Tag Archives: manager

News

Secrets to achieving authentic leadership are laid bare in new book by Paulina Tenner

Unprecedented global events of the past two years have led many organisations to reflect on whether there are better ways to operate, to seek out a new path that is profitable, yet wholesome. One discussion gaining popularity is how feminine and masculine principles in leadership can be integrated together and who better to lead this discussion than a successful business leader who also happens to be a former Stripper?

In Laid Bare: What the Business Leader Learnt from the Stripper, Paulina Tenner presents a unique perspective on emergent social change in the world of work. A true trailblazer, Paulina challenges the status quo of how companies are set up and scaled and proposes a truly radical alternative of financial transparency and self-set pay. Practicing this approach in her own company, GrantTree, over the last decade, Paulina has built a team of 50 and raised over £200m for more than 600 technology start-ups and bigger companies.

“Being a stripper taught me more lessons than I could possibly imagine, a lot of which I’ve been able to apply to my business life. It also fed into my development as a leader. It helped me reclaim a different way of relating with my feminine part and therefore a different way of being and acting in the world. I became more open-minded and, at the same time, more whole as an individual,” explains Paulina.

“My approach has shown that it is indeed possible to create a workplace which combines focus on wellbeing of staff with profitability, where you are able to increase retention of staff and attract top candidates to your company because of outstanding culture. Workplaces are changing forever as Gen Z workforce demands more benefits to do with a wholesome company culture, so don’t be left behind!” adds Paulina.

Laid Bare : What the Business Leader Learnt from the Stripper (£12.99, John Hunt Publishing) is written by Paulina Tenner. The ebook is available to buy now on Amazon with print copies available from 31st January 2022

News

Leadership & Management expert urges senior managers ‘to move forward with confidence’

Typically, a senior manager’s role is to translate the company’s strategic business plan into a working brief, whilst also striving to improve business health through continued improvement plans. This is all whilst supporting their team, their executive leadership team and ensuring personal self-care and development.

It can be extremely rewarding and exhilarating when done right, but exhausting, demoralising and downright painful when done wrong. Thankfully, Margo Manning is on hand to help any senior manager to move forward with confidence in her new book, ‘The Step-Up Mindset For Senior Managers’.

The second book in ‘The Step-Up Mindset’ series, ‘The Step-Up Mindset For Senior Managers’ has been written for those wishing to move into a senior manager role and existing senior managers who are new to their role or have received no formal development.

The book focuses on three vital areas of responsibility; self, business and team management. Within its practical, easy-to-digest chapters, Margo reveals how to ‘know your why’ and align motivations to career aspirations. She also encourages the reader to remove the superhero cape and focus on their roles and responsibilities, whilst also creating a high-performance culture.

Each chapter is followed with an opportunity to reflect on the details and consider how this resonates personally. The recommended exercises at the end of each chapter have been expertly designed to help build a deeper understanding of the key themes.

“Hard Fact, you, the manager, are often the catalyst of your team’s troubles,” explains Margo, who is one of the UK’s top Leadership and Management Coaches and Facilitators and has a background in supporting top FTSE 100 companies. “It is your responsibility as a senior manager to ensure that you are supporting the businesses’ success, closely followed by having a duty of care to your team. To meet your goals and that of the business, you will be required to grow and sustain a team who are motivated and productive.”

Maintaining a balance of a strategic (proactive) versus an operational (reactive) approach is a key trait of any successful senior manager, and Margo illustrates how to bring continuous improvements to the business whilst also knowing which changes will bring the greatest ROI.

“The objective of the book is to enhance and prepare your mindset and your skillset to become an outstanding senior manager. Focusing on their mindset will drive the correct behaviours, rounding this off with the required skill set will allow you to become an effective, efficient and successful senior manager,” adds Margo.

‘The Step-Up Mindset For Senior Managers’ is published by Panoma Press and is available now to buy on Amazon 

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.

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, 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