Number 33: Winter 2006
The Pursuit of Excellence
by Paul Curran
Editor's comment: Relationships between co-workers and the organisation are at the heart of how companies work. However, too often, organisations are managed "cold." This article argues that a far more effective leadership approach is to take a more open view and emotional view to engage the talents of employees.
Oceanographers have recently revealed evidence of the existence of the giant squid, for generations a creature of myth and hear-say among old fishermen. The creature was filmed on 30th September 2004 in the North Pacific at a depth of 900m. In July 2005, NASA scientists ‘shot’ the comet Temple1 with a huge copper bullet, 250 million miles from earth to learn what comets are made of. Whether in the depths of the oceans or of space, our curiosity drives us forward in the quest for knowledge. Thanks to the relative stability of food production, and the rapid development of technology the human race now has the ability to conduct demanding exploration and seek self-actualisation.
At least as important for our development is the exploration of our ‘inner space’ and our interaction with others. Man is a social animal, we learn about ourselves through our interactions, and second only to food and shelter we seek love, emotional security and belonging as basic needs. Modern commercial life however regularly throws us together in task focused project teams with delivery targets on time, quality and budget. The assumption is made that our emotional needs are met elsewhere, seldom are they considered as a legitimate component of the workplace. The result is that in the majority of cases teams and whole organisations are working at sub-optimal levels most of the time.
Britain led the industrial revolution and for generations we have sought methods for maximising efficiency in the workplace to flood the empire with ‘made in Britain’ produce of every kind. The loss of empire, the rapid growth of competition and the ever increasing pace of technological development has totally reshaped British industry. Job security has gone, manufacturing industry is under extreme pressure from global competition and UK plc is depending ever more on its knowledge economy credentials. The dance of the corporate world is constantly changing and demanding greater adaptability with every step. Have our leadership and managerial skills developed to match this challenge?
To compensate for the instabilities of our new working environment we must strive for ever stronger levels of trust, teamwork and mutual confidence. We must fully acknowledge the contribution of human relations to excellence in the workplace. Our future development hinges more on the effectiveness of our relationships than the efficiency of our technical wizardry.
Corporate Utopia
What does your dream organisation look like?
Spotless production lines running at peak capacity, unlimited component supplies, ever growing sales figures, unparalleled productivity, zero waste, strong cash flow, plentiful operating profits and an IT system that never crashes? - Perhaps that’s going too far. These tend to be the items we think of first, the factors that define the strategy, the optimum structure and the backbone systems that combine to provide the results our shareholders are interested in. These factors in isolation however do not create the result. Such optimum performance can only be achieved and maintained by attending to those factors that make the organisation the preferred place to be. The staff needs to be happy, the style of operation needs to be inclusive and the skill sets in constant renewal to meet the demands of new technology and markets. Every company is composed of people who choose to work together. These people need to be fully committed to the their work, to each other, - to the ‘shared values’ at the core of the organisation for the organisation to really thrive
Navigation Beacons
So how do we navigate from the present position in our very human organisation with its gossip, politics and turf wars to the utopian organisation with its smiles, camaraderie, focus and world class performance? In parallel to the rapid development of formal methods for marketing strategy and project management there has been a growing application of Emotional Intelligence and NLP techniques in the nurturing of workgroups. ‘Learning organisations’ are emerging as described by Senge and others. The beacons of better practice are lit, but until whole organisations are looking in that direction they will not be seen. Indeed the beacons have always been there, everyone can remember someone who really made a difference in their career. What separated these people from the rest? – their belief in you?, their encouragement? These are often the people who treat you as a whole person, an individual; they convey a genuine interest in your welfare.
‘Innovate to survive’ is now something of a mantra but for many organisations this means looking for the ‘killer product’ that will eliminate a product class or market sector. Technology advances constantly provide examples – the demise of the video cassette recorder, 35mm film cameras, 3.5” floppy drives etc, etc. These ‘big’ changes largely eclipse the contribution that process changes make to innovation, but by including everyone in the organisation’s process development everyone can feel ownership. everyone can feel empowered. The Japanese call this Kaizen, the constant search for small improvements to process. We have come to realise that not only must we apply the very best of new ideas and learning, but that organisations must ‘learn to learn’ at every level so that skills are constantly developing. Learning is the right of everyone in the organisation and by encouraging each individual we can bring about total participation in the learning process. With this comes increasing self-esteem and engagement and high levels of motivation can quickly follow.
The Maze of Evolution
Which way is best? Which beacon burns the brightest? Such thinking limits choice. It suggests that appointing the right guru will lead to corporate success. The ‘Wise Man’ adverts by Orange illustrate the naivety of such thinking. What is needed is a holistic approach, recognising that all of these beacons are needed to illuminate a section of the maze. What draws the organisation forward is a vision of the future that inspires the workforce to grow to the challenge and navigate the maze. When the conditions are right, growth is spontaneous. Just as in nature.
‘Nothing is more beautiful than spring, when weeds in wheels shoot long and lovely and lush’
Gerard Manley Hopkins
The great business leader prepares and nurtures the workforce as the farmer ploughs and sows his fields. He doesn’t need to tell the organisation to grow, when he/she creates the right conditions it just happens. The organisation is set alight toward its goal through its shared vision of a better future. Indeed, as Manley Hopkins wrote, growth has an urgency that is not easily constrained and it happens everywhere, even in even the most unlikely places.
Consider the wheat field at harvest time. Acres of gold stretch before us so that we are conscious only of the whole. Each plant however has undergone a unique journey. In striving for organisational excellence each individual must also undertake his/her own journey. There are as many starting points as there are individuals and many more goals. When an organisation is performing at the peak of its game, the goals of the individuals are in alignment and each individual has a conscious understanding of their place on the journey, their contribution to the organisation and a sense of belonging to something much bigger than themselves.
Leadership Choices
The challenge of leadership is to bring the hearts and minds of the workforce into alignment behind the vision. The leader will inspire his staff and build a momentum of achievement – the unstoppable daily growth of the individual toward a common cause. With so many personalities in the workplace how is this to be done? Different people respond to different motivations and different situations demand different actions. Paradoxically what we all have in common is our uniqueness and desire for acceptance. While we operate as a whole, we contribute as individuals and want to be recognised and treated as such. The good leader is conscious of how he/she affects the feelings of his/her staff and uses emotional intelligence to interact most effectively with each of them.
Goleman describes six styles of leadership that engage different levels of emotional intelligence, one of which will be the default leadership style of an individual. The best leaders can move smoothly between 3 or 4 of these styles at will, as the situation requires. The style used greatly affects the emotional climate of the organisation. The least effective style is that of the ‘Coercive leader’ as his controlling attitude stifles self expression and experiment in his followers. Such a leader demands immediate compliance and operates in a ‘Do what I tell you’ mode. People comply when told to do something, but they choose when asked - ‘You insist, I resist’. There are however life threatening situations where there is no substitute for concise and forceful direction.
The most effective leadership style for creating a co-operative learning environment is the ‘Authoritative leader’ whose talent is to mobilise people toward a vision. This style is based on self-confidence and empathy with his followers for whom he is a strong change catalyst. His invitation is ‘Come with me’ to a new future. The difference between coercive and authoritative leadership is stark when considering the effect on morale
Leaders must also choose how to focus their attention for best advantage. Drawing from an engineering analogy, a high bandwidth leader will track change in the organisational climate as it develops in real time. This leader can respond quickly to threat, rumour, or positive development and can ‘see the big picture’. He/she quickly adopts those practices that ‘work’ and modifies or drops those that don’t.
The leader who can switch to ‘narrowband operation’ benefits from a strong analytical insight that comes from achieving a depth of focus and understanding of issues. Applying such focus to interpersonal relations can build great empathy and trust with others who feel listened to and cared for. A narrow bandwidth view however is slow to change and the competent leader will again switch between high and low bandwidth states as the circumstances demand.
The New Psychological Contract
We have considered the utopian dream and outlined ‘soft skill’ leadership strategies that will help take us there, but how will we know when we’ve arrived? Years of downsizing and increased pressure on those remaining have eroded worker’s confidence. The job for life is no more, flexibility is the name of the game and so there is a constant threat of change and upheaval. Cynicism follows every teambuilding effort that is seen to foster a ‘musical chairs’ mentality. When psychometric testing and competency based testing are used to ‘weed out’ staff and people are ‘performance managed’ out of the business, it can leave a truly poisonous atmosphere behind.
If staff are to regain confidence in the organisation, they need to feel secure. They need to take an active role in defining their workplace and how they will grow within it. Security comes from trust and confidence in the leadership. When leaders can so inspire their organisations that the vision is compelling, staff at all levels will enthusiastically engage. The accessible ‘flesh and blood’ leader who can mingle with staff and reach them emotionally at their place of work will engender a commitment that is barred to the coercive leader.
One organisation vividly demonstrates the loyalty and camaraderie that results from a commitment to its staff. Southwest Airlines is a fine example of an organisation with a strong ‘family’ culture. Everything undertaken by leadership validates its staff. Herb Kelleher has built an organisation with zero absenteeism, the highest productivity in the industry and one of the lowest staff turnover figures anywhere in America. Southwest continually breaks all records for staff and customer satisfaction. Herb has done this by weaving the welfare of his staff into every decision the organisation takes. At over 22,000 employees it still feels like a family bound together by love. This is not gushy sentiment but challenging and supportive concern for staff that directly translates into profitable business in an industry where many of its rival airlines are in chapter 11 insolvency.
Expectations of fairness, support and performance between staff and employer have come to be known as the psychological contract. Staff respond willingly to employers who look after them so the psychological contract is strengthened when employers tap into what employees are looking for and how they feel about their work. Employers need to constantly renew people centred skills and the styles of management that nurture excellence. In particular they need to involve and engage staff so that their capabilities and confidence grow through a cycle of challenge, support and affirmation.
The ‘job for life’ days are gone and there is no room for complacency at any level of the organisation. The development of a new psychological contract must address the needs of both the individual and the organisation alike. The successful organisations of tomorrow will engage their staff in inclusive, participative and challenging ways requiring that everyone’s views are valued and that all have the opportunity to grow. In such a climate staff will give freely of their talents and a culture of learning and support will emerge while their organisations deliver world class performance in markets set to become ever more competitive.
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© Paul Curran / Through the Loop Consulting Ltd 1998-2006