Tag: Business

The Upside To Home Working

Leave a comment
Y from the Yahoo logo

Y from the Yahoo logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I wonder if Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer has looked carefully at the costs (as well as the benefits) of denying staff the opportunity of working from home in favour of office-based collaboration?

 

In my experience of working for an office-based team it was possible to get quite a lot done for the team, when working remotely from it.

 

It was necessary to focus on the specific tasks and outputs to be delivered whilst operating from home though.  The Guardian’s five golden rules for successful home working would have helped.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/shortcuts/2013/feb/26/working-from-home-five-golden-rules

 

The point Yahoo may be missing is that home working wasn’t an everyday event, but an infrequent privilege extended as a sign of the healthy upside in the emotional contract between employer and employee.  Employer trusts the employee to get the job done, even though the employee is not sitting in front of them chained to a desk.

 

What was the usual result after home working?

 

The employer got the timely outputs needed in the quantity required and to the appropriate quality standard.  The employee got to shape their life around their work and lower the environmental impact of their work by commuting less.  No dramas, no skiving and no downside involved.  In fact it seemed to me to be a fairly happy, efficient and productive arrangement for both sides.

 

If Yahoo was to ask me I would say their proposed change seems counter-productive.  Employees lose a privilege, gain a commute and wonder if their employer trusts them to deliver tasks at arms length.

Related articles

Not Everyone’s Cup Of Tea

Leave a comment

As this is the season of gifts and thoughtful reflection I wondered what is the ideal gift you would give yourself in 12 months’ time?

Coaching present
Could your gift to yourself involve switching jobs?

Perhaps you were thinking of finding an occupation which reflects your values & beliefs more closely?

Maybe it relates to having a satisfying balance between time spent with supportive colleagues, trading in ethical products and enjoying a good quality of life?

Does achieving a fraction of that change sound like hard work?

Well, apparently a step or two along the road toward those outcomes is possible.  BBC Business coverage of Henrietta Lovell’s Rare Tea Company records such a journey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20761886

Henrietta realised that there was scope to meet the needs of rare tea enthusiasts and became a kind trader into the bargain.

I love the positive energy she brings to the enterprise she founded.  Instead of constantly eyeing the bottom-line, in a competitive scramble, she asked:

“Why can’t businesses be run with a generosity of spirit and a lot of goodwill”?

http://www.rareteacompany.com/

She is making generosity and goodwill part of her business offer.  She is also making the business work.

According to the article, that is an approach which other, less nichey traders are adopting too.  The article is well worth a few minutes of your time.

I wonder how many business leaders are inclined to think about working with a coach to improve their performance outcomes in terms of their ethical reputation, or social impact?

Perhaps that was part of Google’s initial philosophy when their informal motto was ‘don’t be evil’.

Either way it would be incredibly positive to coach organisations who were professional about the goods / services they provided but also mindful of their stake in society.

As far as I can see those organisations, their staff, customers and stakeholders would all benefit from sharing an ethically- based value system.

That thinking has to be good for business.  Even though, obviously, it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

Related articles

So This Is Christmas?

Leave a comment
English: Coaching process model (GROW model) P...

English: Coaching process model (GROW model) Polski: Model procesu coachingowego (GROW model) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although it is the week before Christmas, seasonal goodwill seems thin on the ground.

Obvious tragedy and strife aside, it is the personal stresses which can make the world seem especially grim.

For instance, the Guardian’s ‘Work’ section features the case study of a senior manager whose skills and successes cut no ice with his senior colleague.

Top management are blaming the woes of the larger business on the senior manager.  His previous good leadership of his business unit goes unrecognised.

Above the line, the article describes the chilling effect of the blame game.  The senior manager is left feeling his confidence ebbing away.  He feels trapped, and is facing a six month count-down to termination (he is suddenly performing ‘unacceptably’ in the larger organisational context).

That is a bleak way to end 2012.

It is an eye-opener to read some of the reader feedback, offered to the senior manager, below the line.  Some of it seems defensive.  Some of it aggressive.  My take on what he could do next is, inevitably, coaching themed.

You can read the article and comments (mine are included as RogerAD) here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2012/dec/17/should-i-leave-my-job

Basically, I am saying he should find himself a coach and allow himself to be supported through the GROW model:

Identifying a goal – determining what is the positive benefit he wants to head toward, in the time he has available?

Reflecting on his reality – questioning what does the relationship between his values and those of his organisation feel like?

Listing his options – working out what are the steps that take him forward, toward his ultimate goal?

Using his will – relying on the reserve of positive energy he holds – that his caused him to seek a solution to his dilemma – to identify the first step he can immediately take.  That is the step which will move him one step closer to what he wants.

It will be interesting to see what type of feedback he chooses to follow.  Whatever he decides to do, you have to hope his 2013 turns out better than 2012 has.

Related articles

Time Is On Their Side (Yes It Is)

Leave a comment
English: Trade ad for 1965 Rolling Stones' Nor...

English: Trade ad for 1965 Rolling Stones’ North American tour. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When they started to work together 50 years ago I doubt the Rolling Stones knew how successful they would be decades later.

Their goal was to play the music they loved, in front of people who appreciated it.  That plan seems to have worked out quite well.

Now, according to BBC Business coverage of their sellout O2 concerts, their most recent tour – A Bigger Bang – earned £348 m. Which sounds like a decent contribution to their retirement fund.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20499742

Not that they look ready to put their feet up.

All of which contrasts to recent research, about life planning, published by the National Association of Pension Funds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20543308

NAPF believes many over 50s are sleepwalking into their old age. Essentially they are not putting enough by for their non-working years. Risky given increasing life expectancy.  Making ends meet in years to come calls for effort now.

Perhaps a good first step  would be to visit the Money Advice Service website www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk and see what information it contains, to help with long-term planning.

A reasonable second step would be to find a supportive coach, set a financial goal, and work steadily towards it.

Most of us won’t be multi-millionaires in our 50s and 60s but, I believe, many of us could be more secure financially: starting now with a bit of time devoted to planning our future.

Related articles

How Full Is Your Bucket?

Leave a comment
Cover of "Understanding Psychological Con...

Cover via Amazon

In my experience some people resist change in their professional lives, even if they are unhappy.  They don’t want to benefit from taking on a new way of thinking, after a change to their circumstances.  Or they may feel that ‘at their time of life’ change is not possible and they have to put up with bad situations.

I think those people may be missing out.  That is especially true if the person is in a junior job role and change has happened around them, meaning their expectations about their working environment – personal development; pay rises; job security – are not being met.  This is true in the private sector and, the Daily Telegraph’s Jobs Editor Louisa Peacock suggests, amongst civil servants.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/9630531/Whitehall-jobs-down-30000-on-year-amid-rock-bottom-staff-morale.html

Hopefully senior managers already have, or are actively being coached to develop strategies to counteract the dip in staff morale that results from unmet expectations.

For senior managers who don’t see why action is necessary (or believe staff will put up with just about anything) Neil Conway and Rob Briner’s 2005 analysis ‘Understanding Psychological Contracts at Work’, includes the telling observation:

“When an employee believes that [their] organisation has failed to deliver its promises on a regular basis, he or she will question whether it makes sense to continue contributing to that organisation or whether it might be better to move on to another”.

The new look People Management magazine this month includes a feature on ‘Eight Ways To Reward Staff, Without Giving Them A Pay Rise’.  I like the simplicity of their final suggestion: try to say ‘thank you’ to others for their contribution.  The article suggests literally writing notes of appreciation and leaving them with colleagues who have done a good job (I can remember from personal experience how a simple act of appreciation can put a smile on someone’s face).

The magazine says this concrete expression of gratitude is an echo of Tom Rath’s and Donald O Clifton’s approach to combatting workplace negativity, set out in their book, ‘How full is your bucket?’.   I like the idea and I am going to try it out the next chance I get.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Your-Bucket-Positive-Strategies/dp/1595620036

GROWing Pains

Leave a comment
English: An artist's depiction of the rat race...

English: An artist’s depiction of the rat race in reference to the work and life balance. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_race Made with following images: http://www.openclipart.org/detail/75385 http://www.openclipart.org/detail/74137 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve received some useful performance coaching recently, to help me successfully suggest how the future contributions of a voluntary project group I belong to could be improved, improving my work-life balance.

It was good quality coaching, following the GROW – Goal, Reality, Options, and Will – formula championed by Sir John Whitmore amongst others.  It left me holding a clear set of actions for two, cards-on-the-table, meetings about the project.  I was going to influence greater participation from group at the first, grass roots meeting.  I was then going to suggest changes to the project vision in the second high-level event.

Of course reality doesn’t work like that.  In the first meeting no one wanted to participate more than they were already doing.  In the second meeting the request for help with the vision went up the line, and came firmly back down again.   The issue with the vision thing was ours to address, not anyone else’s.

Which goes to show that, where you can coach with improvements in your own performance in mind, you cannot expect your actions to produce specific outcomes in others.  After all, others haven’t been coached to ‘participate more’ or to ‘change their vision’.

All this possibly means my next coaching goal may have to be: ‘to successfully document my contribution to the outcomes of this project, so I can use my skills in another context  this year’.

(More information about Sir John Whitmore is  available on this website http://www.performanceconsultants.com/ )

Brand Loyalty

Leave a comment
Unique Selling Proposition / Unique Selling Po...

Unique Selling Proposition / Unique Selling Point / USP (Photo credit: photosteve101)

I was talking to a recruitment consultant last month and found myself agreeing with her when she said the current economy makes this an employers’ market.

 

Large numbers of people without work provides employers with a rich selection of talent sitting on the shelf from which to choose.

 

It is possible that the most attractive prospects at eye level are younger people.  Younger applicants, offer new perspectives, fresh out of school or college.  They are perceived to be more malleable and less expensive than mid-career job changers.

 

All of which made me think about personal branding.  Having a good professional reputation, can improve personal marketability, whatever age you are.  It can make you stand out from the other people looking for an opportunity to shine.

 

In my recent experience of attending public meetings and community events, reputation isn’t always something people consider when they represent themselves, or speak on others’ behalf.

 

For instance what would you think if you heard at a Town Hall meeting that a representative of a faith organisation was prepared to ‘use force’, if that got his planning application approved?

 

http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/wfnews/9909691.WALTHAMSTOW__EMD_planning_meeting/

 

On the other side of the coin how does a Community centre volunteer come across as she describes her venue as an ‘exciting place, from the time the doors open to when they close’?

 

Each speaker is making a statement about who they are and how you might relate to them.

 

If reputation is important the challenge is to establish and enhance one’s own.  That involves finding a unique selling proposition for yourself, to be known for your: attention to detail; ability to influence others; technical competence and so on.  Having earned that USP the trick must be to keep building on it.

 

Trying to build on an established USP can be risky too.  As I mentioned in previous posts, Nick Buckles – head of G4S, the Olympic contractor providing security staff – recently found that out the hard way.  How difficult will it be for his organisation to enjoy its previous tried-and-trusted status I wonder?

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/11/g4s-failed-olympic-security-lord-coe

 

Not ready for the ‘Reduced To Clear’ shelf just yet?  It might be worth asking questions:

 

Am I presenting myself as offering Everyday Value (reassuring, dependable, nothing fancy)?

 

Or do I work at becoming a Premium Brand (luxurious, different, something-a-bit-special)?

 

I’ll do some market research on my own offer and let you know what I find.

Related articles

There May Be Trouble Ahead

Leave a comment
English: The diagram above represents a generi...

English: The diagram above represents a generic framework for risk management. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The fictional head of the Twenty Twelve Olympic Deliverance Team, Ian Fletcher, would have been quietly scathing had a hapless contractor failed to produce the promised level of security staff days before the Opening Ceremony.   What a nightmare for an Olympic Chief with days to go before the Games begin.

Olympic Chief – “So are you telling me, the Head of Olympic Deliverance, that your firm managed the risk of not delivering the full quota of 12,000 fully trained and equipped staff – at the right venues, at the right time – by basically, crossing your fingers?”

Hapless Contractor – “In strategic terms, utilising our end-to-end ‘recruitment to deployment’ process we should have provided the full roster of staff at each venue, as per our contract.”

OC – “Well, thank you for that answer to a question, in all fairness, I haven’t actually asked.  Turning now to your risk management strategy on this contract.  What would you say that consists of, in a nutshell?”

HC – “In a nutshell?  Being honest?  (Pause) That would be pretty much be what you said. Sorry”

OC – “There you go.  With crossed fingers who needs Risk Registers?  Well. It’s all good.  Luckily there are some uniformed staff not doing much, ahead of the big day.  Aside from brushing the dust of Afghanistan off their boots, seeing their families and so on…”

Coming back to the reality, it’s scary to think that a major contractor thought they could use their standard project planning methodology to seamlessly deliver more than 10,000 staff to 2012’s principle sporting tournament.

Looking at that goal rationally it is a huge challenge to accomplish that outcome on time, without having any experience of successfully completing a project that size, without a carefully tailored approach.

Far from enhancing their reputation for professional delivery this contractor may have placed greater scrutiny on the way they deliver on their other contracts.

I don’t think they will earning a place on the winners’ podium this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01l8n7t

Sharing Your Goals (Or Not)

Leave a comment
English: Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby and ...

English: Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby and Muckwork. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am chipping away at my 2012 ‘To Do’ list of Goals and Good Intentions.  Maybe you are too.

Perhaps you are actually speeding through your list, completing your tasks in less than the time you allocated yourself.

If that doesn’t sound like your experience there are several approaches you might take to get more done.

How about doing the grimmest item first (I think the approach is inspired by Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog principle)?

Alternatively it is tempting to focus on the essential items only.

You might even have thought the easiest motivator is to tell your partner, or best friend that you aim to do X task by Y date.  That pretty much ties your hands.

I’ve found a short TED presentation by Derek Sivers in which he offers his opinion on why that last solution may not actually help.  He also suggests how you might want to tackle more goals, successfully.

http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself.html

Good luck whichever route you choose.  Now, which vegetable goes better with an amphibian main course, rice or potatoes?

Three Things I Have Learned In 2012 (So Far)

Leave a comment

As the second half of the year has arrived I am in stock taking mood.  In no particular order here are three of the things I know a bit more about now, than I did six months ago:

–        Some providers of goods and services are good at creating an accessible, welcoming feeling for customers new to their brand (yes WordPress, I’m talking about you)

 –       Effective project management techniques can produce good quality, timely results for the non-profit sector, just as they do in the commercial world – www.hoestreetfirst.wordpress.com shows that is the case.

–       It is a challenge to mobilise volunteers for community projects at the best of times.  During a period of austerity it is harder.  Understandably they are focusing on finding / keeping a job; financial security; family time.  Hats off to the folks who do get involved and whose contributions do make a difference.