One of the trickiest parts of any job is having ‘difficult conversations’, whether it be with people we line manage, our own manager, a supplier or a customer. Our anxiety can be such that we employ a whole range of strategies to delay the moment when we have to sit down and talk.

I know that I have been guilty at times of prioritising tasks that are well within my comfort zone, rather than tackle a conversation that I am expecting to be challenging and uncomfortable. Yet in most instances, when I do have that conversation, it has gone much better than I anticipated and there have been positive outcomes. So why is that? Well, it comes down to three key words – preparation, preparation and preparation!

Our anxiety is often about the other person’s possible reaction. Will they get angry? Will they be upset? Will they challenge me?  With team members for example, the issue may well be something that could be taken personally – problems over performance perhaps – and the receiver’s initial response may understandably be emotional and confrontational.

That’s ok. I have realised that the most important thing is for me to be calm, objective and to be able to evidence my concerns. If I have specific relevant examples to support what I have to say, if I have thought through the range of potential responses and how I will deal with them, if I can be clear about the how we can move forward from the issues under discussion, then there is every likelihood that there will be a positive outcome. The key to success is to be as well prepared as I can be.

Whether as a line manager, with suppliers who have let us down or clients who have not delivered their agreed side of the deal, having the confidence to tackle these conversations will earn you greater respect and lead to more productive relationships.
In all cases I have fallen back on those three big words to help me through – preparation, preparation, preparation!

At Focal Point we are about to embark on the Investors in People journey so this area is very close to our hearts!

The Department for Business (BIS) in a recent independent review, stated that a wider take up of engagement approaches would have an enormously positive impact on UK competitiveness and performance.

The agreed definition of Employee Engagement is;
‘A workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organisations goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being.’

The report suggests, however that engagement levels in the UK are currently low, so it is clearly an area that many organisations need to be tackling.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/employment-matters/strategies/employee-engagement

But it is a tough call. The Guardian recently highlighted how the traditional career ladder is a thing of the past; success is no longer measured by steps up the ladder, as organisations are so much flatter in structure. This means fewer opportunities for promotion and a career nowadays will mean multiple changes of direction, more of what the article calls a ‘career carousel’ whose direction is often a step sideways rather than up. http://careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog/time-to-step-away-from-the-career-ladder

This lack of traditional career progression can contribute to a lack of engagement and managers now need to work harder than ever at identifying what is important to their people.

Welcome to the world of ‘Career Management’, where it is vital to align organisational and individual needs.

But how to tackle this? As a starting point consider the following points…
• How clear is the vision of the company?
• Are all your managers engaged themselves and committed to the organisation?
• How clear are individuals about what is expected of them?
• How much do managers understand about what their employees want from work?
• Do your managers show appreciation and offer feedback?
• Do they treat staff as individuals - with fairness and respect?
• Do they enable employees to have a voice?

Companies which challenge themselves in these key areas and examine how they can be improved, will be the ones that create a genuinely motivated and engaged workforce and reap the benefits of increased loyalty and performance.

In a recent article in People Management Meredith Belbin talks about his team roles work transcending cultural boundaries and being particularly proud of his work in Russia.

The team roles analysis is something we use a great deal in management development programmes and working with teams in the UK, but had never before taken it abroad. But we recently had the chance to use it with a group of new managers in Russia’s leading recruitment consultancy, Antal.

As part of a modular management development programme, we used Belbin’s  team roles to raise self awareness around different styles of working and create an opportunity for them to explore their make up as a management team, as well as looking at the dynamics of the teams they were managing.

They found the process empowering, coming away with a far greater sense of their own strengths and the contribution they make. They also developed a stronger sense of themselves as a management team, who together with all their combined skills and approaches have a real opportunity to drive the success of the business. It was the first time they had ever used any kind of self analysis like this and were hugely motivated by it.

In a business environment which is often not seen as sophisticated as the European market, using an assessment tool such as Belbin’s team roles worked really well and demonstrated that given the opportunity, Russian managers value diversity and could see the competitive advantage this gives them.

A fascinating piece of work for us and we are looking forward to returning this year to see their progress!

It’s not easy being a manager – I know from personal experience.  But if January’s Management offerings are anything to go by many of us are making it harder than it needs to be. 

The high profile Sky Sports case has managers tackling a culture of inappropriate behaviour that should have been dealt with long ago and the Chief Exec at Carlisle city council is having to deal with some very heavy handed management by two of his team leaders attempting to manage performance via email. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-12307749

Perhaps on that basis we shouldn’t be too surprised that the Government think we need two years to assess if a new recruit is right for our business!  Their recommendation is to increase the qualifying period for employees before they can make a claim for unfair dismissal from one to two years. http://www.recruiter.co.uk/1008389.article?cmpid=REC04&cmptype=newsletter&email=true
The danger in my eyes is that some already lax management practices will become even laxer if managers think they have longer to make their minds up.

There are some key steps that managers should be taking to manage effectively, but often just don’t….

• Discussing and agreeing specific expectations.  The vast majority of people really welcome having clear direction
• Having regular face-to-face meetings.  How many times do you hear people saying “Communication here is rubbish”?  What they usually mean is they don’t know what their managers expect
• Noting down agreed action points and reviewing them.  Why do so many people tell us things are talked about, but never followed through or reviewed?
• We all like to know if we are on track with something.  Why do so few managers give constructive feedback?

Good managers are those who do these things and do them on a regular basis.  That way...

• They and their team members know what’s appropriate and what is not

• People know the boundaries; when to have a few minutes to show interest in someone without affecting targets and productivity
• They know if a new team member is suitable long before two years and deal with it at the right time and in the right way

   

Last week I had a great piece of customer service from my bank… to my great amazement! Like most people, I have come to expect mediocre service from big, faceless call centres and am genuinely surprised when they go the extra mile. But this girl really did pull out all the stops and helped me out of a temporary, but tricky financial situation. So I took her name and attempted to give the bank some positive feedback about her. I failed. Although I had her name I didn’t have the location of the call centre she worked in and it was therefore apparently impossible to track her down. Writing to Head office in the vain hope it might find its way back to her, was the only advice I was offered- despite the fact that team members are apparently awarded bonuses on their customer service!!!

At a time when we are being told that UK employees are amongst the most disengaged in Europe (Hay Consulting – Engagement Matters) it seems bizarre that an organisation would make it so difficult to pass on some praise!

Positive feedback is one of the most powerful ways of motivating staff – research shows time and time again that being recognised and feeling valued is what matters to so many of us at work .. far more than money or status. And yet so many managers either just don’t do it or only offer it when it is a pre cursor to something that isn’t going so well..”you’ve done really well at this, BUT…”

Don’t be like my bank and make it difficult for your people to know when they have done  a good job or put in some great effort. Make it a New year’s resolution to offer unconditional praise to your people (where it is due) and watch the impact it has!