Holding Effective Meetings

Do your meetings work? Do you find your working existence filled with endless meetings with no real results? Do people in other organisations seem to get worthwhile outcomes whilst you seem to paddle furiously but never achieve? Use the tips in this article to make sure your meetings achieve maximum results.

Throughout my career, I've looked at how my department can integrate with and support other business functions. Because of this, I've worked in many working environments and across many different levels and functions, often attempting to provoke change or implement new working processes.

There are always various types of people you come across with differing perspectives on their role in whatever the subject at hand. These can vary massively from those eager to get involved and build a power base by increasing their activity across the organisation through to those who are consistently too busy, often because they either don't want to rock the status quo, don't want the extra workload or sometimes genuinely have enough to do.

How do you get effective results from your meetings? I try to handle all the possible problems in advance of the meetings with effective preparation and approach, then enact prepared solutions during the meeting and afterwards to ensure I get the most from both my time and the time of the others involved. Ask yourself the following questions and use the results effectively to get the most from your interactions, whether you're running the meeting or (for some points) attending as a delegate.


1. Who really needs to be there?

We've all been to meetings where a meting leader has invited all and sundry to their meeting, from the top of their organisational tree to the bottom regardless of their impact. As far as I can gather, this seems to stem from a personal need of the organiser to feel like the task is more important but often ends up backfiring.

As a manager, incessant time demands to attend subordinate meetings to which you probably do not need to attend can be tiring. Often, these requests will end in one or more of the following unfavourable scenarios for the requesting subordinate:
(a) a poor manager will attend from a sense of duty but run ruff shod over the meeting in order to get through as quickly as possible, which lowers the standing of the meeting organiser in the eyes of the colleagues present and causes the meeting to fail to achieve objectives
(b) a manager will begin to comprehend all requests from the subordinate as time wasting and be inclined to deny all requests from the subordinate for their time
(c) the manager will not accept and office "scuttlebutt" will make sure everyone knows that the manager doesn't see value in the interaction

Another point I mentioned previously in an article on Task Management, Scott Adams wrote in a Dilbert comic strip that people "want to have input because input is much easier than doing real work". Ending up with a large number of unnecessary people in a meeting can often mean that everyone wants input and you actually don't achieve your objectives. Some of these meetings can go so badly wrong that they end up more reminiscent of a circus than an office setting.

Conversely, this is a great time to point out from the same article mentioned above, that if you're invited to a meeting and you don't need to be present for any viable reason, you should not attend. Attending meetings as a 'jolly' not only wastes your time but wastes the time of those present. Perhaps most importantly, consistently attending these meetings will devalue the perception others hold of you as they recognise that you are not being effective in your role.

Remember: whilst colleagues may feel some sort of social convention dictates they should attend, it is crucial that you invite and conversely attend as is necessary. Social convention won't help increase key attendance for long and won't help interactivity at your meetings, but continued belief from a delegate that their presence is of value will ensure their participation as required.



2. Meeting objectives

The worst meetings you'll go to are those where people amble aimlessly, with no real direction and no lead. These meetings, like those with huge numbers of unnecessary attendees, appear to go on forever and everyone leaves frustrated and demotivated.

In preparation for a meeting, you should always ask yourself "what objectives do I want to achieve during the meeting?". This can be as passive as "introducing stakeholders to a concept", "sharing progress throughout a team", more active such as "achieving consensus on project approach" or similarly driven by the need to "decide on processes and specific task information". If you can't come up with at least one good meeting objective, not only is there no need to have a meeting, but holding one will undoubtedly turn farcical and be damaging to your image and your cause.

Remember: pointless meetings harm morale and image. Propose a meeting when it's necessary.


3. Leading the meeting

Whatever your need, make sure that at the start of the meeting, everyone present understands the meeting objectives in clear and concise language. If people attend late, recite the meeting objectives to ensure that they are also aware of them.

Some "best practice" practitioners advocate ensuring that all attendees are presented with a printed agenda either in advance, or at the very latest at the start of the meetings to remind them of the objectives. In line with the average human ability to remember things best in groups of 3, 5 or 7, this is advised to contain 3-7 bullet points of objectives (where appropriate) of the outcomes you're looking to achieve from the meeting. Other good suggestions around this document are that it contains the name of either all or key attendees (depending on the number of attendees), consists of a single sheet and includes plenty of blank space for notes.

Perhaps the most important thing as meeting organiser is that you are likely to be the person best suited to leading the meeting. This in turn means that it is your responsibility to ensure that the meeting progresses as needed. Whilst it is critical that you do not cut off delegates whilst important input is being provided, you must keep the meeting flowing, on topic and ensure that the objectives are achieved. Sometimes this requires that you clarify or restate an objective and ensure that consensus is achieved in plain language from those involved. Other times, this necessitates that you declare a subject closed and introduce the next topic. Done skilfully and correctly, a meeting leader can progress the meeting to a successful close in the most effective manner and with minimal frustration for those involved.

Remember: leading a meeting means just that, you're there to make sure the meeting is led rather than sitting and viewing.



4. Tasks going forward


This is one of the most critical functions of a meeting. The meeting leader needs to make sure that before a meeting is broken up that all tasks going forward are clearly labelled with timescales and taken on by someone. Doing so in the flow of the meeting will ensure that all delegates are aware to whom responsibilities lie and that they cannot feign ignorance or "pass the buck". Doing so ensures all objectives are achieved in a timely manner and those present are certain that the meeting was not fruitless.

On a similar matter, I was once told by a business mentor to "listen to what they say but watch carefully what they do". To this end, make sure that if you are holding a meeting to obtain "buy-in", that you give a small task to those involved who appear to be behind the concepts involved and watch carefully how they manage it. If they're proactive and achieve quickly, take it as a good sign that they are genuinely interested and going to help with your endeavours. If you're chasing them incessantly and they're reluctant to start, assume they're not going to be much help with the process and act accordingly.

Remember: make sure that people understand what they need to achieve going forward. Make sure they're invested



5. Honourable Mention: Death by PowerPoint

Whilst not an exhaustive guide on the use of PowerPoint, it is critical to recognise that poor PowerPoint practice can lead to terrible meetings, stifle creativity and infuriate delegates. Steve Jobs was famous for stating you should "Get your story together before you start on the PowerPoint". Good practice from various points suggests you should "average 40 words per slide" and "challenge yourself to use less words and more visuals".

Unless you really want people to copy or see a phrase in the case of something like a mission statement, you should never, ever put chunks of text or full bullet points on the screen and read them parrot fashion.

Remember: PowerPoint is there for talking points and related visuals, not as a script.



6. Appearances

Remember, whether its a hand out agenda or a PowerPoint, people will at the very least subconsciously look at the design and decide how much time you've spent on either, and thus how much importance you assign to the meeting, and thus the meeting subject and them as delegates. This applies to your appearance and the level to which you've prepared.

Nancy Duarte of Duarte (presentation design and training) suggests that for an hour long PowerPoint, a presenter should spend 90hrs creating it (not just the physical slides but the whole presentation as a package) and stick to around 30 slides. Whilst this could seem excessive, and unobtainable to most, consider the amount of time you've thought about the main points you want to get across, the relevant people and your approach. The time racks up quickly! Remember the main purpose of this time is to ensure that you appear comfortable, confident and competent, in turn making your proposals carry considerably more weight.

Remember: your appearance, both physical and perceived is critically important



Conclusion

Prepare well, appear well and ensure the meeting runs smoothly and people will assume you care about the subject and them. Invite those that matter, don't invite others and ensure your meetings have a successful objective and progress at a reasonable pace, and those around you will come to your meetings and participate effectively giving you the objectives that you need and contributing to your appearance as a successful manager.

Similarly, ensuring your subordinates know how to run a meeting effectively will save you time in the long run and again contribute to their effectiveness, making you look more effective!


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So to recap, what do I do?

If you're running a meeting, make sure you've handled the following points. Similarly, next time you're in a meeting that you've not arranged, look for the following points and see how effectively they've been handled.

1. Are the relevant people there? Did some not attend? Are there other people present that shouldn't be there?
2. Is there a solid objective provided or an obvious objective? Is everyone aware of this in advance of the start of the meeting?
3. Did you get an agenda in advance? Does the meeting lead progress the meeting when required and stay quiet when best appropriate?
4. Did objectives get set at the end of the meeting (if appropriate)? Did they get achieved in a timely fashion?
5. Was there a PowerPoint used? Was it effective or simply embarrassing?
6. Look at the appearances of those present. Who has made an effort and who hasn't, and what in turn does that say about their interest in the task at hand? Was the PowerPoint/agenda formatted carefully?



Follow these points carefully and watch as your meetings become dramatically more effective!

Old Dogs: Looking Successful = Being Successful

It's the start of the week. What better time to learn a new trick? "Old Dogs" is designed to make you more effective by giving you a new skill to practice throughout the week and if it works for you, keep using it! All you have to do is read the article and give it a fair trial.

Can I start by apologising for last week. I've had a crazy one preparing several projects and didn't have time to write any articles. Funnily enough, that's quite against the principles of this article.

A lot of people talk about whether someone is productive, helpful or successful but what they actually mean is that someone appears to be productive, helpful or successful. The interesting thing is that this is a perception of success. Successful people may be perceived as 'useless' if they work in a messy environment, communicate badly or appear to crumble when under pressure. Conversely unsuccessful people may appear to be doing well if they cover their tracks by smooth talking, appearing calm under pressure or working in a tidy manner.

This generally means that regardless of whether you are actually calm or flapping massively, if you give an outward appearance of calm, people will think you're more competent than you feel. You'll have a calming effect on those around you and in turn this will calm you as your environment is less stressful.

Research has shown that those who adopt a persona in this manner generally develop those traits in time. So by acting calm, successful or helpful, you'll become calm successful or helpful instinctively.


So what?

For this week, try the following.

* Come in a little earlier, leave a little later or forgo one break today or tomorrow. Use the time to look at the space you're responsible. Try to see it from an outsider's point of view. Does it look cluttered, hectic or messy? See what you can put away, clear or file. Tidy your cables. Hang your coat. Put your work bag away. Above all, be brutal. For demo purposes, here's a quick snap of my office as it is now, with no tidying.



* Look at your dress and grooming. Are you presentable? Would you be happy with your appearance if the CEO had a surprise meeting? If not, maybe you need to rethink. When adopting these principles a few years ago, I realised that jeans, a t-shirt and a 3-day beard were not acceptable in my role regardless of my long hours or what my co-workers did and made a decision to smarten up. Casual doesn't mean grubby/lazy dress.

* Look for the next 'mini-crisis'. Try to look at yourself from others eyes whilst it's happening or alternatively analyse your responses afterwards. Make sure to leave off the rose-tinted glasses. How do your facial expressions appear? Your body language? Your tone of voice? Around 80% of communication is non-verbal. Make sure yours is confident and positive or at the very least neutral.

* Listen to the words and phrases you use. Whilst you don't have to offer the world or become a doormat and you still have three acceptable answers, are you making a 'mountain out of a molehill' or are you calm? Remember, social convention means you can almost always go away, prepare an answer and come back later.

* Look at your task management. Are you being effective or are you finding reasons to avoid that job you don't want to do? Get on with it and stand out from the crowd as a can-do person.

* Also, whilst on the subject of task management, make sure that you get the important things out quickly. Remember, 'what's important to my boss' is a good mantra, and try to extend this to the company as a whole


Remember...

Theodore Roosevelt said "Speak softly, and carry a big stick". Whilst this post advocates calm and reliability for the most, the ideology of a duck that is calm above the water but paddling furiously underneath, there will be times when you'll need to be loud, and throw your weight around in a real crisis. If you're usually the paragon of calm, when you do raise your voice or look concerned, it will carry far more weight than if you do so all the time.

Old Dogs: Getting Your Outcomes

It's the start of the week. What better time to learn a new trick? "Old Dogs" is designed to make you more effective by giving you a new skill to practice throughout the week and if it works for you, keep using it! All you have to do is read the article and give it a fair trial.

I've had a lot of contact recently about my post about learning styles. The best way to get your preferred outcome from any interaction is still to develop rapport, which can be done using learning styles as a springboard. However, there isn't always the time to do this fully and sometimes you just need some quick and easy responses. Judging from the feedback I've had, people seem to be identifying the styles and using them to develop rapport with others, but are struggling in short interactions where you don't get sufficient time to do this effectively. There are other areas of NLP that can help and this post is about -

"Tricking" the Brain

A great way to get your required outcome quickly is by using verbal cues. The brain is a funny instrument and has to develop shortcuts to be able to function. In fact, if it didn't, you'd be overloaded as you struggled to keep up with all the things you were experiencing.

However, this does mean that you can take advantage of these shortcuts by playing with words. If you need any convincing about the effectiveness of these tools, why not ask terrifying mind-artist Derren Brown when he uses these tools to play a great trick on Simon Pegg. These techniques work even better when you've some rapport with the person in question, but can be used with just about anyone. To get a positive outcome, try one of the following phrases at some point this week:


"When now would be a good time to..."
Throwing the word 'now' into the wrong part of this sentence nonchalantly will slip past most conscious brains. The subconsious however will see 'now' as a good time to do most things and will present it to them as their own idea.


"I, like you..."/"You, like me..."
The conscious brain hears what you expect, a phrase akin to "I'm thinking/acting along the same lines as you in this endeavour". However, the unconscious hears "I like you" or "You like me" with no punctuation and to some extent, believes it.


"Just imagine..."
Can you honestly say that if you hear this, you can avoid imagining whatever is being proposed? Starting any phrase with this will make people envisage what you say in their own preferred learning style. Great for getting people to stop and think about what you're saying


"No, really?"
This is my favourite of all. It's like a subconscious trigger for brains and one you really must try. Look someone in the eyes and ask a question with a variable answer like "How much is this car", "What's the best you can offer" or "How soon can you deliver this project". Then, when they give their answer, keep a poker face and eye contact and say "No. Really." Keep the eye contact/poker face and every time they respond, just repeat "No. Really." It may take a couple of times but watch as they scramble to outdo themselves with their best offers. Insanely powerful, but use sparingly for results when you really need it. Works beautifully on car salesmen!


Try at least one of these things this week and see the results for yourself. Whatever you do, make sure you use "No, really" for a real result.

You, like me, will be amazed with the results!
(see what I did there?)

Task Management

Are you an achiever or a procrastinator? Do other people see you as an effective 'can-do' person or a slow-to-respond roadblock that needs to be placated? Modern organisational power doesn't come from holding people up, it comes from being a can-do team player. Use the tips in this article to make yourself productive and see how in a short space of time you can get more done.

It's funny how there's always at least one person in every organisation that will tell you constantly that they're so busy, and definately too busy to help you. However, the interesting thing is that if you ask the people who interface with them, they'll often tell you that the individual is not doing what they need to. I'm sure you can think of this person. You probably see them on a regular basis and see how their reports and colleagues struggle to pull the dead weight left by the jobs they don't do.

However, there are some simple ways that anyone can avoid becoming this office nightmare. Be more effective and achieve more in the same amount of time. All it takes is a little discipline and these ideas.

1. Do the worst first

Most people cherry pick the jobs they want to do, human nature leads us to this. We're all guilty of working on the things we want to rather than actually getting the heavier, scarier, more important or difficult things done. The bad jobs hang around like dark cloud or a bad smell, spending far too long on your desk and holding others up. Often, these might take two hours or less but lower morale for days or weeks before being completed.

If you actually started on these things and got rid of them quickly, they wouldn't be hanging over your head and you'd be free to get on with the other stuff. Cut the procrastination, get on with it!


2. Is this task really yours?

Not to be a jobsworth but really, look at the tasks you're spending time with. Are they really your tasks or are you doing them because you're getting involved with something that you want to, but has no benefit for you? In a recent post, we looked at building a power base. There is almost always something to be gained by doing extra tasks but never at the cost of your primary role. Besides, passing the more enjoyable tasks back to the person responsible rather than stealing them for yourself will motivate them, keeping them has the opposite effect.

I used to work in an organisation in which people didn't care about this, at all. Led from the top down where an unrelated Director would enjoy 'investigating' conference venues without any real job requirement, rather than deal with their staff, other staff would get involved in things that they didn't need to such as one department lead who seemed to get involved in everything. This meant all decisions were protracted and took almost superhuman effort from everyone who should be involved to get them steered in the correct direction. As Scott Adams wrote in his Dilbert series, [if people are given the opportunity] "we'll have meeting after meeting after meeting, everyone will want to have input because input is much easier than doing real work."


3. Clearing the decks

One of my favourite tricks as a manager was "Tidy Friday". I was introduced to this by a boss of mine early on in my career. Part of the concept was about appearing succesful to other areas of the organisation (a topic I'll cover in more depth later) but a large proportion was effective task management.

Tidy Friday is a concept whereby Fridays are largely used to clear up small jobs that may be lingering. The task list is scrutinised and everything that can be finished and cleared (where feasible) is prioritised and written off by the end of the day. The office is cleared/cleaned and come the new week, there are no lingering tasks that need to be completed.

Part of this helped motivate people because they got into the mindset that things could be achieved by the end of the week and similarly didn't have things hanging over their heads all week. They went home with a smile and came in on Monday able to see the wood for the trees. Also, people outside the department could easily see that the team appeared on top of the workload.

4. "Red hat" time

I worked in an open plan office space for a while and genuinely used to have a red hat. Nowadays, I have an office door that performs the same task. If my hat is on or my door is closed, I'm busy and not to be disturbed.

Particularly for someone like me who wants to provide the best interactions I can with everyone else, this was a difficult one. However, I'm also strongly 'visual' and don't deal well with interruptions at all. In fact I'm not alone, on average it takes someone 20 minutes after an interruption to get back into their task. On top of that, if you, like me are one of the 55% of people that are visual, you're more succeptible than the rest and may take longer than 20 minutes to get back to work.

With careful and selective use of the hat/door, anyone can get through a task in a shorter time than they would otherwise. Other members of staff more often than not respect what you're trying to achieve and are supportive. Often, they'll try it themselves! Just remember to explain your reasoning to people in advance.


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So what do I do?

1. Do the worst first. Take all the tasks you've been putting off and get them done
2. Stick to your tasks or tasks you're doing purely to build a power base. Don't get involved if there's no reason to, especially if it's just because you're avoiding other things.
3. Clear the decks. Tiday Friday gives you a great opportunity to do this.
4. Find your 'red hat'.
5. Profit as you watch your productivity soar.

Manager: The One Way Umbrella

We've all had bad managers in the past. However, it's very easy to criticise the bad points and hard to quantify the good traits that managers have. This post is about the role of a manager as an umbrella. The difference between the worst managers I've ever seen and the best managers I've ever seen are fairly small.

This may be common sense to some and news to others. Line managers are there for two basic purposes as far as employees are concerned. To enable employees to get on with their role by sheltering them from harm, and to get employees noticed for their contributions.


#1 - Selflesness and Promotion

Many people don't notice that the game changes in management. The main difference in being in a leadership role rather than a 'report' role is that your direct performance is no longer in the spotlight from above. Instead, the team that you lead and the achievements that they make will define your success and failure. Fostering a culture in which reports can thrive will allow far greater achievement, be better for the organisation and ultimately make a leader look good.

Effective leaders need to look for opportunities to shine via their staff. It is all too common and easy to take credit for the work of an employee in the eyes of others. If an employee does something worthwhile and the work gets noticed, the manager should be strong enough to point the spotlight at the employee and show their talents.

Being able to stand clear and promote the work of an employee rather than take the credit will be seen in a positive light by those around you. Your reports will take this kindly and invest further into your leadership. Your peers will see that you're the kind of leader that doesn't require false admiration for authentication and you will seem stronger to them as a result.

It is a fallacy of all too many leaders who are concerned that if you do allow your reports into the spotlight, that they may get poached for other roles or it may paint a target on your back and leave you struggling. However, if you take all the credit for achievements, your reports will get disheartened and leave on their own accord, whereas should you be seen as a manager that allows people to shine, you will have your choice of the best across the organsiation as people aspire to be part of your team and you will likely be promoted rather than 'replaced'.


#2 - The Umbrella Effect

The good must come with the bad and we've all seen managers who are able to show the organisation what reports have achieved but also are quick to point the finger of blame when things go awry.

Anyone in a mangerial post has broader shoulders (organisationally speaking) than those who report to him/her. A mistake which may seem crucial and job threatening to an employee will often just be a temporary black mark on a manager. Thus it is crucial that a good leader is able to stand up and take blame (where appropriate) for the actions of their reports. Doing so will foster a culture of innovation and motivate the reports. Not doing so will leave people feeling that in case of mistakes, they're on their own.

A good manager should be able to keep their team working by effectively channeling communication as required. This is not an easy task but is crucial to get right. Although employees should be able to see their achievements recognised, they need to be sheltered from the harsh comments, incidents and trouble that may happen overhead.

A great story comes to mind of a CEO of a magazine company. The success rate of new magazines is low, around 20% in fact. One of the members of the board had tried valiantly to create a new publication and it had failed in the marketplace, costing the company a large amount of money and time. The CEO stood up publicly at the first major meeting after the failure and congratulated her on the hard work that the manager and her team had put into the project. He remarked that the senior team had been behind the project 100% and that whilst it had been a good project, it had simply failed to take root in the market. This gave the employees security to continue to propose new ideas, work on projects and devlop as a good company should.

In a similar manner, the umbrella effect should also be used to shield reports from requests inappropriate in either nature, timing or approach. If all requests for time or resources come through a line manager in proper channels (where appropriate), employees will be able to be far more productive and will not spend time fending off pointless requests that they either can't or won't refuse. If reports are confident that feasible requests will come from the top down or diagonally, they will be more productive as they do the work that a leader proposes as part of the bigger picture.

The other side however is not to micromanage. It is important to allow a team controlled interaction with other parts of the business. Stopping this would mean that all communication would need to come through the manager, taking their time and stifling creativity and communication. “Being a Leader doesn’t mean that you should take over tasks that people could complete themselves” (Gerald Weinberg).
Taking over communication would demotivate just as surely as allowing free reign for other leaders to ride ruffshod over a team.
Also, it is important that a team recieve negative feedback from above. This should not be sugarcoated, but can be toned down to an extent if required.


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Overall

As Robert Townsend said "True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers...
...When the best leader’s work is done the people say ‘We did it ourselves’".

A good leader should be able to let achievements shine through and shelter their reports from issues above. Take charge of the workload and make sure that your peers understand that they need to see you to use your resources, but also that it isn't you that achieves.

Gerald Weinberg said “the purpose of problem solving leadership [is] to create an environment in which many problems will be solved, not just for today, but for the future”. Remember that you aren't just solving issues but you're trying to empower your team to solve their own issues. By taking the credit to their achievements or by being overbearing in their dealings with others, your a few steps down the slippery slope to micromanagment and overwork.

Shouldering responsibility and shunning praise with the one way umbrella may not always be the easy option but is worthwhile nontheless. Do this effectively and not only will your standing from all angles improve, but your team will invest in you as a leader and achievement will rise.

Friday Review: "Up the Organization"

Please note: I buy all these books. There are no freebies, no kickbacks and I would not take them if offered. These reviews are an honest representation of my thoughts having read the entire book, not just part of it (hence the delay in review as I worked evenings last week).

Released 1970
Robert Townsend

Basic Synopsis: Become a better manager in bite sized chunks.

This book covers a huge variety of topics, some oft covered, some not so such as:

• Laywers
• Mistresses
• Meetings
• Office space

Throughout his career, Robert Townsend managed to lead organisations such as Avis and American Express to greater things through his common sense approach. This book aims to empart those in simple language to all that read it. Although rapidly approaching the half century, this book is still almost as relevant as it was when written. Some license has to be taken to replace 'memorandum' with 'email' and skip over the comments about the steno-pool and the immensely dated "Guerilla guide for Working Women", but there are some fantastic points in there that ring as true today as in 1970.

The format is dictionary style, a brain dump in alphabetical order. At the back are also some further points he must have felt less important, along with a quiz to rate management effectiveness. Overall, it is quite accessible and simple for anyone to take something from, regardless of the level, and it really does hit everyone at some point. Whether as reminder, pointer or first time idea, the points covered are well thought out and things that we would all do well to remember such as:

“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers... ...When the best leader’s work is done the people say ‘We did it ourselves’”

“When you’re on a business trip or vacation, pretend to be a customer and call the office and ask for help….Then try calling yourself up and see what indignities you’ve built into your own defences.”

“Don’t hire a master to paint you a masterpiece and then assign a roomful of schoolboy-artists to look over his shoulder and suggest improvements”

The book is available now from Amazon and eBay, and for pennies. As such a simple read, I would propose it to all. Another for my shelf.

Old Dogs: Acceptable Answers

It's the start of the week. What better time to learn a new trick? "Old Dogs" is designed to make you more effective by giving you a new skill to practice throughout the week and if it works for you, keep using it! All you have to do is read the article and give it a fair trial.

Recently, I received some feedback from my colleagues about my outward responses to requests. I was told that every time I was asked to do something I perceived as 'difficult', that I would take great pains to explain the difficulties and explain how complex their requests were. This, I was told, came off as being defensive and in some cases, hostile. Whilst I am in a technical role, this is not a good behaviour to have with people outside of my department and certainly not the kind of image I'm attempting to cultivate.

Shortly afterwards, I read some research that resonated strongly with me. The research dictated that there are only three acceptable answers to any enquiry:

"Yes.", "No." and "I don't know."

And the point is?

Remembering that there are only three answers makes working interactions far more simple. Using these answers, you are able to instantly let people know your response and enable them to get on with their role more effectively.

It is important to remember that "I don't know" is not a sign of weakness. Indeed, put yourself in their shoes and think. Would you rather have someone give you an instant answer when they may not be certain of the validity or would you rather they went away for an hour and came back with the accurate and proper response. "I don't know" can also be a powerful tool. If you, like me, tend to appear defensive, it can give you the time to prepare a succinct and reasonable response to a query, and to think about your reasoning.

Finally, people can appreciate the brevity of such responses. If people don't need to know why or how, don't tell them. More often than not, I find that responses other than this (especially from IT people) are only trying to make tasks seem more impressive and complex, and the provider more powerful. In actuality this often has the reverse effect and not explaining the intricacies will often convey more professionalism, enabling everyone to get back to their role with only the information they need as soon as possible.


How do I try it?

For the rest of this week, make a real effort to only reply to queries from anyone with a succinct "Yes", "No" or "I don't know". Before adding to these responses, stop and think, does the other person actually need to know this?

Most importantly though, if you're unsure of something, make use of "I don't know" (but don't forget to tell them that you will find out!). People will find the admission refreshing. It will make you appear more at ease with the concept that you may not have all the answers and subsequently, appear more powerful.


Give it a shot, and watch your stock rise!

Old Dogs: Understanding Learning Styles

It's Monday morning. What better time to learn a new trick for the week? "Old Dogs" is designed to make you more effective by giving you a new skill to practice throughout the week and if it works for you, keep using it! All you have to do is read the article and give it a fair trial.

I used to think that everyone was 'wired' pretty much the same. That people thought the same but used the things they'd learned from past experience to shape their current viewpoint. I was wrong.

People have fundamental differences in the way they work and this is one of the simplest. Everybody sees the world through a mixture of three senses - visual, auditory and kinisthetic (feelings) - and the order in which they prioritise these has a bigger effect on their actions than you might think. For example if you walk into a meeting and don't address the kinisthetic person fairly quickly, they're likely to feel upset - even if they don't know why. If the person presenting is strongly Visual and you interrupt to ask a question, they may easily lose their train of thought and if you present to auditory people with a droning monotone voice, they'll switch off quickly.


And the point is?

Although I'll cover this in more depth in a few weeks, people really do like people like themselves. If you can present something in their style, you can interact with them far more successfully, you are more likely to 'sell' them something (ideas/yourself), and often build a good relationship between yourself and others far more easily than you would otherwise.


There are two approaches to dealing with this:

1. For large groups, you can pre-program your actions to hit all of the people in the right order (trust me, you really can do this)
2. When interacting with one, two or three people, you can easily identify their styles and tailor your approach to them individually.

So how do you identify them?

Using their eyes is one way. Wait until they try to remember something. When remembering:

• Visual people look up and right or off into space as they recall a picture of their memory
• Auditory people look left or right (towards their ears) as they recall the sounds of the memory
• Kinisthetic people look down and right as they recall how a memory made them feel

Another way is through the words they use:

• Visual people will use phrases like "I see what you mean" or "looks straightforward to me" and will often speak rapidly or high pitched
• Auditory people will say "I hear what you're saying" or "It sounds like.." and will speak evenly with a well modulated and interesting voice
• Kinisthetic people will say "I get what you're saying" or "I feel that" and will speak slowly and deeply with noticeable pauses

So that's all well and good - what do I need to know about dealing with these people?


Visual people (55% of people)

• Be patient. They'll want to see all the options
• Move more during interactions
• Include images or visuals in presentations
• Try not to interrupt them as they have difficulty getting back on track
• 'Show' them how to do something
• Understand that they think on their feet quicker

Auditory people (30% of people)

• Don't use loud noises as this will distract people
• They may talk to themselves
• They would prefer you to speak in an interesting and well modulated tone
• Make presentations succinct and to the point
• Let them talk to you

Kinisthetic people (15% of people)

• Address them FIRST!
• Will need longer to process information and ideas
• Do not deal with logic/rational argument well
• Respond to emotionally charged presentations
• Their gut reactions usually lead their thoughts

How do I try it?

Although people do swap recall systems, they will have one that they use most, their primary recall. Have a quick brush up on the section on spotting the cues and go talk to someone, then watch where they look when recalling. If they're not doing this on their own accord, you can ask them a memory based question to prompt them such as 'what was xxx talking about last week' or 'where was that meeting'. Also, listen to their words and the way they talk. By 'faking' their recall system and using their language, you will find that your interaction goes far more smoothly.

If you're going into a meeting and you know someone is kinisthetic, greet them first (k) as well as trying to respond to their questions first. Make sure you speak in an even and well modulated voice (a), use a visually interesting presentation (v) with something to touch (k) and an emotional charge (k). Use audible cues (a) where appropriate, try not to break off in the middle (v) and use a variety of styles to phrase your presentations. Also, make sure there is logic behind your arguments (a) and enough of the options are discussed (v).



Whilst this may not be easy in the short term, do it often enough and you'll internalise the behaviour. This will give you great insight into how any minds work and a great way to make people more receptive, and improve their perception of you dramatically.


Try it. You'll be astounded.

Friday Review: "Good Boss, Bad Boss"

Please note: I buy all these books. There are no freebies, no kickbacks and I would not take them if offered. These reviews are an honest representation of my thoughts having read the entire book, not just part of it.

Released 2010
Robert L Sutton

Basic Synopsis: Tools and discussion on the intricacies of managing without missing the mark.

This book covers many things that this blog aims to impart, such as:

• Mindset
• Dealing with others
• Shielding
• Taking control

The book is a much lighter read than some management books and comes filled with anecdotes and stories to illustrate points. Most of the theories are backed up with either an anecdote or research, although this manages to do so without being tedious or impinging the flow like others may. It seems to be aimed at both the mid-beginner level and also the 'can always do better' type and through a mix of glossing over/revising quickly basic concepts and plenty of useful, practical good ideas, definitely hits both targets.

It goes into some depth with some fantastic ideas such as how to apologise effectively, identifying and dealing with rotten apples and stars, and how to encourage a happy workforce, often providing simple checklists or action steps to do so. Some gems lifted straight from the book are:

"Fight as if you’re right, listen as if you’re wrong"

"The best bosses find the sweet spot between acting like spineless wimps who always do just as they’re told vs insubordinate rabble-rousers who challenge and ignore every order and Standard Operating Procedure"

The book is available now from Amazon and eBay, and for such a low price, I have to suggest that you get a copy. I know mine is going back on the shelf and will be used for reference, again and again.

Adoption, change management and dealing with others

No matter what role you have in any organisation, you will need to achieve "buy in" from colleagues, bosses and employees. This can take many guises, from implementing a multi-million pound project to changing the supplier of the headed notepaper. This is never an easy task but made far simpler if you have more power. Whilst some power can definitely help with this, it's not the be-all and end all of the process.

Many moons ago, I worked for a firm where I had been building my power base steadily and after badgering from the sales team leaders, decided it was time to take on a big project, possibly outside my traditional remit. The project was a Customer Relationship Management system which would bring me from my back office IT into scary places like "Business Process Management".

The project went well, and a lot of this can be attributed to the preparation work I'd done. Although I will go into it in greater depth later, in "Building a Power Base" I skimmed over the importance of understanding your organisation. Because I'd taken the time to understand the team, their challenges, their mindsets and most importantly their fears, I was in a good position to handle these in advance.

I wrote a basic proposal, presented it to the board, wrote a full blown project plan and met with the heads of the teams affected individually and discussed it, then implemented. Once the project was in, I publicly held a small early adoption group, took their feedback on board and reimplemented. I then devised a training plan aimed specifically at the needs of the teams and delivered it tailored to their strong points. Following this, a periodic review was held and this helped keep the project on track even once implemented.


There are a number of tools that can help the novice project leader to try and anticipate how the project will pan out and to look and be more effective throughout. A great change management tool that really helps with the whole process is the change cycle (below), which allows you to keep a rough track of what stage the project is at and also what kind of reactions you can expect. This model can be applied to the project as a whole, or individuals and is a good way to prepare other people involved with the project for the likely nature of the adoption before the project starts. It also helps motivate yourself through the difficult phases by reminding you that the project will come out the other side.

Also, the "diffusion of innovation" model (below) applies to most projects and is helpful to look at the overall project to figure out roughly how far through the cycle the whole of the organisation is as a whole. This also helps to tailor a targeting strategy for the remaining people who haven't adopted yet

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Learn from my mistakes

Even though the planning was extensive, the approach was well thought out and the system excellent, the project wasn't a total success. I was working with people far more 'organisationally powerful' (in a higher role) than me, didn't have enough power to pull it off on my own and attempts to engage my boss and other allies couldn't pull the whole company through the process. In a small part, I can lay a little blame at my boss's door for not pulling more weight. However, when it became apparent that the head of sales wasn't going to do their part, I should have acted sooner. If I'd have taken opportunities to bring this up constructively either directly with them, with their manager (the MD) or perhaps more strongly with my boss, I could have saved myself many sleepless nights and made the project run far smoother. Lesson #1: problems usually don't just 'go away'. If you think there is a problem, there probably is and you need to deal with it NOW before it gets out of hand.

However, in retrospect I didn't have true buy-in at any point from the four team leaders or the head of sales and if I'd realised this sooner, I could have made a greater success of the project. Lesson #2: if you go around trusting everybody, you will be frequently disappointed. On the surface, they were all supportive and spoke well about how they were on board both privately and in public. However, it had escaped my attention that they hadn't actually done anything. Deadlines had rolled past without input and I was constantly chasing them. Lesson #3: listen to what they say but watch carefully what they do. This was because they didn't want to be seen as the bad guys by forcing the teams to do these administrative tasks, which took time away from their other activities. Lesson #4: ask for a small task first to see if they’re actually interested in taking part. If they don't complete it, they're wasting your time and theirs.

I should have confronted them. Not with a shouting match, but just by saying I had a feeling they had some issues with what I was doing and I needed to understand what and why. In actuallity, the teams weren't driven to use the system, the blame for the extra admin work came to me and the system took a lot longer to get going. Not productive.

Methodically building a Power Base

First thing's first. Power is not a dirty word. Especially when used in this context. I'm not talking about some voodoo you lord over your colleagues in some sort of power-mad display of bravado and alpha-male (or alpha-female) "assholery". Power in this context refers to organisational perception, the manner in which others see you and are likely to turn to you for help or offer support to you and truly ethical ways to increase your standing.

As I've mentioned before, when I first left University, I expected a £30k job to drop into my lap. Three months later I'd realised that wasn't going to happen. I'd worked 12hr nights in an injection moulding factory, done 'filling' work on fireplaces and carried paving slabs for a man I nicknamed 'Miserable Builder', all whilst sending out hundreds of CVs for roles I felt qualified for, mostly with no response.

Eventually, I decided - get a role. Get something, anything and build up some experience. I applied for a raft of positions which I felt far overqualified for and started into a role paying £11k on the bottom rung in a small team working in a school. This would turn out to be a fantastic stroke of luck. See, what I hadn't thought about was my "power base" and I'd lucked into a role where it was simple to get one.

The small department thing meant that everyone was involved in everything and I could get involved in what I wanted. Enthusiasm was sometimes lacking for the more mundane so I started by taking the crummy tasks. The 'boring stuff' is a great way to show that you can do things properly and show a little flair as well as get an extensive knowledge of day-day operations. I soon noticed some things we could do better with certain ideas and with my direct manager being responsible for all IT, I could suggest these to him.

Everyone likes to look good. Especially when you've not had to put the effort in yourself. My boss wanted to look like he ran an effective department with limited resources. My ideas were taken up to improve efficiency and I was given some credit to the wider organisation for my work. It is always important to keep in mind the phrase "What's important to my boss"

Whilst doing basic and mundane tasks, you also find that you become the company 'expert' in something. People then start to come to you because you know the most about the core systems in the organisation. This is power. Look at Frank Stanton. After getting his PHD, he started at CBS as one of three lowly researchers in 1936 and by using these techniques, he built a "power base" and became Vice President of CBS in just six years.

With these minor successes and my knowledge under my belt, I found a hole for a great project, used my spare time to carefully write a proposal and gave it to my boss. I'd proven myself capable with my small wins and got the go-ahead to project manage and implement my own project. This gained wide accolade, led to other projects and a raft of points for my CV.

With the reputation of these successes and all the understanding of the business gained from the "crummy jobs", this subsequently meant that I was able to take the management role when my boss left just a year later.

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Power Bases Recap

DO:

• take a starter role in a department where your skills make you a 'shining star'
• ideally take a role in a smaller department where you can get experience of many business processes
• take all the crummy tasks you can to prove yourself reliable and learn more about the business
• take tasks regardless of whether they're in your 'department' - better they aren't as this dramatically increases your power base
• always keep in mind "what's important to my boss"
• work hard on all your tasks to make sure they come in on time and you and your boss look good
• make sure that your boss doesn't take all the credit (a good boss shouldn't)
• be mindful of office politics - sometimes doing tasks for another department can be seen as a bad thing by others

DON'T:

• spend time telling everyone how great you are - a good boss should be doing some of this and word of mouth or visibility of tasks and projects the rest
• overburden yourself with tasks at the expense of your main role
• push your nose in where it isn't welcome - offer to do tasks if the opportunity arises but don't go looking for them
• hold information to yourself - this is an 'old' view of power and nowadays just causes irritation to others when most people expect information on demand
• take on tasks and lose interest - psychological research shows that bad things are five times as memorable as good things
• forget to add things to your CV as you go - polishing it along the way helps it stay fresh when you need it and helps the enthusiasm and nuances of your tasks shine through

Careers

Career progression is never easy. If it was, it wouldn't be worth doing. Fact.

Let's face it. If you're anything like me, whilst you were at school, too young to know better, you were probably told that you couldn't be a racing driver and realised becoming a football player was impossible and you were told that you had to choose a career. Suddenly, thinking "I'll get started on my career when I graduate" or just "I'll get a job after school" wasn't an option and you had to make decisions that would shape the rest of your life.

My choice was IT and I want to state right here right now that some of these posts will will be with an IT bent, but this is not an IT Manager specific blog. IT was something that I'd always enjoyed and had an aptitude for. However, I wasn't satisfied with just working in IT. I was damn sure I was going to be up with the big players, and I was willing to work to do it too. In fact, I'm aiming to make CIO/CTO by the age of 40.

When you come out of University nowadays, you've been told for three years that the world is waiting for you and that you'll roll into a £30k job. Then the real world slaps you across the face and you realise that your qualification isn't really going to help anything and that you need a new plan.

I wanted to get ahead, but I found that the workplace is confusing and social skills to do so are hard to get right. Through this blog, I hope to shed light on all those things that I always thought everyone else just knew. The kind of things that are so obvious when you hear them, and so integral to your day to day life when you have them, you wonder how you did without them. Also, I want to make sure you can learn from my mistakes and keep these things as a record for my further perusal.

I will cover general leadership, organisation, organisations, NLP, management, social and interaction skills, presentation skills, appearance (yes, really), motivation, project management, social media, 'power' and coping strategies for the aspiring manager. All of this will be shown through research, books/further reading and real life experience.

Let's kick it off shall we?