Why good leadership leads to equality in the workplace

Today’s society features many global citizens. People who lived in multiple countries, speak several languages and embody different cultures. In 2019 alone, more than 100,000 migrants arrived in New Zealand. That’s why diversity matters. It brings out the best in everyone and unlocks what no one person or group could achieve alone.

On Friday, 6 March 2020, IML ANZ hosted our first International Women’s Day event in Auckland. It was a morning of informed discussion about the importance of equality in the workplace, the strategies that organisations can employ and the leadership that must underpin all these activities.

We had the chance to chat with one of the event panellists, Jacqueline Parekh CMgr FIML. She is currently the Strategic Projects Lead at Asahi Beverages and before that held a senior manager role in the field of talent and organisation with Accenture. Parekh is also a Chartered Manager, one of the first to be accredited in New Zealand.

She shared her thoughts on transitioning from a technical expert and becoming a leader, the qualities of a good leader and why she is hopeful about the future of gender equality in New Zealand.

Not just a piece of the pie

Parekh recalls that it was when she became the manager of other managers that she fully understood the crux of her role.

“Once you start to assume a management role, that’s when you’ll realise that it’s not just about competency – understanding your subject matter and executing it with excellence by then should be a given. It becomes more about rallying, motivating and coaching people to realise a goal or ambition that they otherwise wouldn’t have done by themselves,” she says.

Revealing a fondness for analysis, Parekh explains the perfect illustration for this transition. “Think of your career as a pie chart. When you start, a larger slice of the pie naturally focuses on establishing sound technical competence in your subject matter specialty,” she points out.

“But as you grow in your career, what you’ll find increasingly is cultivating leadership skills like coaching, mentoring, facilitating, resolving conflict, communicating — basically managing people – becomes the larger slice of the pie. This is the time where you realise you need to pivot from being a doer to a leader.

Good leadership underpins diversity and inclusion

Creating diverse and inclusive workplaces must start with leaders. According to Parekh, leaders must display certain qualities to influence a change in their team’s behaviour. Her top two includes:

  • Integrity. Parekh believes whether it’s giving proper credit for accomplishments, acknowledging mistakes, or putting safety and quality first, great leaders exhibit integrity at all times. They do what’s right, even if that isn’t the best thing for the current project or even the bottom line.
  • Self-awareness. Parekh reaffirms that this quality is one of the core components of emotional intelligence and has been cited as the most important quality for leaders to adopt. She is a firm believer of removing any blind spots that prevent you from improving as a manager and leader. Leaders must understand where their natural inclinations lie and use this knowledge to boost or compensate for them. In fact, she believes highly self-aware leaders lead higher-performing organisations.

On a positive path towards equality

Parekh counts herself lucky for joining organisations, like Asahi, that have a clear focus on equality. “Right from my first job as a graduate, it was clear to me that these organisations I’ve been a part of base their hiring decisions on merit,” she explains.

“They weren’t just interested in my achievements or whom I’ve worked for but asked many questions around cultural fit based on my experiences and personality. I could see that they wanted the richness that diversity alone brings.”

For example, Parekh’s current employer, Asahi Beverages annually review and report the gender pay gap which, as of September 2019 was around 3% against the WGEA average of 14%.

Her previous organisation, Accenture, set two clear goals: first, to achieve a gender-balanced workforce by 2025 and second, to increase the diversity of their leadership by growing the percentage of women managing directors to at least 25% by the end of 2020.

So Parekh remains positive about the future of gender equality in New Zealand. And with good reason. In 2020, New Zealand ranked 7th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report.

“Empowering equality is not only morally right but economically smart,” Parekh explains.

Parekh concludes that we can see the numerous benefits resulting from a truly equal society. “Be it in employment, leadership or legislation, when we take on a more diverse outlook, we always put ourselves a step up higher than before.”

Managers and leaders of Australia and New Zealand; this is your time to SHINE

By David Pich CMgr FIML

IML ANZ Chief Executive

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Ironically, this saying is a modern iteration of an observation from ancient Greek physician Hippocrates’: ‘for modern diseases, extreme methods of cure are most suitable’. And here we are in 2020, deep into a thoroughly modern crisis that is caused by a thoroughly modern disease. We must – quite rightly – leave the medical response in terms of methods of cure and prevention to the experts (and I pause to give a shout-out those at the frontline of COVID-19 who deserve all honours and awards for their efforts).

Other than fully following the instructions of the medical experts, as managers and leaders, what should our own approach be? What should managers and leaders do in the new normal that is COVID-19? Be the experts at leading well.

I say to all managers and leaders; this is your time. It’s your time to lead. It’s your time to apply the skills that you’ve learnt – those totally misnamed ‘soft skills’ that aren’t actually soft at all but are extremely ‘hard’. These are the skills that you’ve been honing, working on, reading about, watching YouTube clips about and practising. In your time as a manager and leader you haven’t always got things right, but you’ve done your best and you’ve bounced back each time. Now is your time to bring all of these skills together. It’s your time to SHINE as a manager and a leader.

Here’s how you can make your leadership skills SHINE;

Show vulnerability. This is an extraordinary, once in a generation (at least!) situation that is impacting everyone, personally and professionally. As leaders we’re not expected to be superheroes. We have lives and families too and we’re in the same boat right now as our staff. It’s important to share our own stresses and worries as this helps to normalise the stresses and worries that our staff are currently experiencing.  

Hold regular communications sessions. Regular communication across multiple channels is absolutely crucial, especially when staff are working from home or aren’t always in the normal office environment. It’s up to the leaders to set up these communication lines and to walk the talk by ensuring that you are always on the calls, replying to messages and sending emails. Don’t go missing – ensure that you are very visible. At IML ANZ we have set up an All Staff Hump Day Huddle on Zoom. My leadership team has a WhatsApp Group and all teams have set up eChat Sessions and Microsoft Team groups.

Include your team in decision-making (aka, delegate). The sheer number of decisions that leaders need to make right now is incredibly daunting. The very best thing a leader can do is to share the decision-making load. Involve others in the decisions that need to be made, seek opinion and advice, call out for different views so that you can weigh up the pros and cons of things you are considering. At IML we decided to move staff to a working from home model very early in the COVID-19 outbreak. This decision was a leadership team decision that came about after much discussion and consultation. As the leader you need to facilitate the decision-making process, you don’t need to make all the decisions yourself.

Notice things. This is absolutely key during times like this. It’s critical that as a leader you establish ways for you to know what is happening in your business and amongst your staff. Mental health is likely to be significantly impacted and you need to be checking in and making suggestions to assist staff who are impacted. You’re not expected to be a counsellor or a psychologist. That is best left to the professionals. But you need to have your finger on the pulse of your team so that you can point people who need assistance or advice to the correct resources. One way to do this is to contact people regularly and to ask direct questions, such as; Are you OK? Are you feeling lonely or isolated? Are you struggling with anything right now?

Empower your people to make their own decisions about their own situation. One size doesn’t fit all and the current pandemic will impact different people in your team in different ways. A key role as a leader is to recognise this and to allow people to make the right decision for themselves and their families. What makes you comfortable as a leader might make others feel very stressed. It’s time to apply all the emotional intelligence you can muster.

As a leader, as this crisis unfolds this is your time to SHINE. I’ve included below the first all staff email that I sent to my team this week. Feel free to read, comment below or steal the content. See if you spot the SHINE elements in the email. It’s obviously not perfect, but it might be a good start for leading your team or business through the next few weeks and months.

This is an unprecedented time for managers and leaders. It’s undoubtedly a time of crisis and of considerable confusion. But it’s also an opportunity for managers and leaders to show how absolutely critical sound leadership is. It’s your time to shine and to lead well.

– STARTS –


Subject: CEO Update 1. Please read

 Good morning team

I hope you all had a good weekend. I’m not completely sure what ‘good’ means anymore, but at a very base level – I hope you’re all well and feeling healthy.

First, I want to apologise to the entire team. I was a little quiet last week. I did speak to each of the GMs many times, but I quite literally didn’t have time to write this All-Staff email. On a personal note, Eileen and I are having our house renovated. The entire back of the house has been removed (including the whole kitchen). On Monday last week, the builders accidently cut through the sewer line in the back garden. As a result we’ve been without a kitchen, washing machine and toilet all week. It hasn’t been pretty!

On top of that, many of you will know that I’m the President of my kids’ school Parents & Citizens Association. The P&C employs 25 staff, all on casual contracts. If (when!) the school closes these 25 staff will likely lose their income. I spent much of last week trying to find a solution to this very sticky issue. The announcement yesterday that schools in NSW, VIC and ACT will close from tomorrow makes it more likely that Queensland will follow suit sometime soon. My own kids (Pearl and Olive) are no longer in school from today – this is a personal decision that Eileen and I have made based on our own reading of the situation and the experience of other countries. For example, Germany closed all schools two weeks ago.

That phrase ‘personal decision’ is really key, and other than to say ‘hello’ to you all, it’s the reason for this email. I want to say this …

These are uniquely difficult and different times for everyone at IML. Everyone is impacted by the current situation, but of course different IML staff members are impacted in different ways. Some people have kids, others don’t. Some have medical issues, whilst others don’t. Some staff live alone, others live with family or in shared accommodation. On top of all of this, we all have our own personal concerns, anxieties and responses to the COVID-19 situation. My personal response might be very different to yours. And my decisions and actions based on that response will also be both personal and different.

So, and here’s the point (sorry it took me so long to get to it!), every IML staff member must make a personal decision about what they will do. This includes – but isn’t limited to; childcare arrangements, living with family members, locations etc. All I ask is that you let your manager or GM know what you’re doing. Communication is key in all of this. But, fundamentally, you are empowered to make decisions based on your own personal views and circumstances.

It’s always good to give examples, so here’s a couple to illustrate what I’m talking about.

Example 1. You have kids and you decide to keep them home from school / childcare where normally you would drop the off and then head to work or work from home. IML totally understands this and supports your decision. Family and health comes first. Please let your manager know that you’ll be less available due to the change in circumstances at home.

Example 2. You live alone and you think it would be better if you went to live with your parents during this time. IML totally understands this and supports your decision. Family and health comes first, Please let your manager know where you’ll be and what the change in location might mean to your working from home situation. IML will then assist with any technology issues you might encounter.

As I’ve said, communication is key and I’ve asked all GM’s to ensure that all teams are talking across various channels (email, Zoom, WhatsApp etc). I also want to ensure that no one at IML is any more stressed than they need to be at this time. If anything at all is concerning you, please do get in touch with your GM, with HR or with me personally. My eDoor (yep that’s a thing these days!) is always open.

To emphasise my point again, you must do what’s right for you, your health and your family at the moment. Of course, it’s important to keep the IML business running, albeit in a very different format. We’re all empowered to ‘do our best’ in what are very unusual and difficult circumstances.

As an example, today I’m planning to pop to KMART first thing to buy some games and puzzles for the kids. Then I’m spending an hour reading with Olive. Then I’m writing a couple of IML articles (Yes, it’s happening, Whitney!). Then I’m doing some (very) simple maths with Pearl for an hour. She’s 9 and I’ve realised that Year 3 Maths is way beyond my capability.  

This is how my days are going to look for a few weeks – I and the leadership team fully support however your days will look.

Finally, I do want to say this; if you’re feeling unwell, please let your GM know (as well as following medical procedures). We need to keep an eye on each other and look out for each other, even from afar.

Sam will be setting up an All Staff Huddle later this week. It’ll be great to chat to everyone and see / hear how everyone is doing.

Have a great day 😊

Dave

-ENDS –

Please don’t hesitate to contact me or the Institute of Managers and Leaders Australia and New Zealand if there is anything we can do to assist you or your teams through these tough times.

David Pich

Mastering social media

By Anthony O’Brien

In digital marketing much has been said about the importance of data to drive decision-making. Much less is said about gut feel.

Yet it was instinct – not analytics – that led advertising guru Wendy Thompson to strike out on her own and establish a social media agency a decade ago.

“I had a strong gut feeling social media would drastically change how people communicated with one another,”

Wendy Thompson

She was proven correct in the most dramatic way possible. Today, 3.2 billion people are using social media worldwide. And Thompson’s Auckland-based social media business, named Socialites, has gone from strength to strength. The agency works with clients across the globe including New Zealand, Australia, North America, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Thompson explains, “There are 13 official employees and a network of approximately 30 contractors whom we work with day to day.”

Last year, the Auckland-based firm was named Australasian Social Media Agency of the Year. Thompson was also a finalist in Next Woman of The Year.

NAVIGATING A PATH TO GROWTH

While recruiting social media specialists in the early days was challenging, as a newly minted leader, Thompson discovered that retaining staff was just as arduous. “The first time people leave; you take it personally. But you learn over the years that it’s not about you. It’s about the job or their position in their lives. My attitude to staff leaving now is much healthier.”

Thompson started her business with some start-up experience. “I ran a physiotherapy practice with my husband, which enabled me to learn a lot about running a business,” recalled Thompson. That said, the former advertising pundit found being the sole owner of a business presented several unique challenges. “In the first few years, you did everything. And then, as we picked up a reputation and improved our systems and processes, things have grown, which has been lovely. We go through ups and downs. But in general, it’s awesome. I even brought on a business partner a few months ago.”

Socialites new co-owner Melanie Spencer has started as a managing partner and will be responsible for overseeing the team and the day-to-day operations of the agency. Spencer’s appointment will enable Thompson to work on the business and its plans for more Asia-Pacific expansion. “Bringing in a partner is a big decision. However, when you meet the right person, it’s a lot like a marriage.”

NOT A NATURAL LEADER

As a leader, the self-effacing Thompson describes herself as “sucky.” “I’m not a natural leader. I don’t know if anyone is, but I have completed a lot of leadership development, training, and reading.” Thompson nominates Drive by Daniel H. Pink as the best book on motivating teams she’s read. The social media whiz has also undertaken the Gazelle strategic training program to assist her management style. “Being a leader is not easy, but it’s enriching. There’s something about a team coming together, and it feels like family.”

Thompson describes the working culture at Socialites NZ as high performance. “We say we’re all A-players and one of the best things that I’ve learned over the years, is to hire slow, fire fast.”

Thompson continues, “Also, probably another significant learning is that someone might be fantastic and brilliant when they first come on board. But then, as your company grows, they’re not the right person anymore.”

Thanks to her evolution as a leader, Thompson is adamant she’s not a micromanager, which the appointment of Spencer corroborates. “I do have a pretty strong vision of how things should be. I also go on gut a lot, and encourage my team to listen to their gut, which makes for an interesting and dynamic way of working.”

CONSISTENCY BREEDS TRUST

Since 2010, Thompson has pursued a marketing strategy based on thought leadership to grow the profile of Socialites NZ worldwide and to attract more business-to-business clients. “We still get work from blog posts we wrote two years ago,” she explains.

Consistency is another crucial ingredient in Socialites’ business-to-business marketing success. “The work I’ve done over the past 20 years, and the work the company has done over the previous nine, gives us work now.

“We have competition from huge companies and small start-ups. But our consistency makes us strong. We do consistently good work and are very trustworthy. With us on board, our clients know we will propel them to success every single time.”

This article originally appeared in the December 2019 print edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s exclusive Member’s magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

Beyond fulfilment: How to keep teams motivated

When employees reach a peak of self-fulfilment and growth, how do you help them to stay motivated? Could there be more to fulfilment than simply achieving personal bests? More importantly for managers and leaders, how does keeping your employees impact your business?

Motivated employees are undeniably valuable. Findings from IML ANZ’s latest National Salary Survey (NSS), show that keeping engagement and motivation levels up is vital. NSS respondents revealed that the single most important human capital challenge they believe would add the most value to their organisation is motivating employees (53%).

Compound that with the fact that the NSS shows a slightly upward trend in voluntary staff turnover. Moreover, what’s the top reason for leaving a job? Employees are looking for a new challenge (72%). So, keeping your teams motivated is not just about getting them to be their best; it is also best for your business.

However, when an employee has achieved much on their own, is it still possible to keep them challenged, excited about the work and motivated to do their best?

Here are some ways to achieve this:

 

Maslow’s sixth level of motivation

Most of us are familiar with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. At the apex of the five-stage peak is self-actualisation or the realisation of self-fulfilment and peak personal achievements. What is not as widely known is that later in his life, Maslow added a sixth level to his hierarchy of needs – intrinsic values. This involves supporting a cause beyond individual success.

How to harness it: Leaders must help all employees, including high-achievers, to understand how they play a part in the greater purpose of the organisation. Who does your organisation help? How does it contribute to society? Keep them focused beyond self-actualisation to help them stay motivated.

 

The value of teamwork

Staying motivated after achieving much as an individual doesn’t mean high-performing employees won’t appreciate team-led wins. Never underestimate the power of collaboration and great working relationships between colleagues. As social beings, humans always enjoy the sense of working together to overcome an obstacle, reach a goal or even assisting each other when times are tough.

How to harness it: Encourage open communication between teams and within teams. Use technology to open up lines of communication by starting a team chat group. Help your employees get to know each other not just as colleagues but as people – develop real connections by organising social activities. Celebrate successes as a team too.

 

Empowering others

A sense of motivation can be sapped if one feels that they are held back from making decisions. To help keep good performers engaged, display trust in their abilities.

How to harness it: Let your team members make the call on decisions that they know best. Avoid crushing their motivation by making them feel they are powerless when it comes to their own projects.

By emphasising how they contribute to the organisation’s purpose, fostering a healthy team environment and empowering your team members, you’ll keep even the highest achievers motivated to give their best.

Sources:

IML ANZ Members can access these articles via Leadership Direct.

Smart play is a serious team-building strategy

By Lisa Calautti

 

Richard Shrapnel is amongst only a small handful of Lego® Serious Play® Facilitators in Australia. Lego® Serious Play® involves using Lego bricks to bring together leaders and their staff to unite them in problem-solving to help create a cohesive business approach.

 

Building blocks of better business

Shrapnel strongly believes this is an effective tool to help develop better business strategy. He came across Lego® Serious Play® in 2002 via an article in AFR Boss reviewing CUB’s use of the method. He completed the facilitator’s course in Enfield, Connecticut, USA in 2003 and again in 2011, this time in Singapore, learning about the program’s methodology and science.

Shrapnel says the method is particularly popular in Asia, the USA and Europe. “In Australia the typical response I get is, ‘But this is a toy and it’s play and therefore it’s not serious!’”

It is a statement which Shrapnel can easily counter. He is passionate about this Lego method as a valuable learning technique and its power in getting people to use their left and right brains to bring creative logic together and their imagination to create stories around an image they build. “It actually allows you to tap into thoughts which you would otherwise not consider and to be far more creative,” he explains.

 

Serious play in action

Lego® Serious Play® workshops last from a half day up to three days and have been popular amongst medium-to-large corporations, not-for-profit organisations as well as religious groups. A typical workshop begins by proposing an individual activity, for example, ‘build your dream job’.

“It’s getting people used to expressing themselves through building a model and once they are comfortable with that you then come back to the business side,” Shrapnel says. “The tool and methodology allow people to communicate at a level that they otherwise would not be able to reach, and to build an outcome that they can then take away as a combined group. That is the power of it.”

As the workshop progresses and attendees are comfortable with using the specially selected Lego bricks, they come together to form a single model as a team to begin a narrative of their business. It is at this stage participants can see environmental factors around the model and their impact.

“Here’s your part of the business, here’s my part of the business and that is the market. These are the competitors, the technology … all impacting what we do. And because it is now a 3D model, it’s very rich and you walk around it and look at it from a different angle.”

As it is built, each person not only tells their story, but everyone tells a new combined story. “Every person speaks to the model explaining this is our story, our business, and how we will be effective and achieve the outcomes we seek.”

This article originally appeared in the September 2019 print edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

Six ways leaders can inspire 21st century employees

By Sam Bell FIML

 

Many leaders struggle to inspire others. Yet, according to a survey conducted by Bain Research, employees are more than twice as productive if they are ‘satisfied’ employees. This suggests leaders who can inspire might provide a powerful competitive edge for their organisations.

In a similar vein, Harvard Business School gathered data from the assessments of more than 50,000 leaders, and the ability to inspire stood out as one of the most important competencies. It was the single trait that created the highest levels of staff engagement, and it separated the best leaders from everyone else. Crucially, it was what most employees wanted to see in their leaders.

Underscoring the importance of inspirational leadership inside workplaces, Gallup identified in their State of the Global Workplace report that 51% of employees are unengaged in their work and 17% are actively disengaged. This means that, on average, only 32% of employees are actively engaged in the workplace. Ultimately, organisations cannot survive or perform well with statistics like these.

 

TWO TYPES OF INSPIRATIONAL LEADER

I believe inspirational leaders can be placed in two distinct categories. Firstly, there are leaders who inspire a diverse population of people whom they have never physically met. These are usually leaders in their field – sport, politics, military and business – whom people admire because of their vision, their struggle, their achievements or their failures. Perhaps the most highly acclaimed inspirational figure of recent times who falls into this category is Nelson Mandela. People admire his lifetime of struggle and leadership for his nation on becoming President. Whilst most of us never met the man, we felt inspired by his journey.

In the second category are the people you know and see every day who give you the inspiration to do better in your daily life. This category of inspiration is by far the most important in my opinion. These people might be your family, friends, colleagues and yes, your workplace managers and leaders. It’s these ‘everyday people’ who give you a vision to be better, to improve, and who provide a purpose in life. These leaders understand the shadow they cast over others and ensure that, within their shadow, people know where they are going and the role they are playing to get there.

Today’s workplace leaders in this second category often lack the playbook to inspire today’s workforce, which is increasingly made up of employees who expect more meaning and value from their workplace. Where today’s leaders have typically cut their teeth in the workplace of the 20th century, today’s employees are increasingly products of the 21st century! The critical question when solving this leadership dilemma is: how do today’s ‘everyday leaders’ inspire the people they lead?

 

SIX WAYS LEADERS CAN INSPIRE OTHERS

  1. Be passionate about the vision and mission. Sharing a vision and mission in a way that enables others to feel passionate is a useful starting point when inspiring staff. The vision and the mission provide essential anchors for empowering others to feel that their work has a purpose and meaning beyond everyday tasks. When a leader communicates the big picture regularly it can assist in reinforcing why the organisation exists.
  2. Listen to your employees. People need to see their ideas being incorporated into the team and into the organisation and/or they need to understand the reasons they weren’t adopted. The ability to inspire others is not only about doing; it’s about listening and explaining.
  3. Make people feel included. Feeling inspired is about feeling connected to the actions and processes that lead to the achievement of the organisation’s goals or to the decisions made. When a leader includes people in the decision-making process they feel a sense of ownership of that decision.
  4. Demonstrate integrity. While vision and passion are important, employees must also trust a leader. Trust stems from seeing that a leader’s behaviour is aligned to what they say. They speak and live by their values and behave ethically. Leaders set the pace through expectations and example.
  5. Establish an environment of continuous improvement. This includes providing opportunities for employees to grow and develop, both personally and professionally, and can be achieved by setting goals and targets, allowing for secondments to other parts of the business, establishing special projects or encouraging further study.
  6. Recognise achievement. While financial reward is undoubtedly a significant motivator, recognition plays a vital role in making employees feel important and appreciated. Indeed, research has shown that a key source of inspiration for employees is speaking directly to them about the value of their work to the organisation.

 

It’s vital for workplace leaders to remember the influence they have over others. Take action to become an inspirational leader. Someone is always watching.

Leading Well book
This is an edited extract from IML ANZ’s latest book, Leading Well: 7 attributes of very successful leaders (Major Street Publishing, A$34.95).

The book highlights seven attributes that ignite inspiring leadership. It focuses squarely on the personal attributes that can transform managers into leaders and good leaders into great leaders.

Order your copy here.

 

This article originally appeared in the September 2019 print edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

How to leverage skills from all ages to create an optimum workforce

By Michelle Gibbings CMgr FIML

 

As organisations grapple with more complex decisions and an ever-increasing pace of change building a workforce equipped with the skills and experience to thrive in this environment is critical.

Finding this depth and breadth of talent requires leaders to build a diverse workforce, which covers full spectrum diversity including, for example, age, ethnicity, gender, thinking styles, disabilities and sexual orientation.

This means leaders need to challenge their decision making patterns.

 

Seek out difference

It’s natural to want to work with people you like and find easy to work with, and consequently when you are building a team or forming workgroups you often seek out such people.

This is either done consciously or subconsciously.  In the case of recruitment, for example, search criteria often specifically reference the desire to find a candidate who is a good cultural fit.

Cultural fit can mean different things to different people.  Typically, if you ask people how they define cultural fit they will give comments such as, someone who:

  • Lives the organisation’s values
  • Is able to work well in the team
  • Will fit in with the rest of the group
  • Understands the organisation’s objectives and buys into its vision

 

However, when you strip away the layers and get to the base level drivers, what the person is looking for is someone who they feel comfortable with.  That is, someone who they connect with because they can see aspects of themselves in that person.

 

Avoid likeability bias

It’s often suggested that one of the key success criteria for a job interview is to ensure that the interviewee comes across as likeable.  The premise being that the hiring manager has already positively assessed the applicant’s CV for the required technical skills because they are being interviewed.  Now, all the hiring manager is seeking to test is whether they want to work with the person or not.

This likeability isn’t just about being friendly and a nice person. It’s about whether the hiring manager finds similarities with the person they are interviewing. Research shows we like people who are similar to us in terms of interests, backgrounds and experiences, and this has consequential impacts for hiring decisions.

Kellogg University found that getting hired for a job was not so much about the “soft or hard dimensions of the role”, but rather how similar the person being interviewed was to the person conducting the interview.

It is very easy for leaders to want to hire people who are like them.  Similarity makes a person feel comfortable.  However, when you hire people like yourself, you are filling the team or workgroup with people who have similar backgrounds, experiences and thought processes.

 

Diversity improves decision making

Homogeneity can negatively impact how decisions are made. The more alike people are, the more likely they are to think along the same lines and therefore there is less room for debate, discernment and disagreement.

Separate research from Kellogg University found that diverse teams make better decisions.  That diversity is not just about gender or ethnicity, it includes age, experience and backgrounds.  The diverse groups outperformed more homogeneous groups, not because of an influx of new ideas, but because the diversity triggered more careful processing of the information that’s discussed.

‘Complex problem solving’ and ‘critical thinking’ are the top two competencies that the World Economic Forum identified in its Future of Jobs report. This involves challenge, exploration, suspending judgement, and being equipped with the cognitive capacity to look at problems in a different way. All of which is aided by having a diverse workforce.

Successful sustainable organisations recognise the need for their workforce to be equipped with the capability and capacity to dig deeper into the mental models that drive their thought processes and be ready to acquire knowledge from multiple sources and environments.

Consequently, leaders need to be prepared to challenge their assumptions and expectations when they are building their team.  This involves:

  • Acknowledging the potential for bias, because we all have it to varying degrees
  • Actively seeking diversity of experience, background, ethnicity, age and gender (and all forms of diversity) when forming teams and workgroups
  • Recognising that the person at work who really annoys you is often the person you need to spend more time with. Why? Because the source of tension comes from their seeing the world differently to you and this challenge to your frame of reference is good for your thought processes
  • Inviting other people into the decision-making process who can shift and provide alternate perspectives

 

Build on strengths

As part of this approach, it helps for leaders to understand and then leverage the strengths of their team.

Research conducted over the last 30 years shows that taking a strengths-based approach leads to greater work satisfaction, engagement, and productivity. This is evidenced in Tom Rath and Barry Conchie’s book, Strengths Based Leadership, where they detail how working with strengths helps leaders be more effective.

Leaders play a crucial role in bringing strengths to life at work – for both themselves and their team members.

It starts with the leader understanding their own strengths and how they are best used at work. The next step is to help team members:

  • Appreciate the strengths they bring to their role, and
  • Recognise and value the strengths their colleagues bring to their role

 

This is best done through a series of team development activities, which help the team best understand and leverage the individual and collective strengths of the team.

Michelle Gibbings is a change leadership and career expert and founder of Change Meridian. Michelle works with leaders and teams to help them accelerate progress. She is the author of ‘Step Up: How to Build Your Influence at Work’ and ‘Career Leap: How to Reinvent and Liberate your Career’.

In leadership, respect is about understanding, not agreeing

By David Pich CMgr FIML

 

Respect is undeniably complex. This complexity is only increasing as the world – and the world of work – become simultaneously more polarised and more open. It’s interesting that these two global trends seem to be in such conflict.

Countries and workforces are becoming increasingly diverse, while public opinion about all aspects of diversity seems to be ever more polarised. We seem to be metaphorically pulling down walls, but leaders are appealing to millions with notions of building physical walls. Barriers to trade and those that restrict the freedom of people to move and work across borders seem to be becoming mainstream policy in many nations.

 

DIFFERENCE AND DIVERSITY

These macro trends and developments have made the concept of respect a fraught and complex matter. The typical workplace contains incredible diversity. A relatively small team of, say, 10 people in Australia or New Zealand can be made up of any combination of females, males, and those who identify as either or neither. It may also include people in same-sex relationships, people with or without kids; and it may include Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and atheists. There may be people with a physical or mental disability (or both) and people from quite literally any cultural background you can mention. In fact, it’s safe to say that I have missed more ‘categories’ (and yes, I detest that word) than I have listed.

When all of these people – our workmates – arrive at work each morning, afternoon or evening, they do so against a social and political environment that is increasingly polarised and opinionated. Stereotypes abound, and the impact of these shouldn’t be underestimated.

The best example I can give is from the UK following the Brexit vote in 2016, when Polish and other mainland European nationals living and working in London and other cities reported feeling an overwhelming sense of fear and uncertainty in the workplace.

Similar feelings were reported in Australia among the gay community during the same-sex marriage debate.

The seemingly constant attack on, and airing of, ‘differences’ in lifestyle choices, religious beliefs, cultural backgrounds, nationalities and other aspects of the rich tapestry of individuals’ lives means that showing respect is increasingly portrayed as unnecessary and, even worse, a sign of weakness.

 

RESPECT IS ABOUT UNDERSTANDING, NOT AGREEING

Showing respect as a leader isn’t about agreeing. It’s simply not possible to agree with everyone about everything. Trying to do that is the quickest way to tie yourself up in knots and lose the respect of the team. It’s also disingenuous.

When I joined CanTeen in 2002 as the Head of Fundraising and Marketing I met Carolyne, the Head of HR. We became and remain close friends. Carolyne is a committed and practising Christian, while I’m a committed and practising atheist. We freely talked about – and laughed about – our very different life views and belief systems, and we frequently explained to each other why we had come to our own separate and diametrically different conclusions.

That’s life! As I once said during a conference keynote, “If the workplace was full of middle-aged blokes from Manchester with a love of eighties music it would be a very dull place indeed!” Difference and diversity is interesting, enriching and rewarding.

Respect is about understanding why people believe what they believe, do what they do and are who they are. Despite what we read and hear from a vocal section of today’s media, and read on the more extreme reaches of the internet and social media sites, it’s perfectly possible – and perfectly acceptable – to understand without agreeing. Showing respect as a leader is about accepting that you don’t always need to be right, that there isn’t necessarily only a right and wrong or just a black and white. Respect is about accepting and embracing the idea that other people’s life experiences are different to yours and that that’s OK.

As a leader, respect is about encouraging and embracing the view that difference and diversity bring strength to a team because they open the way to new thinking, new approaches and new ways of solving problems. Once this view is accepted it can be implemented in any number of ways within the workplace or team. For example, in recruitment, leaders should ensure that they do not fall into the trap of allowing personal bias to creep into the formal and informal recruitment process. In the same way, leaders need to guard against allowing their own views to cloud the way they deal with any number of issues and situations that arise each day in the workplace.

Leading Well book
This is an edited extract from IML ANZ’s latest book, Leading Well: 7 attributes of very successful leaders (Major Street Publishing, A$34.95).

The book highlights seven attributes that ignite inspiring leadership. It focuses squarely on the personal attributes that can transform managers into leaders and good leaders into great leaders.

Order your copy here.

 

This article originally appeared in the September 2019 print edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

The Info: Best books for ethical leadership

Booktopia’s Sarah McDuling reflects upon ethical leadership – and cherry-picks the best books for further reading.

 

At a glance ethical leadership may seem simple enough. By any interpretation, an ethical leader is a good leader. Integrity, justice, compassion and respect are values that must logically lie at the core of any conversation about leadership and ethics. Ethics are, after all, the moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour. To behave ethically is essentially to know and to do what is right.

However, authentic ethical leadership involves more than simply identifying and pursuing a list of core values. It requires a framework based on communication, action and trust.

Values-based leadership creates a working environment where employees feel secure. It fosters a sense of pride among colleagues – which boosts staff performance, retention and morale. Put simply, people who trust their leaders are happier, more productive and more successful.

While transparency and clear communication are core elements of ethical leadership, perhaps the most important is action – or ‘leading by example’. This can be done by aligning systems and processes to promote ethical reasoning, independence of thought, listening, flexibility and resilience. Without these processes in place, a leader may fail to walk the talk. Inspirational speeches are worthless if they aren’t backed up by action.

Ethical leaders are very rarely born, ready-made. They develop via a combination of training, learning and innovative thinking. With that in mind, I have chosen the books in this reading list to guide and inspire you to be the most ethical (and therefore most effective) leader you can be.

 

Recommended reading: Ethics and leadership

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP:

CONSCIOUS BUSINESS: HOW TO BUILD VALUE THROUGH VALUES

By Fred Kofman

 

TREATING PEOPLE WELL: HOW TO MASTER SOCIAL SKILLS TO THRIVE IN EVERYTHING YOU DO

By Lea Berman, Jeremy Bernard and Laura Bush

 

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP: CREATING AND SUSTAINING AN ETHICAL BUSINESS CULTURE

By Andrew Leigh

 

THE THOUGHTFUL LEADER: HOW TO USE YOUR HEAD AND YOUR HEART TO INSPIRE OTHERS

By Mindy Gibbins-Klein

 

THE POWER OF ETHICS: THE THOUGHTFUL LEADER’S MODEL FOR SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

By Pete Geissler and Bill O’Rourke

 

THE ETHICAL LEADER: WHY DOING THE RIGHT THING CAN BE THE KEY TO COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

By Morgen Witzel

 

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

FORCES FOR GOOD: CREATING A BETTER WORLD THROUGH PURPOSE-DRIVEN BUSINESSES

By Paul Hargreaves

 

HUMANE CAPITAL: HOW TO CREATE A MANAGEMENT SHIFT TO TRANSFORM PERFORMANCE AND PROFIT

By Vlatka Hlupic

 

LEAN IMPACT: HOW TO INNOVATE FOR RADICALLY GREATER SOCIAL GOOD

By Ann Mei Chang

 

PURPOSEFUL PROFITS: INSIDE SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES MAKING A POSITIVE GLOBAL IMPACT

By Joanne Sonenshine

 

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR GOOD: HOW COMPANIES AND CAUSES CREATE VIRAL CHANGE

By Derrick Feldmann

 

THE ETHICAL CAPITALIST: HOW TO MAKE BUSINESS WORK BETTER FOR SOCIETY

By Julian Richer

 

AVAILABLE FROM BOOKTOPIA | Find out more about all these books, and order them online at booktopia.com.au.

 

This article originally appeared in the September 2019 print edition of Leadership Matters, IML ANZ’s quarterly magazine. For editorial suggestions and enquiries, please contact karyl.estrella@managersandleaders.com.au.

Five things Shakespeare can teach you about leadership

By Andy McLean MIML | Photo by Prudence Upton

 

Modern-day managers and leaders can learn a huge amount from the epic plays of William Shakespeare.

Here are just five lessons:

 

1. Bring your people with you

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a military and political leader who has begun to believe his own publicity. He claims he is ‘constant as the northern star’ and his success to date makes him think his decision-making is infallible. Caesar’s failure to listen (to his Senate peers, his wife, a Soothsayer and others) proves fatal.

Leadership lesson: It can be lonely at the top – but it doesn’t have to be. By definition, a leader is someone who brings people with them. In business, that means taking time to consult with stakeholders and explain the reasons for decisions.

 

2. Take time to recognise people’s achievements

The Percy family literally risks life and limb to support Henry Bolingbroke’s battle to become King Henry IV. But, once in power, Henry is distracted by new priorities. He neglects his former allies and disregards their contribution to his success. This oversight almost costs Henry IV the crown when the embittered Percys later raise an army against him.

Leadership Lesson: In today’s market, where change is constant and time is short, it’s tempting for leaders to focus solely on the challenges ahead. But it’s essential to pause occasionally and recognise the achievements of individuals and teams. Rewarding the right behaviour helps to role-model the organisation’s values, foster loyalty and propel people to even greater heights in the future.

 

3. Give your people purpose beyond profit

In The Merchant Of Venice, everyone is consumed by the pursuit of wealth. There’s Shylock lending money, Antonio wheeling and dealing, Bassanio hustling to raise funds – and Lorenzo even wooing Jessica with one eye on the till. All of Venice’s most influential people are clamouring for cash and a toxic culture infects the city. Bell Shakespeare’s James Evans, who facilitated a Leadership In Action workshop, points out: “In one of the best opening lines of a play ever written, Antonio says: ‘In sooth, I know not why I am so sad’. He’s got everything that money can buy, but he’s still not content.”

Leadership lesson: When it comes to work, money is not the be all and end all – and your workforce knows that. As a leader, people will only follow you if you can articulate a purpose beyond profit.

 

4. Show empathy to inspire your people

On the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, King Henry V and his army know they are outmanned and outgunned by their enemy. Henry spends the night in disguise, listening to his soldiers’ hopes and fears. The next morning, before the fighting starts, Henry delivers a motivational speech that unites and emboldens his people, including the immortal lines: ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me/Shall be my brother’.

Leadership lesson: If you know what makes your people tick, then you can help them achieve extraordinary things. Use surveys, forums and informal feedback to gauge the mood of your staff. Incorporate what you’ve learned when you communicate with your people. And never underestimate the power of public speaking!

 

5. Plan your succession carefully

Shakespeare wrote that, ‘All the world’s a stage, and all men and women merely players, They have their exits and their entrances’. Time and again, his plays remind us that – no matter how great the leader – their tenure is only temporary. Yet too often, those leaders fail to ensure a smooth handover of power. Rome is plunged into civil war because there is no prearranged Plan B after Julius Caesar falls, and King Lear pays a bloody price for leaving his kingdom in the hands of his two devious daughters.

Leadership lesson: Ultimately, it must be a leader’s mission to leave their organisation in a better position than when they found it. That means always keeping an eye on the long term and identifying the right talent to lead in the future.

On stage near you

Bell Shakespeare’s national tour of Much Ado About Nothing continues across Australia until 24 November. Their production Titus Andronicus will be staged in Sydney in August and September.

About the author

Andy McLean MIML is the Editorial Director of Leadership Matters magazine.