18 minute read
Thought Leaders
Leading by example, one opinion, one idea, one lesson at a time, our thought leaders are significant in the Leicester and Leicestershire business scene.
With authority in their field of expertise, passion for sharing ideas, and commitment to helping others, they’ve been asked to express their most current brainwaves in print.
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Selected organisations and individuals share how and why they go about their business, reveal their ambitions, provide clarity on matters within their industry, educate on complex or novel subjects, inspire with their forwardthinking and progressive perspectives, or look backwards to evaluate what’s been learnt.
Got something you’d like to see our team of thought leaders cover? Send your topics of interest to kerry@crossproductions.co.uk.
Darren Willoughby
Managing Director at 2XL Commercial Finance
Common courtesy – is it a thing of the past?
Now call me a grumpy old man if you wish, but at 42 I am officially classed as Generation X. I sit somewhere between the baby boom generation and the new ‘millennials’, which I believe allows me a foot in both camps as far as perhaps understanding two different generations.
The thing that I have been increasingly aware of over the last 12 months is the fact that common courtesy seems to be somewhat disappearing in both society and the workplace.
I checked out the official meaning of the word and according to the Cambridge Dictionary, it means: “The basic level of politeness that you expect from someone.”
As I regularly say to my seven-year-old son: “manners cost nothing”. The absence of a please or thank you from him comes with a swift “Errrm, anything else?” from me.
A seven-year-old can just about be forgiven for this, but as for adults, this should be a given, shouldn’t it? The number of times I see people not saying thank you when you let someone out when driving, when you help someone and they don’t acknowledge it, when you let someone in front of you in the supermarket or move out of the way for someone, is absurd. I am also the manager of a junior football club and some parents think nothing of arriving five minutes before kick-off or midway through a training session without even an apology for being late, or worse still, just not turning up without any acknowledgement.
Now you might say that’s just all people in general, but that’s the point, isn’t it? In the workplace, where being professional is everything, surely this isn’t acceptable. When people don’t respond to an email or voicemail, completely ignore a pre-booked appointment, don’t apologise for being late on a deadline or for not coming back to you, it surely reflects badly on you and your business.
As the mantra goes: ‘treat people how you wish to be treated’. Although, in saying that, I opened a door for a lady in the shop the other day and her response was that she was ‘more than capable of doing it herself’, so what do I know? Maybe we should add being chivalrous and gentlemanly to the things disappearing among the different generations, alongside my patience.
Laura Kearsley
Partner and solicitor in employment law at Nelsons
Supporting transgender employees in the workplace
November 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week. It’s a week of raising awareness, visibility and understanding about transgender people and some of the issues that they face.
An important aspect of the legal protection for those identifying as transgender is the right not to be discriminated against, which all employers should be aware of.
Gender reassignment is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 and reference to a transsexual person is reference to a person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment. This characteristic can apply to those who have transitioned or are transitioning from male to female or from female to male as well as those who are intersex or non-binary (ie who do not identify as male or female).
To benefit from the protection, the individual must be proposing to undergo a process or part of a process; currently undergoing a process or part of a process; or have undergone a process or part of a process for the purpose of reassigning their sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex. Any process does not need to be medical in nature or medically supervised; it is enough to simply present permanently in a different binary gender to the one they were assigned at birth.
In the case of Taylor v Jaguar Land Rover, an Employment Tribunal confirmed that the protection extended to an individual who selfidentified as gender fluid and non-binary who had no plans for surgical transition but considered themselves on a spectrum and on a personal journey. Whether the protection would extend to an individual who does not identify as male or female but cannot be said to be on any sort of transition or journey, has yet to be clarified.
Those that qualify for protection are protected against direct discrimination (being treated less favourably than someone without that protected characteristic), indirect discrimination (where a provision, criterion or practice puts people with the protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage), harassment on grounds of gender reassignment and victimisation (if they are treated unfavourably after raising a complaint of discrimination or aided someone who did, for example).
As an example of how employers can get this wrong, see the case of de Souza E Souza v Primark: the claimant informed Primark when she applied for a role as retail assistant that she was transgender and that her preferred name was Alexandra rather than her birth name of Alexander. The interviewer agreed that although Primark had to use her official name for pay, she could use whatever name she liked on her name badge. However, HR staff changed the preferred first name on the company’s IT system from Alexandra to Alexander, and her title from Miss to Mr. This error was repeated on her name badge and daily allocation sheets handed to supervisors on the shop floor. Despite using her preferred name for a number of weeks, a supervisor then began calling her Alexander and laughed when she was corrected. She also alleged that colleagues sprayed men’s perfume over her till, said she had ‘a man’s voice’, made comments about her sexuality, and called her ‘evil’ and ‘a joke’.
The employment tribunal held that Primark had subjected her to direct gender reassignment discrimination by failing properly to investigate the matter and deal with it appropriately. By failing to give her the outcome of her grievance or advising her of the right of appeal amounted to both constructive dismissal and direct discrimination on the grounds of gender reassignment.
Saleem Arif
Chairman at ReviewSolicitors
Google’s ‘Helpful Content’ update: no shortcuts in digital marketing
Google’s somewhat mysterious search algorithm has seen its biggest change in a decade, and it has shaken up the world of digital marketing. Dubbed the ‘Helpful Content’ update (a name which isn’t quite as catchy as its 2012 equivalent update, ‘Panda’), this major change in the algorithm has been created to tackle website content written purposely to manipulate the algorithm, rather than for internet users themselves. While the update began in late August 2022 and was completed in September, its effects will be felt for months afterwards, with some experts predicting it will impact the rankings of 50% of the internet. Google, through its popularity and domination of the search engine market (91% of searches are made through the search engine), has become something of a gatekeeper of how websites are designed and built. And each new rule and update forces websites and content to improve. The more rules that are set, the more your website content needs to up its game. It helps to set the bar high. Attempts at manipulating the algorithm are shut down (the 2012 ‘Penguin’ update helped take down link farms and spam directories) and forces SEO experts and digital marketers to exchange their ‘black hat’ for a white one. The majority of the industry has proudly worn white hats for over a decade, but the Helpful Content update should squash those who want to shortcut their digital marketing once and for all. Helpful Content is the next step in Google’s journey to making the internet a better place. Content stuffed with keywords, misinformation, AI-generated content and article aggregators are the target, alongside content created specifically to game Google’s algorithm. How to ‘beat’ the Helpful Content update is simple. To quote Google itself, simply ask yourself these questions when reviewing your website: ◆ After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal? ◆ Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
Your content needs to be in-depth, wellstructured (don’t be afraid of bullet points!), easy to read, accurate and, most importantly, written for human beings. When sitting to create content for any website, you must always have the desired user in mind. Useful tools like the free Hemingway Editor will keep your writing human and easy-to-read, and Google’s Keyword Planner will help you with finding keyword variants and semantic fields you need to include in your writing.
In short, Google is sending the message that there are no shortcuts in digital marketing.
Andrea Gray
Managing Director at PPL PRS
A season of change
September 2022 will definitely go down in history as the month of change. With the sad passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II came the appointment of our new monarch, King Charles III. Just days before this, a new Prime Minister took her place at No 10.
Pair these momentous changes with looming living and business cost rises plus the arrival of autumn bringing colder weather, darker nights, and grey, misty mornings as we head into our workplaces, these last months of the year may be taking their toll on us all.
With these changes in mind, now may be a good time to do a ‘temperature check’ on your teams to understand how this could be affecting them.
Mental health issues can manifest themselves in many ways. Some people may seem to be functioning and ‘happy’ on the surface, however offering emotional support and an opportunity to talk through worries and anxieties could be a welcome release.
Consider a short, anonymous questionnaire out to all team members asking them to give a rating on how they are feeling, how current news stories are affecting them, could the business do anything more to support them, plus a reminder of the support and services available to them.
These changes affect us all, and whilst autumn is a sign that colder weather is on the way, remember it is also the season of beautiful, warm colours as the leaves turn from green through to gold. Taking care of our own mental health is vital too. Taking a long walk in the crisp air, talking to friends, and making time to appreciate that whilst some of these changes are unfamiliar, they can also bring with them a renewed positivity.
Sarah Higgins
Leadership Coach at Sarah Higgins Corporate Coaching
The first challenge in leadership is knowing yourself
When it comes to leadership, we often think about what we need to do ‘to’ others to lead them, concentrating on intelligence quotient (IQ), confidence and charisma.
Historically, leadership has focused on how to manage people using qualities associated with being authoritative, decisive, forceful, and controlling. We now know that leadership and motivating others are more complex than that. If leaders are to be successful in our modern world, they need to moderate their behaviour with a high degree of awareness as to how they are perceived by others.
Leadership is about self-awareness, not selfconfidence
Leadership is not just what we know, but what we do and how we do it. Selfawareness is the first step of emotional intelligence (EQ). The measure of our EQ is evident in our interactions and relationships with employees, customers, suppliers, and stakeholders. A Green Peake’s study in 2010 showed that executives in public and private companies with revenues from $50m to $5bn, found that selfawareness is the most critical trait for successful leaders.
Your success as a leader is based on your reputation
According to Hogan (world leaders in using personality assessment to improve workplace performance), our identity is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves — the person we think we are. We often have an inflated idea of our own talent, or we might be unnecessarily hard on ourselves. Reputation is what everyone else thinks of us and is based on our overt behaviours and social skills. Your success in the workplace is dependent on that reputation.
Overused or unmanaged strengths become weaknesses
The most effective leaders have a realistic view of their leadership abilities. They know that their strengths work in many situations, but at times they become their weaknesses (or development areas). For example, being driven, passionate and focused enables great results, but might mean a leader takes on too much and becomes overwhelmed.
Self-awareness is an ongoing process
It starts with real honest feedback from others in your team; a 360-feedback process, a personality assessment, or from a coach. It’s continually noticing your thoughts, why you are thinking them, and noticing your words, behaviours and actions and their impact on others. It is reflecting and considering, listening, observing, and thinking. It’s a process that requires humility, to be OK with imperfection. Self-awareness is not about diagnosing and treating our fears of inadequacy, but about how to leverage our strengths and develop our personal expression of leadership. The more we learn about ourselves, the more confident we are to be leaders.
Feedback is an invaluable gift we often refuse
Humility is one of the most powerful leadership behaviours because it is authentic and builds trust. When it comes to our own weakness, we tend to have blind spots. Willingness to look at ourselves through others’ eyes helps us gain invaluable insight into how our emotions and communication style affect other people. How often are you asking for feedback? How objective, and honest is the feedback? Are people telling you what they think you want to hear? How do you know your real impact as a leader?
Rik Pancholi
Managing Director at Pattersons Commercial Law
Four challenges
In the lifecycle of every business, there are four areas that may pose a challenge. Over the last couple of months, I’ve advised on these areas frequently. From winning clients to growing a company, these are the challenges that business owners and leaders may be faced with at numerous stages of their organisation’s journey.
Winning clients
Generating work that will bring in revenue is always a tough one. You may have a fantastic product or service, but if your clients don’t know about it, they won’t know you’re ready and waiting. There are many methods of marketing, advertising and business development, so it’s important to understand what underpins your business. Our approach as a law firm has always been to focus on longterm relationships. Other methods include joining established networking groups (provided the right people are in the room who can understand and value you bring to the table), issuing targeted press releases, maintaining your website, or creating a bespoke lead generation tool.
Keeping clients happy
Once you’ve won your client, you will want to keep them happy. This could be from giving them the best experience, so they become advocates of your brand. Remember, it’s more costeffective to keep an existing client than to acquire a new one! The thing most business owners will need to know is that sometimes, things will go wrong. It’s not what happened that matters but how you handle it that defines your approach. The key is to communicate and inform your client so they know what is happening each step of the way.
Hiring the best and keeping them the best
There appears to be a real skills shortage in many sectors at the moment. The cost of hiring and onboarding can be quite high, so you may want to explore what you can do to keep your amazing people. This can range from providing a great environment to work in through to short-term incentives such as bonuses and pay rises. For longerterm incentives, business owners can explore building share options (so key employees can buy in) or other creative mechanisms to align the key employees’ futures with the business owners. Keep them the best with continual training and development. Everyone will have skills gaps – it’s about knowing where those gaps are and how to invest in filling them. If you keep investing in your employees, they will do well for the business and it will perform at a higher standard.
Growing
As a corporate lawyer, I love seeing businesses grow. This can be through organic growth or acquisition. Growth through acquisition can gift the business functions it currently does not have, or an opportunity to spread its wings and really make something special happen. The key will be to concentrate heavily on the transition and integration of the two businesses.
Richard Kotulecki
CEO at Lamp
Supporting mental health fits in with sound organisational management
In the last issue of Niche magazine, I wrote about the business benefits of supporting employees’ mental health. This time, I want to show how doing so fits seamlessly into wellestablished principles of effective management.
People who gain satisfaction from their jobs perform well in their jobs. Good performance increases satisfaction – a virtuous circle. The opposite is also true; dissatisfied people perform less well, fuelling a vicious circle. So how can we create jobs that are satisfying and how can we motivate people to perform well?
Psychologist Frederick Herzberg distilled work satisfaction down to two factors: motivators and hygiene factors.
Motivators relate to intrinsic factors; things that power us to do things for pleasure, a sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility and autonomy. When these are central to job roles, they result in greater effort, improved performance and greater satisfaction.
Hygiene factors relate to extrinsic motivation; the rewards that we expect for doing a job such as salary, employee benefits, and office location. Poor hygiene factors lead to dissatisfaction and poor performance. However, improving hygiene factors does not result in a long-term improvement in motivation, it simply prevents dissatisfaction.
Studies consistently show the correlation between job satisfaction and health. An analysis of 485 such studies carried out by the Manchester Business School showed that the link is strongest for mental health issues including burnout, self-esteem, depression, and anxiety (Faragher et al, 2005). On a smaller scale, many of us can relate to this from our personal lives. When we feel satisfied at work, we feel better within ourselves.
Current organisational management and leadership best practise recognises the importance of giving talented people the freedom to perform their roles to the best of their abilities. In a whole range of organisations including armed services and companies such as Microsoft, empowerment and enablement of people are recognised as key determinants of performance (HarperCollins, 2017).
As organisational leaders, we can create a win-win situation. By ensuring our people have clarity in the roles they perform; that they are empowered with autonomy, trust, and responsibility; that they are enabled to develop, learn, and grow; that they are encouraged to experiment and make the occasional mistake; and that they are recognised for their achievements – we can have a big positive influence on their mental health. And on our bottom lines.
Eileen Perry MBE
Owner of ER Recruitment
Planning your headcount for the year ahead
Idiscussed in a previous feature the impact that seasons have on recruitment and the Christmas period is no different. By now, many of you will be close to completing your Christmas shopping and have your festive plans lined up. You may have even already spotted the Christmas advert of the year. Yet whilst the magical mayhem increases in individuals’ personal lives, in business it’s a time to slow down, celebrate success and build the foundations for the year ahead.
Of course, there are industries that are ramping up for their busiest season of the year. Sectors such as retail and hospitality will have already begun their temporary recruitment drive to increase their headcount to support boosted demand.
In comparison, for industries such as manufacturing, construction, professional services and many others, the festive period brings the ‘Christmas shutdown’ when businesses choose to close their doors due to decreased workload and to reward workers. Whilst there has been much discussion over the years about the impact of the Christmas shutdown, the overarching opinion is that it gives business leaders the time to plan for the year ahead, which includes recruitment plans.
To ensure a business is proactive rather than reactive in terms of recruitment, it’s crucial to plan ahead to develop an attractive campaign to entice top talent. Taking into account the period of advertisement, interview stages and notice periods, businesses need to be thinking about starting recruitment 12 weeks before they ideally want a candidate to start. To do this, business leaders need to look at their existing team, identify where succession planning can be done, recognise skill shortages and create vacancies based on these gaps to build an all-around successful team.
Time away from the business gives the period away from the day-to-day to do this, ensuring that the new year ahead starts out with a strong strategy.
