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A time to reflect…

Could this weird time of Covid and lockdown be a gift.

Many clients I meet talk of pressures, stress, poor work-life balance and the like. I believe the pressures that drive and stress us are never going to go away or stop, indeed as we progress in our careers they inevitably grow. Perhaps the challenge for us is not in managing the pressures, but managing ourselves in amongst the pressure.

I recently went on a ‘retreat’ and found the experience fulfilling and re-juvenating! It was an unexpectedly good experience, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts arising…

A retreat!

The version of retreat I attended was called a ‘Crossroads retreat‘, designed for people who want to take stock of their lives and make choices about the ‘next phase’. A variety of folk attended the retreat including an MD of a healthcare business, a Partner at a consulting firm, an Account Manager at Outsourcing Business and the leader of a youth charity. 

The idea of a retreat is not something new. Practiced by monks as a part of their religious practice for centuries, I had assumed it was the preserve of  ‘Christians’. How mistaken I was… Though it was held a monastery in Bedfordshire and we were catered for by Brother John in a simple, plentiful style, it was about people and their lives, not religion.

How did it work?
Prior to arriving we were asked to contemplate our ‘threshold’ question. What with me turning 58 this year, and facing the challenges of the Covid slowdown, financial and business pressures, my question was about how I wanted to live the next 5 years, be successful and feel less stress (no big ambitions then!).

Over the course of 2 days, we were asked to address a number of open questions:

  • How did I get here? 
  • What do I really want?
  • What would different look like?
  • What are my core strengths?
  • What do I want to take away with me and commit to?
Time to reflect…

We explored these one question at a time, following a simple process of reflection and what I call ‘witnessed talking’. (This is simply where the individual is given the space and time to talk through and explore their thoughts, doubts, hopes, fears with a colleague(s) who has no vested interest other than to support them.)

This was all done in an atmosphere of mutual respect and quiet interest borne out of human care. We also had space to walk and be alone, unhurried in our thoughts.

And then….
The retreat helped me make more sense of my situation and brought clarity to my wants, my needs and preferences. It brought out some truths about my family, the fathering I give my sons and the love I show my wife. It helped me gain perspective over my real, and imagined, business and economic worries. It calmed me.

Fundamentally, nothing changed, but my inner turmoil and questioning settled differently, leaving me feeling more in control, clearer about my responsibility and purposeful in living and working as I want. 

For something so simple, it was powerful for all concerned.

So what?
In this busy, 24/7 world we have developed, how useful for business leaders, politicians, parents, headmasters would it be to simply slow down and take some time to re-organise their thoughts and priorities? …. and yet how often do we do it?

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Tips to lift performance & start the year well… (Not taught at business school)

Smile & laugh more the physical and mental benefits of which are legion. Besides, it’s fun and contagious. Click the link and see for yourself. It’ll warm the cockles of the hardest heart…

Say “Thank-you” with meaning – offering genuine recognition and appreciation for something done well, no matter how small is uplifting, both for the giver and receiver.

Take a 10 minute walk outside every day – step away from the screen and savour the day, even if only for a few minutes. It contributes to better physical and mental health; helps put things into perspective and allows clearer thinking!

Be brave and reach out to colleagues or clients you don’t know or avoid – It’s all too easy to blame others for “being difficult” and avoid them, creating distance at work. However, few people really come to work to do a bad job or to be difficult. Assume the best. Seek to build and heal than avoid.

Ask for help – There is little more rewarding than helping another person who is in need.  So reward someone else by asking them to help you with something real. You’ll help lift their day and you might learn something to boot … remember to smile and say think you!

Tackle that ‘thing’ that frustrates you most – This is your leadership moment, an opportunity to make a positive difference to something or someone within your control. Go for it and make some changes. It likely frustrates others too!

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Talent shortage?

Lack of Talent or imagination?

I am often told that talent is difficult to find, attract and retain and sometimes hear ‘the lack of talent’ cited as a limiting factor in business growth. – Hogwash!

Look around you at the number of new business start-ups large and small, the boom in people setting-up on their own. There is talent galore everywhere you look. It may be younger, different or new to that traditionally valued, but bemoaning the lack is an excuse from the Management and HR department for paying insufficient attention to the development and growth of its people.

In any businesses of any scale, the real challenge is liberating or realising the talent that resides within the business. Having a management team and culture that invests in development, building experience, confidence and capability is key.

Conveniently, it is worth noting that businesses that nurture and develop talent well, tend to attract better talent too!

New talent or new eyes?

When looking at spend and activity, it is clear that many business leaders prefer to invest more searching for, and recruiting the ‘right’ people (despite of the mixed results), than they invest in developing their own people. The further up the hierarchy we look, the more this is the case, with exorbitant sums (upwards of 30 and 40% of first year salaries) being paid to consultancies to find and secure Mr. or Ms. Right.

Yet, how often do good people feel they have to leave their current employ to gain promotion or true recognition for their talent? This can only be put down as a loss.

Our experience shows that by looking anew at your people, testing the old evaluations and beliefs, investing in experiments and innovating, with people liberates new talent and valuably stretches their managers to boot. There’s nothing like having hungry, able followers to lift the leaders game.

Too often, we encounter managers who say they have no-one in their team capable of taking their place should they fall under the proverbial bus. They miss the ironic failure of their own management in not developing their successors!

Responsibility lies with the business AND the individual (not just HR!)

We recently worked in a FTSE100 with scores of talented, aspirational Managers who were hoping/ waiting/ expecting to be promoted. To date, their careers had been punctuated with periodic progression within their functional areas (Finance, Ops, Sales). The basic model being, do a good job and get promoted to the next one.

They were ambitious, yet frustrated at not being promoted or paid more. They were unclear as to what it ‘takes’ to get promoted to senior levels and were hoping to be given ‘the answer’, the experiences and the training to get them there. They missed their responsibility in developing themselves and being promoted.

From feedback it became clear that, most had never engaged in Personal Development (confusing it with time spent Training (see below)). Those who had personal development plans, normally paid lip service to them, having compiled them to comply with ‘HR policy’.

They were surprised to be met with the basic development question…

“Who’s taking charge of shaping your development/ growth and the direction of career?”

… and given time to think.

They had little idea of the ‘gap’ between their current capabilities and those required of the more senior role(s) to which they aspired, let alone how to close it.

It was a revelation when they were challenged to think about their personal profile, their networks, their leadership, their personal impact or communication and how to manage and develop themselves.

In parallel, their too-busy managers (see my earlier Time Poverty post) had not engaged with them at any depth in discussions about career or personal growth.

Take development seriously, it pays

We work with businesses businesses and managers to develop clarity around people and talent. We encourage them to:

  1. Look deeply at themselves, how they spend their time and how good they are at investing in and developing themselves and their people.
  2. Re-visit the people talent within the business, not as an HR or academic exercise, but as a deep dive and ongoing discussion into people and how to liberate and develop their talents.
  3. Invite, encourage, cajole the people within the business to step up and take charge of their careers, direction and personal performance
  4. Create an appreciation of, and approach to development that create the conditions for the talents required to flourish.

Footnote: Personal Development ≠ Training

Many people and businesses treat Development and Training as one in the same. Drawn from the same budget pot, with the same staffing, owned by HR.

In reality, Training and Development, though both vital, are deeply different areas of practice that deserve, indeed require, different skills, practices and treatment.

I explain the difference as:

  • Training teaches people the skills, knowledge, tools and techniques necessary to fulfil their current job(s) well
  • Development focuses on enabling personal and business growth, helping people and teams shape the talents, life skills and behaviours they need for their next job and beyond

Simply put, we can teach someone to use Excel, Audit Accounts, use systems or follow processes. We cannot teach people the formula for ‘doing’ leadership, relationship or emotional intelligence.

But, with skill, we can help them learn about, explore and develop ‘their’ leadership, relational skills or emotional intelligence (EI) and learn to express themselves more powerfully.

Coaching helps…