JFK – ‘Jobs For Kids’?

JFK Airport Traffic Control have obviously taken on board the example set by Thomson Air in getting kids to do adults’ jobs I mentioned last week! Although they do seem to have created a little more controversy!

Here’s the audio of a young chap doing a bit of ‘Air Traffic Controlling’ when he went into work with his dad yesterday. Apparently his dad has been suspended pending further enquiries.

Obviously, if he was left to direct traffic on his own while his dad and his mates went for a sandwich, I’d be worried, but I can’t help thinking that it’s just a case of a dad proudly involving his son in his work and giving him a little go! I’m all for encouraging youngsters to understand the world of work, and in fact, I think that’s what the best businesses do. if that involves in them getting ‘engaged’ in doing a bit of something, I think that’s good.

Now, if he’d got him to fly the plane, that might be a different matter!

MD For A Day!

Looking to generate ideas and get a different perspective on your business? Here’s a simple, little  ‘technique’ I like to put forward in my speaking and workshops on leadership and ’maximising people performance’.

It’s called ’MD For A Day’!

Basically, it’s a quick and easy process of asking a question like this to your people:

‘If you were MD for a day here, what would you do, change or introduce?’

Ask lots of people – the seniors, the old hands and especially the newcomers and the juniors. It’s a great way of starting debate and discussion, to identify issues and to see what others see as important.

You never know, they might just point out a couple of things that you’re not aware of!

Thinking Allowed!

I saw a sign on the wall at a client’s office recently that said ‘Thinking Allowed’!  I love that! In so many businesses it simply isn’t. People are ‘encouraged’ to be ‘busy’, even worse ‘being seen to be busy’. What do you do to allow, even ‘encourage’ ‘thinking’ in your business?

Simple things – is there time ‘allowed’ in meetings? Is it on the agenda? Are individuals ‘allowed’ to spend time not just doing the ‘day to day’? And when I talk about individuals, I don’t just mean your senior managers and leaders. What about your ‘front line’ staff, the people who ‘do’ stuff day after day. Why not give them some short amounts of time to ‘think’? You may be quite amazed at what they come up with!

How about yourself? Do you create time for yourself to ‘think’?

So, go on, ‘think’ about it, and then (and this is the critical bit), DO something about it!

Twenty Years Ago….

Just a quick note to acknowledge a fantastic anniversary. 20 years ago, Nelson Mandela walked free and then demonstrated real leadership in everything he did.

It’s amazing what you remember about days like that. I have two distinct memories:

1) The pictures of him and Winnie coming out and the excitement that it created,

and

2) The people who complained that Antiques Roadshow was dropped from BBC1 as they showed it!

I prefer to think of the former!

A couple of his quotes:

“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”

Although he’s achieved amazing things, I like the fact that he recognises that there’s still a way to go….

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

A remarkable day, and a remarkable man.

Recession Over – Get The Champagne Out!!!!!

Brilliant News – It’s Celebration Time!!! We officially came out of recession today – doesn’t it feel good? It sets the pulses racing and ooooh I can just feel the confidence ousing around the country, can’t you? Yes, the official figures show the economy grew by 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009 – I’m just relaxing with my champagne as I write this!

Sorry, maybe I’m getting a bit carried away! Of course it’s good news I know, and I welcome it, but there are still tough times to come I’m sure. as things do pick up it’s the businesses that consistently strive to ‘differentiate’ themselves that will get ahead.  There’s a lot of research that shows that it’s at times like this that gaps between the best and the worst managed businesses grow. The best ‘maximise’ opportunities better than the others. It means ‘consciously’ working on their competitiveness and ‘dramatic difference’.

What are you going to do to expand that gap between your business and your competitors?

I’d get consciously working on that first before opening that champagne!

Free ebook – (Re)Thinking in 3D…..

I’ve written a new book! It’s all about Thinking in 3D – That means creating a business that’s 

‘Dramatically and Demonstrably Different‘! 

Basically, it’s a short set of ’rants’, raves and ideas aimed at engaging, stimulating and challenging you. 

If you enjoy the blog, I’d like to think that you’ll enjoy this too. The main reason being that there will be a few bits and bobs you’ve read before here on the site – see it as ‘going back to the gym’ – you still need to work those muscles!

I’ve called it:

(re)thinking in ‘3D‘….. and the best bit is it’s FREE!

 

If you like it please send it on to others….. and let me know what you think about it too please!

You can

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Hope You Have a ’Delightful’ Christmas!

Recruiting ‘Customer Delight’ ers

Came across this today. It’s a design business in Lynwood, Washington looking for a graphic designer. Part of the application process involves submitting, as well as your cv and examples of work, an example of when you’ve ‘delighted’ a customer, how you did it and what the reaction was from that customer.

It’s simple stuff, but I think it does a number of significant things in the recruitment process:

1) It gets beyond just the ‘technical’ stuff about design and ‘doing the job’

2) It shows the prospective employee what’s important around here – you’re ‘culture’

and

3) It reinforces that to existing clients and existing employees.

What do you look for in your prospective employees? Crucially, how do you let them know that’s what you’re looking for?

On The Button!

Absolutely brilliant to see Jenson Button become World Formula 1 champion yesterday. Just a really quick point. I loved the fact that he emphasised ‘WE are the new World Champions’.

A simple, but clear message that it was a team effort. Can’t help thinking that a lot of senior business leaders could learn a lot from that – he certainly ‘hit the button’ on that one! (sorry, always wanted to be a headline writer for the Sun!)

Motivational Methods

Motivating people, particularly in these ‘trickier times’, appears to be a key factor for success in improving ‘competitiveness’, but how do you do it? Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer, but here are two insights I like, both very different.

Firstly, a great twenty minute presentation from Dan Pink, the ‘motivational thinker’. He was speaking at TED and suggests that for many, the ‘traditional carrot and stick’ incentives no longer work.

Secondly, a nice ’simple’ article on ‘Creating a Culture of Thank You’ from Reid Carr on Fast Company. It’s all common sense – we know we should be doing it, but maybe we don’t do it quite enough!

Incidentally, if you ever find yourself with a spare twenty minutes, a visit to the TED site is a great move. Videos of speakers from all over the world lasting a maximum of 18 minutes are a great way to get a burst of innovation, stimulation or motivation (and often all three!). To save for later on the bus or train home, there’s an opportunity to download them onto your ipod too!

Who Calls the Shots?

According to a recent report, apparently over half of all UK managers have got worse at motivating their people since the recession began. I’d love to know how they do the research, but anyway that’s the story, and some of the examples of how they have done things do seem a bit strange!

They include the charity boss who brought in a shotgun to ‘motivate’ staff,  another manager who got the staff to clean the toilets after the cleaner was sacked, and another who bragged about his bonus funded house improvements after cutting staff hours. 

Apparently, the Keep Britain Working report found that one in three bosses have increased their criticism and blaming of others, nearly a third have hidden themselves away, more than one in four have simply become indifferent, a quarter have pretended that nothing’s happening, while 17 % have started shouting and raging.

Of course, all these examples need a context – for example, I actually think that a team that comes together to cover the jobs that have to be done after cutting costs could be a great way of team building and getting focussed!  No, I’m not saying cleaning toilets is the way to motivate people, but I do think that the key issues in these ‘tougher times’ are about being frank, honest and realistic about what’s happening, what needs to happen and vitally doing something to make those things happen.

The leaders that I see dealing with the current situation well seem to be doing the following:

1. They are honest and realistic about how things are – they don’t hide or act indifferently and involve their people in discusssions about what’s happening. They also find out how their people ‘feel’.
2. They have clear, focused ’short term’ goals and targets that everyone has bought into - it’s that ‘vision thing’ but looks at 6 months, 3 months as well as the long term view.
3. Individuals have clear and agreed responsibilities  – the key is to avoid the ‘we’ve agreed we’re going to do this or that’. That’s what I call ‘collective irresponsibility’. It’s about ‘we’ve agreed that I am going to do this and you are going to do that’.
4. They monitor progress – and do this ‘visibly’.
5. They proactively ’spot’ people doing things well and go out of their way to do so - they consciously work on this and encourage their people to do the same. 
6. They keep the team informed of progress and performance - it’s about keeping the ‘drive forward’  on the agenda. If they used to have monthly meetings, they perhaps now have them fortnightly, they ‘brand’ their email updates and team briefings.
7. They’re visible – people often want to see things happening. This might mean ’symbolic actions’ to reinforce this.

It’s all simple stuff in theory – tougher in practice, and even tougher in hard times. The best leaders consciously work on this and encourage others to do it too.  They call the shots, not fire them. How do you measure up?

Now….. where’s that shot gun?

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