April 2008

This month’s Ramble focuses on the key ingredient for business success - People:

Ø Fabulous Feedback
Ø The Power of the Positive
Ø Engage the Locals
Ø The Office Cleaner
Ø Dragons and Love Letters
Ø Have You … ? The final instalment
Ø Circulation Details
Ø And finally



Fabulous Feedback

I have had some fabulous feedback for each of my monthly Rambles so far. This is encouraging because it shows me that you are actually reading them and that a number of the issues I have touched on strike a chord with you. It is really pleasing to discover that people are finding the newsletter useful, and of course, it spurs me on to seek out more topics that may be of interest.

This confirms to me the value of feedback. Whatever we are doing, I’m sure that we all can benefit from constructive comments, even if they are of a critical nature. If I experience something where an organisation could have done better, I often write to them to point out the shortcomings. However, I always try to follow the advice of American businesswoman, Mary Kay Ash, “Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise.” Sometime of course, lack of time, energy or enthusiasm means that I don’t complain. I always feel guilty then that I have denied them the opportunity to improve.


The Power of the Positive

While criticism has its place, we shouldn’t forget that praise is even more important, hence the advice of Mary Kay Ash. Another American (why is it always Americans who come up with the good quotes?), Sam Walton, founder of the mighty Wal*Mart corporation said, “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.”

I am sure that we can all relate to that. Going back a dozen or fifteen years I had a boss, well, a boss’s boss really, who always thanked everyone profusely for whatever they did. Maybe a cynic might have said it was over the top and questioned the sincerity of the praise. Indeed, we sometimes joked about it in the team. But we all recognised the genuine warmth with which Mike treated people and would all have done anything that he asked.

I have finally found a quote from an Englishman! “I have always found that everyone reacts better to encouragement rather than receiving criticism.” So said Steve Morgan, founder of the Redrow construction and house building company and now owner and chairman of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

Indeed, the power of the positive was proved in an experiment carried out with a group of students. They were set a test. Afterwards, fifty percent were told that their results were higher than they actually were; the other half was told that their results were lower than reality. They were then set another test, and guess what? Those who were previously told that their results were better than they actually achieved, did better in the second test. Those who had been told that they had faired worse than reality, did correspondingly worse the second time. Wow!


Engage the Locals

I read a story about an American guy who set up a charity to help build schools in remote mountainous areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The whole operation was very low key and relied on engaging the support and physical help of the local villagers to build the schools. This being in marked contrast to the big charities and state aided programmes, where help often arrives in Land Cruisers rather than by donkey, and rather takes over proceedings.

When the Taliban and local war lords get a bit frisky and anti-western, they trash the schools, hospitals and other structures built by the big operators, but the schools built by our man and his helpers are left untouched because the locals have taken ownership of them in every sense of the word.

This is a simple example of how beneficial it is to involve the people who are actually affected by a project, whether it is a school in North West Pakistan or a new business project. If people are involved with something they will always be more committed to it than if it is imposed from above.


The Office Cleaner

Last week I had a phone call from a lady wanting to speak to whoever was in charge of office cleaning. My slightly surprised reaction and faint chuckle was enough for her to work out that maybe we didn’t have hundreds of employees in a twelve-storey building. She withdrew from the conversation with great charm but sadly still leaving me with my Saturday morning job.

In between cleaning, I am reading a book on networking, ‘Let’s Connect!’ by Jan Vermeiren. His view is that ALL employees should be given business cards; yes even the office cleaners, because ALL employees should be made to feel important and encouraged to represent their organisation. Wow again!


Dragons and Love Letters

No, not those fearsome TV business angels but the Welsh dragon, or more specifically, the Welsh rugby team. When Will Carling became England rugby captain it had become almost a tradition that England would go to Cardiff and get beaten by the Welsh. It was decided that it was time for a new approach.

Up until then, the team had stayed in England the night before the game, and then crossed the border on the day of the match. For the next visit to Wales the England team stayed at a hotel in the centre of Cardiff. By that simple expedient they changed the pre-match psychology. Now they had set up camp right in the heart of enemy territory, they had taken the initiative.

The night before the game, after all had gone to bed, Carling went round the hotel and slipped ‘love letters’ as he called them, under the player’s bedroom doors. These notes explained the importance to the team of the particular player, what strengths he brought to the team and it outlined what Carling expected of him in the game.

Apparently, although some of the players were a little coy about admitting it, privately all confided to Carling that his note had given them a tremendous psychological boost.


Have You?

Here’s the final instalment of Tom Peters Top 50 ‘Have You …?’ questions. While not all of the 50 will be relevant to all of us, a great many are. Looking back through them I have to confess that I haven’t followed up on all I could. Sounds like time for an April resolution!

Have you in the last month taught a front-line training course?
Have you in the last week discussed the idea of Excellence? (What it means, how to get there.)
Have you in the last week discussed the idea of "Wow"? (What it means, how to inject it into an ongoing "routine" project.)
Have you in the last 45 days assessed some major process in terms of the details of the "experience," as well as results it provides to its external or internal customers?
Have you in the last month had one of your folks attend a meeting you were
supposed to go to which gives them unusual exposure to senior folks?
Have you in the last 60 (30?) days sat with a trusted friend or "coach" to discuss your
"management style"—and its long- and short-term impact on the group?
Have you in the last three days considered a professional relationship that was a little rocky and made a call to the person involved to discuss issues and smooth the
waters? (Taking the "blame," fully deserved or not, for letting the thing-issue
fester.)
Have you in the last ... two hours ... stopped by someone's (two-levels "down") office-workspace for 5 minutes to ask "What do you think?" about an issue that arose at a more or less just-completed meeting? (And then stuck around for 10 or so minutes to listen—and visibly taken notes.)
Have you ... in the last day ... looked around you to assess whether the diversity
pretty accurately maps the diversity of the market being served? (And ...)
Have you in the last day at some meeting gone out of your way to make sure that a normally reticent person was engaged in a conversation—and then thanked
him or her, perhaps privately, for their contribution?
Have you during your tenure instituted very public (visible) presentations of performance?
Have you in the last four months had a session specifically aimed at checking on the
"corporate culture" and the degree we are true to it—with all presentations by relatively junior folks, including front-line folks? (And with a determined effort to keep the conversation restricted to "real world" "

Courtesy of www.tompeters.com


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And Finally

One of my all time football heroes is Tommy Smith, the hard man of the Liverpool defence in the 60s and 70s. On one occasion he got into a spot of bother with a policeman after a game at West Bromwich. Liverpool’s legendary manager, Bill Shankly, himself no softy, arrived on the scene. The policeman unwisely enquired who he was. Shankly exploded and told him that if he didn’t f*** off he’d let down the tyres on his bike! Eventually calm was restored but Shankly was still fuming. “Policemen are bloody useless! They have two on the door of 10 Downing Street and the Prime Minister still gets out.” As you may have gathered, Shanks didn’t regards politicians particularly highly either!


I hope that April will bring you more sunshine than showers.

David