The LCP blog has moved!

Thanks to everyone who has read and contributed to the Learning Consultancy Partnership (LCP) blog over the past eighteen months.

We've now moved over to our website, so find our latest management training, leadership and development updates on our new look blog over on the LCP Website. We hope to see you there!

Sharing ideas and resources

We love the generosity of social media participants who willingly support each other and pass on tips, articles and advice. If you are studying, undertaking research or writing whitepapers this is a great place to ask for, and offer, help.

We have used tools like LinkedIn and Twitter to find IT support, get recommendations for books and training activities as well as a resource for up-to-date, and relevant, articles. We have also made a few friends in the process!

Let us know about your experiences of social media

Tribunal claims up by 56%

Did you know that employment tribunal claims have risen by 56% according to figures published by the Tribunal Service and quoted by Personnel Today? In 2009/2010 there was almost a quarter of a million claims, an increase of over 150,000 from the previous year.

Claims that increased included:

Working Time Directive (up a staggering 297%) impacted by airline employees)
Redundancy pay (up by 76%) not surprising given the current economic conditions
Age discrimination (up 37%)
Unfair dismissal claims (up 9%)

The press has been talking a ‘summer of discontent’ with the threat of strikes in a number of our national institutions like BA and BT.

One way to reduce the risk of expensive and time consuming tribunal claims is to make sure your managers are trained so employees are provided with regular support regarding their performance and development. A little time and money invested in developing your managers now could result in great savings of time, money and energy further down the line.

Use the following link to get access to the full article.

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/07/07/56191/tribunal-claims-increase-by-56-to-the-highest-level-ever-recorded.html

The unwritten contract between employer and employee

The recession and growing deficit has led to a number of organisations having to cut back on recruitment, working hours and bonuses. Most employees have understood the need for these measures even though they are not happy with them, but in this climate of cutbacks, there is a danger that organisations forget about the basic unwritten psychological contract between employers and employees.

Despite the economic environment, employees still need to feel they are being treated fairly and with respect; they need to know what is expected of them and what they will be offered in return. Although organisational directives and HR policies and procedures provide a framework for leaders, it is how these are implemented in practice day-to-day that is critical to whether employees perceive that the psychological contract is being upheld.

If an individual perceives that the organisation has failed to meet its obligations then the contract has been breached, this happens when the organisation does not deliver in practice what it has promised, and can take many forms:

• Lack of autonomy
• Lack of training and development
• Lack of career advancement / promotional opportunities
• Lack of job security
• Inadequate compensation
• Lack of management support
• Lack of recognition

Rosseau 1996; Deery, Iverson & Walsh 2003

So what do leaders have to do to adhere to this contract? Guest argues that good leaders who adhere to the psychological contract:

• Make reasonable demands and ensure a manageable workload
• Give employees some personal control over their work
• Provide support from both themselves and other colleagues
• Encourage positive relationships at work
• Provide clarity about the role
• Involve employees in changes which affect them

The benefits of which, are plain, and all of the above can be realised without affecting the bottom line. To use the psychological contract effectively, leaders need to recognise that it is a two-way deal and address the inner core of fairness, trust and well-being at grass roots level. They can also focus on issues such as training and development, empowerment and work-life balance. Line managers have a key role in maintaining employee satisfaction and commitment.

As another blogger recently quoted “Employees will soon, once again, have a choice of employment and those employers who spent the last 1-2 years believing they could do what they want to employees - who would take it, just to ‘have a job’ - will end up holding the short end of the competitive advantage stick very soon.”

You have to mean what you say

A recent article by Stephen A. Greyser (Harvard Business School, June 2010) considered how BP has managed, or not, its reputation during the ecological disaster that is happening in the Gulf of Mexico. His main point is that BP has done themselves a real disservice by actively promoting and marketing their green credentials beyond the level that they could deliver. He states:

“…the company positioned itself as a firm that wanted to be held to a higher environmental standard than others in the industry. Staking that claim — without significantly altering the company's operations to reflect that commitment — may prove to be a fatal blow to the once-storied brand. ……Now, the stark contrast between BP's image and reality has substantially weakened its reputation. The company's green multi-petalled logo is well on its way to being a symbol of environmental disaster.”

In today’s competitive operating environment it can be tempting to overpromise in order to secure new business or attract talent but, although it may pay off in the short term, longer-term the price to pay can be high. Raising expectations beyond what you can deliver is never a good strategy for sustainable business and clients want transparency, honesty and integrity from their suppliers. Trust is the foundation of all healthy business relationships and breaking it can have serious repercussions.

Taking time to think

Last week, we had IT and telecomms challenges which meant I had a day without the internet or a phone line. What soon became apparently obvious was how much ‘noise’ is generated by these two mediums and how much time you can spend checking and responding to calls, emails, rss feeds, forums, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

The dilemma I was faced with was; do I work from home or stay in the office and spend the time thinking and planning for the future? I choose the latter and was delighted I did, as it reinforced the power of reflective thought.

As leaders, it is so important to take time out of the busy environments we operate in to clarify our thought processes and evaluate how far our organisations have come and what we still need to achieve. The more strategic responsibilities a leader has, the more thinking time they need, to ensure the right resources are focused on the right priorities in order to deliver the strategic plan and longer-term growth.

All leaders have demands on their time and are often being asked to deliver more with less; one way to do this is to take a ‘step back’ and really think about what has been achieved and how it can be improved in the future? Nancy Kline in her book ‘Time to Think’ (1999) observes ‘..everything we do depends for its quality on the thinking we do first’.

A question I would like to ask you is ‘Do you provide enough time and space for your leadership population to think?’

If you asked your employees how much they trust their managers - what would they say?

"The rules for work are changing. We're being judged by a new yardstick: not just by how smart we are, or by our training and expertise, but also by how well we handle ourselves and each other."

This is Daniel Goleman's opening statement in his book Working with Emotional Intelligence.

Today, as leaders are striving to attract and engage employees, influence clients and suppliers and work collaboratively on joint ventures with third parties, the need for highly developed interpersonal skills and trust is more important than ever.

In his book The Speed of Trust Covey states that successful organisations are reliant on the level of trust they develop and that in the new global economy the ability to establish, grow, extend and restore trust is a critical leadership competency.

He argues that effective leaders ensure their organisational structures and systems are aligned to the core organisational beliefs, values and behaviours. He also believes that those who build trust with their internal stakeholders will benefit from accelerated growth, enhanced innovation, improved collaboration and stronger partnerships.

He discusses the 5 waves of trust:

Self trust - our own trust worthiness and personal credibility (integrity, intent, capabilities and results).

Relationship trust - the ability to build trust accounts with others. We make deposits by building trust and withdrawals by destroying trust and the amount of trust we have in a relationship is the balance left.

Organisational trust - how leaders create trust in their organisations.

Market trust - the level of trust in the organisation's reputation and brand which will influence whether people will buy from you, invest in you or recommend you to others.

Societal trust - creating value for society and being a good citizen in the community.

A survey by Mercer Consulting found that more than 60% of employees don't believe their senior managers always communicate honestly. The results also showed that the more accessible and visible leaders were they more likely they were to be trusted.

So the question is - how important is trust within your organisation and does every leader know it?