JANUARY 2012
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
Finding your voice Our voice may be tested more, in terms of its power, fluency and confidence. Page 10 – 13
Delivering under pressure For many people the increasing pressure of working life means that it is very hard to get the right balance. Page 16 – 19
Great place to work be Michael Maynard explores what makes a great workplace. Page 24 – 26
INSIGHT GROUP ON VITAL LEADERSHIP Page 5
IN THIS ISSUE
03
04 – 07
08 – 09
Vegetarian Sausage – A team day out
Insight group on Vital Leadership
Take me to your Leader – If you have one
10 – 13
14 – 15
16 – 19
Finding your Voice
Email Etiquette & Efficiency
Delivering under pressure
20 – 21
22 – 23
24 – 26
Online Support
The Base
Great place to work be!
If you would like to read Spotlight whilst on the move use our Quick Response link to open our electronic version.
03 Spotlight | January 2012
VEGETARIAN SAUSAGE – A TEAM DAY OUT I was thinking to myself, isn’t a Vegetarian Sausage an oxymoron or, at the very least, a misnomer? Surely it is like having a vegetarian bacon sandwich – it’s not real, it misses the point, it’s the wrong words. We, the Office team, were sitting having a lavish breakfast in a plush restaurant in London’s renowned Borough Market at the beginning of ‘a team day out’. The vegetarians (our inclusivity knows no bounds) had opted for the vegetarian sausage and that had got me thinking. Aren’t ‘Vegetarian Sausage’ and ‘Team Day Out’ both misnomers? Our office is probably a little different from most; we get to tell the boss that it’s time for a ‘team day’, and the only question he has is ‘what budget do you need?’ We want to take a day off work, get paid for it, have the company stump up for the entertainment and all the boss says is ‘yeah alright.’ It’s a bit of a vegetarian sausage, it doesn’t quite make sense. The day off – I mean ‘team day’ – started at the restaurant. Taking an hour over breakfast for people whose normal routine is grabbing some toast at the desk, is a luxury reserved for a rainy Sunday morning, but this restaurant was to be savoured. However it didn’t feel like work. Where’s the ‘value creation’? The company was investing but the ROI wasn’t going to be huge.
After the meal, we strolled leisurely down the South Bank, the muscled Thames forcing the river banks apart. The finest urban landscape with landmark buildings on either side and the stately spanning bridges holding the two edges in place. On a bright crisp day like this it is a site to be shared by friends. No work here, then. We were tourists in our own city. We rode the London Eye, and visited the 4D London Experience. It confused the senses, and baffled the brain. A bit like a vegetarian sausage but nicer – certainly nothing like work. We happy band of colleagues trouped round sites, stopping at the occasional inn for refreshments, and as the day drew to a close the company credit card swept up the cost. Surely ‘team day out’ was a misnomer. But no, and here is the conundrum. It did contribute to the company, it did add value to the organisation. I guess that’s the benefit of working for an organisation that understands talent management. We had autonomy in designing a day for ourselves, creating a shared experience, building relationship and encouraging trust. As a team we know when we need to spend some time together, outside of the office; we recognise that small tensions, if unchecked, can become big tensions. And, put simply, you work so much better with people you understand. So ‘Team Day’ is not a misnomer. But vegetarian sausage? Don’t get me started.
05 Spotlight | January 2012
INSIGHT GROUP ON
VITAL LEADERSHIP Vital Leadership is about the sort of leadership needed to be successful in the 21st century. The Vital Leader is both essential to the organisation and someone who provides energy, inspiration and meaning. Recently Maynard Leigh brought together a variety of business leaders, HR and management professionals to help us think more deeply about what Vital Leader means in practice. Our guests included experts from Invensys Rail, the BBC, Sport England, Aviva, Bombardier, Genworth Financial the Lifestyle Protection and Mortgage Insurance business, a leading financial institution, an independent HR consultant and so on.
Introducing the idea of the Vital Leader, Andrew Leigh suggested that leadership in the 20th century relied on the leader as a hero – a saviour, operating independently. In contrast, the leader of the 21st century is likely to be based around relationship and was summed up by our concept of the Vital Leader. Also in the complexity of the current Century, will leadership become more controlling or do without hierarchy? Will it resort to being increasingly directive or entirely without obvious boundaries?
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From left to right: Steph Hall Sports England, Barrie Fulker Invensys Rail, Deirdre Galvin Consultant, Marcel Kay Bombardier Transportation Services, Stuart MacKenzie Maynard Leigh Associates, Andrew Moss Aviva, Claudine Hanks K4 Creative, Steve Dwyer K4 Creative, Shaun Laubscher Genworth Financial, Fiona Dolton BBC, Andrew Leigh Maynard Leigh Associates
In reviewing this, the group considered some of the forces shaping 21st century leadership. These include changes in competition, technology, the nature of work, demographics, employee expectations, engagement, and so on. Surely these trends demand a different style of leadership? The group wondered whether much has really changed concerning leadership over the years. It seemed more a question of leaders having to dial up or dial down the level of control needed to bring order out of chaos. In essence, perhaps the nature of leadership has not altered that much, just the balance of directive leadership and invited contribution. Another point to emerge in response to this was the suggestion that engagement is a bit of a buzz word really meaning empowerment. There was scepticism about the hype, and a preference for the simpler “getting people involved.” The group identified a positive and valuable purpose of hierarchy. There are certain issues to which nobody has the answer. These are the
ones that keep getting passed up the chain of command. Eventually someone at the top must make a decision, without knowing the right way or right answer. After all, that is what senior leadership get paid for – their judgement. There was general agreement amongst the group that there has been a huge increase in fear in the current harsh business and financial environment. Relentless change breeds feelings of uncertainty and there was a discussion about whether a leader’s job is to help people feel secure. These pressures tend to drive leaders towards their default settings – akin to fight and flight. Because the culture is less forgiving, therefore they become more controlling and less involving. Given these conditions a Vital Leader needs to be resilient and adaptable, able to maintain a culture where mistakes from which people learn are acceptable. Such leaders must be able to take the hits and bounce back. To do this they need to listen, to be seen to listen and therefore spend time with people. In this context, one guest talked about “leadership by explanation.” Whether as a 21st century leader
07 Spotlight | January 2012
you are being directive or empowering, he argued, you need to offer constant clarification and enlightenment about what you are doing and why. Another important 21st century attribute the group identified was the need for leaders to create mutual respect and to stand up for their beliefs. Often a Vital Leader is able to bring a calming influence in the midst of chaos. The image of a tree emerged with roots firmly in the ground but the branches reaching out in all directions. Another image was of the parent, setting boundaries for their children, yet encouraging freedom. The apparent conflict between the twin themes of order/control/hierarchy/discipline and freedom/decentralisation/liberation/
empowerment was a false one. 21st century leaders must manage a mix of the two. We need both. Leaders therefore require insight to see when to create suitable systems, structures and processes. At other times though, new leadership means letting people make decisions and create locally. Ultimately it seems to come down to having boundaries and also letting people be free. Freedom within constraints, creativity out of discipline, autonomy within limits.
To find out more please call 020 7033 2370 or email carolinek@maynardleigh.co.uk
08 Spotlight | January 2012
TAKE ME TO YOUR
LEADER – IF YOU HAVE ONE
“If you don’t like my principles, I have others”, quipped comedian and film star Groucho Marx. A similar comment might well apply to CEOs. If you don’t like your CEO, no matter, another will be along soon enough. The known drop-out rate of senior business leaders is daunting and keeps rising. In fact hardly a day passes without some unfortunate CEO sliding ignominiously down the slippery pole. If recruited from outside the organisation for example, you are lucky if a CEO is still with you three or four year’s later. Most recently poor Leo Apotheker for example, lasted a miserable 11 months at Hewlett Packard. Leadership at the top is never easy, especially for someone taking the top job for the first time. The Centre for Creative Leadership estimates that 40% of new leader fail in the first 18 months. As ambitious Indian companies go global for example, the pace of CEO turnover there is picking up. The average tenure of MDs in the technology and consumer sectors for instance has dropped to below three years –
hardly time to figure out where all the exits are. While the attrition rate of CEOs may attract little sympathy, a major concern must be the waste of talent. Not only are some perfectly competent executives falling at the final hurdle, others may even cause serious damage to their respective organisations. According to R H Schaffer four main behaviours seem to explain the dreadful attrition rates of CEOs: 1) They fail to set proper expectations 2) They allow subordinates to focus too narrowly and not enough on overall goals 3) They collude with staff experts and consultants who never assume responsibility for outcomes 4) They fall victim to a paralysis of analysis and over-preparation
09 Spotlight | January 2012
Blame for these failures mainly rest with the CEOs themselves. But many are also set up to stumble. One reason for this is poor recruitment practices. Appointment boards often look for new leaders showing charisma. Meanwhile, they neglect to ensure the chosen one has a convincing track record of delivering tangible results. Another cause of failure is a lack of cultural fit. The new CEO finds it hard to adjust to the existing culture and may not possess the skills, patience or insight for tackling a major change programme of this kind. When its CEO lost his job this year after only five months for example, Time Warner explained his “leadership style and approach did not mesh with the company’s”. How can talent managers future-proof their organisation so that it has the right leader available at the right time? Previously, recruiting from outside was a familiar resort. But this is now looking increasingly questionable with a particularly high probability of failure. No doubt we will see greater attention to ensuring that
top talent really is properly prepared for the new role. But as President Kennedy explained to Robert McNamara who complained he was not qualified to be Secretary of Defence: “Look, Bob,” he said, “I don’t think there’s any school for Presidents either”.
“Leadership at the top is never easy, especially for someone taking the top job for the first time.“
Andrew Leigh Co.Founder Maynard Leigh Associates
FINDING YOUR BY SIOBHAN STAMP
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“Our voice may be tested more, in terms of its power, fluency and confidence.”
We all arrive in this world with an innate ability to be vocally expressive – ask any new parent about their child’s capacity to be vocal! As young children we freely convey emotion, passion, sensitivity and authority through our voices, but by the time we are teenagers a combination of factors has often ground that wealth of variety in a monotonal grunt. We may reclaim some of our rich palette of vocal colour as we emerge from adolescence, but often our full capacity for self-expression is lost and our ability to have the impact we want is blunted. But do not fear – as with any muscles in our bodies, we can retrain our voice muscles and rediscover a full vocal identity to reflect our myriad qualities, intentions and moods. This will allow us to influence, cajole, seduce or inspire as we choose. My own experience reflects this. As a trainee actor I was told: “Your voice wouldn’t fill a teacup, let alone a theatre”. Although at the
time a crushing blow, looking back on that moment I can see that it kick-started my vocal development. I worked with a supportive voice coach, regained my vocal strength, and graduated on to a series of interesting theatre roles. We may imagine that those with strong resonant voices have always been so, but that’s not necessarily the case. Through my experience as an actor and subsequent years of study and practice as a voice coach I have seen that anyone, with support, can develop and enrich their voices, if they want to. Communicating effectively, whether face to face or over the phone, it is paramount in business, as indeed in our whole lives. We tend to focus primarily on what we say, less on how
12 Spotlight | January 2012
we say it. Yet people make many subconscious decisions about us based on the sound and quality of our voices; how smart, trustworthy, capable, authoritative, determined or kind we might be, and they do this very quickly. What message do you want your voice to give? Are you reflecting your authentic self with your voice? Does your voice ever let you down in conveying all that you wish to communicate?
“Through my experience as an actor and subsequent years of study and practice as a voice coach I have seen that anyone, with support, can develop and enrich their voices, if they want to.�
As our careers develop, the demands on our voices often change and become more challenging. We may need to influence larger groups of people, convey authority under pressure, or handle tricky situations calmly and boldly. Our voice may be tested more, in terms of its power, fluency and confidence. Non-native English speakers can face even more difficulties. Simultaneous translation, and searching for the right English word is tiring enough, but being clearly understood can be a real challenge. English has many sounds not found in other languages, and a non-native speaker may never have learned to hear those sounds, let alone reproduce them in speech. It can be tough trying to figure out what rhythm, emphasis and sound changes are needed if we are to be clearly understood. This can feel overwhelming, but often the changes needed are fewer and simpler than we might fear.
To find out more please call 020 7033 2370 or email carolinek@maynardleigh.co.uk
Siobhan Stamp, Maynard Leigh Associates
13 Spotlight | January 2012
THERE ARE ANY NUMBER OF CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH WE MAY FIND OUR VOICE LETS US DOWN:
Having been promoted we need to come over with more gravitas, both physically and vocally. I n fronting pitches we may need to develop our vocal power and expressiveness in order to create a dynamic and confident impression. As a woman in man’s world, we may need to develop the deep resonance of our voice to convey our natural authority. Our role may ask that we inspire and motivate others, which requires more vocal variety and expressiveness.
s a non-native speaker of English, we A may need to develop the clarity of our speech, and confidence in getting our point across in English. Communicating cross-culturally may highlight differences in use of voice tone, vocal variety and vocal energy which mean that we are conveying misleading messages. We may be happy communicating one-toone or in small groups, but find conference calls or larger presentations challenging, and need practice, tips and support to develop our confidence and techniques.
HERE ARE A FEW SIMPLE IDEAS TO STRENGTHEN YOUR VOICE AND HELP IT DO ITS BEST FOR YOU:
umming is great for the voice; hum in the H bath, whilst making tea, walking to work… sing or hum as often as you can to develop a richer, stronger resonance.
Sharpen up your speech muscles with a few tongue twisters. Try repeating the following several times with clarity and speed:
Reading aloud is also terrific for the voice; it’s like a mini-gym session for all your speech muscles, and helps develop clarity and expressiveness. Read poetry, fiction, even the newspaper, and best of all, read stories aloud to children.
The Leith Police dismisseth us, with costs and it sufficeth us
Ahead of an important presentation or meeting, take a few moments to shake out any tension in your body, and for a few deep, relaxed breaths. A relaxed, upright posture gives the best support for your voice, and also conveys confidence and ease. Practice drawing yourself up to your full height and standing tall.
Critical faculty Unique New York A proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot To keep your voice healthy, drink lots of water, and avoid speaking over loud noise or clearing your throat too often. Remember, if what you are saying is important, you should make sure everyone can hear, understand and appreciate it.
14 Spotlight | January 2012
EMAIL ETIQUETTE & EFFICIENCY
So many of us suffer from information overload, and pre-eminent in people’s complaints is the use and abuse of email. Some companies are installing elaborate and technically-demanding filtering systems for complex projects involving many stakeholders. These products process email data, rationalise the content and disseminate it in a more condensed form.
On the other hand, one MD of a multi-national company simply says he doesn’t open any emails that are cc’d to him. “It’s a risk” he says, “but anything important normally comes back directly to me, and I wouldn’t be able to cope if I opened the thousands of emails that come my way on a daily basis.” Other organisations have tried ‘email-free Fridays’ as a way of stemming the tide. One success was a company who adopted a simple policy that actually had massive payback in terms of productivity, working environment and culture. The system was set up such that
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you could only send ten internal emails a day, after that you were unable to do so unless the email was sanctioned by your boss. This was a blanket application until you got to the rarefied levels of board members. Initially it caused a few problems, but people soon got back into the habit of using the telephone, walking to another part of the building and talking to each other, such that people built up relationships and understanding. Cross company communication worked brilliantly. By reducing the ‘commodity’ of
emails, they were valued and used when necessary, for example when attachments needed to be sent over. There were exceptions of course, sending externally was not restricted, nor was receipt of emails, those that originated externally could also be forwarded internally. It also had a big reduction in the amount of server space required, so the IT department was happy as well. It works, but needs to be carefully managed!
HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON HOW YOU CAN LIVE MORE COMFORTABLY AND EFFICIENTLY WITH EMAIL:
Priorities – Use the ‘urgent’ and ‘non-urgent’ priority symbols. However, avoid overuse of ‘highpriority’ as this will prove counter-productive.
CAPITALS – Using all capitals is considered rude but you can cut through clutter by highlighting key words or actions in capitals.
Subject – Label emails so that people have a clear expectation of its content.
Share files – It’s often now better to share these using DropBox, Office Web Apps or SharePoint and avoid emailing them.
Filing System – Process emails by filing them in separate folders which leaves your inbox clear. Emotions – emails are not a good place to express strong emotions, especially negative ones. The words are too easily misunderstood or ill chosen. Length and structuring – Keep them short. More than three paragraphs constitute a long email! Make them easier to read by putting headings every two or three paragraphs on longer items. Libel – There have been various cases where companies have been held liable for denigratory remarks about people or companies made in emails. Copying – Because it’s easy to copy an email to a wide group of people it’s tempting to do so unnecessarily so that people return to sheaves of messages, many of which are not really applicable to them. Target the audience for each email so that it only includes those who really would gain from the information. Quick replies – You can send ‘thank you’ replies and short messages using the subject line. If you use ‘EOM’ (end of message) people can read and delete it in their inbox without having to open it.
CC yourself – You can keep your own archive of important emails simply by cc’ing yourself on them. Fonts – Though using different fonts can be fun and enlivening, be careful not to use obscure ones. If the recipient doesn’t have that font, they may end up with complete gobbledygook. Pictures – Adding pictures to an email is easy and occasionally livens it up. But this also slows down the time it takes to download and that adds to people’s phone bills. Be sparing with your graphic creativity! Bulky emails – Don’t clog up the mail system by sending unnecessary bulky emails. They can take ages to download and can be annoying. SMART Phone Awareness – iPhones, Blackberrys etc. often read in basic text and don’t always handle attachments easily. Be sensitive to how your recipient will be reading the information. Switch off email – When working in a concentrated way, close down email altogether or switch off the notification sound and pop-up message.
16 Spotlight | January 2012
DELIVERING UNDER
PRESSURE
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What do you want to be remembered for? Presumably not as that crazy manager who worked absurd hours making everyone else’s life a misery? As you try to unwind at home do you want your Blackberry to decide whether you can or not? When your children ask you to attend their school concert, don’t you want to be in the front row? Will you grudgingly attend local community events and be the one who keeps getting calls and tapping away frenetically on your phone? Everywhere managers are under pressure. Yet there’s a fine line between working flat out and ending up flat out! Sometimes we are functioning brilliantly despite the pressure, and yet at others everything seems to be conspiring against us and thwarting our every effort. And that’s highly frustrating. For many people the increasing pressure of working life means that it is very hard to get the right balance. Stress-related illnesses are on the increase. Now, more than ever, we need to find a way of maintaining our wellbeing whilst delivering outstanding performance. There is widespread expectation of producing more with less. Time seems in ever shorter supply. Meanwhile, information for making sense of the world explodes in all directions. It all amounts to a level of bombardment on managers that can, and sometimes does, prove overwhelming. Many of us love the pressure – it puts us on our mettle and brings out the best in us. Being on our edge can provoke outstanding performance in the short-term. However, when it continues relentlessly, or goes out of our own control, it turns from being a challenge we’ve chosen into toxic stress that undermines our effectiveness. To deliver under pressure involves mastering four critical elements. Any one of these can create negative experiences affecting your performance: • energy, time, goals and stress
MASTERING ENERGY We each have a finite store of energy. Unlike time, we can all re-vitalise physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy. If there is a single secret of delivering under pressure it is being assertive about managing personal energy. This means being willing to say “no” to wasteful demands on your time and ensuring both you and your direct reports get enough sleep, take regular exercise and look after your health and wellbeing. Misuse of personal precious energy arises from: • Distrusting your own judgement: Leads to doing what you assume others want you to do, rather than following your own priorities. Trust your gut instinct about what’s good for you. • Fragmentation of effort: Leads to lack of focus. Countless small tasks may make you appear busy but studies show it’s ineffective. Instead set priorities for distributing your energy and stick to them. • Using busy-ness to feel important or valued: Phones ring, mobiles buzz, people demand your attention. Your diary is full of endless meetings. It’s all reassuring you that you’re needed. Yet such busy-ness is a form of addiction. Instead, stay alert to what is happening, to the steady undermining of your time and energy.
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MASTERING GOALS Unclear goals are a common source of wasted effort. Reduce vagueness with the SMART method for setting goals. There are many versions of what this acronym stands for, but the best is: •S tretching: People generally respond to stretching or challenging goals. These contribute to achieving outstanding rather than merely competent performance. Also, ensure they help you grow and develop as a person as well as adding value to your organisation. •M easurable: Make every goal measurable. It might demand some subtle metrics, but setting measures against goals helps clarify them. •A cceptable: It is important that you strike a balance between goals you find acceptable and ones your boss or senior manager regards as suitably challenging. Seek a balance between acceptable and tough goals. The best ones arise out of an honest conversation between the line manager and their report. •R ecorded: Sounds obvious, but it is amazing how goals get lost over time. Make sure they are written down and reviewed regularly. •T ime-limited: Time limits clarify expectations and add a sense of urgency. But they only work if they cannot easily be ignored. Make sure you and your people understand the likely consequence of not delivering on time.
MASTERING TIME What do you cost per hour? This is a good starting point for tackling colleagues’ time issues. Take your present salary figure and double it, to allow for overheads. Divide by the number of hours in the year you work for the organisation. Exclude leisure time such as thinking about work in the bath or reading reports while on holiday. Your cost per hour can be shocking when you realise how expensive you are! Keep reminding yourself of this hourly rate when deciding how to spend your time. There are many techniques for using your time effectively. Here are just a few tips: • Notice the difference between: Tasks that are urgent and those that are important. Organise your time so that you focus on the important aspects of your working life. This is a particularly useful way to focus both your time and energy. It can make immediate sense of many difficult choices about how to use your time. • To-Do-lists: Writing down intentions explains the secret of many managers’ success in delivering under pressure. Keep a list of important tasks and use it daily. The two most useful ways to track activity are the Daily To Do List and The Master List. • Use to-don’t lists: Before you add endless actions to your list, do a reality check. Time is finite, so it makes sense to prioritise and remove some things from your list. • Cut The Clutter: Work pressures will feel less oppressive if your surroundings radiate calm and order. Clutter messes with the mind and sends a negative message: “I am overwhelmed.”
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“Work pressures are increasing and demands to do more with less are here to stay. So mastering energy, time, goals and stress are an essential part of being successful.” • Avoid frantic phoning: Rather than passively answering whenever your phone rings, set specific times for when you will be available, and when not. Make this clear to people. • Fight Email Addiction: Constant checking of every email that comes can distract your best work and most constructive thinking. MASTERING STRESS How you handle stress can determine whether your managerial career is a short or a long one. The basic message is use: Awareness Management Prevention This is a useful mnemonic because AMP is a unit of energy and the better your use these three areas, the more energetic you will feel. • Awareness: Learn to recognise the signs. Everything from breathlessness, headaches, chest pains, sweating, nervous twitches, high blood pressure, constant tiredness; restlessness, sleeping problems, indigestion or heartburn, feelings of aggressive, loss of interest in others, irritability, depression, loss of sense of humour, difficulty making decisions, difficulty concentrating, nail biting and many more. Most of all start noticing what triggers these feelings of stress.
•M anagement: Be willing to take practical action before, not after, the adverse results set in. Use mindfulness and relaxation techniques. Look for areas where you can have influence or control over your activities. Seize back control and be assertive about your needs. Take regular exercise and avoid getting wound up by people or problems. Keep things in perspective (will it really matter in a year from now?) Talk to a friend or colleague. And, if it’s really bad, seek professional help. •P revention: Many of the approaches already mentioned in this article will help prevent productive pressure turning into toxic stress. As well as these, remember to be adaptable. According to research, those who live longest tend to be best at adapting to life’s changes. Part of being resilient and coping with pressure is a readiness to adapt to changing situations or ones that carry a strong emotional charge. Also, develop your emotional intelligence. Being able to express your feelings rather than bottling them up is healthy. And having supportive and loving relationships is probably pre-eminent in the prevention stakes. That, and making sure you take holidays! Work pressures are increasing and demands to do more with less are here to stay. So mastering energy, time, goals and stress are an essential part of being successful. And if you detect yourself becoming addicted to being busy, to using work to avoid confronting other issues, then it is time to answer the final subversive question: “Why don’t I want to go home?” Elements of this article appear in Andrew Leigh’s new book “The Essentials of Management” (Pearson) and other parts are taken from our course notes on the topic.
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Online Support A few of you may remember back in May of last year, we at Maynard Leigh, got a little excitable over the launch of our new website... well we’re at it again.
This time we’re launching our new improved Online Support Services. We believe that delivering effective learning and development is essential for personal growth, but to maximise its impact and sustain change we can all do with a little extra help. Therefore, this means attending to what happens before and after development events. Our online services are designed to create a user-friendly platform to offer sustained learning which can be fully integrated into your actual business practices. Maynard Leigh has spent over 20 years developing effective learning tools and techniques to support personal development and growth. By creating methods of continuous and sustainable change we are able to ensure development is relevant to your needs, and that you will receive the ongoing support needed even when you are back at your desk.
OUR IMPROVED SERVICE CONTINUES TO OFFER THE OLD FAV
Each team member completes an online questionnaire. It’s fast and fun to do. When all team members have entered their views, the result is both a series of individual pictures of the team and an overall team profile. Are you using the full range of expressive colours from your personality palette? The Maynard Leigh Personal Impact Profile gives valuable feedback on how you come across in a work setting, and explains your personal impact in detailed behavioural terms.
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VOURITES, BUT YOU’LL NOW FIND THE SYSTEM MORE INTERACTIVE, INFORMATIVE AND ALL INCLUSIVE:
The profile examines vital leadership. It is a 360 degree feedback tool that reveals personal strengths and development needs in two core elements of leadership and five capabilities: Foundation Elements: • Individuality • Insight Capabilities • Initiate • Involve • Inspire • Improvise • Implement
Progressit® is a powerful online support system that provides follow through after a course, a workshop or learning event. We use this service to: • Help participants reach their self selected behavioural goals • Show line managers what their colleagues have learned, and report on the business results from their new learning • Enable Human Resources departments to offer evidence of specific business gains stemming from a particular learning experience.
Take a few minutes to visit our website www.maynardleigh.co.uk and check out our improved service, and as usual it would be great to have your feedback!
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To find out more or book a room please call 020 7033 2370 or email carolinek@maynardleigh.co.uk
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25 Spotlight | January 2012
“Treating people with respect, delivering on promises, allowing people to express themselves, providing interesting work, rewarding commitment and building honest relationships.”
GREAT PLACE TO WORK BE! Michael Maynard explores what makes a great workplace. I met a woman recently who said “I love my work.” Then she paused for a moment and corrected herself, “No, actually the truth is I love going to work.” I understood the distinction immediately. It was the whole experience she was referring to, not just the work that she did. Then she grimaced and sent herself up, “Sad case, aren’t I!” I remarked “Not at all, but can you tell me more?” She went on to talk about the supportive atmosphere in her company and how everyone seemed keen to pull together and commit to extra effort. A couple of times recently they worked long into the evening to finish a job. And then the management rewarded them with time off in lieu and flowers or chocolates to say ‘thank-you’. “It wasn’t much”, she said, “but it’s always like that. They care.” But is that just a ‘nice to have’, appealing to those who want a cosy and comfortable work life? Not so, if you believe the data. Research into the companies that appear in the Sunday
Times ‘Best Workplaces’ list indicates there is a close link between a good work environment and commercial success. Such organisations regularly outperform other FTSE companies, often by more than four times. So what are the criteria for a great place to work? Many people simply talk about happy employees. That’s possibly why there are now many initiatives to make the workplace more enjoyable – The Happiness Project, Action for Happiness, Project Happiness and the Virtual Happiness Institute, to name but a few. But work satisfaction is more than just being happy. Spending time in a happy-clappy environment, where everyone smiles all the time or is relentlessly gung-ho can be as dispiriting as working in the gloomiest of dinosaur organisations. It feels unreal, forced and simply weird. Life’s more complex than that. It has its natural ups and downs, and a truly great workplace allows all sorts of feelings to be expressed.
26 Spotlight | January 2012
As Henry Stewart of Happy (Computers) says, “at Happy we are evangelists for the belief that people work best when they feel good about themselves and, therefore, that the main focus of management should be on enabling people to feel good, to feel valued, to feel motivated. It is great to know that this gut feeling is backed up by the evidence.” And the evidence is indeed compelling. Professor Ivan Robertson spoke at the LSE seminar on wellbeing recently and said, “Improved psychological wellbeing (PWB) leads to a more productive and successful workplace. The case has been proven in academic studies over the last ten years.” So the goal is widening beyond simply seeking happiness to the more profound concept of wellbeing. Companies frequently state that their aim is to maximise shareholder value. Analysis shows that the best way to do that is to focus on creating a great workplace, where people are trusted and valued. Fortune tracked the stock price of companies from 1998 to 2010.
Each year the investment was reset to match the latest list. The result over the 12 years was clear: •T he average annual return on the great workplace companies was 10.06%. •T he average annual return on the US stock market (S&P 500) was just 3.83% As the Great Place to Work Institute says, “Our data shows that building workplace trust is the best investment your company can make.” Easier said than done. It seems that everywhere we look there is corruption, lack of integrity and greed. No wonder people don’t trust politicians, journalists, investment bankers, priests... yes, the examples grow by the day. And sadly, high on most workers’ list is their senior management. Yet it really shouldn’t be that difficult to manage an area of the organisation in such a way that people look forward to coming to work. Just basic humanity. Treating people with respect, delivering on promises, allowing people to express themselves, providing interesting work, rewarding commitment and building honest relationships. When people experience these basic actions they feel appreciated, important and valued. And then it’s not just a great place to work, but a place where people feel they can be themselves. In fact, a great place to be.
To find out more please call 020 7033 2370 or email carolinek@maynardleigh.co.uk
Michael Maynard Co.Founder Maynard Leigh Associates
If you would like to know more about Maynard Leigh or to find out more about any of our workshops please call 020 7033 2370 or email carolinek@maynardleigh.co.uk
‘UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL’
JANUARY 2012
PUBLIC WORKSHOPS INFORMATION
Detailed information about our learning and development workshops • What’s on • When it’s on, and • Why you might consider attending Including a ‘What’s on’ calendar event
EVENTS CALENDAR WHAT’S ON WHAT’S ON WHAT’S ON WHAT’S ON WHAT’S ON DATES
EVENTS
January 10 January
Expresso Session: Coaching To Resolve Confict 1pm – 2pm
24 January
Expresso Session: Delivering Under Pressure 1pm – 2pm
26 – 27 January
Presenting with Presence
February 20 – 21 February
Presenting with Presence
17 February
Writing for Results
24 February
Personal Impact
March 02 March
Finding Your Voice
12 – 13 March
Interacting
26 – 27 March
Presenting with Presence
30 March
Personal Impact
April 02 – 03 April
Coaching and Leading for High Performance
18 April
Boardroom Presence
23 – 24 April
Presenting with Presence
30 April
Personal Impact
May 26 – 27 May
Presenting with Presence
30 May
Personal Impact
For our 2012 calendar, visit our website, www.maynardleigh.co.uk or use our Quick Response link.
60-90 minutes bite-size courses.
05 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS EXPRESSO SESSIONS
These short, interactive, skills sessions get people up and practising, rather than being talked at. Each lasts between 60-90 minutes, depending on your need. People leave enlightened, energised and keen to implement new ideas. Consider setting up a Learning Week, a Development Month, or even an ongoing Annual Programme offering a selection of these short, sharp and inspiring development sessions. Run it at lunch times, afternoons, early evenings, or whenever your people can slip away for some stimulating and enhancing skills sets. If you are looking for individual sessions, to start you on the right foot, our lunchtime Expresso Sessions are perfect for you. 10TH JANUARY 1 – 2PM COACHING TO RESOLVE CONFLICT Using coaching techniques to resolve those tricky relationship issues. Sometimes relationships just get stuck. There are normally reasons that are obvious, yet many of the root causes are under the surface and hard to identify. This session explores the coaching skills needed to unpick some of the difficulties and allow people to approach the situation in a different and productive way. The session will explore:
“People leave enlightened, energised and keen to implement new ideas.” 24TH JANUARY 1 – 2PM DELIVERING UNDER PRESSURE Mastery of Energy, Emotion, Time, Goals and Wellbeing. For many people the increasing pressure of working life means that it is very hard to get the right balance. Sometimes we’re working brilliantly and yet, at others, everything seems to be getting in our way and driving us crazy. Stress-related illnesses are on the increase. Now, more than ever, we need to find a way of maintaining our wellbeing whilst delivering outstanding performance. The session will explore: • The difference between healthy pressure and toxic stress • Relaxation and de-stressing techniques • How to find a healthy balance The cost of these 60 minute sessions is £35 + VAT per session per person. This price includes a light lunch and all supporting materials.
• Where to start when it all looks hopeless • The value of a coaching approach to support all the parties involved • Techniques to unlock the problems and make progress
To find out more please call 020 7033 2370 or email carolinek@maynardleigh.co.uk
06 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
PUBLIC WORKSHOPS At Maynard Leigh Associates, we are always looking for ways to bring you the development opportunities you need whilst understanding the time and cost constraints you face.
FOUNDATION PROGRAMMES
We recognise the importance of Continuing Professional Development points and have therefore accredited our most popular public workshops, knowing this would support your personal development plans.
INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMES
We also understand that throughout your career you will have different needs at different times, and at different levels. So, we have introduced some new programmes to support you at each step of the way:
These are for people who are developing a new skill or area of responsibility
These workshops are relevant to all levels of people in an organisation ADVANCE PROGRAMMES These workshops are for those who are experienced, yet want to strive for the next level of mastery. Within these programmes, we are launching a few new workshops. All of our public workshops take place at our specialist venue, The Base, in Central London and come with a welcoming breakfast, nutritious lunch, and endless tea, coffee and snacks.
If you would like to book your place please call 020 7033 2370 for booking details.
FOUNDATION PROGRAMMES
09 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOUNDATION PROGRAMMES
THE PRESENTATION EXPERIENCE Good presentations can engage, motivate, and inspire an audience. And yet, so often, presentations are seen as dull, pedestrian and a waste of time. They certainly needn’t be that way – as this workshop demonstrates. By using challenging and enjoyable methods, adapted for business from the theatre, we enable people to communicate with confidence, and speak with passion and conviction. Target Audience This workshop is a foundation course for inexperienced presenters, or people with little or no previous presentation development. Learn to: • Use the memorable components of presentations • Prepare, both structurally and physically • Employ non-verbal communication to underscore the message • Give the audience an experience • Use visual aids • Clarify and deliver the message Feel: • Better equipped to handle presenting situations • More alert to what is happening in the audience • Ready to convey both confidence and conviction • More sensitive to the audience and their needs
Be more able to: • Build a relationship with the audience • Convey quality in a personal message • Give effective briefings • Create chemistry and rapport • Make an impactful presentation One day course Cost: £385 + VAT
10 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOUNDATION PROGRAMMES
PERSONAL IMPACT Discover your power to make a lasting impression by getting your message across and creating the right personal chemistry with your audience – whether one person or a small group. Gain the confidence to tackle selling products or services to individuals, chairing and participating in meetings, interviews, appraisals, and briefings, and handling social and business functions. Target Audience Ideal for anyone needing to develop their impact and effectiveness in informal presentations to small groups or in one-to-one situations. Learn to: • Use and be more aware of body language • Understand how best to use your own communication style • Clarify and deliver your message • End encounters positively • Assess the effects of your appearance
Feel: • Better equipped to handle group situations • More alert to what happens in small groups • Ready to convey both confidence and conviction • More sensitive to others and their communication needs Be more able to: • Convey quality in your personal message • Give effective briefings • Chair and participate in meetings • Deal with business and social occasions • Create personal chemistry and rapport One day course Cost: £385 + VAT 6 CPD points Includes a copy of our best selling book, The Charisma Effect.
11 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOUNDATION PROGRAMMES
WRITING FOR RESULTS Written communication, like all communication, is personal. People have their own styles, habits, approaches, and responses. More than any other medium of communication, the written word is widely open to misinterpretation. Positive intentions sometimes produce negative impact. This inventive and highly interactive one day course unveils the secrets behind better business writing. Designed to take the agony out of the process, the course outlines some simple but powerful methods and principles for producing more persuasive and more effective documents and emails. Target Audience If you write documents or emails that need to deliver a clear message or if you have experienced the horror of miscommunication, this workshop is for you. Learn to: • Persuade through the written word • Consider the effect of your writing on the reader • Use building blocks for effective writing • Structure an argument
Feel: •C onfident in your writing •M ore assured in starting and structuring documents • Positive in your ability to write effectively • Creative in your approach Be more able to: • Create a clear and unambiguous purpose • Apply your natural creativity • Convey your desired tone • Write emails that have the desired impact One day course Cost: £385 + VAT
13 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS FOUNDATION PROGRAMMES
FINDING YOUR VOICE The voice is one of our most powerful communication tools, and yet often people find that their voice lets them down just when they need it most, and they don’t know what to do about it. This course is about getting practical, tailored help in developing and improving your voice. Whether you want to have more vocal impact, speak with more gravitas or variety, or be more clearly understood speaking English as a second language, this day-long session can help you to take charge of your voice. Target Audience Ideal for anyone wanting to improve the effectiveness of their voice, whether for presentations and meetings, or in informally situations. Learn to: • Gain control of your voice and make greater vocal impact • Develop your voice, improve its tone, and give it more life, variety, and gravitas • Improve the clarity of your speech • Be more easily understood when speaking English as a second language
Feel: •M ore assured and able to convey confidence in speech •C lear about what you need to work on, and how to go about it •B etter equipped to handle difficult speaking situations •M ore sensitive to others and their communication needs Be more able to: • Further develop and strengthen your voice •E xtend your range of expression • Use your voice more effectively in a variety of situations One day course Cost: £385 + VAT
INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMES
15 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMES
COACHING AND LEADING FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE Today’s successful leaders are peoplefocused and know how to unlock the potential of others. Because they understand people and their motivations, they no longer rely on the traditional command and control style to get things done. Thus, every manager, leader or supervisor has to be a master of coaching skills, as do technical experts and internal or external consultants. Businesses grow by developing the people within them. Coaching is a vital component of leadership, and is one of the strongest tools at the manager’s disposal to achieve such growth and development. We see coaching as two people working together in a dynamic and creative relationship to develop the best performance. Supporting people in their performance requires far more than direction or instruction, and great coaches are willing to invest time in the development of people and their abilities. They use insight – looking at what it will take and what they can do to bring each person towards their potential. This event provides the tools, expertise, and creative stimulus to make your coaching and people management productive. It is highly experiential, using a wide range of methods – and lots of practice and feedback – so that you can build a clear sense of your own personal leadership style.
Target Audience This two day workshop is targeted at managers and team leaders who need to get the best from their people. No experience is necessary, just the desire to maximise results. Learn to: • Recognise and develop potential in others • Expand your repertoire of leadership techniques • Build more open and responsive coaching relationships • Ask questions to encourage productive dialogue • Use feedback to improve performance • Apply coaching models in meaningful ways Feel: • Greater confidence in using a wide range of leadership styles • Ready to practise coaching in the workplace • Assured in balancing structure and flexibility in your coaching • Equipped to coach on a wide range of issues • More capable of handling difficult situations with clarity and focus Be more able to: • Vary your style to suit the situation • Use coaching as an everyday management tool • Plan your coaching interventions • Offer challenging feedback constructively Two day course Cost: £850 + VAT 12 CPD points Includes: our best selling book, Leading Your Team.
16 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMES
INTERACTING So much of business success depends on work relationships, and these rely on good communication. We spend more time at work communicating than doing any other activity. Yet, so often, our conversations are unsatisfactory, misunderstood, or highly charged. Interacting reaches beneath the surface of interpersonal communications. Over the two days, participants will explore all aspects of communication skills and style. We create a safe space in which to rehearse new ways of being more effective in challenging work situations. Target Audience Anyone who needs to communicate effectively and to understand the various communication styles to support harmonious working environments and to build productive relationships. Learn to: • Talk effectively and persuasively • Listen actively with purpose • Develop status and convey authority • Assert yourself to get what you want • Rediscover authenticity
Feel: • Challenged to make your communications more effective • Comfortable exploring new communication methods • Clearer on what works well for you as a communicator • More assertive about obtaining what you want from your communications Be more able to: • Gain and hold attention • Deal with difficult conversations • Use natural spontaneity • Recognise and deal with people’s defence mechanisms • Communicate purposefully and produce greater effect Two day course Cost: £850 + VAT 12 CPD points Includes: a copy of our best selling book, Perfect Communications.
ADVANCED PROGRAMMES
19 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS ADVANCED PROGRAMMES
PRESENTING WITH PRESENCE This is the UK’s most impactful and outstanding presentation event. For the last twenty years, we have helped thousands of people communicate with confidence and speak with passion and conviction. Using challenging and enjoyable methods adapted for business from the theatre, we focus on each person’s unique presenting style. By building confidence, we enable people to express their natural creativity and enthusiasm. There is continual professional feedback, along with constant practice in presenting with energy and conviction. This powerful experience can radically change how people express themselves. Target Audience This workshop is for those with some experience at presentation delivery, but who want to increase their impact and become masterful presenters. Learn to: • Delivery your message with confidence and conviction • Unlock your unique presenting style • Use five P’s of dynamic presentations • Prepare physically, vocally and mentally • Structure creative and memorable presentations • Field hostile questions
Feel: •C onfident about presenting • Able to handle nerves • Excited about presenting • Ready to give your best Be more able to: • I mprovise and think on your feet •C ontrol your stage fright •P repare under pressure •C ommunicate with passion • I nspire, influence and win over your audience Two day course Cost: £985 + VAT 12 CPD points Includes: a personalised DVD; our best selling book, The Perfect Presentation, 5 months’ ongoing support.
20 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS ADVANCED PROGRAMMES
INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP Increasingly, leaders need to engage and inspire others. This high-level workshop is a total shake-up, wake-up, and creative challenge for anyone committed to producing inspirational performance. It enables each participant to discover their ability to win people’s hearts as well as their minds. Leaders, managers – in fact anyone determined to be successful – constantly need to work creatively to understand and realise their own potential. This masterclass in creative leadership is a rare and demanding way of exploring your limits in a safe yet challenging environment. Inspirational Leadership uses ideas, methods, and inspiration from the theatre, which can be applied to work in organisations. Target Audience Ideal for leaders who need to engage and inspire others and who want to re-energise and inspire themselves. Learn to: • Release your untapped creativity • Create innovative solutions to work problems • Use networking and support • Give and receive insightful feedback • Enliven your working life
Feel: • More comfortable in expressing passion • Confident to take centre-stage • Refreshed and alive • Bigger, bolder, and better Be more able to: • Inspire and engage others • Create better team working • Lead and solve problems creatively • Use emotional intelligence to win people’s hearts Two day course Cost: £985 + VAT Includes a copy of our best selling book, Dramatic Shift.
21 Learning & Development Workshops | January 2012
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS ADVANCED PROGRAMMES
BOARDROOM PRESENCE Whether it is because you’ve been promoted and therefore attend regular board meetings, or are asked to attend occasionally because you have particular expertise, you need to make an appropriate impact. The same goes for building client relationships at board level – you will need to present yourself with gravitas and authority. This one day workshop allows you to develop your presentation and communication skills so that you make a favourable impression on other senior executives. Target Audience Anyone who wants to improve their ability to form effective relationships at a senior level and present themselves with authority. Learn to: • Use your authentic leadership style • Clarify the impact you want to have • Be alert to what’s going on around you • Impress and establish credibility
Feel: •C onfident to walk into a room full of senior executives •C onnected to your own integrity •A n equal with those around you Be more able to: • Influence at the highest level •B uild relationships with senior people •E xpress your opinions and points of view •C onvey gravitas and natural authority One day course Cost: £485 + VAT Includes a copy of our best selling book, The Charisma Effect.