Byron Kalies

1. Interviewing – First Love

“Not surprisingly, interview specialists have found it extraordinarily difficult to persuade most employers to adopt the structured interview. It just doesn’t feel right. For most of us, hiring someone is essentially a romantic process, in which the job interview functions as a desexualized version of a date. We are looking for someone with whom we have certain chemistry, even if the coupling that results ends in tears and the pursuer and the pursued turn out to have nothing in common. We want the unlimited promise of a love affair. The structured interview, by contrast, seems to offer only the dry logic and practicality of an arranged marriage. “ – Malcolm Gladwell (‘The New-Boy Network’)

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2. Interviewing – First Contact

 

Log on to the internet and google “interview” and “first impressions” and you will come up with over a million matches. The vast, vast, vast majority of the results are practically identical. To save time I’ll précis this information for you;

 

“Turn up at the right address, on time. Wear clothes. Don’t be late. Bring a firm handshake. Don’t kill any of the interviewers and smile.” 

 

Paradoxically when interviewers are being trained there is almost as much advice telling them to ignore first impressions. It goes by a range of names; self-fulfilling prophecy, stereotyping, horns and halo effect (of which more later), interview-enhancing behaviour, etc. yet they all amount to more or less the same thing. This is the basic advice that has been handed down by interviewer trainer to interview consultant to interviewing facilitator from generation to generation and pretty much consists of the following;

 

Research indicates that interviewers decide which interviewee will get the job within the first X minutes and then spend the rest of the interview confirming their initial analysis; i.e. if they like the candidate they ask easy questions and treat the responses more favourably. Or, if they take a dislike to the candidate they will ask difficult questions and look less favourably on their answers. As interviewers you must fight against this, and remain totally objective.

(The value of X is any possible single integer – depending on age, laziness, of trainer.)

 

A: Welcome back.

B: It’s been a little while I know, again, but …

A: Busy… busy… busy.

B: Absolutely.

A: So, what’s new?

B: Well, what’s new is that my book is finally, nearly, here.

A: Excellent - and it’s called ….

B: ‘Tales from the Front’.

A: ‘Tales from the Front’? An interesting title.

B: Well it’s a combination of 2 titles - Tales of the Riverbank ..

A: …and something with ‘front’ in it?

B: ‘All quiet on the Western Front’.

A: I see, an anti-war novel written by Erich Maria Remarque about the horrors of that war and also the deep detachment from German civilian life felt by many men returning from the front.

B: Yes, a classic tale of several schoolmates who represent a generation destroyed by the dehumanization of war.

A: And a TV series about Hammy Hamster.

B: Featuring his mate GP the guinea pig… but that’s another story…

A: A question springs to mind - why? Didn’t you originally call it ‘A Trainer’s Diary’?

B: I thought the title would evoke an image of those olden days - conjuring images of the trainer as explorer, trail blazer, hero, trend setter.

A: Trend setter?

B: Well perhaps not trend setter but a title that suggested a sense of loneliness, the danger, the humanity and the inhumanity of it all.

A: Um….

B: Whilst still retaining the old-fashioned charm of a happier, more innocent age where animals talked and had fascinating, but fifteen minute long, adventures.

A: So you thought of all this?

B: Well not exactly - my publisher thought of it.

A: Still, It is a ‘Weekly Diary of the Laughs, Tears, Stresses, Triumphs, Fortunes and Misfortunes of a Management Trainer’. Did you write that?

B: I refer my honourable friend to my previous answer.

First appeared in ‘Financial World’ (UK)

From the late 1920s stress has been defined as a “fight or flight” reaction to a threat, or a perceived threat.

This definition by Walter Cannon now appears to be incomplete and research also suggests that the order is wrong.

Jeffrey Gray, amongst others ethologists, redefines the onset of stress as having three distinct stages – freeze, flight and only then fight.

The initial stage, “the freeze response”, is described as a state of hyper-vigilance (being on guard, watchful, or hyper-alert). This “stop, look, and listen” stage is associated with fear. Ethological research has demonstrated that prey that remain “frozen” during a threat are more likely to avoid detection.

Following this initial freeze response, the next response in the sequence is an attempt to get away from the danger. Once that option has been exhausted, there is an attempt to fight. These reactions always occur in this order.

These observations within the animal world are still thought to apply to humans as a hangover from primitive times. When we get into stressful situations the body automatically carries out a number of functions:

• Firstly it discharges large amounts of adrenalin into the blood stream.
• It shuts down the digestive system to allow an increased blood flow to the muscles.
• It thickens the blood so that if the organism is cut, the blood will clot quickly.
• These chemicals stay in the body and cause the symptoms we associate with stress these days – upset stomach, palpitations, heart disease, depression, etc.

Today a modern financial executive is more likely to encounter stress with a last minute presentation to the board, rather than being attacked by a wild animal. Yet the same stages are involved. We’ve all experienced the freeze response – or denial response, as some psychologists interpret the threat. It takes the form of: “Why me?” This is followed by the flight option. This can be quite tempting at the time, and occasionally the stress is so bad that flight – physically or emotionally – is the only way out.

However, more often than not the final option kicks in. This inevitably manifests itself as the “challenge”. The CFO has to respond as rationally and calmly as possible whilst the adrenaline builds up. Once or twice this is good. However, over a number of months, or years, it can eventually cause headaches, ulcers, etc as well as potential psychological and behavioural problems – depression, sleeplessness, etc.

The timing of stress is different from executive to executive. Graham Beasant, director of Finance and Corporate Resources at the UK’s Central Office of Information (COI), feels stress for him has an almost seasonal element: “I feel more pressure from April to June due to the end of the financial year and the preparation of COI’s annual report. During this time there are deadlines placed on COI by Parliament, the public and auditors.”

Maurice Phillips, finance director, Southdown Housing Association identified different aspects of the job as having more stress: “If you have a chance to work in finance then you will realise that most finance jobs are very busy in any organisation and stress comes with the nature of the work. The higher you go the more demanding and stressful the job becomes.”

Stress isn’t all bad though – we need some stress in our lives in order to perform – those last minute energy rushes to meet a deadline, the adrenaline that gives you the ability to see sharper, hear more and react quicker when placed in uncomfortable situations. We need stress – without it life would be incredibly boring. On the positive side stress is a source of motivation and a necessary component to survival. But it’s this excessive or prolonged stress that inevitably takes a toll on health.

A recent development in the study of stress links to control – the less control people have over their lives the more stress they tend to have. In terms of management within organisations, occupational psychologist Cary Cooper says: “Senior managers have ‘a sense of control’ … they feel they’re involved in decision-making. Research over the last couple of decades has shown that people who feel they have no control, no autonomy over the job they do in the workplace are likely to get a stress-related illness.”

How much control, as employers and managers do we have over these factors? Quite a bit, it would seem. Many of these factors relate to job design and communicating expectations – these are probably within the control of managers. Some organisations seem to take these factors very seriously indeed and many have introduced schemes for managing stress amongst their workforce.

First appeared in ‘CFO’ (Australia)

Almost eighty years ago Walter Cannon, came up with the phrase ‘fight or flight’, to describe reactions to stressful situations. This appears to be a hangover from primitive times when man needed to react aggressively to survive. This simplistic view of stress argues that in the face of a demanding situation there is a reaction set up by a region of the brain known as the hypothalamus. This triggers a number of events in the body. For instance large amounts of adrenalin are discharged into the blood stream, the blood thickens and is pumped to important and essential organs systems especially the muscles.

These actions are designed to help the body cope with this ‘fight or flight’ dilemma. This theory is still the main model used today, largely unchallenged and has been interpreted for modern financial executives as follows;

A stressful situation arises – these days its more likely to be a CEO demanding financial reports urgently rather than a lion attack - and the executive receives all the extra adrenalin, blood rush etc but cannot fight the CEO or run away so has to respond calmly and rationally to the situation. This causes the adrenalin to stay in the system unused and eventually causes real physical problems – headaches, ulcers etc. as well as potential psychological and behavioural problems.

David Ray, CFO of Uecomm Pty Ltd. very openly describes how this affected him;

I realised one day how ugly my behaviour could be if stress was allowed to manifest itself and ignite my short fuse and my tendency was effectively to ‘blow up’. I have found that when I become frustrated by a situation that has been brought about by lack of knowledge or unclear communication followed by lack of time to clarify and correct, I can tend to lash out. In the past it has been hard to pull myself up and change my behaviour. However, I did use the services of a coach, who was able to assist me with combating stress. I now use ‘mirrors’ (confidantes across the company) who I can trust to pull me up on my behaviour (good and bad) and to give me honest and constructive feedback. I am since very mindful of the need to quell what could be seen as an “aggressive” leadership tendency.

Stress can be incredibly traumatic and is estimated to cost literally billions of dollars per year. However, stress isn’t always bad. People need some stress in their life. In the Stress-Performance curve below this clearly indicates the relationship between stress and performance. Too little stress leads to the opposite of burnout – rustout. There is also a condition known as ‘psychological toughening’. This suggests that intermittent stress leads to stress tolerance later. Rats who were ‘toughened’ by having to swim in cold water for up to 14 consecutive days showed less stress when compared with rats who had received no prior swimming when they were both exposed to cold water.

This element of needing some stress to perform seems to resonate with many people. As Michael Bencsik, Chief Financial Officer of HSBC Bank Australia describes it;

Stress tends to have a positive impact on my work ethic because it encourages me to perhaps work harder to achieve the desired outcome. I believe that to be an effective CFO, stress is an important enabler as it tends to set a performance expectation level to staff to raise the level of their output.
There is an element of increased ‘positive’ stress when you are in a senior position to effect change within the bank. It comes from the increased responsibility placed by the Board and shareholders in managing the financial stewardship of the Organisation and balancing this with the expectation from staff that they look to you with confidence that you are able to provide the proper leadership, guidance and communication.

Research shows that there are people who are far more comfortable dealing with stress than others. One of the underlying reasons some people cope better than others is support. This is borne out by Patricia Galloway CFO and CEO of The Neilsen-Wurster Group;

It’s very important to have people to talk to. I feel I’m incredibly lucky as I have a very understanding husband who knows the business, the pressures, and a dog that doesn’t.

Another major factor in determining stress levels comes from the concept of control. Studies on Formula One racing drivers show that the most stressful time isn’t at the start, or overtaking – it’s in the pit lane when refuelling. It’s the only times in the race where there have to relinquish that control.

Occupational psychologist Cary Cooper;
Senior managers have “a sense of control” … they feel they’re involved in decision-making“ Research over the last couple of decades has shown that people who feel they have no control, no autonomy over the job they do in the work place are likely to get a stress related illness.

David Ray’s experiences would support this;
My previous role was as Commercial Evaluation Manager. Our organisation relied heavily on this function to approve new customer connections and I could see the area becoming more and more of a bottleneck. At the same time, I couldn’t help myself getting involved in every project that was on the go. I wanted to control everything and work on everything and ended up pleasing no one. Realising this, I set a vision for how I wanted to automate parts of our functions and relied on my second-in-charge to take on my plans and make them a reality, providing them with sufficient guidance and training to ensure they were supported in delivering on this.

Michael Bencsik has a similar experience;
One of the constants in a CFO role is change which is increasing in pace, depth and breadth. Working within a global bank and managing customers and businesses across geographic boundaries produces various risks and opportunities. I tend to have less stress where I am familiar with the cause and effect levers within my immediate local environment. As HSBC is a global organisation, my matrix reporting lines into London, Hong Kong and the US increasingly give rise to changes in the level of stress myself and the team experience particularly where you are dealing with novel, ambiguous or complex information. Being effective in navigating the political landscape of the global business environment and having time to appreciate the cultural subtleties and nuances when working across countries with your internal peers, helps reduce stress. In addition, reporting to the CEO increases a CFO’s control over his environment because we are in direct communication with the ultimate influencer over the company, the CEO.

Patricia Galloway was asked for an occasion where she felt most stressed. This occurred whilst she became the first woman President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ACSE);

A few years ago I became president of ASCE and found it very rewarding but very stressful. I had little control over engagements, travel, expert witness testimony, etc… After a few years (1 year to help, 1 year to do and 1 year to advice) I was relieved to return to the normally stressful CFO and CEO role. I probably had more travel, more deadlines to meet but more control. I felt a lot calmer now that I had more control of my schedule.

In some ways senior financial officers seem to have the worse of both worlds. The stress associated with senior management and lack of control applies to them but also there is a special type of stress specifically related to the role.

Patricia Galloway;
Finance is extremely stressful. Managing money is a very stressful item. You always have to keep your eye on the bottom line. You need to make sure you’re constantly on top of things with invoices etc…An added burden for CFOs is facing a lot of questions from the board, shareholders wanting to know why things can’t be done better, cheaper, etc.

David Ray;
Companies tend to have very little understanding of the daily stress experienced by Finance teams, however to be frank, we don’t tend to effectively communicate our plight nor educate them as to how they can help us better.

Everyone has their own strategies for managing their stress levels. This tends to involve redressing the balance between work and outside work;

David Ray;
On a personal level I deal with stress by playing Aussie Rules football for my local club – exercise is a great stress reliever.
My faith in God plays a huge role in managing stress. Through that, I acknowledge that I can’t control everything.

Michael Bencsik;
It is easy with my job to be on call 24 hrs a day, so I switch off my blackberry on weekends and spend quality time with my wife and kids and friends. I have a range of outside interests which help me to balance stress and work. I undertake a lot of sailing namely ocean racing with a crew of 10 or a 40 ft yacht. I am on the Board and treasurer of a children’s charity ‘Barnardos Australia’. These activities provide a sense of perspective in work matters to issues outside of work.

Perhaps the best way of managing stress comes from the job. This job itself is hardly likely to go away. As Patricia Galloway concluded;
Perhaps the reason I don’t feel so stressed with my job is because I love what I’m doing.

First appeared in Training and Learning’ (U.K.)

1. EXECUTIVE COACHING – The Map

“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum potential.” Bob Nardelli CEO, Home Depot

“I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable.” John Russell, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article it was estimated that over $1 billion is spent annually on Executive Coaching in the United States alone. It has become the recent ‘key initiative’. It also goes under the guise of business coaching, corporate coaching, executive mentoring, leadership consultancy or career coaching. It also seems to be working. In a study by Right Management Consultants they found that when executives were asked to assign a monetary value to the coaching they received, 70 percent of respondents estimated that the return on investment on their coaching was $100,000 or higher.
Well, OK, it’s hardly surprising that “the world’s largest career transition and organisational consulting” organisation would uncover this statistic, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that this can be a very effective process for executives.
So, exactly what is executive coaching? Well first some things that executive coaching isn’t. It isn’t therapy. It isn’t just counselling, although there are elements of counselling involved. It isn’t just coaching for C.E.O.s in large Organisations.
Some useful definitions;
“It’s a professional relationship between a coach and an executive, or an executive team”.
“The essence of executive coaching is helping leaders get unstuck from their dilemmas and assisting them to transfer their learning into results for the organization.”
“Executive Coaching is aimed at inspiring executive leaders to make behavioural changes which transform themselves and the people around them thereby increasing business results and performance.”
All of these are useful and add insights. However the definition that works for me; “Executive coaching is defined as a helping relationship formed between a client who has managerial authority and responsibility in an organization and a consultant who uses a wide variety of behavioural techniques and methods to assist the client achieve a mutually identified set of goals to improve his or her professional performance and personal satisfaction and consequently to improve the effectiveness of the client’s organization within a formally defined coaching agreement.”

It’s vital to understand exactly what you mean by executive coaching. Like so many elements of training the clearer you are at the beginning of an intervention the easier it is in the long term. Once you’ve a clear understanding you need to ensure your client, coachee, executive understands it also. (I will use the terms coach and executive throughout).
Once you and the client you’re working with has a solid idea of what you can supply you need to set up the coaching. This needs to be managed carefully to get the best use of the time. The setting up can be an administrative nightmare if the coaching is for more than one person. There is a move that is gaining credence these days for executive coaching to be carried out within the Organisation. The benefits of this are fairly obvious;
For the Organisation; generally cheaper than external coaches, coaches know the Organisation, problems, easier to control and evaluate process;
For the executive: coached by someone that knows the Organisation;
For the coach: satisfaction helping another, increased left awareness, development of skills;
There are some disadvantages of this internal approach in that there could be relationship / authority problems with people being coached by colleagues, they may not have the skills required or more importantly may not be able to bring an external perspective and best practice to the executives.
For an external consultant this can still be is a useful opportunity to get involved at some level. There is an opportunity to transfer skills to coaches in workshops. This may well not be as ‘pure’ as we would like it, but there is an enormous payoff for the Organisation. The coaches do become a team and if they are carefully managed they can share experiences and become quite a formidable learning group in themselves.
The real dangers of this approach however are in the uncertain levels of skill demonstrated by the coaches. They will have different degrees of empathy, communication skills, etc. so, to some extent, the experience for some executives may not be perfect (There will be the argument that external coaches will also have a broad spectrum of skills as well. You can however choose external coaches based on experience whereas internal coaches will invariably be carrying out the process for the first time).
The other problem is in the administration of the project. Finding time for one busy executive can be difficult. Multiply that by a dozen coaches and a dozen executives and it can become a nightmare. It can work but there needs to be strong leadership from the centre that supports the process and gives the administrative team the power and authority they need to ensure things happen.
For trainers the practical elements would be;
Initial meeting with key administrator, project leader to determine exactly what needs to happen – numbers, culture
Design of first workshop for coaches to start equipping them with knowledge skills for coaching process. This will need input from administrator to deal with the ‘who/what/when/where” questions that inevitable rise.
Design of second workshop for coaches prior to their initial meeting with executives. This should focus on contracting, more skills, questions that will occur.
Design of short workshop for executives informing them of the overall purpose, aim, what will happen (again with input from administrator).
Design of follow up workshop(s) building on coaches experiences. Encouragement of shared experiences – what did you learn, etc. Input appropriate skills based on experiences.
Eventually the trainer will withdraw to leave self managed group to continue sharing experiences, etc..
This approach is equally valid for an Organisation’s mentoring programme where partnerships are encouraged between senior executives and ‘new’ executives with the potential to develop. This can be an extremely effective way of developing both sets of people in an Organisation, relatively cheaply, and as a trainer is a useful service to offer. It consists of a number of workshops, as outlined above, where the skills should be familiar – communication, managing relationships, etc. The key is in the relationship with the mentoring project leader – determining what they want, how they’ll get there and ensuring they will take responsibility for the every day administrative problems that inevitably crop up.
Returning to external coaching. You’ve had the invitation. You need to talk to the executive to determine if you are willing to accept the assignment. Depending on the set up of the Organisation you may have to negotiate with others to agree a contract – duration, cost, outputs etc… This is a good opportunity to discover the culture of the Organisation you will be working in. At this stage note everything. When you are first contact what approach is made? Is there one person in control or are you sent through a series of hoops? When you visit the Organisation (if you visit the Organisation) what are your first impressions? Are the posters up to date? Are security / reception helpful? Are they anticipating you? How are you treated on the first visit?
It’s vital to have an initial discussion with the executive and find out, in very general terms, what type of person they are and what approach works for them. Perhaps you could use MBTI, TMI or some other personality profiling instrument to get some idea of what approach they are most comfortable with.
Depending on this there will be a range of options you can use as a coach. Remember you adapt to their approach not the other way around. If they are structured, organised (thinkers in MBTI terms) the likelihood is that they’ll prefer lots of discipline, organisation, etc.
If they are more ‘N’ (intuitive) they may well be more comfortable with more creative, more flexible approaches. One such approach could be a symbolic representation – To the Lighthouse. This gives you a frame of reference to discuss.
Imagine the coaching is designed to help the executive complete a journey. This is a sea journey and the end point is the lighthouse. (I know you wouldn’t normally aim for a lighthouse on a sea journey – but it’s an end point – a beacon, if you like).
Your executive is in a boat and has to get to the lighthouse. There are some useful analogies you can use during the coaching process.
Firstly, as with any journey, you need to determine exactly where you are now. Frequently this isn’t given as much time as it should. People assume they know where they are. One of the early coaching sessions will be a challenge to the executive in this area. There are a variety of methods to use such as 360 degree feedback that we’ll look at in detail later.
The journey itself will never go in a straight line. In nautical terms you will encounter obstacles; rocks, islands, other boats, the elements; wind, tides, rain. So you will need to tack. To do this you need to know where you are, where you are aiming, and the current conditions in order to calculate your direction. This course may not be aimed directly at the target. You may need to allow for the wind, take advantage of some favourable tides to move you in a certain direction. The real learning here is about setting realistic directions and acknowledging factors around you.
If the executive buys into this approach of using analogies this can be a rich tool to build the relationship and share a common language. One client would always begin a session describing the past month in terms of the weather – “stormy”, “calm”. This throwaway line really helped build the relationship.
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2. EXECUTIVE COACHING – The Contract

The most important, perhaps the only, piece of documentation you will use in this process should be the contract drawn up between the coach and the executive. This should be the document that spells out exactly how you will work together. There should be a copy for both parties and should be available and open to amendment at each meeting. They really should be a working document.

There are many examples of this available and each has a slightly different focus. Do a little research. Compare and contrast and choose which works for you. For example…

• What type of assistance does the executive want from the coach?
• What expectations does the coach have of the executive?
• What expectations does the executive have of the coach?
• How often will you meet?
• When and where will you meet?
• For how long?
• Who will be responsible for scheduling your meetings?
• What will be the ground rules for your discussions?
• If problems arise, how will they be resolved?
• Any concerns the executive wants discussed and resolved?

These questions will allow the executive to think about the sessions and their responsibilities. There should also be an understanding that either party can terminate the arrangement if it’s not working for them.

On a pragmatic level you need to arrange your first meeting. Send the executive the contract and ask them to jot down some thoughts, anything about the coaching process they would like to discuss. Choose somewhere with no interruptions, set a time period and do it.
In essence the contract helps in setting up and establishing the initial relationship. It will also help define how both parties will work together. This will, of course, vary a great deal according to the relationship the coach has with the executive. Even if the coach knows the executive well I would still encourage them to go through a structured approach. If the coach doesn’t know the executive it is absolutely vital.
When a coaching situation goes wrong it takes a lot time and a lot of energy to regain the trust. If the relationship has broken down the damage can be permanent. Frequently the reason this happens is because both parties have different objectives from the situation. These objectives or goals needn’t be identical but they must be agreed and complimentary. For instance, as a coach Arsene Wenger’s objective will be for his team to win. Thierry Henry may have a personal target to score 30 goals a season. Both objectives are complementary – unless it gets to the stage where Henry tries to score at the expense of the rest of the team. Here we have different agendas and the coaching relationship is almost certain to fail unless the objectives are re-aligned.

When a coaching contract is set up, it really does pay dividends to go through a strict process. This process may seem too structured, laboured and painstakingly slow at the beginning. It will take a fair amount of time initially but when the coach gets into the habit it saves so much time and anxiety. Like most good habits the more it is used the easier it becomes and it will save time in the longer term.

A great amount of time and effort can be lost in the coaching process because the parties haven’t had a meaningful discussion. Both parties involved need to have effective ‘wanted and needed’, and ‘willing and able’ conversations. This is the key to a successful coaching relationship. Each person needs to establish exactly what output they want from the situation, by when, by whom and where the responsibilities lie.

Skilled coaches need to learn to handle this part of the conversation extremely effectively. They learn how to communicate skilfully by talking and listening and ’staying in the conversation’ until they are totally sure of the goal. This can be difficult. How often have you been introduced to someone and not caught their name? Do you ask them to repeat it? How often? A skilled coach will ask for as long as it takes - we all know the problems if we don’t do this - We spend the rest of the evening avoiding the person, or feeling embarrassed when we talk to them. This can go on for weeks. I’ve known people that didn’t catch someone’s name on their first day at the office and as the weeks have gone by have become too embarrassed to ever ask them. A skilled coach is willing to ‘stay in the conversation’ even though they may feel uncomfortable. They may be tempted to back off and say “I understand” before they absolutely do, but will hang in there until it’s crystal clear.

The wanted and needed conversation allows the coach to establish what the executive truly needs, not just wants. The player may want to be better at everything – don’t we all. The coach needs to establish exactly what needs to happen for that to be possible, or get the executive to set more achievable goals. It’s a skilful and subtle conversation. It forces the executive to be precise and focused. There needs to be a great deal of skilful communication to tease this out. This starts with lots of open questions. These questions move from the general aspects to the specifics and will help engage the other in taking responsibility. A side-effect of this process is that it helps build and strengthen the relationship. In very general terms the questioning process may start with ………….
“How do you feel your career is progressing?”
“What are the most serious challenges you face?”
“Are there any particular problems you need to overcome?”
“What will happen if those problems aren’t addressed?”
“What do you need to do?”
“How can I help?”

Obviously it won’t be as simple as asking six questions. This is only the start of the process. These are the types of questions the coach is aiming to get some understanding about. The coach asks questions and listens to the replies. Invariably what the executive needs doesn’t match with what they think they want initially. The coach needs to keep questioning and listening until what the executive wants and needs completely overlap. At the end of the conversation the coach needs to be as specific as possible about the problem and ensure the executive is clear about the problem and what they truly want and need. Now there is something tangible to work with.

The next part of the discussion is about the coach’s willingness and ability to meet that request - a “Willing and Able Conversation.” The coach needs to honestly ask themselves whether they are willing and able to meet the request. They need to consider whether they have the necessary skills, knowledge, attributes to make it work. If they haven’t, then say so and try to work out a way to still help - suggest others, look at different approaches, but again they need to ’stay in the conversation’. The really skilled coaches don’t stop and walk away until they are absolutely 100% sure they know what’s expected of them. They have learnt from experience that unless this happens the coaching won’t work as effectively as it could. Skilled coaches know that the ‘problem solving fairy’ won’t miraculously appear and sort things out when the problems are ignored. The problems just stay there and grow and grow. It’s a bit like the washing up you meant to do yesterday, or the day before - it won’t wash itself. It’ll just get a little harder to deal with each day. Coaches need to have those difficult conversations as soon as they arise – before they arise even.

So, the best coaches deal with these problems as they arise. They stay in the conversation until they’re happy and the executive is happy. This all seems so clear and sensible I know, but it can be difficult. The good thing though is that it does get easier. The more you do it - the easier it gets.

This initial discussion and the contract mustn’t be rushed. It is the cornerstone of the relationship. If it’s completed carefully and completely it gives the coaching process a far better chance of succeeding.

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3. EXECUTIVE COACHING –Coaching Skills

The first meeting, after the exploratory one, agreeing the contract should focus on the executive’s aspirations. This will focus on three basic questions;
Where are you now?
Where do you want to be?
How will you get there?

This could be attacked in a number of ways but the basic coaching process will revolve around these three questions. The approach of the coach will rely to a great extent on the learning style and personality preference of the executive. This is where the personality profiling you may have set up before hand will help. If the executive is more creative or intuitive (in personality type parlance) they will be more willing to buy into the approach mentioned in part one (The use of analogies or metaphors to help crystallise the process). Here the image of the lighthouse as the end point and the boat will work extremely well. They can identify where they are in terms of the skills, knowledge and attitudes they have and the challenges they face.

If the executive has a more practical or pragmatic preference they may not feel drawn to this approach and would prefer working with real, tangible data and less abstract concepts.

For whichever approach you choose it is important that the executive collects as much evidence about their current strengths and weaknesses. This can be carried out in a variety of ways. These are basically self assessments and other assessments. The executive should carry out some self-assessment using a variety of approaches. For example TMS, MBTI, or similar personality typing tools will give an insight into their particular preferences or manner of working.

As a coach it is useful to have a range of tools, techniques available as each coaching situation will produce a different challenge and a different range of skills and attitudes. For instance if the executive wants to work on improving their communication and presentation skills it would make sense if the assessment tool used is based around this particular aspect of their personality profile.

Whichever element, or elements they are keen to develop will inevitably involve some feedback from their peers, staff, customers and managers. This would indicate that a 360 degree feedback tool would be necessary.
360 degree feedback has been defined as “a process involving collecting perceptions about a person’s behaviour and the impact of that behaviour from the person’s boss or bosses, direct reports, colleagues, fellow members of project teams, internal and external customers, and suppliers. Other names for 360 degree feedback are multi-rater feedback, multi-source feedback, full-circle appraisal, and group performance review”
Which just about sums it up perfectly. This process may well trigger some initial resistance in the executive, especially if they haven’t encountered it before. There are anxieties around the people supplying the feedback, the use it will be put to, confidentiality aspects, etc. It is a very vulnerable situation the executive is being put into and you need to be aware of this vulnerability.
To help allay these fears you must convince the executive that the information, and the entire process you use, to gather and analyse it will be totally confidentially. It is also vital that you allow the executive to have as much control over the process as they can; they will agree the questions with you, they will choose the people for feedback themselves, and only you and them will have access to the results.

The question selected will be entirely relevant to the coaching. The executives will help select the questions with you and will work through these questions as they self assess themselves. In terms of the people they choose to ask for feedback, they are again in control. The executive will choose who they trust to give them the best feedback. It has been a myth that people involved in this process invariably choose friends, or people they feel will be ‘easier’ on this. This rarely proves to be the case. Perversely, executives tend to over compensate and fail to choose these people. As a coach it’s an interesting starting point for a discussion if there are obvious gaps in the people they choose to rate them. If it is because they are choosing the more ‘difficult’ raters encourage them to select others for a more balanced approach. If, on the other hand they are avoiding the more ‘difficult’ raters then encourage them to select others for a more balanced approach. If they have particular relationship problems with people they choose not to ask for feedback this is an area that could usefully be explored at a later stage.

It is important to continually emphasise that this process is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. It is a tool that will allow the executive to get a snapshot of where they currently are.

As a thought on evaluation, when the whole coaching process nears its conclusion it may be worth considering repeating the 360 degree process to determine what progress has been made or if there are further areas for development.

Carrying out 360 degree feedback can be quite time consuming, demanding yet ultimately incredibly rewarding in terms of helping the executive. There are a number of ‘off the shelf’ versions available that can cost a great deal of money. However, if you have the time, and hopefully some administration support it would be well worth your while devising your own form. This will be based on an amalgam of other forms and should be adapted to the individual, the organisation and the coaching situation.
The questions will be related the specific aspect you are working with. It is usual that there is some standard scale for the answers, i.e. from 0 to 5 where 0 = ‘not at all’ to 5 = ‘perfect’, or similar scale. When asking these questions it can be a useful strategy to have 2 scales – one for competence and the other for importance.

For instance if you are looking at effective relationships and one section looks at communication, a set of questions could be;
“How effective is X at cascading information?“
“How important is it to you that X cascades information?”
This is particularly relevant when dealing with staff / management issues. It can also be extremely useful in the feedback session to challenge assumptions about what is important and what isn’t.

The 360 feedback process should be carried out and analysed by you prior to a meeting and the results sent, or ideally given, to the executive a day or so beforehand to allow them to prepare. The scorings will, of course, be made totally anonymous and the average ratings calculated.

The interview with the executive relaying the 360 degree information is important. The preparation must be as perfect as possible. There must be no way the executive can identify individuals. They may ask about individual scores, infer and look to you for confirmation or denial, but you cannot divulge this confidential information.
The emphasise must always be on looking at the scores and looking for what can be learnt and improved on. This involves a fair degree to active listening. It is a useful technique to focus on a few areas for development and a few areas where there appears to be little development needed. It is vital a sense of balance is maintained throughout the feedback process.

Once the executive has a sound understanding of where they are the next stage is generally a good deal easier; where they would like to be. The executive usually has a good understanding of where they would like to be, in vague terms. As a coach it is your task to help turn this nebulous concept into a reality.

Questions that will help should encourage the executive to focus on specific areas to improve within specific time frames. A very general thrust of a discussion would go;
So where do you see yourself in 1/ 2/ 5 years time?
What skills do you need to achieve that?
How can you acquire those skills?

This should help the executive gain an understanding of building a career plan. You can develop this conversation looking at how the skills will be acquired then focus on some practical issues ;who will help, how will they acquire these skills, in what time frame, what barriers could there be, how will they know when they have been successful, etc..

This process will form the basis of the executive coaching timetable. Each session after this will look at aspects relating to the information brought out here. Having a vision can be incredibly motivating for people. Especially for an executive who has found themselves trapped in the day to day routine and forgotten where they are going.

***
4. EXECUTIVE COACHING – Softer Skills - part 1

Throughout the coaching process there are a number of skills the coach needs to be able to demonstrate for the process to be successful. These are often referred to as the ‘softer’ skills, although as you’re probably aware, there’s nothing easy or weak about these skills.

The coach will be continuously navigating the spectrum from INSTRUCTION at the one end to COUNSELLING on the other. The coach must adapt their style and approach to meet the needs of the executive.

There are a number of skills the coach must possess to enable them to build and maintain an effective relationship with an executive. The following is a list of techniques the coach should have mastery of;

1. establish empathy and rapport
2. actively listen
3. summarise
4. use questions extensively
5. encourage executive to reach conclusions themselves
6. allow mistakes
7. give feedback skilfully
8. when in doubt tell the truth

1. Establish empathy and rapport

You need to work with the executives to enable them to achieve their goals. There needs to be a rapport, empathy and mutual trust between you. It is very difficult to demonstrate how this works in practical terms. It is however incredibly easy to tell when they’re going wrong. When it isn’t working there will inevitably be some level of upset in the executive.

This level of upset will vary considerably. However there are basically three likely cause of any upset;
A broken agreement. This can be written or unwritten, formal or informal, spoken or unspoken. It will include lies and perpetrations. Once the agreement has been acknowledged as broken it must be discussed and tidied up. If this isn’t managed the likelihood of the relationship getting back on track is remote. For instance it could be that you, as a coach, have unintentionally discussed some aspect of the coaching with another party, or it has been perceived that you have. This is obviously bad news and should never have happened – however things happen so how do you recover? To recover you need to make an effective apology. This consists of an acknowledgement that you have broken the agreement and a commitment to address the problem proactively; “So what can I do now that will make this work?” In this case it may be an explanation of your actions, your understanding of the situation as it stands now and an assurance that this won’t happen again. In all aspects it comes down to a sincere acknowledgement and then a discussion of the way forward. It doesn’t help to wallow in guilt and self blame. You need to find a way to move on. If this isn’t possible it may be a time to terminate the agreement.

The other cause of upset that is likely to affect the relationship is unfulfilled expectations. This would be the situation where the executive expects something from you that you don’t fulfil, or the other way around. As a coach you will have a certain level of expectations from the executive in terms of behaviour, attitude, etc… For instance you would expect them to turn up on time for the arranged meetings, behave in a civil manner toward you, maintain confidentiality, etc… The executive would have a similar understanding of your behaviours. Again this could be write or unwritten, verbalised or implied. If possible talk about the behaviour you expect of each other – it could save some time and grief later on. It would be extremely useful for the initial discussion to address some of these issues.

The third cause of upset which could affect the coaching indirectly is blocked goals. If the executives fail to achieve any of the goals they have set they will experience some level of upset. This will have an effect on the discussions. They may well look to blame external factors – such as you for their failure and this is where you need to use some of the further skills to address this.

Avoiding these upsets will go a long way toward building and maintaining an effective relationship. If the relationship is failing look for causes of upset and address them. One way to establish if the executive is experiencing some degree of upset is to listen. This doesn’t just mean hearing the words.

2 Actively listen

Listening is an active not a passive process and is a skill like any other. The more you practice effective listening the better you will become at it. Below is a checklist that demonstrates what effective listeners do;

Effective listeners
pay attention to detail
listen completely first and reflect
show interest
seek clarification

Pay attention to detail

Effective listeners are awake to differences in the behaviour of the other. In an obvious example if an executive is usually lively and talkative but at one particular meeting is quieter, note it. Pay attention to the body language. There are a whole host of books out there analysing and dissecting body language. For me the main aspect is how you, as the observer, feel about it. If the executive is talking about how positive the next phase of a particular project will be, yet there’s something in their mannerisms, posture, eyes, that tell you otherwise – address that. This doesn’t have to be carried out in a threatening way;

“When you were enthusing over the next phase I had a feeling that that’s not exactly what you were thinking. Am I wrong?” Would lead to a discussion. It could be that you were wrong and they can convince you otherwise. At least in this way you’ve discussed it and satisfied yourself. As you get to know the individual you can look for more subtle differences. Again look and discuss.

Listen completely first

However tempting it is to offer advice and solve the problem – don’t. Listen, listen, listen. It involves a great deal of effort not to complete the story after you’ve heard the opening few sentences. This is a little like stereotyping. You get a few pieces of information and then fill in the rest of the picture based on your experiences, prejudices. Listen to the whole story and then think about what you’ve heard, what you’ve not heard, the gaps and how the information has been related to you.

Show interest

It’s not enough to be interested you need to show how interested you are. You mustn’t be so involved in the process of listening that you forget to show how interested you are. A useful technique to help this is to paraphrase and reflect. When you paraphrase you repeat what the executive is saying in your own words to show you understand and to show that you’re interested. Don’t paraphrase continuously – you’ll sound like a parrot. Paraphrase when appropriate, e.g. If there’s been a particularly technical explanation then check for clarity. Above all - listen to yourself – if it feels the right time to check out, check out.
Reflecting is an advanced form of paraphrasing. When you paraphrase you echo the words. When you reflect you echo the feelings. For instance of you ask how the other is and they say “OK”, but in a subdued manner the reflecting response may be; “Well you don’t seem all right. Are you sure?” Reflecting is a difficult skill that involves paying attention to small details. It over all the other is a skill that is learnt with experience and courage.

Seek clarification

If you don’t understand – ask. This ties in nicely with the paraphrasing. Make no assumptions. Even if you feel it sounds a ridiculous question ask it. You need to stay in the conversation until you really, truly understand. Don’t be tempted to feel that you’ve nearly got it and you can work out the rest.

These techniques are to use in your toolbox. Use them when appropriate – but the key is to have the right attitude. If you do make a mistake but your intention is to be helpful the other will be more inclined to forgive you. If your intentions are less than helpful it doesn’t matter how good your technique is it will be difficult to maintain the relationship.
There’s the story of the manager having attended a week long training event on just this and coming back determined to get the technique right. On his first day back one of his salespeople lost a big order. The manager asked to see him in his office. Usually this would mean a shouting and a firing. On this day he applied these skilful techniques. At the end of it as the salesman was beaming and ready to go back out and do anything for his boss when the boss said “Oh one more thing. You screw up again you’re fired!”

Ensure your intention is right before anything else.

***

5. EXECUTIVE COACHING – Softer Skills - part 2

3 Use questions extensively

Questioning skilfully is a major element of coaching. To question effectively you need to listen skilfully and process information efficiently. The one overriding element is to be absolutely open and honest. Ask yourself why you are asking the question? If you are asking for any other reason than to help the other then it simply won’t work. People ask questions for a number of wrong reasons; to show off, to give a false impression, to try to put people down, etc… When asking questions the focus should be on what’s going to help the executive. Asking questions to establish empathy, to gain knowledge, help the executive think about their actions are valid reasons when coaching.

So, as tempting as it may be to show off it doesn’t add any value and ultimately will detract from the relationship. As a coach your role could be a counsellor or simply a blank wall to bounce thoughts off. Whichever role you are in you need to really understand. Asking questions will support this.

For instance in a counselling role you would use questions around the 3 stage counselling model – “Where Are You? Where Do You Want To Be? How Will You Get There?” to help the executive establish as clearly as possible where they were. This is a difficult role as you really have to trust that this process works. The executive does have that information somewhere in them and you are just there to bring it out. Questions really do help.

The other time you ask questions is to challenge the executive. You may need to determine what their reasoning for some action is or trying to find why they have chosen a particular option. You will be skilfully challenging and supporting their actions. This will happen when you’ve built a strong rapport and trust with the executive.

4. Encourage executives to reach conclusions themselves

The challenging and support skills will help the executive to reach the conclusions and actions they need to take themselves. A useful technique you can use involves questioning the executive in a structured manner. This is a technique that encourages the executive to take ownership of the problem;
You begin the process with a general discussion on the current situation; what is happening now? What’s likely to happen in the future? This may well arise naturally in the opening few minutes of a session. It will be for you to focus the discussion on the executives’ goals. What is happening at the moment that affects them?
Once you have established the context you can probe a little further and determine what the particular difficulties are; what will prevent them reaching their goal? What skills don’t they have at the moment? Which areas do they need more knowledge about? Ask the executive these questions. They should then begin to identify the key problem areas.
The next stage asks them to think carefully about this and what would happen if these difficulties weren’t assessed. This is an important stage as it helps make the problem real. It helps clear the ‘magic thinking’ people sometimes have when discussing problems. Once this is determined they should have a very clear idea of the importance of the problem.
Finally you need to ask them what they need to do to address these issues: This will form the basis of an action plan. It is important that you ask what they need – they need to own this. Perhaps you can help but it is for them to negotiate this with you. A danger if you take ownership is an increased element of reliance on you.

5. Allow Mistakes

Mistakes will happen. You are human and you will make mistakes. So will the executive. It is important that you build a strong relationship where they feel they can take risks. An important aspect in building this relationship is how you manage mistakes. They will happen and the focus must be on what you need to do to rectify the error not ‘whose fault was it’.
The vital element to this is speed of recovery. For instance in a commercial sense mistakes can often yield unexpected bonuses. How often do you remember a company that made a mistake and recovered by rectifying that mistake and offering you extra to compensate? You’ll tell ten people. They’ll tell another ten and so on. Similarly you need to deal with mistakes in a blameless way looking for ways to turn potential disaster into a benefit.

6. Give feedback skilfully

“Give feedback with love and without compromise” was a maxim I have been familiar with in recent years. If ‘love’ seems too strong a word for this then substitute ‘respect’. For me it’s comes down to looking at the intention behind giving feedback. If your intention is not to help the executive then you can’t give it. Don’t be tempted into the ‘looking clever’ route. You should give feedback to someone because you want them to do something differently, or want them to keep on doing what they’re already doing. This must be your sole intention.

Feedback used to be very ‘technical’ with a list of rules – It must be specific, it must be observed, it must be something the other can do something with, etc.. - all admirable qualities. I would suggest that in this coaching process it needs to go further.

I would suggest that feedback has to be intuitive as well as specific. If it isn’t you loose a great deal. For instance it could be that you just have a feeling that the executive isn’t comfortable giving presentations. It may be nothing you can point to – just a gut feeling. In traditional feedback terms you would have to ignore that feeling. I suggest you give that feedback; “I have a feeling that you’re not comfortable giving presentations.” You can then discuss this and if you’re correct maybe look at ways to help.

7. When in doubt tell the truth

The final aspect could well be part of the feedback mechanism but as it’s so intrinsic to the whole process I’ve treated it as a separate entity.
When in doubt tell the truth, when not in doubt tell the truth. This, again, is to do with listening to yourself and your intuitions. This needs experience, courage and a certain amount of self-confidence. It involves listening to that little voice in your head. If you’re not sure about something say “I’m not sure about this.” If you don’t understand say “I don’t understand”.
It works especially well giving feedback. Often you will need to know what was going on in the executives mind when they asked a particular question, or described a certain event. Ask them what their thought process was. It really does work.

These are the softer skills that will be at play in every situation you are in with the executive. You need to be flexible and use each technique when appropriate. You need to be alert, listen and react. It is a dynamic process. There will be times when you will be a counsellor, an instructor, etc. Whichever role you happen to be in these skills will help. The aim of these skills is to get clarity about the situation. Your aim is to get the executive to see exactly what they want. Help them to be clear about their problems, their future, their aspirations. Then get them to be as precise as possible about their vision and goals. Then they need to have a precise plan about how they will achieve their vision. It’s a selfless task and often you won’t get rewarded for it. “I did all the work myself” they will say. It’s just you doing your job.

Above all don’t forget “When in doubt tell the truth. When not in doubt, tell the truth.”

***

6. EXECUTIVE COACHING - Blockages, Endings and Evaluation

Blockages

Throughout the coaching process there will be times when the process seems to loose momentum. However well prepared the method is there will be times when there will be blockages. The process stalls and you need a new approach. It will be useful if you have a few techniques ‘up your sleeve’ to kick-start the process. The following two techniques are simple, straightforward and involve little preparation;
The first technique involves using Kaufman’s Organisational Elements Model. This is a very simple, clear process that allows you and the executive to step away from the detail for a little while and make sure you’re still on track. It’s too easy to get drawn into the detail. This allows you to take a step back, take your nose out of the puddle and see the pond.
Kaufman uses a familiar model, used in many computing, engineering or social science processes to describe a way of working;
INPUTS – PROCESSES – PRODUCTS – OUTPUTS – OUTCOMES
These are the stages involved in any process. Traditionally people start at the beginning and work their way through. Kaufman urges people took look at it differently. Kaufman suggests that working backwards through this model can give a totally different view of the problem. For instance if there is a problem where the executive finds promotion impossible this can be analysed by working backward through the model.
As a coach you will need to question all assumptions. If the executive sees the Outcome of the coaching process as promotion, ask why? Ask what promotion will give them? By challenging and asking the executive to define and refine their outcome they may arrive at some surprising conclusions. Perhaps promotion is important because it will provide more money. This could be important as the executive has ambitions for a bigger house, or to retire early, or feels they need the prestige. Try to find precisely what the OUTCOME is. There may well be other ways of achieving more money, early retirement, more prestige.

This then is the real outcome, not the promotion. The promotion would be an Output, or even a product.
Once the executive has determined the real Outcome move backward through the model to determine the Outputs needed to achieve this. Continue to work backward and define the products needed. These products could be qualifications, training events, etc… Then the processes required, and finally the inputs. This should be a challenging discussion and force the executive to take a different look at their problem. This often gives people a different perspective on the difficulties.
The second technique can be used if the executive feels they are stuck. This is a way of identifying and breaking down the barriers the executive perceives are stopping them achieving their goals. Often these barriers aren’t physical or tangible. Frequently these barriers are psychological – “I can’t do this because we’ve never done it before”.
A way of enabling the executive to overcome these barriers is to make them explicit and movable. The following process also shows the executive that they have far more control over their situation than they think.
Work through the following process with the executive;
- Ask the executive to list the barriers to them achieving their goal.
- List these on a flipchart – aim for 200 (you won’t achieve 200 but by saying this you’ll allow the executive to put down more thoughts than they would initially).
- Go through the list one by one marking each barrier with a C (Control) an I (Influence) or nothing. Explain that if they have total control over a barrier you should mark it C. If they can influence it in any way at all – an email, a discussion, any influence at all - they should mark it as an I. Anything else is blank.
- Cross out all the barriers without a C or I (there will usually be none, or very few). Of the remainder ask the executive what are the three barriers that would have the biggest effect on them achieving their target?
- Identify these three and plan what they can do to break down these barriers.

Endings

To ensure the best possible ending both parties need to be prepared for it. It needs to be talked about in terms of what happens next, how the executive’s development will be maintained, etc… Endings can frequently be messy and cause a great deal of unease if they are not managed effectively. In psychological terms there needs to be ‘closure’ and a clean ending. If there isn’t and there are incompletions this will have an effect on the energy and commitment of the executive to move on.
A useful model that explains this is William Bridges transitions model. Transitions are inevitably messy and can lead to a fair amount of unhappiness and difficulty. Bridges argues that the challenge is not so much the change itself but the unknown factors surrounding the change that causes the upset. He describes the three stages as; endings, the neutral zone and new beginnings. It is important to recognise that every new beginning has to have an ending. The new beginning for the executive is the continuation of their development without the coach. To achieve this there is a need to recognise and celebrate the old way and the ending of the involvement of the coach. Perhaps this analysis tends to over dramatise the situation but there will be elements of this in all change, and there are potential dangers if these aspects are not addressed.
To ensure the transition is carried out effectively a timetable should be set and a plan for ongoing process agreed. Hopefully there will be another person who can continue the support (perhaps the executive’s manager). In practical terms you need to implement a structure that will cover the transition. This structure should be straightforward and based on the initial contract. Elements of this will come out during the evaluation process described below.
Evaluation

Depending on the individuals and the Organisation there could be a formal or an informal assessment of the coaching process (I would guess in most cases some formal record would be required). As the coach there are a number of areas to explore;
In terms of the learning throughout the experience – What has been helpful? How will you be able to apply this?
In terms of the process - What worked well? What not so well? What could be done differently?

In terms of outcomes, agreements and the learning plan the focus will be on the three step process described before; where are you now? Where do you want to be? How will you get there? The difference now is describing how this will happen without the support of the coach.
Where you are now is a great indicator of where the executive is in terms of the goals agreed in the initial contract. This is where the real value of this document comes into play.
Are the goals different now? If the goals set initially have been reached or surpassed then what next? What are the new challenges for the coach? This may incorporate some feedback they have received from the coach in the final few sessions.

In terms of how to achieve these new goals – what support mechanisms will there be now for the executive?

Another aspect of this – one which should be separate from the previous assessment is an assessment of the effectiveness of the coach by the executive and anyone else involved in the process, line manager, etc. If possible it would be useful building this into the contract at the beginning otherwise this aspect could get neglected. A short basic form should be designed to look at aspects such as; what did they do well? What worked what didn’t? What would they do differently?

There should also be some self-assessment by the coach. The coach should address the following questions;
- reflecting on the coaching process;
- what worked?
- what didn’t?
- what could they have done?
- are there any gaps they’re identified in their knowledge?
- what did the feedback reveal?

On the completion of the coaching the coach should discuss all aspects with their manager (if they have one). If the coach does not have a manager it would be a useful process to meet with coaches in a similar situation and work through this process.
There may be some development needs that come out of this that the coach may want to address; Are there any areas of interest to pursue? Are there any particular challenges they would like to face? Any training needs they may have identified?

Finally – update your c.v…

First appeared in ‘CEO Refresher’ (U.S.A.)

So, you’ve spent six months on a project. You’ve developed it perfectly. It’s neat, clearly labelled, signed off. It looks great on paper. So why isn’t anything happening?

Get together half a dozen or so colleagues and run this simple exercise.

Look at your key stakeholders. In terms of this project who are they? Write the name of each one on a post-it. They could be the press, your senior management team, the staff, whoever. Jot all the groups or individuals who have a stake in your project on a separate postit note. There may well be differences of opinion in your team as to who the key stakeholders are. If that’s the case my guess is that everyone’s right and include all of them.

Draw the following grid on a flipchart.

HIGH

^

| (Section A) (Section B)

|

Influence
|

|

| (Section C) (Section D)

|

|

LOW ———- commitment ————–> HIGH

Look at each postit in turn. How would you assess that stakeholder’s influence and commitment? For instance if the HR Department has a high influence in the success of the project, but a low commitment to the project they would be placed in Section A.

Plot these stakeholders - discuss - disagree - why do you see it differently from others? There will be some valuable lessons here for you. Take some notes.

Finally you’ll have some agreement. No doubt you’ll have stakeholders scattered throughout the grid. Now comes the fun part.

Look at the stakeholders in Sections C and D. Take each postit off the chart, crumple it into a ball and throw it away. Unless you have unlimited resources - chuck these postits away - really. And forget about them until the next time you run this exercise. Really! You have not the time or energy to deal with these groups. So remove them from your mind.

Next, look at Section B - high in influence and high in commitment - leave them alone. Keep them sweet yes - but again, you can’t afford to expend your energy on these people. They are basically OK. They’re on your side. Don’t upset them!

You’ve Section A left. These are your targets. Go for them in a big way. Develop strategies to move them into Section B. Look after them. Talk to them - ask them what their concerns are. Address these problems. This is where 80% of your effort must come.

First appeared in ‘Career Times’ (Hong Kong.)

In a short series of articles I’ll take you through some of the techniques and skills required to interview, be interviewed and handle that first day in a new post once you’ve passed the interview.

The first part looks at a technique used to give some structure to the interview and some………….

1. THE BEHAVIOURAL INTERVIEWING APPROACH

Behavioural interviewing is based on the belief that the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. The best way to gauge if a person is going to perform well in a new job is to look at the way they have performed in their current and previous posts. I agree. How could you not? Especially when you look at the alternatives;

Alternative approach – stress

“The stress interview sorts the wheat from the chaff. Put people in a stressful interview and you’ll see what they’re like in a stressful job”. Oh yes. That’ll work then. Why not pull a gun on them and be done with.

A friend of mine was once asked how he would deal with someone who had raped his sister. This was for a job at the bank. The idea, I believe was to try and establish how he would react under stress.

He replied; “Well hypothetically I would put this fact out of my mind. I would treat each occasion as objectively as possible not allowing my feelings to impair my judgement. I would make no assumptions. I would attempt to love and respect this person as an individual. I would try to understand where they were coming from. I would treat each situation on its own merits…” You get the point. You ask hypothetical questions you get hypothetical answers. You put people under stress at an interview they react like they would if they were put under stress at an interview. It doesn’t translate to life outside the interview room.

Focus on the job. Ask questions about the work people are likely to be doing. Don’t ask hypothetical questions or you’ll get hypothetical answers

So what can you do? Well if you have to conduct an interview then do it properly. Tell candidates what’s going to happen. Tell them what areas you’ll be discussing. Tell them how long they’ve got. Don’t surprise people. If there’s a position as a System’s Analyst - ask them questions about that. You wouldn’t interview a nanny for your children and ask them questions on thermo-nuclear dynamics would you? Would you? Yet people get asked some odd things? I was asked how I would resolve the miner’s strike when I first applied for a computer programmer’s job. Other stories abound about “killer questions” - “Do fish feel pain?” was a classic some time ago. “If a mother and a baby were drowning and you could only save one, which would you choose” I was asked a very long time ago. With a little more life experience my answer now would seem to be along the following lines;

“Neither”

“Neither - then they’d both die?”

“Good”

“That’s stupid!”

“Well you started it”

No trick questions. Focus on the skills necessary to carry out the post. Be honest with people and show them respect- the interview is about them, not you

Look at the skills required for the job, look at the candidates - match them up. Choose the candidate who’s the best fit. The older I get the easier (some parts of) life gets. I know this is easier said than done. I agree, but it’s a lot easier than playing some convoluted game that only interview panel members know the rules to.

Match the skills for the job with the skills the interviewee has

It all starts a long time before the interview. Way before the advert goes out. As soon as there’s a thought about a job being available it begins. Define the job. Spell out the skills needed. Advertise these. Send out application forms that are helpful to this process, please. Ask candidates to supply examples they have gathered of them displaying the skills. Don’t ask for a set of six skills and send a form out that relates to other skills - “It’s our standard form” Personnel will say. Argue. Disagree. Refuse. Send out forms related to the job -it will save you so much grief in the long run.

Evaluate the forms matching the evidence (past behaviours) against the job (current criteria). At the interview you should merely have to fill in the gaps, or build on the examples, or (with any luck) choose between well-qualified candidates.

Approach the task strategically from day one. Focus on the skills required for the job and gear everything towards that

It’s as simple as that. It seems so easy it almost feels like cheating I know. Once you’ve established this system though the real skill comes in the interviewing - translating what they say to match with the job. More on that next time……..

*****.

In the last article I looked at the basic structure for the behavioural interviewing approach. If you recall the main premise of this was that the best predictor of future performance was past behaviour. I.e. if you’ve demonstrated proven management skills in the past the chances are you will be able to perform at that level in the next job. It sounds easy however life has a way of making things complicated. Which is why you need….

2. BEHAVIOURAL INTERVIEWING SKILLS

Preparation

The first part, unsurprisingly, is all about preparation. It’s such a management cliché that preparation is everything. It’s not - you have to have skills as well, as I’ll deal with later - but preparation certainly makes the job a great deal easier.

The relationship between board members is vital.

One aspect of the preparation that doesn’t get enough attention is the relationship between board members. In many Organisations it’s felt that you can put any three experienced people on an interview panel and it will automatically work. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite work like that; people are a bit like me and you - we’re odd - we have likes, dislikes, and different ways of working, different styles. Board members do not, necessarily have to like each other, although this does help. What is important however is that they all have the same focus - selecting the best candidate for the job. They mustn’t be in the game of scoring points, showing off, proving how clever they are or any of that egoistically nonsense. We’ve all seen that and it doesn’t help anyone. The first interview I was ever involved in was conducted with a senior manager who had to a ninety second preamble to each question explaining, well basically, how experienced an clever he was. He annoyed me, the chair and every candidate - yet as he had ‘always’ interviewed trainee managers no-one had the skill / intelligence / courage to tell him.

Agree a system

An important role of the board team is to agree on a system of questioning. They need to divide the competence areas they are looking at and take responsibility for assessing their particular area. This part is usually straightforward. There is another - less straightforward aspect which is concerned with how board members work with each other.

Agree how you’ll work together

The board members should agree a set of values. These values are rarely spoken but seem to evolve as the interviewing process evolves. The values should be aligned to the focus - selecting the best candidate for the job. In real terms this means a great deal of trust and respect between board members. It means that there is an implicit agreement that one interviewer can use the majority of the time allocated to deal with one particular area because they feel it’s vital. It means that one interviewer can (skilfully) interrupt another interviewer if they feel the question hasn’t been dealt with clearly, or there is still some ambiguity. This requires a mature approach and real honest discussion between board members. As you know this doesn’t always happen. I’ve sat on boards where people have sulked for hours because they believed another member had “stolen” all their questions.

The interview

As I say if you’ve carried out all the preparation the interview is a lot easier - but still incredibly difficult.

There is a great many theories around about first impressions. They vary in the amount of time people make a decision (somewhere between 10 seconds and 3 minutes, seems to be accepted) but this is important. Studies concerned with interview suggest that interviewers frequently decide very early on if a candidate is suitable or not and spend the rest of the interview confirming their initial impression. This is a danger to be aware of. Another potential danger is for the interviewer to choose the candidate who’s most like them. Being aware of this helps reduce the risk of this, as does having different personalities on the board.

The key aspects to behavioural interviewing however are asking the right questions and listening to the replies.

Throughout the interview the interviewers has to get as much evidence as they can about the candidate’s previous experience. Let’s look at a vital aspect- listening. You have to concentrate so intently - you’ll feel absolutely worn out at the end of each day.

The reason you’re so tired is the listening. This listening really takes it out of you. It is hard to listen - especially in an interview. Lots of things can get in the way; disagreeing for example - an interview isn’t really an occasion to have a debate with the candidate about your preferred method of approaching some controversial issue - You’re there to evaluate their approach, how they communicate, how they meet the criteria, etc.. So unless they say something so radically off the wall then try not to let it get in the way.

Thinking will also stop you listening. I don’t mean the sensible thinking about what’s being said and assessing the candidate - I’m more concerned with the thinking as you look out of the window and wonder” I wonder what time I’ll be home tonight”, or, especially for newer interviewers, thinking about the next question. Anticipating where they’re going with the answer will get in the way too.

What helps the listening process immensely is being able to totally focus on the interviewee and give them your full attention. Paraphrasing and summarising will help with this. It allows you to control the interview and once it becomes automatic for you it allows you time to think about that next question.

Paraphrasing is just about repeating the essence of what the interviewer has said in your own words. As you do this it highlights any gaps. You can then ask to fill in those gaps.

On vital aspect is to look at the other person as much as you sensibly, can. Look for the discrepancy between what they are saying and their body language. A lot has been written about body language but for me it boils down to the words matching the body. Sometimes you just know when these don’t match. The truly skilled interviewers learn to acknowledge this inconsistency and check it out. It may not be true - there may well be a great reason they’re folding their arms in a ‘defensive’ manner - they may just be cold. Don’t ignore these signals

*****

3. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE

Last time we looked at some of the skills needed when interviewing. This time we’ll put you on the other side of the table. These are some of the things you need to think about when you want to land that big job.

Getting experience of interviewing other people is a great asset here. The more you interview the easier it is to be interviewed. You know what people want and you can concentrate on trying to give them exactly what they need.

There are some practical measures you can take that should help;

Investigate

Firstly find out as much as you possibly can about the job. Find out about the Organisation you’re going to work for (if it is a move outside your current post). Find out about the people who will be interviewing you. If it’s an internal promotion this will be easier. Nevertheless find out as much as you can about them – what are their particular pet projects at the moment. There’s no guarantee this will crop up at the interview but it certainly won’t do you any harm to find out that one of the people interviewing you is working on a project concerning pensions. You may well start looking at pensions in a bit more detail.

Study the paperwork

Look carefully at all the paperwork. When you submit a CV or application form keep a copy of that. Keep a copy of the job description and any other paperwork related to it. You know that the people interviewing you only have this information about you. So, put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself “If I were reading this what questions would I ask?” Where are the gaps? What are the strengths? What stands out on the form? If you’ve worked for a year in a betting office in England (as I did) you know they are going to ask about that so be prepared. Be sure that you know your application form or CV inside out and can explain anything you’ve written down. Work through it line by line if necessary and think of one example to back up each quality you describe. If you’ve said that you’re a sensitive manager but focused on getting results then show it. Think of an example where you’ve had to demonstrate your sensitivity. Prepare for someone asking that question. Also think of an example when you’ve had to focus on results. It’s what you would do if you were interviewing isn’t it? - look for evidence to back up the paperwork. Give the interviewers what they want. In most companies people are looking for good candidates they can trust to do a good job. Interview boards rarely look ‘off the wall’ radical thinking individuals – there are exceptions of course – they tend to come up with a group decision that is frequently very conservative. This “groupthink” can be very dangerous in that all members of a group will tend to look for a unanimous decision on candidates rather than taking a chance. As the person being interviewed you need to be aware of this and ‘safe and controlled’ seems to be the best approach.

You will know all the basic practical details – arrive on time, dress appropriately, etc. so let’s look at some ‘advanced’ scenarios.

A new theory for preparation

There is an interesting theory going around about preparing yourself mentally for interviews or examinations. The theory states that you should prepare for the interview at the same time of the day for several days in advance. The theory being that your body becomes accustomed to ‘turning on’ at that particular time. I’ve yet to see some evidence of the success or otherwise, but it’s certainly an interesting theory. Try it.

Surprises

However, even prepared yourself as well as you can, will still give you the odd surprise. Recent trends in progressive Organisations go beyond the standard skills, behavioural techniques I’ve described. Yes, you’ve still got to get past this aspect but (and I suspect it’s linked to the ‘groupthink’ scenarios organisations are increasingly looking for something new to challenge you at an interview.

This could be an ‘off-the-wall’ question along the lines of “What is your philosophy of life?” The idea is for you to demonstrate how well you think on your feet.

So what do you do? The first think you do is to take a deep breathe and don’t panic. You can even acknowledge that that has taken you by surprise, if it has. Take a few seconds to consider your answer then answer the question as honestly as you can.

Be yourself

Another technique is to take the candidate to lunch to see how they interact with others in a social setting. You can’t really prepare for the unexpected. All you can do is to expect the unexpected and to deal with each situation as honestly and authentically as you can. Candidates often try to give the interviewers the answers they think the interviewers want to hear. More often than not interviewers want to hear about the candidates’ beliefs and opinions. At the end of the day it’s surely better to fail an interview by being yourself that to fail it because you were trying to be someone else.

Next time we’ll assume you’ve got the position and then the real test comes – meeting your new team, colleagues for the first time…..

*****

4. YOUR FIRST DAY IN YOUR NEW JOB

You’ve got through the interview after great preparation, watching out for those surprises and being honest. So now you’ve landed the job. Maybe it’s your first managerial job and you’ve finally got real-life problems (or people as we call them) to deal with. You’ve got staff. They’re older than you. They’re wiser than you. They know far more about the Organisation than you. They may even be resentful that someone as young as you have landed the job they wanted. But you want to do a good job, so you’ll learn.

Preparation

The learning comes well before the first day - before the interview even. You’ve prepared for the interview, learnt a lot about the Organisation now you’ve got the job. So, you learn even more. If you’re new to the Organisation it’s more difficult, in some ways. It’s more difficult to find out about individuals - who you’re working for, with and against but on the other hand you can approach it with an open mind. If you’re from outside or inside find out as much as you can. Find out as much as you can about the culture, the customers, the employees. Find out about your team - personalities, problems, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses. Ask fellow managers. I know the information will be second hand. Treat it as that. You’ll have your own opinions in a few weeks anyway. Use it for what it is - other peoples’ perceptions.

Identify the key people

Try to find out who the real key players are. I don’t mean the people who look as though they have the power from Organisation charts I mean the real key players. Many years ago I was training to be a teacher. The best advice I ever had was from the final lecture. The lecturer, a world-wise owl, asked us;

“Who do you think is the most important person in a school?”

“The headmaster or headmistress”, we sang in unison.

“Not usually”, he answered “The key people are often the caretakers. They have a lot of power and control. So do secretaries and deputy head teachers. Keep on the good side of these” were his final words of advice.”

In an office it’s frequently Personal Assistants. Keep on the right side of these and you find you’ll be able to get that quick meeting with the bosses that others can’t.

Be honest

Think carefully about what you want from the job. Spend some time thinking about you. What do you want from this experience? What’s your vision for the next six months, two years, ten years? Get it clear in your own mind. There’s plenty of evidence that suggests that the clearer it is to you the more likely it is to happen. If you don’t know where you’re going how on earth do you expect your team to know?

People will be looking to you to set the standard. If you spend three hours in work a day surfing the ‘net you’ll have serious credibility issues reprimanding someone for doing the same. During your first few months in the post you’ve got to display zero-tolerance. If someone breaks the rules you need to address it. You cannot let things go. Your staff will test you, and look to see how far they can push you. Not in any malicious way (hopefully) but because they’re human and so are you and they need to learn about you - your style, your values.

Symbolic gestures

This is also a great time for making symbolic gestures. These needn’t be huge, life changing decisions but people will be looking to you to do something - that’s why you were hired. As a newcomer it is perfect for you to spot things. You can, and must ask those naive questions such as “Why do you do that like that?” and listen to the answers. If the answers are “We’ve always done it this way” then this is a great chance for you to change it - if it could be done better. The early decisions you make will have an enormous effect on your reputation for a long time. Be aware of this and use the first few weeks, months carefully.

Get the balance right

However painful it may be you, you are the boss. You make that final decision. It’s especially difficult if you’ve been promoted from within the team and have to manage colleagues but… well that’s the job. Which doesn’t mean, of course, that you can’t socialise with your staff. There is a school of thought that feels it’s not the done think to socialise with your staff. I’ve known some of these people and as soon as they were promoted they stopped socialising with people they had socialised with for years. The reasons given were along the lines of;”I don’t want to get close in case I have to discipline them”. I sometimes wonder if these people make their children eat in a separate room at home for the same reason. Get the balance right.

It’s all about people

The quality of the work the team produces is directly related to the quality of the relationships within that team. As the leader you are responsible for this happening. How? By doing everything you need to. People are different - get to know what makes them tick. You do this by talking and listening - a lot of listening. Talk to your people everyday. Every morning talk to a good number, if not all of them. Listen when they tell you about their kids, their cats, their football team. If you’re uncomfortable doing this, well that’s unfortunate. This is a skill you need to learn. It’s as much a part of your job as managing the finances.

First appeared in ‘Better Business (U.K.)

I am making an assumption based on some experience and a good deal of
hearsay about busy managers. My assumption is that a large proportion
of you think strategic management is something that happens in books or
with IBM or some other large Organisation.
“Not for me, thank you very much.”

Now, don’t worry I’m not going to bore you senseless with a long
article on cost benefit analysis, TQM or force field analysis. I want
to try to give you some practical (fun, even) ideas to help you have
more control of the business and move your business forward.

Firstly a question; “What business are you in?”
Sounds a fairly innocuous question doesn’t it? But maybe it’s not so
simple.

Look at the example of Parker pens. Parker pens have had a great name
and reputation since their beginning in 1888. Yet somehow by the mid
1980s they were in crisis. Over the past nine decades Parker pens had
survived wars, cheap imports, ballpoint pens, roller ball pens, etc. .
Now, in a period of relative calm they were in disarray. They were
losing money despite a large range of initiatives. The approach that
had evolved was one of competing in foreign markets and neglecting
their traditional markets. So, a strategic meeting was arranged and
there was one item on the agenda; “What market are we in?”. Answering
this question transformed their business.

Someone asked the question; “When did you last receive a Parker pen?”.
Ask yourself that question. I guess, like most of us you’ll have a
similar response to the people at the meeting; birthday present,
Christmas present, presentation - a reward of some sort. Parker Pens
finally worked out that they were in the gift business. They were not
in the market of competing with cheap pens, etc. This insight
transformed their business. Instead of continually cutting cost and
quality they spent more on quality and marketing. They redesigned and
repackaged their products. They increased their advertising budget by
60%. They raised their prices and began to target the “style-conscious
and affluent sector.” Despite a world recession Parker pens increased
its turnover by almost 50% in the last half of the decade.

So now - which business are you in? The gift business? The everyday
business?
What are your markets? The luxury end of the business? The exclusive
market?

If you really think you know who your customers are and what they want
that’s really good. This next part of the exercise is the fun part.
You’re allowed to day-dream, be a little creative, let your imagination
run away with you. This works really well if there are a couple of you
to bounce ideas off each other. Now think about who your customers
could be? Who are your potential customers? List as many ‘types’ of
people you can think of that are interested in your products. Don’t
worry that they haven’t any money, or live in Australia or anything.
Just list your potential customers.

This list could include individuals - Mr Jones, groups - students,
farmers, “businessmen with no time”, or even Organisations - “Marks and
Spencer”, “Harrods”, The Clergy..

You should have quite a nice list. Now write alongside each entry why
they don’t buy from you at present - “no money” perhaps, “no time to
talk to them “, “never heard of me”

Now have a look at those reasons and for each reason see if there’s
something you can control or influence that would make them customers.
Influence could mean anything you could possibly do to influence them -
from sending them an email to arranging a thirty minute selling meeting
with them. If there is (and remember we’re still in non-practical
thinking mode here) then just put a tick alongside the customer.

Now look at the list. One of the reasons for doing this is to show how
much control you actually do have when trying to win more customers.
This shows that you have some control or influence over many, many
aspects of your business.

Now it’s finally time to get real and practical. Look at the list and
identify one or two potential customers or groups of potential
customers who would have a significant impact on your business if they
became customers. Highlight those. Think carefully about what you can
do to win those people over. Don’t worry too much about the timescale.
You’ve already identified that you can have some influence - just flesh
that out. If possible talk to people about ideas. Identify something
you can do that will kick start the process. Trust me even if nothing
happens you’ll feel better about it.

Go back to the list and identify some very simple, easy (hopefully
cheap, or even free) things you can do that will give you a ‘quick
win’. Something you can do tomorrow that will have an effect. It may be
that you just change your pricing strategy. Whatever you decide to do,
do it immediately. This action will give you more energy to move onto
the next target customers. Once you get some impetus it’s hard to stop -
just like a snowball.

A quick word on pricing. Sellers are often ‘afraid’ of price. They’re
afraid that if something’s too expensive no-one will buy. Well that may
be true but there’s a similar problem if the price is too low.
There is a great story about a business woman who was selling jewellery
and it wasn’t going to well. The story goes that she was with her bank
manager and realised she’d have to do something so she phones her
assistant to reduce the prices. The following day she goes to the shop
and sees her assistant beaming.
“Great strategy we’ve sold lots more jewellery”
“Yes but what’s it cost us?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I told you to half the amount”
“I thought you said “Add a nought. “so I did and we’ve sold lots more.”

It’s probably an apocryphal tale, but it does make a point. People
don’t always want the cheapest they can get. If something is well made,
unique, people want to pay for it. I’ve worked with people who have
said “Oh I couldn’t ask that for it - I know how much it cost to make.”
I would doubt if anyone really does - once you’ve taken in the cost of
everything, your time, the articles that don’t sell, the hours of
paperwork it’s impossible to know the price. One tip someone told me
was to look at the finished article and ask yourself how much you’d pay
for it if you knew little about the cost of producing it. That’s would
be a good starting point for your pricing.

So you’ve done a stakeholder analysis and looking at pricing strategy -
maybe this strategy business isn’t as frightening as it sounds.

First appeared in ‘Better Business (U.K.)

‘When in doubt, tell the truth. When not in doubt, tell the truth.’

A simple phrase I picked up on a training course a few years ago has helped me to solve so many problems. You don’t believe me? Try it.

Simple. Easy. Brilliant. Use it as the staple answer for many managerial problems and concerns.

One definition of a manager is that you have staff to manage. If you have staff, you have problems. It goes with the territory. Don’t be surprised. It’s like doctors complaining that they only get to meet sick people - it’s going to happen. Your staff will have problems and they will want you to help. Those 13 short words can really help - ‘When in doubt, tell the truth. When not in doubt, tell the truth’.

How often have you been in a situation, perhaps a meeting, where, for some reason or another, you aren’t sure what’s really going on? Can you recall how frustrating that is for you sitting there trying to look as if you know what’s happening? Try this approach. Tell the truth.

The first time I run this experiment was at a very senior manager’s meeting. The very senior manager was talking about our bid for Investors in People. I had no idea where she was going with the discussion.

I took a deep breath. Then another.

“Irena. Excuse me for interrupting but I have no idea where you are going with this.”

The whole room took a sharp intake of breath.

“Neither have I come to think of it”.

The room laughed, slightly too loudly.

This works incredibly well with all sorts of problems especially personal problems, especially managerial problems. There’s the standard problem that gets asked, in one shape or form, at many interviews; “What would you do if a member of your staff has B.O.?” This type of problem arises all too frequently in life. Someone has a problem, perhaps their work is slipping, they need to change jobs, any number of situations. Try this approach. Ask yourself how you feel about the situation. More often than not I guess you feel uncomfortable, nervous. Address the problem;

“Ken, can I have a word? I feel really uncomfortable doing this but I feel I’ve got to let you know - You obviously haven’t recognised it yourself but I think you’ve got B.O.”. Then wait, listen and keep explaining until they understand. You may not be loved, initially, but I bet you’ll be respected far more than if you’d ignored it and they’d found out another way.

Tell the truth - as it honestly appears to you. There are many types of truth and you can only tell the truth as you see it. Let my explain. If your watch stops and someone asks you the time and you get it wrong - you’re not lying are you? You’re telling the truth as you see it.

This concept of truth is linked to power. There’s a certain power that comes from telling the truth.

A typical training course:

“What do I do if my boss keeps interrupting me and I can’t get my work done.”

“Tell her, “You keep interrupting me and I can’t get my work done.”"

“But I feel really awkward about telling her - she’s my boss.”

“Tell her, “I feel really awkward about this as you’re my boss but you keep interrupting me and I can’t get my work done.”

“But…..”

“What do you think will happen?”

“Probably nothing.”

It’s that simple.

There are a number of success stories. Often it’s the smallest things that make a difference. I was training a group of Personal Assistants and one of them was very worried about telling her boss that she wanted to change the layout of the office. It was becoming really stressful for her. She spent a great deal of time complaining to other Personal Assistants, anyone that would listen in fact. She felt her boss would hate it and get furious. We discussed it, acted it out and eventually she decided she’d deal with him. Two days later I got a call - the office had already been changed - it worked out that he hated it as well and didn’t say anything as he felt she would resist. The amount of time and effort that was saved just by this was incredible.

It’s an excellent tool. Use it wisely. Use it honestly. It could help cut through the corporate code that all large organisations use. And there is a lot of corporate code. Having been on the interviewing end of many promotion boards I’ve seen so many reports about saints. Virtually every candidate has never done a bad thing in their life, according to their managers. They’ve never done a bad deed. Never had an evil thought. Then they walk into the room. Please…

After a while you spend all your time looking through the reports looking for secret code words. One secret word is ‘usually’. Alan is usually calm and even -tempered. This translates to Alan has psychopathic tendencies. Rebecca usually responds well to customers, particularly on the telephone. This means Rebecca can lose it on the phone now and again.

Angela is sociable would be code for Angela can be loud and a party animal and may have the odd Monday morning off work with a hangover.

It would be so refreshing to read “Fred is an ace worker in all aspects apart from figure work. He’s useless. He couldn’t add up 2 numbers to save his life.

I’d promote him and keep him well away from the Accounts Department.

On a recent equal opportunities seminar the question came up about managers feeling unable to help. After some discussion the problems were really in the managers’ heads. They were afraid of getting it wrong, afraid of upsetting someone. Having run a number of events with disabled staff and having worked through similar concerns with people with disabilities this approach works extremely well. My advice is - tell the truth. People tend to treat people with respect. They trust peoples’ intentions. If someone makes a mistake but their intention is to be helpful most people will forgive them. If you are unfortunate enough to ask a partially sighted person why they can’t read the signs (as I have) you’re far more likely to get a huge laugh rather than an embarrassed silence.

The question arose: “If you see someone in a wheelchair struggling to open a heavy door, what do you say?”

“Say, excuse me I can see that you’re in a wheelchair struggling to open that heavy door, do you need some help?”"

It’s so simple. So easy. So do it.

First appeared in ‘Training Journal’ (U.K.)

I

“ If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Strategic change is difficult. No secret there. Managing long term projects is difficult. Recent reports indicate that costs for the 2012 Olympic Project is already £1 billion over the original bid budget. Looking at the statistics there are varying estimates of the percentage of projects that fail. The general feeling for projects that failed last year is between 60 and 80 %. A typical analysis of IT project failure appeared in The Guardian in November last year;

“This year, the world’s IT expenditure is projected at $1,700bn (£975bn). About one-third of projects fail completely and another third have complicated problems. Those that finish are likely to be completed several months or years late, on average 180% over budget. These figures do not include hush-hush corporate projects or projects started at home.” – Ed Hasted

The Public Sector seems to have identified a key reason;

Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee , said in the report Achieving Value for Money in the Delivery of Public Services (November 2005)

” Basic errors are repeated time and again.”

Is it this simple? Well in some ways I believe it is. From past experiences of projects most participants – managers, project managers, IT personnel, staff know that the ride will be rough at times. They have been on this journey before, often on a number of occasions and as the figures indicate have failed 2/3 of the time. Yet, whatever process is used, if any, at the end of a project it seems to make little difference the next time around.

In 1998 the CEO of Polaroid Gary Dicamillo said “Some people think photography is going to go away as everything in our industry becomes digitised. But I disagree. I think analogue photography will endure.” Project after project failed to recognise the importance of digital cameras. Three years later they filed for bankruptcy with nearly $1 billion in debts.

The next venture starts with a clean sheet and a renewed optimism that this time things will be different. This time the project will take place in that parallel universe where key staff never get pregnant, project managers don’t find another post in another Organisation and resources are always available when and where they should be.

There have been some spectacular failures in the past few years;

For instance the London Ambulance Service had their operations virtually stopped for 36 hours in October 1992. It is estimated to have cost up to 30 people their lives. The main reason cited was the failure of the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software. A major factor behind the success or failure of this software was an assumption made on the part of the project team. The assumption was that the system would have near perfect information on the location and status of the London Ambulance Service vehicles available at all times. This didn’t happen and one of the worse problems included response times to emergency calls of up to 11 hours.

Paris Euro Disney was a financial disaster. The project itself was initially costed at $2.25 billion and finally cost $4 billion. Executives seemed to make a number of wrong assumptions based on a poor grasp of the cultural differences. For instance in the United States the customers stayed longer (4 days), didn’t mind that there was no alcohol on sale and were willing to pay higher prices to stay at the Disney Hotels. These, and other, factors led to a downward spiral and excessive spending to ‘buy themselves’ out of trouble.

So whilst most projects may not make the list of grand failures there are lessons that can be learnt.

One key element in the sinking of projects is the internal momentum they build. At a certain point the project seems to take on a life of its own and the reason for the project existing seems to become almost secondary. It turns into some huge ocean liner that seems to be sailing itself and is impossible to turn around.

The London School of Economics’ Taurus project started in 1982 and was abandoned after 11 years having cost the City of London £800 million – It’s original budget was £6 million.

A member of the Taurus monitoring group described how this felt at the time in an interview in 1994;

“It is easy to look back and say, “Why didn’t you see it all the time?” Well, most disasters look obvious in hindsight. When you are in the middle of it and your objective is to get to the end you take each issue and you try to deal with it, and then another issue and you try to deal with it and another issue and you try to deal with it. It is only the cumulative of the issues that you finally say, “When is this going to end?”

II

Consider a different approach. Rather than the super luxurious, out-of-control, technically programmed, inhuman ocean liner imagine the project as a sailing boat. Go back to basics. The project shouldn’t take control. The people working on the project should be the navigators. There’s a simple three step approach that can help gain control of projects;

Step 1 – Where are you now?

“It is obvious that the navigator must know the ship’s position before being able to direct the vessel to another position or in another direction.” – Jim Sexton (Sailnet.com)

The first action with any project is incredibly obvious. You need to establish exactly where you are. This sounds so easy and obvious that often this is ignored. The consequences of ignoring this stage can be dramatic.

For instance The Home Office’s £2500 million project to establish a state-of-the-art police radio network was designed to allow officers on the beat to access criminal records from mobile terminals. However the project hadn’t recognised that the cost to individual local police authorities would ensure it would never work.

This is an aspect that is neglected or assumptions made, e.g. Paris Euro Disney’s cultural assumptions. People assume they know where they are and become so excited charging after the vision that they overlook important details. After all it’s far sexier, more exciting talking about your hopes and aspirations for the future rather than working out exactly were you are now. This is vital I’m afraid. In sailing terminology it equates to getting your bearings and checking what equipment you have before you start the journey. Where exactly are you in terms of skills, resource, etc? Who’s in charge? What are their strengths, weaknesses, etc? What assumptions are you making?

Step 2 – Where Are You Going?

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.” Seneca

The second action needed to take is to take is determine exactly where you’re going. This is your vision. This should be inspirational. You need to take your people with you. Above all the vision must be defined clearly. People need to see the end product, what it will look like and what’s in it for them. As a leader this is probably your number one job. Leaders lead by having compelling visions. There’s a tale (probably apocryphal) of John F Kennedy walking around the NASA building in 1968 asking a toilet cleaner at NASA what he was doing. “I’m helping to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade”. Everyone involved in the Apollo project knew where they were going and their role. They didn’t need screen savers with the mission statement. They were involved.

In terms of the sea journey the vision is the lighthouse shining out in the distance. This is your target. This is where you take your bearings from.

O.K. I know you wouldn’t actually sail toward a lighthouse. I’m fairly sure sailors make a point of not getting too near to lighthouses. However imagine it’s a safe lighthouse, a beacon if you like.

Step 3 – How Will You Get There?

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.” Chinese proverb

Now imagine that the implementation process is that journey. You know exactly where you are and you know exactly where you’re going. You have to navigate the journey. You’re not going to get to your lighthouse in a straight line. There are a number of elements that will get in the way include wind, waves, current, rocks, sharks, pirates, etc… Choose your own symbolic enemies. So how would you plan on reaching your destination? Well, in a way you can’t. You can’t predict with any certainty what will happen to the wind, waves and weather in six months time. What you can do is plan the first few steps as accurately as you can. Then at a certain point you would re-assess your position and plan your next few moves. Then reassess and replan. This is the only sensible approach. The danger of not doing this is obvious. For instance, The Taurus project seemed to develop a life of its own. The project was way off course yet it kept going in the same direction. In an extract from a report on the project;

“The decision makers concentrated on solving the problems at the expense of questioning the existence of so many problems, diligently bashing one peg down only to see another fly up, no closer to the end. Everyone was so intent on delivering Taurus that the question of whether Taurus was still worth delivering was largely eclipsed.”

What happens with most projects is that ‘someone’ expects the project to be planned out in the most minute detail for each day of the 2,3,4 years it takes to complete. This has to be carried out before the journey even begins. There will be stages of course built in, but each is dependant on the preceding one, which hasn’t been completed yet. Finances and other resources are all controlled at the beginning on the best guess. These guesses at resources are inevitably going to be wrong. How can you possibly know how many people will be needed to run an IT project 5 years from now given the rate of change in that particular field? You can’t. In other areas, people will leave, new people will arrive, and resources will not turn up, or turn up early, late, and damaged. Everyone knows this yet we still go along with it and throw in a few ‘contingency plans’, ‘risk analysis diagrams’ to make us feel better.

I’m not saying that there’s no value in project management or even in breaking down long term objectives. You need to know exactly where you are going and it helps if you can generate some quick wins. These markers along the way can be motivational as it sends the message that things are happening and the project is on track. There needs to be more of an awareness however that these targets will continually change. If these targets are too rigid (devised on day one) at some point they won’t be met. Then it will be too easy for the cynics involved to start pointing fingers and saying, “I told you this wouldn’t work. Two months into a six year plan and we’re already over-budget.”

They will change. In sailing terms if you are blow off course you need to reassess and set out a different direction to the end point. I have a feeling that a number of projects go astray and attempt to sail to the next marker rather than the lighthouse. This uses additional resources and seems that the only benefit is to put a tick in the appropriate box in the project implementation folder. It doesn’t make any sense.

In 1985 there was the great Coca-Cola disaster. Coca-Cola was determined to beat Pepsi who had run the highly successful “Pepsi Challenge” campaign and brought Pepsi to within 5% of Coca-Cola’s share. Coca-Cola panicked, dropped the product that had kept them in business for practically a century and launched New Coke. Although most of this process was a disaster they did have the sense and ability to make a complete U-turn in just 78 days. They’re still in business.

III

“We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails”- Bertha Calloway

Leaders and managers who have to implement these changes are setting themselves up for a hiding to nothing using the methods they’ve always used. It must be time for a reality check. The important aspects are;

1. Spend time finding out exactly where you are starting from.

2. Have a clear and compelling image of where you and the Organisation are going. The people involved must buy into this and be motivated to achieving it. If they’re not it really is a waste of time.

3. Plan the journey as it happens. You should have a sense of where you’re going but you need to be almost continually changing direction as factors change. Plan and communicate the process in a structured, realistic approach – a few steps at a time, reassess, some more steps, reassess and so on.