I've had the pleasure of working with some great people over the years, and there's none better than David Tomkinson, a Director with the andpartnership. 

David has over 25 years experience in the retail sector, working with blue-chip organisations including British Home Stores and Boots the Chemist. He has held senior roles in store management, training, development, HR and organisation development.  Using his approach based on minimising resistance, he's introduced culture change programmes into large organisations, involving initiatives such as coaching, self-managed teams and 360’ feedback, achieving dramatic business improvements.

In this post, David builds on the thinking around leadership capability.

I have often been struck by the number of leaders that seem to get into a senior role and then spend a large percentage of their time doing their old job, or the jobs of their team.

My experience is that this is often because they are no longer being asked to do what they enjoy, what they are passionate about or what they perceive themselves to be good at.  

A good sales person will be promoted to sales manager and suddenly won't be selling any more, but managing others who are. No wonder then, without development and awareness, that they jump back into their teams day to day world at every opportunity. When they say 'I could do this better' they are probably right! Unfortunately getting down into the detail disempowers people, encourages abdication and affects the enjoyment of the Individuals.

Of course there are some leaders who naturally love strategy and 'big picture'  and their problem is different - keeping themselves engaged and performing whilst in junior roles that require more detailed involvement!

However, for the majority of junior and middle managers, climbing the 'greasy pole' is quite stressful as they struggle to get clear on what is their role, what they should be delegating and to let go of what they love.

The answer seems to lay in greater self awareness, having 'big conversations' and getting in touch with what what they care about.

If they are clear on what they are trying to create  then it makes it easier to make great decisions, they are more comfortable with their role and purpose and they find new enthusiasm in leading a team to deliver their passion. By enabling open and honest conversations to take place, leaders become more self aware and team members can give them feedback when they do inadvertently 'meddle' in their work!

I saw this recently in my interactions with a Managing Director of a large blue chip company. He was driving his team mad by getting involved in solving problems every time they occurred. As a result all leaders were leading at the level below where they should. Also he said to me 'I don't do visions' and struggled to focus on the future rather than the short term. There was a feeling of disengagement throughout the business, and a feeling of not being trusted to do your job.

I worked with the senior team to surface these feelings and got them to have powerful conversations about their frustrations. We then worked on the Future he wanted to create, what he was passionate about and what he was leading for. He was able to articulate this once he let go of the limiting belief that he 'didn't do visions'.

We were then able to engage all the senior leaders in what they were passionate about and how their part of the business can help deliver this future. They were then able to talk to their people in a different way, getting people excited about the future rather than overly focussing on the present. We also got them to identify their limiting beliefs and turn the volume down on these, to allow the more positive voices to be heard.

We helped leaders to develop Coaching skills, to avoid the temptation to jump back in, and undertook regular away days with the leadership team to review progress, identify what still needed to be done and help them to form new habits rather than reverting back to old behaviours.

The result?

Business performance is now at a record high and employee engagement has increased dramatically. Most importantly, the MD is now enjoying his role in shaping the future and leaving the problem fixing to those who have the remit to do so!

You can get in touch with David on 07710 003029 or e-mail at david.tomkinson@andpartnership.com. Read more at the blog at leadership consultants.

I've been thinking about this recession.

Some organisations are stuck in a vicious cycle. Businesses in all sectors are struggling and many are being forced to restructure/downsize/whatever you want to call it. 

As a result, the employees left are concerned about their future. They aren't even certain they'll have a job in 6 months time.

As Maslow eluded to, if you're not getting your most basic needs of job security met, the chances of achieving any higher level needs are slim.

And what does that mean for how people behave? Well, it means people are understandably cautious; they won't raise their head above the parapet. They will cover up mistakes. They won't take risks.

They'll cover for poor performance because they don't want to expose their colleagues.

As a result, organisational performance starts to slip. People try and do too much, and not do it well.
The organisations' performance slips and the inevitable restructure again rears its head. The cycle continues.

So, how do we help them break out of the cycle? What needs to happen that is different?

In your organisation, do you promote people who are good at their job?

What happens when they are promoted?

I'd wager that in a few cases, they thrive - the extra responsibility is something they grasp and they deliver great results, the right way, through their people.

In most cases however, I'd bet they don't.

Here's a recent example. Dave (not his real name) worked in a local shop. He was fantastic with his customers. They loved him. He constantly went out of his way for them; he remembered their morning paper, their usual groceries, even their lottery numbers. Head office recieved many letters and calls about him.

Because he was so good, his manager put him up for a promotion. He was promoted to a management role at the same shop.

So, how is Dave performing now? Well, he's 'steady'.

He's not bad at his job, but the company no longer receives letters and calls about service in that shop.

Why? Dave's replacement isn't as passionate about service as him and whilst Dave was great at service, he's not so great at leading and inspiring people. He's never had the training and development and to be honest, he's a bit out of his depth.

Dave is happy in his new role, but secretly he misses his old job; the instant satisfaction he got from helping people. Yes, he likes the extra cash, but it's not the same.

Recognise something similar in your organisation?

Three lessons here;

1. Don't promote people who are only good at their job - it's no indication of their leadership capability
2. If you're really serious about customer service, pay and reward your stars what they deserve, not what you can get away with. They'll continue to delight your customers and stay happy
3. Leaders aren't born, they are made

What do you think? Are we promoting people who will be great leaders or who are great in the current role?

In another serendipitous moment, I found this video of hotelier Chip Conley (@ChipConley) talking at TED about how he went in search of a business model based on happiness. 

Find out how an old employee and a buddhist king helped him learn that success comes from what you count, and the implications on ourselves, our work and our society.

Enjoy.

Another interesting and quick video - this time by edelman london with Clare Chapman talking about the relationship between engagement, empowerment and intrapreneurialism. 

Thanks to Raffaela Goodby for the link - this is the first of many (I'm hoping) videos from the Engaging for Success Practitioners Group.

By the way, if you're intending on sharing I'm suggesting we use the hastag #e4s. Thanks!

Another good employee engagement video, this time from the Birmingham Post, with David McLeod talking with business leaders.

He makes some great observations and points about how to engage employees, with in my opinion, the most important;

You cannot do this unless you have a sincere respect and belief in the welfare of your people.

Leadership doesn't always start at the top, but it's vital you employe leaders who genuinely care for other people, rather than just considering them as a 'depreciating asset'!