You never listen! Why ignoring your team in Decision Making could land you in trouble…

Una Doyle — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:12:09 +0000

Are ignoring others when decision making?

Not Listening When decision making?

Have you ever felt that your boss didn’t listen to you, or has your team ever accused you of not listening to them in decision making?

Research now demonstrates that this indeed can be the case (see http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1903943) and that there are several significant factors as to why leaders may not listen:

Increased power
Overconfidence
Repeating what worked in the past

The research showed that the more power a manager had the less likely they were to take advice from others. Probably part of what got them promoted in the first place is the fact that they were decisive and got things done, right? The whole team wasn’t promoted after all, they were.

Decision Making Overconfidence Led to Poor Results

However this experience could lead to them becoming overconfident about their decision making. The researchers found that even when making decisions in area where they had little or no expertise, some leaders would go ahead anyway because they overestimated the value of their general decision-making experience.

The study showed this often generated poor and inaccurate results compared to the leaders and managers who consulted others.

What is the impact of all this? Firstly, not listening to and taking advice from your team is likely to land you in trouble because you probably won’t achieve the same level of outcomes.

Secondly, how engaged is your team likely to be implementing decisions that they had no input in? Not very! Trust me that will impact on how your decision making and strategies are implemented.

Learn to Be Vulnerable

From a Talent Dynamics perspective, different profiles can really add value especially when it comes to more complex decisions and strategies.

A big problem in leaders looking to make decisions on their own is that they’re not benefiting from other’s different perspectives, let alone specific expertise that they may lack.

A key lesson for all is that many of the best leaders like to surround themselves with people who will challenge them and sometimes even change their mind. They don’t see this as a weakness. They know that power doesn’t really come from being a know-all. It comes from getting the best results. As we say at Talent Dynamics:

“It’s not about being right, it’s about getting it right!”

For instance:

An Accumulator can add great insight to a Creator about what could go wrong on a project.
A Star can help a Mechanic to engage others regarding their new and improved systems.
A Trader can help a Star to launch that new product at the right time and right price.
A Lord can help improve cash flow to provide the resources for further growth. (In fact, one of our Performance Consultants capitalised on their Lord team member to recover AUS $100k of outstanding debt in one only one month!)

People have been talking “team” for generations. How many are really living it though in a way that actually creates and accelerates Trust and Flow? And if you are, then you won’t mind asking your team how you could utilise their advice even more…

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Intrapreneurs: Top Ten Reasons Why Companies Fail to Keep Their Top Talent

Una Doyle — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:41:56 +0000

Are Your intrapreneurs Leaving in Droves?

I thought I’d share this Forbes.com article on ‘Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail to Keep Their Best Talent’ with you so you can ensure that as an intrapreneurial leader/manager you are not falling into these traps and loosing your best intrapreneurs.

I believe that your top talent probably are intrapreneurial and that’s why you think they are

I’d particularly like to draw your attention to points 3, 4 and 5 and make an extra point of my own.

3. Performance Reviews

As an intrapreneurial leader/manager you must be discussing performance with your team on an ongoing basis, not just once a year. Build this into your rhythm and routine of meetings and keep focusing on how their strengths and talents can really add value and impact the bottom line.

4. No Discussion around Career Development.

In addition to what it says in the article I’d like to make the point that a lot of career paths actually take people out of flow. Have you ever heard of The Peter Principle? This is when people get promoted to their level of incompetence – a loose-loose scenario where you loose a great performer and pay them more for the privilege of adding less value to the organsiation!

And here’s a side-note to that – many of your poor performers could just be out of flow. Maybe if they had accountabilities that suited their strengths and understood team flow and their part in achieving it their performance would go through the roof.

5. Shifting Whims/Strategic Priorities.

To add to this article I’d like to recommend that everybody read Jim Collins Built to Last and/or Good to Great. Shifting priorities doesn’t just affect top intrapreneurs – they can bring a successful organisation down to its knees. Modern Intrapreneurs know how to identify the true value they, their team and the organisation adds and how to leverage for sustainable and scaleable success. Constantly changing goalposts could take them off course. I am not referring here of course to changing market conditions but the – usually political – changes in direction that often plague larger organisations.

How to Retain Your Intrapreneurial Leader/Managers

Teach them how to create/work with intrapreneurial teams so that ideas and innovation actually gets implemented and improved to create a positive cycle of successful intrapreneurship.
Give them the freedom to do things differently and then apply what works to the rest of the organisation, where appropriate.
Help them create a career pathway that recognises who they really are and their true value and enhances their levels of trust and flow, not that destroys it

35% of UK Employees Experiencing an Unreasonable Level of Work Stress

Una Doyle — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:18:17 +0000

Work Stress: UK Employees at 35%

Work Stress at a 4-year high

I was shocked, yet not surprised that the report featured in HR Magazine revealed such a high figure of workplace stress.

The impact of high work stress levels include increased absenteeism and lower productivity – both negatively impacting the bottom line. For individuals, stress can result in less well being and a higher chance of burn out.

How can stressed workers be creative and intrapreneurial in their approach? Even though the article indicates that work stress affects leaders and managers less than frontline workers, their ability to add true value to the organisation must be hampered when not at full par.

How can somebody who doesn’t feel OK, help to encourage and motivate their team? in fact they’re probably more likely to engage in poor behaviours that would actively disengage employees in those circumstances!

“The main causes of employee stress, identified in the report, are work-life conflict; poor leadership and management behaviour; lack of job security; lack of team cohesiveness; lack of cooperation and dissatisfaction with the level of pay.”

HR Magazine

The Impact of Layoffs on Work Stress

According to the research, staff that worked in an environment where their colleagues were made redundant experienced a work stress level of nearly 40%. This was compared to the reduced level of 25% where there had been no layoffs in the same period.

In my experience two things immediately happen when restructuring and redundancy/layoffs happen, or are even mentioned:

Trust goes down
Scarcity mentality goes up

Naturally this has a very damaging impact on performance and productivity. Suddenly people are questioning motives, trying to ringfence their people and budgets and everybody is out for themselves.

Often this is the time when the communication needs to happen most, yet the direct questions these situations often raise can scare leaders and managers when they don’t have the answers.

How to Combat Work Stress

Obviously this is a huge subject, however I’d like to throw a few ideas into the pot for you to consider…

Work to get people into Flow. (This is where you are doing what you are naturally suited to and add effective value to others.) When people feel stressed that is often a sign that they are out of flow. Talent Dynamics is all about developing an organisation whilst accelerating Trust and Flow – so you may well find in getting your
Increase communication levels both from corporate and managerial perspectives. Think whatever level you believe it should be at and double it! Use different channels, make it easy for managers to communicate clearly and consistently.
Get to the root causes of work stress and empower staff to tackle it where possible. When employees get the opportunity to identify obstacles and your help in removing them you would be amazed at the results! Watch what happens when they are given the time and right environment to come up with ideas and solutions that they can be involved in implementing. This is the kind of action that allows people experiencing work stress to feel like they have a modicum of control again – the lack of which is often an underlying reason for feeling work stress in the first place.

Innovation alone won’t always bring success

Una Doyle — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:15:06 +0000

Higher Quantity of innovation from Poorer Performing Companies

Innovation isn't always the answer

I thought I’d share this interesting titbit from Business Insider on innovation in the article “The 10 Companies that invented the most things last year”

It makes for fascinating reading because it makes the point that while innovation is definitely a means of success for many companies, a higher quantity of patent applications can actually have the opposite effect on business performance.

“Most of the corporations in the top 10 are among the most worst performers across all industries.”

Business Insider

The article doesn’t go into any detail about why this may be – perhaps the reasons lie with why I am looking to redefine intrapreneurship to be about more than innovation alone.

If your organisation has departmental/divisional silos, mismanaged teams with poor employee engagement and low motivation, a poor track record of implementation of change and a static or decreasing place in the market then innovation isn’t the only answer.

Intrapreneurship AND Innovation

For instance check out the 8 Talent Dynamics profiles and have a think about how some of profiles other than Creators (naturally the most innovative) would really help to add value to your organisation as part of intrapreneurial teams.

When you have people working in flow then magic starts to happen, especially when they have been through a programme that helps to them increase their commercial acumen so that they really understand their part in the development of an organisation.

Kodak Files Chapter 11 – Was Intrapreneurship Missing?

Una Doyle — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:16:56 +0000

Kodak files chapter 11

Kodak Files Chapter 11

When I saw this article ‘Former Trailblazer Kodak files chapter 11‘ I was at first shocked. Yet when I thought about it I realised that neither myself nor any of my friends (that I know of) are users of Kodak products. With me doing acting in my spare time I know a lot of photographers and filmmakers and they all pretty much have Canon digital cameras, or if they don’t, that’s what they want to have!

For me Kodak is tied up with the theme of ‘Kodak moments’. Remember that advertising from years ago? It was heart warming and evocative and then it’s time had come. Like the switch from silent movies to talkies, the switch from film to digital is a march that will not stop.

Through the 1990s, Kodak splurged $4 billion on developing the photo technology inside most of today’s cellphones and digital devices. But a reluctance to ease its heavy reliance on film allowed rivals like Canon Inc. and Sony Corp. to rush largely unhindered into the fast-emerging digital arena. The immensely lucrative analog business Kodak worried about undermining too soon was virtually erased in a decade by the filmless photography it invented.

Was Intrapreneurship Missing at Kodak?

Yet according to ‘Former Trailblazer Kodak files chapter 11‘ the senior management at Kodak were reluctant to let go of the past. One of the key things that I share with intrapreneurs is that they have to admit the reality of a situation before they can move on. Yet I have seen time and time again in my corporate life experience leaders refusing to admit that their world has changed. What comes from ego and what comes from fear (are the two even distinct?) isn’t clear and at the end of the day, doesn’t really matter.

What matters is what you, today, can take from reading this article. Are your peers or team members attempting to alert you to signs that the landscape has changed? Have you had a niggling doubt or feeling that you keep shoving to one side? If either of these is the case then please sit up and take notice. Start discussions with others to explore possible scenarios and research the facts.

The other interesting aspect of Kodak’s situation (from it being a lesson perspective, that is) is that they didn’t actually capitalise on the technology that they created. With hindsight it seems ludicrous. Who knows what contributed to this decision but with such a massive shift in the industry to not have put more of its resources to digital products was extremely short-sighted.

This is why it is so important for leaders and their teams to have that intrapreneurial edge so that they have the knowledge and the skills to assess situations like this. By having teams with a variety of Talent Dynamics profiles then some would have been future focused and visionary about the implications of Kodak’s innovation, others in touch with customers’ needs and raising concerns if not met and others still looking at the realities of the situation and practicalities of implementation.

For now the company intends to focus on printers and perhaps that is the future. Somehow it doesn’t seem to capture for me the ethos of Kodak Moments, time will tell and I wish them well.

Smart Goals 2012: A Different Perspective…

Una Doyle — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:02:27 +0000

A New Definition of "Smart Goals"

I know, I know, another article about the New Year and smart goals, well hey, it’s January! This one however has something a bit different for you…

A different perspective on smart goals

As you are well aware, many people set goals and new year’s resolutions every year and few achieve them.

“Hell isn’t merely paved with good intentions; it’s walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too.”
Aldous Huxley

There are books galore on setting smart goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. Frankly, I’d be amazed if most people reading this blog hadn’t heard of them. That’s not what I mean by truly smart goals though.

I’d like you to put all that to one side for a while and instead focus on the following steps. Once you’ve decided what you want (the topic of at least one other article I’m sure!) you simply need to do two things:

Decide where you add the most value to achieving your smart goals

Look at the different ways that you (and your team) can add the most value. Consider strengths and weaknesses, skills, experience, what you actually want to spend your time doing. Ask yourself the question, how can I help others be most effective that will result in me achieving my smart goal?

Where can we add value by being innovative? Where can we add value through timing, through the where and the when? What are the products and services that will make the most difference to those you serve?

What structures are already in place that will make this easier to achieve? What structures could you put in place if they’re not there. A structure could be a rhythm and routine of meetings, tapping into people’s talents, using the resources that you already have or simply believing that the smart goals are achievable.

This is all about you discovering your path of least resistance.

Leverage this value effectively

How can you then leverage this value through systems and processes? Get those more data and detail oriented people on the case. This could be mapping out effective processes to get repetitive tasks done or it could be using websites for distribution.

How could you leverage this value through people. Think about your team, communication within the team and just as importantly with others. Who can sell the idea? Who can be your advocates or affiliates? Who else could you deliver this value to so that you’re not constantly reinventing the wheel?

An example for you is how one HR Manager for a large retail company plans to make a massive difference in her company in the next year. In taking this perspective, she realised that the most value she could add to the company would be to train the retail staff in a new product being launched at a much faster pace then had been originally planned. This sounds quite simple but she calculated that this different approach could add $5 million in revenues in only six months!

A final word on smart goals

In some instances you may wish to do the two steps above and let the smart goals fall out of that! This is because this approach allows you to look at truly creating what you want and what you will be great at creating. You may well find that suddenly what you’re looking to create is much bigger than you have ever done before…

This knowledge is incredibly vital for people’s sustainable wellbeing. According to Robert Fritz in ‘The Path of Least Resistance”, being empowered to create often is where humanity rises to the challenge. The fulfilment enjoyed by those who create what they want knows no bounds. When you understand how to add value and leverage that value effectively then you’re pretty much giving yourself a get out of jail card for the majority of situations in your life.

Where evil and bad things flourish it is always where people don’t feel able to create. Increase your levels of creation and help those around you to do the same – you may be amazed at the incredible difference this could make.

Now that’s what I call Smart Goals!

Steve Jobs Quotes: Top Ten Business Quotes

Una Doyle — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:10:43 +0000

I saw this article on top Steve Jobs Quotes on RealBusiness.com and thought that I would love to share them with you.

Steve Jobs Quotes

I just wanted to pick some out and comment on them from an intrapreneurial perspective, especially as he is considered such an innovator.

Steve Jobs Quotes on innovation:

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” – Steve Jobs in Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998.

The times when Steve Jobs was heading Apple everybody was clear about the value that the company added to its customers: design-led innovation. Did you know that unlike many product manufacturers - especially in the computer/electronics world – designers came up with the look of each product and then the engineers had to make it work? Usually it’s the other way around.

The different departments and teams worked together to make sure they implemented a consistent vision of Apple’s particular brand of design-led innovation.

Q. How clear is your team on what value they add to your organisation and what value your organisation adds to it’s customers?

Steve Jobs Quotes On how to fix Apple:

“The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.” Steve Jobs in Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World’s Most Colorful Company, by Owen W. Linzmayer.

When organisations are in financial trouble often the first and last thing to do is to cut costs, particular as this is when the Lord Profile (who usually is in charge of the money) gets listened to most. However, as important as it is to ensure that you’re not overspending, cutting back on what enables you to add real value is not the answer either. A true modern intrapreneur will always be clear on what that is and how to get people focused on it again.

Q. How well does your and your organisation communications reinforce the right priorities?

Business Processes

In this article there’s also a very long quote on business process.

Jobs reflects on how processes are important, but are there to enable what’s really important for the type of company Apple is. (Of course, Steve Jobs presented with any business problem would probably advise to innovate your way out of it. That was right for Apple as that’s its key way of adding value. That wouldn’t work necessarily for a different type of company where in fact systems and processes could be their main value to the consumer.)

He goes on to say:

“And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important. – Steve Jobs in BusinessWeek, Oct. 12, 2004.

There is a very important lesson here in these Steve Jobs Quotes that often innovative leaders and managers can get wrong. While I believe possibilities are endless, resources are not and if you tie up too many resources in trying to over-innovate without fully implementing then you’re going to run into trouble. This is why a mix of profiles is so important, to get those different perspectives, listen to them and take action on them.

Q. How well are people working together and appreciating each other’s input to achieve maximum results?

How did you do on these questions? Please comment or ask questions below, I’d love to hear your views.

Free Webinar: “What is A Modern Intrapreneur?”

Una Doyle — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:27:44 +0000

Discover The New Definition of Being an Intrapreneur!

In January 2012 I’ll be hosting a free webinar to share and discuss some thoughts on what is a ‘Modern intrapreneur‘.

You see it strikes me that there is a real need for leaders, managers and their teams to be commercially oriented in their results on a day-to-day basis, yet pretty much everything I read about intrapreneurship and intrapreneurs seems to be about innovation?

What is a Modern Intrapreneur?

Now of course innovation is a good thing. Still you know what? There are many ways for leaders, managers and their teams to add value to their organisation and for their organisation to add value to its customers, not just innovation. Yet looking at the majority of materials out there on intrapreneurship, that is the key focus.

I’m concerned that there’s a divide between the ‘inside entrepreneurs’ and those who aren’t on intrapreneurship/innovation projects. I’m more concerned that there’s many organisations out there who want to improve their results and really need everybody in the organisation to be thinking like an intrapreneur…

Not everybody’s strengths will fall into the old definition of being an intrapreneur. So what happens? Many of the leaders and managers who therefore don’t consider themselves intrapreneurs aren’t adding as much value to the organisation as they could. However by developing their intrapreneurial skills they could not only help to massively increase their organisation’s results, they could sky-rocket their career and secure their future…

I’d love to share with you some ideas about how as a leader or manager you can develop yourself and your team(s) as intrapreneurs and dramatically improve your results. Want to join in the fun?

Join the Free Modern intrapreneur Webinar Notification List Now:

Simply go to this link and sign in with facebook or add your name and email and I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve got the details sorted.

Never Say Never (in Business or Life!)

Una Doyle — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:41:58 +0000

Don’t ever let somebody tell you that something isn’t possible. Maybe it isn’t possible today. Maybe it just isn’t possible from their perspective. Maybe you need others to get you to the answer that you want. As Einstein said:

“You can’t solve problems from the same thinking that created them.”

People are constantly defying the odds and breaking through limitations set on them by others. Are you doing this in your career. organisation and/or business? If not, why not? If you’re not getting the results you want then you need to do something different. Stop trying to solve problems at all and instead look to create the results you want. If you’re confused by that then good, read it again please. Often solving problems keeps people in the same thinking that created them. Forget about the problems and instead look to create what it is that you really want.

Do you want to be the person/team that really makes a difference? Great! Then start asking different questions. Do people in an airplane worry about road traffic? Of course not, they’re up in the air. Maybe it’s time for you stop getting bogged down in the minutiae of problems and take a different perspective. Even better, surround yourself with people who have different perspectives and strengths to you and see what value they have to add…

If this womancan survive the odds, so can you.

Still going strong: Lillie Arnold, 105, wasn't expected to survive a day when she was born Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2075975/Lillie-Arnold-given-12-hours-live-born--today-celebrates-105th-birthday.html#ixzz1h6oKOwrQ

A Gift For You and Your Business

Una Doyle — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:07:28 +0000

What are your gifts & talents?

More Than talent management

Today, I would like you to think about you and your gifts and talents – your own talent management. It’s so easy in a world where we are taught to focus on our weaknesses at school, college and in appraisals to forget about what comes naturally. Unfortunately, in the corporate world talent management usually refers to identifying top performers and giving them special attention as they are ‘talented’. However, everybody is talented – they just don’t necessarily understand where their talents lie…

In fact, many people dismiss their talents and gifts precisely because they come easily – they think everybody must find this easy peasy! Whereas in reality you may find that others really appreciate what you can do that they find challenging. Especially when you really understand the value that you add and how to communicate that to others so they understand how you can best help them to be more effective. Now that’s what I call talent management!

Sometimes we aren’t clear enough on our gifts and strengths to recognise them for what they are. Sometimes we are aware and choose not to focus on them because we need to ‘fix’ what’s wrong instead with courses and books. Other times we know full well yet don’t share what we can actually do because we believe it’s not our place, or we don’t have the confidence to allow ourselves to shine.

Whatever the reason, now is the time to stop hiding and start shining bright! Please stop listening to the “Who do you think you are?!” in your head. It is your responsibility to do so in fact, not just for yourself but for all the people who will benefit from your gifts.

Whatever beliefs you may or may not hold regarding religion or spirituality, we all have something within us that begs to be nurtured, expressed, set free. If we don’t do this then that’s a huge part of us that is ignored and neglected and that is likely to ultimately affect our sense of well being and perhaps even our health.

Would you ignore and neglect a child? Then why do it to a part of yourself, or even worse, allow others to do this to you?

If you are not utilising and growing your gifts and talents you could choose to make a decision to do so from now on. When would be a good time to make the decision to do your own talent management? How about now? Or at least today? What about creating a category for your diary called talent management and schedule time in to do this weekly or monthly?

Because there is no point pretending or planning to take action on your talent management until you have actually decided that it time to share your gifts with the world. Only then can you take true accountability for your gifts, i.e. take action.

Top Tips for Personal Talent Management

So what could you do to take action on your own talent management? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Identify leaders in your gift(s) area and learn more about them, what they did and how they did it.
Take a course to enhance your talents.
Set up google alerts, RSS feeds, subscribe to newsletters, etc on the topic of your gift.
Simply start talking with people about it, letting them know how much you enjoy XYZ and would be keen to take on any projects relating to that.

So let us know any other ideas on what you could do or just let us know what you think your gifts are – get them out there, boy it feels good!