http://nlp-experts.org/ Leadership skills, how to improve how we lead? en Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:42:02 GMT vBulletin 60 http://nlp-experts.org/images/misc/rss.png http://nlp-experts.org/ http://nlp-experts.org/leadership/104-richard-sanders-leadership.html Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:47:25 GMT *Leadership - Richard Sanders* Leadership - Discussion between Group Strategy Director at the John Lewis Partnership, Richard Sanders and NLP... Leadership - Richard Sanders

Leadership - Discussion between Group Strategy Director at the John Lewis Partnership, Richard Sanders and NLP Trainer Michael Beale



http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/Leadersh...Leadership.mp3

(Please allow up to 2 minutes for the MP3 download if you would like to listen to the discussion)

Michael : Good afternoon, Richard. Firstly, let me say that I'm really delighted that you're taking part in this podcast about leadership. If I could ask you to kick off, could you introduce yourself and let your listeners know a little something about you.

Richard : Absolutely. I'm Richard Sanders, and my work role is as Group Strategy Director at the John Lewis Partnership. I?ve got a daughter and I?ve got another coming along in a few weeks - so hopefully the phone doesn't go during this interview.

I?ve been a Business and Change Consultant for pretty much the last ten years, but I actually started out as a factory manager.

Michael : So in the context that you're going to talk about, tell us about the situation that you're leading in.

Richard : It's actually a little different than you might imagine a straight forward leader to be acting in - but the situation is, throughout the entirety of my career I?ve been leading as a key influencer, as opposed to somebody that has authority and direct control over the projects or resources, that they were trying to influence.

So it's very much a relevance-consultant kind of leadership. Getting the most out of people that you're working with, rather than help those who are working for you.

Michael : What are some of the issues that you face doing that leadership role?

Richard : In a funny sort of way my style has developed because of the situation. I see that there are many opportunities as well as issues or threats. The difficulty is without having control and without having a Line Manager?s authority over people you obviously have to buy them in, in a very different way, than if you are in a bit more of a command-and-control approach, which says, "We'll do this, and you don't have to bother so much with the reasons why."

In the case that you're influencing people to perhaps do things outside of their day job, largely for the sake of good will - obviously the situation is very different.

Michael : Within that context, what do you actually see as your job as being a leader? And actually, I'll ask you the second bit of that question too - What would you see as some of the indicators that you're doing a good job?

Richard : I guess you learn as you go along - and there are three key areas for me:

The first, for me, is picking the right team, and a sign of that, an indication of a good team?s abilities, is that people are actually happy doing the work that you've set for them. They're able to do the work, they've got enough time, and the work follows on from that. So that's an absolutely important part of being a leader - having a good team.

The second part that goes along with that, which is equally important I guess, is actually around good alignment. I think people take leadership in a number of ways. You have to make sure that the goals that you set are good, congruent goals that everybody understands in the same way, and therefore you get good alignment.

A good test there is, if you set a challenge, or an issue comes up, and people react in a way that is congruent, that is a good indicator that you've got good alignment.

And the final one actually, is just about energy. So if you've got the good people, and a good alignment - the other part I think is motivation and energy, and getting a good sense of how far people might be able to stretch themselves, in a way that's just motivating - but at the same time it?s not controlling, it?s freeing them, giving them the spirit to do the right things, to all your mutual benefit.

Michael : Moving on from that, where do you spend most of your time as a leader? Is it in the office, is it out there talking to stake-holders? Where do you actually spend most of your time?

Richard : It?s in meeting rooms, but often the meeting rooms of stake-holders, or other areas of the team. Another key area where leadership happens, is when you're thinking through your materials, thinking through your project plans - So actually in front of a screen, in front of an email, it?s actually that form of communication as well - but first and foremost in meetings.

Michael : Now moving on from environment - What do you think are some of the key behaviours, particularly in regards to getting buy-in and motivation.

Richard : I might go into specific contexts in this one. One of the hardest areas to get behaviour is around organisational change - A very sensitive area, and that's where you might test yourself and think, "What are your behaviours?", and there I might acutely catch myself listening a little more closely, more focused, in order to pick up the nuances and influences of each of the key stake-holders that you've got to then influence.

So it?s a really heightened sense of observation, taking everything in, stepping back from meetings having asked the open-ended questions. And that's a key behaviour if you're then going to act in such a way as to influence, in an appropriate way, those key individuals, as opposed to a bland, a one-size-fits-all way of influencing.

Michael :What skills do you have that you think enables you to do this well?

Richard : Something about observation. It?s a skill, it?s also a motivation - it's an interest in people that leads to that - an observation ability.

But something that comes closely after is a capability to sort through those various issues that come back and prioritise - it's an ability to work out what you're seeing and hearing about a problem, the most important aspects of the situation, of the problem, of whatever you're dealing with.

Michael : So it?s more than the listening, it?s the picking out of important parts of that and deciding what to do next.

Richard : Absolutely. And being ruthless with yourself, because you'll often hear, especially in those sort of organisational-change situations, fifteen to twenty issues from just one person.

You've got to pick out the two or three things that would unlock that situation, either with a decision, or in finding a better way to get you working, and focus on those - because if you focus on any more you lose impact and you don't tend to get there. So prioritization is really important.

Michael : Now, do you think that these are skills that you are born with, or that you got through your education, or you got through your work life, or something happened to enable you to improve them?

Richard : I was born with the interest in them. The interest in people I?ve always had, and I think the interest of coming up with a plan, that was simple - I think to an extent has always been there.

So I think that I?ve learnt an awful lot about the importance of prioritisation and how to go about observation, and I think that's something that anyone can pick up.

Michael : What beliefs do you have about yourself as a leader?

Richard : I think you've got to believe that regardless of the situation, and regardless of the people around you, the stake-holders and so on - actually you can make a difference. And therefore at the heart of what you're trying to observe, and at the heart of the team that you're trying to influence, you will do something that is of use, therefore it?s worth persevering and putting the energy in.

So I think that's the important part, really backing yourself to make a difference.

Michael : And what about the people that you're leading - particularly in the context of organisational change, where some people may be pro, some people may be less so ? What?s your approach to the people that you're leading?

Richard : It's funny when you break the situation down like this. I definitely believe that the views of everyone in those situations are worth understanding. So even with people who appear to be a dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast for the perhaps prehistoric way of doing things will have something to impart to you with either the relevance of the future or will help you with the change.

So I think that you have to believe first of all that there's something of value there in order to, again, spur yourself on and spend time on developing that. Working out value, you have to start with the belief that there is something in that.

Michael : Do you have an identity, or a mission? Who would you say Richard was when you're a leader?

Richard : I think its as someone who is more of a coach - someone who is inclined to help people to see the solution for themselves.

And that links a number of things that you've talked about doesn't it? It links that people have something that they contribute, so they have part of the answer themselves - that really what you're doing is facilitating and bringing together all of those aspects of the solution together into one whole, and the only way that you'd do that is by involving everyone in a thorough and fully-involved sense.

So that's a coach or facilitator, rather than somebody that has that solution and imposes it on other people.

Michael : Not necessarily in your particular situation, but as a generalisation - if you had to choose a leader in the same context that you're talking about, how would you know who to choose?

Richard : Actually I think it would be fairly straight forward if I was going to look for someone who would do things in the same kind of way.

You'd know that individual by the fact, that if you interviewed them or talked to them they were - first of all, able to gather information from you, being non prescriptive in their questioning of you, perhaps about the role and so on - you'd actually be able to pick out the act that they were interested, and that they were looking for more than just the surface answers to some of your questions.

I think you would see that quite quickly. What you'd like to see in practice would be their ability to then do that with a wide variety of people at different levels of seniority and different backgrounds.

And I think that might be harder to test - but I think you might be able to see that at work at different meetings, and at interviews you'll quickly be able to recognise them.

Michael : Now, this may sound a strange question, but I'm always really fascinated by the answer I get back from people - If you were to describe leadership as a metaphor or a story, with cartoon characters or animals, or anything of that ilk - how would you describe the relationship of a leader and the people they are leading?

Richard : Well, without being drawn into the Dilbert equivalent, which is the bad boss, the evil boss, which would be the obvious one. It is one way, but I don't feel it?s the correct way of leadership.

And I think on cartoon characters, on fairy tale characters - it's interesting isn't it? There are actually lots of stories out there for leadership, and certainly for people finding their own direction. I think leadership has quite a lot embedded into the fairy tale and myths. I'm a great believer in story-telling and so on.

But it?s more the parental side of things. I don't know if that's Geppetto with Pinocchio and there are several equivalents to that. There's the fairy godmother, or there's the person who comes along and helps you - helps the individual, the key characters in the story, to get to their desired outcomes.

But it?s not necessarily the key or central figure in the story.

Michael : Excellent. Now you've been good enough to talk to us for almost fifteen minutes about your leadership style and your view on leadership - is there anything that you're doing that you'd like to plug, or you want people to know about?

Richard : That's a very fair question. Well, I represent the John Lewis Partnership, and something I would say about the John Lewis Partnership, which is Waitrose and John Lewis, is that some of these issues about leadership, and slightly paternal leadership, are actually embedded in the culture of the business.

And hopefully people out there will listen to this and realise that quite a few of these leadership ideas are actually a part of good service, in some cases. In that case it probably is an example of people having direct control over what's going on and so on, but I think that the model does stretch to that - you see people, who are being leaders, actually following up and doing what they can for you as opposed to actually letting other people do that.

Michael : I like that. Can you give people your contact details in case anybody wants to contact you?

Richard : Absolutely fine - you can do that through my hotmail account, so that would be - richard_sanders@hotmail.com

And I welcome any ideas that people have.

Michael : Thank you very much indeed for that.

Richard : No problem ]]> Leadership michaelbeale@ppimk.com http://nlp-experts.org/leadership/104-richard-sanders-leadership.html http://nlp-experts.org/leadership/89-david-sales-interview.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:47:08 GMT NLP Leadership - David Sales *Leadership - Discussion between Managing Director of the First Ascent Group, David Sales and NLP Trainer Michael... NLP Leadership - David Sales

Leadership - Discussion between Managing Director of the First Ascent Group, David Sales and NLP Trainer Michael Beale

David is an energetic practitioner, coach and speaker on effective leadership. His approach is based firmly in his experiences of leading teams through challenging situations. He honed his skills and values in the changing world of UK telecommunications, as the industry moved from a monopoly environment to the competitive battleground of today.

David has an honours degree from Cambridge University and an MBA from Warwick University. He has three children, lives near Cambridge in the UK and enjoys both triathlon and adventuring.



(You can listen to the discussion on the following MP3 file. Please allow up to 2 minutes for the file to download.)

http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/Leadership/david_sales.mp3

Transcript Below ]]> Leadership michaelbeale@ppimk.com http://nlp-experts.org/leadership/89-david-sales-interview.html http://nlp-experts.org/leadership/12-judith-germain-interview.html Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:38:45 GMT *NLP Leadership - Judith Germain* Leadership - Discussion between Michael Beale and Judith Germain, November 2007. Image:... NLP Leadership - Judith Germain

Leadership - Discussion between Michael Beale and Judith Germain, November 2007.



Judith Germain FCIPD is Managing Director of Dynamic Transitions Ltd and specialises in developing leadership talent. She has over 10 years experience working with wilfully independent people which she defines as mavericks or Troublesome Talent?. In this interview she explains why managing Troublesome Talent? is vital to a company's success.

(You can listen on the following MP3 file, please allow 2 minutes to download)

http://www.nlp-expert.co.uk/leadership/judith.mp3


Judith : Hi Michael

Michael : Firstly I'd like to thank you very much for taking part in this conversation on leadership and Troublesome Talent. To kick it off, could you give our listeners a brief introduction of who you are and what you do?

Judith : Sure no problem I'm a leadership specialist and I spend a lot of time working with people that I call mavericks or troublesome talent which I define as wilfully independent people

Michael : Would you like to put some more words around that? A little bit more detail of what a Troublesome Talent is?

Judith : Well Troublesome Talents are people that really don't compromise their standards to fit in. Which means it can be very hard to manage them in a conventional way.

Michael : And why do you think this topic is important to companies?

Judith : I think that it's really important because the way that the world is going now is that you have to be very innovative if you want to grow your company, and increase market share, you're going to have to do things that are different you need to be a bit more unreasonable and to break the status quo.

Michael : So building, are there particular situations or contexts where you really need these people?

Judith : Yes, if you think about your talent pool, troublesome talent tends to be as much as 20% of this talent pool, but they can be bringing in about 80% of your profit. So situations where they're really, really key is where you need to make a shift change perhaps maybe after a merger of acquisition, a change management program where you really need to have somebody, or a group of individuals that can really look at what the company has been doing in the past and see a way forward.

You know, like a Richard Branson or a Ricardo Semler.

Michael : Are there times when they're not useful?

Judith : Well I'd rather say that it's not a case of they're not useful, I think maybe the point that you made earlier about whether or not they could be dangerous or not would be a better question in some respects and I think troublesome talent can be very dangerous when they feel restricted and they have very little autonomy and when they feel they don't feel like they're getting the recognition that they that they deserve.

Michael : Well that moves us onto the next question, what's the reason that you think they need special attention?

Judith : Because they're very sensitive. And they believe that they're very unique to everybody else. So the thought of being managed in the way that everybody else is being managed is not something that they like. Also, because of the way that they think, in terms of that they need structure, without structure, it means that you can't take a single approach. So a lot of things that happen these days people will look at things like Talent Management and believe that what they have to do is treat each and every employee the same way to be fair and consistent but that's not going to work for the troublesome talent, because you do need to treat them differently if you wan to get the best from them.

Michael : So, how could you help them perform, or how could you advise your clients to help them get the best value from these people?

Judith : I think that the first thing you need to consider is not to take a management approach with Troublesome Talent but to take a leadership approach.

Michael : What's the difference?

Judith : Well managers tend to be very administrative, very task orientated, very this is the rules, and you need to follow the rules. And I say that leaders are more interested in the outcome, and the best way to get that way. So a typical maverick, a typical troublesome talent would say ok you want me to increase profits by giving the best customer service, but as a manager you're saying to me that I need to spend two minutes with each customer call. So the troublesome talent would say actually that's not really applicable, if you want me to give great customer service, you need to give me the flexibility to choose how I spend my time in that day.

Michael : Can you give me a success story where you've worked with one of these people, or you've got the companies to work with one of these people and you generated really good results form them?

Judith : Yes, I was working with one particular company where they had an individual, a troublesome talent, who was pretty much carrying the company. They were a manager, and in their department they were pretty much adding to 30% of the companies profit, but they were quite wayward in the sense of this individual, if he had a member of staff that wasn't performing he would just say you're rubbish and I'm going to sack you - obviously for them it caused lots of moral issues.

The director in charge of the individual didn't know what to do. So I was working with the director you see. He wasn't quite sure what to do because he knew that if he didn't manage this guy properly the director would get sacked and obviously the guy wouldn't be performing. So what I pretty much did was work with the director so he could understand what was driving the individual, the appropriate ways to work with him, so he could actually harness that talent rather then just ignoring it - because the thing with troublesome talent, is they know they're very good and if you don't manage them in the right way, they will take control.

Michael : And what was the result?

Judith : Well before my intervention the company was loosing a lot of staff, and costs were increasing through staff turnover, increased sickness and moral issues so people were starting to not want to work in that department. They started loosing staff in the market, where it's pretty difficult to get the right employees in, in the first place.

And afterwards the manager was really starting to enjoy himself because he could see that he was adding to the company, and he was being recognised for what he could do, and one of the things that was frustrating him was that he couldn't understand why he wasn't being promoted, and why the company wasn't really that happy with him even though he was actually brining in profits for the company.

Michael : Before I ask you to give your contact details so anybody that wants to can contact you is there anything else that you'd like to add on the topic of leadership or troublesome talent?

Judith : I think all I would add is that troublesome talent really sums it up. These are people that are talented, but they only really become troublesome if they're not lead properly, so I think one of the problems is that troublesome talent tends to get avoided if they don't go on talent management programs and they're not really awarded for the good things that they can do, because people want to control them or just take away the very talent that's made them successful.

Michael : And if anybody wants to contact you to discuss this further how do they do so?

Judith : Probably by email. Which is Judith@developing-leadership.com or by phone 02082880512

Michael : Ok, thank you very much

Judith : Thank you. ]]> Leadership michaelbeale@ppimk.com http://nlp-experts.org/leadership/12-judith-germain-interview.html