Tag Archives: leadership

News

Durham University Business School Welcomes Sally Guyer as Professor in Practice

Durham University Business School has announced the appointment of Sally Guyer, Global CEO of World Commerce & Contracting, to its faculty as Professor in Practice in Strategy and Innovation.

 

Created to bring public distinction and practical insights to the classroom and applied research, Durham’s Professors in Practice initiative recognises the skills, perspectives and experiences of senior business professionals and enables students to directly benefit from them. Such individuals are invited to lead classes and workshops, support education in their individual areas of expertise, and engage with research that addresses real world challenges.

 

Starting on May 3rd 2021, Sally will join the Business School’s faculty in delivering modern, immersive education programmes that reflect and address the key issues facing industry today, and in fostering greater connection between Durham University and members of World Commerce and Contracting.

 

Speaking on her appointment and what she hopes to bring to the role, Sally said;

 

“I am truly excited to accept this appointment as Professor in Practice and to all that this collaboration between Durham University and World Commerce & Contracting will bring. We live in a time of such tremendous change that the connection between industry and academia has never been more important. Academia brings essential rigour and research in support of the fact-based decision making required in the world of practice. Equally students today need to be educated in a way that enables them to effectively apply their learning in our rapidly changing world. I look forward to contributing fully to this wide-ranging role, to supporting the development of a regional innovation and commercial ecosystem, and of course to inspiring the many students of Durham.”

 

With over 70,000 members and over 20,000 organisations from both the private and public sector, World Commerce & Contracting (WorldCC) is the world’s leading professional association in commercial management, contracting and negotiations. Its mission is to improve the quality and integrity of trading relationships. In her role as Global CEO, Sally sets the direction for the Association, including its research and advocacy initiatives and extensive portfolio of learning and development programs.

 

With qualifications in law and an accomplished background in consultancy (supporting the SME sector) and entrepreneurship, Sally has led a prestigious career. During this she has gained extensive practical experience in commercial and contract management, and developed a keen interest in the role and impact of technology on business and government commercial relationships. Her perspectives and expertise are regularly sought for influential industry and governmental events and bodies such as the EU Commission.

 

The Professor in Practice initiative also provides the opportunity for Durham University’s faculty to directly connect with business practice and public policy, enabling their research to have an actionable, positive impact on society. In this role, Sally will be assisting the Business School in the development of an innovation and commercial ecosystem, and supporting B2B and B2C activity in small and medium sized companies in the North East.

 

Sally’s other duties will include;

 

  • Hosting guest lectures for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes,
  • Participating in masterclasses – both individually and in collaboration with other Professors in Practice and honorary appointed staff,
  • Contributing expertise to alumni events
  • Collaborating with the School and its faculty on cutting edge research projects,
  • Assisting the Centre for Innovation and Technology Management and the Wilson Institute to work with Durham City in developing the entrepreneurial capabilities of local start-ups focused on technological innovation, and commercial management and contracting,

 

Tyrone Pitsis, Professor of Strategy and Technology at Durham University Business School has supported Sally’s appointment, highlighting the value her expertise will bring to the School’s teaching, research, and student engagement.

 

Professor Pitsis said;

 

“Sally epitomises the idea of the ‘curious practitioner’.  She is the leader one of the world’s most successful and prestigious associations, has been a successful entrepreneur and also actively engages with the scholarly world.  She represents exactly the sort of person business schools should engage with to ensure they design and offer education and conduct research that can have a real, sustainable and discernible impact on our beneficiaries”.

 

In her first official duty, Sally will be a panellist at the upcoming Virtual Global Debate, hosted by the Business School in collaboration with the Management Centre Innsbruck (MCI), on Monday 3rd May.  Entitled “Entrepreneurship meets Digitalization: Academia & Business jointly shaping the future , Sally will be joined by industry professionals and Business School faculty for a debate on the subject of value networks and digital technologies.

 

Those interested in attending the event can sign up via the School’s website.

News

Good at playing video games? You might also make a good leader

Video games can be used to assess the capabilities of aspiring managers by recruiters, according to a new study from the Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University (RSM) and the University of Liechtenstein.

 

Conducted by Dr Markus Weinmann along with colleagues; Dr Alexander Simons and Dr Isabell Wohlgenannt from the University of Liechtenstein and Dr Stefan Fleischer of the University of Münster, the study built upon pre-existing research into the benefits of using specifically-designed recruitment games and tasks (a tactic called “gamification”) to judge applicants’ capabilities.

 

Their study analyses whether off-the-shelf video games can also indicate essential management skills possessed by applicants to senior-level roles.

 

Using the popular strategy game Civilization, which may be considered a modern-day equivalent to chess, the researchers enlisted 40 business students to learn the rules of the game – giving them a month to do so, before playing a series of timed games against each other under test conditions.

 

Participants were also required to complete a series of typical assessment centre exercises, designed to measure the managerial skills most commonly desired by employers when selecting candidates for senior-level positions. These include; consideration and awareness of others, communication, ability to influence others, organising and planning, and problem-solving.

 

The study found that those students who achieved high scores within Civilization were also revealed to possess significantly better problem-solving, and organizing and planning skills.

 

Dr Weinmann says:

 

“IT has already disrupted traditional forms of personnel section – conducting reference checks via business-oriented sites likes LinkedIn for example. Whilst gamification is nothing new the potential of commercial video games in assessing talent has long been ignored by HR experts. Our research shows the competences revealed by job applicants by playing such games can offer many benefits to employers, particularly for management level roles. The high levels of complexity that players are confronted with require them to plan their actions carefully, develop sophisticated strategies, employ critical thinking and negotiate with other players – all critical skills for managerial roles.”

 

Whilst the researchers acknowledge that video games are unlikely to replace the traditional assessment centre recruitment methods, they state that their use provides a significant advantage. Video games allow recruiters to see and measure skills that may not be as visible, or measured as accurately through other methods.

 

For example, in analysing the in-game data such as the chat function, the researchers suggest that strategy games such as Civilization could be effective in enabling recruiters to conduct “stealth assessments” – which can reduce test anxiety because applicants can fully immersive themselves in the game  – providing a more holistic insight into not just their communication and negotiation skills but their personalities. Furthermore, analysing gameplay performance data could also provide a key indicator to potential managerial performance and capabilities.

 

An additional benefit suggested by the researchers is that using such games as part of the skills assessment process could also provide an opportunity for recruiters to save both time and money.

 

In terms of personnel development, the researchers also suggest that deliberately designed strategy games may not only be used to measure performance but may also be used by organisations in-house to improve certain skills, enabling employees to train and test their abilities before putting themselves forward for promotion.

 

The study, “Good gamers, good managers? A proof-of-concept study with Sid Meyer’s Civilization” is published and available via the Review of Managerial Science.

News

Imperial College Business School launches new Virtual Strategic Brand Transformation Executive Education Programme.

A new Executive Education programme, designed to enable senior level professionals to maximise their organisation’s market penetration, increase revenue and enhance brand awareness has been launched by Imperial College Business School.

The Strategic Brand Transformation Imperial Virtual Programme will enable participants to proactively question and test their assumptions of how to effectively engineer sustained growth, cut wasteful spending and bring positive change to their organisations at a time when many face an uncertain and untested economic landscape.

Led by Thomas Bayne, Director of Mountainview Learning, alongside Imperial’s Dr Omar Merlo, an expert in strategic marketing and customer engagement, the programme will deliberately bring together a range of professionals who hold responsibility for innovation and growth. Over the course of three days, preceded by a five-day orientation period, business leaders, C-suite executives, strategy leaders, brand managers and customer experience managers will combine and challenge their thinking, ideas and understanding.

Dr Merlo believes the timing of this programme’s launch is vital, as organisations face an unprecedented challenge in remaining effective in a world impacted by the repercussions of both political and environmental issues, such as Brexit and the recent pandemic.

Dr Merlo says,

“There are many long-held assumptions about what drives growth for organisations, but many are outdated relics from pre-digital revolution or were not true in the first place. Consequently, by following them, they return sub-optimal results. The Strategic Brand Transformation Imperial Virtual Programme aims to tackle these problems, enabling participants to question and test their assumptions, understand and engineer the true drivers of business growth and become change agents.”

The programme will be taught virtually via the Business School’s award-winning online learning Hub. Lectures will be delivered live to participants combined with opportunities to conduct group exercises in virtual “Break out” rooms. Together, participants will engage in case study-analysis and problem-solving activities, peer discussions and undergo self-assessment to better understand their own learning and professional development needs.

Modules included on the programme include sessions in “Brain Science”, analysing decision making and buying behaviour, understanding growth frameworks and metrics and overcoming the common barriers between consumers and brands.

Upon completion of the programme, participants will be awarded a verified Digital Certificate of Participation by Imperial College Business School Executive Education.

Thomas Bayne says,

“There is enough compelling evidence to say that many brand owners are unaware of the ‘rules of thumb’ their customers are using to make buying decisions. It doesn’t matter how brilliant your product or service is, or how much you spend on marketing; what matters is how much you know about these rules of growth and how to take advantage of them.

For example, if you want your brands to fly, penetration is the number one growth metric, yet only 6 out of 100 brands across 64 different categories increased it by 0.5 percentage points or more in two consecutive years (pre Covid 19).

If you want to do it more profitably, be aware that some brands are spending more than twice as much (per $1 of net sales) on marketing as their direct competitors which has a devastating impact on brand profitability.”

The Strategic Brand Transformation Imperial Virtual Programme is the latest of a series of successful virtual programmes launched by the School’s Executive Education department, leveraging the Business School’s proven excellence in delivering digital learning to effective address core business needs.

Applications for the programme are now open, and the upcoming cohort commences on April 7th. More information can be obtained from the Imperial College Business School Executive Education website.

Health, Mental Health, News

New research reveals lessons for leaders in protecting mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19

New research from Durham University Business School has surveyed people living and working across the UK, France, Germany, Canada and the US, to understand the impact of ongoing Covid-19 restrictions on mental health and wellbeing.

The study, conducted by Professor Roger Gill, Visiting Professor of Leadership Studies, in partnership with Professor Matt Grawitch and colleagues at St Louis University in Missouri, surveyed participants throughout June 2020 to explore how various demographic factors, individual differences and leadership experiences had influenced people’s perceptions of the Covid-19 pandemic on their lives and its actual impact.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, individual differences in adaptivity and resilience as well as effective leadership were found to positively contribute to participants’ work engagement. However, the study delivered some unexpected results.

While demographic factors such as being an essential worker or being responsible for children certainly influenced how lockdown restrictions impacted the respondents’ lives, there was no evidence to suggest that these had any negative impact on health or wellbeing.

In fact, all these factors led to better wellbeing outcomes.

Professor Gill says;

“It’s true that many workers encountered new demands on their time, such as needing to learn new tech like Zoom or navigating makeshift work procedures, and new financial demands as well as facing the loss of essential financial resources. However, the shift created a series of trade-offs for most people. There were different constraints on the way people allocated their time, energy and money that did not necessarily lead to negative consequences.”

For example, those who previously faced lengthy commutes benefitted from a better work-life balance and reduced expenses, and those with insecure work hours or placed on furlough were able to qualify for financial support to ease the burden.

Instead, the key difference in participants’ lockdown experience was found in their individual levels of resilience. Those better prepared for remote living and working via flexible work arrangements prior to lockdown fared better than others, regardless of personal circumstances.

The researchers say the study provides vital lessons for individuals, employers and indeed governments in protecting people’s mental health and wellbeing, in the event of future pandemics and lockdown scenarios.

Firstly, they state it’s important for individuals to recognise that increasing their personal resources (time, energy and money) may help them to mitigate the pandemic’s negative impact on their wellbeing.

Similarly, business leaders would benefit from understanding how employees’ individual differences and resources may impact their work-related well-being, particularly when new rules and procedures such as socially-distanced office set-ups, long-term remote working and extended furlough are implemented.

Leaders must also create working conditions that preserve the mental health and wellbeing of their employees. Helping employees to recognise signs of stress and their causes, maintaining an open-door policy for discussing problems, and providing training in managing workloads are all simple but vital steps.
For governments, the researchers say it’s vital that policymakers track society’s mental, physical and work-related health status when considering and implementing lockdown measures in future.

Professor Gill says;

“Given the dynamic nature of lockdowns and restrictions, it is important to track how people in various parts of the world are responding to the crisis and its effects on individual health. Our findings have important implications for individuals, organisations and society as a whole.”

 

Employee Engagement, News, News for HRDs

Why your employee engagement strategy should be inclusive and a collaborative effort in 2021

Julie Cameron, MD and founder of DRIVE Engagement, talks about engagement strategies and how to re-engage your team

For years, businesses of all sizes have pumped time and thought into their employee engagement strategies – and rightly so. After all, data proves just how costly it can be to run a ship with a disconnected and unengaged crew. According to Gallup, disengaged employees can result in 37% higher absenteeism, 18% lower productivity and 15% lower profitability within the workplace.

Despite these statistics providing a very clear narrative on why employee engagement is so integral to business success, the reality is that businesses often misjudge how to address it properly. More often than not companies address engagement from a top-down perspective. Doing so means that these strategies fail to address the real issues at hand and do not reflect the wants and needs of the most critical part of the business; the employees themselves.

In this article we will talk about the difference between a hierarchical and an employee led engagement strategy and explain how a firm can reap all the by-products when they really get their teams motivated and engaged in what they do. With companies tightening their purse strings as a result of the pandemic, hopefully we can demonstrate that employee engagement no longer needs to be pushed down the ‘to do’ list in 2021.

2020 and the fractured workforce

And if employee engagement wasn’t seen as important enough, in March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic gave many businesses even more of a reason to focus on it. As so many businesses closed their doors and moved to a remote (and somewhat fractured way of working), they witnessed employees feeling cut off from their peers and line managers. Not only this, but employees also needed to adapt to new ways of working and deal with differing motivations in their personal lives; leaving employees feeling anxious and uncertain. This sudden shift forced HR and leadership teams alike to question how to keep their employees engaged through such an unusual and challenging time, and specifically, how to do this at a time when the purse strings were very tight.

Businesses across the UK took to the internet in a bid to find answers to their questions. In fact, in December 2020, search volume for the term “employee wellbeing” reached its highest ever level; 300% higher than the same month in the previous year. Plus, in May, the question “How to engage employees” was searched more than it had been since 2008.

Whilst the internet does, of course, provide a wealth of information, what many businesses often fail to recognise is that the answer to creating a fruitful employee engagement strategy can often be found much closer to home and within their teams themselves.

Management led vs direct employee feedback

In order to determine the most effective employee engagement strategy, the one that will dramatically increase engagement in an organisation, the first step is to acknowledge that a problem exists in the first place. To do this, it is important to recognise the characteristics of an ineffective strategy.
Many firms often make the mistake of treating employee engagement as a human resource (HR) issue. Often, someone from HR convinces the CEO to commit some budget to an employee survey. Once the survey is complete, the data is then kept locked-away, senior leaders brainstorm ideas and then implement changes that they believe will engage employees. This is where we see those extrinsic initiatives such as free fruit, early finish Fridays, lunch and learns and perhaps a monthly Zoom quiz. Sound familiar?

There are two important issues which arise from this example. Firstly, a misunderstanding of what “employee engagement” is and the weight of influence it has on how successful a company is.

I should stress that employee engagement is not about the satisfaction often felt from receiving material benefits, rather it refers to the emotional commitment an employee has to their organisation, specifically its vision, its purpose and its goals. What we’re talking about here is the difference between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

A top-down approach to the implementation of an employee engagement strategy means front-line leaders are acting as the regulators of employee engagement. A strategy that has been developed through the lens of one or a few senior individuals has the potential to result in something which is dangerously disconnected and unrepresentative of the employees themselves. After all, leaders should never assume they have all the answers.

Sense of belonging

Instead, I would contend that it’s important to consider the drastic evolution of the demands and desires of the employees themselves. The emphasis on what is important (and what motivates us) has shifted somewhat over this past year, and although financial security is still a key focus, there is a deeper sense of personal drivers and motivators when it comes to measuring employee engagement.

There is so much to be said about belonging and feeling part of the greater whole. Nurturing the emotional connections between employees and their workplace will motivate them to remain committed to the company in the long term and bring tangible benefits for everyone.

The key to creating this feeling of belonging is to focus on techniques that give all employees a real voice. For instance, where solutions to problems that the company faces are found by the team themselves collaboratively and are not dictated by those at the top. It all starts with collaborative problem solving and giving each team member greater autonomy to be part of the solution. It’s important to gain employee buy-in to corporate efforts to re-engage by empowering and enabling. Without doing this, you may face a sea of shrugged shoulders and find your engagement programme fails to make significant progress.

Facilitating structured opportunities and giving a voice to people at all levels in the workplace will help ensure employees feel like they are a driving force in a company, wholly connected to its vision and goals, rather than feeling like the company is pulling them along with instructions from the top.
And, in these difficult times where people are more displaced than ever, it is essential to focus on longer term rational strategies. Not only does it make good business sense, but it makes good employee sense as well. Ultimately, it’s this kind of tangible engagement that is win-win, because it continues to pay back year after year, therefore making it entirely free and extremely cost effective to implement.

Bolstering employee engagement and helping employees to feel connected during the pandemic has been and will continue to be one of businesses’ biggest challenges. But now is the time for businesses to intensify their commitment to health, wellbeing, diversity, employee experience and engagement, because those firms who focus on techniques that give their employees a real voice, enabling them to maintain connections and to continue to build relationships with one another, will reap the benefits longer term.

News, Remote Working

How to manage remotely in the Covid world of work

Neil Bradbrook from Ahead Business Consulting shares his tips on remote working

Covid-19 has created mass uncertainty and panic. People are worried about their jobs, their health and their loved ones. Difficult times are when leaders should shine. But how do you lead remotely?

The pandemic has created a whole new set of problems for employees and managers, as well as leaders.

For employees, working from home will suit some better than others. If you have a home office, it’s potentially easier than sitting on the settee and working off your laptop. Or living in a flatshare with several housemates all trying to do the same thing. Video calls and emails are very transactional forms of communication. As humans we are social animals. Not having the kind of watercooler chat and contact with colleagues we enjoyed in the office can feel isolating, with spin-off wellbeing issues.

Managers are generally measured on productivity. They’re used to seeing their employees in the office, where they can watch what they’re doing. Take away the office, and managers can get anxious about what their staff are actually doing. Are they watching daytime telly or putting in the washing? Some managers might start micromanaging, which can be counter-productive.

Leading differently

The leaders trying to pull the whole business together are humans too. So they’re going through the same anxieties about change and uncertainty as everyone else. With the level of uncertainty around coronavirus, it’s difficult to set direction – because you don’t know what’s happening. And then there’s the challenge of finding a way to communicate all that effectively and get your ideas across.

To answer the question I started with, I think there are three key elements to leading remotely.

The first is about removing uncertainty. In my own experience as a business consultant, really effective leaders make some assumptions. They say: this is what we’re going to do. We’re not going to wait for something else to happen. We’re going to progress, to be proactive as a business and give people clear focus. It may be a short-term solution. But it’s something to focus on. A touch point.

The second key focus is addressing that social engagement gap. There were some great stories during lockdown of different approaches. Like setting up drop-in calls, not to talk about work, but just to see how people are doing, either individually or as a group. Some leaders sent personal thank you cards or parcels to people’s homes, to thank them for dealing with the hard times. Not forgetting those employees on furlough. Even if you can’t see people face to face, things like that can make quite a big difference.

Communication choices

Connected to this is the third key element – communication. Before Covid, email traffic was already climbing. But since lockdown, it’s gone off the scale. Suddenly, people are emailing everything to everyone. Trying to read it all is stressful and time-consuming.

Good leaders need to find the right ways of communicating the right information to the right people. A phone call or video call might be good for urgent “right now” information. But for stuff that can wait, email, shared workspaces or even a letter might be better.

My closing suggestion for leaders in the new Covid normal is about training. If you’re shutting offices and making a saving on your premises, don’t bank it. Invest it in training instead. Especially for those who are stepping up to be managers for the first time.

Giving some effective training to your managers will help them understand how to manage effectively – and work with your teams in this new remote world.

Employee Engagement, HR News, News

Psychotic, Incompetent, Greedy or Heroic? – Which Boss are You?

An exploration into how popular fiction has shaped modern business management styles has been published this week, by Dr Martyn Griffin of Durham University Business School.

From, Psychotic, Incompetent or Greedy, to Good or even Heroic, “Fiction and the Identity of the Boss” profiles 100 bosses from film and TV, and categorises them under one of 10 different management types, in an attempt to understand how managers construct their identities.

The categories include;
• The Psychopathic Boss
• The Mean Boss
• The Incompetent Boss
• The Rule-driven Boss
• The Greedy Boss
• The Renegade Boss
• The Burdened Boss
• The Heroic Boss
• The Predatory Boss
• The Good Boss

Dr Griffin says, “The influence of TV and film on the identity of the modern manager is undeniable. Whilst writers, directors and actors often draw upon their own experiences to represent how bosses act in organizational life, these portrayals also feed back in to how managers themselves construct their identities in the workplace, by consciously or unconsciously embracing their behaviours.”

The categorisation serves to help understand the values we appreciate in a boss, and also identify which traits are needed – and which should be abandoned – to create successful leadership in the future.

According to Dr Griffin’s list, the Psychotic Boss – portrayed by Gordon Gekko in Wall Street and Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians – highlights the narcissistic, amoral and single-minded pursuit of success found in some leaders, who place personal success over the wellbeing of their staff, and ultimately get their comeuppance.

Greedy Bosses – a persona synonymous with the CEOs who contributed to the 2008 financial crisis – are depicted by Mr Potter of It’s a Wonderful Life. Whilst the Incompetent Boss – stylised most notably by David Brent in the UK version The Office, and his American counterpart Michael Scott in the US remake of the series, represents the significant lack of self-awareness prevalent in some bosses, who fail to realise that the way they view themselves is wildly different to the perception held by their staff.

No management identity is without fault. Though the Heroic Bosses – most notably portrayed by Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) epitomise the idea that the boss is the solution to all of an organisation’s woes, possessing superhuman qualities to not just get the job done, but to make it better, they notably each have their own form of Kryptonite that brings them down.

Prof Griffin acknowledges that there is no one box for any boss, as it is not just their actions but their intentions that characterise their style. For example, the Good Boss category is not reserved solely for those that turn profits whilst simultaneously investing in their employees. It includes conflicted characters, such as Ted Hastings from BBC police drama Line of Duty, and Judi Dench’s portrayal of “M” in the Bond film Skyfall, whose decisions may not always be popular, but their intentions are always for the greater good.

Though a light-hearted approach to analysing the mindset of the modern boss, the list points to a more serious consideration for the future of successful business leadership.

Dr Griffin says, “The purpose is to understand what kinds of implicit messages are going out to people about expectations around being a manager and being managed. This list captures the way that fictional portrayals of bosses are drawn from the real world and how, indeed, people watching depictions of managers on screen will flow back out in to society and culture, continually shaping our perceptions about what it is to be a manager.”

It serves as an extension of a wider, ongoing research project Dr Griffin has been conducting with fellow Durham University Business School Professor, Mark Learmonth. Their latest work “Fiction and the Identity of the Manager” has been included in “The Oxford Handbook of Identities in Organisations” – published by Oxford University Press earlier this year.

The full list can be found on Dr Griffin’s blog

News

Why confidence matters; a crowdsourced advisory piece

By Ruth Cornish, co-founder and director of HRi

During my career I have worked alongside some extremely successful people. To everyone in the room they ooze confidence; in their own abilities, in their decisions, in their direction and the vision they share. But, of course, behind closed doors things are rarely what they seem. In fact, many of them will have their dark times, their moments of doubt and of course many of them will experience the dreaded Imposter Syndrome.

But I think that the difference between the aforementioned successful professionals and those that struggle to progress, all comes down to one thing; their attitude. These people have harnessed the power of intent and that is both potent and extremely powerful. This, I believe, is the perfect antidote to imposter syndrome.

And I know this because I too have patented and bottled my own. It’s a heady mix of my days in the City and the public sector. My battles with serious health issues, being a parent and guardian to five children, working for myself for 10 years, whilst developing a big vision for external HR and the future. And so today I wanted to take some time to look into confidence and consider the best ways we can all increase our own confidence, especially those who may be suffering with Imposter Syndrome on a regular basis.

But to do that, rather than sitting here and reeling off a catalogue of my own advice, I thought I would do something a little different. Instead, I have crowdsourced advice from a number of industry experts in the HR and leadership world that I admire and asked them their top tips for battling insecurity and increasing confidence. This is what they said..

Our piece kicked off with some rather unusual advice from Steve Price, HR Consultant at SMP Consulting. Steve said that ahead of key events, he liked to use visualisation to boost his confidence. He explains, “it took me some time to really practice the use of visualisation, as I found it difficult to maintain focus. I started with five minutes every morning, just visualising my day ahead and now use it all the time ahead of key events.” Visualisation is certainly an interesting approach and not something I have personally tried before, but I’m sure that many reading this will give it a go, especially if they can use it as part of a meditation or mindfulness session too.

For those who are less inclined to practice visualisation and prefer a good old fashioned self-help book then Jayne Jones, HR Consultant and Founder at Be Business Fit has a great suggestion. She recommends Mindstore by Jack Black, for those suffering with confidence issues. In the book Black encourages readers to create a mental ‘House on the Right Bank’ in the hopes of stimulating the creative side of the brain. Jayne says, “the house design includes a central hallway containing a gallery of images depicting times from our past when we have been at our very best.” Jayne explains that it’s these memories that help the reader feel that they are as good as anyone else and have their own unique qualities. Jayne explains that “comparisons and imposter syndrome are therefore pointless because there is only ever one version of ourselves.” Jayne says this book has really helped her over the years and certainly I think many people will likely want to give this a try after reading her glowing report.

Rachael Troughton, Business Coach from LatenTalent, explained that one thing that can significantly undermine confidence is worrying about what people think about you or your performance. Rachael advised that we should all “proactively request feedback from those whose opinion is important to you and structure your request in a way that insists on developmental as well as positive feedback.” Rachael says this can really help to quiet the niggling voice that worries about performance.

Rachael believes that confidence stems from a strong sense of self. She recommends people explore their core values and how they relate to their professional boundaries and then stick to those boundaries. She says, “it’s important to understand both your core skills and your capability gaps. Leverage the first and fill the second by either building competence (great for confidence!) or outsourcing to someone you know is great.” She also makes a point to cheer others on too. She maintained that if you do indeed outsource to someone else you should tell that person that you have passed work to them because they are great and thus boost their confidence. This is a key point and one that is so often forgotten in our fast paced, competitive working environments. We all need to become cheerleaders, and indeed, be cheered on.

And talking of cheering one another on and offering support, many of those who fed back to me for this piece suggested finding a mentor to help build confidence. Lindesay MacFarlane, Strategic HR Business Partner told us that early in her career, “as a new Trustee I was appointed a mentor (a former board member) and provided with training which confirmed that my voice, my background, and experience mattered. Knowing I had this support gave me confidence to continue and thrive.” I think Lindesay makes such an important point here and I would actively encourage people to seek out a mentor who can help guide them and provide reassurance.

Interestingly Rebecca Francis-Davis, Independent HR Specialist at Swansea Bay HR said that she actually uses imposter syndrome to her advantage. She said that she is grateful for it because “it pushes me to check my gut reaction and look for a different point of view. When I get that blank mind feeling of not knowing the answer, I embrace it.”

Whether you use imposter syndrome to your advantage, practice visualisations or read self-help books, or indeed, take on board any of the other great tips above, certainly the key advice I have heard loud and clear writing this piece is this; back yourself!

It’s only when you back yourself that you can truly achieve your potential. For instance, Morna Bunce, HR Director at Stowe Family Law, explained that whenever she is sitting in a boardroom, she always tries to remind herself that she is the people expert in the room. Certainly, they might be leaders in their respective fields, but she says “they don’t know HR like I do.” Jill Kay, HR Officer at ASD Lighting also agrees with this sentiment. She says that confidence for her comes from the ability to stand by her opinion in the face of opposition. Put simply she backs herself. Similarly, Lucinda Carney, Actus CEO & HRi partner, advises us not to think, but just to do. She reminds us that plenty of people have been very successful simply because they have been brave and put themselves out there.

And I definitely think we should all back ourselves a little more. People work with us for a reason; because we are experts at what we do, we know our stuff and we deserve our seat at the table. We must not forget that. And whilst we’re at it, let’s cheer one another along too because “confidence is contagious, and so too is a lack of confidence.”

 

Engagement, HR News

Listen to Lead. It’s about them, not you

“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” – Dalai Lama XIV

Rab Mulholland, Principal Consultant, Step5, discusses the need to actively listen when engaging employees

A number of years ago, I modified my approach to leading business change programmes, which has been nothing short of transformative. It has helped me free up my time to focus on the c-suite big stuff, develop a high performing and motivated customer-centric team, and it has substantially improved delivery performance for my clients.

Two life events were the catalyst for this change. First, I became CIO for an enterprise going through a complex and troubled business transformation programme with some 70,000-users across 300 multi-tenant, multi-national sites. And I became a Samaritan.

My leadership approach had been the ‘Serve to Lead’ philosophy I was trained in at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst – the aim and unifying actions being decided by the leader and given to the team to enact. Becoming a Samaritan changed my life when I fostered the emotional awareness and listening skills I needed as a volunteer and, from that, developed a new management style to build on my Sandhurst leadership grounding.

This so-called listening leadership approach is my adaptation of the six principles on the Samaritans’ ‘Listening Wheel ’ – the model the charity uses to train its volunteers in the art of active listening.

As the leader, you are often seen as the ‘answers person’. However, my experience has shown me that encouraging employees to look to themselves for the answers is much more effective. It helps them develop professionally, contribute creatively, feel empowered and take ownership of their responsibilities. And it benefits you, as the leader, and the wider business, too.

Helping your employees to become problem solvers requires less talking and more listening – really listening. As Stephen R. Covey puts it in his best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” ‘Listen to Lead’ is based on actively listening to understand what is going on, rather than passively listening to what is being said, as outlined in the following steps:

1. Ask open questions

To get to the heart of an issue an employee may be having with a project, ask questions that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. This encourages people to think about the problem in depth, to open up and explain the problem in their own words. A good question to ask might be, “What are your thoughts on the scale and scope of this change programme?”

2. Summarise

By summarising what you think has been said, you demonstrate that you are really (actively) listening, you are focussed on the employee and their problem, and you can both confirm a joint understanding; “OK, so what I’m hearing is that this is unlike any other change project you’ve delivered before?”

3. Provide short words of encouragement

A simple, “Go on, please; tell me more,” provides essential encouragement and support, and gives people the time and space to give a much richer picture of the problem.

4. Reflect

Repeating some of the key points an employee has made can help get to the crux of their problem. They may not have realised that these things were so important to them, and you are being supportive of their position; “You mentioned that it was the complexity of the project that makes it feel unlike anything you have delivered before?”

5. Clarify

Using clarifying questions can help you understand specific points the employee may have glossed over, in order to gain a common understanding; “Can you tell me more about what you mean when you say that this looks more like a programme?”

6. React

Often the employee is looking for empathy. Reacting to their account of the problem demonstrates that you understand their perspective and that their opinion matters; “I agree, it does sound very complex and we should approach it as a programme. What are your thoughts on how we could do that?”

Adding in more ‘open questions’ helps to further explore their thoughts to find a solution. The key point here is that it is all from their point of view. By actively listening, you are helping them clarify their thinking and work out their own problem.

So what?

When I first took up the CIO role, team morale was at an all-time low, I was asked to solve the most minor of problems and our customers were routinely unhappy.

However, over time, by applying ‘Listen to Lead’, my team felt listened to, they grew in confidence and they developed their own solutions to problems. Crucially, their outputs improved measurably.

I found that I had more time to do the job I was supposed to be doing – i.e., the strategic thinking and decision-making stuff. And the team had more time to do their job – delivering the solution articulated in their own words, without trying to interpret what I had said, meant or wanted, and without the many time-consuming cycles of coming back for guidance and clarification.

We became a highly motivated team as everyone felt that their opinions and thoughts mattered. The team became self-policing – sorting problems out between them and knowing that they could come back to me for support and decisions when required.

Perhaps most importantly, we improved delivery performance for our clients, becoming an ‘active’ team that applies a customer-centric approach; proactive most of the time then highly reactive and flexible when we need to be.