Today’s blog is deliberately challenging.  If you are not prepared to look at self-improvement and ask hard hitting questions of yourself, your teams and your organisation, please disregard this blog as it will not be for you.

Feedback from readers tells me that my most successful blog recently has been the one on ‘What are you doing to flourish when we are told to tighten our belts?’.  I hope you were able to read it because that very word ‘flourish’ seems to have captured the imagination, become a real aspiration and opened up dialogue on potential and possibilities.  And it is the theme of ‘possibilities’ that I have chosen today.   Why?  Because last week I was honoured to meet Sir Bob Geldof.

Sir Bob Geldof and Alison Miles-Jenkins 23 July 2010 London

As I have said before, Achievement means a lot to me personally and Sir Bob is surely one of the greatest contemporary achievers.  Remember what he accomplished with Band Aid, and Live Aid when £100 million was raised for African famine relief?  Recall his challenging of Margaret Thatcher, leading to a major re-evaluation of British government policy towards famine relief and all his subsequent achievements.  His accolades go on and on.  Just two days ago he received an Honorary degree. 

Musical and political history was made by this man.  Listening to him I was so inspired to learn about his journey through life, the way he opened up his mind to possibilities that others would not have been able to see, and his staggering ability to challenge and to influence. 

Returning home full of the experience, I learnt a salutary lesson in current celebrity culture:  I discovered that my fifteen year old daughter was up to date with the lives of Pixie and Peaches – but knew nothing of the successes of their father!  She now knows differently!

So when we are at work, how much do we really open our minds to the infinite possibilities that are out there, just waiting to be identified and optimised?  We can’t change where we started from but we can certainly change where we end up.  How do we open our minds?  I’ve listed below some simple but provocative questions and thoughts that may help you.  They have helped me along the way:

Successful people fail more often.  Does your fear of failure get in the way of possibilities?

Reframe failure as a natural result of learning

People crave leadership. Do you let them down?

Are you a member of the I’da club  (If I’d have done that….)?

A winning attitude can achieve anything

Combine attitude and skill and you have an amazing formula

Are you creating a culture of positive thinking and belief?  If so you should see the skills level rising

Our brain is a staggering piece of kit. Do you know how to access the bits you don’t habitually use?

We CAN  change our attitude to a challenge or problem

Do you look at your business as though it is your first day?  Do so and think what you would change?

When considering new ground, consider what is the worst that could happen?  Understand and protect it – it makes calculating the risks easier

Do you ask yourself and your teams – What have you done to improve the business this week?

The good old Pareto Principle – the 80/20 rule.  Are you using it to help you cut through the cr**?

Deal with your time vampires – they are bleeding  you of your most precious resource

How much more potential do you have to unleash?

Remember – it is your subconscious that is driving the bus. Is it taking you up a one way street or on to a junction with many different routes to select?

Finally, there are: 

• people who makes things happen
• people who watch things happen
• people who wonder about what happens

Which are you?

Alison Miles-Jenkins Sunday Morning Blog – 25 July 2010 Blog Number 10

Enjoying the sun in July

I love this weather but it saps your energies, doesn’t it? I’m going to tell you a true story, a précised version from a longer article, which celebrates the creativity, drive, and entrepreneurial spirt of a sixth former. I’d like you to read it. At the end ask yourself, as I have done, how much do organisations and businesses (in other words you and me) really harness the talent that is offered to them? Or do they, consciously or unconsciously sap the energy, the spirit and the enthusiasm that is there and that needs harnessing, nurturing and developing?

Picture a boy’s school, in the days when school tuck shops were legal. This particular ‘eatery’ started life as an archetypal tuck shop – do you remember yours? Carrying minimal stock and a few lines to match – fizzy drinks, Mars bars, crisps. Opening at break and lunchtime, revenue was around £100 per week. Until an enterprising prefect, mature beyond his years and well respected by his peers, took over. I understand his name was Gammage. Showing leadership potential from the start, his first day running the tuck shop involved working with his team, spring cleaning and posting up staffing rostas. Everything ran like clockwork for two weeks. A model of efficiency and friendliness it seems.

Behind the scenes though Gammage was not satisfied. Undertaking what we would now call marketing research, his customer feedback amongst the Juniors showed the need for a more extensive and exciting product range. Getting the sign-off from the slightly cautious powers that be led to new lines arriving, with attention grabbing signage raising the profile further. Takings increased, the Head was pleased and the new library appeal fund got a boost.

In fact the Head viewed Gamage as a “young man with initiative” and readily agreed for our intrepid Leader of the Tuck Shop to negotiate with the wholesalers. Lion Bars soon arrived in a one tonner van, the day before the UK launch, at a unique special offer price, negotiated by Gammage. The next day, following the huge TV campaign to launch the said Lion Bars (do you remember these?) the school clawed in the trade, selling the bars at the cheapest price in town. So trade soared. Profit soared. The Head was ecstatic.

The nuts business came a couple of weeks later. The media had been talking about the nutritional value of nuts. The enterprising Gammage began selling these, the tuck shop almost hidden by a huge advertising poster on the wall. A photograph of a nubile Beverley, emerging from the sea in a somewhat scanty swimming costume was proving a great choice of advertising medium, no doubt eclipsing nutritional value! Following a not unsurprising reprimand and the banning of the offending advertising, Gammage still managed to increase the takings even further – by auctioning off the poster!

The year rolled on, stock expanded, queues were longer. The weekly order form was now taking as long to complete as an exam subject entry and it took 20 minutes a week to bank all the money. Was it accidental sabotage from the Biology department when they displayed real teeth dissolving in cola? Gammage did not worry either way – responding to market conditions he swopped lines from fizzy to still, negotiating a discount en route.

No doubt using his relationship management skills, Gammage’s marketing of Cuppa drinks with the now allied Biology department proved a huge success. Had he gone too far though when a 10-wheeled articulated lorry arrived with a delivery of cuppa drinks at knock down prices? The off-loading of the ‘outers’ the delivery cartons, resembled a major airlift! Even his most ardent supporters feared the worst. But no, Gammage had bought in bulk at knock-down prices, with his order book full from all the region’s junior schools, all eager for a cut-price offering. It was Sports Day time, during summer weather hot enough to rival our own in 2010. He had created a win-win for all.

Gammage turned out to be so responsible for the huge increase in income generation and profit, that he eventually had to tell the Head about a serious problem. They were going to have to stop trading by the end of the week. Why? They were about to hit the VAT threshold!

So, everything came to a halt. The tuck shop sold off its remaining stock. The tale finishes on a remarkable note however. The school’s name was top of the monthly retailers for still drinks in the southern counties – and the first outlet ever to bat British Rail into second place.

Gammage decided not to go to University. He had an interview with…….let’s just say a major national supermarket. And that is where our tale ends. We do not know what happened to Gammage. Is he now a key figure in the world of FMCG?

What interests me is whether he was able to keep alive that amazing entrepreneurial talent, the creativity, the calculated risk taking and an inspirational leadership style that made him and his tuck shop such a success? I really really hope that the employer lucky enough to secure such a promising young man did everything they could to enable him to flourish and achieve. Experience tells me that he will have faced many hurdles and challenges once sucked into corporate culture. How much may he have been restrained by regulations, conditioning, prevailing values, rules of behaviour and thought. Let me know what you think. I’d love to publish your views.

This week’s blog was inspired by someone very dear to me, a former Headteacher of a boys’ grammar school. His inspiration came from Andrew MacTavish’s article in the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) recent newsletter. ‘Gammage and the tuck shop’. Much of his article I have relayed in my blog.

Alison Miles-Jenkins Sunday Morning Blog – 11 July 2010 Blog Number 9

• Recognise that you get back what you put in
• Have a strong sense of optimism
• Recognise that group dynamics encompass broader views, values, vision and goals
• Want to make a positive difference  
• Increase self awareness

Just setting off for Alex's 18th birthday celebration

One of my clients asked me this week if I really write the blog on a Sunday, as it seemed such a commitment.  I do write them on a Sunday - even on this Sunday before dashing off to celebrate my son Alex’s 18th birthday. In fact, ironically, Sunday’s are the only routine bit of my working week! Anyone who knows me really well will testify to the fact that I ‘flourish’ best when in a fluid environment, with no two days the same and with an opportunity to adapt to the demands of the day and the business.  Structure yes, but routine – never! Except for Sundays. Interestingly, research now shows that for many of us in challenging roles, the working week starts on a Sunday, with internet research in particular occupying a part of the ‘rest day’ for those wanting to get ahead for the following week.  Google at least is happy!

The inspiration and ideas for the blog though occur on different days.  This week, it was on Monday, the day my 15 year old daughter, chosen to represent her school in an annual debating evening, had to pit her wits against, according to her, the ‘cleverest students’, all of course ‘more clever than her’. The use of every time management technique I know enabled me to slide into my seat at the back, one minute before kick off time, feeling every inch the errant career mother.  Glancing around the room, I felt a pang of jealously for a ‘mother and hot apple pie’ lifestyle, which would have ensured my seat in the front row. It was only a fleeting regret, but you can imagine my surprise when the first item on the agenda was announced: ‘A woman’s place is in the home’!

My interest in and therefore subject for today however was not the substance of the debates, but how the youngsters performed.  Faced with that many-headed monster, the audience, the debaters’ abilities to hold their nerve, embellish their notes, keep their voice under control, marshal their thoughts and arguments, talk to rather than at others and then listen acutely to the opposing side varied tremendously.  I read on their faces a range of emotions, from terror to fear to pride.  These emotions were juxtaposed in the faces of the audience, the parental figures willing success rather than failure, no doubt taking a share in the responsibility for the outcome.  Watching any of my kids perform, and being very competitive, I know I feel such emotions acutely.  I actually find it a more stressful experience than any of my own performances.

I admired those debaters.  Whilst performances varied considerably, they all saw it through to the end and no doubt went home with a sense of achievement. However, these kids will soon be competing for places at College, University and for jobs.  Their personal presence and their ability to present, formally or informally, may well be a deciding factor in where they end up.  And once there, how far they get.  That evening I found myself sitting there with my recruitment/selection hat on and could not help but gravitate to those who made their presence felt from the moment they entered the room.  They then stood up and inspired confidence in themselves and their views in those crucial initial seconds, and sustained this head start, finishing as strongly as they started, with as much impact and even more respect.

In our corporate lives, and depending on our interests outside of work, in our personal lives too, our success often relies on our ability to do precisely this. We may be giving formal presentations, chairing meetings, participating in meetings, making an ‘elevator pitch’, negotiating, selling, managing relationships, or networking. We will be judged.  If we get the presence and the presentation wrong, this may eclipse everything else that we have to offer.

Daughter Frankie after her debate last week

Let us return for a moment to our parental figures. Isn’t it staggering the influence we can have consciously or otherwise on the development of our children and the young people around us? The more I develop myself, the more acutely aware I am of the legacy I leave for my children.  Not in a financial sense, but in ‘parental scripting’, the indelible marks and mental messages they carry with them through to adulthood. Sometimes I know I get it wrong;   in the area of presentation and presence though I know I have succeeded.  All three of my children perform confidently in Public, actually enjoy being on show, and rise to the challenge. Francesca gave a great performance at the debate, despite losing her notes just beforehand! I have always taught her to have a ‘parachute’ just in case, and nowhere is that more important that when presenting to others.

I contrast this with a guy I coached this week. He came to me because he had for twenty years feared every time he had to speak in front of others, from the terror that disabled him in his wedding speech to his weekly meetings with his colleagues at work.  He wants to go places, and his fear and lack of skill is holding him back.  We traced the roots of this fear to the derision he experienced at school and college, ridiculed for being dyslexic and nervous, by teachers whose role was to support him.

But of course it’s not just about parental scripting is it?  It’s about the preparation, knowing how to prepare, researching the audience, knowing our subject, understanding our physiology and the biochemical reactions when we are under pressure, anxious or filled with fear.  It’s about being aware of our body and how to make it work for not against us when we are under the spotlight.  This will keep our breathing at an optimum level, our voice able to deliver on command, and our body language becomes congruent with our verbal message.  Recognition of our own personal style is vital too – we can’t emulate others and robotic presentations do nothing for the audience.

We can boost our natural dose of ability with a range of skills, tips and techniques.  Add to this the belief in our own value and the understanding that we truly need to connect with the person or people we are presenting to and we will find ourselves in a better place.  Mentally and physically.

Top tips on giving presentations

I’d like to share with you some of my personal top tips on giving presentations.  So I’ve listed these below.  Please pass these on to whoever may benefit from them.

Presence

Remember, the loudest noise you will make is before you have even opened your mouth

Calm, measured movements show you are confident and in control

Smile, make eye contact

Project positive energy and enthusiasm

Get there early, talk informally to individuals – you will build up ‘IOU’s

Signal you are calm, in control, comfortable in your surroundings and with your subject and equipment

Engage with the audience – don’t treat them like opponents

Overcoming Nerves

Avoid coffee and other stimulants beforehand

Never learn off by heart unless you are an actor

Be very familiar and confident with your opening remarks – have some visual aids if you can

Understand your physiology to get your voice and breathing under control

Smile – it relaxes your vocal chords

Use short sentences and watch your pace

Make sure you are grounded – think about how you stand

Relaxation techniques can help – but practice before and find the one that work for you

Always have a parachute

Talking in front of a large group

Remember it is not a many-headed monster – just a collection of individuals

Organise seating around circular tables – café style – rather than rows

Practise microphones and other technology beforehand

Walk towards and even into the group – don’t retreat

Visual Aids

Remember these are to help you and the audience

Restrict content – a picture says 1000 words

Check PowerPoint animation beforehand

Avoid complex animation

Take your own remote mouse

Avoid too much of the ‘reveal’ method

Answering Questions

Buy yourself some time if necessary – a good way is to summarise or get clarification, even if you do not really need it

Don’t motor mouth on and deliver another presentation as a response

Give an answer and one piece of support

Build in signalling clues to infer you have more to offer if requested

Never ask if you have answered the question

At meetings

Think about where to sit – there are strategic places around the table

Don’t sit opposite an ‘opponent’ – sit next to them or one along

Try and speak early on

Ensure you have a good upright posture or your breathing will be inhibited and your vocal quality may suffer

Acknowledge views before disagreeing and identify merit in others’ opinions

Never say “I hear what you are saying” or “I totally disagree”

Avoid the word “but”

Debating

Do your research – both sides of the argument

Challenge all assumptions – before and during (Thanks to Louise Hazell, Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development, West Kent Housing)

Take key notes to enable logical, accurate and punchy responses

Don’t draw attention to your notes by pretending they are not there

Finally, read some of the Patsy Rodenburg books for some in-depth advice on harnessing human energy

Alison Miles-Jenkins Sunday Morning Blog – 4 July 2010 Blog Number 8

Top Stories

The absence of the ritual Sunday Morning blog last week was due to an impromptu trip to France, combining business with convivial socialising over un croissant (or two) accompanied by une bouteille (or two) of the old vin rouge!  Still, I hope you found our first newsletter, which I arranged to have circulated instead of the blog, useful.  I really hope you did, because in the newsletter “Do you have to achieve more with less?” I shared more than a few of my trade secrets: how to get the most out of your training suppliers and consultants!

Sunny Sunday Blog

So here I am back in Blighty, enjoying something even more than I did the French patisserie and beverages:  the English Summer, resplendent in the sunshine.  Settling down in the garden to compose this blog, it has not taken long to be inspired for today’s theme. I see a garden that, despite its pathetic state a few years ago due to wilful neglect by the previous owners, is actually flourishing.  I see strong, sturdy plants and trees, glossy foliage and glorious blooms, brightening the day for anyone who cares to look, full of promise for the months to come.   I love the word ‘flourish’ even more than the word ‘achieve’.  It’s such a positive word, oozing with the promise of success. So what are we doing, to ensure that we flourish, personally, professionally and corporately, against a backdrop of political and economic tightening of belts – more than just a few notches for most of us it seems?

Consider what you need to do personally, not just to survive, but to flourish in these testing times.  If you are a leader, manager or business owner, what people strategies have you in place to positively drive and aid your success?  If you are an employee, how engaged are you with the organisation?  How much responsibility are you taking to help your business truly thrive? How much are you playing, or being allowed to play, to your strengths?

I’d be really interested to hear your views on what we need to flourish. Positive emotions, a clear sense of purpose, value and achievement, engagement with what I am doing and with the people I am working with, and for, do it for me.  Oh, along with a healthy dose of resilience, tenacity and vitality! Most of all, to flourish I need to be permitted constantly to play to my strengths and to be ME. I was recently asked by a great client if I had a ‘mini me’! But that wouldn’t really work, would it?

I don’t know about you, but I also see in myself an insecurity – revealed by the need to always do better.  My husband recognises this and attributes it to my parental scripting (sorry, Dad!)  I find myself becoming a ‘wannabe’.  I am, if I am not careful, constantly on the lookout for further revelations: how to be an even better Mum, how to keep the house even more tidy, how to have more time to walk the five Jack Russells, how to increase my turnover, how to get my website higher on Google, how to get a higher profile with social media, how to tweet more interesting tweets…….etc etc etc.  It is so exhausting!  If I am not careful it will sap my energies and I will fail.  The learning point is this:  to flourish, we need like most things in life, to ensure a balance, an equilibrium.  I can see that in our garden.  It’s much harder though, isn’t it, to get it right for ourselves? 

We work constantly with individuals, teams and leaders to help them flourish and achieve. But development is not just about striving for more, addressing our weaknesses and acquiring new skills.  It is also about truly identifying, honing and building on our existing strengths, and a celebration of individuality. This focus builds confidence, positive thoughts, a feel good factor, self-esteem and a respect for others too.  Its effect can be infectious, radiating through a team and an organisation.  The release of positive energy, vibrancy and confidence can be exhilarating to experience. Conformity can only go so far in the corporate arena, so leaders, and trainers, beware.

So, building on strengths is a fantastic strategy for both the personal and the corporate self-improvement agenda.

To go back to our gardening analogy, consider this Chinese proverb:

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.  The second best time is now”.

Alison Miles-Jenkins Sunday Morning Blog – 27 June 2010 Blog Number 7

Top Stories

A guide to getting the most from your training suppliers and consultants

Dear Subscriber

Are you finding you have to make your budgets stretch further this year? Do you have more training needs than you can cater for? How well are you able to support and develop staff in this current challenging environment? Are there lots of changes and ideas but minimal resources to drive them forwards? Are you ensuring that the training you do provide has an impact, adds value and a demonstrable return on investment?

Most importantly, how much are you making of the varied and often free services that are out there?

To save you time and money, our first newsletter, launched to celebrate our 20th anniversary, focuses on just some of the options that you should expect from your training suppliers. These should help you guarantee the best possible returns from any investment you make in training and development.

If you are not asking for or considering some or all of the following, you could be missing out:

Needs analysis

Tick box training gets everyone a bad name. Make sure your supplier is willing and able to take your corporate training needs analysis that bit further. What exactly are the goals you need to achieve? What are the key objectives – improvement, development or maintenance for example? How does your supplier know? What about asking prospective learners to secure their buy-in? Make sure there is at least a pre-course questionnaire, circulated and reviewed by the supplier before the event. What about an on-site meeting to discuss options?

Tailored training is good

How bespoke is it really? How do you know? Has the supplier done sufficient research and taken the time and effort to get to know you, your people, your culture, your language, your priorities? This is all part of the tailored service – you should not need to pay extra for it. And what exactly are you paying for? Are the fees representing quality of service and expertise or something else?

Innovative approaches to training delivery

Shorter courses – expert delivery

Budgets are not just the problem. How difficult do you now find it to release staff for even a day? Experts should be willing and able to package their delivery into shorter, intensive yet participative sessions, run at times to suit operational pressures. This should not cost you extra. To have to pay a premium for lunchtime, evenings or weekends hardly seems appropriate these days when everyone is working together to survive and prosper.

Powerful methods to supplement workshops and courses

Look for the variety of methods suggested. Action learning sets, training of internal facilitators to cascade or provide continuity, guided projects and business challenges are often more powerful than stand-alone courses. They should be work-related and are more likely to deliver sustainable results. These methods should actually cost less than traditional training delivery.

Coaching and Mentoring

Targeted support for individuals and teams, particularly powerful for senior staff, could well be a more cost-effective and results-orientated solution. You may have issues around change management, career development, conflict, team building or effective leadership. Ensure your provider is qualified, identifies key stakeholders, clarifies expectations and boundaries – oh, and understands the difference between coaching and mentoring!

Does the intervention end with an evaluation form?

What are you doing to monitor impact and value? What about the transfer of learning to the workplace? Consider what post-training support is on offer. At the very least there should be free on-line and/or telephone support and email updates for learners for a period, to support their action planning. ‘Virtual at desk coaching’ goes one step further. How willing is the provider to get involved in medium and longer term evaluation and support if you need this?

Your supplier should be designing your solutions around needs and critical incidents. These can be measured afterwards. You need to know if you are getting ROI, and this is feasible for soft skills training, too. Don’t let your supplier tell you otherwise!

Freebies

These days we all appreciate a ‘significant free’. Check what else is included in the fees. Will your delegates receive free journals to encourage reflective practice? What about refreshments provided on workshops – or are you having to organise these? Would you benefit from free advice, articles, checklists and even a complimentary training event now and again?

So… the good news is….

As a client you are in a great place at the moment to ensure you get everything …and more that you want and need from your suppliers. Choose one that makes you and your organisation feel individual, special and valued. Make sure they have a ‘guarantee’ policy, just in case.

You should get a great, long-term productive partnership that saves you time and money and gets the results you need.

Things change. Our free training and development review meeting is for anyone wanting to get the most from their training resources. Just give us a call on 0845 165 6269 or email:
enquiries@trainingtoachieveuk.com

Kind regards

Alison Miles-Jenkins
Managing Director
Training To Achieve ( UK) Ltd ]]> http://www.t2achieve.com/do-you-need-to-achieve-more-with-less/feed/ 12 http://www.t2achieve.com/cost-of-conflict-how-to-address-it/ http://www.t2achieve.com/cost-of-conflict-how-to-address-it/#comments Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:31:53 +0000 Alison Miles-Jenkins http://www.t2achieve.com/?p=1247 The cost of conflict and how to address it

No peace for the wicked and no breakfast either today.  At the crack of dawn I was hurtling over to Buckinghamshire to attend a one day course.  This is a monthly occurrence this year, as I’m studying for yet another qualification.  I know I’m a bit of a learning and development junkie but I feel a compulsion to practice what I preach!

My Sunday Evening Blog

So it’s nearly eight o’clock, and I have just got home to write my Sunday blog, over dinner rather than breakfast.  Today we were inspired on the course to check out the Persian poet Rumi.  So before setting to with the roast, I spent some time with my nose in the poetry book, and one line caught my imagination in particular:

“Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field.  I’ll meet you there”.

This insightful poet, 800 years ago, was encouraging us to look beyond the immediacy of turmoil and conflict, to greener pastures rich with possibilities for resolution and solution.  So it seems fitting that my blog today explores the cost of conflict in the workplace and the potential tools for collaboration and harmony.  Appropriate also because only on Friday I was speaking at a conference for senior dentists on recognising and handling different behaviours, touching also on managing conflict.

Just how far have we come in the last 800 years I wonder? In 2010 how well placed are we as human beings to be emotionally intelligent, to ‘engage brain before opening mouth and inserting foot’? What happens in demanding situations where we may feel threatened by someone with a different viewpoint, or whom we perceive is seeking to achieve something at our expense or the expense of others?  How able are we to resist the power of our reptilian brain which can instantaneously trigger our fight or flight response, emotions getting in the way and propelling us into aggression or submission?

Are you aware of the cost of conflict in your organisation? Attention-grabbing headlines in the ‘People Management’ magazine in October 2008 told us:

“‘Poor conflict management skills cost UK plc billions”

The details informed us that conflict costs UK businesses £24 billion every  year due to lost working days, with an average worker spending at least 2 hours a week dealing with conflict.  Personality clashes and ‘warring egos’ were found to be the primary cause for conflict.  Stress and heavy workloads were also acknowledged as contributory factors.  In one of my client organisations I would estimate that 2 hours a day are lost to sorting out conflict!

Exactly how many lost working days was that due to conflict?  370 million.  Annually.  In the UK.

According to the above-cited research, causal factors included personality clashes, taking credit for others’ ideas and work, talking over people in badly run meetings, talking behind people’s backs, ignoring colleagues, personal remarks, relentless criticism, bullying, harassment, low morale and absence.  Insidious, covert aggression, more prevalent within the workplace, causes untold damage.

The statistics point to in excess of 12 days a year per 100 employees being spent by HR and management in managing grievance and disciplinary cases, with an increase to 132,577 employment tribunal applications in 2006/7, up from 115,039 in the previous year.
A naive and optimistic view might be that in 2010, we would be thankful to be at work, would adopt a caring and collaborative way of working, and at least temporarily be prepared to forego the game-playing that so often wounds the colleague and maims the organisation.  Not so, according to the evidence.

Let’s not forget that there are positive outcomes to conflict, with possibilities including recognition of and valuing differences, dusting down complacency, releasing energy and increasing commitment.  There is a greater chance of future collaborative working and breakthroughs in thinking if we have the appropriate tools to understand and resolve conflict.  The reality is that often we do not, and the risks attached range from anger, misery and a phenomenal amount of wasted energy, to bad, sometimes disastrous decisions, demotivation, resistance and downright sabotage.  At the very least you will have absence rates that will affect your bottom line/value for money.

So, as leaders and managers, where should we be turning our attention in the war against conflict?!

Here are some ideas.

To minimise risk of conflict:

• Walk the talk.  Don’t just say your organisation values its staff.  Ensure it does it.
• Invest in tools and interventions that help people become more emotionally intelligent, self-aware, and assertive rather than aggressive.
• Have regard for the ‘psychological’ contract with employees
• Don’t go overdrawn at the employee’s ‘emotional bank account’ (Stephen Covey)
• Remember that ‘Intention’ and ‘Impact’ are different things
• There is no reality – only perception – ensure there is respect for each individual’s unique map of the world
• Communication is key.  Consider method and goal, language and diversity, frequency, time available, transparency, effectiveness, VAK channels, organisational culture
• Be aware of the iceberg effect – visible symptoms, and potential underlying causes may not be the same

To manage conflict:

• Identify, address and seek to resolve conflict at as low a level as possible.  It will escalate
• When dealing with conflict between two parties, be mindful of individual mental maps and fantasy ladders
• Consider individual and team interventions
• Have a toolbox of approaches including diffusion techniques and assertive and negotiating skills
• Remember!  There is a range of coaching models and techniques to effectively coach around conflict issues.

Finally, returning to Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, our poet who inspired this blog today, leave the accusations, positions and protracted arguments behind.   Search together for common ground and focus on the way forwards.

“Since in order to speak, one must first listen, learn to speak by listening”  Rumi

Alison Miles-Jenkins Sunday Morning Blog – 13 June 2010 Blog Number 6

My Sunday Morning Blog

Choosing the topic for my blog this Sunday morning was hard.  It was almost as difficult as selecting from the delectable range of Tiptree Jams lined up in front of me on the breakfast table like little chess pieces waiting to be chosen for the next manoeuvre.  Should it be ‘Intuitive leadership – qualities needed post recession?’,   ‘Social media in the Public sector – can it work and who should do it?’ ,  ’ Relationship Equity – a move from transactional to partnering’ or even ‘Onboarding – does a change in name really mean Induction will be better?’.   After mulling over my array of jams I decided to go back to basics and went to the pantry to get the Seville Marmalade.  Back to basics too, for my choice of blog.  Why?  Because, just like playing a game of chess, to achieve success you need to ensure, whilst directing energies towards the winning post, you have all bases and basics covered.

I agree it is laudable to invest in ‘highbrow’ strategies to enable all of us to blossom post recession.  I am passionate about progressing some of the themes I’ve just mentioned and, trust me, I will be returning to blog on these later.  But in our haste to champion the next big corporate or HR agenda item, let’s not forget that, as in all walks of life, the simple things often make the difference.

As directors, managers, professionals and business owners, can you guarantee that the written communications that leave your organisation, by any channel available, create the impression you need? Great if they do, but what are the penalties if they don’t?  How aware are you all that every communication represents you, your team, your organisation? And that just a minor slip could mean a negative representation?  Communicating face to face increases our chances of success.  We can read and immediately respond to the visual, auditory, and  kinaesthetic  cues, signals and clues we receive, switching  ‘channels’, to  increase our chance of success  (the VAK channels). We are better placed to respond to instant feedback, create rapport, adjust interpretation and appreciate the importance of the power of the silent word (Albert Mehrabian – Professor Emeritus of Psychology UCLA).  Even over the ‘phone we stand more chance of getting it right.  Written communication reduces our options and raises the stakes.  Even in this glorious age of emails demanding instant attention you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

We all know that it only takes a few seconds for our missive to form a first, and lasting, impression – the old so-called  ‘halo  or horns’ effect.  Have we all got though the requisite skills and tools to achieve that ‘halo’?  Because that’s exactly what we need, whether it’s our CV, our letter, our publicity material or our routine emails.  And what about if the stakes are even higher? What if we are submitting a response in the tendering process,  a Board report or responding to an irate client, dealing with a difficult and demanding person, or putting ourselves into the Public domain via a website or Blog in this new world of social media and user generated content?

Do you think it matters if our writing lets us down?  How much store does the reader place on our tone, our punctuation, our spelling, grammar, and whether we have made appropriate choices for the medium selected?  Are you aware that you need to match layout style with a certain type of punctuation or are you still using closed punctuation with a fully blocked presentation?

Years ago, I was working on a customer service development programme and an airline client told me that the first thing passengers did, on reaching their seat and settling down on the plane, was to reach forward and check the ashtray in the seat in front of them for cigarette ends.  The 2010 equivalent is checking the magazine netting to see if the debris from the previous passengers has been cleared away.  If the passengers discover that the necessary cleaning has not been done, their minds switch rapidly to wondering if the aircraft maintenance and checking has been carried out to standard.  In other words, if we don’t know otherwise, we take something at face value and judge the rest of the service accordingly. 

So, if I receive a well-written communication from you, you will have increased the chances that I am likely to have instant confidence in you, your team, your product/service and your organisation.   Create a negative first impression by committing some cardinal written sins, and you will lose trust and respect immediately.  Being a bit of a pedant, for me a run-on sentence in your writing may be all it takes to switch me off.  If you can’t even get the writing right, what confidence will I have that you know how to deliver what you are promoting? Can you afford to take that chance?

Would you like to be one of the first five readers to receive for FREE a copy of our checklist ‘The Cardinal Sins of Written Communication – key pitfalls to avoid and guidelines to help’?  If so please email us at enquiries@trainingtoachieveuk.com   Please note that this checklist is soon to be offered on our website.  Normal price £29.99

If you are still not sure if you would benefit – go take my test.   You’ll also be able to see some of the responses that have been posted on our blogs.

If you’d like to respond to anything discussed in the blog, please do so as we’d always like to hear from you.

Alison Miles-Jenkins Sunday Morning Blog – 06 June 2010  Blog Number 5

What part does motivation play in achieving success and whose responsibility is it? This is a question I am asking myself, on this particular Sunday, and which I am posing to you in my Sunday Blog – several hours late I know – but a Bank Holiday surely pardons a slight transgression?

So how come this particular question today?  Well, this lunchtime we went off to the local Pub to support one of its yearly events aimed at

Rice boat in Kerala South India

 raising funds for the people of Kerala, in Southern India.  This is a cause dear to my heart.  We spent three weeks In Kerala on honeymoon in January 2009, marvelling at the hospitality, friendliness, humility and the most amazing level of customer service I have ever experienced.

The focal point of the lunchtime event, apart from the real ale and the curry, was an international piano bar superstar, playing keyboard, and singing, accompanied by three teenage female singers.  Such an amazing talent, enjoyed for free, in a country pub.  It got me thinking about achievement -  about excellence, about success, and all the ingredients that are necessary for talent and aspiration to be realised and recognised…whether inside or outside of work.

Someone once said to me, and I have always remembered it, that, daily, time is distributed democratically to all of us, and how astonishing it is to think that some people make so much of that resource, and others squander it.

Surely isn’t motivation the main ingredient – take all the others away, and the recipe will fail – half-baked, a sorry reminder for what could have been?  Whether you would call it a strength or a weakness, motivation and the desire to achieve is paramount for me. Built into our business name, it is key to our core process – helping individuals and organisations achieve by releasing their potential to become the best they can be.    So, there’s myself, my team, my clients, my coachees, my delegates, and of course my kids ….all of whom the subject of my motivating!  It’s tiring! 

Phew! But let’s pause for a moment – what do we actually mean by motivation?  Am I kidding myself …can I actually motivate others or just me?  Here’s a simple definition of motivation by Wendy Pan, which I can relate to:  “To give reason, incentive, enthusiasm, or interest that causes a specific action or certain behaviour”. 

But where should those reasons, incentives, the enthusiasm or the interest come from? This blog is not the place to critique the various academic theories that have proliferated for decades – from Herzberg and Maslow to Moss Kanter and beyond.    What is important to stress though is that, from my experience, intrinsic  motivators (when one is compelled to do something out of pleasure, importance or desire) are overwhelmingly successful and sustainable in the short and longer term.  I could see that on the faces of those musicians today. Extrinsic motivators (when external factors or other people compel one to do something) are only of short-term, limiting value, and can rebound with

Our son Alex drumming on the South London scene

devastating consequences. This too I sometimes see on the faces of the people I train and coach.  So BEWARE – leaders, managers, and all parents/parental figures if we gravitate towards the stick rather than the carrot.  As a parent with talented kids, and more than a penchant for being competitive and driven, I will do well to heed my own advice.  We can guide, support, enthuse, inspire, and lead by example – high challenge, high support maybe – but the essence of motivation must come from within.

Values provide the motivation for us to take action.  What are values? We could define them as social, moral and ethical standards, acquired throughout a person’s journey through life.  These values underlie every decision and chosen course of action.  We know that there is a clear correlation between job satisfaction and job performance, and the amount of satisfaction we derive from our work is governed by the extent to which we can act out our values.  Often, I unearth employees in client organisations, who outside of work, are running successful micro businesses, or who are high performers in Sport, the Arts or Music.  Often their employer does not even know.  What a waste!  Imagine if the organisation could align corporate, team and individual talents and goals, how staggering the increase in performance would be.

Of course motivation, although it may be the key ingredient is not enough.  To stand out, to differentiate ourselves, to excel at whatever it is we choose to do with our lives also requires talent, skill, the right attitudes, often a helpful dose of luck, and  practice. Winston Churchill was renowned for saying “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential”.  In the book “Outliers” author Malcolm Gladwell repeatedly takes ‘practice makes perfect’ one step further, by stressing the need for 10,000 hours to hone a skill or task to distinction.  I have to say it has become something of a mantra in our household, much to the annoyance of our kids, aspiring to success in their respective fields!

So, the moral  of this blog is, as  Leaders, Managers, Trainers, Coaches, Mentors or even parents, goals we set for others (perhaps because it is secretly our goal) or goals that a person believes they ought to be pursuing can bring about feelings of obligation, not motivation. Values are human motivators.  Allow the individual to connect with their values and to have a say in determining their own goals.  Watch motivation, commitment and ownership then increase dramatically.   That individual however must remember that if they don’t invest very much, then defeat doesn’t hurt very much and winning is not very exciting.

Sunday morning blog – 30 May 2010 Blog Number 4

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Yaxley Hall - Tracey's Ball 21 May 2010

Those of you who are now following me on Twitter will know that on Friday evening I went to the Ball!   It was a particularly poignant experience for two reasons.  Firstly, it was in the same beautiful country house, Yaxley Hall, near Eye, in Suffolk, where Gordon and I got married – a fairytale winter wedding on 7 December 2008. It was an amazing venue, resplendent with Christmas trees, candles, and open fires, with all our family, friends and clients around us.   Secondly, because this time we were invited there to celebrate the life of Tracey Soar, a much loved local businesswoman, also known to the equestrian world, and Yaxley Hall.  She had planned the Ball as a charity fundraising event but had sadly suddenly died, at 45 years old, a few months ago.

It was during my conversations with guests around the table that I got my inspiration for this week’s Sunday Blog.  In our Company, our mission is to help individuals and organisations achieve by releasing their potential to become the best they can be.  Our friends know this and discussion often turns to requests for informal advice on many aspects of the complex world of employing ..… or being employed.

Yaxley Hall

Friday’s conversation round the dinner table was no exception.  One friend was seeking advice on how to excel at the third and final interview for a high profile role within the world of show jumping.  Another wanted to know whether she had right of redress for an interview with an existing employer, who she felt had unfairly treated and rejected her.

Recruitment and Selection of staff is probably the area of my work that I am most passionate about.  After all, it is the starting point isn’t it? Keeping with the theme of weddings for a moment – let’s use an analogy.  It’s just like getting married – make the right decision and it will turn out to  be a long, strong, synergistic and rewarding relationship!  Get it wrong, and it could prove to be fraught with tensions, misunderstandings, a mismatch of expectations, lack of trust, and highly likely to end in a break-up, potentially with a very expensive ‘divorce’! 

Our Wedding

 I know, having experienced both from my marital relationships!

Returning to the world of employing, and being employed, I guess I should be eternally grateful for the fact that organisations so often get it wrong.  Why?  Because so much of the work I have been asked to do with clients over the last 20 years has stemmed from poor processes, lack of awareness, lack of skill and inappropriate and often unfair decision-making at the recruitment/selection stage.  Get it right at the start, and then the need for the more reactive element of work that people like me get involved with minimises or disappears entirely.  That leaves us to concentrate on helping you with the developmental and transformational aspects of people and organisation development.

So, how aware are you of the cardinal sins people commit when interviewing?

How confident are you that your people possess the demanding and difficult skills crucial to effective selection? 

Has your organisation suffered as a result of inappropriate appointments?

Has it cost you time?

Has it cost you money?

Has it led to poor performance or poor customer service?

Have you even lost good staff because of wrong decisions?   

If so you may enjoy reading our guide.  To read about the cardinal sins we have unearthed, and to check if your organisation is following ‘best practice’ sign up for your free copy of:

‘How to recruit the best person for the job – a checklist for organisations who really want to do it right‘.    

You can get your copy by emailing us at: enquiries@trainingtoachieveuk.com or go to the Contact Us page on our website: www.t2achieve.com and send us a message.

Sunday morning blog – 23 May 2010 Blog Number 3

My Sunday Morning Blog

This morning lobsters have been my inspiration for this blog.  Let me explain.  In last week’s post  I explored the concept of employees first, customers second: how, by putting employees first, organisations can really influence the level of care and service given to their customers.  I also promised to later share with you some of the conclusions I have come to regarding the reasons behind poor customer service. Well, this week has seen a  deluge of shared experiences – of disappointments, disillusionments and even dismay – that my readers have volunteered  they have suffered at the hands of their service providers.

Shocking, when we consider that ‘customer care’ is hardly a new phenomen!  When I started in this business, more than 25 years ago, it seemed that whether you were a banker, a baker or a bicycle maker, customer care, as a concept, or shall we call it an ideal, had already emerged.  There it was, on the lips of many managers and directors, but in many cases, that was where it firmly stayed. 

So, back to the lobster for the moment.  I have selected this example, (even though I am not a fish eater myself), as it seemed a great tale to tell!  Why? Because I find it even more surprising that such disappointments occur in commercial enterprises.  They need to retain their loyal customers, they need to recognise the importance of the word of mouth recommendation, the advocacy, and the free marketing that goes with the happy, satisfied customer.  The customer that comes into the restaurant out of choice, in a good mood, willing to spend time and money, to celebrate, or to relax.  Happy days!  Working as I do with many public sector organisations, whilst I do not forgive poor service, at times I find it more understandable.  Staff are often dealing with an already distressed customer, someone who may be experiencing a down-turn in their life, misfortune, shame, pain, guilt, fear.  Their stresses and strains and emotions can lead them to use behaviours towards staff that may seem difficult, hard to diffuse, abusive and possibly even violent.  These customers may have no, or at best limited, choice. To staff, the ‘point of payment’ seems far removed or non-existent , they feel stressed and sometimes threatened and it is harder to grasp the ‘marketing element’ in their transactions, even though its importance lurks behind the scenes.

But not so for our Lobster-serving restaurant, purporting to ‘best in class’, with customers and prices to match. The story goes like this.  A client of mine who runs a call-centre in London told me this week how he was in the ‘best restaurant’ in one of our provincial towns last weekend. A group of friends, celebrating a birthday, high spirits……high expectations.  One of the guests was American and Americans apparently like their wine cold. They called the Wine Waiter over, only to be told that its temperature was 7 degrees, the ambient, correct temperature for the wine.  The customer  begged to disagree.

Lesson no  1:  it is the customers’s perception that counts

Lesson no 2:  don’t contradict the customer

Lesson no 3:  don’t patronise the customer

 Things got worse.  My client chose lobster. Lobster needs to be carefully cooked, turning tough very quickly.  His was as tough as old boots.  On being called over, and asked whether the lobster could be replaced the waiter replied.  “Certainly, Sir, we can bring you another one, but it will be exactly the same.”

Lesson no 4:  Listen to the customer

Lesson no 5:  Acknowledge the customer’s views/concerns, using their words. 

Lesson no 6:   Adapt your offering, or offer choices  –  at  least two

It’s hardly rocket science is it?  But like so many things in life, common sense is often not common practice.  So what are some of the reasons behind this big challenge?  Whose fault is poor service? Here’s a sample of just some of our thought-provoking questions we ask our client organisations to help them unravel reasons and blockages to outstanding customer service:

Motivation

Do the people you employ actually want to deal with customers? 

How do you know?

Are leaders, managers and key players passionate about the importance of customer service excellence?

How do they inspire and enthuse their staff to want to treat every customer as individual and special?

Attitudes

Have you considered that it is often easier to train staff in the ‘technical skills’ than it is to develop them to change their attitudes?

How often do you hear ‘that’s not my job, I don’t deal with that’ or ‘Sorry, you’ll have to call back later’?

Do your staff know how much they need their customers, or do they think that the customer needs them?

Is there truly a feeling of ‘ownership’ amongst your staff or do you have a blame culture?

How often do staff take their shoes off and walk in the shoes of others?

Skills

How confident are you really that your staff in your organisation have a big tool box of skills and techniques to help them support their customers, happy or distressed?

Remember, you can follow me on twitter as amongst other updates, I share my day to day customer care experiences.  I would be interested in hearing yours, too

Sunday morning blog – 16 May 2010 Blog Number 2