The 7 Lies of Limiting Leadership

by Ian A Williams

Too many people fall short of their potential in the leadership game, and also fail to enable or enhance the leadership of others. Ian Williams provides an interesting insight into some of the barriers to great leadership. In this issue, Ian shares with us his belief about some of the common lies about leadership, and in the next issue we follow this up with his account of the seven truths.

My passion for good leadership often leads me to observe and reflect on what happens in the workplace for individuals and teams. I listen out for comments and frustrations, and have concluded that there are some common misunderstandings about leadership issues, which I have summarised as the seven lies of leadership.

1. I'm not a leader
The person who thinks they are not a leader is in denial, and has missed the point about leadership. Everyone is leading someone - whether or not they know it, recognise it or want it. Even if we are on the same level, we lead our colleagues in some respects. We may lead projects, team tasks, or even a staff outing! We also lead our children and others among our families and friends. At the very least, we leave ourselves - or at least we should! Our only limit on personal leadership is what we put in place for ourselves, or how we allow others to limit us.

2. They (or I) have been trained
The magic land of training is where organisations send people for a few days, and expect them to come back as leaders. A whole host of courses and events, or any kind of qualification, doesn't make a leader. Training and development will inspire people, inform them, give them practice, provide experiential learning, build confidence, build competence and skills - but all of this will not produce a leader. Too often I go into organisations, and they struggle to understand why their trained leaders are not leading effectively, despite the huge investment made. No human being can be fully trained in leadership, because it comes from within, and needs to be drawn out by line managers and others who are willing to coach people and give them the space to lead. As part of one-to-one coaching, they build experience and confidence and nurture the leader.

3. There's a personality clash
This is one of the most wonderful leadership cop outs. While personalities do clash to some extent, and ‘problem people’ do exist, the challenge is to deal with it, rather than use it as an excuse for effective leadership. Leaders are accountable for their own relationships, and the relationships around them. They need to rise to that challenge and find strategies for having people work together. Too much time and money is wasted in avoidance, and in living with the consequences of poor relationships. Get people focused back on the goals, find specific reasons to their difficulties, and facilitate finding and implementing the solutions. If necessary get some help, but making work, rather than listen to excuses.

4. They won't step up
This is often the concern of senior managers who feel that either their people will not step up to lead, or that they fail to step up to strategic leadership from operational. The key to this one is identifying the blocks. Is it a question of won't or can't? Are they willing? Are they capable? Are they confident? In my experience the ‘won't’ part of this question is the lie. If the block is about skills, abilities, and/or confidence, it falls back on the senior leader to coach. Sometimes, it's a case of making clear to people what you see as strategic versus operational. Ironically, the most common cause for people not stepping up is senior people holding them down. They too often hold on to strategic issues for themselves, tell people what the decision is, and then wonder why everyone is frustrated! If you want to grow strategic leaders, involve them in strategic leadership.

5. Not a people person
How does anyone walk the earth and deny being a people person. People are everywhere, and we can't avoid them. And if we want to get anywhere with anyone, getting along with people isn't a luxury but a necessity. So unless you're a hermit, or you’re in denial of your leadership role, you have to get on with people. You have to employ others who do this too. If someone is described as not a people person, they need to be given the feedback and required to do something about it, in order to lead themselves and other people. The key here is identifying the specific behaviour that causes the person to think this of themselves, or for it to be attributed to them. Then they need to do some self coaching will be coached. There are three aspects to balanced leadership: task, team and individual. If the leader is not a people person, they are missing two-thirds of their job; so in fact, they are not a leader but a person who just does jobs.

6. It's not my style
We read about and experience all sorts of leadership styles. There is no right or wrong, they are just different. Any leadership style becomes inappropriate if it is used in the wrong way, in the wrong circumstances, or at the wrong time. That is of course the essence of situational leadership. An effective leader is able to use a range of styles appropriately. They fool themselves, and everyone else suffers, when they are attached to one favourite style, come what may. You will have met the constant bully, the habitual delegator, and the absentee. Adopting just one style is simply me centred, and the leader has to listen, learn and adjust if they are to motivate people and achieve tasks. They need to model a range of styles, so that others are learning from how they operate practically. After all, what is at stake if you have a leader who is not leading effectively?

7. Know it all, done it all
We’ve all met the magic leaders who have made it! We had better sit and listen to them, and sit back while they either do it themselves or give the orders! Who are they fooling with this lie? Individuals and teams are always different. Situations, resources, tasks and circumstances are always different. No season is the same; there is no constancy but there is always change. We all bring our experience and knowledge, we bring the benefit of wisdom, but we still need a refreshing quantity and quality of ideas, and the excitement of discovering something new together. It’s this sense of contribution to creativity and synergy that keeps people engaged. No one has the monopoly on knowledge, wisdom, ideas and solutions. The know-it-all leader is living a lie and fools no one but themselves. Don't stand for their robbery.


I hope that some of these resonate with your own experience, and that you have found some ways to overcome the lies, and to stand up for the truths. Let’s stop kidding ourselves with all the hype about leadership, and get some of the simple things sorted out for ourselves and those we influence!

Ian A Williams is an author, speaker and facilitator in leadership development,
and a representative for Professor John Adair.
http://www.kairology.com/ ©Kairos Development Ltd. 2009 – All rights reserved. Reproduced by kind permission.

UK HR Update

Equal Pay Considerations

According to research done by The Fawcett Society is the UK’s leading campaign for equality between women and men 85% of the public are in support of equal pay audits. Their website provides the following gruesome statistics:

• 30,000 women lose their jobs in the UK each year simply because they are pregnant
• Only 11% of FTSE 100 company directors are women
• Nearly 1 in 5 women who work in London earn less than the London Living Wage.
• Women in London earn 23% less than their male counterparts

Fewer than one in five (18%) of private companies measure their gender pay gaps, according to other research produced today by IPSOS Mori for CIPD/KPMG. Even in the public sector, where equal pay monitoring is a statutory requirement, the study finds only 43% complete audits, with many of these described as "ticking the bureaucratic box rather than as part of an underlying effort to advance gender equality. Under the provisions of the Equality Bill - due to be passed early next year - the government is considering forcing companies with more than 250 staff to report their gender pay gaps by 2013 if too few of them are doing it voluntarily.

Companies should investigate pay structures from the perspective of fairness and equality whether or not legislation is introduced. Leading businesses will examine their pay gaps not because of government, but because they understand the impact to their reputation and possible legal damage of not getting it right.
Companies who wish to gauge how vulnerable they are to an equal pay claim should ask the following:

1. Is equal pay a consideration in your company's HR policy?
2. Does your HR team understand the implications of current and future equal pay legislation?
3. Is equality of pay embedded in the recruitment, retention and engagement policies of your company, including monitoring starting salaries by gender?
4. Does your executive leadership understand and sponsor the concept and implications of equal pay?
5. Do your managers understand the concept and implications of equal pay?
6. Does your company have a job evaluation scheme?
7. Does your company believe that the job evaluation scheme can manage the issue of equal pay in your company?
8. Does your company provide guidelines to help managers in performance management discussions and in the allocation of pay increase and bonus awards?
9. If challenged, would your company be able to justify gaps in base pay and annual bonus between a male employee and a female employee who have the same role and responsibilities?
10. Does your company have a process to deal with an equal pay claim?

If the answer is no to any of these then an organization should take urgent action to address the issues or face the possible consequences of a lengthy and costly tribunal claim.

Rule Changes on Medical Reports Allows Employees’ Veto

Employers could find it harder to obtain independent medical assessments for employees with health problems following new guidance from the General Medical Council regarding confidentiality issues. The guidance, which took effect on 12 October 2009, places doctors under enhanced duties when acting as independent medical advisers preparing reports for employment purposes. The guidance, which applies to all doctors states that they must:

 be satisfied that the employee is fully informed of the purposes and likely results of disclosing a report to the employer;
 point out that relevant information cannot be concealed or withheld;
 disclose only facts that are relevant to the employer’s request;
 offer to show the employee any report on their condition before it is sent;
 obtain the employee’s written consent before passing on the report.

Those who have actually treated the employees concerned are also subject to the provisions of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988. While independent or occupational health doctors who haven’t treated the employees aren’t covered by this act, they can no longer supply medical reports to employers without following the above steps. The guidance has been designed to increase trust between doctors and patients, and to prevent the unnecessary disclosure of personal details. Under the previous rules, independent or occupational health doctors not involved in treating the employee concerned could give the employer a report without running it past the individual first. The guidance does not oblige employers to change how they seek medical opinions. It is now, however, even more important that employers set out clearly in writing the issues they are seeking advice on. Then doctors will have more clarity on the relevant information they need to provide. Employees, then, are more likely to consent,however, the introduction of a sign-off procedure means that employers could face delays in receiving reports, which could in turn prolong the absence management process.

The guidance does not give employees the right to amend reports, but it’s likely that most doctors will be willing to correct factual inaccuracies. It is less clear whether employees will ask doctors to alter reports in more subtle ways. Doctors have been advised that it is unacceptable to make changes under pressure from either employees or employers. If consent is withheld the report cannot be disclosed. This change may have unintended and unwelcome consequences for employers and employees. Employers disputing medical information received, for example, from GPs, may face difficulties obtaining independent medical opinions now employees can refuse disclosure. Organisations with limited medical information will be less able to implement reasonable adjustments and may be more likely to dismiss employees for ill health.
How to Manage a Re-structure – 5 top tips!

1. Identify the main objectives for your business re-structure and plan the most appropriate people structure to make your business more effective.
2. Identify which key skills you wish to retain in the new structure and ring-fence key individuals to particular posts; if they only have 70% of the skills required develop a skills development plan for each.
3. Recruit to the remaining posts either from within (first) and then outside the business.
4. Identify which individuals are not required within the new structure as they do not have the new skills required and set a redundancy management programme in place bearing in mind consultation and dismissal legal requirements.
5. Manage performance of the individuals in the new structure carefully and develop training and development plans as appropriate to ensure business success.

If you need support with a re-structure contact Sandra Beale on 07762 771290 or visit her website at http://www.sjbealehrconsult.co.uk

Book Review - Psychology for Trainers

Psychology for Trainers (E-book)

by Alison Hardingham

When I was first asked to review this e-book I must admit my heart sank as I have not hitherto been a fan of e-books. However – this e-book is quite different from others I have read. It is well laid out with good spacing and a clear and readable font. The graphics are clear and easy to read and one is not faced with a massive block of text to attempt to read and digest on screen.

So much for visual appeal. What about content?

As a coach who does training (or should that be a trainer who does coaching?) I have always been interested in the psychology of training so I was particularly interested to hear what Alison had to say on the subject.

As one might expect the book starts with building rapport and establishing credibility and then moves on through getting information across; gaining commitment to change; managing the group; counselling the individual; handling conflict, facilitating the transfer of learning and ending on surviving as a trainer.

Alison certainly practises what she preaches as she uses a wide range of communication techniques to expound and illustrate her points. There are questionnaires; diagrams; personal anecdotes all designed to catch and maintain the reader's interest while informing in a highly effective and clear way. There is something to suit pretty much everyone's learning preference Again the layout of the e-book contributes to the ability of the reader to take in and retain information. At the end of each chapter is an 'In Brief' section summing up what has gone before.

Whether you are at the beginning of your career as a trainer (or indeed as a coach) or have may years of experience in either field I am sure you will find this book of interest and use. In fact, far from avoiding e-books, I now have this one downloaded on my desktop as it is fast becoming my 'go to' book of reference every time I start designing a new training workshop or take on a new client. I heartily recommend this book!

Rating 5 out of 5

Angela Lawrence
The Cinnamon Coach
Isle of Man
angiecoach@manx.net

An international perspective on leadership

I recently interviewed Chris Fox from Canning International for our Profile of the Month. One of the subjects we discussed which I thought worth separating out, was Chris's comments on leadership. I asked him whether he thought that the current trend for leadership training is just a 'fad':

"I’m not sure it’s a fad, no. But I think there is a tendency for companies to want to pack their workforce full of ‘leaders’ without having any sense of what they really mean. Of course, a handful of inspirational leaders at the top of an organisation can make a huge difference to morale, strategy and direction. But does the team leader of a research desk, or the project manager of a data warehousing project really need to be a ‘leader’ in the same sense? Of course, training companies are falling over themselves to put together lengthy PowerPoint presentations and brainstorming workshops in order to respond to the demand that is out there for these courses, and who can blame them? There’s certainly money in it.

"We’ve heard of clients ‘rolling out a leadership programme throughout the organisation’. Invariably this simply means that a score or more people will be sitting in a meeting room watching a presentation about decision making, strategic precision and disseminating the vision, before going back to their everyday jobs processing orders or checking the wording of a contract. And the next day twenty more will turn up to witness the same thing. And so on, until everyone has taken part in ‘the leadership workshop’, from the post room to the boardroom. It’s not going to produce leaders, and it doesn’t respond to the needs of the people in the room. We run plenty of courses under the ‘leadership’ banner, but they are generally for companies we know well, and with whom we have been able to have honest, candid discussions about what they really mean. Much of the time they simply want project managers without line management responsibility to be able to exercise influence above their level of hierarchical authority. Or they want line managers, promoted thanks to their technical skills rather than their management abilities, to be able to communicate their own vision to their department or team and get them moving in the same direction. Sometimes it is simply that not enough people with management responsibility in the organisation are able to motivate their teams to do what they want them to do.

"This kind of leadership training can be excellent: a small group of people practising the persuasive, communicative or motivational skills needed to get people to ‘play the game’ and follow their vision. But it doesn’t need to be accompanied by distilled academic texts or statistical surveys. If people need to lead, on a grand or a small scale, it seems clear to us that you simply recreate the situation in which they need to exercise that leadership, get them to rehearse that situation, and offer honest feedback, based on a clear set of well refined principles, that will help them perform better next time they’re in a comparable situation. Funnily enough, we have seen the same thing with cross-cultural training. For years we were competing with ‘inter-cultural briefings’, where a ‘country expert’ would deliver an extended PowerPoint presentation on ‘China’ or ‘Japan’ or ‘The Middle East’, passing on political, social and etiquette information to managers intending to operate in that cultural context. We have never got involved in this kind of training, and have always had to defend our own approach against those wanting the lengthy lectures on etiquette.

"Predictably, our culture-specific training is performance based, and focuses on working with Japanese/Chinese/American etc partners. Anyway, it is now pretty clear that the etiquette lectures are dying a death, while our working with… courses have never been more popular. I daresay the same thing will happen with Leadership – eventually people realise that they need to be better at something rather than know more about it. Some clients are much further ahead on that particular curve than others."

Chris Fox is a Director of Canning International Training and Development

About Canning

Canning offers a range of training, information on which can be easily accessed through our website. Simply choose whether you are interested in: Skills, Culture, Teams or Language, and click through to the information you need. More background on the company, its employees, and our additional consultancy services can be found via the menu along the top. http://www.canning.com/

To read my full interview with, visit the Complete Trainer website.

Three Interviewing Mistakes

Three Interviewing Mistakes – And How To Avoid Them By Mike Brooks

As the economy slowly recovers, companies are beginning to expand and hire sales reps again. If you’re looking for a job, or looking to change jobs, no doubt you will be sending your resume out, talking to hiring managers, and, if you’re lucky enough to get picked, even going on interviews.

Over the years, I’ve looked at thousands of resumes and interviewed thousands of sales reps. In fact, right now, I’m recruiting for several companies, and I’m amazed by how sales reps keep making basic, horrible mistakes that often times immediately disqualify them for any chance at landing a position. Often times, these mistakes even prevent them from getting an interview!

Here are the 3 worst interviewing mistakes sales reps are making, and what you can do to avoid them:

#1) Filling your resume with every job you’ve worked at for the last 10 years. The first mistake sales reps make – and that hiring managers look for first – is listing five to seven jobs (or more!) on their resume within an eight to ten year time frame.

Nothing will disqualify you faster than a history of job hopping, or a history of staying at jobs for less than a year. (One resume I saw last week listed 3 jobs this year alone!)

Obviously, the reason this is a red flag for companies is that they see themselves investing thousands of dollars hiring and training you only to think that their company will be the next one on your resume.

The Solution: Omit jobs you’ve stayed at less than a year, and never list more than four jobs in a ten year period (it’s better to have only three).

You can disclose other positions once you move forward during the interview process – in person – after you’ve earned a change to wow them with your personality, experience, and obvious qualifications for the job.

#2) Talking for too long when asked a question. Whenever a hiring manager calls you and begins asking questions, make sure your answers are direct and short. You’d be amazed at how so many sales reps will go on and on and on…..

What the hiring manager is thinking is that you are a sales rep who will talk past the close, never listen to your prospects, and never close any business. “No wonder they’re looking for a job,” frequently goes through my mind…

The Solution: Listen carefully to what you’re being asked, think about how to answer it directly, then answer it and shut up! This one technique will separate you from 80% of the sales reps interviewing for the same position.

#3) Don’t interview or interrogate the hiring manager. I know that you have questions about the job, and you should ask a few, but don’t interrogate the hiring manager! Nothing makes us more irritated than being grilled about every aspect of the job, especially about the pay and comp plan. You’re the one being interviewed, not the other way around.

The Solution: Ask some basic questions but save the majority of them for the END of the in person interview. Believe me, the hiring manager will appreciate it and be much more likely to bring you in.

If you’re serious about getting a new position or moving up in your sales career, then avoid these 3 interviewing mistakes. Your chance of getting the new job will increase 100% if you do!

Good luck and happy job hunting!

If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s bestselling book on Inside Sales and his Complete Book of Telephone Scripts

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps throughout the US teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. He offers a FREE audio program designed to help you double your income selling over the phone, as well as an internationally acclaimed FREE ezine. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by
visiting: http://www.mrinsidesales.com/

Understanding Unconscious Bias

By Carolyn Sheppard

At a seminar I attended a short while ago (on the subject of Leadership During Challenging Times), all of the four speakers, from very different backgrounds, mentioned the issue of unconscious bias and the effects it has on leadership, followership and the organisation. Unconscious bias is the underlying, subconscious prejudices that every single person has, due to nature, nurture and experience.

As an illustration of this, one of the speakers (an eloquent and impressive French IT Director), recounted a particularly relevant story regarding her employment at a company in the US. She said that no matter how good her performance and results, she could never succeed because of the culture of the organisation. She struggled in the company for three years. The company talked a good ‘diversity and inclusion policy’, but the behaviour of the employees (right down to the woman who assumed that any other female in the organisation must also be a PA), set the culture based on their own unconscious biases. Changing the entire culture of a huge, Texas-based heavy industry company was not a task she desired to take on (and probably not an achievable one) so, with no sense of failure but a great deal more understanding, she moved on.

That’s the negative side of unconscious bias – acting out a bias that is discriminatory or prejudiced. But the positive side of unconscious bias is that it is a basic survival instinct. Our brains recognise situations or scenarios that get right down to the ‘flight or fight’ principle. However in these times, for most of us, there is much less need for these responses – there is not the physical danger that required us to develop these instincts. We can transfer them from physical to verbal or even intellectual responses – but your brain is still crying out for a reaction of some kind. Our biases are there for a reason, your brain has learned to react in a certain way because of an experience or learned behaviour (eg prejudice demonstrated by parents, culture or other external influences).

Your experience may include, for example, knowing an extremely argumentative red headed person (whatever example I use, it will demonstrate a bias!). You automatically, therefore, are on your guard when you talk to any red head, no matter what their personality.

Unfortunately instinct is not discriminatory – and it takes a lot of training to overcome those gut reactions (take for example being a fire-fighter – deliberately moving towards a threat that you would naturally wish to flee).

Can you train the bias out of an individual? The answer is probably no, you can’t easily ‘undo’ the conditioning or personal preferences of an individual, but you can educate them to recognise unconscious bias in themselves and in others, and to consider the consequences of their actions and reactions in the context of their bias. By making individuals and teams aware of the biases that operate personally and in their culture or organisation, they can make a tangible difference in changing behaviour (if not beliefs) and increasing the opportunities for diversity and inclusion. As a result the organisation can tap into the broad range of talent that may be within their reach that they otherwise may have ignored.

A good example of this is the ‘selling more toothpaste’ story. Instead of just sitting in the boardroom wondering how they could sell more toothpaste, the MD asked everyone in the factory what ideas they had. One shop floor worker put his hand up and said ‘make the hole bigger’. There was the answer they needed – and it wasn’t in the marketing team or in product research. It was right there on the shop floor. This story is many years old, from a time when there were far more class distinctions in society and in the workplace. By disregarding their bias (which was perhaps not so unconscious then, admittedly), the owners of that toothpaste factory achieved a very positive result and sold more.

When you are next in a training room – look around at the people you are with. What unconscious biases have you already applied just in looking at those people? What assumptions have you made about the place you are in, the behaviour of others, the likely outcome of the day? Whether you are a delegate or a trainer – consider those unconscious biases you hold that will be positive or negative be aware how they could affect your behaviour and the results you will get.

Resources:

On-line Implicit Association Testing: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Training on unconscious bias: www.angela-peacock.com/unconsciousbias.html

Trainers need psychology like a fish needs a bicycle

‘Trainers need psychology like a fish needs a bicycle’: true or false?

What would a training programme designed in complete ignorance of human psychology be like? Maybe something like this…

The 29 participants filed one by one into the windowless room, at the front stood the trainer, behind a dark oak lectern. The tables were in lines across the room, and name cards indicated who was to sit where. At each place was a thick file full of dense typescript. On the front of the file was the title of the training course the participants were about to receive: ‘The basic management skills’. The course was to last five days.

The trainer waited until everyone was seated. Then she started:

‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this programme in basic management skills. I shall be describing the 10 main theories of management and indicating the strengths and limitations of each. You may think you already know the basics of management, but I can assure you plenty of managers make elementary mistakes all the time. That is why this programme has been designed.

'Now, if you would turn to page 32(a) of your file, we will begin with the origins and development of the situational leadership model. The list of points that I have put up on the overhead shows you…’

And so on.
 
How many ‘deliberate mistakes’ did you spot in that happily fictitious account? ...

This is an excerpt from the book 'Psychology for Trainers'. Click here to download and entire chapter free. To buy the book, click here.

Time Termites

The Top 10 Time Termites and How to Exterminate Them - by Anne Alexander

Did you know that “time termites” eat up as much as 25 – 50% of your time? It’s true, and in this article I’ll discuss what a time termite is, as well as what the top 10 time termites are, and - most importantly! – how you can exterminate them and take back a huge amount of your time and your life.

Time termites are activities and people that “eat up” your time and destroy the beautiful design of your life. In my Time Architect™ model of time management, we design a life that is grounded solidly in the four cornerstones – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. We protect these areas by understanding and applying the storm proofing principles.

Just like you design your home to withstand intruders (such as termites), you must design your life to strongly protect against the situations and people that will run right over you and eat up your life - if you let them.

Let’s look at the top ten time termites, based on my unscientific experience with hundreds of clients.

1. Wasting time on trivial items – computer games, gossip, etc.
2. Waiting around to talk with the boss or manager
3. Meetings without a good agenda and/or good facilitation
4. Too many unnecessary reports to write
5. Problems in locating documents or other needed items
6. Answering unimportant phone calls & email
7. People with a negative attitude - complainers and whiners
8. Inability to say "No." That is, saying "Yes" to too many people
9. Interruptions
10. Add your own: What’s your biggest time termite?

Time termites vary depending on whether you work in a huge Fortune 500 type business, or a small company or organization, or are a solo entrepreneur, but these are a representation of what steals most people’s time.

As a business and executive coach I work with hundreds of high achieving business owners and professionals. In my experience, only a very energetic, intelligent and vigilant approach will work to protect your time.

Extermination tactics:

1. Values & vision: Get crystal clear on your personal values and vision. You must know what matters most to you and where you are going in order to be able to make choices that support the best use of your time.

2. Planning: When you create annual, monthly, weekly and daily goals, plan with your values and vision clearly in mind. This way, you will focus in on your highest value activities.

3. Systems: Get good systems in place. Be able to find immediately any information or tools you need in your business or organization. These systems are highly individual. Feel free to contact me for information on resources to help you get organized.

4. Boundaries: Erect strong barriers around yourself – you can think of this as a sturdy fence with an electronic gate around your house (and life) that only grants access to those people and activities that fit in with your priorities. This is a challenge to anyone who likes to think of themselves as a “nice person,” which is many of us. It takes some practice to regroove our neural pathways to hold a new belief that having boundaries is not only OK, but downright healthy. (For more on strong boundaries, email me for an article that goes into more depth on that topic.)

So get crystal clear on your values and vision, create a good plan, install excellent systems, and erect strong boundaries. When you implement just one of these suggestions each month, in a year you will have 12 awesome new habits that will help you take back 25-50% of your time…and your life. Congratulations: your time termites will have been exterminated.

Anne Alexander provides authentic (real) alternatives (choices) to business owners and helps them stop spinning their wheels and move forward with substantial, profitable business growth, personal satisfaction and bottom line control. To receive Anne's free 49 page report, 3 Master Marketing Strategies That Will Dramatically Multiply Your Sales & Profits, send a blank email to business100@aweber.com or visit http://www.authentic-alternatives.com/

Latest UK HR and Government Update

Taxes, returns & payroll
The Companies Act 2006 is changing the law for companies. Passed in 2006, the Act reaches the final stage of implementation on 1 October 2009. More information here

Directors' addresses: all companies will need to provide a service address for every director in their register of directors and keep a record of their directors' residential addresses separate from their register of directors.

Company and business names: measures will be introduced to enable the public to easily find a business name and prevent business names being misleading.

Memorandums and articles of association: where a business incorporates on or after 1 October 2009, it will be able to use - if it so chooses - model memorandum and articles of association. Check the Companies House website, for updates/templates.

Company particulars in correspondence: a company will have to include its name in all forms of business documentation, including electronic documents.

Place for keeping key company records: every company will be able to have a single alternative inspection location (SAIL) as an alternative to its registered office, at which it must make its key records available for public inspection. This site will have to be in the same part of the UK as its registered office. Companies will have to notify Companies House of their SAIL, the records they keep there and of any change in their SAIL's address.

Inspection of company records: a person wishing to inspect a private company's records will have to give advance notice of the date and time they wish to carry out the inspection. In addition, companies will not be able to prevent the person from copying all or part of a record they are entitled to inspect.

Providing copies of company records: if a person requests a hard copy of a company record, the company must provide a hard copy even if the record is held electronically. If a person requests an electronic copy, the company must do so if the record is held electronically.

Notification of particulars of share capital: in an application for a new company, the particular of share capital will be included in a new 'statement of capital', rather than being included in the memorandum. Any changes in capital will be notified to Companies House through a new statement of capital.

Reduction of share capital: as an alternative to the current process requiring court approval, private companies will be able to choose to reduce their capital by special resolution, supported by a solvency statement by each of the directors.

Overseas companies with a business establishment in the UK: there will be a single regime for the registration by overseas companies of the particulars of their UK establishments. There will also be a new regime for the registration of charges over property in the UK created by such companies.

Merger of Companies Registry in Northern Ireland with Companies House: there will be a single register of companies for the entire UK. As a result, companies incorporated in Northern Ireland wishing to establish a place of business elsewhere in the UK will no longer have to register as an overseas company. See our regulation update on the merger of Great Britain and Northern Ireland company registers.

Record-keeping requirements for limited liability partnerships (LLPs): new record-keeping requirements will be introduced for LLPs.

The above outlines key changes for the final implementation of the Companies Act 2006. Find detailed information about Companies Act changes on the Companies House website

Regulation of community interest companies (CICs): new provisions will enable a CIC to convert to the asset-locked form of a community benefit society and a Scottish charity to convert to a CIC. In addition, requirements relating to the appointment and removal of directors, alternate directors and casting votes will be removed and a reasonable-persons test will be added to the community aspect section of the community interest test.

Formation of limited partnerships: on registration, Companies House will officially confirm that a limited partnership has been formed. Limited partnerships will also have to include in their name an indication of their legal status.

Employing people
The national minimum wage (NMW): the NMW for eligible workers will increase. It will rise to £5.80 an hour for workers aged 22 and above and to £4.83 an hour to workers aged 18-21. The rate for those under 18 but above compulsory school age rises to £3.57 an hour. See our regulation update on the increase in the national minimum wage rate.

Tips, service charges, etc and the NMW: bars, restaurants, hotels, etc will no longer be able to count service charges, tips, gratuities and cover charges paid to a worker through the employer's payroll as part of the NMW.

Redundancy payments and certain employment tribunal awards: the limit on a week's pay for calculating statutory redundancy payments, and tribunal awards that use a week's pay as the basis for calculation, will increase from £350 to £380.

Source: (C) Businesslink

Top Sales Producers - Inside out!

by Ken Buist

Recruiting sales professionals with the appropriate raw material to rapidly and consistently become top producers for your company is even more essential within the current economic climate. Our research study suggests it is now possible to predict more accurately who these top producers are likely to be.

Up until now the main research carried out on potential top producers has tended to focus on behaviour. It was important that sales professionals performed to a high standard at interview. They had to look and sound good as well as be able to communicate with influence, all observable behaviour.

For predicting behaviour, there is the individual’s CV (past behaviour being a predictor of future behaviour) as well as a temperament analysis (temperament being the biggest single influencer of behaviour).

How Would You Define Top Producers?

Over the years clients have asked us to define potential top producers based on temperament analysis. We have always resisted coming up with an ‘ideal’ because our experience is that top producers come in a variety of ‘shapes’ with regard to temperament.

What happens on the inside?

The purpose of this new study was to find out:
a) Is there a particular temperament ‘shape’ associated with top producers?
b) What influence do values (hidden motivators) have on the performance of top producers?

The results indicate that what drives top producers on the inside is consistent, whilst the behaviours displayed on the outside are variable and useful but are probably less crucial when it comes to identifying top producers.

Study Details

Top producers from the sales forces of 39 companies were given a dual assessment to measure Temperament (behaviour – the HOW) & Values (motivators – the WHY). The temperament dimension was based on the highly internationally validated DISC model. The results below show that the top producers were spread across at least 5 major and 3 minor ‘shapes’ of behaviour.

Values were measured and based on the Workplace Motivators model which looks at 6 values. The results shown below were conclusive; 72% of top producers had ‘Utilitarian’ as their number one value and in every case were considerably above the average.

Conclusions

Top sales producers are spread across a variety of behavioural dimensions. However when it comes to what drives these behaviours, a Utilitarian value can be found in almost ¾ of top sales producers, confirming that the drivers which are on the inside is at least as important as looking good and sounding good.

Would you like to try out one of the assessments? We are allowing (for a limited period only), Complete Trainer contacts to access this superb tool for free: www.thetrustedadviser.com/new-assessment-ct

We love the tools that Ken at The Trusted Advisor has shown us - we think you will too.

UK HR Update

by Sandra Beale

Largest ever fine for data protection breach
The Financial Services Authority has fined the bank, HSBC, £3.2 million, the largest fine ever, for losing the personal details of thousands of customers. The FSA considered that HSBC had failed to put in place adequate systems and controls to protect customers' details from loss or theft. For example, unencrypted disks containing extensive personal details of policy holders had been sent by normal post and were lost. The FSA also criticised HSBC for being careless with customers' confidential information, leaving it on open shelves and disposing of it in regular waste collections. Given the increasing awareness of the issues around keeping personal data safe, all organisations, not just those regulated by the FSA, need to ensure they are doing everything they can to prevent the misuse of confidential and personal information this includes implementation of appropriate policies and training.

Health & Safety Executive’s Health & Safety Guides Offered Free of Charge
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to scrap charges on 250 of its online health and safety guides from September in a bid to make workplaces safer. The comprehensive guides can be downloaded as PDFs from the HSE website

Growth in Young People’s Unemployment
Unemployment statistics show that one in three young people aged 16-18 are unemployed according to recently published figures. With one million young people aged 16-24 unemployed a whole generation of school leavers and university graduates who faced the prospect of no job for months to come. It does not bode well for this year's school leavers seeking their first ever job - they are not included in these latest figures published by the Office of National Statistics. Youth unemployment now costs the state £3.4 million per day in Jobseeker's Allowance. It can be just the start of a long and downward spiral, which all too often leads to crime, homelessness or worse. Only by stopping young people fall out of the system can lost potential be rescued and save the economy billions each year. Youth unemployment is a serious waste of talent which has to be bad for our future workforce and our current economy.

Lord Mandelson, has said the Government was encouraging businesses to offer greater work experience and internships to help youth unemployment. Businesses on the other hand are stating that schools, universities and the government are not doing enough to support new graduates’ entry into employment. Given that so few government schemes to get the young back into work seem to be effective, something has to be done, but it is difficult to say what.

With the wealth of young people applying for every vacancy it is difficult to recruit the best people and it is those with work experience who will fare better.

Strategies undertaken by some UK-based companies include maintaining student recruitment levels, opening a summer academy for first year undergraduates, implementing an online employability skills clinic, skills seminars and career showcases at schools (Pricewaterhouse Coopers) and recruiting trainees direct from school, offering internships and summer work experience placements (Grant Thornton).

The Forum of Private Business is encouraging small firms to implement apprenticeship schemes, internships and work experience programmes to help "creative and driven" young recruits learn what employers need from their staff. The members of this forum value young people who can bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm to the workplace and have said it is important that young people leave school, college of university with the skills and confidence they need to enter their first job and do well.

The government is keen to promote internships for students as part of a sandwich degree or a vacation placement. For unemployed graduates internships will be offered through the newly launched Graduate Talent Pool website (www.graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk) whereby SMEs can gain access to good talent. The aim is to match employers with the skills required for their business. As traditionally SMEs have not tapped into the graduate market this is a promising development. The average weekly wage offered as part of an internship is £300pw. With an internship young people can have access to valuable work experience so that when starting a jobsearch they have something to offer an employer.

Companies need to seriously consider investing in apprentices to build up the vocational skills of young people. Despite active government promotion, this is sadly a missed opportunity for many companies who view the investment as a cost too huge to bear. An apprentice need only cost £90 per week with government funding for training provided by Train to Gain. An apprentice is a low cost employee option with the chance to build skills for the future for long term company development.

Recruitment of young people can be difficult when many don’t have the demonstrable work experience that demonstrates capability. However, by being encouraged to gain skills, not just through paid work-related activities, but, for example, through volunteering, charity work, sport and relevant hobbies, young people can enhance their CV’s dramatically showing potential employers what they can offer.

Investing in young people could be the key to many companies being ably equipped in terms of skills to meet the economy upsurge head on when it eventually happens. In any case, they are the work force of the future.

Employment of Children
If you employ children and need guidance on working time and health and safety issues, etc the Department for Children Schools and Family has produced an excellent guide on employing children. If you would like a copy please email info@sjbealehrconsult.co.uk and they will send you the free guide.

Northants Business Expo 2009 – 18 November
See http://www.northantsbusinessexpo.co.uk/ - SJ Beale HR Consult is organising a business expo in Northampton incorporating a business exhibition, a networking lunch, speed networking session and free business seminars.

How To Make Your Sales Manager Better

by Mike Brooks, http://www.mrinsidesales.com/

I consult with a lot of business owners, and I hear a common complaint:

“The sales team isn’t making their revenue numbers and my sales manager doesn’t seem to know what to do to get them to improve. What should I do?”

After reviewing their sales processes, their training program, sales scripts, etc., I always ask the same question: “How much production is your sales manager generating per month?” And I almost always get the same answer – “My manager doesn’t sell.”

Therein lies the problem.

The problem with most sales managers that they don’t sell. And the problem with that is how can they teach and manage something they aren’t doing themselves (or worse, can’t)?

Now I know there are differing opinions on this – some say managers need to manage from the sidelines (like coaches), need to be involved in higher level responsibilities, need to attend endless meetings, and need to be able to set revenue goals and get their team to achieve them.

I agree with some of this (except the endless meetings part!), but the most effective and respected sales managers and V. P.’s I work with all lead by example. They have a personal quota and they keep their skills sharp and refined because they are on the phones closing prospects and clients every day.

Because of this, they have a real understanding of what it takes to get the job done, and so they are in the best position to teach it to others.

Here are the top 5 benefits of having a selling sales manager:

1) Sales managers who actively sell have an up to date, intimate understanding of what techniques, skills and strategies work in your selling environment. And having this first-hand knowledge means they can teach it to others.

2) Because a selling sales manager has this immediate experience of closing sales, they are in a much better position to help their team members close business as well. They can easily do a TO (take over) when a sales rep needs help. This not only teaches the rep how to handle selling situations, but it often saves a sale as well. This is what your sales manager must be able to do, and it is a crucial part of their job.

3) A selling sales manager commands the ultimate respect and confidence of his/her sales team. A sales manager is a leader of his team, and the best way to lead is by example. Sales reps respect and follow a leader who can help them close sales and achieve their goals. They’ll also work harder for them.

4) A confident sales manager grows a confident and productive team.
Nothing is better for a sales manager than to have him/her demonstrate, to themselves and others, that they have what it takes to successfully close sales. A successful selling manager isn’t afraid of setting production goals because he knows he can achieve them (and he knows what it’s going to take).

5) As a business owner, you must have the confidence that your manager knows exactly how to accomplish your company’s revenue goals. The most accurate way to determine this is by having the sure knowledge that he knows how to do it himself. This experience is invaluable and will ensure that the goals you set are reasonable and reachable.

The #1 problem I run across when working with companies is an unreachable, unrealistic revenue goal set by the owner that has no real buy in by the sales manager. It is this disconnect that causes friction, undermines morale, and often leads to demotivated, underperforming sales teams (and managers).

All this can be avoided when you have an experienced, hands on, selling sales manager who can give you honest and accurate feedback about production goals and the ways to achieve them.

There are many more benefits of having a selling sales manager leading your team, but I hope this short list has convinced you. Believe me, the fastest way to make your sales manager better is to give them a quota and require them to pick up the phone and start closing business.

If you don’t already have a quota for him/her now, then do yourself (and your company and your manager) a favor and set one this week. All of you will benefit from it!

Mike is the author of several sales books including The Complete Book of Phone Scripts and Inside Sales.

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps throughout the US teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance.

Newsletters - do they work?

The art of clear and interesting communication is important and it's wonderful to receive good, concise and relevant newsletters that provide a real benefit, even if it's just a smile or a useful web link.

I find writing newsletters hard - I need to announce products, direct people to links on my site or the blog and share information. Making it relevant to my audience is sometimes difficult when I have such a fantastic wide range of people that I connect with. But before you go down the 'segment the market' route, don't worry, I do.

Something I liked

Back to newsletters - today I received a newsletter that started with:

You are a 100% Verified Member of this mailing list. To stop receiving this newsletter, Ordinary Brilliance, please visit the end of this email.

Hello Carolyn,

Your one-minute-to-read issue of Ordinary Brilliance is here. Take just one minute to read it now.

And then the main body of the newsletter focused on just one key customer service issue. It did take a couple of minutes to read (not one, maybe I'm a slow reader) - but it was relevant, carried a good business message and had an interesting and tempting offer at the end. The message hit the right spot for me. It also helped that I knew who the newsletter was from.

How do you do it?

Clear communication - stating what you mean right up front, asking for engagement and being clear about why you are contacting someone - is crucial. I think I've a lot to learn from Anne Alexander's approach (check out her guest blog entry on Dealing with Problem Employees).

I also receive some really fancy emails with lots of graphics and some in simple plain text. The key to getting me to read them is content - and sometimes I completely miss it.

There's a lot to having really gripping opening copy (and not just for newsletters) but stating who you are and what you expect right up front is not a bad tactic. I wonder how many golden nuggets I've missed just because the complex graphics that take too long to download or some fussy intro turns me off before I get to the really good content?

But do newsletters actually work? If you do them properly, then yes. There's lots of guides out there on the web to writing a good newsletter - I quite liked this one: http://www.webmarketcentral.com/effective_email_newsletters.htm.

Unsubscribe
The most important thing to remember (and Anne puts it right at the top of her newsletters) is the Unsubscribe option. Not only is it a legal requirement in many countries, but you are empowering your audience. Every unsubscribe I get I always acknowledge politely and expedite as quickly as I can - just because they don't want my newsletter doesn't mean they won't ever visit my site again. A useful feedback tool is to have a 'please tell us why you unsubscribed' if your system can manage it, but only if it doesn't mean too many hoops for your audience to jump through.

Hopefully people who register for my newsletter (easy to do, visit the site and fill in the box on the right or drop me a note via the contact page) are familiar with the style and content of my newsletters. Yes, they include product announcements but I do make sure I have some interesting articles and don't just 'sell sell sell'.

(C) Carolyn Sheppard 2009

This article may be reproduced with permission.

Dealing with problem employees

Turnaround or Terminate?
How to Deal with "Problem" Employees

Do you struggle with a "problem" employee? If so, join the crowd! Many of my coaching clients - businesses owners or managers - tear their hair out over one or more toxic employees. In our business environment, we tend to recreate the dynamics of the family we grew up, so no wonder problems develop.

It's amazing often a business owner or manager will endure a "problem" employee, unable to help the employee make positive changes and unable to fire them when necessary. Tolerating a problem employee is like walking around with a sliver in your foot - highly irritating, but you can kind of get used to it. Then, when you finally pull it out, you can't believe the relief! That relief generally comes in one of two ways: either you and your employee are able to make some mutual improvements, or you part ways.

I recommend a two step approach to this issue. First, you do whatever can be done to turn the situation around. Very often, you may have made a few half-hearted attempts to resolve the situation, but feel lost at sea about what else can be done. You must address the issues directly, calmly and clearly with the employee. Expectations must be set, problems and solutions explored. Check in regularly with the employee to monitor progress.

On a more powerful level, the turnaround can result when you learn your own and your employee's behavioral style. I like to use the Platinum Rule assessment, developed by Dr. Tony Alessandra. It's inexpensive ($30 - $50), easy to understand and extremely powerful in helping us understand our own and others' behavior. Your style and this employee's style probably differ. (For more information on the Platinum Rule, visit: www.authentic-alternatives.com/platinumrule.htm )

The Golden Rule advises you to treat others as you would like to be treated. The Platinum Rule advances this to the next level and suggests that you treat others as you would like to be treated. Your "problem" employee may be - and probably is - a different style than you. The Platinum Rule shows us four core behavioral styles (Relater, Socializer, Thinker and Director) and gives us many concrete tactics of how we can flex to meet the other person's style. I have seen near miracles occur - the proverbial light bulbs go off - when my clients use this assessment to better understand themselves and their employees and co-workers.

The second step of the two-step approach: suppose you've fully implemented the first step (turnaround) and the situation remains unacceptable. Now it's firing time, and because I bet you care about other people, you know that it's one of the most unwanted and difficult tasks an owner or manager faces. I encourage my clients to remember that a business or organization cannot afford to carry an unproductive and toxic employee. An employee person unwilling or unable to make the necessary improvements must be sent to find an employment situation that fits them better. This does not make you an evil or uncompassionate human being.

So pull out "the sliver" and create a positive, unstoppable team. The number one key to professional success is the quality of the people you surround yourself with - employees, colleagues, spouse, friends. Life speeds by, so remove the rocks from your river and let it flow forward, full force. If you can't turn around a problem employee, you must let them go. It's not your fault and if you want your business to flourish, and you will at times find you have to terminate.

Anne Alexander provides authentic (real) alternatives (choices) to business owners and helps them stop spinning their wheels and move forward with substantial, profitable business growth, personal satisfaction and bottom line control. To receive Anne's free 49 page report, 3 Master Marketing Strategies That Will Dramatically Multiply Your Sales & Profits, send a blank email to business100@aweber.com or visit http://www.authentic-alternatives.com

New book release

I am as excited as a labarador in a field of bluebells!* For the past few months I've been working with coach, trainer and - most importantly - author, Alison Hardingham. Alison is an amazingly talented and experienced L&D professional with affiliations with some rather 'special' organisations and her reputation is tremendous (search her name on the internet, you'll see what I mean).

Some years back she wrote 'Psychology for Trainers' for the CIPD as part of their Trainers Toolkit series. It's now out of print with the CIPD, but with their permission, Alison is now re-releasing the book through The Complete Trainer Ltd.

We have updated and revised the book and it is now in ebook format. We are delighted to announce that the book is being published on 10th September 2009 and will be for sale via the Complete Trainer website.

Why am I so excited about THIS book? Well, not only is it the first book that we have actually published (under our own name, and with our own ISBNs), but when I was editing and formatting, I couldn't help but be drawn into the book - I learned so much and (as I am not shy to admit) I am not even a trainer! I love the opening - 'Trainers need psychology like a fish needs a bicylce. True or false?' and the way Alison leads you into each subject with clear examples, great references and in such an easy to read style.

But don't take my word for it:

"It's rare to come across a book that that provides practical ideas founded on intellectual rigour...Psychology for Trainers is such a book.

It provides insights into the psychology that effects every aspect of training, with illustrations that can be immediately applied without over complicating the message. A book that every trainer should read."

Brian Fitzgerald HR Director : Group Talent Management
ATKINS
The official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

That is what I call high praise indeed!

Well, mosey on over to the website, take a look, and if you are interested in writing a review for us, please let me know, we are looking for some appropriate individuals to send out preview copies to for review purposes.

*If you'd really like to know why I've posted the picture of Jasper the dog here, you have to read the book!

Profile of the Month - September

Michael Ronayne - communicating clearly, concisely and with confidence.

This month Carolyn finds out more about Michael and the College of Public Speaking. As the name might suggest, the College places Public Speaking skills at the centre of its training programmes; believing that the fundamentals of communication are unchanging and if you can communicate with conviction in front of a group of people, you will also come across as more animated and confident on a one to one basis.

Michael Ronayne, alongside Vince Stevenson and Richard Johnson, is one of its 3 Directors.

About the College

Carolyn (The Complete Trainer Ltd): How did you start and why did you decide to call it a college?

Michael (The College of Public Speaking): Each of us came into the College of Public Speaking from different directions, but unified by a public speaking background and with a passion for communication.

The root definition of ‘college’ as a group of people living together under a common set of rules (‘con’ with; ‘lego’ law) appealed to us. Happily we do not actually live together, but we felt it captured a little of the idea of educational diversity; the ability to provide recognised qualifications; that like a musician, communication skills can be honed, studied and refined throughout a lifetime; that we see the importance of speaking in a vocational sense, rather than purely as a business. It also allows for a more academic element (in September for instance I delivered a paper on ‘Successful Speaking in the Business Sector’ at the ‘Spoken Word Conference’ at Kingston University) and therefore providing a sense of skilled individuals with a common aim coming together and sharing and developing ideas.

For me it was a logical evolution. I was a professional ‘cellist for 15 years and then spent 8 years in the sales industry. Once I left the music profession I took up public speaking, as it gave me an element of ‘performing’ that I began to miss when I stopped playing the ‘cello.
Carolyn: You are a performer at heart. Where did you start? From playing music to just talking is quite a leap!

Michael: I started in my local speakers club in Wimbledon and went on from there. I quickly realised that speaking was a lot easier than playing the ‘cello – I mean ‘What can go wrong?’ The worst that can happen is you get your words mixed up; whereas when playing the ‘cello you can drop your bow, play wrong notes and shake so much that your fingers go wobbly. So quite quickly I moved on to reach National Speaking Finals - and became a UK National Champion in the process. It was challenging, and a great development path, being a ‘competitive’ speaker.

All areas of my professional life so far have had an element of performance and communication in them - sales then added the one element in the communication process that I have always found fascinating – people. Public Speaking for me is about learning to communicate directly and effectively with different types of people. And the more effective you are at communicating, the more effective you are at sales or whatever else you choose to do.

Carolyn: There are many training companies out there, what do you think makes you stand out particularly?

Michael: In our case it is simple: 2 things - Firstly, we are all active public speakers, so there is always an aspect of genuine experience and of “walking our talk”. I remember from my sales years going on a particular training session with my colleagues. It all started well, but within a few minutes we all started making eye contact with each other, because it was suddenly clear that our ‘trainer’ had never actually done what he was asking us to do. We made sure we never made that mistake! The results are consistent feedback references to us ‘knowing our stuff’ and ‘speaking from experience’. It means that when we are asked by a client ‘What would you do in this case?’ or ‘How do you react in this situation?’, we can usually answer from direct and recent experience.

Our second ‘unique selling point’ is that we are the only Public Speaking trainers that can offer nationally recognised BTEC qualifications, rather than just a certificate of attendance.
We offer a BTEC Professional Award in ‘Training the Trainer’ and a BTEC Advanced Award in ‘Public Speaking and Presentation Skills’. We are serious about our business, and passionate about our subject.

Carolyn: I’d love to be able to have people ‘hear’ you say all this, but we’ll have to rely on them reading. Can you tell me more about how you see your business’ future?

Michael: I have a very specific vision - to have Public Speaking and Presentation Skills recognised as a core competency from school onwards, rather than just and add on that some employers feel ‘would be useful’. Having delivered Public Speaking training in a number of secondary schools I would suggest it is simply a matter of developing awareness. Once a teenager realises that speaking skills are not just for lawyers and politicians, but they are an essential life and social skill for any career choice, their perspective changes. The debating societies of our great universities are about the only place where these skills are honed – and there’s some pretty impressive names in business, politics and the media that have cut their teeth in the Oxford or Cambridge debates.

Too often in business there still seems to be an almost childlike belief that for most people good speaking and presenting skills are not attainable. I really want to change that perception.
Carolyn: Your commitment is evident – what else would you say is important in this area of training?

On the broader level; self belief and confidence – it is nice to see the light coming on as a person realises that they can do this.

On a more specific and technical level; structure. Whether conducting training in public speaking, executive speaking, media skills or training trainers, the one key aspect that I believe has the greatest impact on how a person comes across is good structure. Not complicated or ‘clever’ structure, just clear, concise and transparent. After all, most of the detail of what is said in a presentation is forgotten within a very short time by the audience. Good structure leaves a good impression.

Carolyn: Where are you based and where do you tend to work mostly?

Michael: We are based in London and most of our work is in the South East of England. Our Training the Trainer programme usually runs at the City University in Islington and we are very fortunate to be able to use the Playhouse Theatre in London for many of our Public Speaking programmes. However we work more widely in the UK too. One of my colleagues has recently run a programme in the Isle of Wight and I have just been asked to run the BTEC Training the Trainer programme in Cyprus. I have travelled quite a lot as a musician, and I suppose the same rule applies; if it makes sense for us and for the client, we are happy to be flexible.

Carolyn: What are you most proud of about your company?

Michael: I think it is attitude and ethos. We do some advertising, but a lot of our work comes from recommendation. We are an accredited BTEC centre, which is something to sing about, but we do not attempt to be overly aggressive in promotion. We only take on clients and projects that we feel we are ideally suited for, and that the client particularly needs. For instance, a few days ago, after a brief conversation with a lady, who thought she might need to go on one of our open courses, I received an email from her thanking me very much for my time and saying ‘I still cannot believe you happily talked yourself out of a customer’ – the fact was she probably did not need a professional course, she probably needed to join a speakers club. In the end I would always want clients to come away thinking unreservedly, not just that we were excellent but, that they had genuinely benefitted.

Carolyn: I’ve heard quite a lot about training suffering in the current economy. You offer what you have already said many people consider a ‘non-essential’ business skill, has this affected your business?

Mixed. On balance I would say that larger organisations have been more likely to postpone training, while individuals have been more likely to take a view that they need to get the skills for themselves. So open courses and particularly the BTEC in ‘Training the Trainer’ have attracted increasing interest.

Carolyn: Can you give me an example of where you think you have really made a difference?
I think we are very privileged in the area in which we work, because more often than not we do make a significant impact on an individual. However, the people that interest me the most are not necessarily those who display natural ability and apparently make the most progress, but rather the more timid soul who maybe was dreading the training, but really managed to get over a hurdle in the process. I had one such a little while ago from a very shy and nervous man working in the Royal Household, who went out of his way to tell Buckingham Palace training department what an enormous difference the training day had made for him.

Open Programmes

Introductory presentation skills (1 day) 17th October Premier - Euston: £150 + VAT
Training the trainer (2 days) 22nd-23rd October City University, Islington: £580 + VAT
Introductory presentation skills (1 day) 31st October & 14th November & 5th December Premier - Euston £150 + VAT
Introductory presentation skills (1 day) 19th November & 11th December Playhouse theatre £250 + VAT
Training the trainer (2 days) 23rd-24th November & 17th-18th December City University, Islington £580 + VAT

http://www.collegeofpublicspeaking.co.uk/
michael@collegeofpublicspeaking.co.uk

The College of Public Speaking donates a percentage of its profits to the Speakers Trust, a charity devoted to the development of effective communication skills throughout all strands of society.

Testimonials

"The BT Effective Speaking Programme has had excellent results. Participants have been able to learn how to improve their speaking skills in a safe and supporting environment. BT is very pleased with the College of Public Speaking’s programme and are looking to extend it next year"

Keith Dickerson, Head of Standards, BT


“From the outset, the approach of The College of Public Speaking to the task of running a series of training sessions has been friendly and efficient. Before any training took place, one of the directors of the College of Public Speaking, sat down with members of the Leadership and Professionalism team to identify the precise needs of the organisation and to discuss the most suitable structure and content for the proposed training.

From then on the trainers from the College of Public Speaking each demonstrated a very positive and professional manner and the clearly defined focus of the training has meant that, although different sessions were run by 3 separate trainers, the feedback has been universally very positive.”

Marianne Lister, Head of Leadership and Professionalism ,
Ministry of Justice (UK)

“I have undertaken a huge amount of training, but I can honestly say the trainer is one of the best trainers I have worked with. He had all the core competencies that you would want from a learning environment, supportive, caring, always willing to help further, flexible, but most important – really valued the work we the students undertook. I am going home on a real high.”

John Roberts (London Borough of Lambeth)

Coaching by accident

I had some new coaching cards arrive from Israel. I have to say that just by looking at the supplier's website I was 'taken' immediately, but once I'd spoken to my guy in Israel and got a real feel for them, I was hooked!

The Points of You cards arrived and within two days I'd had three sets taken by a training company who were delivering a series of 'coach the coach' programmes to a major UK insurer. All I'd done was show one pack to them, and they were instantly engaged!

Why do I like these so much? I don't really do my own product reviews, I like my customers to do that, but these cards have a lot going for them - not the least of which is the fantastic imagery they use.

What I learned, talking to Yaron, is that the cards themselves are made by prison inmates, and the packaging is made by workers in a factory employing the less abled. I didn't only like the product, but I liked the whole philosophy behind their creation and in the execution of their manufacture.

So why did I call this post 'accidental coaching'? Simple! I was showing them to a colleague. She chose three cards, laid them out on the cloth 'board', and we started talking. I asked the relevant questions, looked up the references in the book and... well, I very nearly gave an 'acciental coaching session'.

The cards are also promoted as a self-development tool and they are great for that too - I have sat with a set and looked through images and used them to help with creative thinking and also to lay out some personal issues and perceptions.

I have two sets of coaching cards on the site at the moment (and a third set coming soon) - I believe in offering choice and, of course, it's horses for courses (and cards for coaches!). Take a look at the cards, both sets, you'll find one or other appeals to you more.

I'd love some feedback, but everything I've heard so far about Points of You and the Kairology cards has been extremely positive. I'm meeting Ian, author of the Kairology cards and book in November - I'll post my thoughts on these cards then. I already bought his book for myself.

Tribunal Support

Growing Demand for Tribunal Support & Representation by Sandra Beale FCIPD

According to the ACAS annual report 2008-09, over the past year the conciliation service has received 55,000 unfair dismissal cases - an increase of almost 12,000 from the previous year equating to a 22% rise. Dismissals can arise from conduct, capability, redundancy, statutory restriction or some other substantial reason. This alarming statistic shows that many companies may not be following due process before reducing headcount. The economic downturn has, no doubt, contributed with companies making redundancies without following a fair and reasonable process. However, dismissed staff, faced with a possible lengthy period of unemployment, may also consider trying their chances at tribunal to secure compensation.

There is nothing to stop an ex-employee taking their ex-employer to court, however, there are steps a company can take to ensure that costly compensation is not the outcome.

Having robust policies and procedures in place which are well communicated and followed to the letter are key. Training for managers in operating the policies is essential particularly if they are operating without “hands on” HR support. The policies should, ideally cover, all areas of employment particularly grievance and discipline, absence, redundancy, capability, performance management and code of conduct. The policies should be sufficiently detailed to provide clear guidelines to managers and employees alike.

The grievance and discipline policies should follow the ACAS Code of Practice and accompanying guidelines introduced in April 2009 alongside the Employment Act 2008. The restrictive procedures dictated by the dispute resolution regulations, introduced with the Employment Act 2002 were abolished, however, companies need to follow a fair and reasonable procedure in order to successfully defend a tribunal case. A robust investigation into any issue that may lead to dismissal is essential, leaving no stone unturned to uncover the facts, before deciding to proceed to a fair hearing, if required, with adequate time spent allowing all the facts from all parties to be heard.

With redundancy following a few simple principles is essential whether making just one person redundant or one hundred. Consultation is paramount before proceeding to dismissal including trying to identify ways to avoid compulsory redundancy. Providing outplacement services to include CV writing and interview skills training can go a long way to appeasing unhappy staff who will lose their jobs.

For those companies that unfortunately end up receiving an ET1 from an ex-employee it is the start of an often stressful process that can last for months due to the increasing workload of the tribunal courts. There are several options for support.

The use of an in-house HR Manager with experience of tribunal defence is the most cost effective solution. However, HR Managers with this kind of experience are very thin on the ground. Many companies immediately hand the case over to an employment lawyer who may then instruct a barrister to take the case into court. This can be a hugely expensive option as there are often many hidden “run away” costs leading to an astronomical final bill which can run into thousands. This can be compounded by the increasing amounts of compensation as tribunal panels take into account the anticipation of lengthy periods of unemployment. The Ministry of Justice has plans to examine and regulate the offering by lawyers many of whom offer a lack of clarity and clear explanation of fee arrangements to their clients. The provision of clear and transparent information on total costs will be the aim.

The use of an experienced HR consultant with a track record of successful tribunal defence with transparent costings can be another more cost-effective option.

For more information, please contact Sandra directly:

SJ Beale HR Consult Ltd

Keep your customers happy

“Companies that are struggling to survive the credit crunch should embrace the service culture to ensure their customers stay loyal,” says Stephanie Edwards, author of “The Best Practice Guides for Customer Service Professionals & Customer Service Managers” and Director of Customer 1st International UK

Customer service is hot news. In addition to well-established consumer organisations such as Which?, there are now a myriad of online opportunities and offline mediums which allow consumers to give their opinions on good and poor customer service. These range from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, to direct communication with national newspapers and TV stations and even websites set up specifically to allow customers to tell of their good and bad customer service experiences.
Customer satisfaction in the UK is at 74% UK Customer Satisfaction Index 2009(published by the Institute of Customer Service) shows that many customers' needs are still not being met. We may mull over customer satisfaction indices, listen to tales of horrendous service, or just rely on our own experiences of the wide-ranging levels of service that exist. But things just don’t seem to get significantly better for customers. And that is in spite of the rising mountain of evidence showing that the customer experience is the prime determinant of business success, and that customers’ expectations are not only increasing, but that those expectations are actually turning into demands.

In the current economic climate customer service is a key differentiator between those companies gaining and retaining customers and those who don’t and become unprofitable or even go out of business. Both poor and outstanding service have a strong emotional impact upon us, creating intense feelings about organisations. Many businesses find service excellence elusive, hard to grasp and difficult to deliver. But companies must face up to how service - good or bad - impacts dramatically on their reputation and business success. Everyone in business has a customer, and it is time to look after them!

Create a Customer Service Culture
The challenge for many businesses is inconsistent customer service delivery which can create real challenges in maintaining a reputation for service excellence. Customer expectations are rising daily and complainants can do irretrievable damage to organisations. Organisations must not be complacent, but instead develop a customer-focused culture and can-do attitude, keeping the customer at the heart of their business, offering a seamless but effective service. Feedback is essential from both your teams and your customers before implementing any major changes in the way you deliver service to your customers.

Typical causes of customer defection:

• Lack of personal contact – commitment, trust, confidentiality
• Broken promises, always letting customers down
• Corporate arrogance, a failure to listen to internal/external customers – a failure to listen to their own staff who recognise where things are going wrong but senior managers do not listen to them
• Failure to handle complaints successfully

Develop Customer Service Standards
World class leaders develop customer service standards for both internal and external customers, promoting the “Promises to Customers”. These standards inform customers what to expect from your organisation and it is vital that you identify what is important to customers. The Institute of Customer Service (UK) commissioned a research project led by Professor Robert Johnston of Warwick Business School, and he discovered the gold nuggets that can keep customers happy:

• Deliver the promise.. Do what you say you will do.
• Keep transactions personal.. People are individuals, so treat them how you would like to be treated.
• Go the extra mile.. Give your customers something extra to keep them loyal.
• Handle complaints professionally.. This is paramount, because research tells us that 91% of complainants will stay loyal to an organisation if their complaint is handled professionally. They will also become your most loyal ambassadors and tell others about your brilliant service recovery.

Increased levels of service effectiveness results in staff and customer retention; loyal customers spend more and become ambassadors for the organisation, enabling a company to devote fewer resources to the search for new customers. Organisations that embrace service excellence will weather the storm, there IS no other way to survive.

Companies must remember that their customers decide whether they survive or die.

Customer 1st International’s Best Practice Guide for Customer Service Managers is available in hard copy, as an e-book, e-workbook and accredited tutor-led online award.

Telling Stories

I am a story teller! You may notice from my blog posts, articles or – if you know me personally – most certainly from my songs and my creative writing. I write about events and people (you can hear a snippet of my song about the infamous witch finder Matthew Hopkins on theMP3 page of www.shavethemonkey.co.uk/) , many of my articles feature on this blog and my story telling style comes through very strongly on my personal blog.

So why am I telling stories on The Complete Trainer? Because there is not a single training experience I have yet been on that does not, to some extent, rely on storytelling. No matter what slides or materials are presented, the trainer or facilitator can usually bring an example to life by adding a story of their own. Sometimes it’s a ‘stock’ tale, sometimes personal experience. But story telling in training, and in business, is important, for a very simple reason – it builds credibility.

In these days of information overload, with millions of messages hitting us every week from every direction, the brain does it’s favourite ‘delete, distort and generalise’. This applies not only to the many indirect messages we receive but also to the key messages we want to receive. So in order for us to really listen, we need to have belief in the information giver. Story telling is a great way of doing this.

Storytelling has been with us since humans could first speak – it is as natural to us as breathing. We are raised with the story, and stories are used to influence, inspire and persuade us. Advertisements for products don’t just extol their virtues any more (Irish Stout is Good for You, Mr ‘Shine’ Makes Umpteen Things Clean), they create stories around characters and we are involved in the mini tableaux we are presented with:

• Anthony Head visits his neighbour to borrow coffee, is there the prospect of romance?
• we know the whole gravy family
• we want to know what the ‘good news’ is that the man in the phone ad is telling his friends.

People LIKE stories.

Stories for business development are not just anecdotal – though the retelling of an incident that serves as an example is one great way. You can also use storytelling to teach lessons that only the listener can learn. By presenting a situation as a story, you can create discussion, evolve solutions and raise issues that engage us through the use of our own imaginations.

I’ve seen storytelling done by forum theatre actors (they leave the ‘action’ mid performance and ask for response from the audience), I’ve watched corporate videos that the group must then discuss and, of course, even the good old slide show can tell a story. But the use of audio – whether spoken by an individual or through recordings – allows even more freedom for the imagination because it presents no pre-set visual context.

I’ve been listening to the Telling Tales series and the pictures they create in my head are, undoubtedly, going to be different to the pictures they would create in your head. My interpretations of an accent or simply the sound of voice will have different associations for me than for others. This is amazing – it means that every single person can interpret and create their own meaning and learning from the sound of a voice as well as the content of the tale.

I also pick up ideas from the radio– from the BBC programme ‘Word of Mouth’ (on the power of language) to The Archers (wonderful examples of how not to communicate between family members), I learn from these ‘stories’. Something goes in that I will access and retain for future reference, even if it means using the ‘listen again’ function.

We may well admire the raconteur at the network meeting (as long as they are not too pushy) and we are entertained, engaged and entranced by stories. The same goes for the gregarious friend who delights us with their tales at the dinner table. We will talk about their story, what we would have done in that situation or marvel in horror or delight at what happened. We are fully engaged – our brains are keen to receive this information. This, surely, is an amazing tool to use when developing yourself, your people and your organisation.