Archive for August, 2009

As a leader you recognise that more can be achieved collectively than you could individually.  Yet in my experience, leaders often make mistakes that stifle rather than encourage performance.  Are you making one or more of these mistakes?

Mistake 1: Holding on to things out of habit rather than neccessity.

Mistake 2: Playing at pretend empowerment where you keep interfering and checking up.

Mistake 3: Having to be right and so not listening effectively to others contributions.

Mistake 4: Needing to be liked rather than respected and letting popularity cloud your decision making.

What else would you add to the list?  Go ahead and leave your comment.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps orgnisations to get great results through teams.  To find out more click here

Over the years I have come across many accountants and professionals who did exceptionally well in the early stages of their career only to hit a glass ceiling all too quickly.

The truth is in my experience a professional qualification or an MBA merely gets you in the door.  What determines how far you go in the longer is at least in part to making your professional development count.  So how can you make your professional development count?

Get a handle on your strengths and development needs

Until you know what you do well and what needs development, it is impossible to put in place your personal success plan.

Focus on the long term

Be clear about what the end game is and what you will need to achieve the ultimate goal.

Don’t restrict your approaches to professional development

It has never been easier to access development opportunities.  Too often people think just about expensive training courses and if budgets for training are cut say there is no funding.  There are plenty opportunities for low and no cost training and development, it is just a matter of seeking it out.

Remember your needs change

Don’t view professional development planning as being a task and finish exercise.  See your plan as a live rolling document that is updated as new needs arise.

Bottom Line – If you are serious about your career you need to make your professional development count.

Well last night we had another varied range of pitches, including one for £2.5m investment to develop an environmentally friendly car.

As always, there were a bundle of learning points. Here are my key learning points for this week.

Be careful about what you plug

The first person we saw who was looking for investment in his company that helped people write and publish their life stories was plugging being ethical as one of the key things that made the company different.  It was clear that this did not sit well with all of the Dragons’.

Persuasion matters

Unless you can positively influence you are never going to be able to move the other party closer to your point of view.

Be careful not to give mixed messages

The chap from Anyway who got investment for inserts in aerosols and spray products got investment.  Yet he could have so easily blown it.  A good example was when he said to Theo that if he (Theo) called the MD of Proctor and Gamble, he would get to speak to him whilst he personally had been struggling. 

A few minutes later he was quibbling about the two Dragons’ wanting a 40% stake when he was offering 5%.

He clearly did a good job at negotiating a deal at 20% but as he already had indicated himself, the reputation and contacts would make a huge difference. 

Being clear about what matters most helps reduce the risk of giving mixed messages.

Be grounded and realistic

The chap seeking £2.5m of investment was clearly very bright and had a brilliant track record.  Trouble was the Dragons’ exposed some real flaws about his ability to get his eco friendly car produced and to market for £10m.

The most telling point was when asked about marketing the finished product.  His budget estimate was £500,000 whilst the Dragons’ stated that a marketing campaign for a new car was likely to be in the region of £20m.

The big learning from this bold pitch was that you always need to go back to basics, do your research and not let your heart rule your head.

So what learning points did you notice from this week’s episode?  I invite you to leave a comment to add your perspectives and insights.

1. Discover where your strengths are and what your areas of development are
2. Have a rounded personal development plan
3. Recognise that technical skills will only take you so far
4. Get a mentor or coach to help you progress
5. Learn from setbacks and act on the feedback you get

1. Lacking self awareness
2. Being a bully
3. Having to be right
4. Letting personal agendas get in the way of results
5. Passing the buck when it all goes wrong

What’s would you add as one of your personal favourites?

Well another week in the Den and just one investment made this week.  So what were some of the key lessons from this week?

Make it worthwhile

If you are going to get investment you need to make it attractive to the investor.  Make sure the stake you are offering ties up with sum you are seeking.

Be clear on your goal

I am often surprised that some of those seeking investment don’t have a clear goal.  It’s important to know whether it is the expertise, the contacts or the money that matters most.  Too often it seems like this basic goal is not defined.

Ask yourself what it is worth

We had another example this week of someone wanting to give a 10% stake and the Dragons’ wanted a 40% stake.  Whilst there is a big difference between the two numbers, where might your business be 12 or 24 months from now if you keep plodding along alone and compare it against what it might be with expert help.

Don’t duck the difficult questions

In any business deal there will always be challenging questions.  Answer them the best you can and whatever you do don’t duck the questions.

So what lessons would you add to the list?  Leave your comments.

 

1. Adapting to changing circumstances
2. Bringing out the best in others
3. Taking balanced risks
4. Taking responsibility
5. Giving credit to others

What would you add?

1. It takes too long to train someone else
2. I can do it quicker myself
3. I can’t trust someone else with such an important piece of work
4. Only I can do it
5. I don’t need to

What else would you add to the list?

If you are leading a team your aim is to deliver results and at the same time get the best from the people you lead.  On one level just about every leader understands this.  On the other hand leaders often take actions or act in a way that both achieving results and getting the best from others is compromised.

So why does this happen?

1. We feel that as the team leader we need to be the best at everything.

2. We worry that if we show that just like everyone else that we have limitations people will respect us less.

3. We become anxious that others might start to judge our suitability to lead the team.

4. We become attached to being some sort of stereotype leader who does this and nothing else or acts in a certain way.

In stead of thinking in this way, think about all the benefits of encouraging team members to take on and overcome challenges.

1. You bring out the best in others and as a result, the talents that they have to offer are not lying dormant.

2. Giving people challenges or problems to deal with or the opportunity to innovate provides motivation and costs nothing.

3. You gain more not less respect not less as you give a crystal clear message to your team that you value them and want their views and contributions.

4. You help others to develop their skill set and competencies.  Think about it, no one ever got good at ice skating by just watching others.  They had to have a go and fall on their backside a few times.  Learning in the workplace is no different.

5. You are growing future leaders and hopefully will have a natural successor when the time comes for you to move onwards and upwards.

Bottom Line: Teams without challenge may still deliver but not at an optimal level.  So what do you need to do to start getting better at leading teams that deliver great results?

Series 5 of The Apprentice in the UK finished a few months ago.  Over the 12 weeks that the show ran, there were a number of important lessons for leaders, aspiring leaders and managers.  So what are the top 10 lessons from The Apprentice 2009?

Lesson 1: Team working really does matter

Even though the candidates are all competing for one job at the end of the day, they can only achieve that goal by working with others.  It is no different in an organisation.  No one individual has the range of skills, knowledge and personal attributes to do it all on their own.

Lesson 2: Communication matters

Whether it is getting the team’s contribution to generate ideas or making a pitch to a potential client or customer, communication really matters.  The best project managers were those that took the time to listen and were open to others ideas.  Those that presented most effectively in front of potential buyers were those that were well prepared.

Lesson 3:  You need to know when to change direction

We saw this in the final when following some basic research it became clear that the intended target market for the box of chocolates being developed by one of the finalists was not going to buy.  How often do we see organisations keeping pursuing a particular direction even when it is clear that a change of direction is required?

Lesson 4: Don’t discount intuition or gut feel when making decisions

Truth is most of us will rely on the hard facts and figures when it comes to decisions.  While in the long run this is probably sensible, there will be times when you just have a hunch or gut feeling that something will work.  One of the candidates spoke up with her gut feel about a particular product on at least 2 instances and was spot on.

Lesson 5: Keep teams small

In the early stages when the teams were large, we saw sub-teams develop and bickering and in-fighting on a regular basis.  As the teams became smaller, we saw a much greater willingness to work together and focus on the result or outcome.

Lesson 6: Planning while not the most exciting task is vital

There were at least two instances where a lack of planning led to a last minute rush and in some cases half finished packaging or promotion materials.  There will always be pressures on organisations to deliver at short notice but this is generally an exception.  Planning may not be the most exciting part of any project but is vital to a successful outcome.

Lesson 7: People need clear direction

We saw instances where the team was quite simply not giving clear enough direction to others that they were working with on tasks.  Having the ideas is great but you need to be able to give clear direction to others that you want to implement and make a success of the ideas.

Lesson 8: Keep the goal at the forefront of your mind

In the urgency and haste to get things done, the teams sometimes lost sight of the overall aim.  In busy organisations where there is relentless pressure to meet budgets, targets and stakeholder expectations it is all too easy to lose sight of what the organisation exists for.  Make a habit of keeping the bigger picture at the forefront of your mind.

Lesson 9: Don’t be a passenger

As a member of a senior leadership team there will be decisions that you support 100% and others that you are less committed to.  As a leader, you cannot afford to be a passenger or be passive about something just because it does not float your boat.

Lesson 10:  Make expectations clear

There were many instances when there was vagueness about responsibilities and expectations on The Apprentice.  In any organisation, team or function that you are leading you need to make sure that responsibilities and expectations are clearly communicated and understood.
Bottom Line – While The Apprentice is first and foremost about entertaining there are many excellent lessons that can help you to achieve more success as a leader.  So what lessons could you learn from The Apprentice 2009 so that you achieve more success as a leader?