People Power: Leadership hacks to save you time

Scott Stein, renowned business coach and author of Leadership Hacks, Clever Shortcuts to Boost Your Impact and Results, shares some tips to boost the productivity of you and your team.

By Nicola Field

You know the drill. Deadlines are getting tighter, resources are being squeezed and you need to motivate your people to do more with less. It can seem like a tall order, but Scott Stein says some clever hacks – or smart shortcuts – can make it happen.

Everyone’s busy. Our days are packed with different activities. But chances are, you’re not focusing on the right things. Try mapping out what you have actually done during the course of a day, and you’re likely to see a big gap between what you have been doing and what you should be doing.

In this article, Scott reveals some of the hacks that allow leaders to side-step the distractors and reclaim their time:

Hacks for your email inbox

Be disciplined. Schedule time to manage emails, then follow up with this simple four-step hack to save time managing your inbox:

  1. Give your inbox a quick visual scan.
  2. Delete what’s not relevant.
  3. Sort remaining emails based on importance.
  4. Respond.

Hacks for sending emails

When writing an email, think about what you are hoping to achieve. Use the list below to narrow this down:

  • It’s an FYI message.
  • You need to gather/share information.
  • You need to make a decision.
  • You need the recipient to take action
  • You want to arrange a meeting.

State the specific outcome you’re looking for at the start of the email including in the subject line. This gives the reader context and saves you (and them) time. Use bullet points, bold and underline in your email message to help the reader easily grasp the key points.

One-on-one hacks

Delegation is an important skill, yet leaders often don’t know how to delegate. It’s estimated that one in two companies is concerned about their managers’ delegation skills, but they don’t offer training for it.

The result? Leaders are often completing tasks that someone several salary bands below them should be doing – often because it seems quicker and easier to just do it themselves.

The fact is, delegation is a skill that can be mastered. Let’s break it down.

There are four levels to delegation:

  1. Do the task yourself.
  2. Coach your team member. Explain you need their help, describe the task and map out a plan of action together. Share ideas, sequence the steps, and set clear dates when you will check in on their progress.
  3. Explain the task to your team member, and ask them to map out how they’ll approach it. Check in along the way.
  4. Set the task, and ask to see the results when it’s complete.

A key problem is that many leaders head straight to level 4. If things don’t go well, after a few attempts they give up delegating and revert to level 1.

It’s important to use a level 2 approach in the first instance. Gradually progress to level 3, and then to level 4. It will save time in the long run.

Team hacks

Research shows executives can spend as much as 23 hours each week tied up in meetings. That makes meetings a prime target for team hacks.

Trying to combine different types of meetings is a waste of time. The discussion goes round and round, the same people do all the talking and no real result is achieved.

Instead, hack the meeting by first identifying its purpose. Then decide the type of meeting you need to achieve your purpose from the four listed below:

  1. Reporting and checking – for example, reporting sales results.
  2. Problem solving – you have a challenge that you need a broader perspective on.
  3. Decision making – you need to arrive at a clear decision.
  4. Strategy development – you need to plan for the future.

Be clear about communicating the type of meeting to your team. If everyone knows what the aim of the meeting is from the start, it gives the discussion focus and helps avoid detours.

Be prepared to shake up meetings a little too. Or maybe you don’t need a meeting at all. Reporting or checking in can often be done virtually.  The Vice President of Kimberly-Clark, a massive corporation, recently got rid of typical reporting meetings altogether. These days, they have a dashboard in the hallway that sets out KPIs, and the team has a 15-minute stand-up meeting – once in the morning, and then another check-in during the afternoon.

Find more leadership time savers and productivity boosters in Scott Stein’s new book Leadership Hacks, Clever Shortcuts to Boost Your Impact and Results (Wiley).

From side-hustle to second income in five steps

By Brian Dorricott FIML

So, you’ve been thinking and working on an idea – something that might bring some extra income. That would make life easier. And, you never know, might mean you could give up the day job and gain autonomy and control over your working life.

However, leaving the day job is a big step. It could be very risky especially if you have responsibilities and dependants.

A step too far?

So, what to do?

The good news is there’s a process that you can go through to gain insights into how feasible the dream really is – and reduce the risk. Let’s look at five steps you can take:

  1. Users: Speak to people whose problem you are looking to solve. But don’t give away the solution. The key is to ask the right questions and explore the world of the person with the problem. Find out how they know they have the problem and what they have done to solve it so far. What language do they use to talk about it? Perhaps it is still unsolved. That’s a good sign.
  2. Problem: Assimilate all the information from the users you spoke to, identify who will be the first potential customers and what they need. Look at competing products or services. Why are they deficient in the eyes of your customers? Understand the problem in-depth.
  3. Solution: Remember how you started with an idea – the solution? Now it’s time to see if it would work for most people you’ve spoken to. Usually, this is where tweaks are made to the original design and you can start writing a product brief. The product brief is a short document that describes three people’s lives before your solution, during and after they have your solution. How did they find out about you? What impact did it make? Will they tell other people?
  4. Finance: Depending on your idea, you may need to take the product or service brief to someone who can create your solution. Also, find out the production cost. Check how to protect your idea – perhaps with a patent. Look at pricing strategy. Do a thumbnail finance plan. How much are you short? What funding options are available to you? Is a mix of personal money, government grants, and a crowdfunding campaign the way to go?
  5. Launch: It’s decision time. Up until now, you’ve spent very little money. Perhaps got some business cards printed. After launch, it’s a big time but now you know where the money is coming from and your first customers. Perhaps start with their money to launch your side hustle.

And all this can take just three months depending on your other commitments. It’s all about talking to people in the right way and creating a plan to solve their problems. Once you have, you’ve now created something of value that people are willing to pay for.

And when you’re confident about the income levels, then it’s time to swap one day job for another. Your own company!

Look out for the webinar on this subject coming in early 2019.

Responding to the data revolution with resilient leadership

By Dr Selvi Kannan, educator, mentor and Academic Specialist Advisor – Management & Innovation, Victoria University; and Dr Bill Petreski, Principal, Strategy61


Major shifts in the world are placing new demands on businesses, workforces and ultimately education and training. New Resilient Leadership skills are required for the paradigm shift that is upending organisational structures and human capital.

 

The data revolution

Sometimes called the data revolution, the fourth industrial revolution emerged since the global financial crisis of 2008 as a proliferation of our ability to capture, store and manage data that has ultimately led to widespread accessibility and its commoditisation.

By contrast, the first industrial revolution (1760 to 1840) was a defining point in history as we transitioned from hand production methods to new manufacturing processes that were underpinned by steam power, machines, tools and factories.

Inevitably our world did reckon the data revolution. The following industrial revolutions (the technological revolution between 1870 and 1914, and the information revolution between 1980 to 2005) created industries that have been defined by increasingly rapid convergence of computing, telecommunications and networking infrastructure.

Today’s new paradigm is shaping technology-driven futures underpinned by emerging automation technologies, including data analytics, deep learning, artificial intelligence and cognitive computing. Automation technologies are already becoming essential parts of everyday life and will increasingly transform our workplace.

On one hand, the profound technological changes of the fourth industrial revolution intensified competition in an increasingly borderless commercial environment. While such globalisation has led to unprecedented gains for many from the movement of goods, services, people and ideas, there are those who have lost out – economically, politically or culturally.

While there have been profound socio-economic impacts in all past industrial revolutions, each change has also required dissimilar organisational structures, human capital and therefore leadership capabilities.

Now is the time for all organisations to hone their management and leadership competencies to adapt to current accelerating business model innovations. Greater resilience will be the key to meet the demands that are upending human capital management and legacy hierarchical organisational structures.

Resilient leadership is the key

Resilience originates from the Latin word resiliens, which refers to the pliant or elastic quality of a substance. Broadly it often refers to positive self-esteem, hardiness, strong coping skills, a sense of coherence, self-efficacy, optimism, strong social resources, adaptability, risk-taking, low fear of failure, determination, perseverance, and a high tolerance of uncertainty.

Meanwhile, leadership is often described as taking active approaches to making decisions. It involves gaining and keeping engagement of others’ positive attention, showing empathy, insight, intellectual competence, self-direction, self-esteem, setting direction, and demonstrating strength and flexibility during a change process.

In the new paradigm of the data revolution and its emerging organisational structures and new models of human capital, resilience and leadership require additional capabilities that include technical competencies, entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity that will sustainably equip individuals for current and future challenges.

We posit resilient leadership will enable individuals to rapidly fine-tune their professional capabilities to the business model innovations stemming from the current wave of automation technologies. Similarly, businesses will be increasingly required to support their executives, who are otherwise bound by legacy organisational structures, business processes and cultural values.

Our proposed archetype, resilient leadership, will require life-long skill and knowledge development of the attributes to operate in the new agile management environment.  Resilient leaders will need the ability to propel innovative and ethical industries that are globally competitive in rapidly transforming environment to realise the beneficial futures of work and industries and support a new generation of thriving micro, small, medium and large businesses.

 Any enquiries on this research and wish to participate please contact Selvi Kannan: selvi.kannan@vu.edu.au or Bill Petreski bill.petreski@strategy61.com.au

Privcore’s Annelies Moens – global thought leader and Chartered Manager

By Jade Collins in Female Leaders

When it comes to leaders in protection and defence, uniformed heroes on the front line could be the first to spring to mind. In the increasingly digitised world, however, often forgotten and overlooked are the unsung protectors and champions who defend our data privacy.

Annelies Moens CMgr FIML has been instrumental in shaping the privacy profession. Managing million dollar portfolios, her work has protected our personal information and data within the public, private and not for profit sectors. Annelies’ passion for privacy is increasingly sought as our societies, legislators and leaders decide what values and ethics we want to embed into our technology and regulation.

As we develop more connected data ecosystems, and grapple with the fear of losing control of our personal information, Annelies’s work is invaluable. From her time on the front lines of data protection, Annelies has first hand knowledge of the significant, long term impacts to individuals and businesses of data breaches.

As a global thought leader, Annelies Co-founded the Australian and New Zealand industry membership body iappANZ in 2008 and was on the Board of Directors for 6 years, ultimately serving as President.

Annelies’ commitment to investing in her leadership development has meant that in addition to being a qualified lawyer and international MBA graduate, she has become one of the first Chartered Managers in Australia.

YOU HAVE TRANSITIONED YOUR CAREER A NUMBER OF TIMES, AND RECENTLY STARTED YOUR OWN BUSINESS. TELL US WHAT LED YOU TO BECOMING A PRIVACY AND DATA EXPERT.

I started my privacy career in 2001 with a background in IT and law. Back then there were no careers in privacy. I initially applied for an exciting role at the privacy regulator. There I managed teams of auditors and investigators, resolving disputes between individuals whose data had been compromised, and big business and government. It was a very niche area and not many people understood its importance and impact.

Today it is different. Every day we are all impacted in some way, and stories abound in the media about privacy. Just consider the impact of the Facebook Cambridge Analytica issue on peoples’ perception of how data is used and disclosed. Consider electronic health records and their potential uses or abuses, automated decision making in everyday transactions, use of third party cloud service providers to store our data, deployment of facial biometrics at airports, and the list goes on.

With the development of the privacy discipline, a few privacy pioneers including myself created a professional membership body for privacy professionals in Australia and New Zealand in 2008, called the iappANZ. As a Founding Board Director and later President, we established in the region a highly successful membership organisation that has advanced and developed the privacy profession.

After several years managing privacy consultants in Australia, I now consult internationally. My vision is to make privacy core business – a discipline which will become as integral to business as the Chief Financial Officer. After all, much of the value of a company’s business is in the data.

HOW SHOULD INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS BE PROTECTING AND GOVERNING THEIR DATA, AND WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE IN PLACE?

Most organisations are custodians of customer data. How they manage it impacts the level of trust in commerce generally and the level of trust customers have with that organisation, whether it is a private business, government or not for profit. How do organisations handle complaints and deal with data breaches? What do they do with customer data? How organisations manage data can rapidly become an ecosystem problem if not done well. Those with weak security and privacy practices reduce trust for everybody.

As such, managers and leaders need to consider how data is governed in their organisations and what they can do to help build trust, by considering culture, risk management frameworks, accountability, key indicators and relationships with regulators.

Individuals can also help protect themselves and their data by implementing two-factor authentication which these days is very simple to use. There are multiple great free options usable with a wide range of email and social media providers, and other service providers. Individuals need to challenge businesses and government when they feel their data is not being managed in line with their expectations. Businesses and government need to be transparent with how their customers’ data is processed.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

Helping to shape and influence a growing privacy profession, which is going to become increasingly important as our societies, legislators, managers and leaders decide what values and ethics we want to build into our technology and regulation, as we develop more connected data ecosystems.

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO PURSUE THE CHARTERED MANAGER ACCREDITATION WITH THE INSTITUTE OF MANAGERS AND LEADERS?

For more than 15 years I have had a strong connection with IML. My journey with IML started when it was called the Australian Institute of Management, and I decided to undertake the mini MBA they offered. The Chartered Manager Accreditation was introduced in Australia in mid-2017, after 10 years operation in the United Kingdom.

I was one of the first in Australia to undertake the accreditation. It was a way to recognise my management and leadership expertise, as well as evaluate where I was in my journey at the time. Particularly, it was invaluable when I was undertaking a potential management buyout process in 2017.

Having a third party assess and provide objective feedback helps determine whether you are on the right management and leadership track, and what, if any, changes you may need to make. I am a strong believer in continuous personal development and learning, and have instilled that in all the teams I have led.

IN WHAT WAY HAS ACHIEVING INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED CHARTERED MANAGER STATUS IMPACTED YOUR LEADERSHIP JOURNEY?

The greater recognition of achieving Chartered Manager status affords opportunities to help others. As your leadership journey is recognised and valued, you are given opportunities to help others and provide advice.

WHAT’S ONE PIECE OF ADVICE FOR FUTURE FEMALE LEADERS?

Define what success means to you holistically. Don’t worry about what others think is successful as it is different for everyone. Know what you want and take risks. Believe in yourself and hold your own values no matter the pressure. Open yourself to opportunities and continue to learn – we live in a time of continuing rapid change.

To find out more about Chartered Manager, visit charteredmanager.com.au.

Are We Doing Enough to Support the Mental Wellbeing of Our Workforce?

There is no denying that the contemporary business environment is taking a toll on the mental wellbeing of our workforce. Roles are no longer as permanent as what they used to be, there is a constant pressure to upskill and organisational change is never far around the corner. Understandably, this creates uncertainty and places additional pressures on employees. So, what are we doing to support mental wellbeing?

For many organisations, a focus on mental health stops after the implementation of an EAP program that is rarely publicized and an announcement to all staff on ‘R U OK?’ day. However, some organisations are starting to think outside of the box to come up with innovative mental wellbeing initiatives. Let’s take a look at some of these new ideas…

  1. Mental Health Day: In their most recent EBA, IKEA has negotiated to provide all staff an additional paid day off each year to support their mental wellbeing. This day off is called a ‘doona day’ and there are no questions asked when taking it. If work or personal life is ever getting too much for IKEA employees, a day snuggled up in their doona may be just what they need.
  2. Puzzles: Other workplaces, such as Brisbane City Council have puzzles in employee lunch areas to encourage employees to switch off from work occasionally. Puzzles have been proven to be an effective tool for reducing stress by creating a sense of calmness and serenity.
  3. ‘Fails’ Celebrations: Mistakes and failures are an inevitable part of organisational change. However, unfortunately these failures can leave a massive toll on the mindset of staff members. Despite this, some organisations are trying to turn these fails around and have actually planned ‘fail’ celebrations. These celebrations encourage staff to collectively look back on the challenges they experienced throughout the year and appreciate that these weren’t always in their control. This has assisted the mental wellbeing of employees in these environments as it has promoted them to have a positive mindset when faced with difficult situations.
  4. Get Physical: This is one initiative that many organisations have already jumped on board with as exercise releases endorphins that promote the mental wellbeing of individuals. However, how creative is your organisation in encouraging staff members to get physical? Perhaps it could be a work social sport team, a boot camp committee or a monthly step-a-thon.
  5. Silent Spaces: One of the major causes of mental health issues at work is stress. Sometimes it just seems like there is too much work and not enough time. Whilst it would be ideal to say that all organisations should stop employees from getting stressed by making sure they never have too much work to do, this is a pretty unrealistic goal. Instead, organisations such as Commonwealth Bank, have tried to alleviate this issue by creating silent office spaces. These spaces are available to employees at times where they may need a couple of hours without disturbance in order to get their work done and reduce anxiety.

Clearly, there are so many creative ways that mental wellbeing can be supported in the workplace. It is time to challenge our current approach to employee mental wellbeing and consider what our organisation could be doing better…

Reference:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5588550/

Does Your Position Vacancy Standout?

Advancements in technology continue to challenge the recruitment landscape. For job seekers, the internet enables them to view thousands of vacant job opportunities from typing a few words into a search engine and selecting ‘enter.’

Due to the number of opportunities job seekers now have access to, organisations must start looking at ways to make their role vacancies stand out. As silly as it sounds, recruitment is turning into a marketing function as well as a HR function. This explains why many organisations are starting to develop employer branding videos as part of their candidate attraction strategy. For example, Employment Office, Hays Recruitment, KPMG and Herbert Smith Freehills have all created employer branding videos to attract candidates. Let’s take a look at why these videos give these organisations a competitive advantage when recruiting the best talent.

Hays Recruitment

Hays Recruitment has been known to create a series of #YourHaysStory videos to attract candidates to their vacant roles. These videos focus on the competitive aspects of their employer brand to attract candidates. For example, one recent video focused on their value of career development and highlighted their extensive training programs to support employees in their career. For individuals that are ambitious and career focused, a video such as this one would be valuable in creating a desire to work for the organisation.

Employment Office

Employment Office’s employer branding video is so powerful due to its unique and unscripted design. In particular, this video capitalises on the fun-loving and close-knit nature of the work environment through phrases such as: ‘it is like a family here’ and ‘I could hug everyone in the office.’ The inclusion of bloopers in their video is also a clever way of creating a realistic job preview and developing a stronger connection between the candidate and the organisation.

KPMG

KMPG’s recruitment video also stands out as it shows a comparison between the type of people that work for them and the type of people that wouldn’t be suited to their company. For prospective candidates, this provides reassurance of the types of personalities they are unlikely to be working with and also develops a stronger insight into the corporate culture. The use of terminology, such as ‘constantly changing’ and ‘never the same’ also attract candidates that are looking for a diverse and challenging role.

Herbert Smith Freehills

The video developed by Herbert Smith Freehills places significant emphasis on their value for collaboration as well as the opportunities to go global with the organisation. Throughout the video, scenes of their high quality work environments are cleverly integrated to develop further desire from job seekers.

Evidently, employer branding videos can be a powerful tool for marketing role vacancies. However, there is definitely a right and wrong way of doing them! The videos in this article have proven that the most effective employer branding videos are ones that are innovative, focussed and genuine. When designing an employer branding video for your organisation, it is important to consider how your video would stand out and also what the key message is that you want a potential applicant to understand.

References:

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=FQjVcMHueAI
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyVjYNRTnCo
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvrnzACBRHA
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atMoao0W_1w

Let’s break some rules

In a fearful world, leaders need to embolden their people to swim against the tide.

By Jane Caro 

A few years ago, I used to teach a subject of intense academic rigour (not) at the University of Western Sydney. ‘Advertising Creative’ was an elective in the Communications degrees offered by the School of Communication Arts. I taught the course twice per year for seven years. I usually had about 100 students per semester. UWS (or WSU as it is called now) is a terrific institution. Quite apart from anything else 75 per cent of its students are the first members of their family ever to go to university. It also enrolls students from a wide range of ethnic, social and religious backgrounds. All the research shows that a rich spread of experiences and beliefs in an organisation is ground zero for creativity.

What I found while teaching this wide range of students, was that the usual suspects were not the people who did as well as they expected in my course. In using the term ‘usual suspects’ I mean the archetypal ‘good’ students. Those who study hard and are very good at following the rules, and memorising and regurgitating what they have been told. To their consternation, for once, they were not the stars of the show. I remember one of them asking me how wide the margin should be on the work they handed in and the way their mouth dropped open at my answer.

“Margin? I don’t care if it has a margin at all. I don’t care if you hand in your creative idea scribbled on the back of an envelope so long as it makes me laugh, cry, shocks me, disturbs me or makes me think. Neatest, correct entry will get you nowhere. Messy but original will win. Show me something I have never seen before.”

The students who did surprisingly well in my course were often the ones who were just scraping through the rest of their subjects. They were the irreverent, lazy kids who winged their assignments at the very last minute because they were too busy having a good time. They were also less anxious than the high-achievers, less driven by the need for the approval of others. Their expectations, if they had any, were realistic. Yet, they were better at original ideas. They were more creative because they had kept their subversive spirit alive. They weren’t obedient or compliant and they didn’t follow the rules. And that is where creativity, originality and new ideas live. They germinate in that little internal voice that says ‘Why do I have to do it your way?’ ‘Why should I do what you tell me just because they call you the teacher (boss/supervisor, whatever) and me the student (employee/subordinate etc)?’

I remember one young man coming up to me on campus after the final results had been announced. “Thank you for the great mark,” he said, in a tone of bewilderment. He was clearly not used to scoring highly. “You deserved it,” I replied. “You think differently.”

The trouble with the world as it is now – whether it is in our education system, the workplace, politics, industry or even the media – is we are obsessed with compliance. We are preoccupied with ticking boxes, following the rules (complying with them, in fact) and being accountable. And accountability, as I have written before, is the proverbial dead-hand when it comes to creativity and original thinking. Accountability is a blame-oriented mechanism. If something goes wrong, someone will be held to account for the mistake. Creativity, originality and innovation thrive on mistakes. Whenever you try something new, by definition you are likely to get it wrong. That’s why the era of accountability has brought the western world to the place we find ourselves now. Some are looking backwards (I’m looking at you ‘Make America Great Again’) in fear and loathing, while the rest of us are desperately spinning our wheels and getting nowhere. Creativity and innovation, in my experience, can only really take flight in an almost fear-free environment. People must feel safe enough to fail before they can succeed. Managers who know this are both very wise and very rare.

We are currently living in a very fearful world. We’re terrified of being blamed and criticised. We’re scared of climate change, terrorism and ‘the other’. The future feels bleak and dystopian. I think we have to throw that self-limiting existential terror away. And we can only do that with some real innovation. So, it’s time to get subversive. Time to break the rules. Time to tear up the guidelines, excise the margins and scribble our best ideas on the back of envelopes.

Jane Caro runs her own communications consultancy. She worked in the advertising industry for 30 years and is now an author, journalist, lecturer and media commentator.

Leading sales and marketing from the middle

By Gunnar Habitz CMgr FIML, Channel Sales Manager at software vendor Noggin.

Amid a fundamental change for the sales profession we enter the age of the well-informed buyer. So, how can sales and marketing navigate across their buying journeys instead of sticking to old sales cycles? How can you operate effectively in the sandwich between top management and your teams while delivering KPIs and developing people?

The typical dilemma of a sales and marketing leader is leading from the middle. Delivering KPIs for top leadership, coaching and mentoring teams toward achieving those KPIs, and serving customers by escalation support. All of this while fighting the internal, often political battles that could knock the balance of company culture. If the requested KPIs are purely based on revenue, more sustainable elements are coming short. Leading from the middle is often a reality of many losses with few wins.

Although many companies continue to operate their sales and marketing structure as they have at the start of this decade, buying behaviour has changed drastically. Informed buyers reach out to potential providers only in the last mile of the buying journeys. The Corporate Executive Board (CEB) defined this moment at 57 per cent of the time between acknowledging a problem and implementing a new solution. That was mentioned in the 2011 book, The Challenger Sale, and today the trend is going towards 80 per cent. Aligning sales processes accordingly starts at the middle level with later validation by top management.

For both small companies and large organisations, middle level management becomes more complex with branch offices and overseas locations. When regional management positions, such as Asia Pacific out of Singapore or even Australian cities like Sydney or Melbourne, operate between country and regional interests they are often perceived to be too far away from reality.

On top of that, those leading both sales and marketing live and breathe another tension field where marketing often falls short. With two separate managers, both areas often compete against each other. As marketing talks to an audience and sales to individuals, only a holistic view and aligned KPIs embrace the rarely known ‘SMARKETING’. This approach combines those two flavours from lead generation to closing.

To be successful in the middle, certain skills and experience are required to motivate the teams wisely toward common goals while playing an integral part in developing the culture.

After spending several years overseeing international sales management in the European region, here are my picks for the top ten qualities middle leaders need:

  1. Communicating: Sitting in between all stakeholders, great communication skills are a must for to active listening and influencing. Be an active filter in between top leadership and your teams to ensure only relevant content is communicated down the line. That way, teams in the field can concentrate on doing their client-focused work. Conversely, a translation from market reality to corporate politics upwards is also needed.
  2. Curious: The best way to survive in the middle with success is to be curious. Like a spider on a web, the middle leader enjoys the right distance towards other internal roles, top management as well as customers and partners. Genuine curiosity into those mentioned roles paired with empathy and a lifelong learning mentality are the winning ingredients to further encourage the team members.
  3. Connecting: The old Nokia slogan “connecting people” is important to middle management. Leading sales and marketing teams requires building long lasting relationships with various internal and external stakeholders. Adopting personality profiling right at the first encounter from Myer-Briggs to DISC helps to truly connect to the other side and to refer further within the enhanced network applying a “givers gain” mentality.
  4. Contributing: The top leadership level and the teams at the bottom often see middle managers purely as messengers for their material towards the other side. On the contrary, I see the role as contributing their own views and content. Especially when the KPIs are set in a different way between those teams, it is critical to answer “what’s in it for me” for each level and then align them together as close as possible.
  5. Challenging: Given the changes on the sales side, it is the duty of the sales leader to challenge old processes and adopt to the new reality. Managing marketing and sales separately leads to an exclusive “us against them” approach. Keeping sales reps solely measured on revenue excludes modern KPIs such as Net Promoter Score which has the end customer satisfaction in mind. The sales leader must challenge that!
  6. Coaching and Mentoring: The sales and marketing manager develops the team using a situational choice of coaching and mentoring activities. When I moved up from an individual sales position to a sales manager, I realised the variety of needs to bring the organisation forward. Given the geographical distance, I needed to develop my own virtual leadership styles without regular face to face meetings or formal mentoring programs in place.
  7. Change agents: Nothing is so consistent in sales and marketing as change – and that doesn’t come in circles to return to an earlier experienced pattern. In his book The Future of the Sales Profession, Graham Hawkins says, “When buyers change how they buy, sellers must change how they sell”. The sales and marketing leader in the middle is the first to adopt as an active change agent with endurance towards all directions.
  8. Creativity: Most international organisations prescribe how their country teams have to execute strategies top down. Creativity paired with clever communication skills are the only way to adopt a central idea into a country reality. As an example, Australian customers immediately recognise strategies developed for the US and are often reluctant to follow them. Middle managers won’t be successful without being creative in their sandwich level.
  9. Cultural interest: A genuine way to drive this middle leadership section is applying an honest interest into the cultural background of team members with the attempt to include all members into a fruitful outcome. While the trend towards globalisation might turn into similar behaviours, in reality an appreciation of the cultural diversity towards common team values provides better outcomes.
  10. Client focus: What I learned from Carly Fiorina at the beginning of my career at HP is still valid, “The customer defines a job well done”, she said. Especially given the mentioned changes on the buying side, it is important to apply all the qualities above in the interaction with prospects and clients. It is the role of the middle leaders in sales and marketing to ensure the offered services suit the needs of prospects and existing customers.

Leading from the middle is a true challenge. But it can be very rewarding when you lead the organisation forward and influence teams towards future success. Leaders should develop all mentioned qualities and be careful not to be “eaten” in this sandwich level.

Innovator: Karen Hayes transforming a trusted brand

By Lachlan Colquhoun

Karen Hayes FIML had decades of experience as a senior manager in business technology consulting when she realised that she wasn’t “bouncing out of bed every morning” to get to work.

After time working in Europe and Canada, she found herself back in Melbourne and sitting on a number of boards of not-for-profit organisations when the realisation struck: she was enjoying the not-for-profit world more than the commercial world where she had made her career.

She she set her sights on the much-coveted role of CEO at Guide Dogs Victoria. Having secured the position, she knew that the organisation needed to change.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme was about to begin and with it a new model of “self-directed” care, where people with disabilities would be the ones making choices on which services they use.

At the time, the philanthropic model was changing and this had major implications for an organisation that receives only 8 per cent of its funding from government.

“The days of corporates writing big cheques, handing them over and then just ticking their corporate social responsibility box are well and truly over,” says Hayes.

The vision was to move to a more sustainable model where Guide Dogs Victoria could maintain all the values that made it so beloved, but at the same time move towards being able to fund itself.

“It was about respecting the fact that the organisation had 60 years of great history, but also putting measures in place to make sure it survived and prospered 60 years and more into the future,” Hayes says.

Many of the staff, for example, had been at Guide Dogs Victoria for 40 years and the average tenure was 13 years. Hayes had come from an industry where the average stay was 11 months.

“I needed to respect the history, but not allow the history to hold us back,” she says.

Part of the reinvention was around communicating the fact that Guide Dogs does more than train and deliver the iconic guide dogs themselves.

Guide dogs are only around 30 per cent of what the organisation does, with the majority of the balance being in providing other services to the sight impaired. There are 250,000 people with low vision issues in Victoria, but most do not have guide dogs.

“We introduced a strategic plan, and that is about us being first choice as an employer, as a services provider, for people looking for an organisation to support with philanthropy and also for volunteers,” says Hayes.

“We are redeveloping our campus in Kew with the objective of diversifying our revenue stream with a vet clinic, a doggie day care centre, a dog friendly café, all of which will be revenue generating.

“We are going to build a low vision clinic and an educational auditorium, and introduce a level of predictability and sustainability in our financial model that has not existed previously.”

This is all in addition to the ‘Dialogue in the Dark’ experience in Melbourne Docklands, where people are led through an environment in total darkness and have to rely on other senses to interact.

Around 15,000 members of the public have been through the experience, which also employs a team of 20 blind people
as guides.

All these changes go right down through the organisation. All employees have balanced scorecards and KPIs that flow from the strategic plan and which are measured every year.

“When I came here I could see that this was an organisation full of individuals with very strong values,” says Hayes. “Now I feel we are also a values-based organisation with a plan everyone understands, so we are all moving in the right direction together.”

Take Two: When like-minds meet

Although she was an experienced professional in her chosen field, Julie Fallon MIML felt she needed some mentoring input when she moved into a new role. She reached out to IML ANZ’s Member Exchange program and was paired with Melbourne-based leadership coach Ross Montalti FIML.

By Lachlan Colquhoun

Why did you join the Member Exchange program?

 Julie Fallon:   “I originally joined the program to offer my services as a mentor having been a mentor for others as part of my consultancy business. However, on opening my own medical practice to provide consulting rooms and administrative services to specialists, I felt I required assistance with strategy and focus to help  sort out the plethora of ideas I have going around in my head.”

Ross Montalti:   “I have been formally mentoring for more than 10 years, initially at the Melbourne University Business and Economics Faculty and then with Australian Management and Education Services. My corporate experience provided me with heaps of related learnings and I wanted to share that with those who might value it, as well as help me keep up-to-date in management and leadership theories and practices, especially as they relate to new workplace incumbents, such as millennials.”

What did you get out of the experience?

 JF:  “I received confirmation that my self-doubts were no different to anyone else in business, and confidence that I was achieving, and heading in the right direction. I also had understanding from someone like minded who could see me without me having to try so hard to get across what I needed. I had an objective perspective from someone outside looking in, who was able to see through my mass of information and bring me to a level where I could focus on what was important and begin to strategise on that basis. Most of all I got a willing, experienced businessperson to help me long term wherever they can assist, even if it is just as a sounding board. Hopefully I got a lifelong friend who understands my business and me.”

 RM:   “So far, it has been an interesting journey. My discussions with my mentee are helping me appreciate that not much has changed since I was in a managerial/leadership role. I am learning that managers and leaders these days have the same set of workplace priorities, and perhaps these priorities are not as well dealt with in the case of people, resulting in ‘people issues’ seeming to take a back seat. The business side of things is still the same: set measurable and achievable goals; set priorities; surround yourself with people you trust, appreciate and can work with; get help if/when you need it; and review business results until you get the desired outcomes. Do this collaboratively, keeping your team informed and with a customer perspective in mind, and sustainable positive business results will be institutionalised.”

What did you learn from each other?

 JF:   “I learned that there are other people out there who just want to help you be the best you can be, with no judgement or criticism. I learned about who Ross is as a person, his personal insight, and experience as a businessman. I think I actually learned more about myself than Ross through this process. It really made me sit back and analyse both my business, my goals in business and life, what I actually want to achieve, and why. Ross helped me help myself, while providing amazing support, which is what it is all about.

 RM:   “I’m still learning, but so far I have learned more about the medical ‘business’ side of things from my mentee than I would have imagined. I have learned that I need to keep asking questions, not only to help me understand but hopefully also assist my mentee to get to the bottom of any issue, and move forward with a clear focus, and achievable and realistic result in mind.”

Would you recommend the program to others?

 JF:   “Yes!”

 RM:   “Yes. It’s a way of staying in touch with business realities, checking out whether what we did in the past actually worked, and helping Australian businesses – and more importantly, managers and leaders – grow and achieve their business outcomes, and personal aspirations.”