A Retinal Retrospective
In 2023 I received what for me could be called a major “reality check”.
Whilst having dinner with friends and trying to dislodge a piece of food stuck between my teeth with a toothpick, I suffered a detached retina. For anyone who doesn’t know, this is when the layer of cells responsible for your sight literally “peels off” the back of the eyeball, releasing blood into the liquid inside the eyeball. For me, it was like somebody had poured treacle into my eyeball and my vision became blurry.
One month later I finally managed to get an appointment with an eye specialist who took one look at me and immediately called their colleagues at the local hospital to schedule a full checkup and surgery. Apparently, I was on the point of losing sight in my right eye!
The next day I was examined at the hospital, taken straight up to a ward and operated on early the following morning. The surgery was a success but they did warn me that at my age, it was highly likely that a cataract would form. This, however, could be treated with a standard lens replacement operation.
True to their word, the cataract did form and for me it was like looking through a heavily frosted glass window if I looked out of my right eye only. After the surgery, the vision in my right eye was just short of “perfect”!
The reason I describe this as a “wake up call” was that it showed me how dependent I was on having good eyesight. I drive, enjoy reading and watching films and I’m what people might call a “visual” person. It terrified me to think that all this could have disappeared if the doctors hadn’t seen me in time. Yes, it was only one eye, but losing the site in that eye (which was my “dominant” one) would have been a serious inconvenience for me.
However, the ending was a happy one, I can see almost perfectly and even now, three years after the operation for the detached retina and two years after the one for the cataract, I still sometimes forget to put on my glasses when I leave the house. This just shows the incredible skill of the surgeons who operated on me.
Yes, I’m more or less back to “normal”, but I now take my eyesight and hearing a lot more seriously and attend “religiously” all scheduled health checkups and appointments that my age requires.
Question: what would you do if you were deprived of one of your senses? How would it impact your life, family and business? Are you making sure it doesn’t happen? More to the point, apply this to your team: is there that “vital” person with whom you can’t do without? What about buyers? If you lost business from one, would that bring down your business?
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork
Too Much Time...?
As leaders, apart from “strategic thinking”, we spend much of our time dealing with people and people issues.
Something that’s become very clear to me over the years I’ve led people is that if one spends too much time discussing a particular worker, there’s potentially a problem.
It doesn’t matter whether one’s discussing face-to-face or just spending time thinking. The point is, too much time is being devoted to one person and we may not be getting the best return as it takes us away from more important strategic issues and the other people we work with.
Worse, if others perceive but there’s a problem as well, it impacts morale and reduces productivity.
One of the more unpleasant tasks of leaders is disciplining a team member who’s not “doing their bit”. Often, they’re doing the work they’re meant to (and even doing it well) but this doesn’t stop there being an issue. It just makes it more difficult to counsel them when the issue is personality rather than productivity.
Gorick Ng - a coach that I follow regularly - distinguishes between three key areas for performance which he terms the “3 Cs”:
- Competence (being able to do the job)
- Commitment: (wanting the job and wanting to do it)
- Compatibility (“fitting in” with one’s teammates and the organisational culture)
Generally, when there’s a problem, it’s usually in one of these areas.
Somebody may be committed and compatible, but not competent. This can be resolved with coaching.
Equally, they may be perfectly competent and compatible, but that “vital spark” seems to have disappeared (commitment lacking). Here, there may be a reason: were they passed over for promotion? Are they unhappy with the latest bonus or salary increment? Are they having problems at home?
Whatever happens, a properly conducted one-to-one session may highlight the problems and suggest solutions.
Finally, they may be competent and committed; they just don’t “fit in’ for whatever reason. This isn’t always something that can be resolved through coaching, although one-to-one sessions may help. The question here is: why were they hired if they didn’t fit? The answer is either that the interviewer or interviewers thought they would fit in or something else may have happened after they were hired into the team. Were they, for example, transferred from one team in which they fitted perfectly into one that was different? Is it a case of simply moving them to another team and/or manager?
Assuming these options are open, they need to be tried. Unfortunately, in some small teams or businesses the only choice is to speak to the person concerned, state the problem in the most succinct and acceptable way, and see if they wish to find a resolution. The final option is that they leave the business which then means that they have to be replaced.
At times, the team leader and/or the team may feel that the proverbial pain of the final solution is worth it.
Interestingly enough, the person concerned often knows that something’s wrong if they’re not feeling committed to or happy in the team. They just don’t know how to go about addressing the situation without a hearing. In this case reaching out to them may make all the difference.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Leadership, Teamwork
Failing to Plan?
Two countries attacked a third at the end of February 2026. The business lessons we can learn are:
- Define the goal: the purpose of doing anything is to accomplish something. In this case, there was a degree of uncertainty in what the goal was. It was separately described as: destroying that country ’s missile capability, destroying their nuclear enrichment capability (which had, apparently, being “obliterated” in 2025) and to destroy its navy.
- Without a clear goal, we can’t plan how to get there. This is somewhat like asking a builder to build us a house but not providing any plans specifying how many floors it should have, construction materials, number of rooms, fixtures and fittings and so on.
- The what/why/when/how/where/who? Some may recognise these as Rudyard Kipling’s “Six Honest Serving Men” but they help to define all parts of a strategy. Without them, we tend to flail around.
- Contingency planning: in this case, allies in the region and further afield were hit by drones targeting both military and civilian installations.
- How will we know when we’ve achieved success? A gain, without a clearly defined goal and measurable steps to achieve it, we don’t know if we’ve succeeded or not.
For someone who claimed to be one of the world’s most successful businessmen and dealmakers, it’s surprising that the head of state in question didn’t follow these steps, resulting in leadership and economic chaos.
As business leaders, our job is to set direction with clear goals to achieve our desired objective. Yes, that objective can change depending on circumstances, but with proper contingency planning, we can adjust to those changes and still achieve what we set out to do.
Our second job is to empower our people with the correct knowledge, tools, financial resources and any other that they may need to achieve that goal.
The third is to monitor progress, intervening where required to move things along.
Finally, when we “get there” we need to lead the celebrations!
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork
Start As You Intend to Continue
Something my colleagues and I noticed in one of the organisations in which I worked was that, if somebody was “difficult” during the onboarding process, they were likely to be difficult throughout the relationship.
I can’t say if this was a case of “correlation” as opposed to “causation”, but what I can say is that we very often found this to be the case.
We all understand that different organisations have their own “way of doing things” and that, if we really wish to deal with them then we have no choice but to accept. There may become a point in time, though, when the phrase “enough is enough” springs to mind when we realise that the amount of effort involved to begin or continue that relationship is simply not worth the returns.
This applies whether one is the organisation “onboarding” someone or the one being “onboarded”.
Sometimes, we may have no choice, especially if dealing with monopoly providers, governments or other regulatory bodies on whom we depend for the continuation of our business or some service that no other organisation can provide. There have come points in time, though, when we decided in various organisations in which I worked that it was better to terminate the relationship than face the increasing costs of dealing with that counterparty.
Everybody needs their “bureaucracy”, especially where processing high volumes of material to deliver uniform services across a large body of customers. In the end though, such complexity costs the organisation in terms of money and resources to manage it as well as its clients or counter parties. At a time when business conditions are becoming increasingly challenging there’s a risk that we may lose business to bureaucracy. As business leaders, we need, where possible, to ensure that our process it:
- Result in the service we say they should.
- Are easy to use.
- Provide an enjoyable if not fun experience.
Doing this will result in increased productivity from our own people as well as growing and repeat customer satisfaction.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Selling, Teamwork
“We Can’t Afford to Lose…”
Do you have one of those “amazing people” who just seems to know everything, do it all, work long hours, never say no to anything, is vital to the business?
If so, how much falls on their shoulders?
How “vital” are they to the organisation in terms of their institutional knowledge, their customer knowledge, the trust that organisation leaders place in them, being a “backbone” of their function or the organisation?
If you can name someone like this in your organisation, you have a potential leadership issue coming up. This doesn’t mean there’s competition for the top slot (far from it!) The problem is that this person may be rapidly burning out and will leave at the worst possible time simply because they can’t “take any more”.
Laurie DeSalvo suggests several remedies in LinkedIn to make sure that:
The organisation retains that person and their knowledge/abilities.
Reduce the number of hours they work.
Build relief into the team.
Give that person space to lead instead of always “firefighting”.
Reduce risk.
Improve decision-making.
If leaders are “drowning”, they don’t need extra “coaching” or to be told to “prioritise better”, let alone “push more for just a little longer”. DeSalvo points out that the descriptions given above are not about performance, they’re about capacity. To quote the famous line from the film Avatar, “It is hard to fill a cup which is already full.”
As leaders, it’s our job to spot these “critical people” and to ensure they have the real support that they need. Yes, there’s a cost in hiring an additional person to support them. The question to ask, however, is, “if we don’t do this now and pay the price, what will the cost be to us if this person leaves?”
Different people have different limits; as leaders, we need to be able to spot them.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork
My Word is my Bond
In the “Old Days”, deals were sealed with a handshake. If you didn’t do what you said you would do when you said you would do it and at the price you had agreed, you quickly earned a reputation of an unreliable business partner.
Fast forward to the modern era of contracts where now no business deal can be sealed without a contract equal in thickness to the Encyclopaedia Britannica or some other weighty volume. Although these days we have the advantage of “soft copies” on computers, they must nevertheless be validated and may often still be printed out.
Contracts aside, as business owners and leaders, we undertake to do certain things for others: our staff, our business partners, our friends and family. Although these aren’t “written agreements”, and certainly can’t be enforced in a court of law, when we say that we’ll do something for someone, we’re undertaking something and building an expectation that we can be relied upon to do it.
Too often, however, the excuses start here: “It was a bad day for me!”, “I was busy.” (a favourite against which there is no real argument in theory), “We had an emergency.” (yes, these happen, but did we contact the other person to say it had happened and that we’d be delayed?) or “X, Y or Z got in the way).
In the case of verbal undertakings, our word is still our bond and people judge us on whether we keep our promises or not. There are certain individuals whom I have classified as “unreliable” and “easily distracted”. In fact, in the latter case, I know that I can manipulate them simply by creating a “distraction” if I want them to forget that I’ve undertaken something for them!
Not to deliver on one’s undertakings is, in some people’s opinion, an egregious illustration of “moral bankruptcy”. Everyone understands that emergencies can and do arise, or that something may distract us, but we still need to remember that we’ve undertaken to do something for someone by a certain time and that, if we find ourselves unable to do it because of unforeseen and uncontrollable external circumstances that have suddenly risen, the least we can do is contact the other person to explain the situation and that we’ll get back on it.
If we find that people start to avoid us, not deal with us or not be prepared to provide references for us, this could be the reason. For some, “once is enough”; others may be more patient but still after one or two more instances of failure to deliver, they’ll label that person as “unreliable”.
With all the alternatives out there, keeping our “word” is more important than ever.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Social
Some Employees Aren’t Easy to Replace…
Yes, you can replace the body, but not someone who’s dependable, hard-working, dedicated, knows the systems and customers.
Unless we’re running a sole proprietorship, we depend on people to make and/or to deliver the products/services that our business provides to its customers.
Not every one of these people will be a “high-flyer” destined for the “C-Suite” or chairmanship. Many more will simply be, as already mentioned, dependable, hard-working, dedicated, good with their customers and “good at their job”. It makes little sense to destroy this value - how much does it cost us to replace someone in terms of lost goodwill, knowledge (both of the business, its products and systems and of its customers)?
Some organisations are said to take the view that they should be removing the lowest tier of performers on an annual basis. Part of the reason is to give the “up-and-coming high-flyers” a chance to move up the ladder (until they’re finally promoted as far as they can go) or perhaps to encourage all employees to perform at the highest level (but there'll still be "lower-performing" people). Whilst admirable in its own right, the risk of such a policy is to promote unhealthy competition, back-stabbing, resentment, low morale and loss of systems and customer knowledge.
We don’t want people to feel complacent because they’re “indispensable” but we do need to maintain a balance between “removing dead wood” and simply promoting a toxic climate of fear.
In our own business, experience is what counts the most in the advice we give. We’re lucky enough to have people who are dedicated and hard-working when needed, but the only time we would ask someone to leave is if they’re being “carried” by the rest of the team. Mercifully, this has happened only once. The only other occasion has been when the member of staff concerned destroyed morale in the team. The day after they had left, the change in atmosphere and attitude amongst the team was incredible!
People management is never easy. However, we need to be aware of the “move out the low performers” attitude dominating our business and distracting us from our true purpose: serving our customers.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy
The Cost of Getting it Wrong
My wife and I had an experience that just went to show what the costs of “getting it wrong” can be.
Without going into detail, we’d decided we needed to carry out a certain piece of admin which involved adding me to a bank account. My wife had called in advance to find out what documents were required and these we duly prepared.
On the day, we went to the bank with the documents we’ve been told to bring only to be told that two additional documents were needed.
No apology. No acknowledgement that we had just spent an hour out of our business (total two full-time hours) to go there. No suggestions of how to remedy the situation (that was left to my wife!)
We managed to catch the manager who spoke to the staff member with whom my wife had spoken before. That person claimed they had tried to call my wife back to advise of the additional documentation needed but had not gone through. To be fair, my wife had been somewhere where receiving calls was impossible, so if they had tried calling her at this time, they wouldn’t have succeeded. However, the next day she was back and could’ve received calls. They also had an email address which could’ve been used. It wasn’t.
The costs? To the bank concerned, nothing in financial terms but a loss of faith in their professionalism. In fact, there will be a financial cost as we decided to move that particular part of business to a competitor… Oh, and a negative customer experience story to tell.
To us? As mentioned earlier, the time spent getting documents together, two hours away from our business at the bank (that cost can be quantified in financial terms) and general annoyance.
The advantage, however, was that we now had valuable information on how that organisation did business.
“Getting it right” can be extremely challenging when one’s faced with staff turnover, changing regulations, and a host of other factors. However, finding solutions to a problem that one has oneself caused is well within our control. The first step would have been an apology (which we finally got an hour later, and grudgingly, from the manager).
It takes little effort to move one’s service standard from “mediocre” to “good”. However, many organisations don’t realise that this is all it will take to differentiate themselves from their competition.
As business leaders, our job’s to make sure that our services and products are the best they can be and that, if any problems arise, they are handled quickly, professionally and show the customer why they were right to do business with us.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Selling
It’s What We Can’t Imagine That Matters
I came across one of the most telling points about risk management: it’s the risks we can’t imagine that matter most.
Humans aren’ t good at managing risk because it’s all about imagination. We’re great at responding to things or crises that have just happened as we take the view that what has just happened is most likely to happen again. Where we fall down is imagining a crisis before it happens and taking action to prevent it.
As someone who’s often charged with assessing “risk”, it made me sit up and think. Am I guilty of the same weakness as others? Does it help, when identifying and assessing risk, to do it as a team project where, with luck, one team member may imagine the exact risk that will occur?
There’s an anecdote about the special forces operation that captured Osama bin Laden. When the operators were planning and were asked what the worst thing that could happen might be, one of them replied “Suppose one of the helicopters crashes?” Some told him not to put a “jinx” on the mission. However, that was exactly what happened!
We don’t know if the other operators paid attention to what he said. Luckily, they’d planned for it and we know that everybody got out.
Our problem is, we can’t imagine things that are outside our experience or horizons of imagination. In day-to-day life, I come across occasions when people don’t seem to “get” certain situations. This isn’t their fault, it’s just that they simply have no frame of reference for that occurrence whereas others do.
In the end, the question we need to ask ourselves is not, “what’s the worst that could happen?” so much as, "What’s the worst that could happen that we're unable to imagine at this point?”
At the moment, the only conclusion I can draw is that we have to deal with what happens that we haven’t been able to imagine when it occurs (the eruption of the COVID pandemic is a prime example).
Another solution may be to have “risk brainstorming” sessions that involve panels of people chosen from different functions, areas and levels of experience of the world. Adopting an “I can do it all attitude” maybe our surest route to the very disaster that we want to avoid.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Risk, Strategy, Teamwork
The Dead Horse Theory: A Simple Lesson for Leaders
Muhammad F reminded me of a great theory in LinkedIn in October last year: “If you realise you’re riding a dead horse, the best thing to do is get off.”
But in many organisations, instead of getting off the horse, people often:
· Use a stronger whip to try to make the horse move.
· Form a team to study the horse.
· Send employees to training on how to ride dead horses.
· Rename the horse to make it sound better, like calling it “energy-challenged”.
· Promote the dead horse to a higher position, hoping it inspires others.
The Lesson:
When something isn’t working any more, whether it’s a plan, project or strategy, we need to stop wasting time and energy on it. It may be an unwillingness to admit we’re wrong to others, an inability to see there’s a problem or other causes.
As leaders, our job is to understand what’s going on, admit that there’s a problem, let it go and focus on something that works.
Happy New Year.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
Leading Through Crisis
Something I’ve discovered through experience is that most of the time, we’re not judged by how we handle “business as usual” but rather by how we respond in a crisis.
My first ever experience as a newly qualified manager in one of the world's global banks was when our bank was asked to absorb the business of another which was being closed for a number of reasons into which I won’t go into here. Our business literally doubled overnight and we had neither the systems, manpower nor infrastructure to cope. We did it because Senior management showed the qualities outlined below.
A “crisis” could be anything:
- A competitor suddenly launching a new product.
- An unfavourable change in legislation.
- War breaking out.
- A customer complaining.
- A pandemic (most of us will remember this!)
“Crisis management” is very different from “business as usual management”. Most of us can probably remember a time when a “crisis” erupted and someone let us through it calmly and successfully.
Harry Karydes identifies seven key qualities of a good “crisis leader”:
They stay calm. Fear is contagious, so is calmness. Some people just seem to remain calm, whatever's happening around them. They're the ones around whom people gather when things get tough. Rudyard Kipling in his poem If sums it up well: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you… you’ll be a man, my son!“
They acknowledge that there’s a problem. If you’re the only one pretending everything‘s okay when others can see it isn’t, who do you think they’ll trust? Be honest: point out the challenge but give hope.
They give direction: people are looking for what to do. We need to remind them of what we’re really looking to “get to”, not just what we’re looking to “get through”.
They communicate: if they know something, they share it and also they share what they don’t know! Assumptions fill the place of the confusion caused by silence.
When they make decisions, they do it based on principles rather than because “they must do something”. They base their decisions on values.
When people make an effort or achieve something (however small) they recognise that effort and praise even small wins. They also offer support.
They act as the “thermostat” rather than the “thermometer”. This means they set the tone in the crisis, remaining steady, strong and “human”.
The loudest person in a crisis isn’t a leader - they’re more likely to be a liability. They don’t panic instead, what they do is provide clarity, direction, support and praise.
My own experience has shown me that it’s all too easy to get caught up in “crisis mode”. The pressure to do something can be enormous and everyone is looking at the leader to do that thing. Panic simply breeds more panic, fear and confusion.
Equally, we’re all taught to have “crisis plans” to cater for various contingencies and events. Whilst these are a great framework, as one person so rightly pointed out, “crises don’t come with instructions. Nor do they give any warning.”
What gets us through crisis is “resilience” - that indefinable ability to stay calm, analyse the situation, understand the underlying issue/cause and then be clear about how to go about it.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork
The “3 CS” of Career Development
The “3 CS” are a concept developed by consultant Gorick Ng to describe three key areas to the land jobs and further one’s professional career.
To summarise, they stand for:
- Competence
- Commitment
- Compatibility
“Competence” is best described as “can you do the job?” Any lob requires a certain amount of experience and skill (even if it’s very little, such as we might find in a fresh graduate).
More important, it requires that hard to define quality: “attitude”. This means a person’s general predisposition towards doing something (or avoiding it). There’s a famous saying, “hire for attitude, train for skills”, meaning that some people are naturally predisposed to certain jobs. Examples may be “customer service” people. They naturally “get” and can empathise with customers and are therefore ideally suited to this role. Others may not have this predisposition; that doesn’t make them “bad people”, it’s simply means they may be better suited to, say, back office operations where they will shine in managing processes and systems. We all have different “attitudes” but it’s important to ensure we have the right “attitude” for the right job as well.
“Commitment” is that blend of energy and enthusiasm for a particular job. How “hungry” are you for it? Will you quote go the extra mile” to make sure something is done and done well (this may also come under “attitude” above)? One of the more interesting ways an employer might test a job applicants’ “commitment” is to ask, “what do you know about our organisation?” If the applicant knows nothing, they clearly weren’t committed enough to do even basic research.
“Compatibility” means “are you someone we can work with?” I’ve seen complaints in our local paper where the writer commented that they couldn’t get a job despite being the “best qualified” candidate out there. Here, the problem may have been that whilst they were indeed the “best qualified”, they weren’t a nice person!
When someone encounters a hold in their career, it may be due to one or more of the Cs above. Experience and anecdotes from others suggest address that it’s mainly around the “commitment” and compatibility” areas. I’ve certainly experienced a case where, once a boss had cause not to believe in somebody’s commitment, that person became incompatible with them.
My view? It ends up being a “two-way street”. Employees and employers use the “3 Cs” as a framework for development of careers and teams.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Career, Leadership, Strategy
Can "Feedback" be "Bullying"?
I was talking with a diplomat who told me a story about a colleague who had been accused of “bullying” when they provided performance feedback to a junior member of staff.
It made me think: where does the line between constructive feedback and “bullying” actually lie? One of our roles (if not duties) as leaders is to get people to be the best they can to further their careers. If we spot something that may hold them back, we have not only a professional but (some would say) a moral obligation to inform them.
The problem, as I see it, is that certain people don’t like anything that could be construed as “negative” or “hurtful”. Yes, some feedback will, inevitably, fall into one or both categories (the truth sometimes hurts).
The distinction I draw is that bullying can be defined as “offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour involving the misuse of power that can make a person feel vulnerable, upset, humiliated, undermined or threatened" (ACAS).
The Australian Human Rights Commission defines bullying as “… when people repeatedly and intentionally use words or actions against someone or a group of people to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing. These actions are usually done by people who have more influence or power over someone else, or who want to make someone else feel less powerful or helpless. They cite the following examples:
- Keeping someone out of a group (online or offline)
- Acting in an unpleasant way near or towards someone
- Giving nasty looks, making rude gestures, calling names, being rude and impolite, and constantly negative teasing.
- Spreading rumours or lies, or misrepresenting someone (i.e. using their Facebook account to post messages as if it were them)
- “Mucking about” that goes too far
- Harassing someone based on their race, sex, religion, gender or a disability
- Intentionally and repeatedly hurting someone physically
- Intentionally stalking someone
- Taking advantage of any power over someone else like a Prefect or a Student Representative.
In general, bullying must contain three elements. It must be:
- Repeated
- Intentional
- Involve a power imbalance
An even simpler definition might be behaviour with “intent to cause harm”, a “single egregious act” or repeated “hostile” behaviour.
We must balance two risks: the risk that a person may get away with “real” bullying of another against the risk that, to avoid an unpleasant conversation, someone may claim they’re being bullied rather than look to improve their performance.
This is likely to mean that businesses and organisations will need to develop internal definitions of “bullying” (and have them reviewed by a legal expert) to ensure that, whilst staff are protected as much as possible, they can be given valid, constructive feedback to improve their performance.
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Career, Leadership, Social, Teamwork
"Funnel" vs "Umbrella" Management
Justin Wright in an article on LinkedIn distinguishes between two very different sets of behaviour that result in either a distracted team or a productive team.
What matters? Whether their manager is a “funnel manager” or an “umbrella manager”.
Let’s start with the distracted team: these are the ones with the “funnel manager”. Imagine being part of a team and overhead of you all is a giant funnel on top of which sits the team manager. Into this funnel, the manager just puts everything:
- Office politics
- (Too many!) meetings
- End of day fire drills
- Unrealistic deadlines
- Changes in project scope (scope creep)
- Refusing to deal with toxic coworkers
- Rumours and gossip
- Office politics.
Small wonder that, bombarded by all this information and activity, a team doesn’t know where to focus its energy.
The “umbrella manager” does the exact opposite instead of placing their funnel above the team and then sitting on top of that, they sit with their team and hold an umbrella over them. This umbrella deflects all the “toxic distractions” that rain down on the team. In other words, the “umbrella manager” shields the team from distractions to allow them to deal with their work.
The results? For the “funnel manager” a distracted, demoralised and frustrated team with no direction or priorities who often failed to deliver results.
Contrast this with the umbrella manager’s team who know that they are shielded as much as possible. The differences in behaviour are easy to understand, but perhaps less easy to put into practice with all the pressures on modern day leaders.
I previously wrote about an example of a “funnel effect” on our business. I’m still waiting for a response and doubt I’ll ever get one.
How many of our team may need help on this, or how many more businesses like that are out there? How can we as leaders, help them?
I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork
How Robust is Your Recovery Plan?
Some may be aware of the fire that closed Heathrow Airport in March 2025.
The result: thousands of stranded passengers and questions about how resilient Britain’s infrastructure was.
The problem that caused the fire was in a transformer to the North of the airport. What happened was that moisture entered the “high voltage bushings” in a transformer, sparking an electrical fault and causing it to catch fire.
The potential problem was reported in 2018 but nothing was done about it by the National Grid, who owned the transformer.
So, the problem arose because of a third party’s failure to maintain its equipment. The question for all of us as business leaders is: “How reliant are we on third parties to ensure that our contingency and recovery plans work as they should?”
The problem with an event such as the fire in question is that some might consider it a “Black Swan Event” - an event considered “highly unlikely” to occur (as is the incidence of black swans). What made this event less of a black swan however was that, although the reporting process for the problem worked, the process for addressing it broke down. The event wouldn’t have occurred if the National Grid had addressed the problem when it was reported.
Think back to the COVID pandemic – countries had plans, bit they relied on other countries being able to produce the PPE, etc needed. Problem: everyone closed down because of “social distancing” requirements preventing workers going to work.
This could happen to anyone at any time. If our recovery plans rely on another party to provide a vital service and that organisation finds itself unable to, then we’re back to square one.
We can plan, make contingency plans, and contingency plans for contingency plans. There comes a point, however, when it’s no longer realistic to have plans covering plans covering plans covering plans.
In many cases our only solutions are:
- Run regular tests with the third parties concerned OR…
- Have a contract with a service provider that stipulates that penalties and litigation will follow should that provider fail to maintain their goods and services in a state fit to perform as intended OR...
- Hope that things will work out...
I know which one I’d rather adopt.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email.
Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
Are We Forgetting How to Plan?
Modern communications and business practices mean that, generally, we can communicate faster than we did before and respond likewise.
Pressure of competition has led more and more businesses to respond at ever increasing speed to client needs. After all, if you don’t reply in what your client considers a “timely manner”, they can go somewhere else. The only exception to this are government services and monopolies who don’t have to worry about competition.
When I first started studying the art of time management, one of the first lessons was that we have no control over other people or external events (although we may be able to influence them). This meant we had to allow for delays, being on leave, and all other factors. Nowadays it seems that no one understands this concept and expects an answer almost as soon as they’ve sent their text or email message.
An added challenge is that things can change so fast these days, that plans made last month may be rendered irrelevant this month (remember COVID?). How do we plan for an increasingly uncertain world?
It does suggest that the art of planning is disappearing. Our counter parties have other things on their minds apart from us and we need to take that into account and, indeed, respect it. The exception is when we hold the “upper hand” over the other and can demand action. However, demanding turnaround of one’s request within 24 hours is just as likely to result in a botch job due to lack of time to give it full consideration.
Time management is a skill that every individual needs. The ability to plan comes not only with understanding time management but also as one gains in experience.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email
Labels: Career, Crisis Management, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
