Archive for the ‘General Leadership Articles’ Category

My last blog post highlighted Britain’s 10 most admired companies. This blog post highlights the most admired by sector. Source: Management Today December 2009

Banking: HSBC
Building materials and merchants: Kingspan
Chemicals: Johnson Matthey
Construction – Heavy: Balfour Beatty
Construction – Home: Berkley Group
Engineering – Aerospace and Defence: Rolls-Royce
Engineering and Machinery: Rotork
Food Producers and Processors: Cadbury
Health and Household: Glaxosmithkline
Leisure and Hotels: Intercontinental Hotels
Life Assurance and Insurance: Admiral
Media: BSkyB
Oil, gas and extractive: BP
Paper and Packaging: DS Smith
Property: British Land Co
Restaurants, Pubs and Breweries: Diageo
Retailing – Food and Personal: Tesco
Retailing – General: Dunelm
Retailing – Specialist: Majestic Wines
Software and Computer Services: Autonomy
Speciality and Other Finance: Icap
Support Services: Capita Group
Telecommunications: Vodafone
Transport: easyJet
Utilities: Centrica

I wonder who you would place at the top of each sector. Why not leave comments with your thoughts?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

A table of the most admired companies was published in Management Today magazine. This was based on peer evaluation. So who was in the top 10 of the 2009 Most Admired Companies?

1. BSkyB
2. Tesco
3. Johnson Matthey
4. Cadbury
5. GlaxoSmithKline
6. Rolls-Royce
7. BP
8. BG Group
9. Diageo
10. Cobham

I wonder who you would include in your top 10 Most Admired Companies? Why not leave a comment with your views?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

A new year presents a golden opportunity to take stock and set out plans for great success in the year ahead.  For many, achieving the results that they want as a leader or manager is an important area, not least because of the personal rewards it brings.  In reality, success as a leader or manager does not happen by chance, so what are the x key questions you need to answer to achieving greater success as a leader or manager in 2010?

 

What do you want to achieve by the end of 2010?

 

Seems like a really easy question but in truth it is one of the most challenging to answer.  When people sit down to formulate their response they often fall into the trap of coming up with vague statements that are meaningless.  To overcome this, take the time to write out in some detail what you want to achieve by the end of 2010.  Remember that your career does not operate in isolation from the rest of your life so think broadly.

 

Why do you want to achieve more success in 2010?

 

Mark Fritz the author of a number of books talks about the importance of the why being bigger than the what.  In essence what he is saying is that unless the reasons for wanting to achieve something compelling are crystal clear they will never become more than aspirations.  The why is what provides the drive and motivation to keep going no matter what the barriers are.  For each thing that you want to achieve keep asking and answering why you want to achieve that particular goal.

 

What detailed plans do you have?

 

Knowing what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve something is great but unless it is supported by a detailed plan or action steps the chances of success are greatly reduced.  For each goal that you want to achieve list out the series of steps that you need to take to achieve it.  This does not need to be 100% complete at the start and you can add to it as new ideas for actions come to mind.

 

What sacrifices are you ready to make?

 

In life and in our careers everything is about choices.  By saying yes to something we are saying no to something else.  To achieve anything of significance is likely to require you to make some tough choices.  For example, you might need to take a short term secondment to get specific experience that requires you to spend time apart from the family.  This may or may not be a sacrifice you are willing to make.  Being clear about the sacrifices you are willing to make improves decision making.

 

What sacrifices are you unwilling to make?

 

We all have our boundaries or things that we are not willing to do.  Don’t see this as a weakness but instead see it as a strength.  If there are certain things that you know that you are unwilling to do, be clear about them and use them and stick to your guns.

 

What changes do you need to make?

 

They say that insanity is keeping doing the same things and expecting different results.  If you have taken the time to reflect on the last 12 months you will more than likely have identified some changes that you need to make in 2010. These changes might be about the environment in which you work, the staff you lead or manage or project.  They could just as easily be changes that you personally need to make in say your attitude, outlook or skill set.

 

What support do you have?

 

Trying to doing it all alone is tough even if you are the most motivated person around.  Successful people know that it is important to have some form of support in place.  This can take many forms, including working with a coach, finding a mentor, forming a mastermind group or a professional network to name just a few.

 

What follow up do you have in place?

 

One of the most important things to have in place if you are going to achieve more success as a leader or manager in 2010 is a system of follow up or accountability.  This simply involves letting someone else know what you are aiming to achieve by the end of 2010 and having some sort of way of regular reporting on progress.   

 

Bottom Line – Achieving greater success as a leader and manager does to happen by chance.  What questions do you need to answer to achieve more success in 2010?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve results as leader and managers.  For more information click here

Like a lot of the UK, where I live is covered in snow and experiencing icy conditions.  As I was out clearing the driveway the best I could to get the car out, I noticed what was and what was not happening around me and it got me thinking about self leadership lessons that would could learn from the snowy conditions.

The first thing I noticed is that very few people were taking any sort of personal responsibility.  Very few people were out clearing snow.  Motorists who ventured out were often not even clearing their windscreens properly before setting out on the roads.

The next thing I noticed was that many wanted to try and take shortcuts.  For example, try and force their way out of the snow rather than take a few minutes to prepare the area for their exit from their driveway or kerbside.

Thirdly when I was out on the road, people, despite being told over and over again about the importance of being careful, in some instances people drove as if it was a normal day with perfect conditions.

Finally, we rarely acknowledge the extreme efforts that many people are making to make sure that services and goods we need are available despite the conditions.  This includes the emergency services, hospitals, council roads people but also people like lorry drivers who make sure that supermarkets get the stocks needed.

I wonder what other lessons you would add to the learning that we can take from the current adverse weather conditions?  Leave a comment with your ideas.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to be highly effective leaders and managers.  For more information click here

While doing one of my regular sessions at the gym recently it occurred to me that there were many things that we can learn about leading and managing from the way we approach and what we do when it comes to working out.

 

So what are the key things that we can learn about leadership and management success from our gym workouts?

 

We need to have a goal

 

Most of us decided to join the gym for a specific reason.  It might have been to lose weight, build our stamina, help manage our stress levels, fun or just to maintain good health.  If we want to achieve success as a leader or manager we need to have clear goals.

 

Start small and build from that point

 

I can remember when I first ever went to the gym about 10 years ago.  The training plan I had was focused on doing a little bit on a range of exercises.  I did not try and jump straight to wild challenges in terms of times on the cardio machines and the weights I was lifting.  When new in post as a leader or manager, don’t try to go for glory from the outset, focus on achieving some easy wins.

 

It’s a long term project

 

When you start something new, especially exercise, you tend to find that you get pretty dramatic improvement initially, you plateau and then seem to struggle to get up to the next level.  As a leader or manager chances are that you will make some quick improvements and during the first couple of months it can feel like you are on the crest of a wave.  However, what you are really looking for is sustained success over the long term, so view leading and managing as a long term project.

 

We all need to do maintenance

 

When working out we know that it is important to do our stretching if we are to avoid injury or damage.  Most managers and leaders started in a particular professional discipline.  Even if you have a broader role now, it is vital that you maintain your knowledge and keep your skills up to date through continuing professional development.

 

 

Bottom Line – Just like working out, your aim as a manager or leader is to achieve long term sustained success.  So what do you need to start focusing on to achieve more success?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to be successful managers and leaders.  For more information about his Services and Programmes click here

Targets, targets, targets.  It can sometimes feel like all of our time is spent ticking the right box rather than on improving business performance.

 

Just about every organisation has some form of performance measurement in place.  So how can you go about setting performance measures that are a real contributor to business success?

 

Get clear about what you are trying to achieve

 

If you don’t know what your organisation, function or team is trying to achieve, how can you ever expect to put any useful form of worthwhile performance measurement in place?  Every organisation large and small needs a clear set of goals that it is trying to achieve.  The clearer you are about goals, the easier it is to set measures.

 

Know what matters

 

In running your business, function or team, there are lots of activities undertaken.  While all activities have relevance, some are more critical than others.  What are the critical activities in your organisation, function or team?  Make a list of them and make sure there is consensus

 

Have a range of measures

 

Many organisations still rely too heavily on financial measures.  While cash is an important day to day financial measure, the majority of financial measures are after the event.  You need to have measures that tell you, pretty much real time what is going on.  Aim for a mix of financial and non financial measures, lead (real time) and lag (post event) measures.

 

Don’t see it as task and finish

 

Organisations change, the industries and sectors in which you operate change, customer preferences change.  Your performance measures need to reflect what is happening now, not what was happening 2 years ago.  Make sure you periodically re-assess and review your measures. 

 

Bottom Line – Performance measurement can either be an asset and part of your leadership success strategy or a time waster.  What do you want it to be?

We all probably have our own views about leadership.  While it is true that we might all have slightly different views, I wonder if you are falling into the trap of believing 5 of the most common leadership myths.

Leadership Myth 1: Leaders are born

Now I don’t know about you but I have yet to hear about a newborn that was blessed with the leadership gene.  Sure certain qualities help when it comes to leadership but these are developed rather than being acquired at birth.

Leadership Myth 2: You need to be mean

You might have a perception that being a success in a leadership relies on you being the tough guy or gal.  Yes you need to be resilient and be able to stand your ground from time to time.  You might even need to quite tough at times.  However, being mean is a sure-fire way to leadership failure rather than success.

Leadership Myth 3: Success is all about having the opportunity

While having a great academic record might give you a head start, don’t fall into the trap that if you didn’t have the opportunity to go to college or university you cannot get into leadership.  For example, I left school at 16 with minimal qualifications.  I started going to college while working and was able to climb the career ladder from Accounts Clerk to Finance Director.

Leadership Myth 4: You can take your foot off the gas

Moving into leadership for the first time is the biggest career step you will take.  If you think that when you reach this level you have made it and can take your foot off the gas, you are in for a shock.  Truth is when you move into leadership you need to invest even more in your continuing development as you are having to deal with many new and different challenges.

Leadership Myth 5: You need to keep collecting qualifications

Research suggests that your level of intelligence (IQ) will take you so far in your career but it is your interpersonal and social skills (EQ) that really determines your success.  If you are considering taking additional qualifications, ask yourself what difference they will make.  It may be that investing in developing you skills and qualities through coaching or short courses will provide better results.

Bottom Line – Moving into leadership is a major step.  So what myths are you buying into that are getting in the way of achieving leadership success?

As a leader one of your key roles is to set out the overall direction for the organisation over the medium to long term.  Pick up any textbook and it might seem like the easiest thing in the world to do.  Yet in reality it is often an area of real struggle.  Why is this and what can you do about it?

Challenge 1: Spending sufficient time

As a leader or leadership team you are making major choices and decisions that have a impact on:

• The organisation
• You
• Employees
• Customers or service users
• Suppliers
• Shareholders and stakeholders

Yet often leadership teams spend far too little time on this vital area. You might be familiar with or even participated in a one or two day away day where you spend time looking at the future direction.  While this is a useful starting point, it has many limitations.

Solution: Schedule sufficient time to develop strategy and make it a rolling process where time is taken out at least every 2-3 months to keep the strategy relevant and up to date.

Challenge 2: Answering key questions

All organisations exist for some reason or other.  In developing strategy there is a great temptation for people to come up with aspirations that may or may not be linked to the core purpose.  This might be due to key questions not being identified and answered.

Solution:  Start any discussion around strategy by getting clear answers to the following key questions:

• What are we here to do as an organisation?

• Who are we doing it for?

• What results do we want to deliver for our stakeholders?
Challenge 3: Connecting strategies

There clearly needs to be an overall direction in which the organisation is heading and top level goals.  At the same time the sub-strategies for Finance, Marketing, IT, Customer Relationship Management, Production, etc need to be connected.

Solution:  As well as being crystal clear about the overall direction and goals, make sure that there are detailed sub-strategies to achieve the goals which are consistent and joined up.

Bottom Line – In theory creating and implementing effective strategy is simple but in practice is extremely challenging.  So what challenges do you need to address to develop and implementing even better strategies?

It might not be the most exciting thing that you do as a leader but achieving success relies on you having an effective system of measuring progress.  Think about it, if you are measuring something it is on your radar and if it is on your radar you are more likely to be alert to opportunities to move forward to the next level.

So how can you start to make measurement a valuable business tool rather than just a chore where you tick boxes?

Get clear on your goals
 
If you are going to be effective at measuring something you need to be crystal clear about what you are trying to achieve in the first place.  When designing any form of measurement system whether at organisation, function, team, project, process or even individual level, make sure you are crystal clear on the goals, results and outcomes you want.

Distinguish between the essentials and nice to have

In any organisation there are certain things that are so essential to your success that you really need to pay attention to them.  You probably have heard of the 80:20 rule.  In essence 20% of what you do delivers 80% of the results.  In any organisation it is vital that you determine what the 20% is and then focus your measurement around this area.   So what’s the 20% in your organisation?

Make everyone responsible

You may have people centrally who crunch the numbers or provide the reports but ultimately achieving goals needs to the responsibility of everyone.  The best systems of measuring performance were those that cascaded objectives and goals right down to individual employee level.

Don’t just rely on financial measures

Financial measures have their place and need to be part of what they measure but don’t rely on them in isolation.  The reason is that most financial measures are after the event.  They tell you retrospectively what has happened.  Take something like turnover (sales) as example.  Sure it tells you how much income you have generated from sales but the real nuggets are in understanding the drivers and blockers of sales.

Bottom Line – Measuring if it is to make a difference to personal and organisational success needs to focus on measuring what matters.  So what action can you take to use measurement to create more success?

To be a successful leader it is vital that you are aware of your strengths and use them effectively.  While this might appear to be easy, we all have to a greater or lesser extent blind spots that get in the way of success.  So what are 7 common blind spots that can hinder your progress as a leader?

1. Needing to be right
2. Being overly ambitious with goals
3. Being too narrowly focused
4. Expecting too much from others
5. Self rather than organisational interests
6. Looking good at all costs
7. Unable to accept mistakes

If you are to achieve the career and personal success you desire, you need to be alert to your blind spots.  So what blind spots might be getting in the way of your success?