Category Archives: Developing as a leader

Don’t let the bear market ruin morale

Developing as a leader,

Thanks to Carrie Bedingfield, CEO of Onefish Twofish marketing consultancy, I picked up a link to an article on communicating to staff during bad times, called Don’t Let the Bear Market Ruin Morale.  It’s a succinct reminder to leaders to keep communicating with their staff through the bad times with a few thoughts on what and how.

This is a big topic – so much of the way staff feel about their work is down to the way their leaders communicate with them.  And depending on your style of communication and the relationship you create with those you lead, you may or may not get to hear about how they really feel in the workplace.  At the same time, there’s a paradox at work (as there so often is).  Communication is hard work!  And at the same time, the more you get it right, the more your work becomes easy.

How are you communicating with your staff during these hard times?  And to what extent does your communication with staff reflect the way you are communicating with yourself?

Meditating on leadership

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Yesterday was my first day back at work after a short break – spent in the depths of Kent at the Oxon Hoath Retreat Centre on a TM retreat.

TM – or transcendental meditation – is one of the first meditation techniques to become popular in the West.  Like many other ‘alternative’ approaches, it attracts a wide range of responses – from those who revile it, through those who are interested in its benefits from a purely pragmatic point of view right through to those who are deeply versed in the spiritual thinking and teachings that lie behind it.

I fall squarely in the middle of this spectrum (at least for now).  I was attracted to TM as much on the recommendation of a good friend who is also a highly successful businessman as I was for any spiritual reasons – though I do enjoy the opportunity to learn more that is on offer at Oxon Hoath.  My friend’s experience on starting to meditate was typical and included such things as increased concentration and effectiveness.

What on earth, though, has meditation to do with leadership?  Well, quite a lot.  Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee, whose careers have focused on conducting research into what differentiates the most outstanding leaders, include a whole chapter on Mindfulness in their book Resonant Leadership.  Why is it important for leaders?  Here’s a quick brainstorm:

  • Practices such as meditation which support mindfulness help to clear the mind, leading to increased clarity of thinking and improved decision-making;
  • Clearing the mind also reduces levels of stress by releasing stressful thoughts and clearing the mind – a bit like clearing a blocked cognitive ‘drain’;
  • Sustaining mindfulness through regular meditation or other activities helps leaders to sustain the high levels of performance needed to lead effectively over time (and to know when it’s time to stop and rest):  mindful leaders can lead effectively for longer periods during the day and over time.
Perhaps at the heart of the benefits for leaders lies the role leaders play in shaping the direction of an organisation or part of an organisation.  How can you shape the direction of an organisation if you are anything but clear thinking – mindful?
If you’d like to enjoy a glimpse into the experience of meditating you’ll find I have more to say in my next posting.  If you would like to look into the possibilities to train to meditate, you might like to make contact with the Meditation Trust, who offer courses in the UK.  Alternatively, Peter Russell’s book The TM Technique is recommended as a very clear introduction.

Lessons in leadership from the conductor’s podium

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This article is one of two I offered this week for publication on Discuss HR.  Take a look to see which one got posted!
Recently, I reached a point when I could look back on half a lifetime as an active member of the London Symphony Chorus.  As such, I have enjoyed the extraordinary privilege of performing alongside many leading professionals whilst still being an amateur, enjoying my love of music whilst pursuing my career.  Today I take time to bring both interests together in order to ask:  what have I learnt about leadership as a member of the London Symphony Chorus?
In case you read Janice Caplan’s article last week, I preface this article by highlighting differences between the concert hall maestro and line managers in more traditional workplaces.  On a day-to-day basis, for example, it is our “voice reps” who ensure that we have enough singers for each concert and who will soon notice if attendance is poor.  Our music director, on the other hand, is attentive to the quality of our singing.  The re-audition is our only one-to-one though, as well as re-auditioning chorus members every three years, a good music director will attend to an individual’s contribution on an ongoing basis.
Conductors have a variety of relationships with us.  Some of them will work with us on a regular basis over a number of years whilst others will be rare partners in making music.  Some have inspired us to new heights in our music making whilst others have left such a poor impression that the queue to sing under their baton is perilously short.
Amongst the leadership qualities I notice conductors often show a life-time commitment to music-making.  Leonard Benstein, for example, died just weeks after we recorded his own work, Candide, in December 1989.  Sir Colin Davis, now in his 80s, conducted my parents many years before I first sang under his baton.
Some conductors are driven by a vision and, like musical entrepreneurs, spend many years in pursuit of their vision.  Whilst hindsight makes a career look easy, the truth is it takes hard graft, persistence and a tolerance of uncertainty to succeed.  Davis’ Wikipedia entrance references the “freelance wilderness” he himself described, beginning in 1949.  It’s only with hindsight that he’s become known as a great champion of the now much-loved music of Berlioz.  In a similar way, Richard Hickox worked hard to develop his reputation as a champion of British music, slowly earning the license to conduct and record works that were barely known and rarely performed.  The persistence of both men has afforded opportunities to me to sing an extraordinary breadth of music.
At the level at which we sing, conductors relentlessly pursue high standards as well as interpreting the music.  In his pursuit of musical perfection Hickox never finished a rehearsal early, for example, and Davis is consistent in urging us to sing slightly ahead of the beat and in encouraging us not to “chew” our vowels.  In rehearsal, such conductors show extraordinary attention to detail.  Still, the moment comes when it’s time to let go of refining the details and engage with the spirit of a piece.  In my early years with the Chorus, when Hickox was our music director, I appreciated his pep talk ahead of a concert, which helped me to step onto the platform with a strong sense of connection with the music.
The best conductors are themselves fine musicians and in this sense they lead by example.  If they’re not, it soon shows:  when one conductor repeatedly berated the chorus in rehearsal we were quick to notice that the error was his and slow to forgive him for his behaviour towards us.  The relationship between a conductor and musicians can be tricky and this is often a function of his (or her) world view and personal confidence.  Solti famously never worked with amateur musicians, for example, so that when we were scheduled to sing with him in 1997 we sang alongside professional singers.  In rehearsal his assistant conductor repeatedly asked to hear the ‘professionals’ and then the ‘amateurs’.  This was not a move which earned our respect even though we were thrilled to have the opportunity to sing with him (an opportunity thwarted by his death just days before the concert).
There are other ways in which conductors lead by example.  The conductor is, for example, the visual centre-point for the audience as well as for all the musicians.  If (s)he slips, there’s nowhere to hide.  What’s more the conductor is the chief interpreter of the score, and every performance carries his personal stamp:  no critic expects to write “great performance – except for the conductor”.  I vividly remember a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, conducted by Daniel Barenboim at London’s Royal Festival Hall.  It’s rare for me to be carried away by a performance of Beethoven’s 9th – it is too frequently performed and uncomfortably and persistently high in the voice.  Barenboim stood on the podium and barely moved a muscle in a performance that had everyone involved completely spellbound.  His was the courage to do something that is rarely (if ever) done and to risk the extremes of success and failure.  More recently, Martyn Brabbins showed a different kind of courage when he conducted Havergal Brian’s rarely performed Gothic Symphony, conducting 800 singers and 120 orchestral players as well as soloists.
Some of the conductors whose leadership I have most enjoyed have inspired me with their love and generosity.  It has always been a pleasure to sing under the baton of Antonio Pappano.  I always think ‘ice cream seller’ when I work with Pappano.  At the same time, more than any other conductor, he radiates a quality I can only describe as love – for the music he conducts and for the people he works with.  I feel safe in his care as well as inspired to perform from a place of deep connection with the music.  How can I do anything other than give of my best?
As it happens, Pappano was Barenboim’s assistant at the Bayreuth Festival some years ago:  leadership in the world of music includes nurturing the next generation.  I remember watching one quietly understated act of sponsorship some years ago, when the chorus was rehearsing Mahler’s 8th Symphony alongside the National Youth Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.  Part way through the rehearsal Rattle signalled to the young timpanist to take his place on his podium so that he could walk back into the hall and listen to the assembled forces.  I remember thinking that this was no accident – that this was as much about sponsoring this young man in the role of conductor as it was about any need to test the balance of sound from chorus and orchestra.  (And yes, I was delighted to watch the young man concerned, Robin Ticciati, make his debut conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican).
So, vision, commitment, pursuing high standards, leading by example, love and generosity – these are some of the qualities it has been my privilege to observe amongst conductors.  What qualities do you observe – and appreciate – amongst leaders inside and outside the world of work?

Accountability: are we getting it right?

Developing as a leader,

David Cameron speaks at a youth center

This blog posting was one of two I offered for posting on Discuss HR on Thursday 18th August.  Take a look to see which one was posted!

On Monday evening, 8th August I was at home in a quiet side-road in the suburbs of South East London when I became aware that there were far more people on the pavements than I am used to seeing.  Looking down the street towards the Shopping Centre (which is just two minutes walk away) I was shocked to see a line of police officers carrying riot shields.  I watched the scenes that unfolded, which culminated in two cars being set alight before the young men and women involved moved on.

The implications for the organisations we work for have, without doubt, been significant.  A variety of organisations (magistrates’ courts, prisons, the police etc.) have played a very direct role in restoring law and order.  Retailers have been coping with damage to their property as well as the cost of stolen goods.  Diverse employers have had to make decisions about employees who have been identified as participants in the riots.

The rhetoric of politicians has been predictable.  Prime Minister David Cameron, following his first emergency meeting, was quick to condemn the acts of rioters, setting up a moral dichotomy between the bad guys and the good guys (those who took part in the riots and those who were in some way affected by their actions or involved in responding to them).  Having quickly coined the term “broken Britain” he laid out plans on Monday to “turn around the lives of the 120,000 most troubled families” by the next election.  As well as recognising the direct impact on many organisations of last week’s riots I invite you to consider what politicians’ responses tell us about the dos and don’ts of accountability.

Accountability is a tricky term, with multiple meanings and applications.  The banking crisis in 2008 highlighted questions of accountability between organisations – the banks to governments, for example, and governments to their electorate.  Within organisations, it raised questions of who is accountable to whom – and how to hold people to account.  When we get accountability wrong, we mask the problems of our organisations even whilst appearing to take action.  This is the “sound and fury” approach to accountability, characterised by vociferous complaints and maybe even decisive action – without ever taking long enough to get to the root causes of a problem or issue.  It has its benefits – at least on the surface:  in particular, it can protect an organisation’s leaders from the pain and vulnerability that comes with owning their mistakes.

When we get it right, something deeper and more lasting occurs.  Accountability is no longer a matter of blame and condemnation when something goes wrong.  It is an ongoing dialogue between parties (a manager and employee, one team and another, or members of the Board) about desired aims and outcomes, who will do what and when in order to move towards those desired outcomes, what’s working and what’s not working and what needs to happen next.  In an accountable organisation, for example, feedback at annual appraisal time comes as no surprise and is openly shared as the basis of a discussion, rather than given under the cover of anonymity as a stick used to beat the unsuspecting employee.

It seems to me that there is a paradox at work at the heart of every effective system of accountability.  When we strip out blame we create the opportunity for a deeper and more productive mutual dialogue because we make it safe to be “in the wrong”.  At the same time, in a true system of accountability, each party knows that it may be them who has the hardest lessons to learn.  By creating safety for everyone involved we make it possible to engage in the very depth of the dialogue needed to hold people to account.  In other words, true accountability is safe – but not the easy option.

If our country’s politicians act with wisdom in their response to the recent riots, they will understand that the louder the sound and fury, the more key people are likely to be let off the hook.  I hope they will take time to investigate the complex factors which, together, stimulated the riots and to take the most difficult learning for themselves as well as to mete out justice to others.  Closer to home I wonder, how has your business been affected by the riots?  What do you see as the key lessons in organisations if they want, truly, to create effective systems of accountability?  And what is the role of HR in facilitating accountability in their organisations?

Talking about leadership

Developing as a leader,

Monday, 8th August.  This afternoon I finished my first draft of an article about leadership, drawing on my experience as a membership of the London Symphony Chorus.  The article will be published next week, on Discuss HR as well as here on my blog.  I mentioned a number of conductors I worked with and wondered, afterwards, if any of them have spoken about leadership.  My first stop has been YouTube, which is such a fabulous resource.

Perhaps because he was one of the last conductors I mentioned in my article, I looked first for interviews with Antonio Pappano.  It has been a rare treat for me to sing under Pappano’s baton and I feel blessed every time.  I always find myself thinking of Pappano as having something of the ice-cream seller about him – there’s something about his Italian/Essex/American accent and his looks that makes me think gelato.  This takes nothing away from my deep respect and affection for him – in truth, these are simply qualities he transmits in abundance and which I mirror back.  I found a number of interviews with him and dipped into one in which he talks about the genre of verismo in Opera – just follow this link to hear him.

It led me in turn to another in which I listened to Jonas Kaufmann singing Vesti la giubba under Pappano’s baton.  Kaufmann’s singing is powerfully emotional and – as Pappano describes in his interview – nonetheless perfectly controlled.

Now… back to leadership.

When we discover areas in which we need to develop

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On Tuesday, I wrote about playing to our strengths.  Today, I’m wondering if I’m going to contradict myself.  What if you have an accelerated career and then, suddenly, you bump up against a limitation that could trip you up if you go any further on the path you are following?  This was the experience of one client I assessed recently.

After our initial feedback session he did all the right things.  He tested the assessment feedback against the perceptions of a variety of colleagues, recognising the value of diverse perspectives.  He looked for ways to bridge the gap in his repertoire, seeking out a mentor with strengths in the areas in which he needed to develop.  He started to explore a wider range of possibilities for his next career move, recognising that there could be benefits to moving diagonally rather than straight up the ladder.  These benefits include:

  • Broadening his experience and in this way broadening his understanding of the business;
  • Building on his strengths whilst opening up opportunities to close the gaps in his repertoire;
  • Broadening his understanding of the range of roles in which he could succeed.  This in turn carries the potential to build confidence and self esteem by reducing the pressure that comes when you have only one target role in mind.

As a result of his actions, what looked for a moment like a full stop turned out to be something quite different, opening up a broader range of possibilities than my client had previously had in his sights.

How does this work to his strengths?  How might it work to yours?  Taking action to develop in areas in which we lack strength may reveal an as yet hidden talent.  This can lead to a new injection of energy and momentum in our careers as leaders.  And yes, in truth, it can lead us to discover an area in which we lack natural ability.

Initially, this doesn’t always feel good.  Some high performers, faced suddenly with a situation in which they lack the skills they need, start to weave a story about how they were never as good as they thought they were, how they lack what it takes to succeed… suddenly, their self esteem takes a dramatic tumble.

Others, though, recognise that they can’t be good at everything.  The most canny amongst them are able to weigh the likelihood that they can bridge the gap and assess the benefits if they do.  Perhaps they will decide that it’s essential to bridge the gap and easy to do:  clearly, this is a “tick yes” scenario.  Perhaps they will recognise that it’s essential to have these skills and hard for them to develop in this area:  this can be a “tick delegate” scenario.  The best leaders know when to delegate and they also feel comfortable about sharing their limitations openly as well as their strategy for plugging the gap.

When in your career have you come up against areas in which you lack the skills you need to succeed?  What strategies have you used to plug the gaps?

Revealing the secrets of the boardroom

Developing as a leader, Emotional Intelligence,

Thursday lunch.  My friend Len and I are sharing our thoughts and experiences about working at board level with client organisations.  What are the secrets that reveal themselves as the layers slowly peel away?  Even as I write I find myself scanning so many experiences – of directors who are afraid to give feedback to their CEO about behaviours which limit the effectiveness of the board, of CEOs who were good before circumstances changed and are unable to change to meet the needs of the circumstances, of individuals quietly sidelined in a conspiracy of silence by men and women who don’t want to address the issue of board level incompetence, of people who, at root, know this role is not for them and yet who dare not admit it for fear of the implications of seeing what they know to be true.

Len loves helping senior leaders to engage with problems and issues that look insurmountable.  I love helping senior leaders to improve the bottom line whilst nurturing and maintaining a healthy ecology – personal, team, organisational.  Boardrooms fascinate us both – because (for Len) so many problems look insurmountable which actually are not, because (for me) so often the barrier to improving bottom line results is the ability of individuals to engage with themselves and with each other in ways which make things happen.

In the end, so many of the secrets of the boardroom are human secrets – including the secrets that board members hide from themselves.  When did we tell ourselves that it’s somehow desirable to be anything other than human in the boardroom?  This is not, after all, a fate we can escape.  Addressing challenges in the boardroom involves engaging in a level of dialogue with ourselves and each other that is uncommon in our culture and, at the same time, a pre-requisite of outstanding leadership at board level.  Perhaps, though, this is a subject for another day. 

When heads roll

Developing as a leader

It’s the season of high profile resignations in the wake of the News of the World phone hacking scandal – but are such resignations a sign that the individuals concerned are being held (or holding themselves) accountable?

Rebekah Brooks was amongst the first to go (though, in the view of some, not before time) when she stood down from her role as Chief Executive of News International.  Sir Paul Stephenson followed just days after, resigning from his role as Metropolitan Police Commissioner.  Sir Paul’s resignation was followed just one day later by the resignation of his direct report, John Yates.  In public life, such resignations are not uncommon.  Big news stories are often accompanied by cries of some modern equivalent of “off with his head”.  A waiting game ensues.  Can I hold on to my job or is it time for me to go?  When the head rolls some appetite is satisfied and still, I wonder if such resignations really equate to the true execution of accountability.

One of the reasons I hold this doubt is because such big name resignations can lead us to imagine that failure is a “one problem, one person” affair.  So often it isn’t.  Andy Coulson’s resignation in January of this year from the role of Director of Communications to the Prime Minister happened not because he had done something inappropriate in his new role.  Rather, it followed a long chain of events, including stories of phone hacking under Coulson’s watch at News of the World and David Cameron’s appointment of Coulson in the first place, despite pressure not to.  Coulson’s resignation had the appearance of accountability whilst also appearing to let others off the hook (at least for the time being) whose actions were also questionable.

Another reason why I question whether such resignations equate to the true execution of accountability is because they are rarely accompanied by a full investigation of the facts.  Without this, there is no getting to the root of – and addressing – the problem.  Coulson’s resignation from News of the World, for example, stemmed the pressure – at least temporarily – for a full investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World.  The decision not to investigate more fully looks extremely naive today – and possibly even then.  It’s also interesting to wonder if, in the wake of Coulson’s resignation from the post of Director of Communications to the Prime Minister, David Cameron got off rather lightly.  As long as there is no investigation of the facts, the problem lies dormant and unsolved.

Are Britain’s businesses any different?  I confess that as I ask myself this question I notice many times from my life as a consultant in which there was quiet collusion in ongoing problems in business.  There may be quiet complaints about the failure of senior management to address a problem (even quiet complaints by senior managers) and yet it is a brave man or woman who speaks up.  (As I write this I am acutely aware of the death this week of Sean Hoare, who broke the story of phone hacking at News of the World).  Perhaps it is for this reason that the phrase the fish rots from the head has become such common parlance in business.

True accountability involves many things.  It involves creating clear agreements up front about who will do what and by when.  It involves knowing up front how you will check in on progress and how you will address any problems as they arise.  It involves following through to find out when things are on and off track.  So far, so good.  Crucially, it involves having the courage to hold conversations that are testing for everyone involved when things go wrong and holding them in the awareness that everyone involved in the conversation may in some way be found to have failed.  Creating the environment in which such conversations are possible requires skill and determination.

Even as I write I recognise that there is so much more to be said on this topic.  For now though, I wonder, what is your experience of accountability?  And what challenges do you face in holding yourself – and others – accountable?

On being right – or wrong

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Once more www.TED.com has come up with a great resource in the form of a talk by Kathryn Schulz On Being Wrong.  This reached me via Stuart Reid* who commented: 


There is quite a lot in this TED talk from Kathryn Schulz that helps to explain why the ‘unilateral control model’ is so powerful.  Schulz has a view that one reason why we care so much about being wrong is that we often feel that if we are wrong there is something wrong with us – so we insist instead that we are right.  And she also makes the point well that feeling we are right is often not a reliable guide to what’s going on out there in the real world.

Leaders who are attached to always being right are easy to spot.  They rarely ask for input from those they lead in order to form a plan and even when they do it’s their own ideas that prevail.  They have people reporting to them – sometimes very senior people – who think twice before putting forward an idea for fear of the public humiliation that will follow.  They think their staff are rubbish (“they have no ideas to offer at all”) and they may overlook the fact that some very talented people come and go from their watch.  They are often disappointed with the outcomes from their staff and rarely take responsibility.  Of course, it’s not just leaders who have this kind of experience – it’s colleagues, spouses, parents and children…

I want to add that, in our culture, this is not uncommon.  Take a moment to notice when you have wanted to be right even though you knew you were wrong, when you were really hard on yourself or on someone else for the things that didn’t go to plan, when you were afraid of the consequences of a mistake or escaped into your head to think about it instead of to feel it.

How much compassion do you have for your own mistakes?  And for the mistakes of others?

*And yes, if you follow Stuart’s link, you’ll find all sorts of additional treasures to explore.

Leadership levels: knowing your job

Developing as a leader
Finally, I’ve embarked on my reading regime – the one I mentioned in my post Exploring the inner game of leadership.  I’m starting with a book which continues to attract warm recommendations, Jim Collins’ Good to Great.  In it, Collins shares findings from research into those companies who have gone from showing solid performance to showing outstanding performance in the marketplace.

Early on, Collins lays out a neat hierarchy of work levels.  It’s not rocket science or even entirely new and still, it serves to remind us of levels of work with which we are familiar and also to highlight an additional level, the Level 5 leader, which is the subject of Collins’ book.  I highlight it for another reason – but first, let me share Collins definitions:

Level 5 Executive:  Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

Level 4 Effective Leader:  Catalyzes a commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards.

Level 3 Competent Manager:  Organizes people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of pre-determined objectives.

Level 2 Contributing Team Member:  Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with others in a group setting.

Level 1 Highly Capable individual:  Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills, and good work habits.

What does this hierarchy evoke for me?  I want to highlight the role that adaptability plays in success.  The more strategies you have to meet your goals the more likely you are to succeed (and yes, I’ve been there, too – using a strategy that didn’t work last time either and hoping that by trying harder, it will work this time).

As you move through the hierarchy of work levels to which Collins refers, it helps to know clearly which level of work you are employed to do and to develop strategies that work at that level.  It also helps to know how the level to which you aspire differs from your current work level.  Oftentimes poor performance stems from applying habits from the level of work below the level at which you are employed to contribute.  Oftentimes the promotion you feel frustrated you have not have yet achieved is withheld because you do not yet show you understand at what level you will be required to contribute in the job to which you aspire.

I wonder, what comes up for you as you read Collins’ Level 5 Hierarchy above?