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Pressure Culture = Toxic leadership March 12, 2010

Posted by Bill in : Empolyee Engagement, Leadership, Management Training, Outdoor Management Development, Vision , add a comment

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A delegate of a recent Transformational leadership Cohort forwarded an article that was published in the Scotsman newspaper this week. Graham Leicester of the International Futures Forum mentions the culture of pressure that exists in the public sector and that we shouldn’t be surprised when someone succumbs to this. The “work harder” personality is often prevalent in our work as a solution to the dynamic of the public sector arena, but often that approach can be toxic. and create a pressure culture from the top down.

The public service is the most transient, fluid, unsettling work environment on the planet

The article quotes the above and the need for us to address this cultural challenge of reducing pressure in the workplace. The article offers no solutions other than recognising the problem, but that in itself is a major step. It’s culture change that’s required i.e. hearts and minds.

As an earlier post notes that manager’s leaders and staff in the public sector will face increasing challenges and indeed pressure over the next few years as resources become squeezed , we need to be proactive on this by increasing support for individuals, teams and managers in terms of training and development and this could include;

It follows that how we resource these is an issue. But its about ownership! as the delegate who forwarded the article pointed out “haven’t they heard of the East Lothian Way“. That’s fine as a model but we need to start living it. Can we  replace “work harder” culture with work smarter?

Transformational Leadership..crucial?..critical! March 4, 2010

Posted by Bill in : Adult Education, Experiential Learning, Leadership, Management Training, Outdoor Learning, Outdoor Management Development , 1 comment so far

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Some great news and feedback  to support the  Transformational Leadership programme in East Lothian. An independent  midway review gives an overall successful outcome for the programme so far.  This has been reflected in feedback sought from participants and includes;

Participants were asked how they rated the impact of the programme on their leadership capability. The responses are encouraging with

33% saying high,
63% saying medium and
4% saying low

Participants were asked to identify what corporate projects they are involved in and whether and by how much they thought their participation in the Transformational Leadership programme has contributed to the success they have had with this work. The responses are encouraging with;

Very significant       33%
Significant                37%
Not much                 17%
No comment            13%

These figures give some immediate flavour of some of the successes. But the even more powerful stuff has been  in the narrative data collected during the evaluation.  It outlines personal positive impacts  in some key areas i.e;

Encouraging  feedback as we move to Phases II, and sure there are things to improve on, but it’s great to see that for many delegates there is positive  and  useful impact on how they do things around here (The East Lothian Way) and ultimatley the delivery of services.

In challenging budgetary climate the question is how do we move forward beyond phase II? We will have to consider alternative delivery models (it’’s already very lean and cost effective! ) and this is a challenge. A recent report by ILM on Leading Change in the Public Sector highlights the need for investment in training and support for managers and leaders as they will be asked to think and work much more creatively during these times if service delivery is not going to be affected.

One area likley to be hard hit by the pending cuts is training and development budgets. Yet this is an essential tool to support the kind of radical change needed, equipping managers and their teams with the skills to make it happen. At a time when the public sector needs to maintain the highest levels of performance, the provision of ongoing support and development for managers will be critical.

Lets hope we can find away to resource continued successful experiences and learning opportunities for Leaders and Managers in East Lothian Council. It would be a shame to lose the momentum gathered over the last few years (including Transformational Leadership) which has generated awareness and clear benefits of collaborative working to solve the wicked problems often encountered in delivering public services.

The Future of Engagement January 29, 2010

Posted by Bill in : Empolyee Engagement, Learning Organisations, Management Training, Survey , 2comments

 
I have been working with a team on the very first employee engagement survey for the organization. It’s been really interesting and challenging to work on the design and the delivery of the survey and also how the information will be transmitted - but really this is just process, Important process granted. It is of course just a tool the real stuff is how’s, what’s, when’s, how’s & who’s of we use any results to engage for better outcomes., and how we live it. A quote from David Zingers website/blog helps this along;

The future is now as we move beyond surveys and simple techniques to integrating employee engagement into all facets of the organization’s approach to serving customers and creat­ing results. To sustain engagement initiatives, employees must experience the rich benefits of engagement for themselves

 David goes on to outline 10 principles and also a model above;  

There’s no shortage of information on how important employee engagement is and how it can make a difference. And some of these principles hint (More details) at the concept of how to achieve it.

The forthcoming survey (based on research, Gallups 12, other LA engagement efforts) that the team have been working on will have post result guidance on how to interpret the results of the survey and also some advice on how to bring engagement principles forward and will be backed up with facilatated workshops when required, which will go some way to making it a real part of the culture, but how easy this will be ….?

9 Box Matrix December 7, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Empolyee Engagement, Experiential Learning, Management Training, Succession , add a comment

I have been looking at examples of the nine box matrix, in relation to Talent Management & Succession.  There are good examples of how to use this around, however came across a thought provoking blog Greatleadershipbydan. Dan examines some of the usage of this process to help organisations identify and develop leadership potential.  It could be a useful tool for my own organisation (or an adaptation of). This might support ability to be able to deal with;

It may also help tie in concept of  ”roles not jobs” which will help develop “talent pools” and deal with issues such as “how can one plan ahead for jobs that might not exist within a year?”  How this process might look (other than aligned to business needs…etc…linked into Transformational leadership…Behavioural framework…performance….PRD…Phew)  is unsure to me at the moment but one thing is for sure;

The HR function therefore has a critical role in supporting and facilitating the process

(Suff,R In quick Succession - IRS Employment Review 2007)

global leadership = local leadership = transformational leadership October 9, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Leadership, Learning Organisations, Management Training , add a comment

Reading a blog from across the pond on leadership. The author asked 20 friends and clients (CEO leaders at multinational level) to give there view on the most important skills & traits for global leaders. Here they are;

· Ethics
· Honesty
· Transparency
· Integrity
· Humility
· Respect
· Flexibility
· Collaboration

He notes how there has been a shift. If this had been asked only a few years ago the skills may have been strategic thinking, vision, drive etc…. The shift is definitely more to the behavioural from the transactional. Transformational Leadership seems to have become the norm.

I couldn’t hep noticing that these were almost exactly the same traits that were listed by a group at the futures forum earlier this week in relation to public service leaders - hence the link in the title of this post.

Dan’s post concludes (on global leadership);

What does all of this mean to you? That finding, hiring and growing insanely talented people should be a strategic objective for your company. That corporate culture cannot be left to chance; it must be nurtured, shaped and supported strongly through the organization. And that a leadership style based on values, ethics and integrity will be the cornerstone for being a successful global leader of the future.

Again ditto perhaps for the public service leaders in Scotland, local and national!

engagement drivers 1.0 October 3, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Employee branding, Empolyee Engagement, Management Training , 2comments

With all the East Lothian Way (Behavioural framework - recently launched in EL)  dialogue going on (some negative some positive) I was minded to look at some of the research on the IES (Institute of Employment Studies) has shown on what the key drivers are for employee engagment;

(EIS Survey 2003)

A recent open door team meeting (the first of many scheduled this year)  put CE and Exec Directors of ELC together with employees together to promote dialogue and upward feedback along with othere areas of the ELW this is the begining of something powerful and positive.

There has been some rumours of folks being upset by the glossy invites to these but to me that misses the point (the glossy invites were part of a range of measures to promote the concept - which was internally developed).

This is only the start. The East Lothian Way will be embedded in PRD (Performance Review and Development) and Recruitment (in fact has already been used for recent HR advertisements for senior posts) as well as an extensive Transformational Leadership Programme.

So the reasons for just seeing the glossy invite (which relates to employee branding) and catastrophising about the cost perhaps needs to be analysed - why is that? Is that type of response an inadvertent indicator  of the gauge of employees current engagement?

If we are to drive improvements  and steer through difficult times we need that “discretionary effort” to kick in. Without it the challenging budgetary times ahead for our public services could become much more than just challenging.

Engagement & Kaizen August 20, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Adult Education, Management Training, Outdoor Learning, Outdoor Management Development , 3comments

This video, although a bit cheesy to start with goes on to the real core issues regarding employee engagment in Local Authorities and is well worth a look. It highlights the value of many of the projects currently being worked on in the CHSD team. i.e. the East Lothian Way, Transformational Leadership and the forthcoming Open Team Meetings.

I enjoyed the Aberdeenshire clip which mentioned the use of Kaizen techniques. Not having heard of this it encouraged me to find out more;

Kaizen =a Japanese word adopted into English referring to a philosophy or practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, all business activities, or even all aspects of life”

It is also a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace

It very much emphasises improvement but the “humanising” element struck a chord with me, as it has links with the Transformational Leadership programme which focuses on leadership behaviours( linked with high performance organisations) as opposed to being weighted on more transactional management.

Intersting also to note in the wealth of information on Kaizen techniques that when new programmes /strategies are introduced to organisations there is often inital success which then trails off ….

In the case of Kaizen strategy this is because the company lacks the first three most important conditions for the successful introduction and implementation of Kaizen strategy

1. Top management commitment

2. Top management commitment

3. Top managament commitment

I guess it follows that this is true of many leadership, engagement, service improvement and emerging strategies within a LA. The CE’s talking in the video clip are certainly behind that.  

Have been enjoying Ollie Bray’s post on engaging pupils and cant help wondering if we could use some of these technologies for El employees?

Leadership 2.0 May 22, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Leadership, Management Training, Outdoor Learning, Outdoor Management Development , 1 comment so far

 

I attended an interesting and though provoking seminar this week on Leadership in the Public Sector in Scotland.  It was hosted at the Scottish executive by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council).  There were some excellent speakers and I was particularly influenced by Prof. Keith Grint and his input on “tame and wicked problems” and his typology of problems, power and authority model.

 

 

“the demands of collaborative leadership and partnership working in the face of wicked problems requires, leaders, universities business schools and consultants to work together…”

 

There was also reference to “the ten most important moonshots” (Hamel, 2009)  on the journey from Management 1.0 to Management 2.0  during Graeme Martin’s presentation , which included;

 

“Redefine the work of leaders so that they are not seen as grand visionaries, all –seeing decision makers and disciplinarians but architects and facilitators of employee collaboration”

 

“fully embed the ideas of community and citizenship in management systems”

 

Reconstruct management’s philosophical foundations to be adaptable, innovative, inspiring and socially responsible, as well as operationally excellent”

 

All very relevant to the Public Sector

 

You can see the rest of the content at the ESRC site .

 

East Lothian Transformational Leadership Launches April 30, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Adult Education, Experiential Learning, Management Training, Outdoor Management Development , 2comments

The first cohort of Transformational Leadership has started and completed the first two stages with another under way. This is an exciting new programme and I am enjoying being part of this new development for business group and unit managers within the authority. It uses a variety of experiential and outdoor learning activities linked with action based learning sets to allow EL management ( @ 120 Managers in 8 cohorts) to explore not only the necessary transactional skills for management but the behavioural actions and qualities for leadership. Linked to a behavioural qualities framework (The East Lothian Way) delegates will have an opportunity to challenge and develop their own leadership.

The course ( ½ day Launch meet, 2 day residential and 4 action learning sets – Challenge and Change) content and structure and delivery style has always difficult to set. We considered many different styles of learning when looking at the design milieu and the honest and open feedback from the course delegates so far will help us continue to shape and ensure we hit the target. The main influences in design has been the work carried out by people within the region involved in the challenge for change working groups as a result of the recent management conferences.

These last few days after the first residential we (facilitators and staff – a mix of internal i.e. ELC, private (Forum Interactive) and voluntary sector ( VDEL./MOBEX) have been reflecting on the course delivery and how we can continue to improve the content, pace, structure, learning transfer and impact. Future feedback (it carries forward six months after the delegates attend the residential) will keep coming in and we are keen to add and develop creative and exciting evaluation techniques to match a unique and challenging programme.

I intend to post more information on the process as the programme progresses and runs through to 2010.

Time to Grow March 22, 2009

Posted by Bill in : Management Training, Outdoor Management Development , 5comments

I was reading Ollie Bray’s blog this afternoon. Fantastic news for Ollie with his new secondment which as he points out will allow time to have some accelerated learning and prepare him for his goal of headship Ollie I’m sure will be missed around East Lothian.

Speaking of secondment I also had to clear my desk pack up  as from last week I have moved on from the Outdoor Education Service in East Lothian for a short Secondment (until 2010) within the region with the Corporate Health Safety and Development Team (possibly soon to be known as Organisational Learning?).

As an Employee Development Advisor I will be completing continuing work working with the team to promote and work on the Transformational Leadership Programme within East Lothian, working on an employee engagement project, The East Lothian Way and also the next Challenge for Change manager’s conference in October/November.

This is an exciting opportunity to further develop the use of Experiential and Outdoor Learning within the field of Management Development and its use in the East Lothian learning arena. Something I have always been passionate about.  I appreciate that using experiential learning is nothing new, it’s used widely by various agencies within EL, however these projects are exiting and perhaps ambitious because what will make them different is the focus is on behavioural qualities as opposed to technical process and task based skills. The Transformational Leadership Project has also connections with the wider development of East Lothian by linking Leadership behaviour and links it with the EL core priorities and the Single Outcome Agreement. This link will be  important as time and time again in Public Sector studies there is evidence that Leadership is not always driving innovation and performance, it often happens despite it. It’s not that I see it as that in East Lothian in fact my contact with leaders managers and staff within EL has been very positive – there is clearly a lot of talent in this area. That is why the project  (like the First Steps to Leadership Educational based programme) is mainly staffed and developed within the authority, as it will allow managers from different work environments to come together and enhance their own leadership learning.

Exciting times indeed. In this excellent opportunity for personal growth (east Lothian …a space to grow ), but I will miss the involvement with young people in EL working in the outdoor environment.