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

Keep Calm in a Crisis

I was recently fortunate to be invited sailing with a friend. He is an experienced sailor and raced as crew in the Fastnet amongst other events. For those of you that don’t sail, the Fastnet is a race of about 600 nautical miles offshore to the Fastnet rock and back, which is off the Southern tip of Ireland and not for the feint-hearted, yachts have gone down and people have lost their lives. It was in fact during the Fastnet that Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran lost a vessel in 1985. So, we had an experienced Skipper (captain of the yacht – person whom buck stops with!) though he did reveal that whilst he had crewed a lot, he had rarely skippered. To this day he’s the best person I know at sail trimming (making the sails most efficient at getting the maximum boat speed from the wind).

The weather was lovely; we had sailed around the Solent – nice breeze, not too lively. Skipper suggested that we had supper in Cowes and moored overnight there. Great idea, we all thought, so that’s what we did. Before one comes into a harbour or marina, it is courteous to radio the harbour-master in advance to request a berth (parking spot). Cowes was busy, being Saturday night, however as luck would have it we could raft-up alongside a yacht near the middle of the harbour. The harbour-master requested that we moor up stern (the blunt end) to wind, which is the less easy of the two options. So, we got ready for mooring; bow lines, stern lines - basically ropes to tie us to the other yacht, and fenders at the ready. I had the bow lines and my friend the stern lines, the other person on board was to fend off (from damaging either our or any other yacht) and Skipper was at the helm.

Now the tide was quite strong and the wind had picked up and neither were favourable for our manoevre, but such is life!

We were approaching the yacht with which we were to raft up at some speed and my friend and I exchanged one of ‘those’ looks which essentially says ‘ this is going to be interesting -might learn something, never done it like this before’! Moments later, Skipper said to my friend ‘Err, I’m not confident about this, can you takeover?’ Now, at this stage not only were we hurtling towards said yacht at speed, with the wind not helping but also, much like Meer cats - the heads of the family onboard said yacht were popping up looking somewhat horrified (we later learnt that they were on their second outing in newly purchased yacht – he’d been made redundant and they’d sold their house to fund a family trip - that’s another tale!). Also, a small audience had appeared! This occurred utterly at the last minute, in fact to be precise, I think about 45 seconds prior to us probably ‘T-boning’ said other vessel!

My friend is one of those people who is always calm and phenomenally so in a crisis. He took the helm, slapped the yacht into reverse, I grabbed the mooring lines and he seemingly effortlessly re-grouped us, gave one or two instructions and we moored up.

Despite the heart in mouth moment, all was well, no damage sustained - apart from perhaps mild panic attacks on the part of the family on board the other boat and momentarily our Skipper’s pride! Now, you may well be thinking what was this guy doing, however, in a moment of imminent crisis and believe me it would have been; he delegated to the best person for the job and averted a disaster.

The person he delegated to was calm, collected and acted with uncluttered thought and without panic. The situation in question was dealt with and the insurers didn’t need to be called! Now, how often does this happen in business and in life generally – particularly in the current climate? The businesses that ride the storm will be the ones that are nimble, can be flexible and change in the face of a challenge, be it a product failure, bad debt, loss of a major customer and so the list goes on. If you know your team’s (and it goes without saying your own) strengths and weaknesses then you will be able react most effectively.

As the posters from 1939, that are springing up all over the place keep informing us’ Keep calm and carry on’, if we can do this in the face of adversity - be it in a business crisis or on the verge of doing many thousands of pounds worth of damage in a harbour then fabulous!

Most people react positively when their leadership is calm, demonstrates confidence and a way ahead (most psychologists will back this up) even if underneath you know that you’re doing that elegant swan thing; calm and poised above the water line and paddling like crazy beneath and out of sight! Teams and the individuals within them, need that consistent direction, vision and honesty.

Just yesterday I was delivering a workshop on ‘ Change management’ and one of the delegates shared with the group a recent change. She had a new boss. - the sixth Senior VP !!! in as many months!! However, what she shared was that unlike previous bosses, this one was always transparent and honest. That’s not to say the other’s weren’t honest per se however in the current climate this new boss gives direction and vision and when asked a question to which he doesn’t have the answer –he says ‘I don’t know!’. He seeks to find out and looks to others in the team to find the answers too and off they go. In the current climate where uncertainty abounds and the papers seem full of allsorts of conflicting articles that all somehow or other claim to be the voice of authority – how refreshing is that!

So, if calm, collected and transparent is the way ahead, how?

Some tips;

Start with yourself – identify one thing that, if you do it now, you know will make you feel better

When your mind is turbulent, there is nothing quite like positive action. Pick one thing that you know will give you quick lift and do it. This will set you up to be in a more resourceful mood for the more challenging issues that you have to tackle. It may be a call to a mentor or good customer, or re-reading some recent good feedback.

Check your expectations

When you expect things to be a certain way, it can become a self-fulfilling a prophecy i.e. very often if you expect something to be a disaster, chances are it will be. This doesn't mean to say that you shouldn't wish and plan for things to turn out a certain way, but be aware that the more set in your mind you are - the less flexibility you are likely to adopt when a swift or even non-swift change is required.

Experiments are part of every successful businessman or woman’s life

When you step out of your comfort zone to create something different, it will often ultimately be more satisfying even if the journey there is a tad bumpy. Enjoy the journey! Do something different and experiment and delegate to others to do the same.

Think about and list the times when you have been calm in a crisis - this may be a business or personal situation...

If need be, do this daily, it will give you a mental boost that tells you that you’ve don’t it before and you can do it again.

List as many as you can think of.

People aren’t daft, say it like it is. “I don’t know” is okay!

The most successful negotiators are those who can keep a quiet mind, the most able problem solvers can keep a peaceful, unruffled and calm train of thought. The best communicators are calm and unflustered in mind and pose.

Within whatever confusion or crisis that may have occured, remain like the centre of the hurricane as it were, at peace and in control while the panic, whirling and frenetiscm of the things around have no power to affect you, without your permission! And of course if you don’t know the answer or solution, that’s okay! Some one else will! Try it today and tomorrow and see what transpires. …

Have great week,

Kate

What are you truly capable of?

On a recent skiing trip I inadvertently ended up on a rather steep red run with my daughter who is six. She has skied many blue runs and nursery slopes but not a red run. For those that don’t ski; a green run is a nursery slope for novices and beginners; a blue run is described as easy; a red run, medium and a black run considered difficult. Now, not only did I end up on a red run (steep) with said six year old but I also didn’t have a piste map. For one whose youth was spent with the Girl Guides where the motto is ‘be prepared’, my predicament was rather less than clever to say the least!

Whilst on the slope, having been somewhat abandoned by my party, I of course had no idea which run I was on, never mind the ability level. So, whilst my daughter was cautiously but ably descending the slope I had noticed that the skiers and boarders that we were accompanied by were undoubtedly experienced – no novices to be seen. Hmm, I thought, that leads me to believe that this is either a red or a black run – which of course would have been no problem other than the fact that my keen and inexperienced daughter was with me. At this point I began to-ing and fro-ing between being cross at my party and thinking how am I going to get my six year old safely down the mountain?

At about this moment of cogitation, the words of Henry Ford passed through my mind, “whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right”.

So, armed with that thought and knowing that my bold little girl was progressing well, procrastination on my part was going to get us nowhere!

As in life, it is often impossible to retrace our steps so going forward is the only option.

At this moment, my daughter shouted out ‘this looks very steep Mummy, I’ve never skied anything like this before.’ To which I responded, ‘it’s okay, it’s just like slope we did this morning with more trees.’ If ever I was to be magically turned into Pinocchio this was it!

About an hour later, we arrived at the bottom of the slope; it was a very long run and steep in places, compounded by a bit of ice. My daughter said ‘Mummy, the snow sounds funny?’, I responded ‘that’s okay, snow sounds like that sometimes’ - cue yet another Pinocchio moment!!

Once safely on the chairlift back up to the top and having orientated myself, I revealed to my daughter that not only had she skied her first red run, she had also negotiated the ice (and a wee moment off-piste but that’s another tale) and we lived to tell the tale over lunch!

Much like the fabulous technology we all use; laptops, pda’s, mobile phones, Bluetooth, wifi, Cloud – the list goes on - we rarely if ever, use their full capability and often as individuals it’s the same scenario.

We do have the resources and ability to achieve and overcome a very great deal, if we put our minds to it.

One of my clients woke up on the morning of a prestigious trade conference where he was to make the opening address – something he felt was a very great honour and privilege not to mention the corporate exposure he would get.

He called me and said’ Morning Kate, I can’t do it!’

‘Can’t do what?’ I asked.

‘The opening address!’

‘Of course you can’.

I then said’ Okay, you have 3 minutes to tell me everything that you ‘can’ do from when you executed that very nice £18m deal for the founder and investors some 8 years ago to today…..

‘But…’

‘No buts’

He proceed to tell me about the promotions, the products he’d launched in the market with no budget, the organisational change programmes, the company he’d engineered the great sale for, having turned it round from loss-making!, his two kids now at university …….. he finished with; I can play the piano ……very well as it happens.

‘Okay’, I said, ‘Fantastic’.

‘So, how about this opening address?’

‘Hmm - well it’s much easier than most of those things I just told you about – I can do it.’

‘Fabulous – best you get going then’ I said. (He did a great opening address, some said it was the best he had ever done.)

Sometimes we have to reframe our thoughts, the inner language that we use to ourselves in order to change our perspective, in turn change our behaviour which ultimately leads us to give that opening address, deal effectively with a team members poor performance, be innovative and creative in this challenging economic climate, ask for that new funding, help a six year old novice skier to get down a red run or whatever it is that is challenging you.

For a moment, think about those people that always appear to have the world on their shoulders, are perhaps depressed or glass half-full, lacking in ‘can –do’ attitude. What do you see? Shoulders hunched, little eye contact, mumbling, head bowed… How would you respond to that sort of stance?

Next time you’re feeling a little like you can’t do something or that everything is tumbling down (I appreciate this may be relatively often in the current market);

• Lift your chin,
• Look to the horizon,
• Stand tall
• Shoulders back
• And smile

At the very least you’ll feel a little more able to tackle the world.
Then either write down or list in your head all the things that you ‘can’ do. Give you self 3 minutes or a target list of 10 things, when you’ve done 10 - find another 10 and so on and so forth…

In our journeys through life, self-belief will get you a long way – bolstering that self-belief by regularly remembering what you ‘can’ do is a very good place to start.

As that lovely old expression goes ‘people are like teabags, you never know how strong they are until you put them in hot water’. In the current climate, never a truer word I think!!

Challenge yourself a little everyday, if there’s a tiny thought or perhaps a very big thought that you can’t - see if you can? Make that difference today.

Have a great week.

My warmest regards,
Kate