11 Things for Clarity, Pragmatism and just the right amount of Disruption

Do you know what's happening across the organisation and what it means for your area of the business? Or do you rely on your employees to do the right thing for the business as a whole?

These and a raft of other questions are frequently asked by Executives that are connected with what's going on both in their own business unit and wider organisation. Through clarity, pragmatism and just the right amount of disruption, these Executives are connected in a way that increases the level of business benefit they can achieve through their operational and project activities.

We've identified #11Things we believe only a connected Executive could know...

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Practical Project Governance - 4 Traps to Avoid

Governance of projects and initiatives can be a mixed bag. Many see it as a necessary evil; another process and set of meetings that clogs calendars, adds cost, and delays progress. Yet those who understand good governance know it’s an essential part of delivering business value to an organisation. 

Some will be nodding their heads in agreement but it’s what they do next that matters. If all they do is talk and point out others failings, they’re not making any contribution towards improvement. Without action these questions will remain unanswered - Why is governance so time consuming? Why don’t our initiatives line up with our strategy? Where’s all the money going? Why are we really doing this? When will we realise business value from all this investment?

An organisations culture has a large part to do with this cycle of frustration and making changes takes time and and serious commitment. There are however some areas that with a little effort can deliver big benefits. So if you are interested in steps along the road towards good governance, here are 4 traps worth avoiding:

Bring Back Management

There’s something about leadership that’s been nagging at me for a while. It’s nothing to do with leadership itself because leadership has a clear and important role to play in business, personal and career development. My nagging niggle is the amount written about leadership; its airtime is huge making it appear like the be-all and end-all of skills for anyone in charge.

Yet it seems, to me at least, that other skills and knowledge are suffering. Have the fundamentals of management gone so far out of fashion that they’re being lost completely?

The Solution Is In There Somewhere

When faced with a problem that could have multiple solutions, what do you do? There are plenty of resources available about problem solving yet like so many other things the zeal for which a technique or methodology is pursued or applied doesn’t always deliver the best or most appropriate results. And anyway, what’s wrong with the KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach? It’s very effective and can remove a plethora of bureaucracy. There are other benefits too, 4 of which I’ve explored further in this month’s article.

Have a read and tell us how you go about uncovering and agreeing solutions to project challenges.

The Pied Piper of Leadership

On a recent trip to NZ I finally had time to visit the Hard to Find (but worth the effort) Book Shop in Auckland. It’s actually quite easy to find if you know where to look and once you’re in there very easy to get lost amongst the huge and eclectic collection of books. I was on the hunt for a birthday gift and once I found what I wanted hidden in English History amongst a host of fascinating titles, I was distracted by the business section. As I looked up and down the shelves Amanda Sinclair’s Leadership for the Disillusioned caught my eye. It was the word disillusioned that got me and my interest increased as I scanned the Introduction where the first 2 sentences read:

“This leadership book is not about how to run a company. It is for those who are disillusioned by their encounters with leaders and leadership: with idealised heroic performances, impoverished theories and oversimplified templates.”

I bought the book and this post expands one particular gem that when read made me exclaim ‘Yes, that’s exactly what it is!’

It's All In The DNA

It’s not often I register for a webcast but something about the Deloitte’s IWD (International Women’s Day) 2013 one piqued my interest. The subject was ‘Inclusive Leadership as the missing link for advancing women’ and it got me thinking… Is ‘Inclusive Leadership’ just another buzzword and why, if it really is something new, would it make a difference to the advancement of women? 

While there was a lot of interesting discussion and some good points made by the panel, the questions and responses didn’t really identify or highlight anything I hadn’t already seen or experienced. As the webcast progressed it seemed Inclusive Leadership was another way of giving a label to the behaviours leaders ought, in my mind, to be exhibiting anyway. Then finally the last question came – What is the definition of Inclusive Leadership? 

The Executive Factor

Ever wondered how it’s possible to add value through the work you do to an organisation, another person or indeed yourself?  Whether we’re permanent staff or have a bit more flexibility in our employment options it can be frustrating to watch as our ability to create and deliver valuable work is inhibited or stopped by the barriers erected or entrenched positions taken by others. It’s one thing for an organisation to have an appetite for getting things done, it’s quite another for them to actually enable it.

Which is how a recent conversation with a colleague of mine in the USofA kicked off.  Rob Schachter, of RBS Consulting, and I first connected on LinkedIn, as you do, and have been volleying our theories and experiences across the Atlantic for some months. The one significant thing we agree on is that Executives who give a damn make the difference to the work of change agents and whether that work will be a success or failure. Yes that’s right, they give a damn. They give a damn about getting stuff done. They get out of the way so others can do what they do best, and they care about how that stuff fits in to the bigger picture.

This post is a snapshot of our conversation. It shows how working with and for an Executive (sponsor or otherwise) who gives a damn makes for a positive work experience where value is palpable. Following are some of the lessons, principles and good (what’s best today may not be valid tomorrow) practices we derived from our experiences for the benefit of others seeking to succeed with their initiatives.

The Value of Values

Values, everyone has them whether they’re written down or not. Some are negative and some are positive. It’s belief in them that gives them credibility and establishes their value. Where a mission statement defines a company’s purpose, it is the values that help define the behaviours it wants exhibited in order to achieve the mission. Companies can spend ridiculously large sums of money defining, documenting and displaying their values. They’re often quick to capitalise both internally to staff and externally to their market, when they (usually senior management or executives) are displaying those carefully crafted values. Yet it’s interesting to observe how much faster they are to minimise, possibly even ignore, when they’re not. Dare I suggest these often very expensive values only have value when it suits?

When Urgent isn't Urgent at all

In January I was chatting with someone I know who asked if I knew anyone who could ‘operationalise a project’. What he meant was that his company needs help with business readiness and handover of what has been a very long project. Of course I reminded him who he was talking to and started asking questions about what was needed and the timeframe. Our conversation concluded with a mutual understanding that the need was urgent.

Now urgent to me means that the situation is important enough to require immediate attention; straight-away, no mucking about, decision made, let’s get on with it. Even the online Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines the word as:

urgent    adjective   1) requiring immediate action or attention   2) earnest and insistent

Pretty clear really isn't it? Apparently not...

Have Fun!

A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. - Richard Branson

Fun noun light-hearted pleasure or amusement
(source: on-line Compact Oxford English Dictionary)

Fun! Don’t be ridiculous. Doing business must be taken seriously if success is desired. There are always things to do, places to go, people to meet. It’s a tough world out there; survival of the fittest and all that.

Take Bob as an example. He works hard, always has done, and he’s successful. An expert in his field he exudes confidence earning the respect of those he comes into contact with regardless of position, culture or belief. While he enjoys his work and the benefits it brings is he having any fun in the process? Let’s take a look.

Make Ego Work For You

It would be impossible to count the number of times a day comments are made about one ego or another. There’s no denying every one has a sense of self; it could be high or low self-esteem, or an inflated or minimized sense of one’s own self-importance. Ego can be extremely constructive with increased self-esteem driving us forward to achieve better, faster, more. It can also be negative and downright destructive particularly when one’s own level of self-importance no longer exudes a natural level of confidence but rather is perceived by others as complete and utter arrogance.

An inflated sense of self-importance is neither collaborative nor adaptive. It already knows what needs to be done and how to go about doing it. There is no room for other ideas, opinions or input even if they’ve been actively asked for. Can this behaviour deliver the results? Sure, eventually and usually by default rather than by design. Often though it is after a long drawn-out process full of issues, disruption, lost time and increased costs. All things that could with a bit of effort and some different behaviour, quite easily have been avoided. Interestingly enough, Ego generally only cares that delivery has happened. It has little or no awareness of the carnage and anger (yes anger) it has left in its wake. If there is any spec of awareness Ego more often than not moves directly into a blame culture pointing fingers as others must surely be at fault. Does this behaviour make those involved excited and motivated about working with Ego again? (nanosecond pause for thought…) Nope! Be aware the pointing finger - when one finger is pointing out there are 3 pointing back!

We all see and experience this type of behaviour at work, in sport, in the community and in politics. If you say ‘I haven’t’ then you’re likely to be one of 3 things:

• telling a toddy-hopper (fib)
• your Ego's talking; or
• you’re very lucky!

So, let’s see how, when Ego is left outside, a different behaviour can occur and different outcomes are realised.

Different Behaviours creating Different Outcomes…
A new warehouse management process is about to undergo the final stages of testing prior to being rolled out across all European operations and, while you’ve been praising everyone for their efforts to encourage a last push for the final delivery, a major problem has occurred. The RF Scanners purchased months ago will not work with the software and testing has ground to halt. What happens next?

When the behaviour of Ego is triggered this is what usually happens. Questions are asked for information to be gathered but the responses are paid lip-service because at the same time instructions are issued on what to do. There is likely to be escalation without qualified understanding, demands on the Vendor for immediate resolution, and various other actions that will be viewed as self-protection. The result is normally one of confusion, annoyance, long hours, lost time and demotivation.
When a different behaviour is triggered there’s room to collaborate. Where the possibility to adapt swiftly to the noise pollution and frustration exists and acts as a calming influence to all. Quick information gathering conversations are organised to get the information necessary for sufficient problem definition and clear communication across the organisation. Collaboration ensures people feel valued and are willing to participate. Short-term contingencies with sensible long-serving resolutions are organised appropriately. The result is normally one where those involved clearly understand the impact, are focused and willing to do whatever is necessary.

Through collaboration¹ and adaptation² the decision maker can ask questions that dig below the surface, involve the obvious people along with those less obvious with an equally valuable contribution to make, and gather the information necessary for an appropriate yet quick resolution.
Note the reference to an ‘appropriate’ resolution and not the ‘right’ one. Why? Because there is no right or wrong, there is only what is most appropriate at a given point in time with the current information available, the variables at play and what is known or projected at that moment about the future.

¹ collaboration - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative
² adaptation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive