Over three years ago, I and a group of former mature students formed ‘the Forum’, as an independent think tank that would be both a challenging academic exercise and also might benefit ourselves and our organisations. We accurately anticipated the recession, euro zone crisis, potentially 500,000 public sector job losses, de-centralisation and localisation amongst many others.  Whilst treading a delicate path between pessimism and realism, we don’t see 2011 or 2012 being generally much fun either, particularly in the North, but then we aren’t always right. However, we do see some fantastic opportunities out there for those individuals and organisations with the right skills, attitudes and the willingness to use them.

My point therefore is important. We don’t have to be, or see ourselves and our organisations as victims. Adverse times offer a real test of character, ingenuity and innovation. Now is the time when we will see new leaders, products, services and organisations emerge and prosper. This doesn’t happen by accident though; we can and must take charge and collectively make positive things happen. In other words, we need personal leadership and organisational leaders like never before.

I know it’s a perennial discussion about what defines a leader, but I’d like to offer my own thoughts in relationship particularly to the current environment we find ourselves in. Previous blogs have discussed the damage done to our profession by the legacy of target setting mentalities and the rise of ‘heroic’ charismatic leaders. I have also offered the opinion that what we now need is ‘authentic leadership’ – so in more detail what might this embrace?

Lets keep it simple then and start to explore my seven A*’s of being an authentic leader;

Aspiration – anyone can lead, but have you the desire and attitude required? You might care about something but do you care enough to do something about it? Entrepreneurs spot an opportunity, usually through dissatisfaction, and then do something about it. We now need these people in our communities and organisations – true ‘intrapreneurs’. In other words those that can see a need to make a difference, know how to make a difference and most importantly, are prepared to make a difference. Also what motivates you – power, wealth, relationships, recognition, challenge or necessity? Maybe doing nothing and having an easy life is your preferred choice?

Affective – learning. You are not going to be right all the time, can you accept and learn from this and have the emotional resilience to keep going when times are hard? How well do you know yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, beliefs, attitudes and potential? Have you really learnt how to experiment, learn and develop personally as opposed to just being taught academically?

Alignment – by this I mean grouping together the people we are taking personal responsibility for, providing a vision, establishing and agreeing the need to change and then achieving buy-in on where we are going and how we get there.

Authority – organisations and situations are now possibly too complex to manage in crisis or through change. Centralisation has its benefits but can stifle innovation, motivation, identification of problems and ownership of solutions. Delegation and micro leadership at all levels, correctly aligned, is going to be essential with these people given clear operating mandates. BAA take note maybe after the snow fiasco last winter!

Actions – people listen to words but respond to actions.  What we say is important, but we are judged on what we do. Ask a student and Liberal Democrat MP if in doubt…… What better way to demonstrate true authenticity than by being who you say you are and acting accordingly. Celebrity has had its day and in the future ability and measurable achievement will be vital for establishing and maintaining leadership reputation.

Accountability – along with power and rights comes responsibility. Everyone has to be responsible and liable for their actions, a new concept for many brought up in an age where it’s always been someone else’s fault! This will lead to conflict but being able to manage that is an essential skill. Being popular is easy, being right and professional is more difficult. Again an issue our coalition government is coming to terms with!

Acknowledgement – finally, we need to publicly recognise what individuals do and achieve, both rightly and wrongly.  What better way to motivate, develop culture and organisational learning. Maybe what we need more from our leaders is what Jim Collins refers to as ‘personal humility’.

So these are my first thoughts – please let me know what you think.

Whilst fighting off the effects of the seasonal flu virus by keeping snug and warm inside a centrally heated home and gazing at the view of the incredibly scenic snowy Pennine landscape from my front window, I started to think about a very simple test and analogy of what determines a leader.

• A thermometer tells us the temperature. It might be very accurate, highly sophisticated, expensive and unique but all it does is record what is, or has, happened. How many managers do you know are maybe like this? They just report and account for what happened or maybe just make it happen to very strict rules and procedures.

• A thermostat, however, monitors the temperature and then acts accordingly. It actions appropriate interventions and makes a difference. Is this what leadership is, monitoring, evaluating, acting accordingly and then making a positive difference? Add anticipation to the mix and I think we have the perfect analogy! For me it embraces and demonstrates too how we might simply test for aspiration and attitude in our potential leaders.

It might be freezing outside both physically and economically and being a thermometer will perfectly confirm this, but what we must be are thermostats and in doing so take responsibility and act accordingly! How prepared are you to do this, learn more about yourself, gain additional qualifications, develop new essential skills and take on new projects? In a competitive job market, what makes you distinctive, outstanding, experienced and suitably qualified? If not, are you prepared to do something about it?

We know it’s difficult out there with the short-term outlook not heartening and I suspect I am not alone in suggesting that 2011 might be one of the most managerially challenging and difficult years ever faced by many managers. The strategic textbook term ‘retrenchment’ will have real and painful consequences for many, both personally and in their organisations.

My point therefore is important. We don’t have to be, or see ourselves and our organisations as victims. Adverse times offer a real test of character, ingenuity and innovation. Now is the time when we will see new leaders, products, services and organisations emerge and prosper. This doesn’t happen by accident though; we can and must take charge and collectively make positive things happen. In other words, we need personal leadership and organisational leaders like never before.

My associates and I are introducing new courses, finding new markets, helping more people and developing new skills than ever we have before. If we can be thermostats, so can you.

Our economy needs us!

Having been a ‘leader’ in the late 80′s and early 90′s in British manufacturing and then a facilitator of managerial development across all sectors since, what are my first thoughts on what other issues could arise?

Firstly is the issue of finding leaders to start with. Middle and senior managers may well be the obvious casualties of cuts for years to come.  Might it be deemed safer to stay below the radar amongst the troops where there is a real need for bodies to deliver the service required? If you believe (rightly) that if you know what to do then it’s management, if not it’s leadership, then who wants to admit in the current climate that they don’t know?

Second – how do we define what needs to be delivered?  Without ‘targets’ to drive outcomes, how do leaders agree what is to be delivered and what defines excellence? Due to the huge number of interested and powerful stakeholders involved, this will be a complex process and involve skilled guidance, negotiation and conflict resolution. The fact that there will be great uncertainty on what to do and little agreement on how to do it will put leaders at ‘the edge of chaos’, according to Ralph Stacey.

Third – how to overcome entrenched attitudes and a culture where outcomes are often seen as secondary and that the process and the needs of the provider are of primary concern. Without competition, and money being only an input and not a measurable output, my second point becomes even more critical. What rewards need to be in place to change this?

Finally, for the moment anyway, will the leaders tasked with initial delivery, have the philosophical conviction, the moral courage and the resolution required to deliver what’s necessary. It’s a massive cultural step change and will unfortunately claim many victims. Support will be required – but will it be provided?

Following the Coalition Government’s enforced spending review there is a need for real challenge and innovation throughout the public and third sectors, but innovation requires challenge and leadership at all levels. Managerial competence alone won’t deliver the results now required.

Will these new leaders suddenly appear overnight with the right attitudes, skills and knowledge required?

On my CMI accredited Level 7 programmes designed to cost effectively develop innovative leaders and managers, only 12% are from the public sector (although 24% are from the third sector).  What does this tell us about the emphasis on developing these critical people at this time. British manufacturing has improved enormously since the 80′s on the back of improved management capability at all levels, but it doesn’t happen instantly. Culture and leadership style change takes many years – but a good trauma is a sure kickstart!

My point is simple – effective and efficient services won’t be delivered without improved managerial and leadership at all levels. The existing ways of working will have to change but it will need inspired leadership, education, facilitation, experimentation and much learning to make it succeed. The people experiencing change will need help and support too if they are not to be left traumatised and ineffective as a result.

Is it possible to highlight where, how and which organisations are offering support and developing their staff and managers/leaders?

Can we then share best practice for the benefit of all in these challenging, frightening yet exciting times?

I’ve posted this on the CMI website for further discussion:

http://www.managers.org.uk/forum/management-news/where-will-public-sector-find-its-innovative-leaders-and-achieve-required-cuts#comment-6826

A quick analysis by sector of the participants enrolled shows that;

• 41% are from the finance sector
• 29% are from the third sector
• 18% are from SME’s
• 12% are from the public sector

What does this tell us about attitudes to leadership and development in the public sector and its view on innovation?

Downsizing and delivering more will require new managerial skills and mindsets in the public sctor. Manufacturing went through a radical transformation in the 80′s and 90′s primarily through improving it’s management capability. Will this now happen in the public sector?

Through a bizarre set of circumstances though (beyond the scope of this article I might add), my early plans for developing and running programmes to train managers as coaches became somewhat sidetracked.

What I identified was that coaching was obviously a very powerful tool but that there were some key pitfalls potentially with how it was being conventionally delivered. For me these were;

• the ongoing time intensive committment required
• the importance of the coach/coachee relationship
• the high potential costs involved due to the 1:1 structure
• the possibility of the coachee becoming dependent on the coach

To overcome these I began to investigate whether it was possible to ‘self-coach’ – in other words allow an individual to learn and develop the skills and abilities to coach themselves and improve their own aspiration, performance and achievement. In addition, I also wanted to explore delivering this as a facilitated course that could be delivered to a small group so as to minimise costs and maximise the use of time.

As a consequence then, a colleague and I put together and ran our first self-coaching programme using the traditional coaching methodologies and exercises available.

Whilst a success for the majority of people on it, I wasn’t convinced the coaching methodologies used were fit for purpose, so I set about developing my own, building on my knowledge and experience of them and taking on board the best self-development and NLP exercises too. As a consequence RIDFEAR® was born!

So over the last five years we have continuously refined and developed the methodology and the structure of the course and the outcome is – IT WORKS!

It underpins all our management development programmes to help managers and leaders understand themselves and more and deliver improvements where necessary. But where it has had most success is with individuals facing and coming to terms with change.

Over one hundred people have now experienced the programme in various forms with some spectacular results.

We have proven that the concept and methodology works with all adult age groups from students to those about to retire, from those unemployed or facing redundancy, redeployment or restructuring. It works with junior employees and senior executives but has also demonstrated spectacular results with women returning to work and also in helping resolve personal issues outside work that many individuals have and impact upon their work performance.

Our work with employers facing restructuring and redundancy has been particularly satisfying.  It has been wonderful to see individuals traumatised by the fear of unemployment and the unknown suddenly have belief again.  They can understand themselves and their strengths, realise what they want to and can do, overcome restraints and develop plans to achieve their new potential. To have done this in a cost and time effective way too has also been particularly satisfying.

Given today’s Public Spending Review, we have demonstrated that there are very cost-effective ways of supporting those facing change and redundancy. The concept and methodology’s time has surely now come.

Which organisations are going to demonstrate a real committment to supporting their staff through these difficult times and be prepared to try something new, albeit well proven? Who are the real leaders and innovators, who will be the followers and who wont care?

For more information see:    www.ridfear.co.uk

To what extent is this now endemic within all aspects of our managerial society though?

For several years I have protested that the target driven mentalities prevalent within our public sector along with the short-termism beloved by the private sector were killing our ability to think and execute strategically.  It now appears we have the confirmatory evidence.

What should be our real concern though is how do we develop these skills once more? I believe that, like Tom Reeves – Alchemy for Managers p 260 there are three key stages to development as a leader, which are,

• the conformist implementer – ‘does as told’
• the independent experimenter – ‘finds out what works, experiences things and develops understanding’
• the autonomous agent – wants to make change happen

The problem could well be in that how many of our so called senior executives, particularly public sector, have not had the opportunity to develop past stage 1? Maybe we have a generation that can only deliver to pre-set targets and methods, never had the chance to experiment, formulate strategies then derive outcomes and deliver to them – making mistakes and learning along the way.

I may be wrong, but probably partly correct which leaves the great educational challenge – how do we quickly develop these skills in our managers and leaders.  I suspect sending them on an MBA course is not the correct answer!

“Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable.”

In his book, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, he consistently conveys and justifies this message not only from a United States perspective but also from a pre-recession stand point.  He also doesn’t actually tell you how to do it either – that’s very much left to the domain of the reader!

So what are you doing about becoming a ‘purple cow’ individual or organisation?

Let me indulge myself and tell you what I, David Broadhead, and my organisation Partners in Management, a management development company based in Huddersfield, are doing…..

On Saturday evening I took a phone call from a female manager working in the NHS, wanting to develop her management skills and abilities but more importantly in order to retain and progress her career in these challenging times needed an accredited qualification quickly and had to pay for it herself. I talked her through our programmes and offered her a place on our intensive one week CMI Level 6 Certificate in Management & Leadership at a cost of £1500, starting in two weeks time. I also offered her the incentive of reducing this to £1000 if she found two others to join her – a good way of developing ‘sneezers’ in advance!

So what is remarkable about that you might ask?

Well everything as it turns out, as it perfectly demonstrates a successful outcome for everything I and my colleagues have been trying to do with this business, particularly over the last eighteen months.

So what have we been trying to do to become remarkable?

Eleven years ago I left academia to set up Partners in Management as I was disillusioned with the conventional, bureaucratic ways of delivering management development programmes – I believed it needed to be delivered in the interests of the participant – not the provider. So ‘anytime, anyplace, anyhow’ were simple principles to deliver to and also that programmes would be delivered in an adult, discursive way to between 6 and 12 people in appropriate venues – a real cost challenge.

Working initially through a franchise arrangement with my local University to deliver an MSc in Strategic Change Management to corporate clients, we developed a successful business and gained what Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers calls our 10000 hours of experience! This worked fine until two years ago the arrangement was terminated on the grounds of insufficient size and income – not just for us but virtually all franchisees – I hate to sound cynical but our Universities aren’t really the beacons of innovation they portray themselves as.

So faced with the collapse of a successful business model what do you do? ‘Get a proper job like everyone else has to’ was a suggestion often made but in reality ‘innovate or die’ were the only options and in effect Partners in Management became a business start up all over again!

As an effective start-up, what advice could we have taken?

• Don’t start a business in the worst recession for 70 years
• Don’t start one in the North of England
• Don’t start one in the training business and if so,
• Don’t start one in non-mandatory ‘soft’ issues like management development

Ok so I ignored all of those because I believed in what I wanted to do and what I could see was needed – true tribal leadership or gross stupidity and obstinacy?

It was pretty obvious to me that as a country we needed to innovate ourselves out of the mess we had managed ourselves into but also due to our ‘target-driven’ management and leadership culture probably don’t have the skills to do so.

From that the focus became on designing programmes that would deliver these essential managerial attributes in a way that was innovative itself and would offer participants a unique and different experience. We had developed strengths in coaching, self-development and managing change which fitted the needs perfectly, so these were the foundation stones on which to build new programmes. We also knew that accreditation was essential both as an outcome and of quality recognition and that the Chartered Management Institute was the logical organisation to partner with.

But this in itself wouldn’t deliver a ‘remarkable’ experience and make us a true ‘purple cow’.

What I also knew from my ‘10000 hours’ experience was that the type of person that joined our programmes weren’t the elitist MBA seeking ‘badge’ hunters. They were genuine professional mature experienced managers who wanted predominantly;

• the learning experience as much as the qualification although that was important and the accreditation delivers real prestige
• a high level qualification delivered by credible facilitators
• be facilitated not taught in their learning and development by the same dedicated course team
• to identify with the facilitators who ran the course, would always be there and who they could always deal with
• to be part of a small group of similar professionals where they could be known by facilitators and other participants – in other words not be a number
• to talk through their work issues and to learn from others
• not just knowledge, but self-development, challenge and the chance to demonstrate their abilities practically – not in exams and unrelated assignments
• real value for money – particularly if paying themselves
• convenient appropriate meeting venues – not undergraduate classrooms and vending machines
• attendance at convenient times ideally for full days and once every four weeks
• not have to adhere to University academic calendars – have sessions for a full year not just six months and complete the programme faster and without breaks in learning
• programmes starting more frequently – not just once a year in September
• to be different and part of a ‘tribe’

and for corporate clients commissioning us for their in-house programmes;

• be flexible with delivery arrangements, content and structure
• be cost-effective
• deliver credible meaningful programmes that deliver results in the workplace

The ‘being different and part of a tribe’ concept was reinforced through our management development philosophy. Inspired by my action learning background, I had developed our programmes to cover three distinct but highly interactive areas, ‘knowing, doing and being’. In other words, knowledge, skills and abilities and personal development. Those familiar with Henry Mintzberg’s views on management being an art not a science and his philosophy on management development will identify closely with this and in many ways find great similarities in our approaches, albeit vastly different in price, scope and origins. The intention was always to develop ‘learning’ managers not just ‘learned’ ones.

We also knew from CMI surveys that roughly only one in four managers has a formal accredited management qualification and in the current economic climate’s highly competitive market place then that make the difference to many managers of being in employment or not.

Given these requirements then, what have we done to deliver that ‘remarkable’ educational experience?

• We have achieved Level 6 & 7 accreditation with the CMI and so have on board the largest ‘virtual’ resource support. This also gives us the rigour of an externally verified quality standard in content, outcomes and processes but also gives us flexibility in how we deliver leaving us free to redesign programmes under a ‘programme umbrella’ without constant re-validations.
• Based ourselves at the Media Centre in Huddersfield, offering quality accommodation and training/café facilities at affordable rates in a popular, diverse town centre location offering easy access to both private and public transport throughout the North of England. Everyone comments on it being a ‘nice place to be’ and not a building full of classrooms!
• Designed and delivered a one year Diploma in Strategic Management & Leadership ‘Intrapreneurial Manager’ programme for strategic managers based on one day a month attendance, assessment by academic project based portfolio and costing £3000 for those participants wanting the ‘full’ programme.
• Designed and delivered an intensive one week Certificate in Management & Leadership ‘Transformational Manager’ programme for middle/senior managers focussed on leading and managing innovation and personal change, assessment by academic project based portfolio and costing £1500 for those needing and wanting to develop their innovation management skills in particular and also quickly put a qualification on their CV’s.
• Developed several short courses all focussed on managing innovation either personal or organisational.
• Staffed our programmes so that one facilitator stays with every group throughout and so can reinforce individual and group learning.
• Are running programmes at regular intervals or as soon as we have a viable cohort.
• Be available outside ‘office hours’ to offer advice and support and handle any enquiries as much as is practically possible.
• Provided a ‘unique’ learning experience where small groups can build the trust and support of each other and genuinely learn from each other and their respective experiences.
• Developed and refined our approach to management development with the emphasis illustrated by our new strap line – Knowledge + Experience + Attitude = Innovation.
• Attract new participants onto programmes by word of mouth referrals from past and current participants rather than by blanket advertising.
• Start to develop the ‘tribe’ by communicating and networking across all media and events wherever possible.

This last point is where we are now. Through my new role as a CMI Ambassador and Central & West Yorkshire Branch Education Officer, I am regularly speaking at events, writing articles and blogging about the future of management and leadership in this next decade. The feedback I get from this is excellent and helps to continuously develop and refine my thinking.

So finally, if you have got this far and believe that effective management and leadership skills are essential to leading us out of the recession and that the target-driven managerial mindsets and management development philosophies of the last 30 years are no longer valid and there has to be a better way, then can I just say this – “Welcome to the tribe”.

So what might be the managerial mindset that will successfully enable us to survive and prosper in what has been chillingly termed the ‘zombie economy’?  This was the theme for our second Management Munch held mid-May. Here we debated what good management would look like, what skills and attributes a successful manager might have, how these might be developed and than what government might do to facilitate this. Here’s my very brief interpretation of what we discussed…..

Managers will have to be effective at delivering positive sustainable change. In other words deliver faster, cheaper and better products, services and processes. They must understand the innovation process, can cure causes – not effects, have the ability to ask questions, know what to change, how to change it and want to change it, are focussed on ‘win/win’ not ‘not losing’ and can collaborate effectively.

They will lead through what I am calling ‘authenticity’. This means having self-knowledge, belief and ‘being comfortable’ with themselves. Have clear clarity of purpose and vision and know what has to be achieved in the long term, medium term and short term. They can receive and act upon open feedback and develop real trust, respect and reputation through example. They will be consistent and genuine, have appropriate, demonstrated values, principles, correct behaviours and attitudes. Style will be about ‘Inspiring and doing’ rather than ‘coping and reporting’. An ability to build and lead effective teams will be essential. They will need to create an appropriate structure and delegate to it with organisations broken down into units of 150 max and ‘led’ accordingly through culture, identity and commitment generated through vision and communication. They must identify ‘micro’ leaders then develop and lead through them allowing these ‘micro’ leaders to challenge and adapt rules with culture guiding decision making in preference to rulebooks where appropriate.

All managers must be ‘developed’ to the appropriate level of their responsibility and take on the personal responsibility to continuously develop themselves.

The development process will start with correct selection with a greater emphasis on promoting from within as ability has already been demonstrated. Reviewing performance through 360 deg feedback and checking and evaluating achievements will be more commonplace as will the use of experienced managerial mentors and the recognition of Chartered Managers.

Government support could begin with leading by example with all Ministers to have an accredited managerial qualification and be working towards CMgr. In the Public sector there should be no promotions without an appropriate accredited qualification whilst in the Private sector there should be ‘Kite mark’ recognition for those organisations only promoting with appropriate accredited qualifications. Funding for training should be simplified with enhanced tax breaks for organisations, costs claimed directly by organisations  for accredited qualifications and improved funding/ tax benefits for individuals paying themselves. With regard to employment laws these should be simplified and made more sensible to allow leaders to actually lead and managers to be responsible for their actions too. Finally we would like our MP’s to engage with us more, especially at a local level.

Our Branch Education Officer David Broadhead has some controversial views about the subject, not surprisingly, and is not only working hard to discuss these at a national political level but also helping develop a new generation of middle and senior managers from all sectors equipped to survive and prosper through the forthcoming ‘zombie economy’.

As background information, over the last 10 years David has independently tutored more than 150 post-graduate managers to Masters level awards through his company Partners in Management, based in the Media Centre Huddersfield.  Prior to this he was a Senior Lecturer at Huddersfield University running conventional MBA/DMS programmes which followed a successful senior management career in international manufacturing industry.

So why his concern over the last 30 years…..

“In my opinion we are now seeing the death throes of a failed social experiment, originating in the Cold War, that has in many ways reduced our society to economic and moral bankruptcy and has had serious negative implications for the managerial profession” says David.

“The focus on micro-managerial control through political obsession with targets and the one-best practice/system approach has removed purpose, meaning and real innovation from organisations. Organisations have seen change as positional and radical without fully understanding the implications and consequences.  They are missing real opportunities for meaningful evolution and instead are focussing their resources on just managing systems and processes.  This emphasis on management through targets is what Mintzberg refers to as ‘deeming’ and in essence just pushes problems to the ‘point of delivery’ where individuals probably have the least opportunity or authority to resolve them.  A further disastrous consequence has been the destruction, particularly in the public sector, of the rich cultures many organisations used to have and which formed the focus of their existence, for example the diminution of head teacher’s authority in schools. This has been done in the mistaken belief that promoting individual liberty and destroying controlling elites was the way of the future. The furore over MP’s expenses and bankers bonuses where individual greed and lack of moral responsibility has overcome common sense, is just one further example of the end product of this failed philosophy.”

So what are we going to do about it?

“In our view we are in for an austere decade, devoid of external growth due to lack of available finance, manufacturing capacity and skills, particularly innovative ones.  There are tremendous opportunities out there particularly given the new emphasis on environmental issues but we need a new mindset in order to succeed and make the most of them.  The skills and managerial mindsets needed will be focussed around collaboration, trust, integrity, authenticity, open communication, individual responsibility, creativity and sustainable, organic innovation.  Organisations will become smaller, local, faster and through being effective will by default become inherently more efficient. The ‘efficiency saving’ monoliths much favoured by central governments and institutional shareholders will be seen as the dinosaurs of an industrial age and no longer viable in the information age of constellation organisations and cloud computing.  Individuals too, although physically still employed by organisations will however be engaged emotionally by brands and organisational identity, ethics and values.”

In support of these beliefs, David and his colleagues are pioneering a new range of readily accessible management development programmes all focussed around these key concepts of personal awareness and development, managing sustainable innovation and facilitating effective change.

Passionate about the subject and the role management has to play in rebuilding our society and economy, David has become an Ambassador for CMI locally, has contributed to developing and launching the CMI Manifesto for a ‘Better Managed Britain’ and also recently spent time in the Houses of Parliament explaining his views to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Management’s Chair, Barry Sheerman MP.  He is also keen to promote the role and significance of the CMgr award too and sees this as a significant aspirational status all managers should aim for in order to demonstrate their competence and commitment to the profession.