How IBM Crowdsourced Its Own Personality

 

It’s been four years since strategist Megan Dalla-Camina left IBM, but she can still rattle off the company’s three defining statements without hesitation.

“They were: dedication to every client’s success; innovation that matters – for our company and the world – and trust and personal responsibility in all relationships,” she recalls from her days as head of strategy for IBM Australia and New Zealand.

Now a consultant, coach and writer, Dalla-Camina (pictured) says those values became part of the DNA for employees of the company, making it a highly regarded training ground for leaders.

This is a real advantage for IBM alumni: “When I’m at a client meeting or a speaking event and [another alumnus] knows that I’m a former IBMer, they still feel that connection — even if it was their dad, or brother or sister that was an IBMer.”

Dalla-Camina says the defining statements were very much part of the conversation when developing strategy.

“In some other organisations, values are an afterthought. With IBM, they were always at the very front,” she says.

Dalla-Camina joined in 2004, just after the company had gone through an exhaustive process of inviting every employee to contribute to writing the statements.

IBM had already transformed its business model to survive a crisis, switching through the 1990s from being a manufacturer of computers to a services and software-based company.

It was a near-death experience, following combined losses of $US15.9 billion over the three years to 1993.

In the aftermath, it was decided to replace the old three “beliefs”: Respect for the individual, the best customer service in the world, excellence.

Around 50,000 employees came together over 72 hours in 2003 in a “values jam” to come up with the words that would encompass IBM’s new vision.

Once those values were established, IBM’s then-CEO Sam Palmisano charged a senior executive with the task of identifying gaps between the values and company practices, collating all the emailed feedback from employees.

“Some of the comments were painful to read,” Palmisano told the Harvard Business Review at the time.

“I printed all of it out — the stack of paper was about three feet high — and  took it home to read over one weekend.  On Monday morning, I walked into our  executive committee meeting and threw it on the table.

“I said, ‘You guys ought to read every one of these comments, because if you think we’ve got this place plumbed correctly, think again’.”

Palmisano told HBR the assessment sparked improvements to business practices, such as the way prices were set. Leaders already knew this needed to be done, but nothing was done until the values-discovery process forced them to confront the issue.
– By Fiona Smith

 

Improving Employee Engagement

By Andrew Messer AFIML, Manager of the Application Services Unit at the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA)

Every leader wants, or should want, an engaged team of people. Much has been written about how employee engagement is the key to customer engagement, because engaged employees care about their customers.

But engagement is not a switch you can flick. Employee engagement actually starts with leader engagement – people just won’t engage with a leader who has clocked off.

As leaders, we have to be intentional about this. We’ve got to be active and take the first step.

That’s why I make a point of asking my people these two questions, and not just once, but as often as it takes. These two questions are simple but they are empowering. They prompt people to think – sometimes about things they haven’t thought about much or enough.

 

Ask your people these two questions

    1. What do you want to achieve?
    2. How can I help you do that?

You’ll notice that the first question is not directly and specifically about what they want to achieve in their job – but the context of this conversation with a team member tends to guide their thinking this way.  It’s either about what they want to achieve in their job or in their career.

I get three main types of responses to this – “I don’t really know”, “I’ll have a think about that”, or a specific answer.  If they can’t provide a specific answer, then you can’t ask the second question – it just becomes a statement of intent.

It is our responsibility as leaders to help our people identify their goals and help them to achieve them. Sometimes people need a push to consider this, because it’s so easy for them to get comfortable.

But when your people get to a point where they can give a specific answer, it’s great to see how they light up when you ask the second question.

 

How does this help increase engagement?

These questions will help to increase your team’s engagement in three ways:

  • When people have thought about their goals and know they will be supported, their engagement is increased. They are going to come in to work more inspired by having a personal goal they can achieve and knowing they have a backer – you!
  • When you have offered to help people develop and you are sincere about following through, your engagement is increased. You can’t make this offer half-heartedly, you have to mean it and do it – but you will find it is one of the most rewarding things you can do as a leader.
  • And when you’ve done this process with your people, and you encourage them to lead the same way and do the same with their teams, their peoples’ engagement is increased. It’s incredible to watch this sort of thing move forwards and radiate outwards across a larger team.

And that is the beginning of developing an engaged culture, where personal and professional development becomes part of the DNA of your organisation.  And what leader doesn’t want that for their team?

 

 

Want to hear more on engaging and inspiring your team? Andrew will be speaking at our Brisbane Conference on the 2nd November 2017 about the ‘ability to inspire’. Book Now and don’t miss this insightful event!

 

 

 

A Battle Worth Fighting

 

Creating a resilient corporate culture takes time and effort, but you won’t regret it.

 

By Stuart Taylor, CEO Springfox

 

Stress. We all experience it. We all talk about it. Even seeing the word in print stirs at least a little discomfort in most.

Removing stress from the workplace sounds like a great idea in theory. In reality, though, a certain amount of stress can be beneficial and, in some cases, necessary to drive individuals and corporations to higher levels of performance. However, there is a tipping point at which pressure to perform has counterproductive effects.

The focus of modern cultural change programs shouldn’t be on removing stress, but rather on creating an environment where people are able to process, rationalise and view pressure as opportunity.

Employers don’t need to create stress-free organisations, they need to create resilient organisations.

Organisations exist for people and through people. It is true that modern organisations are increasingly characterised by technology, systems, processes and rules, but at the core they remain much like any other group of people or tribe. And just like any other tribe, members look to the chief to rally them in times of trouble.

A resilient corporate culture is one that is able to balance the drive for high performance with a focus on maintaining the safety, well-being and effectiveness of its people.

Resilient organisations understand that high performance is very different to sustainable high performance. And it all starts at the top.

Disruption, resulting from technological advances and geo-political shifts, personifies the modern corporate battle ground. This places people under increasing pressure and strain. The persistent change in the world and the pressures on us to transform and adapt require agility.

 

‘In a volatile, uncertain and complex world, resilience is a strategic asset’

 

To thrive in this environment, organisations must commit to a systemic approach to fostering a resilient culture where people feel respected, trusted and supported. Leaders must be role models. When they fail to engage, the tribe loses trust in its chief.

Our organisation’s study of 26,099 professionals over a six-year period revealed confronting insights about our modern workforce. More than half of those surveyed (55 per cent) worry excessively, 50 per cent are hyper vigilant, 45 per cent experience distress symptoms, and 30 per cent experience excessive work intensity, and/or have impulse control problems.

The research clearly demonstrated that the workforce is anxious and overloaded, contributing to a prevalence of absenteeism, presenteeism, conflict and attention loss in the workplace. The effect of absenteeism alone costs the Australian economy more than $44 billion a year.

Here are some simple steps leaders can can take:

Lead with compassion
 Resilient organisations are possible when you lead with deep care and the ‘greater good’ in mind. Sometimes this requires tough love, however, it will build trust and respect.

Show vulnerability
A powerful way to demonstrate your trust, compassion and respect for your people is to ask the same of them. Leaders who aren’t ashamed to show their shortcomings demonstrate that what is expected is commitment and effort, not perfection. This breeds a culture of accountability, where people are willing to admit they need help or have made a mistake.

Talk to your people
People perform best when they understand what’s expected of them. Make your strategic priorities clear and resist the urge to use corporate jargon.

Find out what people are good at
We all do best when we play to our strengths. A concerted effort should be made to help people understand what their natural strengths are. This can contribute to an organisation’s strategic priorities.

Consider diversity
Does your organisation accurately reflect the world outside? It is critical that people feel comfortable to be themselves at work, regardless of age, gender, sexuality or cultural beliefs. A considered diversity strategy is critical for any modern organisation.

 

What Makes The Leader of the Pack

Great leaders are workhorses, not show horses

By Sam Bell FIML
The Institute of Managers and Leaders  General Manager Corporate Services and Research 

In June ‘the suspended schoolboy turned disruptive CEO’ was finally removed from his post at CPA Australia. Alex Malley left the membership-based accounting body with a payout of $4.9 million of members’ equity, a board without a quorum and no obvious leadership succession plan.

It was a sad finale for Malley who, after seven-and-a-half years as CEO, arguably left CPA Australia in a sustainable financial position, with strong brand recognition and a growing international profile. No one should doubt Malley’s passion and commitment, although some may question his delivery method and other aspects of his leadership.

Malley also seemed to be able to do what others have failed to do – position the CPA qualification as a stepping stone to roles in management and leadership. And he was able to attract large cohorts of international students to the CPA brand. This undoubtedly propelled the organisation beyond its home market and gave many international students the hope of a job in Australia (even if the truth was that these jobs were rather more difficult to come by than they were perhaps led to believe).

Much of what Malley espoused about leadership related to his own experiences. Of course, it’s somewhat ironic then that his personal leadership style ultimately played a part in his untimely exit.

Leadership style is the way that a leader provides vision and direction, sets strategy and motivates people. This doesn’t mean that leaders should accept the status quo or shy away from change. Far from it. They must navigate choppy waters and create new directions in search of success. But this must always be about ensuring that the emphasis is on the organisation and not on them.

I can’t help but think that Malley’s leadership style falls short of what US business consultant Jim Collins would describe as that of a “Level 5 Leader”. Collins describes Level 5 leaders as those who espouse a “blend of extreme personal humility with intense professional will”.

What separates these leaders from the pack is, according to Collins, their “personality attributes”. There are the attributes that typify these leaders. They are self-confident enough to set up a succession plan; are humble and modest; show unwavering resolve and diligence — more plough horse than show horse. Last but not least, they give credit to others and take full responsibility for poor results. They also attribute much of their success to good luck rather than personal greatness.

Collins believed that for great leaders, leadership is more about who they are, rather than what they know. Contrast this with the now very public allegations of millions of dollars of CPA Australia funds being used for the promotion of a TV show and a book that didn’t seem to be too related to an professional membership body focused on accounting standards.

Whatever the truth of the CPA ‘case study’, I think that we would all agree that good leadership is not about the self-promotion of the leaders. Especially when it’s the leader who is making the decisions about the promotion. Indeed, Jim Collins found that it is precisely those CEOs, who create big public profiles, that tend to run the most unsuccessful companies.

This brings us nicely to the Institute’s new Chartered Manager designation, which assesses leadership qualities through a robust competency framework that doesn’t try to define a ‘preferred’ leadership style. It instead acknowledges that every individual has their own way of doing things. But the framework does capture the core competencies that are vital to developing your own leadership style and supporting your management skills. This is the thinking that lies at the heart of the new designation, which is sets out three core stages of management:

• How to manage yourself effectively — this should be learnt early on in your career and constantly developed.
• How to manage others and establish trust — these capabilities should be developed before you take on management roles ,but are typically developed at junior and middle management levels.
• How to manage the business and think strategically — this should be continually learnt and is most needed at senior levels.

I’m currently undertaking the Chartered Manager assessment and I’m finding the reflection process on my leadership style and skills to be extremely rewarding. It has also revealed the gaps in my knowledge and practice. It’s both extremely rewarding and personally challenging, as it should be.

Leadership isn’t supposed to be easy. In fact, self-promotion is the easy part of leadership. The real tough stuff is the actual leading.

The Leadership Road Less Travelled

 

With a new name comes a new resolve for the Institute of Managers and Leaders to treat leadership more holistically, as seen in our latest book, Leadership Matters: 7 Skills of Very Successful Leaders

By David Pich

As you can probably imagine, over the past two years as chief executive of the Institute of Managers and Leaders (formerly the Australian Institute of Management), I’ve heard an awful lot about leadership. I’ve also been asked a lot about it and I’ve read a lot about it. I’ve spoken to the Institute’s members – and lots of other managers and leaders – about leadership. That’s an awful lot of conversations about leadership. And so there should be: leadership matters.

After all of these conversations and discussion about leadership, there’s little doubt in my mind that it’s best defined as being a unique blend of inspiration and perspiration. But a rarely acknowledged issue is that the vast majority of today’s thinking around the topic of leadership is focused on leadership > from the inspiration perspective. While undoubtedly important, this perspective is what I think we all might agree is the ‘sexy stuff’ of the leadership debate.

Today we’re living in a post-psychology world. We’re surrounded by – and the debate about leadership is dominated by – soundbites and memes and by reality TV. These days every person and their dog (or indeed their cat) has a blog, a LinkedIn profile, an Instagram account, a Pinterest page and a Twitter feed about leadership.

We’re bombarded with images and quotes telling us that leaders  must be resilient, authentic, brave and emotionally intelligent. We’re reminded that leaders must listen, reflect, sympathise, empathise and every other form of ‘ise’ you can think of.

All of this is what I like to call the LGS stuff – or the leadership guilt stuff.

It’s the stuff that makes us as leaders feel inadequate. Of course, it’s the stuff that sells coaching sessions, self-help courses and lots and lots of books, and let’s face it, keeps people like Tony Robbins in business!

It’s all absolutely true of course. A leader does need to be resilient, authentic, brave, emotionally intelligent and all the other things. There is absolutely no doubt that all the leadership guilt stuff is important in making in good leader become a great leader. It’s true there are personal attributes that leaders must develop and hone to improve their leadership. And it’s absolutely true that myriad books, coaching options and indeed Tony Robbins-inspired courses can – and do – assist.

And it was this observation that led to the Institute’s first book on leadership for a number of years.

Leadership Matters: 7 Skills of Very Successful Leaders tackles the real work of leadership. It looks at the nitty gritty, the tough stuff. It’s about the leadership grunt rather than the leadership guilt.

So, why did we decide to take the leadership road less travelled with our first book under the newly named Institute?

The answer lies at the heart of the rebrand of the Institute. The newly named Institute will focus on setting the standard of management and leadership competence and striving to see this standard accepted nationally. At the heart of this will be a focus on the things that managers and leaders actually do to mark themselves as great managers and leaders. This focus, by definition, is about the perspiration of leadership.

In short, you can be the most resilient person it’s possible to be. You can be acutely aware of yourself and in touch with your own emotions and feelings and you can be as bold and brave as the next manager and leader. But this alone won’t guarantee you success in the profession that is management and leadership. Having the ‘right’ personality and behavioural traits will only get you so far. If we’re going to set the standard for management and leadership competence and if we’re going to accompany managers and leaders on their personal leadership journey, we must look at leadership much more holistically.

We must include the hard work, the heavy lifting, the tough stuff. This is exactly what the book does. It tackles the perspiration of leadership. It does this by considering seven of the core skills that contribute to successful leadership. There are others of course. But the seven skills detailed in the book are those skills that, in researching the book, the Institute’s Policy and Research team found were ubiquitous.

The seven skills of very  successful leaders are:  Setting strategy; Defining culture; Leading people; Making decisions; Ethical leadership; Inclusion; Networking.

CHAPTER 1: SETTING STRATEGY

The Institute’s book starts where successful leadership typically begins – with a plan.

Successful leaders have a plan. They have a vision and a direction, and they know where they’re going and why they’re going there.

Successful leaders tend not to wing it. They don’t make a habit of guessing or second guessing. On the contrary, they set out on a path with a relatively clear view of where they’re going and how they intend to get there. Of course, good leaders need to be flexible in the execution of their plan, but they never lose sight of the ultimate objective that lies at the heart of their strategy.

A good example of the power of plan – or a dream – is seen in the leadership of Martin Luther King.

MLK had a dream – he had a vision. He knew what the future could look like. He could see the possibilities.

Of course, as leaders we can only dream of having a mere fraction of the impact MLK had, but to be successful we can perhaps take a little leaf out of his leadership book.

 

CHAPTER 2: DEFINING CULTURE

Successful leaders must focus on getting the environment right so that they – and their team – can deliver the strategy.
Culture is absolutely key, but it’s all too often ignored because it’s too often placed in the too-hard basket. At its heart, culture is about people. It’s about the people we work with and the teams we work in. These people and these teams are all absolutely crucial to the success of a leader.

The culture a leader creates will determine the success of the strategy and ultimately the success of the leader.

This chapter of the book asks leaders to think about their business, their team and, more broadly, their organisation. It asks what the core strategy is and whether the culture is aligned to that strategy. Are the recruitment, reward, recognition and reporting policies and processes aligned to support the strategy? Of course, if the culture doesn’t support the strategy, change will be required.

 

CHAPTER 3: LEADING PEOPLE

This chapter is possibly the defining chapter of the book. In terms of successful leadership, it’s the BIG ONE, the piece de resistance. There can be no doubt that a leader leads.

In one sense, managing is easy. Managing is about knowing the processes and implementing them. It’s about  dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. It’s about following the rulebook and ticking the boxes. But leading people is something  else entirely.

Leading – and leadership – is about recognising and celebrating individual differences, motivations, skills and experiences. It’s about balancing the individual, the team, the plan, strategy and the vision. And then working hard to keep the all of these often competing demands in balance while delivering.

CHAPTER 4: MAKING DECISIONS

That leaders make decisions is an obvious statement of fact. But successful leaders make the right decisions and they make those based on sound research and wise counsel.

In this chapter we argue that successful leaders typically understand the decision-making process. They weigh up the options, they narrow things down, they analyse and — of course — they agonise. But after all of this, they make a decision. There is, of course, another thing that successful leaders do when making decisions . . . they consult. This aspect of decision making means they identify those experts they can trust and rely on and then they ask questions and listen to the answers.

CHAPTER 5: ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

In essence, this chapter urges managers and leaders to be ethical. Always.

Effective leadership is based on the principle of leading by example. Successful managers and leaders cast a shadow that others walk in, find comfort in and seek to copy. As such, leaders must set the bar for what’s right and what’s wrong and this bar needs to be set much higher than many of today’s leaders chose to set it.

The role of a leader is to set the standard of behaviour that others look up to. When it comes to ethical behaviour, successful leaders must walk the talk.

CHAPTER 6: INCLUSION MATTERS

This chapter argues that successful leaders celebrate, support and encourage diversity and inclusion.

Leaders must look to the future while keeping a sharp eye on the present. And they must recognise the future is likely to be different. Leadership is about recognising this and celebrating this difference – and embracing it. Leaders must prepare now for that future.

Successful leaders are coaches and mentors. They are inclusive. They involve and include people regardless of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability or colour and they operate without prejudice and with an innate sense of fairness.

CHAPTER 7: NETWORKING IS WORKING

This chapter supports a long-held view of the Institute. We believe that successful leaders get out of their offices; they meet people, they network. A successful leader has a significant group of people he or she can turn to, rely on, and be with.

No leader is an island, they must keep up to date and well across the latest thinking, technology developments and people. They need get out there, get known and be seen.

To coin a phrase I personally find really quite dreadful, to be successful in the modern world, leaders do need to put some time into their personal brand. Of course, this doesn’t mean that networking and connecting socially always comes easily to every leader, but leaders recognise the power that comes from of having a finger on the pulse of knowledge and information.

In this way, the Institute believes that successful leaders recognise that networking is working.

 

  • Click here to secure your copy of Leadership Matters for the special member price  of $25 (including postage)

Other Life: Didier Moutia

THE BEST OF CARE

By Susan Muldowney

Didier Moutia AFMIL began volunteering with St John Ambulance when he was 16 and says the decades of experience have provided valuable management lessons.

“In a typical job, you do things because you’re getting a pay packet,” he says. “At places like St John, people are volunteering their time, so you have to think about how to make them engaged with what they’re doing and how you can achieve a consensus. It gives you a whole set of different skills that you can use in your corporate life.”

St John Ambulance is a self-funding charitable organisation that provides first aid services, training and equipment in more than 40 countries. Active in Australia for more than 130 years, it has about 16,000 volunteers and the training they provide has resulted in 500,000 first aid certificates. Moutia started as a St John cadet and says the experience led to his career in nursing.

“I really liked St John’s approach and how they managed patient care. It was very holistic and they were all extremely knowledgeable yet humble at the same time. They were able to communicate with patients and their family members in a way that gave them reassurance and broke down information so they could digest it. It got me thinking that nursing could be for me because I liked the people side of it.”

“If someone is struggling, we try and identify that early on and refer them to an appropriate resource.”

After working as a theatre nurse, Moutia joined medical software company InterSystems in 1998. “I’m still doing something that I did in nursing, which is influencing outcomes for patients, but I’m doing it by delivering the technology that assists and supports it,” he explains. “I bring a bit of realism to what we do. I make sure that what we deliver to a clinician is something that’s very usable and saves them time but ultimately improves patient care.”

Moutia has held various positions at St John, including commissioner in NSW, and is now peer support coordinator for the state. “If anyone needs peer support or if there’s been a critical incident, such as a patient having a cardiac arrest, my job is to make sure that whoever was involved gets the peer support they need. As a minimum, we would call them to see if they’re OK after the incident. If someone is struggling, we try to identify that early and refer them to an appropriate resource to help them.”

Volunteer work occupies about 20 hours of Moutia’s week and he says balancing it with his day job comes down to careful planning. “I just have to be really organised with my diary,” he says. “I’ve been volunteering with them for so long it’s just part of my life now. I have a philosophy – when you’re doing one thing, do it really well. In other words, I try not to multitask. When I’m at work, I’m at work. When I’m at St John, I’m at St John.”

Top five gifts of an exceptional Mentor

By Duncan Fish, Executive Coach & Interpersonal Skills Expert at The Engaging Executive.

The term Mentoring is quite popular, but what does it mean to you? In my opinion, the role of a Mentor is to espouse wisdom from a position of experience. The term ‘Mentor’ is derived from the story of Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus, King of Ithaca, had to leave his son to fight in the Trojan War, and entrusted the care of his household to a man named Mentor, who served as teacher and overseer. I have both had Mentors and been a Mentor to others in my career. It is a very rewarding process, and I have often learned as much from the Mentee as he or she has learned from me. So in this article I wanted to define, what I believe, are the top 5 gifts of an exceptional Mentor.

Sharing Wisdoms

Often I get asked, ‘What is the difference between a Coach and a Mentor’. Depending on the style of coaching in question, I would suggest that a Coach does not need to be an expert in the topic of a coaching conversation.  A Coach’s role is to use thought provoking questions and structure to enable someone to come to his or her own conclusions. Whereas a Coach will not usually give ideas or suggestions, a Mentor is expected to do this.

I currently have a Mentor, named David. This man is several stages more advanced in his business thinking than I currently, and has wisdoms well beyond mine. In fact, I chose this man to be my Mentor as he works in a similar style of business to mine and has travelled the same road. What are currently hurdles and challenges for me, are things he has already overcome. So the first gift of an exceptional Mentor is ability to pre-empt future roadblocks and help you circumnavigate them.

Challenging Limiting Beliefs

I see my life in two halves: before I met John and after I met John. John was the man who became my Mentor when I was 25 years old. Having not done very well at school, I was still carrying a lot of baggage and believing I was an academic idiot. As I had not gone to university at that point in time, I used to feel intimidated by anyone who had a university degree.

One day John took me to one side and had a conversation which changed the entire course of my life. He could see I was passionate about helping people, and he could see something in me that I couldn’t see in myself. One day he said, ‘Duncan, you would make a great Psychologist’. I replied, ‘I can’t, John. That would mean going to university and I am too old, too dumb, too poor and too scared’. However, John was an exceptional Mentor and he could see that I was being held back by my limiting beliefs. So he challenged me on all of these issues; he challenged me until I started to think differently. One by one he questioned my beliefs and probed and disentangled the story I had been telling myself all those years. That challenging  my beliefs about myself gave me the impetus to go to university, become a Psychologist, start my own business and go on to become an Author. The second gift of an exceptional Mentor is to enable a winning mindset.

Opening Doors

Another role of a Mentor is to create networks for the Mentee. It can be hard work for Mentees to get access to the people they need to advance their careers. In a world of email and geographical dispersed teams, you can’t always just ‘bump into’ the people you need. Although this is a rule of thumb, a Mentor is normally at least two levels above the Mentee. As such, a Mentor is normally well connected due to his or her more strategic role. That often means operating beyond his or her own silo and forming relationships more broadly.  Whilst we like to believe, and should, in meritocracy, if you can’t get on board with the fact that having the right connections help, you are missing 50% of the equation. So the third gift of an exceptional Mentor is to open doors and enable connections.

Being Impartial

With the role of a Mentor comes great responsibility. It can be easy to get wrapped up in the role of being the ‘wise sage’ and living your life vicariously through the Mentee. However, you always need to remember, it is not your life and you are not the one who has to live with the consequences.

A Mentor always needs to appreciate that they are an outsider in the scenario. As such, they may only ever hear one side of the situation – that of the Mentee. Part of the role of the Mentor is to question this version of the truth to ensure that the Mentee is thinking from a number of perspectives. It can be dangerous for a Mentor to take sides. In fact, it could put them at odds with the Mentee’s own manager, especially if the Mentor and manager both work in the same organization. Hence, the fourth gift of an exceptional Mentor is to be objective and not take sides.

Goal Setting and Follow Up

When becoming a Mentor it is important to have an objective of the sessions. One of my personal gripes is seeing Mentoring sessions turn into coffee catch ups that go nowhere and then fizzle out. I have helped several organisations to set up formal Mentoring schemes and the ones that work are nearly always the ones that adopt a goal setting philosophy.

I always advise that the first session is a planning session, and that there should be an agreed number of sessions that the Mentor and Mentee contract to keep. This can be revised on an ongoing basis. In the same way as coaching, the Mentee should be required to set goals for between the sessions and to be accountable for completing the tasks agreed with the Mentor. The Mentors role is to help refine these goals, based on their wisdom, but not to set them absolutely. After all, they are a Mentor not a Manager. Saying that, the Mentor needs to ‘keep the Mentee honest’ and ensure they follow through on the agreed goals. So the fifth gift of a Mentor is goal setting and accountability.

Duncan will also be speaking at the Canberra Masterclass event ‘Decoding Leadership: From Specialist to Leader’ on the 15th September 2017.
Book Now to hear more from Duncan and many other professionals from the Canberra area at this full day interactive event.
Be quick! Early bird pricing is available until Friday 18th August 2017.

Leadership and implementing creativity in the symphony orchestra

By Vincent Ciccarello, Managing Director, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

For decades, leadership and management literature has pointed to the relationship between the conductor and members of a symphony orchestra as a commendable paradigm of organisational teamwork, collaboration and the alignment of resources to a common vision.

But when it comes to implementing creativity, an orchestra is actually more akin to a team of elite athletes: spectators (the audience) may long for flashes of individual brilliance (for example, a breathtaking solo) but, at the end of the day, it’s the ability of the team to execute the game-plan (score or composition) as envisioned by the coach (conductor) that really matters.

Similarly, the sporting team’s coach and players, and the orchestra’s conductor and musicians, must ultimately deliver performances in line with goals and strategies set by the Board and management.

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra with conductor Nicholas Carter.

The sporting analogy doesn’t end there: most sporting teams and orchestras have a well-established hierarchy and leadership group; and there are the expectations of a host of internal (staff, volunteers) and external stakeholders (fans, subscribers, sponsors) to consider.

It is the primary responsibility of the leadership of these organisations to create the conditions and environment for peak performance – through the recruitment and retention of the right people to the right roles; by making available the necessary physical resources; developing a strong organisational culture; the careful management of workload and injuries; and so on.

ASO Managing Director Vince Ciccarello congratulating Juris Ezergailis at the Adelaide Town Hall stage – following the 2016 final Master Series.

Fostering a climate of trust and excellence encourages individuals to realise their potential; but, in reality, sporting teams and orchestras must demonstrate an extraordinary collective discipline to succeed. A champion team will always beat a team of champions…

Symphony orchestras primarily exercise creativity through the music they choose to perform, the composers they choose to commission and in the way they respond to the conductors they choose to lead them.

In most cases, this is a consultative and collaborative process, in which the musicians – collectively or through their representatives – have a voice in the orchestra’s artistic program and ambitions.

It’s a process that usually starts with the orchestra’s senior management and chief conductor but it’s not entirely straightforward. It requires a vision for the business, the ability to clearly articulate it and the skills to build a case to bring people along with you; while at the same time being open to the aspirations of the team, being willing to listen to feedback and recognising that not all of the company’s knowledge, history and wisdom – or even good ideas – reside in the C-suite.

In order to balance the artistic health of the playing group with the organisation’s commercial imperatives, a long-range view is required – and that means no matter what happens on the stage or on the field, for the leadership team, it’s not enough to take it one week at a time.

 Vincent Ciccarello will be speaking at our Adelaide TEL event ‘Lifting the Curtain on Leadership in Arts and Entertainment’ on the 23rd of August 2017.

 

Book Now to hear more from Vincent and others about what is needed for leadership in the arts today.

 

 

 

 

 

10 signs you lack emotional intelligence

Good leadership relies on high EQ. But how do you know if you are an emotionally intelligent leader? By Nicola Heath

It’s not just a buzzword. In the modern workplace, emotional intelligence often outranks technical ability.

“Businesses don’t want to hire people just based on their IQ,” says Ushma Dhanak, a HR specialist who runs Collaborate HR, a consultancy offering HR support to SMEs. “It’s all about how to manage people, how to lead people, how to read your own emotions and how to use that skill to read the emotions of others and respond accordingly.”

EQ is the “X-factor” that creates effective leaders, says Dhanak. Studies have established a strong link between emotional intelligence and business performance. It’s also linked to employee engagement. “If a business has a highly-engaged workforce, it means there are more people or leaders managing them with higher EQ,” she says.

Emotional intelligence has been on the radar since 1990, when psychology professors John D. Mayer of University of New Hampshire and Peter Salovey of Yale coined the term in a research paper.

In 1998, Rutgers psychologist Daniel Goleman linked emotional intelligence to leadership in an influential article published in Harvard Business Review titled ‘What Makes a Leader’. Without emotional intelligence, he wrote, “a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader.”

Today Dhanak runs EQ workshops for a range of clients including the Australia Federal Police, marketing and advertising companies and dental practices. “We use emotional intelligence techniques to help the business manage HR issues, and focus on the leadership teams to really make them aware of how they’re feeling and what that impact is having on their team.”

 

What’s your EQ?

Workplaces lacking in emotional intelligence are often plagued by problems such as micromanagement, a lack of trust and bullying.

To help leaders gauge their own emotional intelligence, Dhanak has created a list of 10 signs that an individual lacks EQ:

  1. You are easily stressed and irritated
  2. You treat people rashly and unfairly
  3. You are wrapped up in your own world
  4. You are over-confident
  5. You fear change
  6. You take failure badly
  7. You get into conflicts easily
  8. You interrupt and don’t listen
  9. You find fault with others easily
  10. Your relationships break down

 

The first step of Dhanak’s training is a self-assessment, a 10-minute online test that scores respondents across 26 competencies of emotional intelligence, including innovation, creativity and service orientation.

Based on those results Dhanak develops a coaching plan that can be delivered one-on-one or in a series of workshops run over a six to 12-month period.

Many traits contribute to emotional intelligence – empathy, flexibility, honesty, resilience, positivity, the ability to listen – but one of the most crucial is self-awareness. It’s important to understand your strengths and weaknesses and be better prepared for situations when these will be exposed, says Dhanak.

“Can you name the emotions you’re feeling? If you are not aware of what emotion you’re feeling you are not going to be able to read it and explain it to other people.”

Want to know more about Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?

Join our webinar on the 30th of August where we discuss the neuroscience behind WHY Emotional Intelligence is so important, as well as practical tips to boost your EQ & take your leadership to a new level.

Book today