Higgs Boson, Vladimir Putin, the X factor and Gravitas!

Posted on December 12, 2011 by richclarke99

I read with interest that the theoretical particle Higgs Boson may have been found. This particle is responsible for giving all other particles their mass. The BBC report drew an analogy between the Higgs and that magical ingredient possessed by celebrities which is the key to their  attracting the public to them.

The analogy theme does seem to run deep. We call these people stars. In fact stars are theoretically impossible (based on current theory) without Higgs.The formal confirmation of the Higgs discovery will have to wait until there are more tests. This is what got me to wondering.

Will the next series of the X- factor be renamed the Higgs factor? Will Putin’s team in the Kremlin be able to utilise the latest discovery in time to ensure his re-election as President next March? And when we executive coaches work with our clients developing their “gravitas” will we have to take into account the Higgs impact?

Personally, I am intrigued by the idea of being more in the space rather than near the star. There is no shortage of energy flying around space. In fact even in the least densely populated areas of space there is the full range of electromagnetic radiation. And you get a better view of all the stars. Too close to any one star, then your visibility of all the others diminishes. There is also the danger of getting sucked in and consumed.

All in all I am glad that we will soon know a lot more about the Higgs particles. That way I will be able to make sure I keep well clear from them!

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Rudyard Kipling – IF

Posted on December 2, 2011 by richclarke99

Thank you to one of the participants of my recent Moscow workshop for reminding me about this excellent poem by Kipling! Very impressed with Moscow, and interesting to see how things pan out as the percentage of the leaders in industry who originally trained as Doctors flow into maturity.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

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ROI on executive coaching?

Posted on August 11, 2011 by richclarke99

A question I often come across, only occasionally from clients, more often from executive coaches in training, is “what is the business benefit of executive coaching”. A more sophisticated way this is asked is “what is the ROI” of executive coaching. A random search of this question on the web will often throw up studies, produced typically by executive coaching providers! These all show an outstanding ROI on what is typically a very small investment. In relationship with technology investments and large consultancy projects the investments in executive coaching are miniscule indeed.

In principle it is helpful to ask the question “why are we doing this”. Considerable harm has been done by the blind herd like behaviour following the latest trend. And I am sure that this habit of following will continue whatever I say here. However I think the line of questioning about executive coaching is mis-directed. In this article I will explain why I take this view.  I will also explain why I respond to the questions posed at the beginning of this article by saying: “I really don’t know”.

The solid empirical research into coaching as an intervention focuses on coaching as an aid to change. Coaching is proven to help people through the change process. Being coached helps learners acquire new skills and behaviours. In fact when compared with three other types of learning interventions commonly used: classroom learning; modelling from others; and skill practice in training settings, coaching is between 5 and 6 times more effective. With coaching and persistence, learners eventually succeed in seeing results from the new behavior.

The next piece of the jigsaw is alluded to in the last sentence: eventually. Change takes time. Again the research tells us the time needed to acquire new skills. To become world class in something as simple as learning a musical instrument takes at least 10,000 hours of purposeful practice. The same studies show that to be good takes about 4,000 hours. If somebody is missing a key skill necessary to fulfil a role effectively, they aren’t going to master it in a few months, in fact to be good if they were able to practice the skill a couple of hours a working day it would still take 10 years to become good on the basis of the above.

One missing point, research also tells us that executive gain massively in confidence through the coaching process. I am not sure whether this is positive or not, for the executive surely it is perceived that way, for the business, well… lets say not always. More on this is another post!

 

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Book Review – Wisdom of Teams

Posted on August 1, 2011 by richclarke99

Book Review – The Wisdom of Teams – Creating the High Performance Organisation Jon R Katzenbach and Douglas K Smith

Jon and Douglas are management consultants.

What is their approach in this book?

The book proposes the team as the key organisational unit for achieving performance goals. The underpinning of the book is interviews with 47 teams across US based corporations. Katzenbach and Smith argue that many managers and business leaders did not have a clear understanding of the stages of team development nor of their true function within the organisation. The inference is that there are missed opportunities for improving performance by using teams more effectively.

What is their definition of a team?

A “real” team is a small number (2-25) of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

The authors make a distinction between different forms of people working together. They introduced a distinction between work groups, work teams, and self-directed teams from all other teams. Teams are distinguished from work groups in that:

1)      the work they perform is collective as opposed to the sum of individual contributions,

2)     leadership roles are shared and

3)     the team does real work together that results in a specific end product or service being delivered.

The table below summarizes the key differences.

 

Work group Team 
- Strong clearly focus leader 

- Individual accountability

- The group’s purpose is the same as the

broader organization mission

- Individual work-product

- Runs efficient meetings

- Measures its effectiveness indirectly by its influence on others (e.g. financial

performance of the business)

- Discuss, decides, delegates

 - Shared leadership roles 

- Individual and mutual accountability

- Specific mission that the team itself delivers

- Collective work-product

- Encourage open-ended discussion and active problem-solving meetings

- Measures performance directly by assessing work products

- Discuss, decides and does real work together

They suggest that the most important question members of a group can ask is “What will it take for us to achieve significant performance results?” The answer to this question usually helps to determine if a team or a work group approach is best suited.

Team development

Katzenback and Smith propose four stages of team development:

Pseudo team – a collection of individuals for whom there could be significant performance benefits derived from working together, but who have not focused on collective performance and are not really trying to achieve it.

Potential team – a collection of individuals, for whom there is a clear benefit to be derived from working as a team, but who may lack clarity about their common purpose or goals.

Real team – a small number of people with complementary skills who are jointly committed to a common purpose, goals, and working approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

High performance team – a group that meets all the conditions of real teams and whose members are also deeply committed, even beyond the team setting, to one another’s personal growth and success.

What were their key findings about the function of teams?

  • It is more important to set a culture of strong performance within the company than to just promote teams.
  • Successful teams take discipline: purpose goals skills approach and accountability.
  • Teams are not a replacement for the formal hierarchy; rather they provide ways of integrating across formal hierarchies and processes.
  • Teams naturally integrate performance and learning.
  • Challenge provides the fuel that drives a team to perform
  • Teams function better in achieving their goals when there is a clear purpose and there are goals aligned with their mission

Criticisms of the arguments

  1. The most obvious criticism of the approach to teams is the tie-in with performance. In their definition they choose performance goals as one of the functions of teams, therefore any teams that don’t achieve performance goals are by definition not successful. This is a circular argument. I did notice that they chose an Enron team as one of their successful teams. The catastrophic failure of this organisation, linked by many to an over focus on performance, raises doubts about the wider performance culture point.
  2. The book perhaps overlooks the wider function of teams – how else might they serve the organisation? One such example comes to mind, subsequent to a merger, a series of teams were established to capture the “best of” practices, processes, culture of the two preceding organisations.  The teams neither delivered performance nor did “real work” however, the teams and the approach were significant in successfully building a merged organisation which became very successful commercially.
  3. Finally, I have an uneasy sense that the book did not really get to the bottom of what makes teams a satisfactory experience for the participants, and perceived as successful by the wider organisation. The stages of team development were too simple and not really indicative of the many different variants of team life that exist. Perhaps whilst separating out teams as independent autonomous entities was an effective way of isolating the function of the team for study, it underplayed the complexity of organisational life, for example challenges of part-time involvement, virtual teams, coordination with other groups and organisational entities.

 

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Spirit of the Team

Posted on January 5, 2011 by richclarke99

This is the translation of an article by Julio Velasco, his achievements speak for themselves, at the bottom of the post you can read what they were!

JULIO VELASCO: “Team spirit is the key to success”

Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman re-united in a room furnished with totem and other Indian objects. The Chicago Bulls collected around their coach, Phil Jackson, he is reading them pieces from “Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling preparing the team for a match. One phrase in the novel that recurs often: “The strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf”. Strange coincidences happen. “It is one of my favorite books”, comments Julio Velasco (the multiple winning coach of Italy’s Volleyball teams), “it is said, however, that when the wolf becomes old, and is no more able to hunt, the pack kills it. This is a little like what happens to all leaders”.

Why, according to you, does the business world talk more and more about playing as a team?

“For a number of factors connected with the changes in society: more competition, growing complexity, focus on the entrepreneur and finally globalization”.

How good is the business world at building “team spirit”?

“It seems to me that in our society, in organizations, the culture of the team isn’t very widespread. All insist on speaking of teamwork, it is as if there is a moral imperative and all must do better at it. That is equivalent to saying, we must be good guys and girls, we must have team spirit. This is positive but not sufficient. It is merely a concept of solidarity: we are all in this boat together”.

But then it is essential to work in teams?

“It is necessary to frame the problem. I don’t agree that without the team you can’t achieve anything. The business world is full of people that alone, using others as a means to an end, have achieved great things. I reckon, however that business, as many other activities, in a society that is always more global, is always more complex, more vast. Consequently even if the individual is world class, in the business or sports world, one has to work harder and harder. Therefore the team starts becoming a necessity. And it isn’t the case that the team concept is becoming talked of much within companies”.

What is the motivation, in a world always more orientated towards individual achievement, pushing towards teamwork?

“Essentially because it is worthwhile to whoever is part of a team. Even for the individual achiever. For the same principle of the team game: the tactics. The technique, of team, is only the means to the end. A good tactical system allows one to play to ones strengths and hide ones weaknesses, and at the same time, to underline the weaknesses of the competition and neutralize their strengths”.

It is the tactics then, that is the added value of playing as a team?

“Exactly, because even if a player is outstanding, there is always something in which they will not be very good. And by playing together one is able to bring out the best of everyone, compensating for the defects of one with the good qualities of another team member. A team that doesn’t do this is applying the wrong tactics. Moreover, the continual clipping away at the strengths of the individual, over time, will tear them out of the team. In a sports team they can always be substituted, but in a business, where the movement of people is much lower, it can become much more serious”.

And how does one keep an individual within the team?

“Certainly not with moralistic speeches. They are more useful to us, utilitarian and pragmatic methods: you have to help the person see the benefits of being part of the team. Especially that the other team members will cover for their weaknesses and allow them to showcase their strengths”.

From where do you start, then, in building a team?

“From having clear objectives, and secondly having the rules of the game clearly spelled out, known to all”.

What do you mean?

“It means that the approach, the way of working and operating together as a team must be clear to all, and not only to the boss. Many conceive of teamwork as: I will task the team, they will execute. And whoever doesn’t follow doesn’t have any team spirit. True teams aren’t this way. The role of the coach consists of knowing how to construct the game in collaboration with the players “.

And here is the role of the coach. “One isn’t a great coach when you get a player to act out according to the intentions of the coach, but when you teach them to act out according to their own account. The absolute ideal, which is out of reach, is when the coach has nothing further to say, because the players know already everything there is to know. They have to know, besides the technique, how one acts, in a word, the tactics “.

The role of the coach, therefore is comparable with that of the leader?

“It is undoubtedly a role of command. One must be in a position to assume on ones own shoulders the risks. The approach must be shared by everyone, also through a contradictory. If there isn’t agreement between everyone, what does one do? Here comes into play the leader, better he decides, because one cannot live in a state of conflict. The leader assumes his responsibilities, searching to make mistakes as little as possible. A margin of error will exist obviously always, it is vital it is explained clearly in advance”.

Team and group, they are not the same thing.

“No, and they shouldn’t be confused. The group is the component at the foundation of a team. Groups are formed by carrying out a common activity: for example, a class at school.  In the group the individuals have their roles, but they are not very clear cut, they are assigned them spontaneously from the other members. Moreover there isn’t a single leader, because the leader is chosen according to each activity in turn.  The group is an entity in its own right: that means that its characteristics aren’t just the sum of the characteristics of the individuals that make up the group, but there’s a need to find them in the dynamics that are created within the group. It is necessary to verify how each individual operates within the group and not as they were, if they have talent, or if they have a certain character, or if they are consistent to a certain way of working”.

What then, characterizes a team in comparison with a group?

“The roles must be well defined. According to the type of game that will be played, of the approach that it is agreed will apply.

It is unacceptable, for example, that a full back goes to attack only because the centre forward doesn’t mark. This implies also to accept the limits, the weaknesses, the errors of ones companions. Every player owes it to respect the role assigned to them from the coach, from the leader, from the top”.

They are starting the problems for the coach.

“The boss is part of the pre agreed roles, his is that of command, institutionally. It is necessary to differentiate between the boss and the leader. The leadership is earned by consent, one must establish a moral authority to command. The leader stabilizes the group, doesn’t have a role assigned, for example, on the organization chart. Staying with sport, there are coaches that are not leaders and that utilize those that emerge within the group as leaders”.

When however there is something that doesn’t work it is hard to stick with the roles.

“All depends on the climate created from the top, from the bosses, on the way to interpret an error. It is in cases of difficulty that one sees if there is indeed team spirit.  When things are going well it is simple to respect the role, when instead they are going badly, it sparks off a process whereby each tries to demonstrate their own innocence, between thousands of excuses and justifications, and put the blame on the others. The source of the problem is that the error becomes seen as a demonstration of incapacity and not as something to learn from”.

You have often spoken of a culture of excuses.

“The excuses, besides destroying the harmony, block progress, block learning. It is a situation that in my experience I have found everywhere. The error marks the necessity to make modifications, the excuse, instead, prevents the mobilization of resources that sometimes you don’t even know you possess”.

In the story ‘I Promessi Sposi [the fiancées]‘ of Alessandro Manzoni, Don Abbondio justifies himself saying: “If one doesn’t have the courage, one can not give it”. How much does it count the motivation?

“So that the roles, the group, the team works it is clear that motivation is a key component. It mustn’t be abstract, neither cultural nor moral. There are three types of motivation, base, economic and of the challenge”.

What does the motivation of the base consist of?

“To do what pleases you. Consequently when teams form, it must choose people for the roles that appeal to them. In any case it is possible to improve the job conditions, the environment (for example a pleasant office, the ease of getting to work), to grant benefits, at the end to make you more satisfied with what you have. In this the Americans are the masters, for how much it regards them: the better one lives the more one gives. In Italy there is a complete disregard for these arguments. A good coach must search of putting, if he can, a player in the position that he will enjoy the most”.

The financial motivation instead.

“It is very important, the prizes, the incentives are an optimal stimulus. But it becomes negative when it is asked of the team to play hard and then the rewards go only to the owners”.

You have spoken of challenge…

“This motivation for me assumes a fundamental role, not so much with regards to daily tasks but for the big undertakings. I believe that people, above all in a society decidedly standardized as it is, have need of the emotions, to feel themselves part of something beyond the daily routine, to compete for an above ordinary undertaking. There is even greater reason for this in the world of work”.

How do you make yourself have the winning mentality?

“To this question I always respond with a paradox. Winning! The problem is how to win? Three typologies exist. The first victory is against your own defects and limits. The role of the boss is fundamental: they must set easily reachable objectives, in a way which allows them to take one step at a time and, above all it must give help to individuals to resolve their defects. And then to overcome difficulties is the key training needed. This is the second typology of winning. The difficulties they must no longer be seen as something that impedes progress but as an opportunity of training myself to overcome them”.

And the third victory?

“It is that one against the adversaries, the contenders. That is scheduled: on one side challenging adversaries that are within my reach, on the other side, at the same time, challenging against the best, even if I lose. This serves me by establishing a high point of reference. Sometimes one learns more losing against a strong adversary rather than winning from a weaker one”.

Translation is mine not:

intervista gentilmente concessa da Stage Up – Il primo sito italiano di Sport Business http://www.stageup.com

Julio Velasco

Argentinian, born 1952

He rose to fame by coaching the Italian male volleyball team to great success in the early nineties. With the Italian national male Volleyball team:

2 World Championships: 1990, 1994

3 European Championships: 1989, 1993, 1995

5 World League: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995

1 World Cup: 1995

1 silver medal at the Olympics: 1996

1 Grand Champions Cup: 1993

1 Top Four FIVB: 1994

1 Top Six FIVB: 1996

He has also coached football teams, softball teams and the Italian Women’s National Volleyball teams.

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How to…. New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on December 29, 2009 by richclarke99

Less than a quarter of Britons will achieve their New Year resolutions in 2010 because they go about it the wrong way, according to Professor Richard Wiseman. http://bit.ly/6vf1Gc

According to Professor Wiseman there are a set of strategies which work for the 22% who do achieve their resolutions. Great! No, not great that there are a set of strategies you can adopt, but great that 22% do actually achieve what they set out to do. My advice based on these findings would be different. This is because I suspect that the 100% pool of people in the research actually is composed of three types of people.

Type A – the goal achievers, this group generally achieve most of the things they set out to achieve, for the Type As goal setting is an effective life strategy. The sense of achievement is self reinforcing and if you want, you can use this to set yourself ever more stretching goals, with reasonable certainty (life’s unforseen events excepted) that you will achieve them. The 22% in professor Wiseman’s research probably all fell into this group. A good test of whether you are a type A - do you typically achieve your goals? If you are uncertain at this point, move on, you aren’t a Type A.

Type B – For the Type Bs, the New Year Resolution process is a fun and enjoyable game. You set yourselves interesting and topical resolutions. You might publish them on your blog, share them widely and engage in the initial steps (such as joining the gym). There is no way that you are going to achieve these resolutions, but you don’t care. For the Type B the only important factor is joining in with everyone else. Your memory of last years resolutions will be completely forgotten by the time next year comes around and the game starts all over again. You already have your strategy sorted, but for the Type Bs who want to be stretched a little in their game. Make your resolutions outrageous, your aim with your resolution is to pitch it right at the edge of believability. This means that some people won’t believe you. That’s fine, just as long as you have some believers the outrageous nature of your resolution will be far more satisfying for you. After all you have no intention of achieving it anyway… have you? ;)

Finally, Type C, – egged on by the pressures of the Type As and Type Bs you will be under considerable pressure to set yourself resolutions. This secretly conflicts with an underlying sense that there isn’t really anything you want to resolve to do that strongly. For you you probably would have done it already. But the Type Cs get sucked into the whole resoultion thing and take is seriously. The problem is that there will be real remorse when the resolutions aren’t kept. You will begin to doubt your own will power and ability to keep promises to yourself. This, like the inevitable hangover, will at some point in the following year make you feel bad about yourself. Your stategies for coping are more limited. If you can extract yourself from the whole resolution process, or perhaps find yourself a plausible excuse for when you are cornered about your resolutions. Something like “oh no, I didn’t make any resolutions this year, I am going to be too busy with my charity work this year and can’t afford to indulge in myself by making resolutions”. If this doesn’t work for you then I suggest that you too go bold. Find yourself a truly outrageous resolution. In fact it needs to be so outrageously challenging that no one will believe you have the slightest hope of achieving it. This way there will be no expectations that you will be successful, not even from yourself. You can then relax in the self knowledge that you have nothing bad to feel as your resolution was totally impossible for anyone to achieve.

The more inquisitve amonst you, especially those who have continued to read down this far, may be asking what type am I? When I started off I decided that I was a Type A. However I suspect that there is a little of Type B and Type C in me too. So following my own advice, my outrageous resolution for this year is to set up a business with the aim of  working with the unemployed and helping them get in to meaningful and enjoyable employment. Check in with me next year to see which Type in me won out :) .

Whatever you do make 2010 a fulfilling and enjoyable year in whichever way works best for you.

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Warren Buffett’s Coach

Posted on December 29, 2009 by richclarke99

Recently Warren Buffett announced that Berkshire Hathaway would be making its largest acquisition yet. Burlington Railway in the US was moving 100% into the Berkshire fold. I was set to reflecting on the role of the Executive Coach in Warren’s life. I confess to not knowing whether Warren has or ever has had an Executive Coach. However I recognise a number of traits the he has developed within himself that are often on the agenda for my clients in our Executive Coaching sessions.

The BBC a few weeks ago ran an hour long documentary on the man from Omaha. I am working from memory rather than the transcript. I remember that he said the certificate that he keeps proudly on his wall doesn’t relate to his educational achievements, or accountancy or finance but rather a course he did with Dale Carnegie early in his career. Dale Carnegie came to fame for the classic book, “how to make friends and influence people”. I got the sense from Warren’s comment and the way that he made it that this was somewhat pivotal in his own development. This is something I see with many clients.

I am privileged to work with many wonderful clients, and I suspect that I probably learn far more from them than I believe they ever do from me. I find it quite scary that the more I learn, especially in connection with people and behaviour in general, the more I realise there is to learn. I haven’t quite got to accept that I am never going to get to the bottom of all life’s mysteries. My curiosity, especially when it comes to leadership and business performance still drives me to discover more and more.

Returning then to Warren, analysis of his acquisitions and investments inevitably focuses on his ability to assess intrinsic value; to take the longer term view and an ability to judge movements in markets hence investing favourably against market trends. But there is another aspect to this success that I see differentiates him, and it is here that I see the parallels with the type of work I do in developing leaders:

  • Putting judgements about people at the heart of his decision making: a fundamental philosophy of his strategy is to ONLY go into business with people who he likes, trusts and admires. He says he doesn’t get involved in the operation of the businesses acquired. And his comments about the managers of the businesses are uniformly positive and complimentary.
  • Independent thinking, which for him means avoiding business cravings, stated positions or management fads: there is an amazing openness and transparency in all aspects of the person and the business. He accepts that he hasn’t a clue what will be the next quarter’s performance (so not setting up a temptation to massage figures to expectations). He is clear that he doesn’t have a strategic plan (so there isn’t an ordained direction that then becomes owned by the individual and hard to back away from). He owns up to a lack of knowledge in many areas (so doesn’t get tempted to mess with operational management, investing in areas, like technology, in business models he doesn’t understand).
  • He is willing to own up freely and frequently to mistakes: The Berkshire Hathaway annual report is as full of the mistakes as it is of the successes. These mistakes include: the wrong businesses acquired, businesses held for too long before disposal or closure, problems within businesses that were procrastinated over for years before the right action was taken, purchases that were available but not made. In my experience this ability to own up to mistakes is invaluable to learning for the future.
  • Clarity around business ethics and personal morals that translate into business activity: on a wide range of topics Warren is outspoken in his view on sharing the whole picture in the accounts (rather than a favourable presentation benefitting management), appropriate approaches to executive compensation that are fair but not to the detriment of shareholders, the ability for his shareholders to contribute to charities which relate to their own personal choices and values (rather than company giving perse).

These are all topics relevant to many of the executive coaching sessions that we deliver in the AoEC. And as a result, Warren has created a kind of haven – a little like a reef that protects fish from the predators in the deep ocean. Some, like Goldman Sachs and GE bought themselves a ticket to enter this reef when the financial crisis was at its worst about a year ago. Others like Burlington have decided to move permanently within the protective confines of this reef. There they can focus on doing what they do best, operating and growing their businesses, without the complexity of allocating the capital they generate, this is a task that arguably, Warren does best.

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Do women make better leaders?

Posted on November 2, 2009 by richclarke99

This article was first submitted as part of one of my regular articles for a very popular top job site. They requested a different one because their readership (95%) are male. I have reprinted it here as it was submitted. I hope my male readers of the blog aren’t offended ;)

One of the most enjoyable and at the same time frustrating aspects of coaching is the opportunity to take a broader view of organisational life. Enjoyable because you see things from a higher perspective, like taking a helicopter ride over a city; you see streets and patterns you weren’t aware of from the ground. Frustrating too, because as a coach it is hard to address the injustices you see, except on a case by case basis.

This column is dedicated to one of those injustices. It is widely reported in the press that there is a scarcity of talent. Yet there is a massive talent pool which exists and yet is untapped. Recent figures show that whilst women make up 46.2% of the workforce, only 11% of managers in large organisations are women, 3.8% of executives and only 2.7% of the Fortune 500 top earners.

Several analyses and reviews of leadership research indicate that there are few differences between male and female leaders. Female leaders are as effective, or in some situations (requiring a more participative and less autocratic leadership style) more effective than male leaders.

The research does outline several barriers to the advancement of women leaders. These can be classified as organisational, interpersonal and personal. In particular, prejudice (male leaders assess women leaders more harshly than male leaders for example), male executive’s preference for gender similarity, non equivalent developmental assignments, lack of support and work/home conflicts are amongst the major barriers.

Yet organisations continue to fall foul of both making the most of their talent and the law!

“On the 18th July this year following a Review Hearing that took place in June, the Employment Tribunal announced its decision to uphold the decision of an earlier Employment Tribunal that Gillian Switalski had suffered sexual discrimination, victimisation and harassment whilst employed by City-based F&C Asset Management as the Head of Legal.”

The settlement claimed is in the region of £19million.

Organisational, it is more important to identify, track and support female talent. Internally organisations need to raise awareness of gender barriers.

For female leaders the 9 top tips would be as follows:

- express an interest in challenging development assignments

- make sure that you get line P&L roles in a variety of departments

- find influential mentors, attract top level support

- find topics of conversation that allows for building rapport

- focus on building relationships through projects rather than “pure networking”

- be discreet about sharing personal or confidential information

- find your own “voice” don’t be tempted to blend in and display strong entrepreneurial initiative

- focus on the job and follow what’s exciting

- face opposition with resilience and humour

Research Source: Northouse, Women and Leadership

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Announcing the Hogwart’s MBA

Posted on October 14, 2009 by richclarke99

It is that time of year. Universities and business schools have welcomed their new intakes. I have often worked with students on their MBA courses. I find the youth, energy and generally positive outlook both refreshingly inspiring and invigorating. So I thought I would give something back, offering an alternative frame for viewing the studies undertaken during an MBA. What better way to tackle this, I thought to myself, than using Hogwart’s; that fictional school of Wizardry as a reference point. As I reflected on the topics studied at MBA I made my own links; please let me have yours.

Operations: this has got to be that magical subject of Transfiguration – the art of changing the properties of an object. At Hogwart’s this also includes switching spells altering only part of an object, vanishing spells and conjuring spells; creating objects from thin air. They have mastered the art of JIT (Just in Time) at Hogwarts. No need for long production lines. In fact the recent trend towards off shoring, where an email whizzes off an order to a factory, typically in China, only for the goods to appear, as if by magic, some time later, shows that the real world really is getting closer to the magical one.

Marketing: obviously this is Charms, the lesson that works on developing incantations for the uses of bewitchment. Charms are a type of magical spell concerned with giving an object, new and unexpected properties. For example washing powder; choose the right one and you too will have a harmonious and relaxing household. You can picture the adverts with happy smiling children and the mother who handles mud caked clothes with nothing more than a tilt of the head in mock condemnation. (In our household, now with five kids, neither washing powder nor charm spells seem to do anything to quieten the chaos).

Strategy: was there ever a better parallel between strategy and the magical art of divination? Divination is the art of predicting the future. Various methods are used: tea leaves (PESTLE analysis), crystal balls (Five Forces), dream interpretation (Scenario Planning)|, cartomancy (SWOT analysis), and the list goes on. It is described as “one of the most imprecise” branches of magic. Supporters claim that it is an inexact science that requires innate gifts (McKinsey). Those opposed claim the subject is irrelevant and fraudulent.

Economics: like Potions it seems that for economics to work, also requires the correct mixing and stirring of ingredients at the right times and temperatures. As a branch it is related to sciences (like chemistry) but with a more sinister twist (an art rather than a science). It is a most appealing subject and on the face of it appears that even muggles (the name for non magical people) could follow this subject. However, this is only an illusion, as according to Rowling (authoress) for economics (sorry potions) to really work there does come a point when you need to do more than stir.

Finance: closely aligned to Arithmancy, which is a branch of magic concerned with the magical properties of numbers. Neither of the heroes of Harry Potter take this subject, and whilst it is included in almost every MBA, non of the students I have worked with confess to either doing it, or if they are confronted with attendance records, confess to understanding it. Arithmancy is reportedly very difficult, as it requires memorizing or working with large numbers (like CEO reward packages).

And finally, Human Resources, the humanist in me draws the linkage with “Care of Magical Creatures”. This subject instructs students how to care for magical beasts (not just Union representatives but all of us, whom I believe, are truly magical). At Hogwarts the instructor, Hagrid a truly experienced and knowledgeable wizard, constantly misjudges the level of risk that the creatures (people) pose. Now this really is an instructive point for those of you just starting your MBA….

Thanks to wikipedia for the details of Hogwart’s subjects and Harry Potter related quotes.

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Dilemmas in Talent Management

Posted on September 22, 2009 by richclarke99

I have noticed a couple of common themes, or problem areas in most organisations: Talent Management strategies and initiatives. In conversations with HR, L&D and in the line, nearly all agree that line managers play a critical role in motivating, retaining and developing their talent. Sadly they also acknowledge; most of their managers are not up to the job.

The second theme is that the practical task of identifying key talent within organisations is far more difficult than it sounds. It tends to be bedevilled by internal politics and favouritism, and whilst criteria can often be in place there isn’t much confidence that all the right people are identified.

The problem of the former often comes down to the lack of basic people skills amongst line managers. It seems that line managers struggle to have difficult and sometimes critical conversations with the people who report to them. They can also lack the fundamental understanding of the people development process, which is a vital part of any developmental conversation. No wonder then that the talented individuals leave in droves, their own managers can’t talk to them about what really matters and they can’t help them develop to the next step!

At the AoEC one of our popular interventions is a two and a half day course to help line managers have that critical conversation. And it’s not just about critical conversations; when the organisation needs to change, it needs its’ people to change. Changing behaviours and improving performance are both impossible without the support of the line managers. The problem is not that the line isn’t willing, it is just that they don’t have the skills to help coach people through the change. That’s why we keep busy.

The second problem: that of identifying talent; is different in nature. In our experience there is often an abundance of talent. We see a lot of very good people through our work in coaching across a variety of organisations. If anything this seems to increases year on year. Perhaps there is a parallel with the recently released GCSE results: standards are rising.

Our analysis of the problem would be somewhat different. There are a lack of leadership roles for talent to rise into! The world’s largest corporations are now operating at around 2 million employees (Walmart 2009 figures) and still have only one CEO. The opportunities are decreasing at the same time as the standards are increasing.

CIPD’s report earlier this year about the war on talent found: “Greater scrutiny is being placed on talent management systems and processes – this seems to be both from a return on investment perspective and also by placing greater emphasis on more robust and transparent criteria for the selection and development of high-performing individuals. ”

The resulting tensions require HR to find resolution. The use of forced normal distributions (where assessing managers are required to have 50% of their team better than an arbitrary middle grade, say “Good” and 50% better) for assessing people during performance appraisals is one such solution. It does however send a negative message and systemically inhibits a culture where standards can be constantly raised. Which organisations really want 50% of their staff to be performing at less than good!

There is a role here for the coach operating within organisations. Ensuring that the deployment of 360 degree feedback, an immensely powerful tool for developmental conversations, and psychometric tests are ONLY used as development aids and NOT as levers to justify delays in progression. Fortunately, such abuses, at least amongst our clients, are rare. At the heart of this debate is the issue of trust. It is critical for any executive coach to be able to build a bond of trust with their client, and for the organisation to support this. That is why when we engage in coaching, the contract of confidentiality and working to a code of ethics features so highly. This is something with both our coaches and in our training programmes.

Trust is essential in any type of work developing individuals, it is even more important with a coach, who sits in a privileged position with his clients.

This post was published in Goldjobs here http://www.goldjobs.com/news/Content.asp?Topic=Articles

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