the task and quality of the results was astounding.

As we started the review of the activity, one of things that I found most interesting was that it was the participants, rather than waiting for the facilitator to do it, that recognised and highlighted many of the things that I have mentioned. Talking openly about what had happened during the activity and the impact that it had on them, they also started to relate many of the examples to work specific situations. Finally, and without much prompting, they also began to plan how they needed to take the ‘learns’ from the activity and apply them back at work to achieve a truly collaborative result.

pyramidHaving observed the event and spoken with the members of the Executive team, it is apparent that the Team Building day is simply the first step towards the embedding of a new set of team behaviours that will improve results even further. The Executive team were quick to recognise that to embed and sustain the change, will require their time and continued focus to make the new behaviours habitual.

Yapp Brothers have begun this process and are already beginning to establish their ground rules. It is these behavioural ground rules that will underpin the vision, values and performance of the company going forward.  Phoenix has and will continue to support this process. Three months later it is clear to everyone that the day was not simply fun but more importantly it has created a real difference in their work environment with the participants consistently still demonstrating the collaborative team behaviours and seeing a tangible difference in motivation and results .

Stick GameOne of the conclusions that I drew from attending the event is that a day out of the office rather than just being fun needs to give people a chance to stop for a moment, step back from their day to day tasks and spend a bit of time re-evaluating their strengths & development areas.  People need to be given the opportunity to ask themselves – what works for me currently or what am I good at? What is more challenging or more difficult?  How can I begin to work or build upon and address these areas? And finally what help, direction or support do I need for others around me?  From a team perspective, a day like this offers the chance for people to get to know each other again even often after working together for years. It can be a real eye opener for people to become more aware of and appreciate others’ strengths. They can then truly start to recognise and implement  their strengths to achieve the maximum individual, collective and business potential.

It was a brilliant day and I’m really looking forward to getting involved in another event soon!Thriller dance 1Thriller dance

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On-boarding – lessons from a new hire!

Monday, December 7th, 2009

By Lawrence White – [New] Senior Learning Consultant at Phoenix Training and Development

lawrence-white-imageWell, 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!

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Full-Time Trainers – Adding Value Where it Counts Most – Tim Holmes

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

lawrence-white-imageIt’s been an exciting 12 months for Phoenix, culminating this month with the arrival of Lawrence White, our brand new permanent Senior Learning Consultant, who has come to us fresh from HSBC.

Lawrence was a high-flier at HSBC, filling a multitude of roles during an illustrious career with them, including 8 years within the bank’s Learning & Development Team.  He was also part of the HSBC ‘Talent Pool’, designated as one of the top 5% of managers in the business.

A proven leader, coach, and sales professional, he brings a great deal to our team, including TAP, MBTI, & Prism Profiling accreditation, not to mention a huge store of practical experience designing and delivering.

tim-holmes-profile-picBut it’s what Lawrence brings as a permanent member of the Phoenix team that I wanted to briefly reflect on in this post, as it is his full-time status that, from a client perspective, we believe will add the most significant value over time.

Until the 1st November 2008, Phoenix operated with a familiar model in the training industry: aside from our MD, Bill Osmond, every one of our trainers was an Associate, i.e. they were freelancers with particular subject or industry specialisms, who we called on to fulfil work under our banner, as and when required.  This arrangement is ideal for a small training provider, as it enables you to punch far above your weight, bringing in delivery resource according to sales – and in truth the rationale is generally a financial one: why pay a salary for someone who might not be needed all the time?  Instead, bring people in when you need them and pay them a daily rate; and when you don’t have work, there is no overhead.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting down freelancers: many of Phoenix’s Associate Consultants have been working with us for more than a decade, and will continue to do so.  Moreover, these long-term collaborators have successfully aligned themselves very closely with what we call The Phoenix Way – our methods and philosophies of training, and our focus on the practical transfer of learning.  I salute the fantastic job they do as designers and deliverers.  Thank you guys!

However, even the most dedicated freelancer has to take off their ‘Phoenix hat’ at some point, and turn their attentions to their other non-Phoenix projects – and it was a realisation that as a company we wanted to consistently uphold The Phoenix Way, and give maximum attention to the pre-course and post-course elements of the learning cycle, that led us to a turning-point decision: to build a full-time team of Phoenix Trainers.

Thus in November 2008 we started with our first talent acquisition, Phoenix’s Head of Learning Martin le Comte.  Martin joined from Barclays Asset & Sales Finance, and had been runner-up in the Training Journal 2007 Training Professional of the Year Awards. Martin is an absolutely inspirational figure to everyone he works with: he has an infectious charisma and ability to carry participants with him on even the most difficult development journeys, and in a very short time he was proving the absolute wisdom of the full-time trainer model.  Client after client has fed back how much they appreciate his passion and commitment, and prove it by rebooking with us again and again.

Specifically what makes the difference with a full-time trainer is their ability to extend our engagement with clients without having to charge them on a measured time basis – it lets us truly operate with Covey’s Abundance Mentality.  For example:

  • You want to meet us to discuss possible content?  That’s no problem.
  • You’ve decided to use Phoenix, but feel that the participant buy-in would be enhanced if delegates had a chance to meet their trainer in advance of the course? No problem.
  • You want to debrief the training with all stakeholders round the table?  It’s all part of the service.
  • We’ve delivered a successful programme for managers, but they would benefit from a bit of impartial advice on dealing with specific issues from time to time?  No problem, our full-time trainers make sure everyone they train has their mobile number, and it’s not a problem to call or email at any time.  Genuinely.  Many of our participants use Martin or Bill or now Lawrence as informal coaches or mentors, long after the formal training events they may have attended.

In these and many other ways, having full-time trainers means that we can add value at every stage of the learning cycle, and it enables us to move training away from its traditional, transactional footing (you pay your money, the trainer delivers a course for a day), into a properly ongoing process of development in which we partner with clients.  They can then use us as and when they need us, in a variety of ways and on deeper and deeper levels, so as to help drive real change in their people, and ultimately their organisations.

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The Problem with Training – Bill Osmond

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

As a training company, we are often asked to provide a training course to solve a problem.  A sales team is new, a sales team is not hitting its target, a manager can’t communicate, a coach can’t coach.  All manner of issues are thrown at us and the course of action seems obvious – go on a course. The magic cure to all problems.  It is more and more apparent to me that the cure for all these issues does not come in the shape of a one day or even a two day training course. This is a difficult admission for a training company to make but a one day course alone will not solve all of the problems & it will not change behaviours for ever.  It should however be the start of the process.

If carefully designed and delivered well, keeping in mind the objectives of the client and the participant, there is no doubt that a training course can make a big difference to an individual or a team’s performance.  However, it is what is done either side of the course that will make even more difference.  Careful pre course work will create a solid foundation for the course to grow from.  Too often participants arrive on the course without knowing why they are there or even what the course is covering that day!  Buyers of training and organisers of training have a responsibility to set the day up as best as possible.  They should talk to the participants, show them the agenda & discuss objectives.  As I write this I’m thinking surely this would be done, but my experience tells me that often it is not.  We offer pre course consultancy or a meeting with participants before the course but it is seldom used.

getting a push from his cycling coach - _MG_0092

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The course itself should challenge and enthuse the participants.  It should leave the group feeling that they can try to use what they have learnt and will have practiced doing so.  Confidence will be high, so what environment will they find on their return from the course?  Too often they find an environment that does not support the training and managers do not have the skills to support the participant after the course.  Managers often hear that the course “was great” and it was “really helpful” and this lulls them into a false sense of security.  This does not mean that the job is done.  The participant will be keen to use what they have learnt and will say all the right things.  However, they will often be as confused by the training as they are excited.  Often training produces as many questions as it does answers.  Most people attend a course having been going along quite nicely, using techniques and skills built up over a period of years possibly.  They then attend a course that introduces a few new ideas or techniques to try and  they get a chance to practice these skills in the safe environment of the training room and then they return to the live environment.  They try to use the ideas and techniques and run into problems and understandably some of their enthusiasm is dented.  After a while they start to feel uncomfortable using the new skills and drift back towards their old, tried and tested methods.

Bicycles leaning in a turn

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The environment that the participant returns to dictates the success or failure of the training.  Someone said to me recently that if you put a lovely new gold fish into a tank of dirty water, it won’t do very well.  Obvious I guess!  To help the participant do well, whilst they are out on the course, what goes on back in the workplace?  Does the tank and the water get cleaned? If managers and their support systems are not geared up to help and support the individual, results will not improve over the long term.   If you take training seriously don’t just buy a course.  Analyse the requirement, involve the participants, support the returning participant, follow up the training, read the reports, get the trainer back, train the managers to help their team members do anything you can to help and in short, accept that the course is the start of what could be a long process.  Overnight cures happen rarely.  Improvement can be achieved quickly but it is difficult to sustain.  Test the training company that you want to use and find out what they do to turn a training course into a successful learning experience?

I am not a great fan of trainer jargon and “a successful learning experience” sounds a bit like I am going down that route.  What I mean is that anyone can deliver a two day sales course but not many can deliver a series of events and interventions that ensure at the end of a year or any given period, techniques and behaviours are firmly embedded and results are greatly improved.

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Meet the Trainer – Daryon Eldridge

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

daryon-eldridge-casualDaryon Eldridge – HR & Performance Management Training

1. How long have you been a trainer?

15 years now

2. What did you do before?

I could never decide between HR & Training so I alternated between the two & now I train on HR topics which solves my dilemma.

3. How did you get into training?

I was always bored on training courses & wanted to explore how people could learn in more interesting & effective ways. So I turned the tables round. I still continue to be a difficult delegate!

4. What do you specialise in?

Anything to do with people – how to solve people problems & management techniques through to specific HR topics.

5. Can you tell me 5 top tips?

  1. Give to get – help people & they or someone else will reciprocate
  2. Be positive but realistic – see the glass half full but realise it will evaporate if you don’t drink it quickly!
  3. Learning is something that happens every day in ways we don’t realise
  4. Find a role model & learn from their positive behaviours
  5. Find something you love doing & make it a career or hobby

6. What did you want to be when you grew up?

Taller!

7. Describe your most embarassing moment

I was running a training course in the summer wearing a wraparound skirt. The tie round the waist must have got untied…..Need I say more!

8. What really annoys you?

Negative people who moan about things all the time but don’t take action to change their situation.

9. In your opinion, what makes a good trainer?

Someone who knows their stuff but is truly interested in the development of others & not their own ego. It is not about entertaining people but motivating people & channelling their energies & focus. A good trainer will encourage action back at the work place not just discussion in the training room.

10. What is exciting you in the realm of learning & development currently?

I like the idea of these team building drumming workshops – music does bring people together & helps creativity.

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Time Management – The Real Secret to Success

Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Original depiction of fictional anthropomorphi...
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Ever wondered why some people succeed and others don’t, despite them apparently having similar abilities and experience? The difference is likely to be that one understands the secret of time management and the other does not. It’s an obvious fact that everyone has the same amount of time available but here are six tips to manage that time to maximise success.

Tip #1 – Work to your internal clock

Some people work best in the morning whilst others don’t get going until the afternoon. Understand which type you are and do the hardest tasks at your best time.

Tip #2 – Prioritise effectively

Separate the important and the urgent, and do those tasks which are both urgent and important first. Leave any other tasks, since they will get done if time permits.

Tip #3 – Take time to be visible

Make sure you are seen regularly by senior decision makers, even if only to say hello. You need to be a familiar face before anything else and if you get the chance to discuss an issue then don’t be shy – go for it!

Tip #4 – Schedule tasks and not just meetings

Most people just schedule meetings, but if you schedule time to do specific tasks, particularly those which are urgent and important, then you will find you achieve and deliver far more than you currently do.

Tip #5 – Present your ideas to senior management

Take time to develop your ideas to improve the business. If you can demonstrate a proven ability to improve the bottom line then you will progress quickly.

Tip #6 – Stop working all the time and start thinking

Everyone thinks that working hard is the secret of success but there is a better way. Take time out to think deeply about the issues that your business faces and develop ideas to deal with these issues. There are plenty of worker bees, the really successful are those that think outside the box and solve problems by leveraging the effects of others.

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Increased Interest in Management & Leadership Training – Bill Osmond

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

bill-osmond-squareA noticeable trend in the type of enquiries we have been receiving has appeared.  Over the last few months Phoenix Training and Development has seen a steady increase in the amount of Management and Leadership enquiries that we receive.  As a company we have always offered both Sales and Management training and have sought not to specialise in one particular area.  Sales training would always dominate our enquiries, that is until this year.  We are now, for the first time, providing more Management and Leadership training than any other subject.

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”.

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Martin’s Blog – 26th July 2009

Monday, August 10th, 2009

martinAuthentic Leadership

Well, here it goes my first attempt at a blog.

Don’t get me wrong I love technology, I love the internet, l love my iPod, I even love my laptop even though it’s no Mac Air Book, I’m just not very good with it, let’s just say it doesn’t come naturally!

So forgive me if I’m no professional blogger but what I will do is share with you my experiences as a learning consultant, the things I notice, the different things I pick up and the things people say that make a ‘real’ difference.

So let me start by sharing with you what I’ve been up to over the last couple of weeks.

I have been working with a client on developing and delivering a leadership programme and have been co-delivering the first three of a four modular pilot programme that will be running over the next four to five months.

The framework that we chose to use is Kouzes and Posner, underpinned by five key leadership principles:

  • Model the Way
  • Inspire a Shared Vision
  • Challenge the Process
  • Encourage the Heart
  • Enable others to Act

I have to admit before I started working with them on this piece of work, Kouzes and Posner were new to me. There are so many leadership frameworks out there, sometimes its difficult to know which one to use. In my humble opinion, in essence they all have the same simple key message: effective leadership is about the people rather than the process! Simple, huh?

Well yes and no;  the theory of Kouzes and Posner and most of these leadership models and theories is easy, it’s the effective application of them that makes them challenging. How do you effectively measure for example Model the Way?

Many of these frameworks give you the ‘what’ but not, and probably most importantly, the ‘how‘. The biggest challenge when delivering leadership development or training programmes, and ironically the thing that makes the biggest impact, is communicating the ‘how’ to your participants.

How often do people in leadership roles talk about the tasks and duties that they need to carry out to meet their performance targets? The things that I commonly hear are “I need to conduct this individuals’ performance or development review” or “find time to complete their one to one”. Often it is not because they want to do it but because they have to do it to tick a box to say it has been completed. Using Kouzes and Posner’s framework how can leaders possibly ‘Encourage the Heart’ when many businesses and organisations and we as facilitators and consultants, make leadership into a process?

If leadership is about the people and not about the process how can you get that important message across in a session or to the people that you lead on a daily basis?

The answer to that question is never going to be a process. Yes, there are some great leadership tools that you can add and develop over time, but building a great toolkit of knowledge will never make you a great leader.  It would be easy to just pick the perceived great leaders from history and say “just do as they did and you’ll be great” although I’m not sure that I agree. How relevant are the great leaders from history in our everyday lives in offices, schools, colleges and factories? If we are to base our leadership skills and abilities on the greatest leaders in history, we will often find ourselves coming up short and potentially lose the will to keep developing. In any case I’ll wager that history records their achievements far more vehemently than any failures or bad experiences they may have had, Winston Churchill anyone?

Great inspirational leaders are there in our everyday lives in all of the places that I’ve just mentioned. I always ask myself what is it that these people demonstrate that makes such a difference. My best friend Elizabeth has a great word for it, the word that she uses is ‘authentic’. Great leaders are authentic, what they say and do come from both the head and the heart. They are brave and often need to make difficult decisions that others may not like, but the driver behind those decisions is simple ‘do the right thing’ rather than ‘do the thing right’. So easy to say but so difficult to do, how often have you wanted or needed to give someone some feedback about a behaviour or action and felt something stopping you? I’ll be honest I fail that challenge almost every day in some way or another.

Ever been in restaurant where the service and food has been terrible and when the waitress asks you if everything is ok, you say “lovely thank you” and even leave a tip! Authentic leadership doesn’t mean being rude it just means being genuine, if someone asks you a question, be accurate in your response, otherwise how will they get the information they really need? Here is another example that we’ve been discussing over the last couple of weeks -  how often has a manager or leader asked you how you were and before even thinking about your response you’ve said ‘fine, thanks’ even though that is far from the truth. Worse still have you ever asked the same question of someone else and been relieved when they said ‘fine’ or felt uncomfortable if they are brave enough to tell you they are not fine? Worst of all have you ever asked that same question and carried on walking  before they’ve finished responding.

Let’s really think about the questions that we ask our people and why we are asking them and be ‘authentic’ when we do.

Ask your people about what they are working on, what is gong well and what isn’t and most importantly why? Ask them about what they’ve already tried and what they need from you? What and where do they need to develop further? Ask for feedback on you and how you lead them as an individual, what do you do that works for them and what doesn’t?

Being authentic isn’t a ‘what’, it’s about ‘how’ you are and choose to be. You can’t teach someone to be ‘authentic’, how could anyone else really know who the ‘authentic’ you is? Think about how much more we’d know about the people that we lead and what they need from you if they knew that you were truly interested, just remember the teacher who had the biggest positive impact on you, I’ll bet they demonstrated real interest in you. Just think of the impact to be had on the individuals you lead when they know that sitting opposite you in their weekly or monthly one to one wasn’t just a process but something that was all about them and their development.

If you don’t do this already, and please be authentic when you ask yourself that question, just try it and see what happens. It may take some time for people to truly open up and buy in because we all get used to and comfortable with the process, but in regards to Kouzes and Posner I’m certain that they would be great demonstrations of Encourage the Heart, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to act and Model the way. And maybe with a fair wind behind you and a bit of luck and determination “Inspire a Shared Vision” too.

Try it and let me know how you get on…

Martin

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