When the going gets tough.........

A well functioning team can be a powerful force for your company's success. A team in disarray, on the other hand, can be a distraction, causing missed opportunities and creating liabilities for the organisation.

‘When the going gets tough; the tough get going’ – as those of us, of a certain age, will remember Billy Ocean singing out. It was a favourite of my first real business mentor, a senior exec at M&S, at the annual bash…….it’s stayed with me!

Never more so than in a challenging market is ‘the tough getting going’ important. But what does tough actually mean - for us as individuals, as teams, as boards? Tough can have negative connotations such as insensitivity or even aggression however to have mental rigour and be tough in action can surely only be a good thing?

In my role as an executive coach in the current climate, the attitude to risk, perhaps ‘fear of’ is a common theme in conversations. Making ‘tough’ decisions that impact on both business and the people within can have some difficult consequences. Not insurmountable but certainly requires some mental ‘toughness’.

Lately, I’ve been observing various teams and boards behaviour - working with some who are operating very effectively and successfully together and others, shall we say, on the journey towards. The teams that have found their level, have animated, heated debates and discussion and I observe many things going on around the board table that could be described as ‘tough’, amongst many other descriptors! However, where it works is when there is a sort of unwritten code of conduct/ ethics if you will, which is all about ‘how we behave towards each other’; respect, trust, candour to name a few and it doesn’t get personal. Thereby keeping the agenda for the board or team (and company) on track and therefore being much more likely to succeed.

At the end of last year, one of my clients recently said to me’ I’ve sanctioned something that maybe I shouldn’t have - it instinctively feels right and I believe in my team but I think I may have burnt my bridges with the board’. This was my clients’, first board appointment. ‘What have you sanctioned?’ I asked, intrigued…..

‘One of my team has proposed a new product that she thinks will enhance the company's sales and profitability. It’s really interesting, doesn’t appear to be anything quite like it out there on the market and she’s great at what she does. If she says she can do it, I believe her. However, the first reaction I got from the board was quite dismissive. The CEO told me that not only would it never work but would also take four years of man-hours to even bring it to the testing stage. Then, it most likely won’t pass that phase.’

‘Not the most positive or open-minded response then.’ I replied.

‘Undeterred, I pleaded with the board to give us six months to prove the point. The board reluctantly went along and allowed me to give her a leave of absence from her regular job and devote her time solely to this new idea.’

Now fast forward a few months. The upshot of all of this is that he came back to the board within four months with a software project that was unique, exciting and eminently doable.

This lady on his team had succeeded well beyond the board's expectations. The product is now being sold - and sold profitably. Additionally, it has made quite a positive difference in the company's bottom line.

There’s a mental toughness! This guy risked losing his credibility and senior position (not to mention first board appointment) within the company; he got out of his comfort zone and intentionally put himself at risk; but most importantly, he thought differently, dared to be different, utterly believed in a member of his team and took a risk despite the consequences ‘if’ it failed.

Equally, the board, as a group, demonstrated some toughness, took a risk, backed him and the software developer and supported the decision. A tough call for those who weren’t sure and indeed those that were!

All boards and teams need at least one member who is some sort of a maverick. He or she should be an independent thinker and be willing to risk derision when introducing new ideas to the board. A person of this type is indispensable during these extremely competitive and trying times.

Strategic thinking, trust and collectively agreeing to something is not always an easy task. I know for sure that two members of the board patently disagreed with supporting this new idea however they collectively agreed and therefore as a board, they supported and encouraged the decision (outwardly anyway!). When the going gets tough for boards and teams, fresh thinking is essential. A team usually has nothing to lose when adding a new ‘mind’ to their members. The addition of a fresh vitality and robustness is rarely a bad thing.

For thought:-

Are you agreeing collectively and then standing by that decision even if you personally don’t agree?

What are your behaviours displaying to the rest of the organization? Do you collaborate, trust and commit as a group?

Do you trust your instincts?

Do you build consensus - finding the balance between active listening and active participation.

Can you cut to the core issue and identify how to move forward, how to bring discussions back to action?

Do you actively pursue outside relationships with board or team members?

Have you a mentor?

Treat team and board meetings as seriously as your job in terms of preparation, participation, and follow-through: do your homework, show up and contribute. The team meeting and/ or boardroom is the place for collaboration, not competition.

Competitive skills may very well have enabled you to get to your position of leadership, they’re less helpful when bringing a team or board together to achieve great things.

Are you getting going?

Have a great summer.

Kate Tojeiro works with boards and teams across a variety of businesses from FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 to small venture backed businesses. She is an Executive Coach and MD of X fusion.

Something in reserve.....

Some of you may be aware that I have just embarked upon a challenge on an endurance motorbike across the Pyrenees to raise money for KidsCo and Great Ormond Street Hospital. I haven’t ridden a motorbike for 14 years!

As some of you will know, my current challenge is that when I stall (a rather regular occurrence) I find it an almighty effort to kick start the bike again – partly due to the height of an enduro bike (high – due to the suspension required for rough terrain) and my lack of technique, welly, strength, something or other……

So, when after umpteenth attempt to start the bike again late yesterday I was on the verge of thinking perhaps I’d over-challenged myself - it was pointed out to me that perhaps I was out of fuel and needed to switch to the reserve tank! Switched to reserve tank, slighted exhausted attempt at kick-start and voila! Big roar, two stroke fumes and off we go……. A lesson learnt even if I did feel somewhat daft (one word to describe it anyway?)…….

It got me thinking about the challenges that individuals and companies face on a regular basis and sometimes the blindly doing what went before even though we don’t get the results - that is until metaphorically or truly speaking some-one points out that we need to switch to reserve or change something!

In a difficult trading period, economic climate, time of low morale et al, as leaders it is so important to listen and harness observations from others. There is a little story, if you will, of taking a group of people out to a garden with a statue in the middle and asking each to describe the statue. Each individual will of course have a slightly different view and standpoint – however the important thing is that their view is nonetheless valid and real.

So, how do we ensure that as leaders we capture the imagination and perhaps hearts of our teams and people. If we have a way of being that enables others to offer feedback and share views of our product, sales process, what competitors are doing, what we could do better – this will give a business the competitive edge.

It is being regularly researched and we so commonly hear that if a business combines its technical prowess and its emotional intelligence - it will stand stronger and very oft be much more successful.

Combining commercial pragmatism and passion can be a challenge, for some effortless and for others a step that they’ll think about but won’t actually make.

One of my clients, the CEO of a software company, oft says; ‘People can only be productive when they have balance in their life!’

By this he isn’t talking of the over –used work/life term but his team having a balance between their technical capabilities and their individuality, their personality - what they as unique people bring to the team, the company. He is particularly good at harnessing the creativity , innovation and passion in his people and runs a very successful business.

As business leaders, how can one harness the commercial pragmatism and the passion. I did a quick internet definition of the two:- ‘pragmatism - originally developed by Peirce and James / - a practical , matter-of-fact way of approaching or assessing situations or of solving problems’ and ‘passion – any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate’.

So, a few ideas on how to bring pragmatism and passion together:-

Listen - truly listen (it doesn’t mean you have to agree all the time!)

Establish a culture where people are ‘genuinely’ able to fail or just mess up, brush themselves off and onto the next thing

Have regular meetings that have no agenda - the amount of creativity and innovation that comes from these is quite extraordinary

Know your people , know your business – when was the last time you ’walked the floor’ …

Passionate and creative individuals are vats of innovation – seeking better and often fixated on better solutions to problems. It might be something technical or something more personal but either way it evokes an emotion that the person really needs to feel.

Like it or not, our best judgements and decisions are most often anchored in how we truly feel about something - even in the most clinical of us!

As for reserve tanks, I started writing this on a train to Newcastle and spotted a horse trotting along the fence of its field. Horses always leave a bit in reserve – they are flight animals - so whatever eventuality may transpire they will always have a little energy in reserve, a means to escape, make a change whichever – even highly tuned racehorses. If horses don’t epitomise the practical with the passion I don’t know what does!

Is your business bringing together the pragmatism and the passion……………?

'Bee' aware.......

Whilst my office is in a small busy town, this morning a huge bumblebee has been bumping on the window with tenacity. There is a large vase of startlingly yellow daffodils on the windowsill and they have all just come out. I think that must be what he (or she) is after!

I’ve been thinking about bees this week following a fascinating program that documented why bees ‘CAN’ fly. Their body shape, lack of aerodynamics and little wings have been baffling scientists for years because at face value - it appears an impossibility that they be able to fly at all! With the recent rapid development in sophisticated photographic technology it is now possible to ‘see’ that bees in fact flap their wings forwards and backwards, as opposed to up and down, which means that by a clever little manouevre of their wings the bee thereby creates lift on both strokes. Hence, it’s ability to fly.

And that I’m afraid is about the limit of my apiology, so why the observation?

I observed to one of my clients recently that people see, hear or sense what we put out there for them to see, hear or sense. “That’s nonsense” he confidently commented back. “People observe us but what they observe might be different to the ‘real’ us”, he said. “True”, I ventured sensing an interesting conversation in the making. “Mostly, though people see what we put out for them to see”.

Generally speaking if we are to achieve what we set out to and be successful in whatever that is - sometimes we need to ensure that our body language or non-verbal communication is in check. I.e. if we project confidence - others will identify with it, if we are unhappy and hunched people will identify with it, if we are anxious or nervous - there’s a pattern forming……...

“OK – give me an example” he said.

“A client who runs a very successful PR agency was having a somewhat ‘thin’ period a few years back.

She had a pitch meeting to go to - knew that she was one of four agencies participating in the beauty parade; two were large global agencies, one a medium sized UK based agency and her small boutique consultancy.

She decided that if she had any chance at getting this contract - she was going to have to use everything she had. Best outfit, hair & nails looking good – and of course her pitch! She knew that she had the talent, credentials and ability to do the project however felt very much like the minnow against the whales. She believed that if she was self-assured, confident and demonstrated the pride she has in what she does in the meeting she’d be in with a chance. So, how does self-assured, confident and a sense of pride ‘look’ and ‘feel’ for you, I asked. Well……..she responded, shoulders back for a start, breathing deeply, not fidgeting and being myself. She is erudite, capable, funny and charming. When did you last feel like that I ventured. When I delivered a talk at an Industry Conference two years ago (two years ago! I exclaimed – that’s another story) – we talked some more about this, the talk, the audience participation, the questions – the pleasant ones and the difficult. My client now had a reference point and through discussing it had also had a mini-rehearsal. (Little piece of neuro-science - when we recall an event and think it through, good or bad, we reinforce the neural pathways in our brains which therefore make it more likely for us to repeat the behaviour again – a bit like practicing a golf swing or a tennis serve).

After the meeting, she returned to her office and her PA was the first person she saw when she walked in. “How did it go?” she said. “I got it!” she replied. “Wow - did they tell you today”. “No, I just know I got it!”

A week later, the call came to say she had got it! She did get the business, a huge global contract and it was the first of many, many more after that lean period.

When I asked her about the meeting, I could see the confidence, self-assuredness and relaxed demeanour shining through.

So, when inwardly we are thinking that something is an impossibility what are the little ‘wing manoeuvre’s that we have to employ to make a difference?

Can you think of a time when the characteristics that you want to display were shining through to complement your skills and talents. Whilst many people profess not to care what others think – said client above included - we are, like it or not, creatures who want and need to fit into a social universe. Humans are psychologically suited to interdependence.

The ability to intuit how people see us is what enables us to truly and authentically connect to others and experience the deep satisfaction that comes with those ties. With that comes the ability to understand others better be a better leader.

The bottom line: It comes down to what you think about yourself

Your ideas about what others think of you hinge on your self-concept—your own beliefs about who you are. We filter the cues that we get from other people through our own self-concept. As a baby scans his mother's face he absorbs clues to who he is; as adults we continue to search for our reflections in others' eyes. People rely on others' impressions to nurture their views about themselves, says William Swann, professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. His research reveals that people with negative self-concepts goad others to evaluate them harshly, especially if they suspect the person likes them—they would rather be right than be admired.

So, you get what you give?

The top line: You probably do know what people think of you

You can choose whether this is working for you or not or more importantly whether you want to do something about it or not.

There is another benefit to doing this and taking pride in what we do and demonstrating it or to put it another way: demonstrating excellence in all we do. There is something infectious and contagious about excellence and confidence. The more one produces it, the more others want to produce. You may have heard the Biblical reference, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

It is true. Often the more we observe some one we admire, the more motivated we become - not always but more often that not.

So, for the next few days try being mindful of what you are projecting with regards to how others see you. Are you confident, self-assured, calm, anxious, worried, uninterested. If you’re not sure – ask around, trusted colleagues, friends, family or your executive coach/ mentor.

How did I come across? – ask for x 3 characteristics.

Then ask yourself - was that how you wished to come across? If so, fantastic! If not, what could you do to change that.

‘Have a springy week!’ was the sign off in an email I received earlier this week which made me smile and I speculated if it was a typo.

Either way it did put a spring in my step and a client later in the day commented that I seemed bright and breezy? What came first I wondered?

Have a great spring and should you be interested in working with an executive coach/ mentor to identify your ‘wing manoeuvres’ – you know where I am!

My warmest regards,

Kate