LCP Update

The LCP blog has moved!

2010-08-18T01:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

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%

2010-07-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-28T04:50:00.000-07:00

"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?

Are you renewing your batteries?

2010-05-19T05:06:00.000-07:00

Today we read an article by Tony Schwartz ‘For Real Productivity, Less is Truly More’ (Harvard Business Review 19 May 2010) about increasing productivity through regular renewal breaks. He suggests that at a certain point working harder becomes counterproductive and I guess most of us have experienced ‘burnout’ at different times during the day.

His ideas are based on sleep research which proposes we experience Ultradian rhythms, which are recurrent periods or cycles repeated throughout a 24-hour period. These Ultradian rhythms occur at regular intervals during the day and night and, for most people, last between 90 and 120 minutes, resulting in increased energy which leads to improved productivity levels. These are followed by a period of between 20 to 30 minutes of low energy.

To make the most of these rhythms Schwartz suggests working in intensive 90 minute bursts with good renewal breaks in between. He says:

“The counterintuitive secret to sustainable great performance is to live like a sprinter. In practice, that means working at your highest intensity in the mornings, for no more than 90 minutes at a time before taking a true break. And getting those who work for you to do the same”.

Today many leaders are facing the challenge of doing more with less resources and trying this technique may lead to a double bonus of increased employee well-being together with improved productivity and we are certainly going to give it a go!

“Think before you speak”

2010-04-14T00:33:00.001-07:00

This phrase caught our attention in a recent blog by Chris Farmer. Chris’ advice was to think about the consequences of what you are going to say before you say it.

We agree, too often things are said in haste or are not thought through carefully enough before being delivered. Giving and receiving feedback at work is an important, but often overlooked, area.

From our experience we know that providing leaders and managers with the knowledge and skills to both give and receive feedback effectively can greatly enhance team communication and employee engagement, ultimately leading to better organisational performance.

No news is good news

2010-03-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Wrong! According to a survey by Gallup Inc. ‘The relationship between engagement at work and organisational outcomes’, the worst choice is to give no feedback at all.

Of the 37% of employees who reported their bosses as concentrating on their strengths, 61% reported being engaged in their job; of the 11% who reported their bosses as focusing solely on negative characteristics, only 45% reported being engaged, a drop of 16%. But the worst engagement scores were found in the 25% of employees who reported themselves in the ‘ignored’ category with just 2% of them being highly engaged and 97% as either not engaged or actively disengaged. We’re not sure what happened to the other 1%?

From one of the definitions cited in ‘Engaging for success; enhancing performance through employee engagement’ a Government report from David MacLeod and Nita Clarke engagement is:

“A set of positive attitudes and behaviours enabling high job performance of a kind which are in tune with the organisation’s mission.” (Professor John Storey).

Their report goes on to say.....

“We hope this report will set out a compelling case to encourage more companies and organisations to adopt engagement approaches. We believe the evidence we cite of a positive correlation between an engaged workforce and improving performance is convincing. We have also set out to demystify engagement by defining what it is and what it can do for organisations and individuals. We look at the crucial role of leadership, of so-called soft skills, the role of line managers, the importance of employee voice and the positive role trade unions and employee representatives can play.

Furthermore we hope it makes the case why, faced with the challenges of recession, “although adopting employee engagement strategies is challenging for firms at this juncture, actually it’s more important than ever.” In the words of David Yeandle of the EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation: “It will be hard to get through the recession without engaging your workforce.”

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills agrees and has recently published employee engagement guidance notes on their website which can be downloaded from http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/employment-matters/strategies/employee-engagement.

All good leaders know that you only get really great results from individuals and teams who are involved and committed to their job and organisation through regular coaching and feedback – it’s nothing new, but good to see the Government putting some time and energy into promoting the message!

A big thank you

2010-03-15T03:42:00.000-07:00

Recently I read a blog about the importance of publicly thanking those suppliers who help and support your business. We are all quick to criticise when things do not work as planned but I suspect ‘thank you’ is rarer.

So on behalf of LCP I would like to publicly say a ‘big thank’ you to:

Anna Haynes who is our marketing advisor and copy editor for doing such a fab job. You can find Anna on Twitter at http://twitter.com/annakhaynes

Nik Bizzell-Browning of Bizbro Web Design http://www.bizbro.co.uk who has worked with us on our website design and upkeep for the last five years. Thank you for your patience and responsiveness.

Alan Pike who has looked after our IT needs for the last five years and helps us through bad technology days with efficiency and a wicked sense of humour. You can find Alan on Twitter at http://twitter.com/alanpike

In addition we would like to thank other suppliers that we have worked with on an ad hoc basis over the years. We appreciate your help and support!

The less tangible side of leadership

2010-03-04T06:09:00.000-08:00

“Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without strategy.” Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

So how important are leadership behaviours in improving employee performance and driving organisational success? If they are important, then which characteristics, traits, and actions, do your leaders need to demonstrate in order to develop motivated employees who will deliver your strategic plan?

As with other employees, leaders perform best when they are clear about what is expected of them; if you only measure and feedback on results against targets and deadlines, then this is what they will focus on.

But what about the other aspect of leadership, the less tangible side which is less about command and control and more about inclusion, empowerment and openness?

An article by Hamlin et al 2007, ‘Developing effective leadership behaviours: The value of evidence-based management’, studied effective and ineffective managerial and leadership behaviours within an international UK telecoms company. Their results supported other research (e.g. Hamlin 2004), which suggests there are generic leadership behaviours that are effective irrespective of industry sector.

Their results showed the following behaviours to be valued:

> Being responsive to ,and interested in, others
> Consults and includes others in decision making
> Conducts regular and effective performance reviews
> Takes ownership of problems
> Empowers others to use their own initiative
> Recognises the contribution of others
> Uses information, knowledge and experience to make sound decisions
> Plans projects
> Is innovative and looks for continuous improvement
> Is sensitive and will tackle difficult issues
> Shows passion and enthusiasm
> Is accountable
> Is direct and open with communications
> Coaches and mentors others
> Leads by example
> Considers the impact before taking action

Ineffective leadership behaviours were reported as:

> Lack of personal commitment and respect for others
> Does not involve others in decisions
> No accountability
> Reactive - focus is on the detail rather than the bigger picture
> Cancels meetings
> Irrational or temperamental
> Vague communications
> Does not communicate or manage change effectively
> Does not clarify expectations
> Uncomfortable with conflict
> Focuses on obstacles
> Too tolerant of low standards and poor performance
> Inadequate preparation and planning

Being clear about the leadership behaviours you expect in your organisation will provide a number of significant benefits including developing and retaining the human capability and talent in your business, as well as creating consistency and best practice in both leadership and management across the entire organisation.

Having a clear framework outlining the competencies and behaviours required will help to ensure leadership development initiatives focus on the strategic imperatives of any institution or business.

We would be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences about how leadership behaviours have been used in organisations you have worked in.

The optimism of a younger generation

2010-02-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

Being the parent of two Millennials or Generation Ys as they are sometimes referred to; I am always interested in research concerning this younger generation.

A recent US report from the Pew Research Center 'Millennials; Confident. Connected. Open to change’ has found that despite the recession and current lack of job opportunities, they are more upbeat than their predecessors about their futures and the state of the nation.

The researchers also argue that this generation is set to become the most educated in history:

Millennials are on course to become the most educated generation in American history, a trend driven largely by the demands of a modern knowledge-based economy, but most likely accelerated in recent years by the millions of 20-somethings enrolling in graduate schools, colleges or community colleges in part because they can't find a job.

When asked ‘What makes your generation unique? Their top five responses were:

Technology use (24%)
Music/pop culture (11%)
Liberal/tolerant (11%)
Smarter (6%)
Clothes (5%)

When asked about their priorities, parenthood and marriage, came much higher up than careers and financial success.

If you are interested in what motivates and drives this generation of young people you can download the full report from http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf

How to get the best from your boss

2010-02-17T01:44:00.000-08:00

Did you know there are training courses to teach you how to manage upwards? From the course description the target audience is “For people who want to have more influence and authority when dealing with those senior to them”. Well I expect at sometime, or other, that’s all of us.

Your relationship with your line manager is probably one of the most important you have at work and sometimes it is good to remember that they often need you as much as you need them.

So what are some of the things we can do to pursue a healthy and productive relationship based on mutual respect?

Believe it or not our bosses are human and, as such, have the same human motivations and drivers as the rest of us. Where they are probably different is the amount of complexity and pressure they have to deal with as part of their role.

From our experience of working with a number of senior leaders, we know that one of their most precious resources is ‘time’ and anything that their direct reports can deliver that genuinely saves them time will be very much appreciated.

Looking at situations from our bosses’ perspectives can give us great insights into how to improve our working relationships with them.

To help you consider how to get the best from your boss we have put together a few questions for you to consider:

• Have you and your boss had a good discussion about the expectations of your role? If yes, do you have regular meetings to review these expectations?

• Do you know what your boss’s biggest priorities/issues/pressures are and how you might be able to help them deliver or resolve them?

• Are you keeping them in the loop with regular updates? If yes, are you providing them with the right amount of information for their needs?

• Do you talk to them about longer-term timeframes or is it always fire fighting? Remember bosses tend to work on longer timescales and strategic objectives.

• Do you know their preferred communication style? Do they prefer emails, face to face, detailed reports or high level overviews?

• Have you clearly told them what support you need from them to do your job well?

• Do you offer them solutions rather than problems?

These are just a few things to think about and we would be delighted to hear your comments about the tips you have for managing your boss more effectively.

Leadership development, succession planning and attracting talent are key objectives for HR professionals and senior leaders in 2010

2010-02-09T02:26:00.000-08:00

The Henley Business School survey ‘Corporate Learning priorities survey 2010’ found that 67% of respondents (n=80) see leadership development as a key priority to ensure leaders can manage the aftermath of the credit crunch and changes in economic conditions.

From the 120 responses, developing senior and middle managers was seen as important (approximately 80% had this in their top five priorities), to help them lead their organisations through the uncertainty of the coming years. Attracting new talent was also reported as a high priority.

Coaching also appeared in the top five priorities but only 9% had it in their top two – does this mean there is less interest in coaching than previously, or are organisations focused on other priorities, such as attracting new talent to their business?

Respondents were mainly from larger organisations of 500 plus employees, and we would be interested to see if you think similar trends are happening in the SME market? We would be delighted to hear your thoughts?

A copy of the survey can be downloaded from the Henley Business School website www.henley.com by searching for Corporate Learning priorities survey 2010.

Time for Reflection

2010-01-25T06:06:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of a new year and a new decade, there’s bound to be much reflection – what will the ‘tennies/teenies?’ bring? Many organisations are reviewing their business plans and taking stock of their performance over the last 12 months to see what lessons can be learned.

From our own research we’ve found that there is a general consensus that things will not return to 'business as usual' after the recovery but rather, 'business as unusual'.

Some believe that employees will become less reliant on their employer for their sole source of income, and two jobs, or ‘portfolio’ working will become the norm.

HR professionals will have to become far more business-savvy, knowledge-based staff, especially, will be looking to move on, and training and development programmes will be much more results-oriented.

Although this picture could look bleak, in fact, it is also potentially rather refreshing. Businesses can’t afford to rest on their laurels, but will need to work harder and smarter if they want to come out of this recession older, wiser and more profitable. If you’d like to read more, have a look at our latest newsletter, which goes into these ideas in more detail.

Teamwork in adversity

2010-01-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

As we look out at the winter landscape it seems as if nature is saying ‘slow down and take time to think about where you are going!’

Many of us have been forced out of our normal routines by this freezing weather and have had to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. This has challenged many people to be creative and to work together to get things done; there has been a real sense of community with neighbours helping each other out and those with 4x4’s offering transport help.

Working together in adversity has a positive side and can encourage great teamwork – something to think about from an organisational standpoint?

Leadership - a balancing act?

2009-12-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

As a learning and development consultancy it is important we keep up to date on the latest thinking on leadership theory. However, it is often examples from ‘real life’ that help us to focus on what’s important for those who lead others.

Today, I went to a supermarket that has had a complete overhaul. The products have been strategically positioned for maximum impact and music was being played to get customers into the Christmas spending mood. It must have cost a fortune!

Retail and, supermarkets in particular, have been great at using metrics to anlayse our spending habits and provide tailored and bespoke offerings to encourage us to part with our money – Amazon’s targeted online marketing is a great example. But understanding your customer is only half the story, the second part involves treating them well during the transaction and this is where it all fell apart today.

Those of you of a certain age may remember the almost compulsory ’Video Arts’ tapes that were played on most training courses in the UK. One that has stuck in my mind involved Dawn French going through a supermarket checkout with Jennifer Saunders as the checkout assistant. The reason it has fixed in my mind is that I still see examples of this behaviour today.

In the video (as I remember) the assistant hurls Dawn’s purchases down the conveyor belt with such speed it could be an Olympic sport! Dawn French then races about shoving all her items into bags as fast as she can whilst continually apologising to the assistant and the queue behind her. Ignoring the distress her customer is in Jennifer continues to speed up her activity and then sighs as she waits for Dawn to finish packing and pay the bill.

I experienced a very similar scenario today which was completely unnecessary and made me think that despite the supermarket spending a fortune on the refit I am not happy to go shopping there again.

Good leaders know that great service is about keeping an eye on both aspects; the marketing and also the people who are delivering the customer service.

When does office banter become unacceptable?

2009-12-01T04:16:00.000-08:00

In a recent study by Hiscox, 82% of SME bosses reported finding nothing wrong with office banter whereas 70% of workers reported experiencing bad behaviour at work including racist jokes, bullying, swearing, sexist remarks and shouting.

With Christmas party season approaching now could be the time to set boundaries as to what is acceptable and unacceptable at work.

http://www.hiscox.com/ViewCMSPage.aspx?viewmode=Live&viewtype=ViewPressReleaseDetail&pressreleaseID=0019a0b2-3a90-46d5-b466-5037770a2e8c

Creating a buzz about your products and services

2009-11-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

Christmas is fast approaching and already at LCP we have had calls from wine sellers, chocolatiers and event companies explaining that if we don’t order their goods or services within the next few days/weeks we are not likely to get our order or service before Christmas and could miss out on these fantastic offers. Have these phone calls made us rush for our order pad and cheque book? No, and the simple reason why is that we don’t believe them.

However, there is one product that has created a buzz so I’m ready to buy now as I don’t want to miss out for Christmas. Those of you with young children may be familiar with the popularity of the Go Go Hamsters. These are electronic hamsters that drive cars, roll about in hamster balls and apparently are the must have Christmas present for 2009. I have a seven year old niece and have hunted high and low to get both a hamster and an accessory with eventual success.

So what explains my mad behaviour and the difference between the first and second example? Both are trying to create a buzz about their products but only one is working.

One factor is the simple rule of supply and demand – I know that I can buy chocolates or wine any time I want and feel I’m being unduly pressurised when I get a phone call telling me I’m going to miss out. Rather than create momentum for customers to buy the product or service it has the opposite effect of putting them off.

However, in the second example there really is (at the moment) a shortage of Go Go toys and accessories, leading to inflated prices on Amazon and Ebay and this gives me the impression that I really will miss out if I don’t buy one as soon as I see it.

Also in the first example, it is the company themselves promoting the urgency whereas in the second example the sense urgency is being driven by third parties such as resellers and potential customers. I met a mother in Toys R Us who told me accessories were in such short supply that if there was a delivery they would be sold out by the end of the day. Guess what I was there at 10am that morning!

So the moral of this story is don’t create a false sense of urgency – people are not stupid and won’t believe you. Rather get other people talking positively about your products and services – third party referrals and recommendations are they way forward.

Keeping talent when the economy recovers

2009-10-21T00:57:00.000-07:00

Recently there has been increasing commentary about the possibility of a recovery and growth in the last quarter of 2009. Great news you may think but this has resulted in a number of articles warning companies about the importance of retaining their talented leaders.

One commentator argues that as many as 30% of staff are looking to leave their current jobs once the economy improves and an article by Michael Watkins (October 2009) states that only 10% of high potential leaders lost their jobs during the recession http://bit.ly/uJ1zI

Some enlightened companies such as Cisco are investing in their high potential leaders because they understand that high potentials need to be involved in challenging and rewarding work http://bit.ly/1D2kVQ

Investing time and resources in leadership development now could really reap rewards in the future.

Leading in Professional Service Firms

2009-10-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

“Leadership is almost the single most important factor for any firm. Good or great leadership makes all the difference – ask any partner in a firm which is off pace and it is likely that leadership is the root cause”.

This was a comment we found posted on a blog about leaders in professional service firms (PSFs), which captures the critical nature of having the right leadership in place for success within knowledge-based industries, whether it be in accountancy, law, engineering, technologies or marketing.

Professional service firms deal in knowledge and as such, are unique, because their assets are fluid and intangible. Their business success is based on the reputation, loyalty and capability of their employees which can be removed at any moment so there is always a fine balancing act to be done between clients, associates and profits.

Over the years the challenges facing PSFs have changed. In particular, they are dealing with better informed and increasingly cost-conscious clients, a competitive recruitment market (despite the credit crunch there is still a battle between firms to employ high calibre professionals) and more complex organisational structures as a result of increasing globalisation, mergers and acquisitions.

These changes mean there is an increasing need for great leadership qualities amongst professionals. Historically, there has tended to be more of an emphasis on management rather than leadership in PSFs, such as planning and budgeting. This is not surprising given that professionals by nature tend to resist being managed and there is always the pressure on leaders in PSFs to balance their fee earning and non-fee earning activities.

David Maister, a well known guru on PSFs argues that many firms are guilty of systematic underdelegation.

My research shows that, for the typical professional service firm, the firmwide average (for underdelegation) is frequently as high as 40 or 50 percent, and sometimes more… Obviously this is not a wonderful situation.”
(Maister, D. 2003)

There are a number of factors that contribute to the reluctance of professionals to lead or be led by others.

The first is that professionals have worked hard to get their expert status through many years of education and training and this can make them disinclined to delegate to others as it is important for their careers to keep up-to-date on the latest developments in their industry sector(s.

Secondly, the complex skills and abstract knowledge possessed by professionals can make it difficult to manage their performance and often the line manager is reliant on third party feedback which makes conversations about performance difficult.

Another factor is the potential discord between professional ethics and organisational culture. Research (e.g. Shafter et al 2002), found that higher levels of conflict between professional standards and company culture led to lower levels of job satisfaction and overall commitment.

Leading professionals is not easy and although partners and senior leaders acknowledge that effective leadership is important to their overall success more needs to be done to support and develop professionals who take on leadership roles.
Here are some of the things the senior team can do to build greater leadership capability within their firms:

1. Set and communicate the direction
Senior partners can spend more time providing direction on where the firm is going and why. Professionals tend to have a high need for achievement and like to be included and involved. Senior partners can discuss and clarify any confusion between short-term objectives and longer-term strategic goals, as well as build in incentive packages that reward both.

2. Acknowledge the importance of leadership within the firm
Excellent leadership is a business priority but professionals need help to develop their leadership skills and also know that their efforts are regarded as valuable by the senior partners. Senior partners can allocate time to mentoring the next generation of leaders as well as providing stretch assignments that will help them to develop and grow.

Partners can also ensure leadership is seen as a valuable commodity by rewarding good practice and appropriate leadership behaviours.

3. Lead by example
Partners need to act as a positive role model by demonstrating an appropriate leadership style in all aspects of their work and by showing a commitment to coaching and developing more junior associates.

Successful leaders in PSFs have to manage and lead talented professionals who do not necessarily want to be told what to do. They need to be able to inspire those they lead by articulating a compelling vision that others can buy into and they need to do this against a backdrop of increasingly demanding clients, fierce competition from other firms and ever increasing organisational complexity.

As Damien O’Brien (2009) states “Great companies will stand out from the good by their ability to attract, retain and develop key people”

How well do you communicate with your employees?

2009-10-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

Often determining what should be communicated to employees, how often and by whom, is left to chance rather than forming part of an ongoing, strategic plan.

Successful organisations understand the importance of creating a strong internal brand and research has shown that CEOs and senior managers of high-performing companies devote personal time to internal communications.

"Top performing companies treat communication as a key business driver. They use communication to educate managers and engage employees in the business by providing line-of-sight to customers' needs and business goals". Kathryn Yates, Watson Wyatt (2008).

If you want to improve employee engagement it is important to clearly communicate your company's vision and goals in a way that they can buy into. Ultimately, this will result in improved co-operation, productivity and profit as your people will be working to the same shared vision and long-term goals.

In a study by The Work Foundation and Communicators in Business (2007), CEOs stressed the importance of internal communications, particularly when leading change initiatives. But although IC specialists agreed that CEOs understood the importance of internal communications, they reported they were not always engaged in practice.

So what can we learn from the research?

A recurring theme is the importance of the role of your line mangers in the IC process.

"Research shows that messages from leaders, and most importantly supervisors, are more important to employees than those that originate from the internal communications department". Stromberg Consulting, 2006.

Treat your managers and supervisors as a special case as they will be the ones that deliver the essence of your messages as well as the content.

Another theme is the personalisation of information and tailoring messages to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Stromberg Consulting argue that Generation Y employees demand more concise and compelling information than their predecessors. Good practice seems to advocate a mix of delivery methods from team briefings through to ezines.

In these times of turbulence, communicating the right things in the right way at the right time becomes increasingly important, are you doing it well enough?

Motivating others - what really works?

2009-09-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

Employee engagement or how much discretionary effort someone puts into their work is big business and there are many surveys, books, feedback tools that are targeted at measuring levels of employee motivation and commitment to the organisation.

Sometimes in the HR world we can get too tied up in metrics and trying to build business cases for the company. Rather it is time we took a step back and looked at the basics of employee engagement and we think 'The Choir' series on BB2 is a great tool for doing just that.

The Choir is about a Choirmaster Gareth Malone who believes that in the UK we have lost the art of community singing and sets about putting together a community choir in South Oxhey, a deprived town near Watford.

During the series Gareth demonstrates that getting commitment and buy-in is hard graft as he constantly cajoles, reassures and pesters the choir members to turn up and take part in rehearsals.

One success is when he manages to persuade a group of fairly tough looking Oxhey men in their 20's and 30's to dress up and sing in all of the local pubs (how he managed that we're still not sure!)

There are some tear jerking moments when he takes the children's choir to join in a concert at a nearby posh private school and when the community choir perform alongside highly accomplished musicians in front of a demanding audience. (Episode3)

So how did he do it?

Our observations are:

He is highly credible and passionate about what he does and communicates this clearly to the community and choir members

He works very hard and is flexible in his approach to different people and groups - he deals very differently with the children to the adults

He is positive but also constructive with his feedback and constantly offers his support to improve

He will change his approach if something isn't working well but is still focussed on his overall objective

He enjoys seeing others achieve and reach their full potential

If Gareth was a CEO and measured his employees engagement we suspect he would score very highly!

The series can be found on BBC iplayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008y125

Feedback on employee performance

2009-08-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

We always like to acknowledge and share our experiences of great customer service.

Recently we have been getting an increasing number of automated nuisance calls offering us credit and when we link to an advisor to ask to be removed they immediately put the phone down. (We expect that in itself is the scam?)

So we contacted our telephone company, a subsidiary of Virgin Media, and spoke to a very helpful young man called Martin. Martin explained that we can register with the Call Prevention Registry www.callpreventionregistry.co.uk but that may not sort out our problem as we are on an automated system which just keeps dialling the numbers it already has.

He immediately offered us a free month on anonymous caller rejection (normally involves a set up fee and monthly charge) with the idea that if they can’t get through they will delete our number from their system and ‘voila’ no more calls!

We were delighted with this idea and Martin must have heard it in our tone as he asked if he could put us through to the customer feedback survey. In about five quick questions we were able to rate our satisfaction with Martin and his resolution to our problem (all excellent of course).

What a great idea to have such a simple feedback tool that employees can use to let satisfied customers give feedback on their performance – well done Virgin Media!

Social Networking

2009-08-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

Joining the ranks of Linked In and Twitter has been a steep learning curve and it is interesting how social networking sites are used.

Recently we asked a technical question about broadband and were delighted with the thought and detail of the responses, there was a genuine wish to be helpful.

Where else but on the internet can you get a group of highly experienced and knowledgeable people to answer your question in less than a few hours for free?

Thanks guys we really appreciate it!!

Building your personal brand

2009-07-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have just been listening to a series of podcasts about marketing your business by building a personal brand.

The idea is to provide total clarity about who you are, what you do and what you stand for, communicate it and then the people who that resonates with will be attracted to you and your business. They used the analogy of flowers attracting bees just by being what they are.

The speakers argued that by having a real focus on the essence of who you are means that you will attract the right sort of clients and customers and not be tempted to go off in other directions which waste your time and energy. Being true to yourself builds credibility and trust which leads to further business growth.

This doesn’t happen overnight as it takes time and commitment get the message out there but once it starts to happen it picks up momentum and your fan base continues to grow.

So if I asked you who you are and what you stand for, could you tell me clearly and concisely and I’m not talking about your sales elevator pitch?

Me? I'm knowledgeable, hard working, loyal and passionate about the importance of development and learning for everyone.

Grow your own

2009-07-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

Recently at the Economist's Talent Management Conference (June 2009) Neil Roden, the group HR director for RBS, commented on how he plans to develop people internally to save on recruitment costs as well as improve leadership within the organisation. In an article in Personnel Today he is quoted as saying:

"In the good times we just thought we could buy who we wanted as we had as much money as everyone else. We are now going to change that. To do that we need to change leadership development and do more growing of our own. It's the quality of the leadership that you have that will drive success so we need to invest in that."

There is a good business case for investing time and money on current employees to ensure you have the right skills at the right time in your leadership pipeline, which is essential if you want to make certain organisational growth is sustainable.

In their book ‘Grow your own leaders’ Byham, Smith & Paese (2002) discuss the limitations of traditional succession planning strategies and argue a case for acceleration pools instead.

Rather than identify and develop a couple of hand-picked people for particular positions the acceleration pool process works with a number of high potential candidates and accelerates their development through stretch assignments and projects. Each pool member has an assigned mentor and regular coaching and feedback and their progress is actively tracked.

The process has five phases:

1. Nominating and identifying high potentials
2. Diagnosing development opportunities
3. Prescribing solutions to development opportunities
4. Ensuring the development takes place and documenting development
5. Reviewing progress and planning new assignment

For more information the book can be found on Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/lakucc.

In essence, growing your own leaders is good for business in a number of ways as it increases motivation, reduces recruitment costs and ensures you are ahead of the game in attracting the right employees at every level in the organisation.

Helping young people in the workplace

2009-07-06T01:01:00.000-07:00

After watching the news predicting doom and gloom for young school and college leavers we thought it is the perfect opportunity for small businesses to help out.

How about giving a young person the opportunity to get work experience by recruiting them for some holiday work? In our experience young workers are keen, enthusiastic and what they miss from lack of experience they certainly make up for in terms of speed and accuracy.

Is discounting sustainable?

2009-06-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

I was speaking to a friend the other day who has just returned from Miami and one of her comments was she was shocked by how empty the shops and restaurants were compared to when she had visited before. She also noticed how there were further reductions on sale prices so even though the exchange rate is not ideal, clothes and food are still a lot cheaper than in the UK.

Yesterday, I went for a drink with my husband and again, a normally busy bar was only half full so we decided to go for a meal. The nearest restaurant was offering a 50% discount on all food between Monday and Thursday so we had an excellent meal for a ridiculously cheap price that it made me wonder about how this discounting can be sustained longer term.

The dilemma is whether it is better to bring in some income to cover fixed and variable costs at the expense of ending up with a product and/or service where the pricing is not sustainable?

Developing your authentic leadership through coaching

2009-06-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

This blog is an article from our June's e-newsletter

Becoming an authentic leader can be a huge voyage of discovery for many, because often as leaders, we are too busy to take the time to step back and reflect on what we do and the reasons why we do it. Some leaders are naturally more self-aware than others, but all of us have aspects of our characters that may not be obvious to us.

Working with an experienced and qualified coach can be an effective first step in developing your leadership to become more authentic.

Saying someone is not authentic may seem to imply that they are dishonest but all of us tend to adapt our behaviours to fit into the roles and expectations that others have of us.

During our lifetimes we will have many roles at one time, son/daughter; husband/wife; mother/father; colleague; friend and so on. All of these have expectations about how we should think and feel so really understanding who we are and what matters to us can become blurred and confusing.

An experienced coach can work with you at a number of different levels to help develop your self-awareness and clarify your purpose and vision.

They can facilitate your thinking and self-discovery by using a number of diagnostic tools such as 360 degree feedback, inventories to identify your strengths, talents and values or psychometrics instruments to assess personality traits or personal preferences. Emotional intelligence questionnaires are popular to help leaders understand their behaviours, management styles, attitudes, interpersonal skills, and potential.

Coaches can also facilitate your thinking by asking powerful questions about what you do and why you do it. They can help you to discover which aspects of your life you find most fulfilling and then help you to build a plan that makes your actions more congruent with your values, beliefs and purpose.

At LCP we have a number of experienced and qualified coaches and if you would like a no obligation chat about how they could potentially work with you or your leadership team please contact us.

Servant leaders and the House of Commons

2009-05-26T05:34:00.001-07:00

With yet more revelations coming out today about MPs’ expenses and tax affairs in the Telegraph it is no surprise that, we the public, are feeling it’s one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us. As The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is quoted to have said “the claims showed there was one rule for politicians but another for ordinary businessmen (and women)”.

Some, but certainly not all, MPs have shown they have reached a stage where they believe it is OK to use their power and influence for personal gain at the expense of us, the taxpayer.

Power, however as these MPS are finding to their cost, can be a double-edged sword. If used well it can lead to committed and enthusiastic followers, achievement of goals and great transformation but if abused, can lead to the anger and kick back we are seeing today.

Greenleaf in the 1970s introduced the concept of servant leaders who serve the groups they lead believing that true leadership emerges from those whose primary motivation is a deep desire to help others. Over the years there has been increasing support for this model of leadership including Peter Senge and Ken Blanchard, and in business the idea is that leaders who support and facilitate others are more likely to be successful.

Maybe a few lessons in servant leadership would be useful in the House of Commons?

Where's your pain?

2009-05-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

We went to a seminar at the Chartered Institute of Marketing today and one of the presenters was Chris West, the author of 'Marketing on a Beermat', and well worth listening to if you ever come across him.

Chris talked about the importance of really understanding the pain that your customers and clients may be going through in this economic downturn and changing your approach accordingly so that you can support them through these turbulent waters.

From research such as the CIPD's report "War on talent. Talent management under threat in uncertain times. Part 1" (2009) and talking to our customers; we know that in some industries leaders are experiencing a fair amount of pain in terms of pressure to keep costs down and increase revenue, which often amounts to 'doing more with less'.

To do this managers and leaders are working hard at building and maintaining employee morale, managing their processes more efficiently as well as communicating and facilitating the changes their organisations are making to weather the storm. We believe this is hard and to really make a difference they need a great skill set.

However, despite this need, many organisations are having their training budgets cut so are actually reducing learning and development activity. This is another aspect of pain, knowing that your leaders need support but not necessarily having the funds or resources to develop them.

As experts in the learning and development field it would be stupid for us to ignore what is happening to some organisations (we note that some industries are either not being affected or are actually doing quite well).

So the question we are asking is 'in terms of developing your people - what is your pain and what can organisations like LCP do to support you?'

We are genuinely interested in your views and would appreciate your comments.

How much do you give away for free?

2009-05-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Update 2011: See our follow up post on giving away for free online

Sometimes a topic keeps recurring so it feels like it is tapping you on the shoulder and saying 'take notice'. We have had this experience over the last couple of days with the theme of 'How much do you give away for free?'

From discussion groups and blogs we understand that consultancies in a range of industries are being asked to do free work in order to pitch for contracts. In knowledge-based service sectors where there is no tangible product it can be difficult to decide how much information to 'give away' in order to demonstrate your firm's ability to deliver the goods, so to speak.

One comment we saw that summed it up nicely was 'Would you ask a plumber to put in a couple of free radiators before deciding whether or not they got the job?'

From a client's perspective it is important to feel confident about the supplier they choose as consultancy fees are a big investment. But we would argue that there is a limit as to what is fair and reasonable to expect before paying for the work.

There is a danger that in today’s harsh economic environment consultancies are prepared to give more away than ever before in the hope that it will eventually lead to paid work. Initially, for clients this may seem like a good thing, but doing a lot of work for nothing is not a good business model and will eventually result in a lower quality service as companies struggle to make a profit and ultimately cut corners in other areas to make up the short fall.

A good consultancy will be able to demonstrate their expertise through references and examples and if required to do some work up front will most likely agree to refund these fees if they are successful in getting the contract.

It is a dilemma and we’d be interested to know what you think……

Great customer service - what makes the difference?

2009-04-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

Today we had two very different experiences of customer service. Both individuals genuinely wanted to help but one service was far better than the other - why?

The first example was an assistant in a mobile phone shop who was helpful, knowledgeable and flexible. He willingly gave up his time to put something in writing for an insurance claim. No revenue today but once the money comes through we will certainly be going back there.

The second example was an advisor in a bank. He wanted to help but the bank's processes and procedures wouldn't let him. We went in to close a business account and because he only worked on personal banking he couldn't help us so he sent us to the queue for the teller to help. After a 5-10 minute wait the teller also said they couldn't help us and sent us back to the advisor.

The advisor then looked a little uncomfortable and gave us a number to call when we got back to the office as they couldn't do anything for us at the branch.

Both individuals wanted to help us and one was empowered by his organisation to do just that as he was trained, knowledgeable and comfortable with being flexible to meet our needs. The other lacked the knowledge to do his job well and was unempowered by processes and procedures.

The moral of the story - even good employees can't do a great job if your organisational processes won't allow them to.

The increasing importance of developing leaders

2009-04-15T04:03:00.001-07:00

"Maintaining leadership development programmes is one of the strongest ways to build learning culture".

This quote from Bersin & Associates sums up how important it is that leaders are developed to help them and their teams ride the rough waters of today's marketplace.

Bersin's research found that pressure has increased on first and second line managers due to restructuring, change and the increasing need to keep employees motivated and engaged. They also argue that there is a significant skill gap for this level of leadership population with their research showing over 50% of leaders being promoted with no real training at all.

Effective leaders are good for business and need even more help and support when conditions are tough. Click here for the full article http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=195887&d=680&h=608&f=626&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y

Should consultants just deliver what you want?

2009-04-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

We have just received an email headed 'Ways to survive the recession' and the first tip was to give people what they want. Unfortunately, owners of small and fast growing organisations are not not always clear what they need let alone what they want and that's when consultancy firms, we believe, earn their money.

When you run a smaller business there isn't the luxury of having departments filled with subject matter experts to help, so like us, we expect many of you rely on external consultants to bring in expertise when required. Our expectations of consultants is not just to deliver what we want but to challenge our thinking so that we take the most productive and cost effective route to deliver the required outcome.

So when employing a consultant we believe the best approach is to paint a clear picture of your destination and work with them to decide the best route for getting there.

Sharing slide shows

2009-03-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

Social media and networking is a huge area and if you are like us you are thinking about how best to spend your time in the world of Facebook, LinkedIn and Ecademy. Following people on Twitter could be a full time job in itself and we can see a future in post grad degrees in tweeting! Perhaps there are some already?

Today we have spent some time on slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/ which does have some interesting slide shows on it. We found some superb photographs in some of the shows so definitely worth taking a look.

Important to take time out

2009-03-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

After a fabulous weekend break it became clear how important it is to take time out, away from day to day pressures.

Spending leisure time with family and friends not only re-energises the batteries but also allows time and space for reflection.

So if you are thinking about spending a few days away from home over the Easter period we would highly recommend it.

Thinking about the Future?

2009-03-17T01:03:00.000-07:00

The Forward Thinking report by the Institute of Directors and Barclays Bank surveyed 600 UK companies and found that over a quarter do no analysis of the future external environment and that forward thinking is less prevalent in SMEs even though it is just as important.

This report is well worth a read as it provides practical advice and a useful forward thinking checklist on page 43.

http://www.iod.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/pdfs/policy_paper_Forward_Thinking_Report.pdf

Generation Y

2009-03-02T01:55:00.000-08:00

"Employ a teenager now, while they still know everything"

This phrase was brought to mind when one of our colleagues 17 year-old started to tell her parents about politics after watching ‘Margaret’; a drama about Margaret Thatcher’s fall from power. Despite limited knowledge of those years, her views were presented so confidently it made us think about the characteristics of Generation Y.

Generation Y are those born after 1980 and a lot has been written about them and their characteristics. This generation of workers is often described as:

technologically competent
impatient
team-orientated
valuing work-life balance
having high self-esteem
caring about the environment.

Deloitte in their report ‘Generation Y. Moving with the Times’ (2007) state:

“Having grown-up in a strong economy where jobs are plentiful, they are confident in their own ability to take control of their career direction”.

http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/ie_M_Gen_Y_Client_1007_final%281%29.pdf

Another joint report by the CIPD and Penna. ‘Gen Up. How the four generations work’ (2008) found that:

“They (Generation Y) are more engaged with their employer if they have access to personal development. For example, being able to be successful and having ample opportunity to grow. These opportunities include specialist skills development “.

http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/25DA52DE-F120-4579-AFE3-564C8801425D/0/genuphowfourgenerationswork.pdf

So far this generation has been brought up with high expectations in a world of strong economic growth and we wonder what impact the current economic crisis will have on their hopes and expectations for the future?

2009-02-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

The other night we watched the Brit Awards and saw 'Take That' make a sensational entrance by landing on the stage in a UFO singing 'Stay close to me'. It made us reflect on how transient fame and success can be and how the tables can turn so quickly and dramatically - Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow being fine examples.

In business, as in the world of entertainment, it is easy to assume that our public (or clients) will always love us but to earn their respect we need to be responsive and adaptable. We need to recognise what their changing needs are and deliver the appropriate solutions through our products and services.

When was the last time you asked your customers if their needs have changed?

2009-02-13T00:47:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first LCP blog, we hope you enjoy it!

We wanted to offer some good news stories to brighten up this snow-filled February.

Our search for good news was harder than we thought. After googling ‘UK economy good news’ the article which appeared first on the list dated back to April 1999 – was it really that long ago we felt optimistic?

Not to be down hearted we pursued with our quest and found the following news to cheer you up. The Working Futures report 2007 - 2017 paints a hopeful picture for the UK labour market long-term with increases in employment for the following groups:

Managers and senior officials
Professional occupations
Associate professionals and technical occupations
Culture, media and sports occupations

They also predict the creation of 13.5 million jobs over the next decade. Click below to read the executive summary:
http://www.ukces.org.uk/pdf/15236%209%20UKCES%20Executive%20Summary%202%20Working%20Futures.pdf

Also did you know that one of the boom areas is ‘sausages’? Glasgow’s Herald reported growing sales of sausages because people are eating at home and companies like Cranswick Plc and Graham White & Co Ltd (gourmet sausage producers) seem to be doing well.

Finally, we found a story that reports an increase in US retail sales for January despite gloomy predictions http://www.msbc.msn.com/id/29158095/. Maybe if we look hard enough there is encouraging news about after all?

Please comment below on your good news stories so we can spread the word!