July 2008

During this month’s Ramble we promote women, take a long lunch and an even longer holiday, and encourage anarchy in the loo:

Ø Are You Using Only 50% of Available Talent?
Ø French Lunch
Ø I’m Just Popping Out For a walk
Ø Long Holidays
Ø 43% of Managers are No Good!
Ø Change the Colour
Ø Circulation Details
Ø And finally


Are You Using Only 50% of Available Talent?

Last month I mentioned the view of corporate turnaround specialist Victor Palmieri that “Strategies are okayed in boardrooms that even a child would say are bound to fail. The problem is there is never a child in the boardroom.” My advice was to appoint a child to the board. However, as child labour is illegal, there is another solution to improve company performance. Appoint a woman (preferably lots of them) to the board/senior management team.

It is now half a dozen years since the Norwegian government announced that it intended to force companies to have at least 40% women members of the board. Despite the predictable reaction, the results have been so successful that other countries are looking at following suit. The reason? Studies in the US and in Europe have shown that companies with a significant number of female board members perform better than those with all male boards.

Why should this surprise us? If 50% of the available talent is excluded from senior positions, the team will not be as strong as it could be. But maybe it needs a child to spot that one!


French Lunch

It is a commonly accepted view that we do business with those we like. Successful businesses are those that build good relationships with customers and suppliers. They also create a team-working ethic within the business.

I have recently returned from three weeks in France. Eating in restaurants at lunchtime it struck me how often one sees groups of business people enjoying a good lunch while talking animatedly. It is fairly evident that many of these are colleagues from the same office.

I understand that the average UK lunch break is around 30 minutes. Maybe a 2-hour break is a bit too long, but the concept of sharing a leisurely meal and chatting over a mix of business and social issues seems to make sound business sense from a relationship building perspective.


I’m Just Popping Out For a Walk

Continuing with the above theme, this week there was an item on the BBC Breakfast News about research carried out into working practices. The conclusion was that people work more effectively when given a certain degree of latitude to develop their preferred work pattern. The programme featured the CEO of IRIS, the largest UK privately owned specialist software business that employs 1,200 people in 28 offices. He supported strongly the findings of the study and encourages his staff to take short breaks when they feel the need to stretch their legs or just to re-focus their minds. Remember, on average we can only concentrate for 20 minutes at a time. And surprise, surprise, the benefits of taking a full hour’s lunch break were supported.

Maybe there is also a spin-off benefit from getting up frequently from our desks. A few years ago I had problems with a disc in my back. My physiotherapist pointed out that backs don’t like inactivity and insisted that I should go for a short walk, even if just round the office, every 30 minutes.

So it seems that frequent short breaks are good for the back as well as the brain!


Long Holidays

Two weeks never seems long enough for a holiday. The first week is spent unwinding and the second thinking of the return journey (especially if it is a two-day drive from the south of France!). But three is perfect. At the end there is no resentment about returning to work, in fact quite the opposite. Of course, it is easier for me now, but I did take three weeks a couple of times in my corporate career, and guess what? Yes, they got by without me!

I am sure that there will be some readers who are thinking that they couldn’t manage two weeks let alone three. I do recognise that very small businesses will have much more trouble accommodating extended holidays, but in slightly larger organisations, if you have developed your team so that you can safely delegate, it should be possible. IBM used to, and probably still do, insist that staff took at least one holiday of two weeks in length. They recognised that one week was insufficient for battery recharging. They also insisted that staff took all of their holiday entitlement and didn’t carry days over, never to be used.


43% of Managers are No Good!

OK, perhaps a bit provocative, but according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 43% of employees are dissatisfied with the relationship they have with their manager. If your business has a high staff turnover it probably isn’t because they are unhappy with the job but with the management. I was lucky for most of my corporate career to work for some pretty good bosses but I can think of a few that I wouldn’t have wanted to work for. Oh, and two of the best took all of their holidays and didn’t work excessive hours!

Being autocratic, micro-managing, setting unrealistic targets, criticising and never praising, instituting petty rules are all good ways to ensure a miserable workplace. Performance will suffer and people will leave as soon as they get a better offer. Many of you will be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is worth reminding ourselves of the top two categories:

Esteem needs
Self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility.

And right at the top:

Self-actualization needs
Realising personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Helping people to achieve self-esteem and personal fulfilment will result in a happy, committed and effective team … especially if they can wander around the office and take long lunches!


Change the Colour

I am a fan of the BBC TV programme Mary Queen of Shops. For those who haven’t seen it, fashion retail expert Mary Portas helps to turn around failing boutiques. The concept is similar to Gordon Ramsey’s F Word but without the ‘f’ words!

I am even less of a fashion expert than I am a chef, but even I can see why these businesses are failing. There is a consistent pattern of not understanding the customer, not understanding the competition and of poor presentation. And usually a failure to recognise that there is anything wrong beyond the fact that there are no customers and mounting financial losses.

I recall from many years back when Emerson Fittipaldi’s Formula One team was struggling for success. Fittipaldi decided to change the colour of the cars simply to give the team the feeling of a new start to boost their flagging spirits. So if your business has gone a little stale, change something, anything, even if it is only the colour of the office walls. But do consult the team on the colour choice, and it might be worth asking your key customers for their views.



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And Finally

Why do women tolerate queuing for the loo? Last year when driving back from France we stopped at a service station on the autoroute. The ladies’ loo was closed temporarily for cleaning. I went into the gents and was standing next to another chap communing with nature. The door opened and in walked a young woman (French I assume) who wasn’t prepared to wait for the ladies to re-open. Subsequently a number of others followed suit. It occurred to me that, if women always did that when there was a queue, it would be a very effective way of getting things changed, especially if they startled a few architects and planners. I am assuming that it is men who are responsible for the inadequate provision of ladies loos at motorway services, concert halls, airports and other public venues.

The only thing I couldn’t quite understand was why the first lady who ventured into the gents appeared surprised to see men in there!

“If you are willing to satisfy people with ‘good enough’, you can make just about everybody happy. If you delight people and create change that lasts, you're going to offend those that hate change in all its forms. Your choice.” Seth Godin, US businessman, author and developer of the concept of ‘permission marketing’.


If you still have your holidays to come, I hope that the sun will shine for you. And don’t take the laptop or business mobile!


David