As you get to learn a bit more about yourself, you’ll soon notice that your behaviours and responses follow a certain pattern.  Effectively, your core software programme of experiences stored deep in your sub-conscious, give you an auto-pilot response – when this happens, do that.  You have to be really aware of the way your programme runs, as it can trip you up.  I had an experience like that this week.

This week was very heavy for me, a lot of international travel, poor sleep, long hours and a major business deadline all layering up to push me towards the right hand side of the pressure curve.  You know how that feels, when things just pile up and you don’t always think straight.  So, a problem hit the blackberry and my usual pre-programmed response would be to fire off a reply, however this was different.  I knew I was under pressure and pressure generally brings out the worse in our personality types.  Typing a reply, I thought it better to hang on, wait, reflect and sleep on it – as it was important.  I needed to flex.

I’m glad I did.  By doing that, I was able to call on a trusted advisor to share the problem, he really helped me to see clearly a pathway and alternative solution to that my usual distortions might kick in to auto-solve.  It was a firm reminder of me that to be your best, you have to flex your style.  The best way to identify that is that whenever you are feeling agitated, a little nervous, unsure, under pressure or hesitant about an issue, get a piece of paper and write the opposite of what you would normally do.  It might highight if you are being rational or irrational, hasty or taking things a little personally.  See the bigger picture, interpret the information differently and – if important – ask counsel from someone else.

I’m really respectful of anyone that has committed their time, energy and money to achieving an MBA.  It’s a fantastic recognition of their skills in business, their commitment to learning and personal improvement.  It’s a massive investment on so many levels, not one that I’ve stepped up to for sure.

Whilst driving in the car the other day, I was reflecting on whether that was something that you need in your leadership arsenal (an MBA) to be the “full package”.  My conclusion was it’s not essential.  It bring you many benefits, that is totally without reproach or question.  However, one thing I have learned over the years is that having a strong technical skill, doesn’t necessarily mean you a great leader.  Leadership is more about your personality, values, personal characteristics, people skills and emotional intelligence.  You can be the most qualified person in the world, but you may not be equipped with the right people skills to get the most out of your knowledge.

I then started to think about my own personal journey.  I’m by no means a finished article on my leadership journey, it’s a continuum, perhaps without an end?  One thing I do know is that the more that I’ve focussed on the three areas of mind, body and soul (MBS), the easier the whole thing has become.  Mind means learning, questioning and thinking.  Body means staying physically fit, ensuring you are in good shape.  Soul means doing the things that keep you passionate about life (for me – road cycling, music, family, reading and writing).  The combination of those three things put you in the best possible shape to be as good as you can be for the leadership road ahead.

When you are aligned, that is you have those three elements of self in order, it becomes easier to align with others.  To see, to understand, to appreciate, to connect.  At that point, you start to see things differently,  then you start to get the most from people.  At that point, you can then layer the technical ability (the MBA) on top, to powerful effect.  Over the years, I’ve read hundreds of books on the technical elements of leadership, however my major piece of learning was that it’s all pretty pointless until you understand yourself better and can get yourself totally accepting of who you are, what makes you tick, your distortions, your strengths and where to continue to put effort into flexing your style.  So, to be your best put your effort into your MBS, you’ll get tremendous value from it in the long term.

A great deal of work goes into the blending process of tea and coffee, to conjour up different tastes and flavours to tickle your tastebuds.  Transferring the metaphor to teams, it’s really important that you get the blend of personality types right in order to benefit from optimal performance.

In my business we use a psychometic test developed by Myers-Briggs to ascertain the dominant personality characteristics across members of our senior management team and external salespeople.

When first assessing the results, it  provided some real breakthroughs in our thinking and understanding of our team blend.  It allowed us to understand why some meetings always tended to go a certain way, who would have a natural tendency to plan or do things at the last minute, who our best ideas creation people are and who our best critical thinkers are likely to be.

When you get such clarity, it really allows you to drive your recruitment strategy and team dynamics.  If you walk away from an interview thinking that a person is really good (setting aside technical competency), often it’s because they have a similar thinking pattern to you and you seem to gel.

By using psychometric tests, you can you understand your own personality type better and ensure that you are not recruiting a company of  ”mini-me’s”, you can also have a sense check against job functions.  For example, you wouldn’t necessarily want a project manager whose natural personality was to leave things to the last minute.  Alternatively, your business might be dominated by a team of people who are all highly creative, people that love the next idea before finishing the previous, you may need to add a strong finisher/completer to provide that balance.

Managing people is considerably easier when you can get more supporting data, it allows you to marry the components of displayed behaviour you see every day, with core beliefs.  Opinions you have formed about people may be changed, levels of output increased and your blend of team tuned for optimal performance.

The key takeaway is this.  Be aware when recruiting, when holding meetings and when setting up projects of your decisions around who you select to work with you.  Choose relevant to ability to get the task done, not on how well you perceive you get on with somebody.

I had a long drive in the car today.  I love this time of year, a couple of days before we break for Christmas, everything goes quiet.   The mobile, the e-mail, the problems!  On my run in the car, I had one journalist interview for about an hour, then nothing else. Bliss!

I spoke recently about Alpha/Beta thinking, view this slideshare to see what I talking about. My drive today was mostly Alpha time.

I got thinking about how you should compare your own development to that of technology.  The example that came to mind was music, which has always been a great love of mine.

My musical journey started with a turntable and vinyl records.  When I was about fourteen my dad got my sister and I Sony Walkman portable cassette players, with orange headphones.  At the time a technological breakthrough.  We used to walk through Bracknell town centre, listening to tape cassette of the Top 40 from the previous Sunday -pirating old school style!

Only a few years  later, something called “CD’s” started to hit the news. Allegedly holding a full album of songs with studio quality on this disc the size of a saucer – no way!  I had to have one.

I set my goals on a Technics stereo system that I’d seen at John Lewis, which did everything – turntable, amp, radio, tape cassette and CD player.  I saved for a whole year,  stashing away every penny from my Saturday job at Waitrose until the day when I got this system from John Lewis.  My pride and joy, which I still own to this day (now with updated turntable which converts my vinyl to digital).  I still have every LP from my teens too, some classics there.  Wake me up before you go go….

Then something called MP3 got mentioned.  Music didn’t exist on vinyl, cassettes or CD’s anymore, you could download and never see it.  Just pressing a button – magic!  My first incarnation was a digital river MP3 player, then the i-Pod and we’ve all never looked back from that.

So, on to my point.  In that time,  in twenty-five years, at least four major iterations of  single technology have taken place.  Vinyl, Tape Cassette, CD and MP3.  Each time, we (the buying public) have upgraded to the latest version.  The music sounds the same, however the delivery technology has changed.

So if we update our technology in this way, are we updating our own technology (cognitive programming)  in the same way?

You hold on to pre-formed thoughts and actions from your programming growing up and often revert back to those in the present day as the basis of your decision making and action.  Like using the logic from a 1980′s Commodore computer.

Thinking back in my life, 20′s, 30′s and 40′s have all been distinctly different for me, each decade have seen improvements in my knowledge of self.  In terms of my own personal development, I’ve taken this much more seriously in the past decade.  It’s during that period that I realised most that my programme (thoughts and actions) was out of date and I was still bound by the cognitive distortions of my early years.

By reading, networking, reflecting, digesting and learning, my software has been updated.  I’ve kept pace, not got left behind.  I better understand my own development pathway, like a technology roadmap.  I’ve recognised which bits of my metaphorical software were redundant, which bits were good and what new bits I needed to add.

It’s never too late to update.  I think I’ve learned more in the last ten years about myself than at any point in my life – literally.  If I were to graph it, it just keeps going up and up.  Point being, learning is lifelong.  So, what are you doing about you?

What’s the last book you read?  Which cognitive distortions kick in based upon the way your parents raised you, past experiences or pre-formed behaviour? Which bits about your personality would you like to change most?  Because it can all be changed.  All that is requires is your courage, openness and desire. Software gets a patch update, so patch yourself, update your own firmware.  Do something to evolve.

Merry Xmas and  have a Fantastic 2012

As I sign off for the seasonal break, I’d like to thank you all for continuing to visit the blog.

It pleases me no end when people mention to me that they read the articles I write and how much it has helped them, in different ways – it’s a real buzz.  Blogging takes time and is a big commitment, once you’ve started, you shouldn’t stop.  I never thought that the blog would be read by so many people across the globe.

In closing, I posted this blog three years ago, I read it every year as it reminds me of how we should all be grateful for what we have at this time of year and the importance of friends and time.

Have an amazing 2012 – Phil

Ever heard that old cliche “leading is like being a conductor of an orchestra?”  Well, I’m hear to tell you it it is.  How do I know?  On Monday night this week I was fortunate enough to sit next to Internationally renowned conductor – Sir Mark Elder CBE.

Elder (64), musical director at the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, candidly answered some questions I had about the old adage of comparing a conductor to a leader of a business.  Elder is really charasmatic, intense, highly articulate and one of those people you wish you got sat next to over dinner, luckily I did!

He was able to draw so many parallels to business, he really ought to get on the speaking circuit!  However, this man is about “personal and artistic chemistry” and striving for new levels of excellence from the orchestra he leads and in his own ability to conduct music.  There was so much to capture, I didn’t get everything, however here are some of the nuggets that I managed to scribble down: -

• His first big leadership challenge came in 1979 when he had to wrestle an orchestra to his way of thinking.  At the time he was a new fledging conductor and respect had to be earned.  He was home grown within the orchestra and quickly begain to tackle the key issues of underperforming players.  He faced the brutal truth quickly that to be excellent, he needed excellence from everyone.  After a long period of working with resistant individuals he had his “if you can’t change the people, change the people” moment, he summarily issued notice to those underperforming players.  For this step, Private Eye magazine described him as “Mark the knife.”  Years later, that tough decision paid him a huge dividend as he was able to replace them with high performing players.
  
• He learns the name of all the major players in the orchestra before conducting them.  Even if hosting an orchestra for one night, he ensures that he knows who the key people are and addressed them by name.  This ensures that he wins the orchestra over quickly to work with him, realising that the performance relies on “feeling, hearing and understanding.”  A connected orchestra, with mutual respect, play better.
  
• He describes himself as a “stayer”.   In all his conducting positions over the years, he has always had a big picture in his head and articulated that vision to the orchestra.  Communication of that vision ensures that the orchestra never remains stale and continues to pursue the big picture, not just the one off performance.
• Orchestras conventions can be different from country to country.   Conducting an orchestra in America, is different to Italy, is different to Japan, is different to the UK.  Elder recognised he has to “flex” his style for each orchestra to get the most out of them, the same way leaders in business should do with their teams.
• A chain of command is important to get the right results.  The orchestra is broken down into sections, each section leader is responsible for it and the players within it.  Elder communicates with those section leaders if he needs improvement, they then get the performance from their players.  This chain of command ensures clarity of communication and feedback.
  
• The importance of courage.  Elder came back to this word time and time again.  He needed courage to dismiss the underperforming players at the start of his career, courage to take on new pieces of music and cites courage of your convictions.  Leadership is exactly the same, it takes courage to make big decisions, sometimes in the face of adversity.
• Accepting responsibility for your own errors.  I asked Elder whether someone pulls him up when he makes a mistake?  He was quick to answer, “If I know I’ve made a mistake, I immediately accept responsibility for it.”  The hallmark of any great leaders is to have humility, apologising and admitting your mistakes builds empathy with others.  Leadership isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being you, with all your vulnerabilities displayed.
• Leading the orchestra isn’t about being a robotic conductor, it’s about “the balance between brain and heart.”  Elder has real panache.  You could tell that when he talked, always choosing words carefully and answering questions with a real honesty.  You warmed to him immediately as he articulately re-told humourous stories, kept eye contact – like a tractor beam and articulated his vision for the Halle orchestra, which he leads.  There’s an important lesson there, which is to be the real you in your life.  To show compassion, care and empathy in the workplace alongside all the other excellent technical capabilities you have.

I could have talked to Sir Mark Elder all night, he’s such an interesting character.  Witty, charming, super-intelligent and statesmanlike.  Back to my earlier point, he’s make a fantastic conference speaker as I’m sure he’d conduct a room with the same passion and results that he conducts an orchestra.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been increasing the frequency of public speaking that I do as part of our overall brand reputation strategy.  Being seen as a person of influence in your sector, provides substantial benefits to your brand and puts you significantly higher up the consideration chain of your target audience.  It reaches out further and deeper than any advert you can ever place.

This week I hosted the annual Shared Services Forum UK conference in Harrogate.  Bringing together around forty really large private and public sector organisations to share examples of excellence, the names of businesses attending was like a who’s who of top flight companies.  There was a brilliant line up of keynote speakers during the day, including Molly Harvey, Adrian Webster and David Yeoman , each delivering different takes on leadership, motivating others and personal development. I was able to spend time with each of them during the prior evening dinner and during the day to talk about what makes them tick.

The one common characteristic of the three speakers is that they all continue to develop themselves, in order to develop others.  They sat in on the keynotes of the other speakers, observing, taking notes and learning.  They all possess a hunger to raise their game, refine, test, learn and be their best.

It was fascinating to see the contrast in styles and engagement between the three speakers.  Harvey, with a soft Irish accent, delivered some powerful content which had the audience listening intently. Webster, turning energy up and down in explosive stage fits of a sparky performance and Glaswegian Yeoman, engaging the audience and challenging people with his forthright views on use of words and behaviour.  He managed to get everyone up and spontaneously clapping to the Gypsy Kings, cleverly anchoring a moment where we had all just let go of tension by blowing our negative thoughts into a balloon.

Observing the audience, it’s amazing how people love to be inspired by others and catch the wind of enthusiasm of clever thoughts, connectedness and potential for change.  Molly Harvey made a great point during her keynote about “watch who you spend your time with.”  What she meant was, you have to spend your time with people who have the mindset that you aspire to, have or are developing in order for you to be challenged and grow.  If you have a think about the five people you spend the bulk of your time with, what does that say about how you are influenced?

That’s why it’s important to get out of the office, meet new people, discuss, debate and network.  To listen to others, grow, share and challenge yourself.  I learned a huge amount just being in the presence of others, I’d encourage you too.  Consider it an investment, not a cost.  Invest in a day, don’t justify a day.  Excellent people do.

  I posted back in February about something called Cognitive Distortions.  Basically, those pre-programmed reactions formed from previous experiences, which drive our future reactions to situations.  If you’re aware of them, you can do something about them, by re-framing the way you see/digest or internalise things.

I was reminded of how diferently we all see the world just recently whilst doing some reviews.  Taking a look back at some personality profiles that I’d had done on some key individuals showed how differently people communicate, process information and think.  Just because I can think and talk at the same time, it doesn’t mean somebody else can.  It makes them no better or worse than me, we just do things differently.

A great example of this can be seen in brainstorming sessions.  If you put a roomful of people together, don’t be surprised if some people look they are generating far more ideas than some others, it’s just how they’re wired.  Other people in the room can generate those same valid ideas, but may need a little longer, or pre-notice, or a couple additional days after to process and think.  Until you start to appreciate such matters, you may not get the full potential of your team, assuming that one communication style fits all – it doesn’t.

We use the Meyers-Briggs profiling system, of which there are sixteen characteristic profile types.  What’s amazing when you ask your team to do it, is that you get that “aha” moment, when you begin to understand why some people are highly organised, some disorganised.  Some introvert, some extrovert, some ideas people, some reflectors.  The bottom line is that there is a huge variety of personalities out there, some more common than others, and all subject to change based upon personal circumstances (personal pressure etc).

The lesson is this, you can’t to use the same style with everyone to get the same outcomes.  If you can adapt your style, by having a deeper understanding of your own personal style and the style of others, it can lead to really meaningful interactions across your team.  If you want to understand more about how you can use profiling to enhance performance, give Impact Consulting Psychologists a shout, I’ve worked with them for years and would thoroughly recommend their approach.

“Me In My Element” (MIME). What does that look like for you?  What are you passionate about?  What are the thing(s) that spark you into life?  I don’t mean family, that’s a given.  I mean the passions that you have beyond that.

For me, it’s business, writing, public speaking, road cycling and soul music.  Those five things get me excited, float my boat, are different enough to give me some diversity in life.  They are broad, allow me to meet a wide variety of different people, learn different things, plus feed mind, body and soul.

I’ve met a lot of people who live for business exclusively.  Never taking a moment to do anything else.  that’s OK – we all have choices.  We all have to work hard, particularly if you’re starting a business or trying to keep it afloat.  If however, your business is getting to a stage when you can throttle back a bit, invest your time in something outside of work, then do something you can get passionate about.

Setting your mind new challenges, keeps you fresh. Keeps those electrical connections going, keeps your brain active and keeps you at your best.  Physical activity, will reduce stress and help to promote long-term well being – a no brainer.  Most importantly, when we do those things and someone says “look at them, they’re in their element” – that’s the moment when you need to think, “I should do more of this”.

When you become passionate about something, it’s not a chore, it’s something you participate in willingly.  Passion adds some spice to life, makes you a more interesting personality, lets you engage with a wider social circle and makes you feel alive.  Go and grab it with both hands.

A difficult seven days. It started with my son being admitted to hospital for an unexpected appendix removal and as events unfolded also resulted in my wife being admitted into the same hospital for severe neuralgia.  Seven days on, my son is out of hospital and my wife is still in hospital.

For the first four days, I slept on the ward by my sons bed on a mattress, getting on average 3-4 hours of interrupted sleep per night.  During that time I saw some of the most empathetic nurses and others who should honestly consider changing job. I saw – first hand – how the NHS works and how you need to be assertive to get things done, how you play the system and what makes the difference between a positive and negative patient/relative experience.

Reflecting on a hectic week, there were a number of lessons that I thought worth sharing as they have a business relationship, in no particular order, here are seven things from the last seven nights: -

1. Be Decisive. Knowing that something was wrong and not hanging about.  If we’d of left my sons “severe tummyache” much longer, his appendix would have ruptured.  At times I had to be assertive with some members of the nursing staff to get things done.   So, if something needs to be sorted in your own organisation – sort it.
2. Take the lead. In moments of stress, anxiety or worry people look for a figurehead.  Someone that can give confidence and re-assurance.  If times of business uncertainty, lead from the front but don’t be frightened to ask for help or show that you’re culpable, but able to cope.
3. Listen to advice but take your own decision. You know your kids or your family.  The nuances, the little things, you live with them every day.  I’ve had to challenge some diagnoses this week, because I know my wife better than anyone.  It’s the same in business.  Listen to expert advice, but apply that advice with your knowledge of your business to get the best results, don’t rely on it exclusively.
4. Look for evidence when you need to make decisions under pressure. With lack of sleep, poor diet, stress and worry, it’s a recipe for poor decision making.  Irrational, more than rational.  One thing I’ve learned over the years is “look for the evidence.”  I had to make a judgment call to a consultants face to take my wife out of his care and take her to another hospital.  I looked at the evidence and made the call.  Best decision of the week. The learning is about ensuring you’ve appropriate evidence within the timescales allowed to be objective.  This is tough under great stress, but it lets you see clearly.
5. Mental toughness is a learned skill. So many people have been concerned for us all, that is a wonderful thing.  I’ve learned over the years that mental toughness is about dealing with things that you can influence, worring less about the things you can’t.  Staying objective, being honest and sharing the load wherever possible.  Not being a victim, but a person in circumstance.   I don’t believe in bad luck,  I do understand co-incidence and timing.   Your attitude to a situation, can influence it’s outcome.
6. Accept help. My in-laws are fantastic.  They are both in their late 70′s but two of the most wonderful people you could wish to have around you in a crisis.  Both rocks, nothing is too much trouble.  They’ve cared for us all and helped with the practical things, without them, this week would have been much tougher.  I quickly realised I couldn’t do everything with two family members hospitalised.  Look for those people in your team who can be your support you in the same way.  Trusted lieutenants and be realistic about what you can and can’t do.
7. Be clear in what you want. Just because you said something that you understand, doesn’t mean the person you said it to succesfully recieved it.  I said “My wife needs fluids” – I meant she needs a drip.  The nurse received this as “My wife needs a jug of water”.  It’s important to back-brief, clarify and repeat when discussing important matters.  Business meetings, strategy briefings.  You brief it, then get people to brief you back what you just said to them.  Same page of the same book.  Sorted.

If there’s one closing thought, it’s that business must always come second to your family.  They above anything else should be your priority in times of need or not.