Two Emerging Trends in Leadership Development - A Perspective from Bill Andrew

This week's blog is an interview with Bill Andrew, Director Service Delivery and Leadership Consultant at Trevor Roberts.

Bill Andrew, our Director, Service Delivery and Leadership Consultant at Trevor-Roberts has worked as an Executive Manager and Consultant for over 15 years. His expertise is coaching CEO’s, leaders and their teams to assist them to acquire new perspectives on leadership. Here are his thoughts on how he helps Australian business leaders to improve their effectiveness at work.

“I enjoy using my experience to help leaders utilize new ways of thinking about their challenges and take a different perspective on their work role. My challenge is to be able to quickly grasp the key issues and then, using a holistic systems perspective, invite reflection on current practice and consider alternative actions.

The cornerstone of my work lies in Reflective Practice. This gives leaders the chance to reflect and build their own theory of action and work out ways to apply this in the future.

The rewards for me come from seeing leaders develop an awareness that they may not have had previously and seeing them apply this and get better outcomes for their organization and themselves.

Over the past few years I have seen two distinct trends in management thinking. One is driven by economic reality and we are seeing a trend towards “back to basics” driven by the fiscal climate. This can result in restructures, staff reduction and a focus on technology (often accompanied by a command and control mentality).

For leaders, the issue is to retain your organizational performance, strategy and culture throughout these processes. Any restructure causes uncertainty and a risk of loss of organizational knowledge. Leaders are under continuous pressure from their Boards to do more with less. So my role is to help them think through how they can review their structure and strategy and ensure alignment of the organization culture that underpins delivery of the strategy.

The second trend I see is around a shift to a non-traditional leadership model. As organisations become more facilitative and leader-follower integrated, we see a change in leadership styles. In the past we saw more acceptance of a leader who “calls the shots” but now it’s apparent this model is no longer effective.

Leaders need to be able to motivate their workforce to come on the journey with them. How does the leader mentally make that shift? What skills do they need? How can they evaluate their personal effectiveness? These issues are key for leaders who are looking to have a positive impact on their organization and their workforce, who are searching for a new way of interacting with the leadership model.”

Bill Andrew’s experience extends across line management and consulting with a wide range of organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand in a diverse range of industries including: Mining/resources, Science and Technology, Telecommunications and Transport, Infrastructure (Water and Energy), and Banking and finance and all levels of government. Bill leads our Delivery Team throughout Australia.

If you could go back in time and start a change project again…

“If you could go back in time and start a change project again, what would you do differently?”

This was the question we posed to some of our valued clients and through a frank interview process we recently undertook. Overwhelmingly, two critical aspects emerged for a successful transition.

First, the effective management of the change process.  When change programs are well managed, employees feel that they understand the reason for the change, how it impacts on them and what they need to do differently in the future. Stakeholders can see a positive impact on the business as a result of the project. For the management team, achieving these goals is often the result of months of preparation work.

 Second, leading people through the transition is vital. This involves the tools and development for our leaders to succeed in transforming others during the transition.

 These are just the first two aspects that emerged from our conversations. Click here to download our Leading Through Transition Tip Sheet.

Resilience

In a workshop this week there was a lengthy discussion about resilience.  The team described resilience in many ways including mental toughness, the ability to get back up after a failure, persistence and staying positive in tough times.

How’s the resilience in your team?

Having a resilient team means that you can rely on people to carry on through challenges and setbacks, it also creates better commitment to your team goals.

How can you create more resilience in your team at work?

The power of positive dialogue – Increase your awareness of how many positive conversations you have at work.  Talented leaders can highlight positive events and achievements no matter what the situation.  Taking the time to highlight learnings, achievements and small wins in a meeting can change the mood of the team enormously.  So often we focus on what we haven’t done and what’s missing.  Instead change the emphasis and discuss how much progress has been made and how much you have learned as a team.

Be supportive – Teams that feel supported by their manager are more likely to be proactive and achieve more.  We speak to managers who feel that they spend their days with a long line outside the office that never goes away.  Consider your management style. Do your employees know that you support them if they are proactive?  What is your approach when something goes wrong? Do you look for blame, or do you use failures as a learning opportunity?

Life Balance – Modeling a good life balance and encouraging others to do the same can create better physical resilience in your team.  Taking a short walk at lunchtime can often give you a better perspective on work.  Congratulate your team for the hard work they do during the day, instead of staying back night after night. 

Recognise good work – When team members know they are likely to be recognised for their work, they are more likely to persist with difficult challenges or a hard project.  There are many effective ways to recognise good performance.  Whether you offer recognition informally, as an agenda item in a team meeting, via a group email, or by telling more senior managers about your team member’s performance.  The important element is that your team knows that you see what a great job they do and that you appreciate it.

Creating resilience to help support high performance doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.  Raising your own awareness about creating positive dialogue, searching for ways to give good feedback and supporting your team to be proactive can give them more confidence and create better morale at work.

The Private Sector: Missed Opportunity or Time in the Sun?

At the recent national conference of the CDAA, I presented on the opportunity and threats for career professionals working with the private sector.

The private sector is the ‘forgotten cousin’ of the career field caught between the size of the education market and the social imperative of working with those marginalised. Yet private sector career practitioners directly assist the largest at-need group: the ‘working wounded’.

It is here that the career field faces its greatest opportunity - and its greatest threat - as it struggles to maintain relevance in the face of a rapidly changing environment.

Whilst the Outplacement Industry in Australia right now is growing, with revenue at $130 m and figures up 2.5% on last year, it is critical for our industry to maintain our focus on continual learning, professional standards for our clients, and above all a willingness to reinvent ourselves to stay relevant and useful to our clients. Moreover, the world of work is rapidly changing and the career profession must continuously evolve to stay abreast of trends.

A brief summary of the key concepts in the presentation can be seen below.

Beyond Performance Management

Here’s a fascinating paradox. We’ve all heard that the annual performance review isn’t effective and that managers should instead provide regular feedback on performance. And yet, the annual performance review remains the dominant process used by organisations. There are two reasons for this. First, the notion of work remains stuck in the industrial age where a person’s ‘performance’ (read: productivity) could be measured by the speed at which they completed a defined and discrete set of tasks. In today’s post knowledge economy it is difficult to precisely measure performance when the inputs into work are vague and complex. Think about the emotional labour undertaken by a nurse where his or her effectiveness is as much about how they do it as what they do.

Second, performance management remains dominant within organisations because the Executive Leadership Team needs data with which to make decisions. Executives are focussed, among other things, on increasing productivity and minimising risk. Therefore metrics on performance are useful data to have.

Or are they?

Lets challenge this sacred cow for a moment. What would happen if we focussed less on the outputs of work and instead focussed on the environment to foster great work? In such an environment, managers would know the deep motivations of each of their team members and would help them develop and grow in the direction they wanted to. Senior leaders would reinforce the reason why the organisation exists and explain this purpose consistently and constantly often through great stories. Everyone would know why they come to work and how they will achieve the purpose.

“Performance Management” in its traditional sense wouldn’t occur.  Don’t get me wrong though – breaches of the behavioural expectations would be treated swiftly and strongly else a culture of mediocrity would arise.

Managers wouldn’t have the annual performance review, but instead have ‘enrichment’ conversations and jointly set agreed activities, such as specific development goals, to ensure a connection between what is done on a weekly and monthly basis nurtures their innate drive and motivation.

Great performance comes from believing in a person, not measuring them.

Looking after your management team during a restructure

Restructures can be difficult for everyone involved.  In particular it’s important to keep your management team motivated and resilient throughout the process.  They are your key to a successful transition and it’s important to consider their needs and make sure they are supported.

The management team can have a three-pronged responsibility during a change process.  They can be responsible for the development of the strategic plan, the implementation of the plan and also for the emotional fall out that may happen as a result of the changes throughout the workplace.

Recognise that managers may have heightened emotions themselves about the changes, including uncertainty about their own roles and also about their colleagues.

In addition, managers may be required to deliver the news about the change project to their teams.  In this case they may feel some trepidation about the news that they are delivering, and could benefit from some coaching or a chance to role-play this with another colleague in advance.

Managers are often required to deal with a range of emotions from their team during a change process. Normal reactions to change are varied and sometimes it can be hard to know what to say to a team member who is dealing with difficult emotions.  It’s important that managers understand the range of normal reactions to change and are prepared to deal with these.

Some reactions may include:

• Feeling overwhelmed or withdrawing from others
• Feeling irritable or over-reacting to small things
• Self doubt
• Anger
• Shock and disbelief
• Confusion

These emotions can be directed at either the manager or co-workers.  It’s important to prepare managers about the range of possible emotions they may encounter from team members and also give them advice on ways to handle these conversations.

During a change project the manager will become the source of information about the changes for their team.  Make sure your managers are supported with a good understanding of why the changes are happening, the timeline of changes and also that they know when future updates will come.  Keep your updates to managers regular and consistent, so that they can be seen as a good source of information and knowledge by their teams.

Make sure your managers know about any counseling services you have available.  (We recommend Access EAP.)  This is a great source of help during a change project as it can help to take the pressure off your managers to become counselors to their team, which is not their role.

Encourage your managers to maintain a healthy life balance.  Managers can often bear the brunt of high expectations during a change project.  In addition during times of change, many employees feel uncertain about their own careers.  Your managers may respond to this uncertainty by working longer hours.  Encourage them to stay healthy and balanced during the change process, as this will give them more resilience and ability to manage the process well in the long run.

For more information, read our previous blogs. 
The number one redundancy mistake organisations make.
Retrenched: Why “she’ll be right, mate” won’t make it right.

Looking after your team during a restructure

How can managers keep performance from dipping during a transition?  Ensuring your team stays engaged throughout the change process can be a tricky job. 

People look to their manager during transition to provide guidance, advice, information and support.

So, here are some tips for managers about how to do a great job of looking out for your team during a transition.

 

 

1.      Listen - Spend time with people in your team, just listening.  Hear their concerns.  People may be experiencing anger, frustration or feeling confused about how the changes will impact on them.  Some people may need to “let off steam”. Taking the time to listen to your employees helps them feel valued.  In fact one of the most important indicators of employee satisfaction is often whether they feel their managers listen to them and value their opinions.

 

2.      Get the facts – As the manager it’s important that you have a good handle on the facts around the restructure and communicate these as soon as they come to hand. The more your staff understand and accept the need for business change, the more positively they'll respond to the change process.  Find out as much as you can about the process of the transition, timings, whether any employees will be retrenched and other key information.

 

3.      Provide stability where you can – During a transition, many employees report that uncertainty is one of the key issues that leads to stress.  Having weekly team meetings, regular email updates and one on one meetings with team members are all great ways of making sure your team feels supported and “in the know”. 

 

4.      Be creative about stress reduction – If your team reports they are feeling particularly stressed, why not have a team building session on stress reduction?  Ask everyone in the team for their ideas on what works for them to reduce stress. Following this up in your team meetings can be a good morale booster and a great way of building team spirit.

 

5.      Deal with negative attitudes head on – If a team member is particularly negative about the change process, meet with them directly to work through their issues and ask for a constructive approach.  Taking their concerns seriously can go a long way to getting difficult people on board.

 

6.      Create support networks – There are other areas in your organisation that are available to help employees during transitions.  Your HR department may be a helpful source of information.  Perhaps you may have access to 3^rd party counselors for employees who are feeling particularly stressed.  Find out about other sources of support for your team and make sure people know where to go to if they need additional assistance.

 

7.      Take care of yourself – Managers often put themselves last during difficult times at work. Equip yourself so that you have enough resilience to be a great leader throughout the process.  Make sure you are getting enough sleep, recreation and good food to stay healthy, optimistic and energetic throughout the transition period.