April 29, 2010
A key feature of good leadership is being able to take responsibility for your own actions rather than blaming others. What happened yesterday with Mrs. Duffy and Gordon Brown illustrated this nicely. Yes, the PM made an error of judgement, as many of us do in our daily lives, and yes, many of us are also sometimes ‘ two faced’ in our relationships – saying one thing in front of a person and another behind their back. This is a normal, albeit not particularly endearing, feature of human behaviour. However, for a leader or manager to make a mistake and take it out on their staff or the media or anybody else when it is ‘their’ fault, is really unacceptable. From time to time we all make mistakes and want to blame others - but true leadership requires, as President Truman so eloquently put it, ‘the buck to stop here’.
Of course, it is also important when we make mistakes to own up to them, to apologise and to provide some psychological recompense to the victim(s) of our anger, frustration or whatever negative emotion lies behind our actions. But apologies are not enough, what is truly required is behaviour change, learning from our actions and finding a longer term solution to how we manage stress and pressure, our frustrations and the obstacles in our lives.
Management and leadership in general is about getting the most out of people, and micro-managing, blaming or treating people as disposal assets is not an effective management style. We all display aspects of this behaviour from time to time, but in the end people respond best to praise and feeling valued, and not to being the object of our mistakes as managers or leaders, whatever walk of life. As Mark Twain once wrote “keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can somehow become great”.
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Leadership, Management, Motivation, pressure, reward and recognition, Stress, Uncategorized, Well-being | Tagged: assets, Duffy, Gordon Brown, judgement, Leadership, Management, Mark Twain, micro-managing, mistakes, praise, President Truman, recompense, two faced, valued, victim | 
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Posted by Cary Cooper
April 28, 2010
Starting with a review that has already begun, the government is giving consideration to abandoning the national default retirement age (NDRA). This would mean that employers will no longer be able to set a mandatory retirement age of 65 and above, or refuse to employ someone who is within six months of that age.
Retirement age is a complicated issue, with important links to pension reform and the impacts of an ageing population. It is also is set to become an even hotter topic as the ‘baby boom’ generation starts to reach retirement age. To me, it makes no sense to decide whether or not someone should be allowed to carry on working based solely on their age. Some people at 65 are more than capable of continuing in a demanding job, others may be less able. Some older workers will almost certainly be much more capable than others in their 40s!
One issue that removing the compulsory retirement age raises is the possibility that organisations will need to find ways of dealing with older people who are feeling the effects of their age and underperforming – but wish to carry on working. One obvious solution is to “performance manage” them out of the organisation. I expect that may be necessary in a very small number of cases, but generally can’t help feeling that employers should work collaboratively with their older workers and find ways of working that maximise the benefit to the organisation and enable people to ease their way into full-time retirement.
After all, we have known for some time that a sharp transition from work to non-work can be very damaging and leave people feeling lost in their retirement. My feeling is that flexibility about duties, working hours and eventual retirement age on the part of employers and employees will pay off for everyone in the long run. It provides a platform to get the best of older employees for the organisation, but also to work with them to find the best route into retirement.
Until the results of the review are released (and possibly beyond that time, depending on the outcome) we will have to hope that employers are able to exercise common sense, discretion and fairness when it comes to dealing with retirement age workers.
1 Comment | Management, Productivity, Recruitment and Selection, Well-being | Tagged: ageing population, baby boom, flexibility, government, NDRA, performance manage, retirement age, underperforming | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
April 20, 2010
The Conservative party unveiled their election manifesto last week and a major theme was shrinking the size of the state and giving power back to the people. Among the proposals was a scheme to enable parents to start their own schools if they are not happy with the state-sponsored options available. This idea draws on the ‘chartered school’ concept that has taken off in the US. It’s started a debate about whether this is a good or bad thing and whether parents could actually pull it off. Is having this level of control positive or should the state centrally control education?
People value control in their lives, but this proposal has raised the question of whether you can have too much of a good thing and whether we have got so used to the control being with the state that we wouldn’t know what to do with the more power even if we got it. It’s a bold move on the part of the Conservatives – they’re banking on the fact that control makes people happier, but it may back fire if they find that people can no longer be bothered to be in control of their own destiny.
Also, the effectiveness of many of these ‘power to the people’ initiates relies on people having enough personal disposal time to do them. With Britain having the longest working hours in Europe this could be difficult - we will need to tackle this and provide more flexible working in order for people to have the capacity and energy to take increased control.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: chartered school, Conservative party, control, education, election, manifesto, parents, power, schools, state, US | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
April 16, 2010
The TV election debate amongst our political leaders was very revealing, with all the polls showing that Nick Clegg won hands down, but why? Was it his policies, or was it his style? I think it was that he demonstrated what most leaders in any walk of life need to surface; their passion, their concern, their ability to listen and above all their ability to admit that they don’t have answers to all the issues, particularly the big, complex and sometimes intractable ones.
It was certainly the case that he was a great communicator on the night, focusing on each questioner as a person, using their name and entering a dialogue not only with the person asking the question but the audience as a whole. He was obviously the most relaxed and least stressed, which is understandable given that the other two main party leaders had greater expectations on them and more to lose.
What was refreshing about his approach was not just using the questioner’s first names in replying to the question, with eyeball to eyeball contact, but also his openness, admitting that there were problems that are so difficult they need cross party collaboration. It is important for any leader to be passionate about what he/she feels, to be able to listen and engage their colleagues, but also to recognise when there are problems or issues they are unable to solve alone and to then admit this and seek partnerships or joint ventures to work on them. In politics, issues such as care for the elderly, managing public sector pension funds in the future and the war on terror all fall into this category. In business the issues that will require ‘tri-partisan working’ include how to deal with our financial institutions, how to manage more with less and how to compete with the BRIC economies going forward. Nick Clegg clearly led the way in terms of introducing this way of thinking to the election campaign, but will we be saying that after the two remaining debates?
Leadership is not just about being a figure of authority, knowing all the answers – it is about facilitating a discussion, about listening, about being open to change and above all about being committed and passionate once you have reached consensus with others. The next few weeks will see which of the candidates proves that he can pull all of this off.
Leave a Comment » | economy, Leadership, Motivation, Public Sector | Tagged: authority, BRIC, collaboration, commitment, consensus, dialogue, discussion, election, leaders, Leadership, listening, Nick Clegg, passion, pension funds, policies, political leaders, politics, polls, Public Sector, style, TV debate | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
April 14, 2010
Yesterday the Chartered Management Institute launched the results of their survey on the management style of UK managers, and it doesn’t make for pleasant reading! The dominant management styles are very negative indeed, with 21% of 5000 working people saying their manager is authoritarian, 16% bureaucratic and 12.5% secretive. What is even worse, only 7% say their manager is empowering and only 10% say their boss is accessible. This follows last year’s Foresight report on ‘Mental Capital and Wellbeing’ and Dame Carol Black’s report on work and health, which both indicated that the health of UK workers was at risk from poor line managers!
So what are we doing wrong? First of all, we are not properly selecting people for managerial roles. We tend to recruit them on the basis of their technical skills, without taking their people skills into account. Secondly, once they are in role, we train them again on their specialist IT, marketing, financial and other skills – but neglect to develop their managerial abilities.
Coming out of recession we need managers who can motivate, team build, and manage people through praise and reward rather than fault-finding. We need engaging, concerned, leaders in the private and public sector, particularly at a time when people are feeling insecure, over loaded and financially worried. We need a whole new cadre of managers, dispensing the David Brent’s to the organisational dustbins and establishing inspiring role models within the workplace. Different times ahead require a compassionate, enthusiastic and empowering UK managerial prototype, a new model for a new era!
To try and get people thinking about this important issue, CMI have also launched a fun tool to coincide with the results. Visit http://www.managers.org.uk/what-kind-manager-are-you and answer 12 simple quick-fire questions to receive some feedback on your management style.
1 Comment | Leadership, Management, Motivation, Recruitment and Selection, reward and recognition, Uncategorized, Well-being | Tagged: authoritarian, bureaucratic, celebrity, Chartered Management Institute, Dame Carol Black, David Brent, fault finding, Foresight, IT, line managers, management style, marketing, mental capital and well-being, praise, Private Sector, prototype, Public Sector, recession, recruit, reward, role models, secretive, team building, technical skills | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
April 9, 2010
The high street chain Pret A Manger announced encouraging results today and I was reminded of a fairly unique recruitment practise they have adopted by a radio interview with one of their senior managers this morning.
Rather than traditional interview or assessment-based selection processes, applicants for Pret jobs go straight into the fray and do an experience day in a shop. At the end of the day their success is determined by the other staff members who vote the applicant in or not. This democratic recruitment method is now firmly part of the company culture and many managers / senior executives have come from within the company.
So can democracy work in recruitment? Do the workforce know better than the, often expensive, selection methods that major employers tend to use? It’s certainly a bold move and while it wouldn’t work for many specific jobs, it does seem to work in this environment. I suspect also that the impact on morale and staff well-being is positive since the approach hands control to the employees and we know that this is something that workforces value and thrive on.
As we approach the election maybe it’s time for other employers to put the democracy back into recruitment for roles where the Pret approach could work. Think about your own organisation – how would this suggestion go down? Would you dare to try it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pret_A_Manger
2 Comments | employee engagement, Recruitment and Selection | Tagged: control, democracy, election, experience, managers, Pret A Manger, recruitment, selection methods, senior executives, workforce | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
April 8, 2010
I’ve just been reading a fun piece of research that links the intensity of smiles in photographs with living longer. Quite a claim, but sure enough the results of the study are in line with the existing research showing the positive relationship between positive emotions, mental health, physical health and longevity. The research also taught me about the different types of smiles we are capable of – for example, the intense, “Duchenne” smile where both cheeks are raised, the corners of the mouth are raised and crow’s feet can be seen around the eyes.
Interesting stuff – and it set me wondering whether a subsequent piece of research could be conducted to explore whether actually practicing the Duchenne smile can improve psychological and physical well-being. If so, can this be ‘taught’ and should it form part of resilience training and stress management programmes? Would delegates take such a move seriously? Either way, after reading the research, I guarantee that the next photo you look at, you’ll be analysing the smiles!
The full research article can be found here:
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/02/26/0956797610363775.full
1 Comment | health, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: Duchenne smile, mental health, physical health, positive emotions, research, resilience training, smiles, stress management | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
