Category Archives: Developing as a leader

You think staff pay rises are about money?

Developing as a leader

It’s official.  As of last week Britain has hit the dreaded double-dip recession.  In these difficult times it’s easier than ever to say no to requests for a pay rise… or is it?

Whilst some people view it as futile right now to harbour longings for more pay, many do not.  A depressed economy does not mean you won’t get asked for higher pay.  And the fact that people aren’t asking doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking about it.  The truth is, even if your staff aren’t talking about pay right now, the way you handle the question of pay in the down-turn is one factor your staff will take into account when the economy begins to turn.

As a leader in your organisation, I wonder how you feel about the question of pay at this time.  Perhaps you are telling yourself the answer is easy right now – the dent in profits your company has taken in the downturn makes it easy to say “no, we can’t afford it right now”.  Perhaps you feel anxious when you think that you can’t reward John, whose contribution is so central to your team’s success, with more pay or a promotion.  You know he was happy to wait two years ago but now you can see he’s starting to feel restless, frustrated, impatient…  Perhaps you want to have more open conversations with those you lead about their pay and rations but you don’t know how.

I wonder if you’d find these conversations easier if you had one clear thought in your mind:  pay is never about the money.  Yes, you read me correctly, pay is never about the money.  Sometimes, pay is indeed about what money can buy – for in this recession we are learning the hard lesson that we have survival needs that sometimes come under threat.  Money is what buys (or rents) a home, food and other essentials.  This isn’t to say that earning a wage is the only way to meet our needs for food and shelter.  And it isn’t to say that covering the essentials will always keep your staff happy.

More often, pay has symbolic value – or can buy something that does.  For some, for example, the ability to buy a larger house or more expensive car is as much about status or self-esteem as it is about comfort or ease.  How else would we have been persuaded to stretch so far beyond our means in the economic upturn?  Advertising links items we can buy with a vast array of human needs, holding out the (often false) promise that buying a car will lead us to intimacy or make us more attractive, or that buying the latest cool gadget will make us part of a community of cool gadgeteers.

So, what should you do?  I could offer the obligatory “seven ways” – perhaps one day I will.  For now though, I wonder how well you understand the diversity of needs your staff are bringing with them to work.  And if you don’t, how could you find out?  To test this I invite you to take five minutes for each member of your team and ask yourself, what do I know about what’s most important for this member of my team?  Better still, take time with your staff to ask for their thoughts.

You may be surprised.  Recently, I smiled when a colleague spontaneously told me how she and her husband measured their wealth.  For him, a key criterion was the amount of spare time he had.  For her, it was the quality of her compost.

Who do you rely on?

Developing as a leader,

On Friday, I went with members of my family – my mother, my nephew and niece Edward and Rebecca, and Rebecca’s husband Phil – to The Spice of Life Indian restaurant in Lewisham to celebrate Edward’s and my birthday (same day, different year!).  It was probably late in 1988 or early in 1989 when I first visited the Spice and I’ve been going there ever since.  Meals at the Spice with friends and regular take-aways have formed a backdrop to the times in my life when things have been going well and the tougher times, too.

Today, responding to a couple of invitations to Link In and sending out a couple of my own, I pause to reflect on the question:  who do I rely on?  Because in these days of mobile careers and social networking the number of people we can call on and the number of people we actually do can be quite different.  There are friends and family who have been with me since my earliest years and others whom I have met along the way.  There are colleagues who have stood out along the way as offering wisdom and providing welcome support.  There are people from whose work I have learnt from and which I continue to explore – some by my participation in training programmes and others whose work I have devoured by reading and other means.  There are those people who have supported my practical needs (Moody at the Spice has looked after my need for food over the years and Gary has had ample mention for his great work on my kitchen over the turn of the year).

It’s interesting to reflect on how many people contribute to my well-being and in how many ways, even whilst none of them has the skill or time to make the right contribution every time I need support.  This can make for an interesting paradox – with so many people who can and do support me it is nonetheless easy to find myself without the support I need unless I ask.  I have already mentioned on this blog just how much receiving support relies on the willingness to make a request and to hear a ‘no’ as well as a ‘yes’.

Many of my clients, progressing through successive layers of leadership, find it challenging to balance reaching out for help with other considerations.  Early in their leadership careers they are keen to maintain the image of ‘someone who knows’ and this can make them hesitate to seek support.  At more senior levels, telling themselves they need to maintain confidentiality in any number of business matters they find the pool of peers and seniors is ever diminishing as a proportion of the people they interact with.  And still, they do need support.   You do need support.

In case you want to check in with yourself around the extent to which your needs for support are easily met here are just four questions for you:

  • How confident are you that you notice in time when you have a need for support?
  • How confident are you that you have people in your life who have the means to provide support when you need it across a range of needs?
  • How confident are you that, when you need support, there are at least three people you would be willing to call on to request the support you need?
  • How confident are you that, if one person says no, you’d be willing to keep reaching out and asking until you find the support you need?
Give yourself a mark out of ten for each one – the higher the marks, the more confident you are that you have the support you need.
(Oh!  And supper at the Spice was wonderful – good food, good company, with fun and laughter as well as plenty of popadoms)

The perennial problem of change

Developing as a leader, Developing leadership across your organisation,

How many organisations are seeking to make changes right now to meet the challenges of a falling economy (yes, we’re back in recession in the UK), to address problems within organisations, to drive up profits, to seize opportunities…?


Susan Popoola wrote an interesting summary of The Problems With Change Projects in organisations, published on Discuss HR as well as on the Human Resources UK group on LinkedIn.  Discussion is raging on LinkedIn where there are also some interesting links to other resources.


I added my own two penn’orth as a way to give myself a break one day last week.  This is what I said:


Wow! Lots of really great stuff on this discussion! I especially noticed Andy’s assertion that “The business wants the change to happen a.s.a.p, and there’s a lot of energy at the beginning of the change programme which then starts to evaporate when the going gets tough”. 

Is it possible that one of the issues is that people in senior roles get anxious when things look in any way “messy”? If you’re the sponsor of a programme of change there are moments when things are messy and outcomes are uncertain and when you could well be thinking ahead to the personal implications for you if things don’t turn around. In these moments it’s easy to start looking for a scapegoat or for the next great thing.
 
It’s more challenging (and courageous) to go deep and to ask, just why is this proving so difficult? Especially because this implies being open and willing to learn about our own weaknesses and things we need to do differently. 

I wonder, what’s the culture in your organisation around change?  And how do people respond when things start to go wrong?

Making requests as an aspect of organisational culture

Developing as a leader, Developing leadership across your organisation, Emotional Intelligence, ,

Yesterday I was working from home, as I mostly do on a Monday.  It was a busy day, but not so densely packed that I didn’t have time to take in some fresh air at lunch time.  In fact, I did something that I have recently taken to doing and wandered the length of Lewisham’s market stalls – just two minutes from home – to ask the stall holders if any of them had any waste products that could go into my compost bin.

In recent weeks I have learnt just how willingly the local stall holders give the gift of their green waste which otherwise goes into the immense bins provided by our local council for disposal elsewhere.  Yesterday I even had advice from one stall holder – let us know in the morning or the day before that you’ll be coming to collect and we’ll save it for you.
I would add that, as the recipient of this largesse I am delighted.  It’s not just that I hope, quite soon, to have the best fed worms in the whole of South East London and, in time, a steady supply of compost to improve the soil in my garden.  It’s not even because, until recently, I hadn’t thought to ask.  It’s also because, at a young age, I somehow learnt “not to put people to any trouble” by making a request.  I still have to remind myself that that was then and this is now as part of my preparation for making a request.  And yes, because it’s a request I am learning joyfully to accept a yes or a no.
I know I am not alone.  I invite you to take a moment to ask yourself how often and how openly, you – and others in your organisation – make requests.  And I do mean a request – an open question of someone who might be able to help you and with the option for the person you are asking to respond with a yes or no.  I also invite you to reflect on how willingly you and those you lead own the personal needs that sit behind the request. This is the difference, for example, between saying could we meet at 4pm so that I can get away by 5.30pm to support my partner at home and saying actually, I’m not available at 6pm or maybe even meeting your boss at 6pm and adding it as just one more example to stoke the fire of slow-burning resentment and ill health.
Because yes, there are things that people do to avoid making requests – because to make a request is often to share information about our needs and to open ourselves up to a no and to all the meanings we make of that no.  Making requests can leave us feeling oddly vulnerable, even when we have managed to persuade ourselves that it’s a perfectly acceptable thing to do.
What do we do instead?  Here are just a few examples.  They all come with a price.  Which ones are prevalent in your organisation?
  • Ask a quasi request (“Make sure you check the report before you send it off, will you?”).  The substance of the request is vague, the language is part instruction, part request.  We haven’t asked the person of whom we’re making the request if they can do what we ask;
  • Assume that any half decent member of staff will know what to do and feel angry when they don’t deliver.  (In many organisations staff think this way about their colleagues and even their boss.  In senior leadership roles, we set the tone);
  • Wrap up a request, for example by assigning the need for the request to the organisation rather than honestly reflecting on and sharing our own needs.  Especially when we are in senior roles, this can make it hard for people to say no, though it may lead to all sorts of problems – including a kind of thoughtless obedience or quiet disobedience (yes minister style);
  • Tell ourselves that someone wouldn’t cope or would do their nut (or similar) if we made a request.  This is a great get-out clause – it may be true and, even so, it may mask a more personal reason why we are not making requests.

The approach people have to making requests in your organisation is part of organisational culture and it has significant implications for your organisation’s ability to achieve its aims.  I invite you to a seven-day curiosity exercise – just take time to notice the culture in your organisation around making requests.

Please report back.

  

Unintended consequences of our learning

Coaching, Developing as a leader, ,

Working as I do to support people to develop as leaders, I am often struck by the way coaching continues to add value long after it has finished.  I’m currently talking to a number of former clients about their experiences following coaching and I look forward to sharing what they have to say.

One conversation I had recently reminded me that the experiences that follow coaching are not all positive – at times there can be a bewildering array of side effects and unexpected consequences.  The same truth applies to all sorts of personal changes.  This is what I want to focus on today.

I want to preface my posting by adding that, over time, such challenges tend to “come good” and still, they can be hard to fathom at the time.  Here are just a few of the side-effects that I have experienced personally or observed in others over the years:

  • The “dramatic mistake” when trying something new:  Perhaps one of the greatest fears of someone who is making changes is that they will try something new and that it will go dramatically wrong.  This can range from sharing oneself – one’s opinions, feelings etc. – more fully with somebody close (our boss, spouse etc.), all the way to taking on a new role which constitutes a significant stretch.  In practice, it’s rare in my experience that the most feared outcome materialises and it’s even more rare that the world falls apart when it does.  More often, clients take small steps and discover that their fears were unfounded.  Even when something doesn’t pan out as expected it can be highly liberating to discover that we can make mistakes and still come through;
  • Relationship challenges:  A common challenge that we face when we make changes is difficulties in relationships, be they colleagues in the workplace or our loved ones at home.  I remember, for example, how one of my friends just fell away when I was in the midst of my professional coach training.  She stopped making contact and, when I commented on the change, sent me a letter saying how much I had changed and that she didn’t want to spend time with me any more.  I never knew what changes she was observing or what the impact was on her experience of our friendship.  There is, of course, a balance to be struck here.  At one end of the scale is what we might call the (insensitive) “zeal of the newly converted” – there’s nothing worse than having someone try to impose their new learning on us.  At the other end of the scale are the changes we make gently and slowly out of our growing awareness.  Sometimes the changes we make serve to deepen and strengthen our relationships.  The same changes serve to highlight those relationships that aren’t working.  Over time we may find ways to make them work.  Equally, we may be faced with the question, can this relationship be made to work – or is it time to step away?
  • Facing the truth about an untenable situation:  Coaching can support clients in finding ways to respond to challenging situations, whatever they are.  Perhaps we take steps to succeed in a role in which we were failing or to manage our relationship with a difficult boss.  Perhaps our sales go up dramatically or our profile in the business soars.  At the same time, we may become aware that our situation is untenable even whilst learning to handle it well.  We’re selling more of a product we don’t believe in, for example, or succeeding in a role at the same time as realising it’s not the right role for us.  The immediate joy of making progress can give way to doubts and uncertainty as we go beyond the challenges that brought us to coaching to face some deeper truth.  Coming to the right decision can take time and may happen long after coaching is completed;
  • The pain that comes with growing awareness:  Along the way we may experience feelings of pain and discomfort as we become more aware of things which, previously, were outside our awareness.  Sometimes, these may be the very things we needed to learn ourselves.  Having learnt to be effective in coaching those we lead, for example, our sensitivities are now heightened when we observe how our peers provide instruction without any support to staff.  Perhaps the pain we experience relates to our own unmet needs, especially when we are increasingly aware of them and have not yet found a way to meet them.

Have you experienced these or other unintended consequences of your learning?  It may be a time to get back in touch with your coach for a follow-up session.  It may a time to be attentive – to notice and to get under the skin of your thoughts and feelings to understand what’s going on.  It’s certainly a time for compassion – for yourself, for those around you, including those who stimulate the pain in you.

Developing your leadership? Bring on the compassion

Developing as a leader, Emotional Intelligence, ,

You’ve got the promotion.  You’re in your new role.  You’re putting on a brave face.  You’re maxing up the ‘positive self-talk’.  Come on, you can do it.  They wouldn’t have put me in the role if they didn’t think I was up to it.  And remember that project for Asia last year – this can’t be more difficult than that.  You know you have what it takes to succeed – intellectually, you know.  But sometimes, the intellectual knowing just isn’t enough.

It gets worse.  It gets personal.  You know that, in order to succeed, you need to make headway in developing new skills.  Perhaps you need to rely less on your technical skills (as an accountant, lawyer, doctor etc.) and cultivate skills in a whole new area – leadership, emotional intelligence, call it what you will.  Perhaps you have to let go of doing what you’ve always done best and start to deliver with and through others.  You’ve always got huge plaudits for your ability to deliver – but can you get others to deliver in the same way?

Maybe it gets even worse than that.  You know – you know – that whether it’s in this job or another there’s no turning back.  Doing everything yourself was barely working for you in your old job – you have to find new ways of working, whatever your job.  You were on your way to burn-out and you know it.  Or perhaps you’d got as far as you could go by getting angry with yourself, or your staff, and you know you’ve got to find new strategies.

The trouble is, you’ve acknowledged the problem – but you don’t begin to know how to address it.  You’re in one of life’s most tender spots – you’ve crossed a threshold and you don’t know where to go.  Joseph Campbell highlighted this aspect of the human journey in his research which I briefly summarised in one of the most often visited posting on this blog, entitled Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey.  Crossing the threshold means stepping out of our comfort zone and accepting some challenge or ‘call to adventure’.  Campbell’s research – into the myths of many cultures on this subject – shows how we have to accept the call to adventure before the resources we need begin to show up.

What’s it like to stand in this most tender of spots?  Recently, a conversation with a colleague reminded me of the feelings that can – if we let them – overwhelm us in this place.  Sometimes, there is intense sadness, grief and loss as we acknowledge the impact on our lives of the choices we have made in the past.  We may be overwhelmed with compassion for our younger self who learned, for example, how to do everything personally rather than to face the ire of a parent or teacher when we asked for help.  We may be sorrowful when we realise just how much this early choice has shaped our lives, keeping us from reaching out for help.  And we may be intensely scared when we think of what we might have to do that we have never done before.

Navigating this stage of our own journeys requires a large measure of compassion, both for the way it shines a light on those areas in which we need to develop and for all the emotions that comes with this.  The language of leadership development – ‘areas for development’, weaknesses’, ‘growing edge’ marches on past this level of emotion with barely a side-glance of acknowledgement.  It helps if we are not alone in holding our emotions in this tender place – if we have a trusted coach, or mentor, or peers, or family.  All the love and support we need is available to us, though learning to receive it may be a hero’s journey in itself.

Campbell talks of the hero but we might equally talk of leaders.  Leaders are made in this place, because they are the people who constantly step across each new threshold as they meet it.  And if they can only stand close to the fire of their emotions, they are also the people who learn how to understand themselves and others – an essential quality if we are to lead others in ways which engage and inspire.

If you want to read more about Campbell’s work, I recommend his books (especially The Power of Myth) and also The Hero’s Journey by Robert Dilts and Stephen Gillighan.  For now, though, I wonder, what are the thresholds you face right now?

Listening to the wild dogs barking in your cellar

Developing as a leader, Developing leadership across your organisation, , , ,
Let me adapt some of Nietzsche’s words and say this to you:
“To become wise you must learn to listen to the wild dogs barking in your cellar”

Irvin Yalom
Staring at the Sun:  Overcoming the Dread of Death

I would read anything by Irvin Yalom, which is – far more than its subject matter – how I came to be reading his book Staring at the Sun:  Overcoming the Dread of Death.  I first encountered his deeply compassionate writings when a colleague recommended his book Love’s Executioner and Other Tales of Psychotherapy.  I have enjoyed a number of his books including his novels:  Lying on the Couch made me laugh out loud.

Yalom’s work as a psychotherapist has contributed enormously to his field.  Whilst, historically, some psychotherapists have taken the view that psychotherapy is all about the client, Yalom has understood the impossibility for the psychotherapist of being a blank canvas – a distant and dispassionate observer.  For any man or woman brings a personal history to the role of therapist.  The therapist needs to cultivate self awareness in order not to entangle clients in his or her own unfinished business.

What’s more, dispassion and distance does little to promote healing for the client.  Yalom stands alongside Carl Rogers and others in viewing relationship and especially unconditional positive regard as an important contributory factor when it comes to the success of therapy.  His writings offer many examples of interactions with clients which might well horrify colleagues from other branches of his profession.

Now, since I work as a coach and my clients are leaders, you may well be wondering “what has this got to do with me?”  The truth is that both coaches and leaders need high levels of self-awareness if they are to be effective.  Daniel Goleman (in his book Working with Emotional Intelligence) lists three competencies which are concerned with self-awareness, based on research into what makes us effective at work.  Our self awareness is also the basis for our ability to relate to others – our ability to lead, to influence, to develop others (and so on) depends on our willingness to understand others and this, in turn, depends on our willingness to understand ourselves.

Perhaps the greatest challenge is to have empathy for others even whilst recognising the fullness of their strengths, weaknesses, quirks and limitations.  We can only do this if we can view ourselves in the fullness of our own strengths, weaknesses, quirks and limitations.  There can be a paradox here;  for if we believe that excellence in leadership depends on being better than our fellow human beings, we undermine the very basis for our outstanding performance as a leader.

It’s for this reason that the quote above strikes such a deep chord.  When we can listen to the wild dogs barking in our own cellars, we can begin to understand ourselves – and others.  It takes a huge measure of compassion to be present to all sorts of thoughts, feelings, characteristics and motivations which, as children, we have learnt to condemn.  It takes compassion, discipline and dedication.

So, if you want to get by as a leader, you can afford to read this posting – and move on.  If, though, you want to go beyond getting by, I invite you to ponder the quote at the top of this posting.  How willing are you to listen to the wild dogs barking in your cellar?

The leader’s call to power

Developing as a leader,

There’s a theme so familiar in my discussions with leaders that I wonder if I haven’t written about it before.  Still, I feel called to return to the theme of the leader’s call to power.

Now, let’s be clear, many men and women in leadership roles have a highly ambivalent response to the word “power”.  Many times I have heard some variant of the following:  “Power?  No, not me… I don’t go in for that sort of thing”.  “That sort of thing” is of course a negative sort of thing – at least in the eyes of the leader.

My experience over the years – of conducting research into what makes an effective leader, of assessing individuals for leadership roles, of working in coaching partnership with leaders – suggests that an individual’s willingness to embrace and to use power is an essential part of leadership effectiveness. The leader needs to go beyond doing everything personally to engage others to do things.  This is a fundamental shift from personal achievement to working with and through others.  The leader also needs, for example, to hold a vision for the future, sharing it with those s/he leads in ways which engage – this is the use of power to influence others.  The leader needs to use the same power to influence his or her peers, providing input to the overall direction and decision-making of an organisation.

My own observations of the use of power by leaders are intimately bound up with the research of Professor David C. McClelland of Harvard University.  McClelland’s research in the field of human motivation has been made available through his writings and through his work to establish a small consultancy which was bought, in time, by my former employer, the Hay Group.  This afforded me opportunities to apply McClelland’s techniques in my work and to test it through my own personal experience and observation.  McClelland was passionate about sharing his work and his little book Power is the Great Motivator, co-authored with David H. Burnham, is a great place to start if you want to understand his research without wading through dense and academic writings.  (If you do want to wade through dense and academic writings, you might enjoy his longer book, Power:  The Inner Experience).

So why has the exercise of power in leadership got such a bad name amongst the very people who are charged with leadership?  Recently, Art Giser put this in a broad context for me at a talk in Central London in just a few passing comments.  He pointed to the record of many leaders in the 20th Century.  We only have to think of such names as Hitler, Stalin, Chairman Mao, Idi Amin, Slobodan Milosevic, Pol Pot, Mugabe, Bin Laden and Khomeini to realise just how much we fear the embrace of power and its potentially dreadful consequences for humankind.

Our ambivalent relationship with – or outright rejection of – power has also been reflected in our commercial and political activities.  On the very day that I heard Art speak, news broke of the resignation from Goldman Sachs of one of its London-based executives.  Greg Smith wrote an open letter to the New York Times (in itself an exercise of power) in which he said “I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what [Goldman Sachs] stands for” and highlighted the number of times in recent months that he had heard senior colleagues describe clients as “muppets”.

The power dilemma has been embodied in recent months by German politicians.  They are – not without reason – highly wary of embracing power in our current economic circumstances.  At the same time, many Europeans are looking to them to provide leadership.  So, whether you are reflecting on the body politic of our time or a leader seeking diligently to fulfil your responsibilities, I write this posting as an invitation to you to reflect on your relationship with power.  For as long as we reject power as an instrument of evil, we also fail to step up to the potential power has as a way of doing good in the world.  Is it not also true, for example, that many people are yearning for the responsible use of power to address the major challenges and issues of our day?

When it comes to consulting your staff

Developing as a leader, , ,

Years ago I was involved in a project to audit the leadership “bench strength” of a company in the process of de-merger.  The company’s CEO was anxious about the capability of his senior leadership team – it seemed to him that whenever he asked them for ideas at meetings they were slow to contribute.  Interviewing members of his leadership team it became clear why.  To a man (they were all men) the people we interviewed told us how it was always the CEO’s ideas that prevailed – why put forward ideas that will only ever be dismissed?

Whether it was the quality of the leaders’ ideas that were wanting or the CEO’s willingness to explore the ideas of others, this story tells us something about the challenges of consulting our staff.  Daniel Goleman, in his book The New Leaders:  Transforming The Art Of Leadership Into The Science Of Results, highlights the democratic leadership style as one of several that builds resonance amongst employees which, in turn, leads to improved business outcomes.  At the same time, if you plan to consult your employees, you need to think carefully ahead of time.

Here are a few thoughts from me about when and how to consult:

  •  If a decision is urgent, highly critical for the organisation or if your employees lack the skills or knowledge to add value, think carefully before consulting them.  Used well, the democratic style builds commitment to a course of action but, used badly, it can also undermine it.   You need to ask for their input when you’re open to new ideas and have time to explore their input with them and to reach an agreement with them that works for everyone involved;
  • Do what you can to get clear ahead of time about why you want to consult staff and frame your questions to support your desired outcomes.  There’s a big difference, for example, between saying “let’s think about how we can save money” and “we’ve been charged with saving £3 million pounds and  I’d like to work with you to find ways to do this that maintain high levels of service to our customer and improve the efficiency of our processes”.  This is about both clarity and honesty – the more you are clear up front about your aims, the more likely you are to build trust as well as getting the input you need;
  • If you’re going to consult staff, it helps to have in place ground rules for handling the ideas that come up.  De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats provide one framework for brainstorming ideas.  I am, as you may already know, a fan of Roger Schwarz’s ground rules for effective groups – outlined in his book The Skilled Facilitator Approach.  In particular, take care to differentiate between interests and strategies – a strategy is a means to an end and the interest is the end itself.  Exploring how suggestions will contribute to an end result is one way to ensure that ideas are seen to be heard whether or not they are adopted;
  • Be clear ahead of time about how inputs will be used.  If the decision rests with you, then say so.  If it will be made at a more senior levels, then say so.  If you’d like the team to decide, then say so too – and agree up front how a decision will be made.  In this way, you support a positive experience of the democratic style;
  • Think about consulting staff on a regular basis as a way of building their skills and yours.  If your team is new to this style, you might like to start with a light touch – asking them for ideas, for example, about a non-business critical decision that you will make yourself.  Over time, your use of the democratic style will develop the skills of your staff and shape them as a team.  Ultimately, your team should be visible to your boss and to your boss’s peers and seniors as a highly effective team with plenty of ideas to offer to the organisation.  Even so…
  • Start where you are now.  Hold your team with compassion if this kind of consultation is new to them.  Take it one step at a time and use your judgement in deciding when and how to consult.
I’d like to hear about your experiences of consulting or of being consulted.  Please share the good, the bad and the ugly by posting your comment below.

On the joys of a dirty weekend

Developing as a leader

Spring is on its way.  The days are getting longer and the sap is rising.  In recent days misty mornings have given way to gloriously sunny days.  I have been yearning to get out into the garden again.  I did it this weekend, donning my gardening trousers – a wonderful pair of jeans I picked up in Singapore when I visited my brother and sis’-in-law a few years back, with great big pockets on each leg which are just perfect for carrying phones and sundry tools.

First, there was the task of emptying some of the tools that have been in my dining room (along with sundry kitchen items) into my new garden shed.  My small collection of tools had a place in my old kitchen but not in the new, and besides, it is no longer a small collection.  Last week the last remnants of rubbish from the building work were taken away so a second task was to hose down the patio (which, by the way, is far larger than I ever remembered it).

I have been chomping at the bit to start planting and this, too, is something I joyfully embarked on.  This year I have decided to include runner beans in my garden having not eaten them for years following an unfortunate incident as a child which has become legendary in the Nesbit family.  This was a case of “I feel sick” “Just one more mouthful” before I was indeed sick.  Perhaps in a few months’ time I’ll be reporting back – was it just that I was sick one unfortunate time, or do I simply not like broad beans?  I’ll let you know.

So, wellies on, I have been revelling in the great outdoors this weekend – or at least my modest share of it.  I am relishing the dirt that has lodged itself beneath my finger nails and grateful that, today, my coaching appointments will all be by phone.  A part of me wishes I’d discovered such joys much earlier in my life.  It has always been true for me that the more I am connected with nature and its cycle of seasons, the more I am well and at peace with myself.  Even as I write my sense of well-being is stepping forward to greet me.

As you are reading this, I wonder what you have been doing this weekend, week, month, year… that nurtures your sense of health and well-being.  It seems to me that leadership includes, as much as any other duty, the responsibility to model self-care to those we lead.