If you offer advice as part of your business model, you no doubt have heard those mercurial words, “Yeah, we already tried that, didn’t work!”

I am adamant that the value in my consulting-business-smarts is about the questions I ask rather than the answers I give. And, here is another typical example. The response by your clients to your advice needs to be diagnosed. Yes, diagnosed. They may genuinely have tried your recommendation, but exactly when, exactly how, and what was the outcome they hoped for?

Do not assume that the client knows what you are intending, or that they understand precisely how it should be implemented. When they give you this typical response, it may be for any of three reasons:

1. They are resisting change.
2. They are annoyed that you are smarter than them in offering your suggestion.
3. They’re just an aberrant wise-guy (and I don’t mean this in the Mafioso sense, either)

How do you handle this, however, when it happens? Ask intelligent questions:

1. When, specifically, was it that you attempted this in the past?
2. How are the conditions (environment) different today?
3. What was the exact outcome when you tried this?
4. How did you measure and evaluate the results?
5. Who did the measurement and evaluation?
6. Why, specifically, do you think it didn’t work?

By asking these questions you can establish if perhaps what was attempted, was not exactly as you are now recommending today. You will also have the client clearly articulating how the business environment has changed since then (which may effect the resultant dynamics in today’s conditions); or that the analysis of the results and outcomes back when it was previously attempted were flawed or at least ineffectual; or that YOUR assumptions may not be appropriate now that you have this additional background information!

Never assume the client is damaged – establish the facts to verify your assumptions. The upside is that the client may become more willing to consider your suggestions after answering your questions (and gaining that blinding flash of the obvious), or the questions in themselves may actually lead you to providing an even better recommendation after receiving the answers.

 

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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

Exemplary leadership is essential for purposeful and positive people performance. While walking through a general office area with a national executive manager of an organisation that has me on retainer, he pointed to a department manager seated in a corner office. “His work has been disappointing for months and it’s time we did something about it.”

Are you about to confront him right now?” I inquired.

“Confront him! Certainly not. You and I are on our way to see his boss. If anyone under my purview isn’t performing, it’s the fault of the direct superior. A poor performer has to be developed, moved to other work, or let go. If one of those three isn’t being successfully undertaken, the boss is failing.”

Rightfully so …. it is never the poor performer who is the real cause of the problem, it is essentially poor leadership. We are all aware you cannot solve a problem until you find cause. When people are lost, it’s more likely the leader who got them there.

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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

HR appear driven on utilising psychometric tests and analysis in the workplace. Mostly, I believe this is to explain away behaviour rather than attempting to improve behaviour. HR ought to be focusing on:

• Creating alignment among every position and corporate strategy.
• Marrying succession planning to career development and ensuring “bench strength”.
• Proactively helping line management with greater efficiencies and productivity.
• Optimally focusing resources on the product, the service and the relationships with customers.

Ideally, no one should have a career insulated in HR. I recommend to CEOs in my Mentoring & Coaching Program that they routinely rotate HR into other areas of the organisation so that HR gain first-hand knowledge and experience of what the staff face in their specific roles. Of course, the colour usually drains from the faces of HR people in the room when they hear me say that to their boss.

 

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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

 

The story goes … upon completing a highly dangerous tightrope walk over Niagara Falls in appalling wind and rain, ‘The Great Zumbrati’ was greeted by an enthusiastic supporter, who urged him to make a return trip, this time pushing a wheelbarrow, which the spectator had thoughtfully brought along.

The Great Zumbrati was reluctant, given the terrible conditions, but the supporter pressed him, “You can do it – I know you can,” he urged.

“You really believe I can do it?” asked Zumbrati.

“Yes – definitely – you can do it,” the supporter gushed.

“Okay,” said Zumbrati, “Get in the wheelbarrow ….”

No doubt, you’ve heard many times a supervisor or manager say, “You can do it” or “Make it happen”. These words are very easy to say but the trust, belief and commitment that it can be done are much more difficult to earn.

Will you get in the wheelbarrow?

We wouldn’t hesitate if we were confident that Zumbrati was well trained, experienced and motivated; that the wheelbarrow was of the best design and materials; and that the tightrope was securely fastened and recently inspected.

As leaders we ask our people to do many things in support of the organisation. Many of these tasks are complex, intensive, very demanding and some even ambiguous. So how is it that your people might do such great things every day – and enthusiastically walk that tightrope?

A major reason will be if they have trust and confidence in the leadership. Their beliefs do not come easy, but must be earned by the supervisor or leader.

You can start by understanding exactly what you are asking your people to accomplish. To do this you have to be ready and willing to get “down in the trenches” and see what is really happening. Often, this is the only way to accurately assess training, equipment and processes as well as identifying any potential roadblocks to mission performance.

You need to know your team’s capabilities and when it may be more appropriate to say, “No, we can’t do that.” This might be for many good reasons such as a lack of staffing numbers, training or equipment. Whatever the reason, making this decision is not easy and goes counter to the “can-do” attitude most of us have in leadership positions.

However, this is a key component of earning trust from our staff. As we move into the future we will continue to have great challenges. As leaders we have to be sure we cultivate this trust by showing our confidence in our people and that we ensure they have the best training, equipment and experience to accomplish the organisational objectives.

If you succeed in this endeavor, your people will walk any tightrope you ask, and you will have the confidence to get in that wheelbarrow with them!


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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

 

You've just been selected for a new role in management with responsibility for a dozen employees. You've never been in management prior; in fact you've never been in any sort of a leadership role at anytime during your life. So what now?

The first mistake many make is to start making promises, with the best of intentions, but ultimately they will be your undoing. Because most of the initial promises made are spur of the moment and rarely based on solid, quantifiable data that is relevant or useful. You may mean well, just don't do it!

Be aware of first impressions; delay decisions and desist from making alliances early on. Recognize and accept that first impressions of people may be replaced by more realistic ones in time. Don't accept the status quo, and give yourself the freedom to take your time in making any judgments. Leave yourself with room to manoeuvre by not taking rigid positions prematurely.

Make your highest priority the development of the people in your charge and use all the time at your disposal to prepare for the new role. There are ten steps to make this transition effectively and successfully. Here are the first five:

1. Anticipate change: once the euphoria of the appointment has calmed, you will realize that the demands of management will be greater than anything you have ever had to deal with before. Build a structure of support around you both at work and at home, and eradicate as many distractions as possible. Communicate rather than bottling things up. Do not believe you have to know it all - be willing to ask for help, guidance and assistance.
2. Research your new role: the history of the position, your new team, your new boss, and any requirements you may not have been exposed to previously. Don't assume you know what the role is going to be like and resist being bound from the filters in your mind about what you think you already know. Consider what it is you want to achieve in this role; what do you want your legacy to be? Determine how you may deploy your strengths and talents to create positive advantages to the organization. Be cognizant of your limitations, also.
3. Drop the assumptions: do not assume the new team is going to be excited about your arrival or that they will be enamored with your style. Just because your predecessor was unpopular doesn't automatically guarantee that you will be popular.
4. Induction process: there are induction procedures for new employees - it's common sense. So, make certain that you take every opportunity to have a thorough induction procedure for yourself in this new role. Walk around, introduce yourself to all the members of your new team as quickly as possible, with them as your highest priority before anybody else. Be proactive and gather all the information you need.
5. Know thy team: learn how your new department and team support the overall business strategy - what is their/your purpose? Schedule a generous amount of time to meet and have initial discussions with all of your team members. Plan a discussion framework to keep you on track; you want to be spontaneous but structured and not allow the conversations to become frivolous and valueless. Be courteous, listen carefully and elicit the information that is important for you.

Be sure to ask yourself: "Have I defined my objectives for this role?"

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Ric Willmot
Improving Organisational Performance
Providing Strategy Consulting & Mentoring

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