Management Archives - Smart Coaching and Training | Business Support, Consultancy, Mentoring

11/09/2021 By David Rigby

Would you rather improve your competence or transform your mindset?

Do you focus on task or focus on people?

Corporations that help their executives and leadership teams examine their personal world views can reap rich rewards in terms of effective cultural transformation and engaging the younger generation. Organisational Managers have two broad options in how to use their authority to serve the organisation at any given time. They can perceive themselves to be in a managerial mode delivering today’s outcomes within the relative ‘certainty’ of the system as it currently exists and operates or else by stepping back into an uncertain big picture mode of leadership of the future. Their daily performance necessarily combines both operational management of today’s needs along with a more strategic leadership role focused on tomorrow’s needs.

The voyage from Manager to Leader

The voyage of development ‘from manager to leader’ is not an easy one; some people change little during their lifetimes while others substantially.

*Spiral Dynamics and Vertical Development*

Those willing to work at developing themselves and becoming more self-aware can almost certainly evolve over time into truly transformational leaders. .

Are you on a ‘Heroes Journey’?

For the future world emerging, the higher stages of consciousness are being called forth dramatically, with the younger generation coming in at levels far higher than their bosses, creating new tensions in the corporate cultures. Note consciousness is very different from intelligence. Few current leaders are desiring to change the world for the worlds sake however many want to progress on their ‘Heroes Journey’.

We advise and sell many preference profiling tools such as DISC and C-me to help you improve your competence.

Spiral Dynamics

With Psychosocial Adult Development approaches such as Leadership Development Framework and Spiral Dynamics adults start at level one and can progress through a number of levels. The closer you are to the higher levels of consciousness the more able you will be to effect and deliver on change, be an effective director and manage internationally.
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https://www.smartcoachingtraining.com/what_we_offer/signature-corporate-training-longer-courses-and-retreatsPsychosocial Adult Development Training

Each stage can be regarded as a level of awareness or consciousness and forms the psychological basis for a critical perception of why we act in a certain way. We can help leaders become better leaders by helping them transform from one level to the next.

To find out more check out our course “Transformational Leadership using Psychosocial Adult Development Strategy ” This is just one of our Signature Corporate Training courses. see then all here . Or simply just ask us at info@smartcoachingtraining.com

18/03/2021 By David Rigby & Martin Kubler

How COVID brought us closer together

Hello? Can you hear me? I’m sorry if I’m sounding a bit far away, but I’m currently hanging out with a group of hospitality professionals in Yorkshire while I’m in Dubai. Or was it Stockholm? Or possibly Accra?

There’s little doubt that COVID has wreaked havoc on our industry worldwide. Furloughs in the UK, lockdowns everywhere, limited (if any!) in-outlet dining, cancelled cruises – you name it. I’m not known for laughing challenging trading conditions in the face and shouting “Hey, but look at the bright side!”, but I readily admit that the pandemic has also brought certain positive changes to our industry – the most important one, in my opinion, being that we’ve come closer together.

It didn’t matter where you were

I’ve spend the last 16 years as an expat in various locations that didn’t have an Institute of Hospitality branch and I got used to looking at pictures of meetings, networking events, and celebrations that the Institute and their branches have put on over the years with varying degrees of envy. Then the pandemic hit, everything moved online and suddenly, it didn’t matter anymore where I was based – I could be anywhere.

The Institute of Hospitality’s virtual Thursday Coffee and Conversation mornings provided a first taste of our newfound freedom. Members joined from all over the world and exchanged updates or just engaged in light-hearted conversation to find a few minutes of distraction from the latest lockdown news.

People started to cooperate and collaborate… new platforms such as www.backtowork.support were born based on our conversations. New ways of presenting and distributing industry news and expertise like the fantastic Hospitality Recovery on LinkedIn Live were tested. If you fancied it and had the time (and, let’s face it, time was something most of us had in abundance during the various lockdowns), you could attend virtual branch meetings and networking events from the comfort of your armchair. One branch even put on a pub-style quiz.

Bringing people closer together

The pandemic has brought us closer together and that’s a good thing. The key, going forward, is to keep the momentum and not let things revert to silos again. The Institute and its members have an important role to play in the process, because we’ve been here, done that, and got the tea cup – in other words, we’ve successfully demonstrated how large international organisations can use technology to bring people closer together, ensure information and expertise flows freely, and collaborations between individual professionals create new opportunities, ventures, and projects

Remember Face to Face?

Don’t get me wrong, now that I’m based in Europe again, I do want to attend one of the Institute’s annual Fellows’ Dinners. It’ll be my first one and I’m sure will be very enjoyable. The goal isn’t to move everything online – there’s much to be said for face-to-face interactions and good old black-tie jollifications. The goal really should be to use technology in the way, I think, it is meant to be used… to bring people together and to make things more inclusive and, very often, faster.

*Cats are for baskets not Zoom calls ©* *David Rigby*

The latter is, in my opinion, a key point. Teams can now meet at the click of a button, regardless of where the various team-members are. You don’t need to take minutes anymore, because you can record things – great for people who aren’t totally fluent in English. Right now, I’m involved in a project that brings together professionals from Russia, the Middle East, and Europe. We communicate in English, but some of us find it very beneficial to be able to watch the recordings of our meetings again, just to make sure they understood everything correctly. You can’t rewind a face-to-face meeting, but you can rewind a Zoom meeting.

I hope some of what we’ve learned during the pandemic stays with us even in post-COVID times. The coffee mornings, for example, shouldn’t stop just because we’re all able to meet again IRL, in real life. How else could I find out how Robert’s hotel in Ghana is doing or what’s going on in the Scottish highlands and islands? Quite apart from being able to see the various members’ coffee and tea cups (someone used a massive Homer Simpson cup in today’s call!) and pets (last week I was in a Zoom meeting and a team-member’s cat blocked the screen for a good 5 minutes).
Walking into a face-to-face meeting later in 2021 or 2022 is bound to be like “Oh, I know, you’re the chap with the Homer Simpson cup!” or “What do you mean, you didn’t bring your cat?”.

A version of this article was first published by the Institute of Hospitality

11/04/2020 By Halina Jaroszewska

Becoming the leader you want to be

Expectations of leaders and aspiring leaders in business today have never been higher and the demands on them never been greater.

What are these expectations and demands and how can senior executives get the support they need?

First … there is the sheer volume of work: significant number of tasks to accomplish and vast swathes of information to filter. Emails, phone calls, meetings, travel, conferences, presentations, reports, 24-hour connectivity; it’s not surprising if senior executives become exhausted.

Second … the pace of change and the levels of uncertainty surrounding business decisions have never been higher. Executives who are used to striving for specific, measurable goals may not be so great at handling the ambiguity and fluidity that rapidly changing situations can bring.

Third … where companies used to run on a simple top-down command and control basis, it is now widely recognised that the best businesses are those that harness creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The most effective leaders are those that participate in, encourage and manage collaborative teams.

Fourth … leaders and aspiring leaders play a crucial role in engagement. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) defines engagement as “feeling positive about your job, as well as being prepared to go the extra mile and do the best of your ability.”

Not surprisingly, engagement is linked to a wide range of positive outcomes. Two important drivers are for people to have opportunities to feed their views upwards and to feel well informed about what is happening in their organization. But a key driver of engagement is for people to think their leaders – especially their manager or line manager – is committed to the organization and cares about them.

Fifth … a major study by Watson Wyatt:Connecting Organisational Communication to Financial Performance found that “a significant improvement in communication effectiveness is associated with a 29.5 per cent increase in market value.” Once again, it’s the leader who needs to be communicating.

So, leaders face a greater work load; a more challenging, fluid and ambiguous business environment than ever before; are key drivers in employee engagement, and their effective communication skills and their ability to harness the creativity and entrepreneurship of their teams is essential if the business is to succeed. It’s not surprising that some leaders and aspiring leaders lose focus or wonder if they are doing a good job.

It’s not surprising that some leaders and aspiring leaders lose focus or wonder if they are doing a good job. In Development Dimensions International’s Global Leadership Forecast 2011 only 38% of the 12,423 senior executives participating in the study reported the level of leadership in their organization as ‘good’ or ‘excellent.’

However, the positive news for leaders and aspiring leaders is that help is available and that companies want to invest in supporting their leaders and aspiring leaders.

The Value of Executive Coaching

A DMB study in connection with the Human Capital Institute on emerging practices in executive coaching suggests that organizations are planning to increase their investment in supporting leaders and aspiring leaders in several key areas. Specifically, by helping capable executives reach higher performance, and in supporting high potential executives. Similarly, coaching is seen as having the greatest impact when it is used to groom high potential executives and help high potential executives achieve higher performance, rather then for remedial purposes.

For those respondents who measured the financial impact of coaching, 77% estimated the ROI on coaching to be at least equal to the investment. Some respondents reported the ROI on coaching to be as high as 500%. An earlier study by the International Professional Management Association found that training plus coaching was four times more effective than training alone.

It will pay dividends for any leader or aspiring leader who wants to fulfill their potential and deliver real benefit to their business to make a solid case for the value of executive coaching. While you are making the case for your organization to invest in executive coaching to support you in challenging times, here are a few hints and tips to keep you on track

Think about what is most important to you. Not what you do but how you behave. In a tough business environment staying true to your values will give you a guiding star on which to base decisions and choose priorities.

Leadership is about values and behaviour – not about having all the solutions. Establish end goals and empower your team to come up with solutions – this will open up far more opportunities and motivate your team.

Keep communicating. Explain your thinking and keep up an ongoing narrative with your team about the progress towards your goals. Remember any good story has ups and downs, so don’t be afraid to admit to adversity.

Be consistent. If you set up new initiatives or new ways of doing things – especially if they relate to communication or team empowerment – then keep them going. Show real leadership qualities and stay steady regardless of set-backs.

Be decisive. Far more damage is done to businesses by delaying decisions than by taking wrong decisions. If you find yourself unable to take a decision ask what additional information you need to make the decision. If that information is not available then staying true to your values will help make a decision.

Remember 80% is good enough. Whatever the task, if its 80% good enough, sign it off and move on. Striving for perfection, or taking on too many tasks because only you can do them well enough is a recipe for bottlenecks, frustration, stress and lack of achievement.

Flip negative to positive. When facing a set-back, make a conscious effort to look at the opportunities that a challenging situation presents you with, rather than just the problems. The results may surprise you.

Focus on your team rather than yourself. If you focus on supporting your people and enabling them to improve their performance in tough times, you will find you are more likely to reach overall goals and less likely run into self- absorption and lack of focus.

Be open to learning. Setting out to learn something new, to expand your knowledge or skills is life-enhancing, confidence-boosting and can have a positive effect on other aspects of your performance. Don’t close down in reaction to adversity; open up.

And finally I have no hesitation in repeating point 1 because it is so important …

Think about what is most important to you. Not what you do but how you behave. In a tough business environment staying true to your values will give you a guiding star on which to base decisions and choose priorities.

Halina Jaroszewska is an Executive Coach, professionally certified by the International Coach Federation. Halina helps leaders and aspiring leaders to turn uncertainty into a powerful tool for change and growth. Her aim is to enable clients to take their success to the next level, switch surviving into thriving, and maximise their potential during challenging times

17/07/2019 By Isla Baliszewska

Leading with Humility

There are many ways of being a leader. One is command and control – all is dictated from the top. Another is Servant Leadership. This is the idea proposed in the 1970’s by Robert Greenleaf that the best leaders are those who serve the interests of their people and their communities, who may share power but who are not driven by the accumulation of power. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is a good example of a servant leader, her role being to serve the people. The Dalai Lama is possibly the supreme example of leading to serve.

Research in the field of neuroscience suggests that where leaders focus on asserting their authority and their place in the hierarchy, there is a negative effect on problem solving capabilities. And where everyone knows their place and importantly, their value in a team, performance improves.

Steve Jobs is famously remembered for his quote on hiring good people and then letting them tell the leader what to do. With this in mind, the role of the leader is essentially to

Set direction – based on vision as to the future of the organisation and hence the team

Build community – ensure good relations outside of the team

Build the team – recruit, develop, engage and and motivate.

In particular within Servant Leadership the leader’s role is empowerment of the team; to have recruited a team in which the members jointly have more skills and knowledge than the leader. It is the role of the leader to develop the team and deliver the requirements in the most effective way. A good way to do this is to deploy these key skills when leading your team:

Awareness, Empathy, Persuasion, Listening

Awareness: Knowing the team members; their strengths, weaknesses, learning needs, individual communication skills.

Empathy: Looking for, listening to and acknowledging things which are preventing the team and its members from succeeding. And finding ways of working together to fix them.

Persuasion: It is the responsibility of the leader to deliver what is required. And so the team members must also want to deliver too, so they need to be engaged and on-side, knowing their purpose and value to the outcomes.

Listening: The collective ideas of the team are likely to be better than just yours – but listen with your eyes, listen for voice tone and emotions as well as content.

There are times when command and control are essential, such as in an emergency. However, in these circumstances, having built up the trust in the team and knowing the individuals through leading with humility will help ensure success.

Being humble enough to know that you don’t know everything, and that the only way to do things may not be your way is a good start – enabling others, rather, is the key to your success as a Servant Leader

“A leader is best when people barely knows he exists; when his work is done, his aim fulfilled they will say ‘we did it ourselves’”

Lao Tzu

20/06/2017 By Isla Baliszewska

Observations on the OverPromoted Manager

A Guest Blog by Michael Shanahan

“During everybody’s career it’s probable they will come across a senior manager that has been promoted above their abilities. People can often talk the talk but when it comes to delivering when elevated to positions of power and authority they flounder. Sometimes they just don’t have the confidence to push forward ideas and take risks, while others believe the promotion is the be all and end all and they can take their foot off the pedal and coast, leaving the hard work to the underlings.

How should those reporting to the overpromoted manager react, especially when credit for good work is taken by the boss and brickbats for foul-ups are hurled downwards?

Who could believe that one of the most interesting examples of an over-promoted boss is currently residing in the White House and is arguably the putative leader of the Free World? President Donald Trump certainly doesn’t fall into the group that lacks confidence in their own abilities and he’s certainly willing to take risks. And while you can’t accuse him of taking his foot off the pedal and coasting, he could be seen by some as being fundamentally lazy. It seems he can’t be bothered to read briefing notes, gets his news from TV and ignores advice, especially about giving up his Twitter addiction. And while it’s hard to feel sympathy for his acolytes in the Oval Office, they appear to be taking a daily kicking from the President for failing to remove him from the holes that he has spent the previous 24 hours digging. And so there’s no surprise that his organization is leaking like a sieve with bad news reports following bad news. His staff are doing what so many people do when they’re treated badly by an incompetent boss. They’re hanging him out to dry.”

Michael Shanahan – June 2017

Writer, recorder, erstwhile interviewer and editor, and long-term observer of people, events and life.

Our thanks to Michael for highlighting aspects of managerial/leadership behaviour that prompt the wrong kind of response from those on the receiving end of it. Thoughts like these prompt us to take a long hard look at what works well – get in touch with us to find out how we can work with you to create the right leadership.