Byron Kalies

First appeared in ‘The Guardian’ (U.K.)

To land a fish, start thinking like one - six tips for interviewees

There are a number of rules to the ‘interviewing game’. What makes it different to other games is that most of these commandments aren’t written down anywhere. But the best piece of wisdom I can give you is “Think like a fish”- the sage advice handed to a colleague of mine by his granddad, along with his first rod and reel. If you want to catch a fish, you need to think like a fish, study the currents, shade and wind. And ask yourself, if you were a fish, where would you swim?

1. Test the water

Find out as much as you can (legally) about the organisation you’ve applied to join and the people who will be interviewing you. What’s happening in the organisation at present? Check its website, look in newspapers and relevant trade magazines, talk to people who’ve worked for or with the organisation.

As for the interview panel members - what can you find out about them? Which department do they work in? What interests do they have? You’ll get a much better feel for the conditions in the ‘water’ this way. There’s no guarantee that because someone on the panel works in IT that they’ll ask you questions about the company’s website. But if it were you, it’d be at the front of your mind, wouldn’t it?

2. Swim with the fishes

See the interview from the fish’s perspective. The paperwork the interviewers will have in front of them consists principally of the ad for the job and your application form. You need to know both these documents inside-out. Look again at your application form. What stands out? What are your strengths, weaknesses? Is there anything on the form that looks slightly odd? For instance, have you had an unusual job at some time? If you’ve been orange picking in the Andes for three months one summer, can you explain why?

3. Baiting and luring

Give the job ad another thorough examination and any other information about the role that you’ve been sent. What are the criteria or skills that the interview panel is looking for? Sit down and write at least one example of how and when you’ve met each skill or competence required. It’s so much more impressive to answer a question fully. For example, say they ask: “So tell me about your communication skills?” A good reply? “Well, I believe I’m an effective communicator. An example of this was when I worked in a call centre for eight weeks in the summer and I had to deal with a number of difficult situations. For instance, once…”

Spend a great deal of time thinking of evidence you can bring to the panel that will show you meet the criteria. It will do wonders for your confidence. Interview panels don’t want to take chances. They want to make risk-free judgements. They want solid performers, and the more evidence you bring to the table, the safer the panel will feel. They want people with ideas, of course - but more importantly, they want people with a record of turning those ideas into action.

4. Take me to the river

Do a ‘reccy’ of the interview location before hand. You don’t want to be worrying about parking spaces, train problems or where the office is on the day of your interview.

Do a dry run. Arrive for the interview on time. On time doesn’t meet ten minutes late, nor does it mean 45 minutes early. If you’re too early either the overworked secretary will feel obliged to amuse you for three-quarters of an hour or you’ll have to sit in a lonely room imagining the worst and desperately wanting to go to the toilet. You will be stressed and feel that you need to go to the toilet. So go. Then when they call your name and you think you need to go again, you can reassure yourself that it’s just nerves.

5. Go with the flow

At the interview, be yourself. Don’t turn into Mr or Ms Serious Interview Person (unless that’s who you really are). You’ve got the interview because of who you are - don’t try to be someone different now.

6. Reel ‘em in

As the interview approaches its climax - be careful. You have two options.

If at the start you were so nervous that you talked of your experience at Microsoft but couldn’t remember who Bill Gates was, explain that now along with any other factual inaccuracies - but nothing else. Alternatively a simple “Thank you very much” and “Goodbye” will suffice.

The panel is already thinking about the next candidate, so walk out, close the door - and stop thinking like a fish.

First appeared in ‘CIO’ (U.K.)

I guess there’s been a time in your life when you’ve looked at a new machine, spreadsheet, sales rep, interviewee and thought “this doesn’t look right”. There may be nothing you can actually put your finger on, it just doesn’t feel right. Subsequently when they’ve broken down, not added up, or broken down and not added up you’ve had that smug feeling telling people “I knew there was something wrong there.” Well in recent years there’s been a wealth of evidence supporting that instinct. It’s been called ‘gut feeling’, intuition, instinct, presentiment, a hunch or just a ‘feeling in my water’.

For myself, over the past 10 years or so I’ve been telling everyone on interviewing courses that you shouldn’t decide in the first 20 seconds if the interviewee will get the job or not. I’ve spouted research that says people decide on the best candidate for a job in the first minute and then spend the rest of the interview confirming their initial analysis; i.e. if they feel the candidate is good they ask easy questions. If they take an instant dislike to someone they will ask difficult questions and look less favourably on their answers. This effect has been well studied. In fact there’s a whole industry out there telling people to beware and stop doing it. It’s been described as the ‘halo or horns’ effect. I have warned people about this and pleaded with them not to do it.

Now, I’m not sure if that’s the right advice.

Recently I’ve read a fair amount about trusting your instincts, listening to your inner self, etc… This isn’t all about hippies and meditation and listening to your inner self. It’s scientific as well. I’ve read of a number of situations where this seems to make total sense. After every disaster there are 101 stories about people not going on the plane at the last minute, or deciding not to take that train because of some ‘inner sense’.

In terms of choosing people there’s an increasing mass of evidence that says that the more instinctive we make our choices the better. Many people accept “love at first sight” as a truth. Reading ‘Blink’ – Malcolm Gladwell, you would believe any other way of choosing would be madness. At the heart of the book is a phenomenon called “thin-slicing,” which is “the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and people based on very narrow ’slices’ of experience.” There’s the example of the relationship doctor who can estimate the likelihood of a couple staying together within a few minutes of listening to them interact. It would appear that when we do make up our minds instantly we’re often far more accurate than when we spend more time analysing and quantifying.

So, how can we use this in business? I suggest people have a two minute selection interview. Using the logic above it would seem that some form of ‘speed interviewing’ is the way forward. Just think about it. No paperwork to worry about. No justification needed. No more week long assessment tests. The end of assessment centres, exams, psychometric tests… Imagine how much time and money would that save?

There is, unfortunately a few down sides to this. There’s the fact that there are people out there who can manipulate this. Tony Robbins talks about the power of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) where you can build instant rapport with people. You use a mixture of techniques such as mirroring, changing your breathing, altering your tone of voice, tilting your head matching to develop an understanding with people. This can be used for the forces of good or evil. On the one hand it shows you care and want to build a strong relationship and make a stranger more comfortable. On the other hand it is manipulative.

There is also a more fundamental problem with this ‘instant attraction’ theory in that it may not be true. Even though it seems sensible and strikes a chord with us because we’ve all done that. We’ve all made an instant decision and found out it was true in the face of all the evidence. However, I wonder how often we’ve made an instant decision and found it to be wrong? I guess we don’t remember those occasions. There’s a phrase for this in psychological jargon - ‘bottom drawer evidence’. This concerns the mass of evidence gathered that doesn’t fit the theory and is conveniently hidden in the bottom drawer.

Perhaps there is a role in business to listen to your instinct. Interviewing for positions, buying equipment, making strategic decisions. We’re all too quick to ignore our first gut feeling and gather a mass of evidence. Perhaps we could at least acknowledge this.

So, perhaps speed interviewing isn’t such a great idea after all. Well, I’m not really sure. Even after looking at the evidence and writing 800 words on the subject I’ve just got a feeling there’s something in it.

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

Facing the reluctant learner is never the happiest part of a trainer’s job, but how do you deal with a dozen people about to be made redundant who are only there to get them out of the office.

I’ve been in situations where I’ve had to teach people who don’t really want to be there. It’s not nice but hey it’s not that bad. Usually it works out that they’re really busy back in the “real world”. Either that or they have some fear of training course, which in turn can lead to some interesting discussions. The upshot of these discussions tend to be previous training courses where they felt intimidated/ ignored /bored /embarrassed or all four. We talk at break, they start opening up about their concerns slowly and they go away realising it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be - or at least that’s what they tell me.

These situations are child’s play compared to when people really don’t want to be there. Often it’s a residential course. You’re trapped with these people for a week. You can’t easily send them away - they’re there so you do what you can. “So what do you hope you’ll get out of the next five days?” I ask. “Plenty of sleep,” they respond. You get the idea.

This tends to happen with mandatory courses. Why oh why does anyone feel that making courses mandatory is any help to anyone? You’re off to a bad start already aren’t you? You’ve already set up a reactant - something for them to fight against. Reactants occur when you limit someone’s freedom. In this case their ability to choose whether to attend or not. By denying them the choice, you’re virtually guaranteeing unhappiness.

There was an experiment run where volunteers were questioned and had no strong preference about two different brands of chocolate. However, a machine was set up with only one brand available. Most of the volunteers were willing to walk quite a distance to have the other brand. Why? Because you’d limited their choice and the reactance kicked in.

Anyway, these events are usually difficult to begin with, but tend to improve as the time goes on. The skills are patience, listening, not blaming and then a bit more patience. Every now and again a situation comes along that doesn’t fit neatly into the “I behave skilfully and things will work out fine” category.

I’d heard there were redundancies happening at the organisation I was working with. What I didn’t realise was that the 12 people on the course were waiting to leave in a few weeks and were sent on the course to basically, get out of the office. This rapidly became apparent as I looked around the room and saw them. They were looking at me as cowboys used to get looked at in saloons in the old West when they walked through the banging doors. There was a deathly silence. They folded their arms. I talked some gibberish about the aims of the course and how motivational it could be. One of them stood up and said: “I’m 53. The only life I’ve known is this office. All my friends are leaving. I’ll probably never work again around here. My wife has taken the kids and gone back to her mother. I’m drinking two bottles of wine a night. Go on - motivate me.”

How we laughed…

First appeared in ‘Business Day’ (South Africa.)

LEGEND has it that there was a high-profile meeting at Parker Pens Corporation in the mid 1980s.

Parker Pens had been successful for a long time. It had continued to be successful in the face of a number of challenges — cheap imports, ballpoint pens, roller-ball pens — yet somehow, by the early part of the decade, the company had lost its way.

The approach that had evolved was one of competing in foreign markets and neglecting its traditional markets. A strategic meeting was arranged with one item on the agenda: what market are we in? Answering this question transformed the business.

Someone asked: “When did you last receive a Parker pen?” Ask yourself that question. I guess, like most of us you will have a similar response to the people at the meeting: birthday present, Christmas present, presentation — a reward of some sort.

Parker concluded it was in the gift business, not in the market of competing with cheap pens. This insight transformed the business. Instead of continually cutting costs and quality, Parker spent more. Products and packages were redesigned and the advertising budget was increased by 60%. Prices were raised and Parker began to target the “style-conscious and affluent sector”. Despite a world recession, Parker increased turnover by almost 50% in the last half of the decade.

So, what market are you in? Do you know for certain what your unique selling point is?

MacDonald’s thinks it is in the real estate business. When I first read this I could not believe it. Then I thought about it and it made sense. If the fast-food industry collapsed, tomorrow MacDonald’s could survive. Think of the positioning of all their sites.

According to some you are either in the “fit” market or the “sexy” market. If you are in the fit market, you are continually adapting, changing, looking for new opportunities.

This would be an organisation like 3M. This $20bn company has proved incredibly adaptable over the years. It started in 1902 as the Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company, mining for material for sandpaper. For the next 100 years it changed and developed — from sandpaper to Scotch tape, magnetic tape, microfilm, overhead projectors, postit notes, respirators, pharmaceuticals and hi-tech products. One of its secrets has been the ability to adapt. This has not been an accident. There are research laboratories in 31 countries outside the US.

Or is it sexy like Ferrari or BMW, market leaders in a niche with a loyal following. These organisations work hard at staying sexy and making it look effortless. BMW employs more than 100 staff in its acoustics and vibration technology departments. It ensures everything from the sound of the windscreen wipers to the sound of the doors closing is acoustically perfect. Computer simulator designer Christian Muhldorfer said after one project, when describing the sound of a new development model: “The door now has a full, reassuring feel.”

If you are in the fit camp you need to spend as much time looking at the competition as you do at yourself. You may be the leader in a certain area but you know how quickly everyone catches up. Gary Dicamillo, CEO of Polaroid, said in 1998: “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.” Three years later it filed for bankruptcy with nearly $1bn in debts.

Even in the sexy camp you need to avoid complacency. Take the example of Coca-Cola and New Coke in 1985. Having survived as the number one soft drink since 1886, it was challenged by Pepsi. Pepsi came within 5% of Coca-Cola’s overall share of the market, and even overtook it in supermarket sales.

So what did Coca-Cola do? It panicked. It dropped the product that had kept it in business for almost a century and launched New Coke in a wave of publicity. People responded: “Tastes like sewer water”; “Two-day-old-Pepsi”; “Dear Sir, Changing Coke is like God making the grass purple”; and, “You have taken away my childhood”. After more than 400000 calls and letters to Coca-Cola headquarters CEO Roberto Goizueto made a U-turn just 78 days after the launch.

What are the lessons here for businesses? The key one is to ask yourself exactly what business you are in. Are you in the gift business, the unique craft business, the inexpensive, mass production business? Get as many people involved in discussing this. Who are your customers? What do they want? Who are not your customers? What is important to you as a business? What business are you in?

For the sexy elements of your business, you need to protect them. These are the areas that you cannot compromise on. These are the aspects of your business people buy. People stay at the Ritz-Carlton because they know they will be looked after. It may be expensive, but they know they will be looked after. If Ritz-Carlton suddenly started dropping its prices ….

For the fit elements it is a matter of looking outward as well as looking inward. What is there out there that could affect your business? Where is the next threat coming from?

Identify this threat before it ruins you, as Encyclopaedia Britannica found out when it ignored the threat of the internet.

Few small businesses are totally sexy or totally fit in this sense. There will be elements of each and you will need to pay attention to each.

Learn from the companies that thought they were fit or sexy but ultimately were not: Bethlehem Steel, Polaroid, Trans World Airlines, Delta Airlines, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Baring’s Bank, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, Lucent … and so on.

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

“There’s a new change management program starting next week,” said the worried voice on the phone, “What can I do?”

“Keep your head down” was my sage advice.

“But this one’s serious.”

“They all are.”

“No; really. This time the H.R. Department is determined to make it happen. I don’t want to change. What can I do?”

“Stay out of the way. It’s the Okavanga-Kalahari syndrome.”

“?”

“There’s a river in Africa that starts in a range of mountains in Namibia known as the Okavanga-Kalahari River. Everyone knows where it starts — it’s a huge river. It flows into the Kalahari Desert but no one really knows where it finishes. It just sort of fades away.”

“Ah.”

The vast majority of culture change programs go like this. Big start with trumpets, fanfares, senior managers wheeled out… the first events are hugely popular and over-subscribed. Go back in six months time and ask about it. It just sort of disappeared — no-one knew when, or whose decision it was. It just faded into the desert. The Okavanga-Kalahari syndrome.

It’s not always so. There are a number of factors that will help in the success of any culture program:

Number one: do the maths. How much will it cost? How much extra will you get out of it? If you can’t get a tangible benefit then forget it. Your employees certainly won’t be bothered unless there’s something in it for them, as individuals. You certainly shouldn’t be bothered unless there’s something in it for you as an organisation. This benefit should be financial. OK it’s difficult to measure. Does that mean you don’t even try?

“It will make people more motivated and corporate” is a reason I’ve frequently heard for running a program.

“Show me the money.” I reply.

“But we can’t express it in financial terms.”

“Try?”

If you can’t get a benefit don’t bother. There must be a benefit in terms of more work produced, more targets met, less sick leave taken. Try to calculate all the “soft” measures. If you can motivate staff to take a real pride in their work, produce quality materials, chase every customer — how much is that worth to you?

Second, attendance on the program cannot be voluntary. You’ve done the sums now make people attend. Make it interesting, that’ll help. Make it rewarding. Take people away from the workplace, spend some money on them, treat them decently. They work for you, treat them as you’d like to be treated. Let them travel first class, stay in a nice hotel, feed them good meals with wine. Build this into the maths. Don’t be tempted to do it on the cheap.

Next, do the politics. And there will be politics. People tend to not like change so if you’re not getting any resistance — it’s because they’ve heard of the Okavanga-Kalahari syndrome and are just keeping their heads down waiting for it to go away. You need to encourage resistance — get it out in the open. At least here you’ll have a chance to address it. If it’s hidden in the shadows you have no chance.

Deal directly with people. Peter Senge describes the levels of alignment staff may have with the vision of the organisation; committed, enrolled, compliant, grudgingly compliant, apathetic or saboteurs. You need to address these saboteurs especially, early on or they will destroy your program with their cynicism. By the way I heard a great definition of a cynic the other day — someone who’s given up but not shut up. There are a number of ways of turning ’saboteurs’ into stars. One extremely successful method is to get them actively involved in the design of the program. The most successful “Customer care for computer staff” program I’ve seen was designed by the three most vociferous opponents of the program. They were identified very early on and asked to attend the pilot course. They were then invited to rewrite the program in the light of their knowledge and experiences.

In one respect staff can be thought of as sheep. Have you noticed how a flock of sheep move? There are usually a few leaders at the start, a few stragglers at the end and 80% of the flock in the middle. If you can get the first few sheep moving in the right direction along with one or two of the laggards then the flock will head in the right direction. That is as long as you keep them moving. If you stop, there is a tendency for the flock to stop, so build in mini targets, incentives, milestones. Keep the momentum going all the way. Aim for some quick wins to start the sheep moving. These should be tangible, identifiable, public outcomes directly attributable to the program. E.g., “As a result of the Culture Change Program there will be a: simplification of the appraisal system; gym membership subsidy introduced; better meals in the staff canteen; restructuring of the senior management team….”

A lot of the political difficulties will be caused by the silent majority. Address these. Look at the shadow-side of your organisation. Don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. There are many examples of this shadow-side at work in organisations:

I’ve been invited to pre-meeting meetings, pre pre-meeting meetings and even once a pre pre pre-meeting meeting to make sure our tactics were correct before the pre pre-meeting meeting. These activities take time and energy away from the goals of the organisation.

If you ever have to work in a school, on the first day you meet the headmaster, of course, and then you talk to the people with the real power — the caretakers, deputy headmistresses and their like. In many organisations Personal Assistants and secretaries tend to have far more actual power than their position in the hierarchy would suggest. Be nice to them. They will get you that five-minute meeting with the Head of Department if they like you. Don’t pretend these things don’t go on.

Once I worked in an organisation where an administrator who had worked in the office for 35 years had a great deal of influence. If she didn’t like something, things tended to move a lot slower, if at all. Find out who the key players are, cultivate them. Take up smoking if you need to. The smoking room tends to be a great area for finding things out first. People who go there tend to be relaxed, tend to be from a wide range of work areas and seem to have time to think and make connections. Two seemingly disconnected facts like; a computer is being moved and there’s been a recent promotion board, can yield intriguing information — often days before an announcement becomes official.

You must instigate any culture program from the very top and work down. Managers at all levels must buy into the program and sell it down the line. This is frequently a very difficult trick to pull off. Somewhere in the chain there will invariably be managers that “don’t do” training. Talk to them, encourage them, threaten them — whatever works, but you can’t ignore them. Staff see managers not attending, or attending and not changing their behaviour, and the program suddenly loses credibility. “Why should I bother?” You’ll start seeing lots of non-attendees with “too busy to attend” notes from their managers. Leading by example has to start from the top, with top managers rewarded or disciplined immediately. If the credibility of the program goes, you’d just as well forget it straight away and save yourself some money.

There’s a syndrome creeping into modern business now of change overload. Every week there seems to be a new initiative, a new program, a new mission statement. People are getting drained. Any new program needs to be real, well thought out, have tangible benefits and be fully supported by senior management and all departments. There should be people begging to go on it. One interesting approach, based on some psychological studies to do with reactants, involved telling people they couldn’t attend the program. They began clamouring to get on it. They were phoning, emailing, “Why can’t I do it? Put me on the reserve list?” I wouldn’t recommend this manipulative use of psychology but there could be some elements of it you could use; invite people to apply, ask them why they should be included, make attendance a reward rather than a punishment. This will work.

Oh, the reference in the title is from an excellent program concerning change by Scott Simmerman. Two caterpillars are talking (as they do) and they spot a butterfly. They both look up and one caterpillar says to the other “You’ll never get me up in one of those.”

First appeared in ‘CIO’ (U.K.)

Over the past decade this lack of control seems to have become the factor in causing stress across management – maybe it always was this way but I just didn’t recognise it. It inevitably involves people. It is so much easier (well relatively) to manage budgets, security and infrastructure.

People though tend to be a bit like you and me – odd, quirky. There was a time when managers, or anyone in authority, said ‘jump’ and the likes of you and me would jump as high as possible (I was never one of the crazy breed that would answer back with ‘how high?’). What happens now though if you say ‘jump’? You get…
“Why?”
“Has this been agreed by the health and safety jump subcommittee?”
“Is this on my performance evaluation?”
“Piss off!”
There may be others that would ask: “What are you trying to achieve by this ‘jumping’ exercise? Let’s look at the outputs and the process.” You may even get a better way of achieving your objectives in this ongoing ‘jump’ scenario.

The trouble is you just don’t know what the response will be. It’s a bit like waiting for a bus – it’s frustrating because your destiny is in the hands of someone else. You have no control over it. How did this happen in the workplace? Surely as you gain more experience, you get better and have more control, not less? Unfortunately not.

I had a colleague who was a superb manager. He worked 14 hours a day, led by example, took pride in never asking anyone to do anything he wouldn’t do himself. However, he couldn’t progress beyond middle management. Finally someone told him why. “You’ve got to let go and get others to do the work for you. There’s only so much work you can physically do yourself.” He came to the painful realisation that he had to trust people.

The first step in learning to adapt to this is to accept that it’s true. It’s what management really is – there’s a clue in the word.

It’s a bit like being a doctor and complaining about only seeing sick people. As a manager you only deal with people and people are a mess of frustrations, inhibitions and vulnerabilities.

You have to learn to give up control and trust people. In practical terms this will mean they make mistakes. This is the heart of the problem, I think. Underneath do you think that you’re perfect? Perhaps not. Better than others? Well there may be some of that. The bottom-line is it’s not a ‘hands on’ job any longer. When you were a young, enthusiastic programmer you were in control. You could stay and finish some coding if you wanted. If you were really enthusiastic you would stay all night until it was tested and complete. Now, as a leader, what do you say to engender that enthusiasm into your team?

“There aren’t enough hours in the day for you to do or check everything. So, take a deep breath and let go”

People like to be trusted. They work better and produce more when they are. It’s not easy, of course, especially in the early stages when you hardly know the new people. But, you really haven’t much choice. There aren’t enough hours in the day for you to do or check everything. So, take a deep breath and let go.

This doesn’t mean anarchy. This means a sensible discussion about limits and outputs. You agree the outputs, the parameters, cost and timeframe. From then on it’s a matter of staying away. The biggest challenge will come with the first mistake they make – and you know they will make a first mistake.

If you’ve discussed this with them you will have said all the right things about it being ‘a learning process’ and told them when it happens, ‘to come and see me and we’ll talk about it’. However, that first mistake will be a big one, at the wrong time and they won’t come to you until the last possible minute. The whole team will be looking at how you deal with this. Take another deep breath and do the right things. One false move here and the next mistake will be hidden for longer and will be more damaging. In some respects this is the difference between changing from a manager to a leader. To quote Bill O’Brien: “The problem with managers is that they’re always pulling up the radishes to see how well they’re growing.”

First appeared in ‘Public Servant’ (U.K.)

“Civil Service. What a job - pushing paper, drinking tea wearing a bowler hat. You’ve landed on your feet you have…It’ll be a bit boring but you can’t beat a bit of job security. Job for life.”

Well that wasn’t exactly the reaction I received when I first began working for the Civil Service 20 or so years ago - but it was pretty close.

Today the job security has disappeared and I think most people understand that. However the drinking tea, pushing paper image is still out there. Why does that still persist I wonder. Is it because the only programme about the Civil Service was “‘Yes Minister” 25 years ago? Where’s our career makeover series? Where’s our “Airport”, “Dinner Ladies”, “Quincy“?

So what can we do? Maybe we make our own television series encouraging the public to be a little more sympathetic when they threaten to cut a few hundred thousand jobs - (even the post office had Postman Pat for God’s sake). This would help with our public perception. I remember an article in a local newspaper announcing 300 Civil Service jobs to go and a local councillor saying that this would help ease the parking problems in the area - I kid you not.

So, how do we go about changing our image? Perhaps a TV programme is the answer. Let’s see if we can create a loveable character that could embody all the qualities of a modern Civil Servant. Maybe we could do this by brainstorming the current predominant traits of a public servant - let’s see “stressed, undervalued, victimised” OK that’s not working. How about the traits we really believe in - deep down, somewhere deep down. You know that neglected almost-forgotten cliché about “making a difference”.

It’s slightly embarrassing to admit that you like your job, I know. But over the years the Civil Service has changed - there is new technology, new management training. There are Departments with a fair amount of autonomy that invest in high level technology and pay for themselves bringing in as much revenue as they spend. It has been a hard time in the \Civil \service in recent years adjusting to the tough new work of measuring everything, value for money and return on investment. Yet people stay. There are professionals that could be earning double, quadruple what they earn if they left the Civil Service yet they stay. I guess some of the reasons are comfort, laziness almost. But some of the reasons are to do with making a difference.

I had a boss once that kept telling us we were working to create a Bigger, Brighter, Better, Bonnier Britain” and we believed him. Everything we did from the most mundane (but hugely important) two hour introduction to Health and Safety (Part 1 - How to Lift), to three day strategic workshops for senior managers were carried out with that vision. That’s it. He totally believed it and instilled it into us. It seemed the most obvious thing in the world at the time. He had a team of 12 trainers and we would all have done anything for him.

As a leader within the public sector you have to be even better than managers in the private sector - in some regards. One in particular you have to be creative, inspirational and a genuine leader - motivation. You haven’t got financial rewards to motive your team. You can’t give your top staff a free week in the Bahamas as a result of satisfying the most customers. The best leaders in the public sector lead by their own personal power and values. They inspire by respecting and valuing each member of the staff and continually encouraging them to ‘make a difference’. This is done by talking, listening, doing the little things.

The boss I referred to before was definitely in this category. He would talk to each of his staff whenever he met them. This was not as simple as it sounds. His staff were based on a number of different sites throughout the U.K. but each team he was there he would take the time to ask about their children, partners, football teams, whatever was important to them. He would support you absolutely in public (You would certainly get some ‘well-constructed’ feedback in private later on) and take any blame that was going. All the staff would have done anything for him. One Sunday afternoon he called and asked if I’d travel to London that evening to attend a meeting for a colleague who was ill I would have. Of course I would. Anyone in our team would.

Over the years I have not worked with anyone quite as inspirational in the same way but I have worked with other passionate, talented people. Of course, I’ve had my share of tortured souls as well but I guess the percentages of good/bad are in my favour. It struck me a few years ago that this was important and one of the main reasons I’m still in the Civil Service after so many years - it’s all about the people. It’s not that every single one of us is driven by pure altruism but there are enough to make a difference.

And yes we seem to have all the pressures associated with the private sectors now - deadlines, targets, monetary restraints, redundancy with none of the rewards - perks, big bonuses, company helicopters, cheap mortgages, share options. Yet still so many people wouldn’t dream of changing jobs.

For all the problems with the image there is something unique about public service. OK I know things have changed a great deal (and job titles change even more) and today there are more specialists - statisticians, economists, analysts, etc yet many people still consider themselves Civil Servants first. This may change when their bank manager asks them their job title when they ask for another loan (project manager does sound better than B1, or EO).

First appeared in ‘E.S.A.E.’ (Europe)

There is one aspect of leadership that rarely gets mentioned, yet it is vital to the success a leader has in building relationships-symbolic acts. Each and every action leaders carry out has an effect on their team. And actions often do speak louder than words.

Great leaders have stories, legends, even myths told about them. These tales may be totally true, based on some truth, or may be purely be wishful thinking, but in some ways it doesn’t really matter. They inspire people. If you’re a leader of a major organization, you need to be noticed.

You have to be charismatic to lead your staff, so they will want to tell stories about you.

Take the example of a British CEO who took charge of a confectionery company, which was in serious financial difficulty. His first act was to cut the tails of the sugar mice. What an incredible symbolic act. With one gesture he demonstrated the ruthlessness he would show to turn the company around.

Then, there’s the story of Michael Grade, then controller of BBC One-now Director-General. He was visiting the news department one day where they were short- staffed. He acted as a junior researcher and covered a shipwreck story. People at BBC still talk about that today.

Another example is from an internal memo issued in Microsoft Germany. Most German industries operated in a very formal manner. This memo, on the instructions of Bill Gates, told staff to use the informal German word for you Du instead of the more formal Sie. This very small act was highly significant for motivating the staff and encouraging them to recognize a new way of working.

On the more serious side, there are a number of acts that organizations make in times of crisis that allow them to stand out from the crowd. In Liverpool, England during World War I, the Littlewoods, the largest family-owned business in Great Britain, sent each employee who was called up to fight a personal letter guaranteeing them a job upon their return. These letters became legendary.

During the Depression, Levi-Strauss CEO Walter Haas kept employees working when there was no meaningful work for them to do. Malden Mills Chief Aaron Feuerstein continued to pay the 2,400 employees after a devastating fire that practically ruined the business. None of these people legally had to do this. It was just the right thing to do.

These instances tell us so much about these people and their values. Often in organizations it’s individuals who make the difference. Their values permeate the company, and their acts say more than a hundred mission statements ever could. These stories are inspirational to the people who work in these organizations. They take business out of the faceless, nine to five, daily grind that it is more often than not. It gives people something to be proud of.

First appeared in ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ (Australia)

Last month I talked about how to get staff to cope with change in a company. Getting them to rationally accept it is a good start but it is only half the battle.

We all go through various stages in times of change: denial, defence, discarding, adaptation, internalisation. Some of the changes we go through take the blink of an eye - others take years or maybe we never get to the end of the cycle.

A lot of people get stuck between defence and discarding when they cannot get the old system to work properly but will not give the new system a chance either. This seems to be a popular stage for IT implementation.

Defence mode Getting people through the defence and denial stages is difficult. Many of the people you need to change may well have invested a great deal of time and energy in the old system and see you as the devil coming along to destroy it.

Suddenly all the problems with the old system seem to have disappeared. People are finally accepting and using the old system really well. You will even notice an increase in efficiency and self-esteem.

This, of course, is further ammunition for the ’why do we need to change?’ factions. The old system may be working better but it is because people are now putting more effort into it. Left to their own devices people would stay here forever if they could.

There are many stories of people in defence and denial mode, my favourite was from a colleague who was a tax inspector in Wales - he used to inspect betting shops and ensure they had paid the correct amount of tax. One day in 1976 he was working the Swansea valley visiting a small village called Abercwmtoch - a few houses, three pubs, a church and a betting office.

In the betting office he looks through the tickets and sees all sort of strange things: 2 shilling each way bets, 6d wins, 2/6 yankee. This was 1976 - five years after decimalisation, but seemingly it had not quite reached Abercwmtoch yet. ’Ah that new fangled decimalisation,’ you can imagine them saying. ’It’ll never catch on.’ I wonder if they have changed now?

At the denial and defence stage there is a lot of anger and blame - people are vulnerable. Eventually once it is accepted they have no options and the new system is in place. Then it gets worse.

“It’s different.”

“It doesn’t do what we want.”

“You can’t even run that report we used to run.”

“I told you it was rubbish.”

People need more training, to be listened to and encouraged to try things out and make mistakes. This stage is often referred to as ’the pits’ - it cannot get any lower.

Eventually, often painfully slowly, people start getting used to it and things start working - easier, faster and you start hearing:

“I wish we’d had this last year.”

“You can even run that report we used to run.”

“I told you it was a good idea.”

“Can we have it in red?”

The key is communicating with people. Tell them consistently what is happening. Tell them if there is nothing happening. No communication from the centre equals communication on the grapevine. That is how rumours start.

Starting fires

The next stage involves lighting one thousand fires. This is to do with letting go and empowerment.

This is a brave step and takes a mature manager to really make it happen. They have to trust their staff. It is still the manager’s fault if things go wrong - it is delegation not abdication - and they have to let the staff take the credit when things go well.

Before this starts however, you, as the manager have to set the limits and let the people operate within those limits. They need to know two things - the aim (measurable targets in terms of output, cost, time) and the parameters (what are they allowed or not allowed to do). Then off they go. You will be surprised at how much ingenuity and collective wisdom your people have.

The final aspect is support. This is the support you need to give your staff - clear, total and transparent. It is a matter of trust and acceptance. You know there will be mistakes along the line. How do you deal with those mistakes - do you learn from them or do you punish people with them. You know the answer to that one.

First appeared in ‘Across The Board’ (U.S.A.)

The older I get, the easier some parts of my life get. A simple phrase I picked up on a training course a few years ago has solved so many problems. You don’t believe me? Try it.

“When in doubt, tell the truth. When not in doubt, tell the truth.”

Simple. Easy. Brilliant.

Use it as the staple answer for many of your managerial concerns. Your staff have problems, and they want you to help. More often than not, their problem is you. This gem of advice works for them too.

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.”

“What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen?”

“I’d get sacked.”

“Well, you hate the job anyway. I’m joking. You won’t get sacked for telling the truth, will you? Trust me-I’m a trainer.”

A few days later:

“I did it. She never had the faintest idea that it was annoying me. She thought I looked lonely and came to chat to me.”

It’s that simple, usually.

The first time I ran this experiment was at a very senior manager’s meeting. The very senior manager was talking about our attempt to comply with a national standard for training and development. 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 held its breath until she replied, “Neither have I, come to think of it.”

The room laughed, slightly too loudly.

This approach does work, usually, but you can get too blasé and lazy. There’s a temptation to use this to show off. On one memorable occasion, I lost concentration midway through a discussion with my boss and thought I’d show her just how honest I can be. I asked, “If she’s not running the workshop, and he’s not, then who is?”

My manager, never one to let me get away with any nonsense, replied, “You are, you idiot. Keep up.”

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

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

It would be so refreshing to read, “Fred is an ace worker in all aspects apart from figure work. He couldn’t add up two numbers to save his life.” I’d promote him and keep him well away from the accounts department.

I attended a seminar concerning management of people with mental illness. It was absolutely fascinating-full of top tips for managing people who have been off from work with problems. The top tip for me was what to do when they return to work: Don’t ask them how they are. They will tell you the truth-unashamedly, totally, and honestly. That’ll be your whole morning gone.

I heard some similar stories from an equality-of-opportunity course I attended. It was run by an incredibly successful partnership of disabled people.

One of the partners, who had multiple sclerosis, was late coming back from lunch on the first day. He arrived in the room 30 minutes late and cursing.

“What happened?” we asked.

“I had to go to the bank,” he said. “I asked someone how far it was. She said, ‘Oh, it’s only five minutes down the road.’ It took me half an hour!”

They had a wealth of stories about how people react to disabilities. My favourite was the other lecturer’s story about sitting, in his wheelchair, outside Marks & Spencer on a hot summer’s day. He was waiting for his wife and drinking a can of Coke.

A middle-aged woman walked past, looked at him, opened her purse, took out a pound coin, and dropped it in his can. “There,” she smiled and walked off.

“What do you want us to do?” we asked. “Ignore you? Help you?”

“Just tell the truth,” was the answer. “If you see someone in a wheelchair struggling to open a heavy door, 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.