Enabling Beyond Empowerment (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

A H A W K S M E R E S P E C I A L B R I E F I N G Enabling – beyond empowering Michael Williams P U B L I S H E D ...

Author: Mike Williams

84 downloads 1097 Views 2MB Size Report

This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form

DOWNLOAD PDF

A

H A W K S M E R E

S P E C I A L

B R I E F I N G

Enabling – beyond empowering Michael Williams

P U B L I S H E D

B Y

T H O R O G O O D

LT D

IFC

A

H A W K S M E R E

S P E C I A L

B R I E F I N G

Enabling – beyond empowering Michael Williams

P U B L I S H E D

B Y

T H O R O G O O D

LT D T H E P U B L I S H I N G BUSINESS OF THE HAWKSMERE GROUP

Published by Thorogood Limited Related titles from

12-18 Grosvenor Gardens

Thorogood:

London SW1W 0DH.

Mastering Leadership Michael Williams

Thorogood Limited is part of the Hawksmere Group of Companies.

Mastering People Management Mark Thomas

© Michael Williams 1998

The John Adair

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may

Handbook of

be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or

Management and Leadership Edited by Neil Thomas

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Successful Graduate Recruitment

This Briefing is sold subject to the condition that it

Jean Brading

shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,

The Internet as a Business Tool

re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or

Brian Salter and

cover other than in which it is published and without

Naomi Langford-Wood

a similar condition including this condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.

Employment Law Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions Michael Ryley

No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication can be accepted by

The Employers Guide of

the author or publisher.

Managing Claims of Sex and Race Discrimination Christopher Walter

A CIP catalogue record for this Briefing is available from the British Library.

Managing the In-house Legal Function

ISBN 1 85418 084 3

Barry O’Meara

Printed in Great Britain by Printflow Limited.

Dedication For Brenda To whom I owe so much

Acknowledgments A great many people have contributed to the thinking that lies behind this book. Especially helpful and always so positive in their ideas – as well as a challenge and fun to work with – are the following clients, several of whom I have worked with for a good many years. Their experience has been invaluable in my own development, and they include: Howard Mann, OBE, President and CEO of McCain Foods Dr Paul White, CEO, Warman International John Bridgeman, Director of the Office of Fair Trading Nick Kendal, CEO of Ekco Packaging Dr Pat Haran, Group Chief Executive, Viridian Harry McCracken, Managing Director, Northern Ireland Electricity John Coles, Managing Director , Huck International Ian Butler, Director, Human Resources, ADtranz, Berlin Arthur Hutchinson, Director, GUS Home Shopping James Pratt, Sales & Marketing Director, Lucent Technology People within my own field of organisational behaviour, who have contributed enormously to my learning and to the flow of pure adrenalin, on work assignments, and with whom it is always a pleasure to work, are: Neill Jackson, General Manager, Human Resources, Viridian Nigel Erwin, Management Training Manager, Viridian Tex Smiley, formerly Professor at IMI Geneva & IMD Lausanne Professors Jim Dowd, Bart Victor, Alden Lank and Tom Bateman, of IMD Business School, Lausanne

Professors Ahmet Aykaç, Francis Bidault, Yuri Boshyk at the Theseus Institute, Sophia Antipolis, France Mary Rose Greville – Professor of OB at Theseus and also Visiting Academic at Trinity Institute, Dublin Robert Stucki and the members of the Stucki Organisational Behaviour Programme, Thun, Switzerland Professor Dave Buchanan, now at de Montfort University, Leicester Noel Beaver, GUS Home Shopping Bob Thomas, McCain Foods, USA Chris Creswick, RHM Tom Cummings, Head of Leading Ventures Consultancy, Amsterdam Jerome Trancant, SLT Seminar for Leadership and Team Building, Geneva Professor John Adair and his never ending wisdom and good company Both at Hawksmere and Thorogood I have the good fortune to enjoy the stimulating and professional, yet infinitely caring, company of Aileen Clark, Neil Thomas, Michael Bentley, Jeremy Kourdi and their splendid teams. To Professor Jonathan Williams, my son, I owe an inestimable debt for his good natured and instant rejection of humbug, as well as his ability to put things into such manageable and humorous perspectives. To Susie, Countess Goess-Saurau, my daughter, who has never failed to amaze me, I will be eternally grateful for her ability to cut through waffle and put me straight when I lose logic and focus. For Marie Westbury, I have unbounded thanks for so uncomplainingly typing the manuscripts for three books – all within the space of thirteen months, and this on top of our normal office administration and typing. Now for the seventh time in our married life, I express my gratitude and thanks to my wife, for all her consideration, patience and help in supporting the writing of my various books. Without her tolerance, quiet common-sense and professional perspective, such writing would be impossible.

The author Michael Williams Following eight years of both full-time and reserve service, with first, the Royal Navy and subsequently the Royal Marines, in which he served, variously as a Russian linguist, frogmancanoeist, commando rifle troop officer and finally second in command of a combined SBSCommando RMR Unit, Mike Williams began building a career in business management. His training and industrial experience took him from shop floor production trainee to several roles in senior management, immediately below board level, and covered a range of industries, including paper and printing, iron and steel, heavy engineering, steel tubes and automotive engineering. He set up his own consultancy business – Michael Williams and Partners – at the end of 1979, and works with clients in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and much of Western Europe. These include large, medium and small organisations in the pharmaceutical, aeronautical, food, mailorder, electronics, engineering and beverage industries, and also the National Health Service. He has worked as a process consultant, amongst other roles, for the last 20 years. He also works, in various fields of management and organisation development, with leading banks, major consultancy organisations like Hawksmere and Leading Ventures (Amsterdam), universities and business schools, including IMD at Lausanne and The Theseus Institute (near Nice, France). Mike is the author or co-author of seven books on management practice and organisational behaviour. He originally read psychology with moral philosophy, and took his MSc by research in the fields of management performance and potential. He is a Member of the British Psychological Society, the Institute of Directors and the Association of Management, Education and Development.

Blank page

Contents

1

Introduction

1

Enabling – ‘empowerment plus’

5

The 1990s and beyond - a world that needs enabling managers................................6 Enabling and empowering - some key differences.....................................................7 Enabling as a process for focusing and controlling ..................................................11 The challenges and opportunities of ‘flatter organisations’ .....................................15 Summary...................................................................................................................21 Activities: theory into action ....................................................................................24

2

Enabling – freedom within a framework

29

Autonomy with responsibility: ‘directed’ entrepreneuring......................................30 Understanding what is ‘mandatory’ and ‘discretional’.............................................38 Empowerment with delegation................................................................................41 Enabling - continuity of feedback with dialogue ......................................................45 Summary...................................................................................................................47 Activities: theory into action ....................................................................................51

3

Enabling and facilitating

53

Enabling credibility...................................................................................................54 Enabling and self-help...............................................................................................57 Enabling and facilitating - ‘best practice’..................................................................61 Summary...................................................................................................................66 Activities: theory into action ....................................................................................67

Personal communication style profile

69

4

The enabling coach

83

Coaching - a matter of learning, not teaching ..........................................................84 The coaching process (1) techniques ......................................................................86 The coaching process (2) sequence.........................................................................88 The coaching process (3) issues of ‘style’ ................................................................91 Coaching the ‘head’ and ‘heart’ of it ........................................................................92 Turning coaching into necessary action...................................................................96 Coaching the development plan ..............................................................................99 Summary.................................................................................................................101 Activities: theory into action ..................................................................................104

5

Effective coaching profile

105

The enabling mentor

109

Mentoring - beyond coaching.................................................................................110 Mentoring potential................................................................................................112 The mentoring and coaching synergy ....................................................................118 Mentoring within the context of changing career patterns ...................................119 The new career and work patterns ........................................................................121 Being a mentor .......................................................................................................123 Summary.................................................................................................................128 Activities: theory into action ..................................................................................130

6

Effective mentoring profile

133

The enabling sponsor

137

Sponsoring as a basis to enabling ...........................................................................138 Championing ..........................................................................................................139 Protecting ...............................................................................................................140 Organisational know-how ......................................................................................141 Gatekeeping ...........................................................................................................145 External sponsors as ‘enabling emissaries’.............................................................146 Summary.................................................................................................................148 Activities: theory into action ..................................................................................151

Effective sponsorship profile

153

7

Empowerment - the freedom to be and do more

157

Empowering as an aspect of enabling ....................................................................158 Delegation ..............................................................................................................160 Release of power ....................................................................................................160 Functional maturity ................................................................................................161 Ownership..............................................................................................................162 The power in empowerment .................................................................................165 The ‘feel’ of empowerment....................................................................................168 Summary.................................................................................................................171 Activities: theory into action ..................................................................................174

8

Power and empowerment profile

175

Empowered team working

189

The age of the ‘infopreneur’...................................................................................190 Learning and knowledge management in enabling................................................192 Organisational learning - some key issues .............................................................198 Summary.................................................................................................................206 Activities: theory into action ..................................................................................208

9

Leading by enabling in the information age

211

Interdependence with independence ....................................................................212 The new era of uncertainty ....................................................................................214 The ‘heroic journey’ - a path without end .............................................................218 Activities: theory into action ..................................................................................222

Bibliography

224

Blank page

Introduction Empowering… or enabling? The theme of this Briefing began to take shape, following conversations with a consultant investment banker about Nick Leeson’s role in the Barings affair, and with my wife, a former teacher, about pupil freedom in the classroom. Further crystallisation of the notion of realistic empowerment being ‘freedom within a framework’ evolved, when researching accounts of the ill-conceived attack on the Redan fort, Near Sevastopol, reported in the June and July editions of The Illustrated London News of 1855. ‘Misadventure has preceded each of the successful assaults of the Allies upon Sevastopol, and the cases of the Redan and of the Malakof Tower were no exception… such repulses have been occasioned by the want of aught which precaution and calculation should have supplied…’ The reason behind this seemingly improbable investigation into a not so major battle was quite simply that my great-grandfather, fighting with the 23 Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, was wounded in the assault and subsequently invalided out of his regiment, whilst still in his ‘teens’. He was initially presumed missing, killed in action, until discovered, wounded, in a military hospital, near Balaclava, several months later! Probably the most incompetently administered and disastrously managed of all of Britain’s military campaigns, the Crimean War was fraught with so many examples of arrogant, irresponsible misadventure and miscalculation – the charge of the Light Brigade being undoubtedly the most notorious. One major exception was Sir Colin Campbell commanding the Highland Brigade, an outstanding soldier and a competent leader. Unique among British officers of his day, Sir Colin took both a genuine, humane interest in his men, and showed a keenly professional concern for their effective deployment and use. The above, and other – principally business – examples of empowerment going awry, with costly failure or frustration, as the end results, inevitably led to the identification of instances where it was successful and, hence exploration of why it worked. The title chosen to convey the book’s core theme, ‘Enabling– beyond Empowering’, pinpoints a key issue, especially in today’s world, that empowering itself needs to be effectively managed and professionally handled if it is going to reap the benefits so often claimed on its behalf. In an ‘information’ age characterised by revolutionary change, uncertainty, paradox and seemingly limitless opportunity, it makes both managerial and psychological sense to empower

1

INTRODUCTION

people, in order to release – and use necessary contributive experience and talent. Increased autonomy and the use of greater initiative – albeit with commensurate personal accountability – is congruent with the changing social and work ethics of the times. Adaptive competence and the readiness to cut, responsibly, through unnecessary red tape and bureaucratic stricture, arguably, are more than ever essential to competitive advantage. Where we see success – especially today – usually somebody acted with courage, as well as with competence and conviction. Business, like Von Clausewitz’s classical description of war, is an ‘option of risks’ and, therefore, requires of those involved, decisiveness and boldness at crucial moments, but also an intelligent, informed and well-judged appreciation of the situation – which is where ‘enabling’ enters the arenas of diagnosis and prescription, in both making decisions and taking requisite action. In all organisations, but especially in the world of business, a major issue is that of identifying and effectively deploying appropriate talents, such as entrepreneurial flair, the readiness to take risks, and educated, speculative opportunism. Such skills, particularly, need to be managed in ways whereby they can be exercised without unnecessary constraint, on the one hand, but also without letting them run unchecked, through ignorance, inadequate monitoring and feedback, and – ultimately – lack of necessary informed control, as appears to have been the case with Nick Leeson. Interestingly, as this Briefing is being written, so another bank has collapsed, through inadequately managed and controlled ‘over-entrepreneurial activity’. This time it was the European Union Bank (the EUB) which claimed to be the first bank to trade via the Internet. Totally different from the demise of Barings, the EUB collapsed because the two Russian founders absconded with the funds – and hence depositors’ savings. Registered off-shore, in Antigua, EUB’s Branch Manager based there had to speak to the founders through interpreters and did not even know where they were based! Whereas it would seem that Leeson largely behaved irresponsibly, the two Russians appear to have been downright dishonest. The common ground, however, is that in neither case were the key players adequately monitored, managed, nor their activities controlled, by the obvious imperatives of organisational behaviour. Enabling – like empowering – is about providing people with the authority, autonomy and the means to do what needs to be done. In a managerial context, however, enabling includes such key manager and leader functions as – coaching, mentoring and sponsorship, as well as empowerment. It is these three crucial functions – together with the appropriate managerial behaviours involved, in effectively discharging them – that invest enabling with a much wider significance than simply empowerment, per se.

2

INTRODUCTION

The findings and conclusions in this book represent a distillation of: •

Experiences working with over 7000 leaders and managers, over a period approaching half a century

•

Progression from shop-floor production to senior management in a variety of businesses

•

Eighteen years of management consultancy, operating throughout Western Europe, the US and Canada

•

The academic disciplines and fields of study of a MSc degree by research, in organisation behaviour

•

Close, collegial working with faculties of leading business schools in the UK and abroad

•

Experience of naval and military service in both conventional and special armed forces.

The aim of the book, overall, is to emphasise and reinforce the added value that can accrue from empowered people using and building on their many talents, free from unnecessary fetters and restrictions. Specifically, however, it seeks to underline the case for effectively managed and led empowered people whose learning, development and contributive competence are continually enhanced and intelligently used, via the tools, techniques and practices that are essentially enabling. In other words – professional freedom, within an equally professional framework. Michael Williams

3

Blank page

Enabling – ‘empowerment plus’ The 1990s and beyond - a world that needs enabling managers Enabling and empowering - some key differences Enabling as a process for focusing and controlling The challenges and opportunities of ‘flatter organisations’ Summary Activities: theory into action

1

chapter 1

Chapter 1 Enabling – ‘empowerment plus’

‘There go my people. I must find out where they are going so that I can lead them’ Alexandre Ledru-Rollin (1807-1874)

The 1990s and beyond – a world that needs enabling managers Few people who have spent any significant period of time in business – especially in the roles of managers and leaders – need reminding that their world is moving faster and is becoming more complex, less certain, and increasingly demanding. The evidence of what really amounts to a major revolution, in the world of business – and the challenges which are the consequence of that dramatic transformation – confront us daily. More than ever before, the need to re-establish and retain competitive advantage, by adding value, moving faster, demonstrably using current ‘best practice’ and generally operating more professionally, has emerged as a key imperative and pressure facing managements today. The universal shift from ‘industrial age’ thinking and practices to a vastly different IT-driven ‘Information Society’, has seen the understanding, management and intelligent use of data and information evolve as crucial competences, among people at all levels and across all functions, within businesses. The information age is with us – and here to stay. In much of Western Europe and the US, there has been a significant move away from manufacturing towards strongly service-based economies, with enormous growth in manufacturing strength, within and around the Pacific Rim. The last decade, particularly, has also seen the extensive globalisation of business, with attendant aspirations – and standards – reflecting ‘world class’ operations and the consequent proliferation of strategic alliances and interdependent, often international, partnerships. One manifestation of the revolution has been the emergence of leaner, ‘flatter’ organisation structures, which serve as both cause and effect in the evolution of more adaptive, egalitarian leadership and management styles, necessarily increased cross-function working and what

6

CHAPTER 1: ENABLING – ‘EMPOWERMENT PLUS’

are substantially different career patterns, where the emphasis, logically enough, is upon lateral progression, rather than traditional vertical promotion. Along with greater uncertainty, less security and predictability, organisations are having to make sense of increasing paradox in so many aspects of business. For example, on the one hand, specialisation and hence specialist contributive competence are seen as essential to success in professional career progression. However, so too are generalist skills and the ability to mediate successfully across different functions, as a manager or specialist. The classical ‘centralise vs de-centralise’ argument still creates problems in so many businesses, as people struggle to create unity of purpose and evolve compatible role behaviours from this apparent organisational paradox. The economies of scale may be crucial to the long-term growth of a business, but so, too, are small, self-determining and accountable units, whose initiative and flexibility allow them to generate creative and profitable outcomes that mere size and financial strength could not hope to produce. Hand-in-hand with the unforeseeable, the lack of security and so many apparent contradictory imperatives, come seemingly limitless opportunity and challenge – which is really where ‘enabling’, as a way of managing and leading people, comes into the picture.

Enabling and empowering – some key differences Defined variously, in dictionaries, as: To give (person etc) the means or authority to do To invest, endow, arm, render strong To authorise To make possible To make something happen To furnish a person with powers – ‘enabling’ consists of a series of related managerial processes which, when used effectively and in concert, help others to do what they need to do. It is, too, essentially a combination of arts and, because of this, there is no one unique, ‘right’ formula, or prescription. There are thus no limits to individuality in the practice and development of enabling as a managerial art. There are, too, both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ components in successful enabling – the ‘hard’ including facts, figures, profit-based decisions, commercially determined strategies and, on occasions,

7


direct instructions. The softer components involve networking, gatekeeping, ‘politicking’, encouragement, persuasion – even manipulation. For practical purposes, these may be represented as shown in figure 1, as: 1.

2.

Largely interpersonal interventions ie: •

Mentoring

•

Coaching

Broadly organisational activities ie: •

Empowering

•

Sponsoring

Enabling: the key bases – organisational and inter-personal

Coaching Inter-personal factors

Organisational factors

Sponsoring

Enabling

Empowering

Mentoring

Figure 1 As can readily be seen from figure 1, empowerment is really just one (albeit a crucial one) of four fundamental and related bases to the process of enabling.

8


Generally, experience suggests that, in practice, empowerment alone is not always sufficient an incentive, or stimulus, to produce the requisite level of confidence and contributory competence in people. For example, unless there is adequate commensurate delegation, whereby parameters, requisite end results, necessary constraints and criteria are made absolutely clear, ‘empowered’ individuals may either take off, unchecked, in quite inappropriate directions, or they may well flounder around, uncertain as to how much freedom they really have. Empowerment is neither management abdication – nor is it laissez-faire leadership. It is, when planned, organised and managed effectively, a major source of focused motivation, as well as a means of releasing and using vital energy commitment and talent. Its cornerstones of autonomy, ownership and responsibility can, in the right environment and with the right leadership, lead to high levels of performance and outstanding results. Given the structured support of the other key elements of enabling – sponsorship, coaching and mentoring – empowerment comes into its own as managerial best practice, congruent with the spirit of prevailing societal norms and expectations. So frequently, in the work-a-day world of managing, leading and delivering, activities are not clear-cut and neatly delineated as management theorists would sometimes like them to be. Rather, they come in various shades of grey – often blurred around the edges, so that, for example, the largely interpersonal activities of mentoring and coaching will inevitably have organisational facets to them, such as – available resources, budgets, deadlines, culture-dependent outcomes, work goals, and job pressures. Likewise, the predominantly organisational processes of empowerment and sponsorship will depend for their success upon many interpersonal factors, such as competence, confidence, personal ‘chemistry’, commitment, credibility and ‘clout’ of the provider and appropriateness of the learning methodology. Each of the above four, fundamental bases to enabling will be explored in depth and detail, in subsequent chapters of this Briefing. Enabling, in the context of being central to making things happen and producing requisite results – particularly in the conditions of uncertainty, stress, turbulence and lack of guaranteed security, that characterise organisational change – is so frequently about encouraging risk averse people to move out of their comfort zones. In effect, comfort zones represent illusory permanence, security and safety. They often reflect too a strongly preserved status quo, the known, the accepted and the familiar, but reject, ignore or deny the reality of inevitable change, transformation and the emergence of necessary ‘new order’. In a world where organisations constantly need to re-new, ‘re-engineer’ and re-build themselves, in the search for greater effectiveness, new opportunities, and fresh market arenas, so their

9


people need to acquire new awareness, develop different skills and take on unfamiliar roles in order both to take the business forward – and grow with it. Stepping out of the comfort zone, with its attendant security, and moving into new roles and arenas – which may be largely ‘unmapped’ territory, has been likened to abandoning familiar ‘firm’ ground and walking into a ‘swamp’. The ‘alligators’ – which mirror the ‘here be dragons’ of the terra incognita, of early cartographers – are the multiplicity of risks that people identify with fear of failure and threats to career. Figure 2, which is developed from a model originally evolved by Roger Plant in Managing Change and Making it Stick (1) illustrates something of the characteristics typical of the move from the comfort zone towards the many ‘swamps’ that represent necessary progress and growth.

Enabling – moving out of comfort zones into the ‘swamp’

Risk Unfamiliar ground the ‘swamp’

Risk

en all ch

• Defined parameters • Clear authority • Existing competence and expertise • Confidence

ty ain ert Pro d

ies nit

rtu

uce

po

op

Risk

10

Threat to career

unc

w

Ne

New roles, responsibilities, understanding and competencies New choices

Figure 2

on

‘comfort zone’

Fear of failure

Risk

ati

Ne

w

Familiar ground

orm

Risk

nsf

Tra

ge

s

Changing imperatives

Risk


Enabling as a process for focusing and controlling At the opposite end of the scale are the adventurous, entrepreneurial spirits, whose boldness, opportunism and cavalier approach may run away with them, as they experience freedom and lack of monitoring or control that empowerment – fortuitous, or otherwise – may afford them. Ambition, a need for power, an obsession with success or recognition, or simply sheer greed, may turn the pursuit of outstanding success into a quest for a somewhat unholy grail, rather than a professionally focused and balanced drive for legitimate and appropriate goals. It may be too, that some individuals fail to recognise that they have gone past their level of competence, before they find themselves in situations which are clearly over their heads. If their managers, or superiors, similarly, don’t recognise the crucial signals in good time – or choose to ignore them – the absence of effective delegation, monitoring, management and control may result, variously, in confusion, havoc, or in the case of Barings, disastrous consequences. Enabling, especially as a structured and essentially ‘bespoke’ process, tailored to circumstances and individuals – and effectively conducted – by informed, accountable professionals, provides the necessary ‘freedom within a framework’ (2) that distinguishes intelligent empowering from irresponsible abdication, or indifferent laissez-faire leadership. There is, at times, a very fine and often indistinct line between smart opportunism on the one hand, and sharp practice, or unethical behaviour, on the other. At one end of the scale there is the essentially well-intentioned, ambitious maverick, or ‘loose cannon’, who cuts corners and takes risks, in order to get things done – and, possibly, satisfy a need for excitement and for recognition of having triumphed, despite the system. Many of to-day’s most successful entrepreneurs and businessmen have operated in this way, and openly attribute their success to their readiness to cut through constraints, ‘bend the rules’ – or make up their own, as they go along. At the other end of the scale, however, there are degrees and shades of dishonesty all of which come into the ‘unacceptable’ category, as far as professional business ethics and the generally accepted societal norms of human decency are concerned. This extreme of the spectrum represents conduct which may also be outside the law and, therefore, is subject to criminal and/or civil proceedings for those who are caught. Where legality is involved, there is likely to be far less relativity, on the basis that an act or action is either legal or it is illegal – although there is the fundamental qualification – ‘What would the reasonable person do in such circumstances?’.

11


Figure 3, based upon the original work of Tom Cummings, a US Consultant and Director of Leading Ventures Management Consultancy, operating out of Amsterdam, indicates a likely progression of leader/manager ethics in decision making and taking action. The author has added the dimensions of integrity and focus, ie internal or external forces.

A hierarchy of leader ethics High

6. Do what is right (the ethical position)

5. Long term interests

4. Principle of law Ethical strength

3. Approval and accolades 2. Avoid ‘pain’ and hassle (stay in comfort zone) 1. Self interest (what’s in it for me?) Low Self

Focus

Others

Figure 3 Both ethics and legality, as issues, emphasise the fundamental differences between enabling and empowering. There are ‘parental’ overtones in the process of empowerment, as well as a more immediate and overt morality implicit in the giving, taking and particularly the using of power. By contrast, enabling is a more ‘adult’ and morally neutral process when considered as a ‘complete’ or synthesised managerial process. Empowering suggests the giving of permission, whereas enabling processes fit in the broader context of providing necessary wherewithal, by coaching, mentoring and sponsoring. While the processes that make up the quality of enabling, expected of professional management, are not a universal panacea, or

12


infallible managerial prophylactic, effectively implemented and conducted, they do reduce the risk of both irresponsible and dishonest behaviour turning into disasters, organisationally, morally, or legally. Saul Gellerman (3) makes the point in Why ‘Good’ Managers Make Bad Ethical Choices, that, most likely, four major rationalised beliefs result in much of what is unethical behaviour in business, ie: 1.

The belief that the activity lies within reasonable ethical and legal limits

2.

The belief that the activity is in the best interests of the individual and/or the business

3.

The belief that the activity is ‘safe’ – that is, it will never be found out, or published

4.

The belief that because the activity, or action, helps the business, the organisation will condone it and go so far as to protect the person who perpetrates it.

In assessing the morality and, often, ‘legality’ of actions – both in advance and retrospectively, much of the rationalisation is a matter of individual values, perceptions and interpretation. Some of the pressures, motives, or influences that may precipitate ‘borderline’ or even immoral and illegal activity, within businesses, include: •

The organisation’s culture and norms

•

Pressure for results from superiors

•

Unclear instructions and vague standards

•

Idleness and/or a wish for ‘less hassle’

•

The need to prove oneself or live up to a particular image

•

Personal drives, such as recognition, greed, ambition and success.

In the absence of clear cut guidelines, or rules, explicit values, or declared codes of practice, to the contrary, the more opportunistic, exploitive and expedient will tend to regard such omissions as a leadership vacuum, or a legal and moral colander. The lack of both clear criteria, or ground rules, together with an absence of effective managerial presence, inevitably leaves the way open for post-rationalisations, such as – ‘I thought I was doing what was needed’, or ‘In the circumstances, it seemed the best thing to do’ – and the like. One problem is that the absolute authority of the conscience is not a consensual moral force. Despite some consistent common moral standards – particularly within a distinct and discrete culture – the conscience, ultimately remains an individual and personal source of imperative, so that what one person may see as morally defensible, another may not. Both, however, might honestly believe that their interpretation was ‘right’ in the circumstances.

13


As Gellerman (4) says – ‘How far is too far?’ (author’s italics). ‘Exactly what is the line between… sharp and shady? Between profit maximisation and illegal conduct?’ However, the process of enabling – effectively conducted – provides opportunities for debate, diagnosis, evaluation and prescription, and offers a powerful practical managerial framework which is likely to be strong in legal, financial and utilitarian criteria, if not quite of the level of Hume, Kant and Spinoza, when it comes to moral dialectic. This is especially more likely to be the case, where there is corporate and managerial integrity, based upon sound values compatible with wider societal norms, and where people recognise that they will, ultimately, be judged, by their actions – not their mission statements. Just as the ‘felt fair’ criterion is a powerful and reasonable arbiter in the allocation of rewards so, too, in the ethics of decisions and actions. It was, in fact, Alexander Hume the Scottish philosopher who stated – ‘Morality is more properly felt of than judg’d’. On a more pragmatic and earthy note, Ralph Waldo Emerson with his shrewd perception and understanding of humankind wrote – ‘The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons’.

‘Machiavellian’ Index Reality is that the data and information produced by behavioural profiles and psychometric instruments is neither absolute, nor definitive, but rather relative and indicative. Such data is relative, in that normative instruments – given construct validity – should provide us with a comparative picture of an individual, in identified areas of behaviour, based upon established norms. So called ipsative psychometrics – ie non-normative, given accuracy and reliability – ought to produce descriptions which other sources of evaluation will confirm. Within this context, the ‘Machiavellian Index’ is offered, principally for the reader’s self assessment and personal interest. It should not be used as a selection tool nor as a profile for formal evaluation. Rather, it is included, at the end of Chapter 1, as an instrument which can yield relevant information for personal reflection. It should be answered as honestly and accurately as possible, on the basis that only such responses are likely to be valid, practical and useful as a means of taking stock of an important aspect of one’s values, outlook and professional ‘style’, in behaving towards others. The ‘Machiavellian Index’ may also be used, with care, in terms, or work groups, to help to identify and give sharper definition to the prevailing ‘climate’, culture and collective ethos that characterise the group, in its day-to-day activities, team working and inter-group relationships.

14


The average score is 25. Scores of 22 or less suggest: •

The individual is very ethical and generally operates with a high level of personal and professional integrity

•

The respondent is more tender-minded than tough-minded and, therefore, is likely to be somewhat protective of themselves and others, by avoiding harsh, unpopular, or tough decisions

•

The individual may be somewhat unworldly and/or naive, compared with the generally accepted, current competitive and commercial ethic of the business world

•

He or she is trying to do a personal ‘whitewash’ job and that it is time to start counting the spoons!

By contrast, scores of 29 or over, are indicative of people who typically: •

Are considered to be ‘tough’, ‘hard nosed’, and/or practical, utilitarian and expedient

•

Are very task – and results – orientated, and who are inclined to spend little time on social niceties, chit chat, or small talk

•

Are realistic, inclined to scepticism, cynical, usually taking a ‘no-nonsense’ view of their fellow human beings. They are not given to suffering fools gladly.

However, for optimum practical accuracy, reliability and validity, the ‘Machiavellian Index’ should be used, wherever possible, in conjunction with a battery of profiles, to help to provide contextual and more consistent evaluation and feedback. Consistency with track record, consensual perceptions and other psychometric data, usually provides the most reliable assessments and, hence, feedback.

The challenges and opportunities of ‘flatter organisations’ As we can see already, the shape, form and operating style of companies is changing dramatically, and the way businesses function, around the turn of the millennium, is significantly different from their ways of working of only a decade ago. The successful 21st century organisation, compared with its recent predecessors, will be: •

Flatter in structure, less ‘hierarchical’, less bureaucratic and more openly crossfunctional in its working

•

Using empowerment more intelligently and universally for both individuals and work groups

•

IT – based to a greater degree

15


•

Much more focused on customers and stake-holders generally, including customers’ customers

•

More concerned with adding value, wherever practicable, as a major means of maintaining competitive advantage

•

Entrepreneurial and innovative, relying heavily upon the intelligent, well-informed adaptive competences of especially the key players

•

Directed by vision, shared values and, necessarily, bolder pathfinding than hitherto.

Both managers and teams will, because of ever-changing structures, operate more and more in transient and concurrent roles, rather than as semi-permanent ‘fixtures’ or organisation charts. More close-quarter managing will involve people increasingly in: •

De-centralising and devolving authority and power

•

Much closer, more intense interdependence, than hitherto

•

Leadership which is more readily and frequently distributed, based upon perceived contributory competence

•

More informal networking and multi-disciplinary project teams

•

Transient alliances with key stakeholders – both inside and outside the organisation

•

More professional and demanding performance standards which are clear cut and less ambiguous than previously (though the environment will become more uncertain and increasingly governed by paradox)

•

More need – and readiness – to cut through or remove unnecessary boundaries and bureaucratic constraints.

Figure 4 shows something of the changing nature – and context – of organisations and, therefore, the differing demands they will place upon change agents and those subject to change. ‘New paradigm’ business thinking recognises that much of the change we are experiencing today is irrevocable and represents a major departure from what has gone before. Transformation, so often represents discontinuity and complete breaks from past thinking and practice – hence the very significant changes to organisation structure and the ways in which organisations – and their effective development – are currently perceived. In the quest for added value, greater efficiency and sustained competitive advantage, flatter organisations acknowledge the essential value of cross-functional working. No longer is the ‘silo’ mentality, parochialism and ‘turf warfare’ of differentiated functions acceptable. Counter-productive territorialism and limiting partisan thinking are unlikely to create the

16


necessary climate and, therefore, opportunities, alliances and ‘adhocracy’, that lead to the effective multi-disciplinary working essential to today’s successful businesses. It is destructive parochialism ‘segmentalism’ and chauvinism that largely create the organisational problem identified by Henry Mintzberg in figure 4.

Changing patterns of organisation

1. Traditional ‘Toblerone’ hierarchy Emphasis on ‘vertical interaction’ Bureaucratic and slow to adapt

2. So-called new paradigm ‘flatter’ organisation Emphasis on cross-functional working Multi-disciplinary ‘networks’ and coalitions Adaptable, flexible and responsive

Connected ‘outer’ people ‘Enablers’ and facilitators trying to connect ‘inner’ people to outside world Unconnected ‘inner’ people (divorced from environment)

(Change agents in uncertainty and turbulence)

Understand and relate in uncertainty and turbulence

4. Classical ‘silo’ territorial functional structure of traditional organisation

3. ‘Connected’ and ‘unconnected’ people Mintzberg’s interpretation of real organisational functioning

‘Turf wars’ and parochialism Low inter-departmental collaboration

Figure 4

17


Straightforward observation of so many organisations, in their day-to-day working, confirm his perception that: 1.

There are some ‘connected’ and ‘outer’ people who understand the broader operating environment of their organisations and are successfully linked into it, by role, relationships and behaviour – but above all by the recognition that such broad, multi–faceted arenas are the operational and strategic reality of their business

2.

There are also – frequently too many – people who are divorced from and not at all connected to the world outside their own function, section or even immediate role set. Frequently, they are the individuals who though working hard, end up engaged principally in ‘activity’ – not necessarily the generation of requisite results. In some cases, they turn out to be people who, as a result of their lack of connection to the outer world, are really doing what amounts to yesterday’s job – not fulfilling the requirements currently expected of them in what is essentially ‘today’s role’.

3.

In between the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ people, Mintzberg sees a number of key players – frequently in ‘middle management’ level roles, acting as ‘enablers’, ‘facilitators’ or ‘catalysts’. These are essentially functioning as necessary change agents – whose task is to connect the inner people to their ‘outer’ orientated colleagues and, hence, to the external operating arenas of the company’s market place and their business. Tom Peters (5) described a move towards such roles becoming a combination of ‘expediter/barrier-destroyer/facilitator’, ‘on-call expert’ and ‘diffuser of good news’, while Kanter (6) sees the middle level roles becoming more cross-functionally orientated and, therefore, responsible for initiating, catalysing and nurturing project team working.

Undoubtedly, conditions of uncertainty, paradox, and opportunity need the optimal mixes and concentration of different, but focused, contributive competences, in the interests of both successful business, as well as in appropriate organisational transformation and growth. The opportunities – and need – for effective enabling, therefore, are both enormous in the collective pursuit of excellence, corporate success and organisation development. New competences, new understanding and new ways of working are all essential in the conditions of revolutionary change, that businesses are now, irreversibly, finding themselves having to work in. More than ever, there is a need for people at all levels to avoid becoming hostages to the moment, by responding unnecessarily to the latest whim, ‘urgency’, or fad. Creating time for shared reflection, learning and contextual perspective is essential if managements are to ensure that people’s contributive talents and potential are properly focused and developed – not merely squandered in mere ‘busyness’ or ‘activity’ and in the wasteful pursuit of yesterday’s commitment – instead of the real demands of today’s role.

18


Never before, has there been in business – and in the role of managers and leaders, at whatever level – such a need for enabling processes which help people to understand, identify, crystallise, evaluate, plan and act optimally, as there is in today’s rapidly changing world. If ever there were an ideal time for effective enabling and enabling leaders, this is it. Less and less is there one infallible fount of wisdom or source of guaranteed omniscience in organisations. Instead, making sense of a fast changing and, at times, quite threatening, world is essentially a matter of facilitating and keeping open continuous, collective and shared learning, both at the coal face and more strategic levels. It is also a matter of ensuring adequate connection between learning about scope, context and hence visionary and aspirational issues of the business and the learning associated with the ‘nuts and bolts’ and day-to-day operations of the organisation. In such arenas and within the context of revolutionary change, enablers and change agents will, themselves, be working in considerable uncertainty, fluidity and ambiguity. These conditions of high hassle and high vulnerability need enablers who possess at least the following competences and strengths: 1.

The ability to recognise, diagnose and help catalyse solutions to often complex, multifaceted problems

2.

The ability to ‘map out’ and give realistic definition to situations – and especially the scope, potential and opportunities within the turbulence and change, ie the capacity to identify areas of ‘productive uncertainty’

3.

Integrative thinking which can create new unity out of contradiction and paradox – akin to what McCaskey (7) terms – ‘Janusian thinking’ which, like the Roman God Janus, possesses the ability to look in two directions at the same time

4.

Clear perception and understanding about what is ‘mandatory’ and what is ‘discretionary’ in a situation, task or project, and hence the ability to focus both commitment and the use of initiative in others

5.

Skill in recognising when to use loose and tight rein in triggering appropriate response, motivation and thus energy-release in others, hence flexibility of style and interventions

6.

Effective interpersonal skills and style which encourage, stimulate and inspire, rather than those which threaten, inhibit and/or switch off

7.

High personal credibility, based upon professional track record, competence, integrity and perceived organisational ‘clout’, including the ability to use the power afforded by transforming organisations as fluidity allows opportunities to be seized and exploited.

19


8.

Closely allied to the strengths in item 7 above are necessary ‘political’ acumen and the ability both to forecast and deal with the politics typical of organisations and organisational activity

9.

The ability to make sense of and obtain optimum use of the increasingly sophisticated management information systems that underpin the functioning of the business.

To say the least, those in enabling roles today (and which manager, or leader isn’t) are likely to be operating in a highly challenging, complex and problematic environment. However, they are not all-knowing gurus whose role is to supply all the answers, but rather theirs is the task of helping others to help themselves by: •

Stimulating understanding of context, scope and potential

•

Providing questions for reflection

•

Stimulating the generation of viable options and alternative scenarios, pathways and courses of action

•

Triggering appropriate diagnosis and evaluation, as well as prescriptive solutions, on the part of others

•

Initiating the processes of generating, building and sharing of collective visions, aspirations and ambitions about and for the business

•

Helping people to re-focus and re-align their thinking, actions and contributions, where necessary

•

Enabling people to move to the action stage and to commit to appropriate action, when the talking has eventually become a secondary, supportive process

•

Operating, generally, ‘eyes and ears on’ – but largely ‘hands-off’ to provide the necessary freedom within a framework that is, perhaps, the penultimate goal of enabling – the ultimate being to generate requisite achievement, development and growth.

In so many organisations the problem is not necessarily the shortage or absence of potential, but rather the lack of people who are properly equipped – and disposed – to confirm, develop and use that talent, which is essentially what the process of enabling is really about.

20


Summary That we are in a major business and, therefore, managerial revolution is undeniable. The pace and nature of change is characterised by increasingly rapid forward movement into the unknown, the uncertain and the untested. For some, such a world is threatening – to others, it is challenging, exciting and full of opportunity. Less certainty, less security can mean more anxiety, more fear of failure, and greater risk-aversion, with consequently more effort going into preserving the status quo and ‘firm ground’, in the form of personal comfort zones. Such environments can also mean more scope for learning, more freedom to act, and more potential to be identified and exploited. Hassle and vulnerability have become something of a way of life in business, so that we can either seek to avoid them, fret about them, or take them in our stride as the realities of the work-a-day world of business and manage them intelligently and effectively. Doing the latter frees us to get on with the processes of becoming and remaining successful, learning, developing and growing, both as individuals and, collectively, as teams, groups and organisations. The future undoubtedly belongs to the learners – not those who simply ‘know’ – and especially to those who are actively living change and seeking to capitalise upon, or further enhance transformation, as it changes their work environments and working styles. In response to the key imperatives of major change, two significant consequences have emerged over recent years – empowered working and ‘flatter’ organisation structures. Empowerment is essentially about giving people – especially those with talent, commitment and confidence, the requisite freedom to act in the most effective, focused ways, in order to set and achieve appropriate goals. It is also intended to be a process which helps people to enhance their roles and contributions, and to take ownership of both problems and their solutions and so optimise their personal contribution to the business. Experience, however, shows that empowerment is very much a two-edged weapon, as evidenced in the case of Nick Leeson, of Barings Bank. On the one hand, it can be misused, irresponsibly, arrogantly or cynically, or it may represent the tyranny of freedom for others who only feel safe when working within clear-cut prescribed boundaries and when operating to specific standards and goals. On the other hand, empowerment represents an opportunity to use intelligence, a sense of responsibility and well channelled drive, in the pursuit of legitimate goals, frequently in new,

21


‘unmapped’ territory or in unfamiliar roles, where self-determination and initiative may be essential to success. Like power itself, the process of empowerment can be abused – through irresponsibility, ignorance – or as the result of immoral and/or illegal conduct. At the one end of the scale of abuse, ‘bad’ behaviour may simply take the form of corner cutting, sharp practice, being ‘smart’ and so doing what ‘seemed right at the time’. At the opposite end of the misuse/abuse spectrum, there may be criminal fraud, misappropriation of large funds and many other illegal activities. Morally, too, there may well be the abuse of the privileges and professional freedom that empowerment can bring. For example misrepresentation in reporting events, overt and destructive disloyalty to the company, suppressing people’s legitimate rights, or knowingly exaggerating the importance or value of something, in order for personal gain – are all acts of varying degrees of immorality. Enabling, which goes far beyond empowerment, inevitably relies fundamentally on the latter process, but additionally backs up empowerment with coaching, mentoring and sponsorship, to create a powerful synthesis of related managerial roles, competences and activities. Because it goes beyond empowering, enabling also operates on a basis of more context, more perspective and more diagnosis and evaluation. It is essentially a combination of doing, evaluating and learning. In the cases of power abuse indicated above, enabling has much to offer as a preventative, monitoring and controlling process, as well as an educational and developmental one. It is no cure-all, but it does – by virtue of continuing dialogue and intervention – provide the necessary evolving frameworks within which focused, legitimate freedom of action may flourish and produce the results and added value that are managerially, morally and legally possible within businesses. Perhaps more than in any other environment, or set of conditions, enabling comes into its own within flatter organisation structures, where there is emphasis upon project-team and cross-functional working. Here, the enabler is likely to make his or her greatest sustained contribution, as a change agent in conditions of uncertainty, paradox and opportunity.

22


In times of stress, confusion and contradiction, enabling managers more than earn their corn by helping people to make sense of their, at times, incomprehensibly changing worlds. As Proust said ‘The art of discovery is not to visit new lands, but to see existing ones with new eyes’. So it is with enabling, when it becomes a means of helping people to: •

See things afresh and differently

•

Put changes into context and perspective

•

Become stimulated or inspired, to generate new options

•

Re-organise and re-align their priorities

•

Have access to a ‘sounding board’ off which to ‘bounce’ ideas and suggestions

•

Take stock of themselves, their roles and both the main and changing thrusts of their contributions to the business

•

Stay connected and continue to operate centrally, in the world that really matters, so ensuring that they grow with the business

•

Raise their sights, their standards and their levels of achievement as they gain confidence and progressively develop competence.

In the following chapters, we shall explore and examine the components as well as some of the tools and techniques of the process of enabling. In particular, Chapters 4 - 7 will primarily be devoted to skill development in each of the four fundamental aspects of enabling – coaching, mentoring, sponsoring and empowering.

23


Activities: theory into action 1.

Complete the Machiavellian Index contained in Chapter 1 (don’t forget to add the ‘reverse’ scores for your responses to items D, H, I and J, to your answers to questions A, B, C, E, F and G, to give you a total score). Ideally, ask people who know you well – and who are likely to be honest about you – to rate you so that you end up with a typical ‘360 degree’ profile of yourself. Do the same (360 degree assessments) with others in your team. Discuss the results. What does this tell you about you, your perceived leadership/ management ‘style’ and the team that you manage? What action might usefully be taken, to capitalise upon the information generated and/or inferred from the results?

2.

Taking the section on the challenge and opportunities of ‘flatter’ organisations, what does the reduction of organisational hierarchy mean to you, your team and the ways in which you do, or could, operate? What advantages of flatter organisations could you and your function make greater capital out of?

3.

24

Does Mintzberg’s model of ‘inner’ (disconnected) and ‘outer’ (connected) people suggest organisational and/or personal development needs that you might explore and meet at a ‘bespoke’ workshop or ‘away day’ on the issue?


Machiavellian Index

‘How laudable it is for a prince to keep good faith and live with integrity and not with astuteness, everyone knows. Still, experience shows princes to have done great things who have had little regard for faith and who have been able, by astuteness, to confuse men’s brains and who have ultimately overcome those who have made loyalty their foundation.’ Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) The Prince

Measure of your political awareness and ‘style’

‘…Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge’. Machiavelli – The Prince

Richard Christie, the psychologist who developed the original profile, states that the way someone responds to the questions is surprisingly accurate in predicting how he or she behaves towards other people – whether becoming emotionally involved, or simply sing them to suit personal ends. Christie has found that men are generally more Machiavellian than women and that people like doctors and psychiatrists show higher scores than the more ‘passive’ professions like accountants and R & D staff. One of the things that has interested psychologists about Machiavellianism is that it does not appear to be related to other psychological characteristics. For example, highly intelligent people are no more Machiavellian than the less bright; introverts are no more or less manipulators of people than are extroverts.

25


Until the ‘sixties and ‘seventies, Machiavellianism had not been studied in depth by psychologists. A recent study in the British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology suggests that the right mixture of Machiavellianism and intelligence can be very important in ensuring that people get on in life. John Touhey’s study of 120 men whose career progression was compared with that of their fathers’ found that those who had risen usually had high Machiavellian scores and a high IQ. Those who had fallen had high Machiavellian ratings, but a low IQ. While a high score on the accompanying profile will indicate how politically aware you are and how inclined you are to manipulate others – make sure that you use your Machiavellianism carefully and that you give sufficient thought to the outcomes and consequences of your actions.

How far will you go in life? A simple self-administered profile with a rating Please read carefully through each of the statements below, and put a ring round the point on the scale which most closely represents your attitude.

Disagree

Agree

A lot

A little

Neutral

A little

A lot

A Generally speaking people won’t work hard unless they’re forced to

1

2

3

4

5

B The best way to influence people is to tell them what they want to hear

1

2

3

4

5

C Most people more readily forget the death of their father than the loss of their property

1

2

3

4

5

D When you ask someone to do something for you, it is best to give the real reasons for wanting it rather than giving reasons which may carry more weight

1

2

3

4

5

E A person who completely trusts others is asking for trouble

1

2

3

4

5

F It is difficult to get ahead without cutting corners here and there

1

2

3

4

5

26


Disagree

Agree

A lot

A little

Neutral

A little

A lot

G It is best to assume that all people have a vicious streak and that it will come out when they are given the opportunity to use it

1

2

3

4

5

H One should take action only when sure that it is morally right

1

2

3

4

5

I Most people are essentially good natured and kind

1

2

3

4

5

J My sense of fair play gets in the way of effective business decisions

1

2

3

4

5

Scoring To find your Machiavellian score, add the numbers you have circled for questions A, B, C, E, F, G. For the other four questions, reverse the numbers you circled – that is, if you circled five, score one, if you circled one, score five, and so on. The average score (neither high nor low) is 25. •

Further reading: Studies in Machiavellianism by R Christie and F L Geiss, Academic Press, New York, 1970.

•

Source: J C Touhey in the British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 1973 and Professor R Christie.

27

Blank page

Enabling – freedom within a framework Autonomy with responsibility: ‘directed’ entrepreneuring Understanding what is ‘mandatory’ and ‘discretionary’ Empowerment with delegation Enabling - continuity of feedback with dialogue Summary Activities: theory into action

2

chapter 2

Chapter 2 Enabling – freedom within a framework

‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’ Wendell Phillips (1811 – 1884)

‘Order is the first requisite of freedom’ Georg Wilhelm Hegel (1770 – 1831)

Autonomy with responsibility: ‘directed’ entrepreneuring The reality is that in any organised and civilised society, the practice of freedom without commensurate responsibility will not be allowed to continue for very long, without some form of effective intervention. Completely unaccountable and unrestrained liberty is an anathema and as such is considered just as inappropriate in the animal kingdom, as it is amongst human beings. Reason and commonsense dictate that autonomy and responsibility must go hand in hand for either to succeed – especially in the management of organised human enterprise. In the practical world of management, where interdependence and mutualism are paramount, autonomy without appropriate responsibility and, equally, responsibility without adequate freedom to act are simply not acceptable. In discussion, the majority of managers are likely to agree with this, as a principle, but as Will Rogers once said ‘Liberty doesn’t work as well in practice as it does in speeches’.

30

CHAPTER 2: ENABLING – FREEDOM WITHIN A FRAMEWORK

While difficult to gainsay the logic of the principle of balance between autonomy and responsibility, the practical problems of creating and managing such equilibrium lie largely in the following issues: 1.

The qualitative nature, rather than the quantitative of such measures as: •

To what extent?

•

How far?

•

Which is the best way?

•

Optimisation vs maximisation

•

Long vs short term impact

•

Competing priorities

2.

Individual circumstances which are unique or exceptional and, therefore, do not fit existing precedent and ‘case law’ within the business

3.

Establishing new precedents and acknowledging the many ‘what-if’s’ that are typical of complex business decisions – particularly when moving into new and uncharted territory

4.

Change and transformation, as they impact upon the organisation and its business, and the consequent requirement for new, innovative behaviours, responses and solutions

5.

Dealing ‘politically’ and managerially with reactionary, resistant, or revolutionary factions, which emerge within the organisation, in response to change, or transformation

6.

The necessary, but often contentious process of ‘boundary busting’ – (‘Transgression is nine points of the law’, but only if the Establishment is on the way out!)

7.

The quality of confidence and trust that exists between empowerer and empowered and, therefore, the fundamental ‘chemistry’ of their working relationship

8.

The ‘functional maturity’ (personal competence and confidence) and therefore perceived ‘skill and will’, and credibility of the person being empowered and delegated to.

The behavioural stereotypes in figure 5 are representative and typical and have been selected to reinforce the point of the need for a balance between autonomy and responsibility which is essentially what ‘freedom within a framework’ seeks to bring about, through effective enabling management.

31


Freedom – within a framework The balance between autonomy and responsibility

High 1. Irresponsible adventure

‘Freedom within a framework’

2. Maverick disregard 3. Malicious compliance

Autonomy

(Balanced autonomy and responsibility in decision and action)

Box 1

Box 4

1. Clean nose and low profile

1. Heroic overload

2. Comfort zone activity

2. Unquestioning loyalty

3. Passive compliance

3. Conscientious conformity

Box 2 Low

Box 3 Responsibility

High

Figure 5 ‘Box 1’ in figure 5 (high autonomy – low responsibility) is essentially the area of misadventure, rash decision making or action, and irresponsible discounting of, or disregard for – common sense, objective analysis, valid past experience and even the rule of law. Behaviour, typically, may be characterised by: •

Inadequate examination of information and insufficient diagnosis

•

Lack, or abandonment, of sound, evaluative judgement

•

Insufficient identification and explanation of options

•

Inadequate reflection and, hence, hasty, ill-thought through decision-making

•

Impetuosity, impulsiveness, and/or disaffection

•

‘Testosterone’, or macho, self-imaging

•

Unilateralism and an absence of team working

•

Pursuit of personal kudos, power or ‘glory’

•

High egocentricity and arrogance.

This particular ‘box’, based upon a combination of high power/personal autonomy, but low responsibility is not simply the repository for maverick deviation from the norm, or high-

32


handed misadventure and cavalier dismissiveness. Were all the occupants of Box 1 to be brash, ambitious, driving and presumptuous arrivistes they would, in fact, present an almost ‘ideal’ challenge to competent, professional, enabling, managers. The bumptious would-be entrepreneur, the indiscipline of the maverick and the lack of restraint of the loose cannon, may also frequently provide the potential ‘heart’, as well as ‘head’, for: •

Boundary busting

•

Refreshing, creative unauthodoxy and unconventional thinking

•

Readiness to challenge and test established shibboleths and dogma

•

Preparedness to reject or overturn the status quo

•

Circumvention of ‘orders from above’

•

The drive to seek answers to the questions – ‘why?’ and ‘why not?’

When these attributes are positively managed and led, they can be developed as effective constructive dissatisfaction, or productive restlessness and channelled into a good deal of added value, that more staid, conventional and historically accepted ways of doing things may be incapable of delivering. Such behaviour, too, when intelligently mobilised, can often provide more direct routes to state-of-the-art thinking and practices by short-circuiting obstructive bureaucracy, unnecessary risk-aversion and dinosaur mentality. On the classical poacher turned game-keeper principle, there is often a wealth of potential contributive competence waiting to be tapped, released and creatively channelled in most organisations. One likely cause of misadventure, impetuosity and misdirected energy, is that a good many people of potential are: under-stretched under-developed and, most important of all: under-used. The other, decidedly less attractive and potentially more destructive inhabitants of Box 1 are the minimalists and maliciously compliant. Whereas the irresponsibly, venturesome and undisciplined mavericks are usually ‘temporary lodgers’ and can be moved, by intelligent enabling into Box 4, ‘Freedom within a framework’, the organisational malefactors are more likely to be attitudinal long term, if not permanent, habitués of Box 1. Frequently intelligent people, whose mental – if not always emotional – potential far exceeds their performance and delivery, are the individuals whose ‘political’ and private agenda are more seriously at

33


variance with the official objectives, aims and vision of the business. Such lack of goal congruence and commitment may also be compounded by personal antagonism or even enmity and, hence, ‘bad chemistry’, in their relationships with their manager and/or their colleagues. The maliciously compliant emerge in many forms including: 1

Business world counterparts to the ‘good soldier Schwyk’ who essentially lived by his wits and by exaggeratedly carrying out his superiors’ orders to the letter – to absolve himself from any blame (‘I only did what I was told to do, Sir’) and also to prove what incompetent idiots some of his officers were.

2

People who are anti-establishment on principle – or because being ‘different’, provides them with a perverse form of the kudos, status and recognition which are parodies of those usually offered by formal office and from which they have been excluded for one reason or another.

3

The ‘enemies of opportunity’ or so-called ‘PPO’s’ (‘project prevention officers’) who typically:

4

34

•

Observe, monitor and criticise

•

Concentrate on risks and risk analysis

•

Discount or deny the true value of opportunity

•

Procrastinate, delay and avoid

•

Over analyse and so paralyse

•

Constrain, impede or block, rather than encouraging and empowering

•

Suffer from acute ‘left lobitis’ of the brain

Individuals who make greater use than most of ‘psychological’ or ‘power’ games in their interactions with others – especially with those who either depend upon them, or are in hierarchically superior roles to them. Power play, ‘politicking’ and hence ‘power competence’ become exceptionally important to some individuals particularly those whose personal agenda stem from deep seated grudges, resentments or chips, instead of epaulets, on their shoulder.


Where hostility is compounded by manipulation and game-playing the process of enabling needs to take on a tough, clearly-focused and significantly more directive tone. Enabling in such circumstances may become based essentially upon any or all of the following: •

Attentive listening, the use of ‘open’ questions – but also including Kipling’s ‘six honest serving men’, ie ‘what?’, ‘who?’, ‘where?’, ‘why?’, ‘how?’ and ‘when?’, in order to produce specific answers where required

•

The appropriate use of well known assertiveness techniques that cut through games

•

Maximum clarity about what is mandatory in a task, role or project and what is discretionary

•

Sharp focus, in agreeing objectives, derived from the now classical acronyms – ‘S.M.A.R.T’ and ‘G.R.O.W’, ie:

‘S M A R T’ objectives:

‘G R O W’ objectives:

(sets parameters)

(outlines scope)

Specific

Goals:

stretch, challenge and moving out of comfort zones

Reality:

relevant, focused and aligned to the business

Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-bounded

Options: alternatives and opportunities Will:

will you really do this? Where is it at risk?

•

Monitoring performance against progress regularly with clear cut, specific feedback

•

A professional, matter-of-fact intolerance of avoidable short-falls, manipulative excuses and what are clearly ‘games’, but, equally, recognition of and praise for good or exceptional performance

•

A clear understanding of when ‘enough is enough’ and what action will be taken, when that time comes, including necessary follow-up and follow-through.

35


Box 2 (low responsibility – low autonomy) is the repository of the unnecessarily careful, essentially risk-averse and ‘don’t-want-any-hassle’ individuals. It is primarily the domain of what White, Hodgson and Crainer (1) term ‘difficult learning’, involving overcoming fear of failure, accepting the inherent uncertainty and lack of security in life and moving out of the ‘womb’ of comfort zones into the real world. The inhabitants of Box 2 typically demonstrate values, beliefs and behaviours which indicate: not… bold initiation of transformation and change

•

Unrealistic reluctance to change…

•

Complacency and self protection… not… innovation, creativity and courage

•

Maintaining the status quo…

not… breaking the mould

•

Playing things safe…

not… pushing out the boundaries

•

Fear of disclosing ignorance and fear of failure…

not… readiness to experiment and admit to lack of knowledge

The process of enabling – helping people to see things differently, proving vision and focus, learning, self evaluation and adding strength when combined with appropriate coaching, monitoring, and managing, help create the conditions to bring about the necessary shifts from the ‘left hand’ behaviours to those on the right. The processes themselves will be explored, in detail, in subsequent chapters. Box 3 (high responsibility – low autonomy) serves to locate the ‘willing horses’, the hyperconscientious people who are anxious to please, martyrs to the cause and those whose sense of obligation, or duty, may possibly far exceed their appreciation of what is professional and managerial reality. Way beyond the demands of the ‘conscience professionelle’, behaviour and values likely to be encountered amongst the inhabitants of Box 3 are often what may amount to ‘perfectionist’ standards in dedication, duty, rule adherence, conscientiousness and commitment. In fields where traditional standards of craftsmanship, service or loyalty are essential roots and foundations of success, then those whose behaviour and values reflect the ‘obedient conformity’ and sense of duty of Box 3 are likely to come into their own. Undoubtedly, too, there may be times when many people, temporarily, ‘leave’ other boxes and work for short bursts on a basis of high responsibility and low autonomy, in order to give maximum compliance and unquestioning support to the dictates of higher authority, or demands of the situation. Whether the basis of the shift in behaviour is social, moral, legal or simply utilitarian will depend upon those involved and the circumstances in which they find themselves. Where, however, the patterns are largely habitual and out of kilter with the real demands of the business to the point of being dysfunctional or counter-productive, then intervention is likely to be

36


essential in order to engender more appropriate and realistic behaviours which depend for effectiveness upon the greater exercise of autonomy, initiative and personal power. Box 4 (high autonomy – high responsibility: ‘freedom within a framework’) represents what is really a practical and workable balance between the exercising of personal initiative and freedom and appropriate levels of professional, legal and moral responsibility – principally within the context of a business, firm or work organisation. One personal aspect of such equilibrium is the maturity of the individual, exemplified by the nature and extent of control that he, or she, is able to exercise, legitimately, over their own lives. This concept is represented diagrammatically by figure 6 and acknowledges that even the most mature of individuals accepts that some control over their activities will – and must – remain in others’ hands, in the interest of other people and society in general. The model acknowledges, too, that a good deal of life – especially within a firm, or working organisation – involves reciprocating of rights and obligations. Indeed, mutualism is one of the cornerstones of both sound and functional maturity, creating a balance in awareness of both self and others.

Control as an aspect of maturity High Area of reciprocal rights and mutual obligations (shared decisions)

Control over own life

Maturity

(self-determining)

Control in others’ hands (others make the key decisions)

Low

Figure 6

37


Balance, mutualism and maturity lie at the root of the values and behaviours representative of Box 4 and the core theme of ‘freedom within a framework’ is pursued and continually developed, throughout the Briefing.

Understanding what is ‘mandatory’ and ‘discretionary’ Specific and fundamental to the daily working out of the philosophy of ‘freedom within a framework’ is the need to identify, clarify and crystallise what, within a task, project or role is mandatory and what is discretionary. In the context of organisational management, the distinction between what is considered mandatory and what is seen to be discretionary, provides a practical basis for agreeing the degree to which an individual may both give and expect empowerment – and in which areas of their work. Differentiating between the mandatory and the discretionary allows both the job holder – and others – to confirm the scope and potential for initiative and enterprise that exists within a project, or role – and also, within the working relationship between the individual, his or her manager and the ‘nuclear’ contacts of their particular role-set. Such differentiation may be based upon a multiplicity of issues, which can vary according to circumstances and occasions, for example: 1

Perceived competence and confidence of the parties involved

2

Competing territorial agenda of the empowerer – and empowered

3

The psychology and politics of pecking order

4

Fear, anxiety and a reluctance to ‘let go’

5

Genuine pressures of time, but also the ‘illusion of urgency’

6

Individual management and leadership ‘styles’.

In figure 7, the differences between mandatory and discretionary areas of work are presented in terms of role differential in:

38

•

Ownership, and who, therefore, takes charge of which areas of activity

•

Permission, and who gives or seeks it

•

Decision-making, and who decides what

•

Action, and so who takes it

•

Control, and who exercises it

•

Referral, and who, therefore, refers and/or reports to whom.


Mandatory vs discretionary boundaries A basis for enabling interventions The organisation/boss

Ownership

The jobholder

Mandatory (The ‘what’)

Discretionary (The ‘how’)

Superiors, outsiders, or events decide and take control

Power and control

Self-determination. Individual/group decides and takes control

Figure 7 As a framework for clarifying, confirming and agreeing major parameters, for performance outcomes, contributive direction and focus – and for the process of enabling itself – the mandatory/discretionary differentiation provides a practical basis for: 1

The necessarily interdependent and complementary processes of empowering and delegating

2

Defining the centrality, relevance and contribution of individual tasks, projects and roles – especially where they are intrinsic to successful group, or multi-functional, working

3

Assessing people’s performance, against expectations, within the organisational context of initiative, autonomy, accountability, power and influence

4

Identifying personal – and team – development needs, learning goals and improvement opportunities. This is especially important as people move into increasing uncertainty, organisational transformation and new opportunities and thus arenas where there is likely to be the need for higher levels of discretionary decision-making and action

5

Establishing individuals’ complementary needs for longer term growth and career progression where with likely decreasing opportunities for ‘vertical’ promotion, the need for enriched and appropriately varied lateral organisational moves becomes paramount.

39


The process of enabling – when geared to empowerment, especially – is frequently a matter of creating and exercising effective ‘boundary management’, between what is believed to be mandatory and what is considered to be legitimate discretionary activity. It is thus about helping people to negotiate, intelligently, the sometimes grey areas of what can amount to a ‘no-man’s land’ between ‘can’ and ‘cannot’, or ‘must’ and ‘must not’. Encouraging people to check facts, establish precedent, question, update and give realistic definition to custom and practice and test out the myth and ritual that surround some beliefs or practices, may be key enabler interventions, in re-defining the boundaries between what is mandatory and discretionary. This process is fundamental to opening up greater areas of ownership and, hence, initiative, decision-making and control, and is illustrated in figure 8.

The impact of ‘enabled’ empowerment upon discretionary and mandatory boundries Enabling and empowering leadership

Mandatory ’

ment

y

ndar

‘Bou

ge mana

Discretionary (Jobholder initiative, decisions and control)

Ownership

Figure 8

40


Empowerment with delegation The work of Dr John Nicholls of John Nicholls Associates is particularly relevant at this point. Operating out of Northamptonshire, John Nicholls, a talented and skilled management consultant, has developed several original models of managerial and leadership behaviour. The one illustrated in figure 9 makes the crucial point that empowerment needs to be given – and managed – in conjunction with commensurately effective delegation to establish and clarify parameters, goals and other key outcomes. As a result of coaching directors and managers, in empowerment, over many years, the author has adapted and modified John Nicholl’s original model – primarily in terms of ‘labels’ and some accompanying descriptive detail. Dr Nicholls’ important contribution in this field has been to reinforce and draw attention to the essential interdependence of empowering and delegation, if they are to be developed and applied as realistic, workable managerial ‘best’ practices.

Empowering with delegation High

Counterfeit Coach

Genuine coach

• Spurious empowerment (inadequate framework with ill-defined freedom)

• Creates the framework and the freedom

• Gives false hopes

• Focuses on learning and growth as well as results

• Disillusions and angers

• Stimulates/motivates

Empowerment Micro-manager

Anxious delegator

• Supervisory ‘overkill’ (No framework or freedom)

• Afraid to let go (All framework and no freedom)

• Kills initiative, creativity and enterprise

• Withholds power

• Stultifies and stifles

Low

• De-motivates and de-energises

Delegation

High

Figure 9

41


In this adapted version of the model, it is the ‘Genuine Coach’ who, through the effective interaction of empowerment and delegation, is most able to develop, in conjunction with the job-holder, the most appropriate task and role ‘frameworks’. With an optimal working balance of empowerment and delegation, such frameworks for action are likely to offer the most realistic chances for success of the consequent: •

Empowering and bestowed freedom to act

•

Ownership and personal sense of accountability

•

Commitment

•

Acceptance of challenge

•

‘Enabling’ dialogues between coach and job-holder.

It is also the Genuine Coach, who as a result of professional integrity and personal credibility is most likely to create – and sustain – the most appropriate conditions for the job-holder’s learning and continuing growth. The essentially reflective environment developed progressively by the Genuine Coach is also that which is likely to be most conducive in helping people to make sense – operationally and strategically – of the organisation and its environment. Generally delegating effectively – by clarifying parameters and results well – and so providing much of the requisite framework, the ‘Anxious Delegator’ fails to ‘let go’ sufficiently, in order to provide the job-holder with the necessary autonomy and freedom to act. The anxiety, or fear, of the Anxious Delegator may have its roots in many causes; for example: •

Fear of personal failure

•

Reluctance to give power and autonomy to others on the grounds that, to be in control, usually feels the safest position to be in

•

Anxiety about being overtaken by a more capable or confident subordinate, in the promotion stakes

•

Fear that, given the requisite autonomy, the job-holder might make a better job of the task than the delegator

•

A fundamental wish to avoid ‘hassle’ or vulnerability, by remaining in an established comfort zone.

Still moving around the model in a clockwise direction, we come to the ‘Micro-Manager’ who is essentially a ‘nay-sayer’ – sometimes on principle – sometimes out of fear and a general reluctance to rock the boat.

42


Somewhat akin, but even more so, to the Anxious Delegator’s concerns to avoid hassle or threat in any form, the Micro-Manager neurotically and microscopically maintains obsessively close control over detail and may compulsively ‘fine tune’ things. Any initiative, or creativity, that the job-holder is able to exercise is largely the result of rebellion on his or her part, through happen chance, or by default. Preoccupation with minutiae and close-quarter, ‘hands on’ supervision usually results in the major, more important issues being neglected. The style, too, is totally inappropriate, in the context of today’s societal norms and expectations and is essentially: •

An anachronism that is alien in current leadership and management ‘best practice’

•

Destructive, inhibiting and de-skilling

•

Lacking in real ‘framework’ and, because of the total lack of freedom creates no basis for ownership, accountability, or commitment

•

Self-defeating, because of its stultifying and stifling impact on people

•

‘Dead hand’ supervision, since it can scarcely claim to be ‘management’.

The real joker in the pack is the ‘Counterfeit Coach’, since he, or she, may initially appear quite plausible and well-intentioned (and, indeed – somewhat after the manner of the road to hell – may be genuinely well-intentioned). The spurious empowerment of the counterfeit coach, lacking any real structured framework, usually leads to the raising of unlikely hopes, their subsequent dashing and, as a consequence, disillusion, resentment and anger, on the part of those who were deceived. Typical Counterfeit Coach behaviour is likely to include some, or all, of the following: •

Ill-defined areas of both freedom and accountability

•

Poor – or no – crystallisation of situations, projects, priorities and work assignments

•

Vague generalisations about opportunities, outcomes, goals and constraints

•

Blandishments, ‘blarney’ and the raising of unrealistic expectations and false hopes

•

An absence of ‘political’ guidance, necessary sponsorship and/or gate-keeping, to help the person(s) being empowered to find their way through the many organisational ‘mazes’, pitfalls or barriers that they may need to negotiate

•

Inadequate identification, clarification and exploration of likely options and alternative courses of action

•

Generally, too much superficiality and insufficient depth, detail and diagnosis, before initiating action

43


•

An absence of opportunities for dialogue, analysis and review, during both planning and action stages

•

Classical communication and transactional problems between managers and subordinates.

‘Action learning’ projects, conducted by the author, in a variety of businesses and professional organisations, as consultancy assignments, indicate that only about 15 per cent of those involved in coaching roles in such projects (2) effectively sustain a ‘Genuine Coach’ contribution. Supportive workshops, devoted to empowering, improving coaching skills and creating reflective learning environments appear to raise the percentage, substantially, to typically around 30 per cent. What is significant, however, is that the roles of effective enabler, mentor, or coach which have the potential to add enormous value to people’s understanding, growth and contribution are taken willingly and fulfilled effectively, by a disturbingly small percentage of managers and directors. The so obviously relevant composite skills of enabling, especially, appear to be developed – and used – regularly, to good effect, by very few executives as part of their natural day-to-day leadership and management styles. The problems of building – and putting into effect – even coaching and mentoring competences, let alone enabling expertise, remain significant issues in a great many organisations. Included here, somewhat paradoxically, are also business schools, management colleges and the organisational behaviour faculties of a good number of universities in all of which, it seems, the theory, but not necessarily the best practices of empowering, coaching or mentoring abounds. While it would appear a great many directors, managers, professors, heads of departments and others in leadership roles do not put much energy into these key enabling activities, evidence indicates that enough examples exist to show how the skilful use of such techniques can – and does – pay off. Companies like Quest, the international biotechnology group, Ideal Computer, a UK-based telephone sales IT hardware and software business of £170,000,000 turnover and Steelcase, the giant office furniture manufacturer, all show significantly above average return on investment and/or profit-per-employee growth rates. The managements of all three companies place strong emphasis upon and give active support to the intelligent development and use of empowerment and employee autonomy. Similarly, an extensive – yet relatively little known – seven year research project and evaluation of a large sample of European managers, conducted by the Kienbaum Akademie of Dusseldorf identified the top two characteristics of successful organisations as:

44


1.

Effectively developed and used complementary contributive competences of managers and staff

2.

High trust, extensive autonomy and minimal organisational control over people, within the business.

Beyond these two strong indicators of effective enabling, the next three characteristics, in order of significance, emerged as: 3.

Such organisations possess a high measure of uniqueness in the way they conduct their business and manage its resources

4.

They possess a strong visionary orientation and sense of direction

5.

They know and understand their competitors well.

Closer to home, the research conclusions of academics like Goffee and Hunt (3) of the London Business School and of writers such as Valerie Stewart (4) point convincingly to the value adding potential of effective empowering and what are essentially reflective, enabling styles of leadership and management, in contributing to organisations’ transformation and success.

Enabling – continuity of feedback and dialogue Enabling, as a process between individuals, relies heavily on the continuity of discussion and feedback. Proactive and concurrent monitoring, as well as post-event reviews, which provide a continuing form of ‘finger-on-the-pulse’ dialogue, offer a practical and necessary alternative to the extremes of ‘micro-managing’ and ‘laissez-faire’ leadership. Enabling is not simply a fortuitous or haphazard affair that arises either as the result of serendipity, or because a manager happens to feel that it is about time he or she took an interest in a particular member of staff. Rather, it is a well structured, systematic and continuous process, which provides a bedrock of organised consistency between managers and their people for: •

Agreeing issues, parameters, mutual obligations and requisite outcomes

•

Raising and exploring concerns and expectations

•

Generating and testing viable options

•

Confirming development needs and the means of meeting them

•

Initiating and facilitating action – and the support needed

•

Providing necessary monitoring, feedback and review

•

Stimulating learning, via doing and experiencing.

45


Its focus, therefore, is upon ‘do-how’, as well as ‘know-how’, and it offers the wherewithal for regular, structured discussions and interventions about the ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘who’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of both day-to-day and longer term performance, development and growth. It is, for example, an ideal process for linking personal development to both stepby-step job enrichment – and career progression – so that the individual, the role and the business are all growing together, concurrently, in a more logical and systematic way. This issue is explored in more detail, in Chapter 4 – The manager as a coach, mentor and enabler.

46


Summary The need for compatibility between the extent of responsibility and the degree of autonomy given to allow responsibilities to be discharged professionally remains a significant issue in most organisations. It is principally within the qualitative and non-quantitative areas of a role that problems so often arise. This is where clarification of what is mandatory and what is discretionary is frequently essential to establishing what can, or cannot be done and what must, or, must not happen. It is also crucial to establish what is generally defined as the ‘functional maturity’ of the individual, or group, ie: 1.

What their level of competence is CAN they DO the job?

2.

Their level of willingness Do they have the confidence to do the job? Do they possess the commitment to do it?

The more senior the individual and the more pivotal, complex or sophisticated the role, so the less simple is it to determine the requisite levels of skill and will. The model offered in figure 5 implicitly links competences, confidence and commitment to the issues of autonomy and responsibility, in – or out of – equilibrium. Just as it reputedly takes two to tango so, equally, it requires two to ensure that empowerment works. Unless the individual is ready, willing and able to accept the ‘freedom within a framework’, and the level of accountability, responsibility and commitment that mature freedom brings with it, then empowerment will not work. Ingeniously simple and effective, is a model developed by Mark Brown (5) which elegantly summarises the concept of freedom within a framework. An adapted version of his original model is shown in figure 10 which illustrates with convincing simplicity the progression from ‘NO’ (absence of autonomy) through to ‘GO’ (high autonomy).

47


Freedom – action frameworks

NO

KNOW

GO

GO

GO

KNOW

GO

Forbidden territory

Inform manager first.

Act first, but keep

Empowered to

– the exclusive domain

Ask permission – if

manager informed of

act, with minimal

of the manager

granted then act

progress

reference to others

or others

accordingly

Original source: Mark Brown (adapted)

Figure 10 A further issue in matching talent to role and of maintaining a necessary, realistic balance between freedom and responsibility, is what the late John Garnett, former Director of the Industrial Society, identified as: ‘… people being under-stretched, under-worked and under used… What they want is a challenge’. Justifiably, one might add – ‘under developed’ to the first part of his statement. An incisive thinker and an eloquent, lucid speaker, John Garnett’s practical approach to management has had a widespread influence upon executive behaviour over the last thirty years. Figure 11 crystallises the point about needing to match competence with challenge, as a fundamental factor in balancing autonomy with responsibility.

48


Effective performance when CHALLENGE matches CAPABILITY High

Anxiety frustration

Performance development and personal growth

Challenge

Boredom de-motivation Low

Capability

High

Figure 11 The need, too, to ensure that empowerment is matched by commensurate delegation and clarity about parameters is another key factor in the concept and practice of freedom within a framework. Adapted from John Nicholl’s powerful and practical model is the notion of the ‘Genuine Coach’, who creates the conditions necessary for continuity of learning and development of people, as well as ensuring that balance is created and maintained between: •

Autonomy and responsibility

•

Mandatory and discretionary activities

•

Ownership and sense of personal accountability

•

Independence and interdependence of action

•

Reciprocal rights and obligations in role behaviour.

49


Fear of failure is a major inhibitor, at all levels in business, and it is in the role of ‘genuine coach’ that enabling managers are likely to do what is necessary to reduce much of that fear by substituting constructive feedback for blame or recrimination. Continuity of dialogue and discussion is essential to effective empowering, coaching and enabling. While the message may seem commonplace and mundane, maintaining constructive feedback and dialogue is one of the principal arts and activities of a manager, in the role of enabler. Its absence may be cause, or effect, of one or other of such inept managerial styles as ‘micro-managing’, ‘laissez-faire’ leadership, or other, similarly ineffective and inappropriate leader behaviours. In subsequent chapters, both the interpersonal and enabling aspects of feedback and dialogue will be explored, in terms of tools, techniques and art form.

50



Consider your own leadership and professional styles in the context of figure 5. Think too about the people you manage. In which different boxes do they fall? What does an analysis of style and approach using the parameters of figure 5 tell you about yourself and your people?

2.

•

What development needs emerge from such an analysis – and, more importantly, follow-up discussion on the data?

•

How will you most effectively deal with those issues to the benefit of your team, individuals in it – and yourself?

Take the point that a good many people of potential are: •

Under-stretched

•

Under-developed

•

Under-used

Is this your experience within your present organisation (or any other, for that matter)?

3.

•

If not, why not – what happened to ensure that people were fully stretched, developed and used?

•

If ‘yes’ – what can and must be done about this within the areas you influence, or control?

Malicious compliance is a particularly destructive and manipulative way of operating. It wastes a good deal of management time and both antagonises and frustrates those affected by it. •

What, in your experience, are the most effective ways of dealing with it, in its various forms?

•

How do you handle it/what do you need to do to deal even more effectively with it within your spheres of operation?

Put into operation your strategy for dealing with malicious compliance, and spell out the followup and follow-through actions – especially to cope with ‘reversion to type’ and/or failure to respond positively.

51

Blank page

Enabling and facilitating Enabling credibility Enabling and self-help Enabling and facilitating - ‘best practice’ Summary Activities: theory into action

3

chapter 3

Chapter 3 Enabling and facilitating

‘Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought’ Henri Bergson

‘Ere I own a usurper, I’ll crouch wi’ the Fox’ Sir Walter Scott. ‘Bonnie Dundee’ (Trad.)

Enabling credibility As we saw in Chapter 1, enabling, as a dedicated managerial process, is the directed synergy, interaction and interweaving of: Coaching Empowering Sponsoring Mentoring Its focus is essentially upon learning, developing, improving and, ultimately, growing. It both works with – and upon – what Nonaka and Takeuchi (1) describe as explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge and continuously seeks to bring about intelligent interaction between the two. Explicit knowledge is primarily that which is generated, disseminated and processed formally by the organisation, through its infrastructure of management information systems, functions and roles.

54

C H A P T E R 3 : E N A B L I N G A N D FA C I L I TAT I N G

By contrast, tacit knowledge is that which is internalised, processed and used (or not used, as maybe the case) by the individual. Typically, it consists of: •

Perceptions and interpretations of direct, or indirect, experience

•

The conclusions and outcomes of personal reflection

•

Objectively and subjectively derived mental models – including stereotypes about human kind

•

Understanding and knowledge which emerge from sources other than solely experience, and are largely the result of insight, intuition and imagination.

In their very relevant book The Knowledge-Creating Company (2) Nonaka and Takeuchi make the point that: ‘The key to learning and knowledge creation lies in the mobilisation and conversion of tacit knowledge’ This reinforces the idea that enabling – or even the coaching and mentoring elements of it – is so much more than simply ‘doing something to somebody’, so that he or she will develop and improve their contributive effectiveness. Enabling is inextricably bound up with people’s learning, knowledge creation, the development of their competence and confidence. In essence, therefore, its aim is the constant bringing about of the productive synthesis of people’s individual, unique and distinctive tacit knowledge, with the explicit knowledge generation of the business. Aligning, helping to focus and engaging people, via increased awareness, understanding and learning, is one of the main purposes of the enabling process. For the enabling process to work effectively, there needs to be a close relationship between those involved, based upon mutual respect, trust and understanding. In effect, the relationship becomes a close working partnership – not a formal hierarchical one of ‘boss’ and ‘subordinate’ – where each learns from the other, in the process of helping to make things happen. The enabler needs to demonstrate respect for the other’s talents, potential and contribution, and is likely to need to reinforce this with reflective skill, genuine interest, real concern and a readiness to take on, as appropriate, the various roles of custodian, sponsor, nurturer and developer.

55


Interestingly, such professional caring, ‘ownership’ and accountability is not simply the prerequisite of the individual enabler. Professor Ahmet Aykaç, Director of the Theseus Institute, a business school near Nice, sees the ‘conscience professionelle’ as an organisational or institutional phenomenon, where concern, caring and the creation and developed use of knowledge are necessarily exercised at corporate, as well as individual, level as he states (3): ‘At Theseus we are perturbed, interested and excited. •

We are perturbed – and this has led us to become a centre of reflection – investigating and testing new skills and organisational forms to fit the evolving world in which management will have to navigate.

•

We are interested – and this is leading us to understand better what other, nontraditional disciplines and approaches have to contribute to a new managerial synthesis beyond existing technical expertise.

•

We are excited – and this is leading us to redefine, with practising managers, the role and process of management education as one of joint discovery and joint elaboration of concepts and actions: transforming passive receivers of wisdom into active co-generators of knowledge is an exciting prospect’.

At both organisational and individual levels, credibility is crucial in the role of enabler. That leadership credibility, crystallised as the positive response to the two key questions, below, is fundamental to the roles of empowerer, sponsor, coach, mentor and, therefore, to that of enabler, ie: 1.

Do you believe this person?

and, more importantly: 2.

Do you believe in them as an enabler, coach, or leader?

The evidence for the answers to both questions obviously comes from the perceived track record of those in enabling roles – especially in what they do, deliver, demonstrate and take forward – not merely what they write or say. In the help-giving and help-receiving relationship that enabling so essentially is, the perceived credibility, personal authenticity and professionalism of the enabler are paramount. Doubts about the integrity, competence and organisational ‘clout’ of the enabler are likely to generate far too many ‘yes-buts’, ‘what-ifs’, and question marks, in response to his or her interventions, as to render the enabling role inoperable. There is, too, little room in the necessarily intellectually honest process of enabling for what Eoin Neeson (4) described as ‘meticulous ambiguity’, or the deliberate ambivalence of the

56


fence-sitter. Often deliberately calculated to leave those being empowered, or coached, in a position of – ‘damned if I do and damned if I don’t’, these and similar calculatedly confusing stratagems reduce enabling to the level of travesty, or charade. A plea for unequivocal, trustworthy messages, in enabling, may sound naive, unrealistic, or even irresponsibly ignorant of the complexities, political ‘minefields’ and power play, typical of much of organisational life. Essentially, what is needed, however, are enabler values and behaviours which are untainted by political chicanery, ‘game-playing’, or the worst aspects of destructive ‘turf warfare’, but which reflect the mature political awareness capable of ‘reading’ what is going on in sufficiently current, objectively evaluative and realistically informed terms. The enabler’s strengths, in such arenas, need to be in interpretative competences, derived from political adeptness, awareness and ‘street wisdom’ – not from political game-playing, merely as a way of personal survival. The very process of enabling – within complex organisational domains, where there are frequently competing goals, priorities and wants, realistically may need to develop into what Tom Cummings (5) terms ‘facipulation’, where ‘street cred’, rather than dishonesty, is ascribed to the enabler. Enabling, or facilitating, with varying elements of manipulation – dependent upon arenas and circumstances – is frequently the only realistic way to make sure that what should happen actually does so. The motto – ‘Not by strength – by guile’ (6) and the calculative tactics or strategies derived from it may, equally, quite legitimately, provide the only realistic answers to complex business issues, as in the covert military operations, where it was originally conceived, put to the test and found to be effective.

Enabling and self-help Somewhat akin to successful tangoing, therefore, enabling, to be productive – and especially the empowerment aspects of it – needs the wholehearted commitment of both those providing and those receiving the support, direction, stimulus and wherewithal to do their job. Similarly, with the coaching and mentoring aspects of enabling, there can be little real development without active self-development. To a very large extent, people are responsible for their own effectiveness and contributions at work, and the fundamental importance of taking ownership of one’s own development confirms that as human beings, we have the opportunity of choice. Whether people choose to exercise what is essentially a very basic human right is a very different matter. Putting choice to the test – especially within an organisational context presupposes, at least, the following conditions: •

Individuals need to recognise – and acknowledge to themselves – that choice exists and the multiplicity of forms that it now takes, in today’s paradoxical, but opportunistic world

57


•

They need to understand what viable options and alternatives are open to them, and what the likely consequences of taking the different options are (ie reciprocal rights and obligations)

•

They have to be prepared to manage ‘upwards’. That is they must be ready to influence people who are often likely to be senior to them, within the organisation, in order to exercise legitimate choice

•

Reality suggests that they frequently need well-developed interpersonal and transactional skills – as well as confidence – if they are to persuade others to do what they need doing

•

They need, always, to be prepared to ask the questions ‘why?’ and ‘why not?’, again and again and to challenge, professionally, the way things have been and are being done

•

Perhaps, above all, they need to put aside the all-inhibiting fear of failure, and in Susan Jeffers words (7) – ‘do it, anyway’.

Managing oneself is a matter of conscious, focused activity – rather like dieting for effect – where there is continuity of commitment to the process and the goals it is directed towards achieving. As Mike Pedler and Tom Boydell state in Managing Yourself (8) ‘… the bottom line is what we do, as a result of taking responsibility for ourselves’ (author’s italics). In the role of leader, or manager, there is inevitably the problem of maintaining balance between the needs of effective self management, and those of managing others. This can perhaps be best illustrated by relating John Adair’s well-known and now ‘classical’ concept of the functions of leaders (which, themselves, need to be kept in balance) to the process of self-management. Adair’s (9) elegantly simple trinity summarises and captures the essence of leadership – particularly leadership in management – with its focus of balancing: 1.

The needs of the task being undertaken

2.

The needs of individuals working on the task

3.

The needs of the team, of which those individuals are essential members

In figure 12, self-management is represented as being the key pre-requisite to leading and managing others:

58


Balancing the needs of self-management with managing others

Achieving the task

Self-management Building and

Developing

maintaining

the

the team

individual

Figure 12 Viewed from another different, but complementary, perspective and adapted from the work of Stephen Covey (10) which is rapidly gaining widespread recognition, the process of selfhelp and self-management emerges, again, as the necessary precursor to the effective management of others and, therefore, of requisite outcomes and results, ie:

59


Self-help, self-management and the management of results Personal feedback

Self-help and self-

Managing

Managing

management

others

results

1. Developing key job/role competencies

1. Building effective work relationships with others

1. Defining and achieving key priorities and goals

2. Developing effective role and interpersonal behaviours

2. Leading and managing others successfully

2. Avoiding/controlling unwanted outcomes

Figure 13 Rarely is life, for real, as simple as the concepts or models presented in management text books. The illustrations here, however, are offered, essentially, to put issues, ideas and processes into a helpful and representational context, against which the reader can add, test, or relate his or her own experiences, needs and perspectives. Figures 12 and 13 – like this section of Chapter 3 – have as their core message the belief that if you want something to happen, it is largely up to you to make it happen, within the bounds of reality and possibility. Samuel Smiles (11) exemplified this basic philosophy of pragmatism and the art of the possible with a quotation which originally appeared on a tenth century Norseman’s battle-axe – ‘I will find a way – or make one’. Having its roots many thousands of miles to the west of the more regular Viking areas of influence, is a similar view of self-help attributed to the Yaqui Native American tribe (12): ‘Does this path have a heart? If it has a heart for you, then dare to follow it’.

60


Despite the overwhelming evidence that the world we operate in – what Charles Handy described as a world of ‘endless turbulent white water’ – is one characterised by increasing uncertainty, ambiguity and paradox, we still, it seems, continue, unrealistically, to search for certainty, the definitive and the absolute. Predictability, traditional attitudes towards control and neat, ‘safe’ solutions to so many of our problems no longer represent reality. The major shift from industrial society to information age has seen a massive increase in the data, information and range of possible options open to us, as decision takers. We now have what seems, at times, to be an incomprehensible scope for choice and, therefore, opportunity, compared with even less than a decade ago. The quest for certainty and fear of failure have ceased to be excusable determinants of solution analysis and decision-making style in today’s turbulent and highly fluid conditions. Questioning, challenging, risk-taking, and recognising that learning itself is one of the greatest resources, tools and strengths that we have, are all fundamental to equipping ourselves to succeed in and build upon the way the world is transforming. Increasingly, we need to create, develop and constantly learn to add value to new and different ways of achieving our goals if we are to secure and retain competitive advantage in today’s world. Remaining in established comfort zones and simply clinging to old habits and practices – and, worse still past thinking – are the tactics of dinosaur management. Just as the empowering, sponsoring coaching and mentoring of the enabling manager need to be soundly based upon informed awareness, continuity of learning and recognition of the way the world is changing – so, too, must be, at least, the readiness to reflect, explore and experiment of those being empowered, coached and developed. As Mayo and Lank (13) say, in their practical, relevant and very readable book The Power of Learning ‘…individuals within a learning organisation must be learners. They must believe in the importance of continuous learning and have the skills for it’. While theirs is the primary ownership for learning, their manager’s role is to enable that learning to take place through empowerment and coaching.

Enabling and facilitating – ‘best practice’ Revolutionary changes in society, which have seen the progressive – and sometimes rapid – disappearance of traditional ‘superior-subordinate’ relationships, the emergence of more egalitarian leadership styles, and the rise of less authoritarian managements, have turned longheld ideas about managing, on their heads.

61


These changes have occurred within the managerial careers of so many directors, managers and team leaders. The consequence of this is that great numbers of executives, at all levels, are having to unlearn and fundamentally call into question what they have frequently had to learn the hard way – out on the shop floor, in the office, or under the critical eye of the Chairman, at Board Meetings. The massive and accelerating growth of information technology and, in particular, sophisticated management information systems, has led both to self doubts and reactionary defensiveness about cherished long-ingrained habits and arts of ‘ad hocery’, acquired over many years of short-cut resourcefulness and practical expediency. Changing competitive technological, economic and environmental imperatives are, similarly, exerting increasing demands upon executives, from the Board down to team leader levels, for new thinking, new competences, new perspectives and, consequently, radically different leadership and management styles. Shorter time cycles of product innovation, product life and also the period which people now have in which to establish – and prove – themselves, in new roles, together with the almost universal preoccupation with next month’s figures represent another, related set of imperatives and pressures upon so many directors and managers. The speed, rate and nature of change – where there are both interacting and competing variables involved – is forcing managers to question not simply the way they manage their organisations, but also the very nature of the business they are running and the ways in which they are contributing to the world around them. As Shoshanna Zuboff (14) says in The Age of the Smart Machine, the days of the manager as a ‘jungle fighter’ are over. As the current industrial and social revolution takes us further and further into the information age, it becomes increasingly evident that major changes are essentially knowledge based and the key leadership competences and styles are those which can access, mobilise and use information and knowledge – especially ‘tacit’ knowledge. While there is always likely to be a need for leaders who are capable of taking immediate control in a crisis and who are able to mobilise rapid, co-ordinated responses, the general style of leadership required in today’s world is much more that of the visionary transformer, enabler and facilitator. Increasingly the crucial function of leadership is to find, release and facilitate the intelligence, enterprise, creativity and committed goodwill of people. Just as the jungle fighter is becoming a managerial anachronism so, too, are hierarchy-bound individuals who attempt to manage via formal organisation structures and lead exclusively from the top through traditional chains of command.

62


The remarkably prophetic thinking of Burns and Stalker (15), whose concepts of effective organisational behaviours, structures and cultures emerged in the 1960s, has become reality in so much of business, 30 years later. Their now classical differentiations between so-called ‘mechanistic’ hierarchical organisation structures and more adaptive, responsive organismic, or ‘organic’, enterprises still provides a valid basis for reviewing company structures, management styles and operational cultures. In information society, where knowledge-based competences are so essential, management styles, organisation structures and the leadership of contributive talent need to be adaptive, responsive and, therefore, ‘organic’ in nature. The ways in which we now need to mobilise competence, knowledge and understanding are no longer compatible with inflexible hierarchies, or their over-formalised close dependents – bureaucracy and ‘silo’ management. Empowering and enabling styles of leading and managing place managers at the centre – rather than at the head – of business functions and teams. Enabling, as a process, reflects a wider and more far-reaching necessary change in management and leadership style as figure 14 shows.

The shift from traditional ‘management’ hierarchy to organic ‘enabled’ structures 1. Traditional hierarchy

2. Responsive ‘organic’ structure

Director (‘Head’)

Leader (‘Hub’)

• ‘Cascade’ principle of communication

• ‘Networking’ – uses contributive competences

• Director/manager is ‘head’ of the organisation

• Leader becomes ‘hub’ of organisation

• Head initiates decisions and action

• Leader facilities decisions and action

• Head directs and controls

• Leader enables others to be effective

• Focuses on results and bottom line

• Emphasis on values, as well as results

• Head tells ‘subordinates’ what to do

• Leader stimulates and builds shared vision

Figure 14

63


‘Organic’ leadership, communication and working structures, making greater and more flexible use of contributive talent and knowledge, represent more adaptive and responsive forms of organisational management to changing demands. For these to work effectively, leadership roles are crucial, but the critical place of the leader is more likely to be at the ‘hub’, rather than at the head of the activity. The leader’s task in much more organic organisations is primarily to enable people to give of their relevant best – individually and collectively. The up-front ‘puppetry’ of what passes for so much of traditional leadership is unlikely to be the most effective way to release necessary talent and mobilise co-ordinated effort in the most appropriate and productive ways. Discretionary power needs to be transferred to those who can and who will do what is needed, but that power may also require periodic ratification and demonstrable support, from those transferring it. Sanctioning a transfer of power and investing an individual with the requisite authority, to take necessary initiatives, is far more than delegation, as we saw in Chapter 2. To work effectively, it requires continuity of dialogue, mutual commitment and, on the part of the leader, the very real recognition – and, more importantly, acceptance – that those being empowered will make mistakes. Empowerment, much more so than delegation, is rather like giving away part of your role, or job, and not knowing exactly what it will look like when you eventually see it again. In the world of management, more than most other arenas there are no cure-alls or panaceas, and leadership maturity often seems to begin with the recognition that there are many, equally valid, ways of resolving problems or taking matters forward. Enabling is the rich and yet practical synthesis of activities that:

64

•

Creates opportunities for necessary discussion, crystallisation, exploration, reflection and evaluation

•

Opens the way for innovation, creativity and hence the generation of alternative courses of action

•

Identifies anxieties, fears and both mental and emotional ‘blocks’

•

Confirms both talent and development needs

•

Clarifies boundaries

•

Helps to build confidence, as well as competence

•

Identifies opportunities, scope and potential

•

Makes things happen and continually moves forward.


The enabling process is based upon three critical assumptions about people: 1.

They want – and accept – challenge and responsibility, given the right conditions and right leadership

2.

They want work which provides them with both self-esteem and personal identity – as well as results and rewards

3.

They are motivated to give of their best, when they can choose to take responsibility.

Enabling is, perhaps above all, a relationship of trust and partnership, where there is personal accountability, professional dedication and commitment from all parties involved. It is, however, more than simply a matter of generating awareness and responsibility; it is about constantly ensuring that people are developed to the best of their potential, and that they are both allowed – and helped – to deliver, to the best of their ability. It is one of the most fundamental and important contributive functions of present day management and leadership in business, and is undoubtedly one of the principal means of helping a company to achieve and sustain competitive advantage.

65


Summary A core theme of Chapter 3 is that the dominating influence upon people’s behaviour, in organisations, is their relationship with their boss – not what the boss says, but what he or she does. For better, or for worse, leaders set the example within organisations. Changes in behaviour in business, come about, principally, as a result of perceived changes in leader values, attitudes and behaviour. It is therefore the leadership of a business that must take responsibility for both the introduction – and operational success – of enabling as: •

Effective management philosophy and practices

•

A key determinant in culture change

•

A dedicated process, committed to continuous personal learning and development, which is aimed at creating effective responsiveness to change.

One vital resource that enabling management seeks to stimulate, tap into and capitalise upon is the so-called tacit knowledge of people. That is, their personal and individual learning, intuition, and creativity. This unique and distinctive knowledge, too often, remains dormant and unused, in a great many organisations. As Robert Frost (16) so aptly put it: ‘The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment we get up and doesn’t stop until we get to the office’. The professional credibility of the enabling manager, or leader, is an essential element in the help-giving and help-receiving relationship. That credibility is not necessarily about the moral rectitude or personal ethics of the leader, but essentially his or her perceived: 1.

‘Power competence’ and capacity to make things happen around the place

2.

Political adeptness and, therefore, influence and organisational ‘clout’

3.

Own tacit knowledge and particular areas of contributive expertise

4.

Demonstrable, or ‘felt’, personal sense of responsibility and commitment to the enabling process

5.

Consistency and professional dependability in sustaining the various aspects of enabling.

The other side of the coin, in the enabling relationship inevitably, is the colleague, or person, on the receiving end. Their sense of ownership, accountability and commitment – albeit fostered in many cases by effective leadership – is equally vital to the success of empowerment, coaching, mentoring and sponsorship, the component activities that make up the enabling process.

66


The core underlying message for both the enabling leader and those being guided and developed is – ‘get on with it and do it – find a way, or make one’. The unrealistic pursuit of certainty and the fear of failure, too long characteristic of management in the western world, especially, have little place as determinants of leadership, in a world of global players and entrepreneurial niche marketeers. Taking responsibility for learning, development and, ultimately, behaviour, which ensures competitive advantage for the business, is the hallmark of the mature professional – whether leader, or follower. In information society, where knowledge workers emerge as one of the principal elites of competence, the enabling leader represents the most appropriate source of stimulus, development and empowerment for such talent. The rich and adaptive synthesis of activities that make up the process of enabling underlie current best practice, in leadership and management. Moreover, they encapsulate the best of leadership by example, perhaps the most enduring and essential element in successful group enterprise and collective endeavour.


A considerable part of Chapter 3 has been devoted to the major influence that a manager may have upon people’s behaviour – both individually and collectively – as a team. Much of that influence will be due to the quality of the interaction, between the ‘leader’ and the ‘followers’ and, in particular, the degree of real, active listening that takes place between a manager and the people within his or her function. The ‘Wavelengths and Channels Profile’, at the end of Chapter 3, represents one way of identifying how you – and those who work closest with you – are likely to communicate and interact with others most ‘naturally’. Please complete this instrument (photocopy the profile for others to use) – in order to identify: •

What your primary and back-up communication modes are

•

Significant points of difference in communication wavelenghts, between you and the people with whom you work most closely

•

What, individually and collectively, you might do to improve the quality of listening, communication and interaction between you, and others, as a preliminary to building more effective dialogues, for enabling to take place more successfully.

67


2.

Consider the issue of managers becoming more the ‘hub’ of a function’s activities, rather than the ‘head’. What are the major implications of this for you and the managers/specialists of your team? What specific actions would you – and your key players – need to take to operate, and influence effectively, from the centre of the things, so that others may begin to give more of their contributive and productive best? What would you need to do in order to stimulate and manage more flexibly and productively, the tacit knowledge, talents and potential of people within your domain?

3.

In practical terms, what does Shoshana Zuboff’s statement mean for you, and your business, that the days of the manager as a ‘jungle fighter’ are over, and that we now need effective knowledge workers as leaders, in order to access, mobilise and manage information? What new leadership and management styles are required to cope, within your organisation, more effectively with the increasing number of knowledge-based changes? Discuss with senior management, at an appropriate forum, by means of a succinct, ‘punchy’ presentation outlining a strategy to develop the new approaches within the functions for domains for which you are responsible.

68

Personal Communication Style Profile

1

profile 1

Personal Communication Style Profile Background to the Personal Communication Style Profile We experience and interpret the world around us, especially our interactions with other people, via our senses. This intensely subjective experience is made up of what we see, hear, feel, smell, taste and touch. These channels act, in effect, as the primary ‘filters’ of the experiences, sensations and stimuli that constantly bombard us. Moreover, what we experience passes through a secondary set of channels or filters, which also have a high element of uniqueness and subjectivity for each individual. These include our: •

Culture

•

Language

•

Values

•

Beliefs

•

Preferences

•

Assumptions

The Personal Communication Style Profile looks at three of our communications filters: •

How we see things and visualise situations

•

How we hear others

•

How we feel about what is happening around, or to us

These three ‘sensory wavelengths’ and the varying degrees and ways in which you use them in communicating with others, largely determine the quality of our interactions. This profile, adapted and further developed by Michael Williams & Partners, should indicate the relative strength of your use of each wavelength, or sensory mode, ie visual, audio and feelings.

70

P E R S O N A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N S T Y L E P R O F I L E

Now complete the profile questionnaire Under each statement please circle either (a), b) or (c), whichever most accurately reflects how you typically behave. In the following situations, I would most typically: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Generally make up my mind about people by: a)

My instinct and/or intuition

b)

Their body language and mannerisms

c)

What they say and how they say it

Pick a restaurant for dinner, that I did not already know by: a)

Reports appearing in reputable good food guides

b)

The ‘feel’ of the place, as soon as I walked through the door

c)

How clean, attractive and inviting it looks

Celebrate a birthday, or anniversary by: a)

A weekend break somewhere new

b)

A commemorative short speech from someone or a personal dedication on the radio

c)

Enjoying a romantic, intimate dinner with my partner

Know that I had experienced a satisfying day at work, because I: a)

Had had a worthwhile meeting or a productive telephone conversation

b)

Ended the day with a deep sense of satisfaction and a feeling of personal fulfilment

c)

Finished up with all tasks completed and a clear desk to show for it

Tend to prefer work roles, or jobs, such as: a)

Telesales, customer service, lecturer or trainer

b)

Nurse, counsellor, aid worker, care of the elderly or children

c)

Architect, artist, draughtsman or designer

Like exceptional achievement on my part to be recognised by: a)

Words of praise and appreciation by my boss – or some other influential person

b)

A celebratory drink with those involved

c)

Brief written acknowledgement such as a personal memo from the boss

71


7.

8.

9.

10

Take holidays which mainly consist of: a)

Sea, sand, sun and fun

b)

Beautiful scenery, new cities or towns and local ‘colour’

c)

Historical or cultural lectures, poetry readings, recitals and concerts

Get most pleasure from TV programmes such as: a)

A good ‘weepy’, films about animals, or thrillers

b)

Historical or biblical spectaculars, travel films, programmes on the natural world

c)

Concerts, informed comment programmes, debates and current affairs

Like my efforts to be appreciated by a person, for whom I had put myself out by: a)

A bottle of something that they know I enjoy

b)

A telephone call/verbal appreciation

c)

A letter or card thanking me

Enjoy reading journals or, magazines, such as: a)

Sports, creative hobbies or DIY

b)

Tatler, Harpers and Queen, Hello or specific interest magazines

c)

The Economist, The Spectator, Time Management, Management Today or professional journals

11. Ensure that I had in my house in order to enjoy my home: a)

Soft sofas or chairs I can really sink into

b)

Plenty of paintings, prints, maps or pictures

c)

Excellent stereo hi-fi equipment and high quality radios

12. ‘Unwind’ and reduce personal stress, by: a)

Talking with someone whom I would consider to be a good listener

b)

Massage, aromatherapy, or reflexology

c)

Contemplating something beautiful or aesthetically pleasing

13. Choose, for relaxation or enjoyment, the following leisure activities:

72

a)

Cookery, physical sports, sculpture, gardening, fishing

b)

Photography, cinema/TV, decorating and interior design

c)

Singing, playing a musical instrument, listening to music, or a talking book


14. Bring into line those who break the rules, or create disciplinary problems by:

15

a)

A frown or stony piercing look

b)

Raising my voice or by stern tone

c)

Punishing, by with-holding perks or withdrawing privileges

Suspect someone of lying to me, because of: a)

The way they looked, or avoided looking at me

b)

Their tone of voice, or manner of speech

c)

A ‘gut’ feeling about their honesty or sincerity

16. Buy a new car, given a reasonably free choice, by: a)

Its handling on a test drive in a variety of conditions

b)

Its appearance and general visual impact

c)

A selection of reviews in leading car magazines/journals and/or personal recommendation

17. Prefer to receive my main Christmas (or birthday) presents, as the result of: a)

Discussions with the sender beforehand, to enable me to make up my mind

b)

A complete surprise, as to choice

c)

Seeing brochures, catalogues or displays, in order to choose what I want

18. Be at my most naturally effective with: a)

The preparation of a detailed factual report or memo which others would need to act upon

b)

The development of well designed, visually impressive and well illustrated brochures or papers

c)

Personal charisma and opportunities to aspire and galvanise other to action

19. Most readily learn, and so develop as a person by: a)

New challenges, experiences and experimenting

b)

The relevant use of illustrations, diagrams and various models

c)

Dialogue, discussions or debate with others

73


20. Generally most at ease with and enjoy the company of people who: a)

Are good at visualising issues and can ‘talk in pictures’

b)

Are factual, clear and precise in what they say

c)

Are tactile, warm and physical in a non-sexual way

21. Be most stimulated by work which predominantly involves: a)

Intuitive decisions and the use of ‘hunch’ in making things happen

b)

Summing situations up on the basis of what is visible and provides results that can be seen

c)

Detailed investigations, research and analysis, leading to prescriptive action

22. Probably feel most comfortable in the company of someone who: a)

Sets high standards for personal turnout and appearance and/or the tidiness of their work area

b)

Is ‘natural’, spontaneous and has the courage to act as a free spirit

c)

Sets a professional tone at his or her meetings by ensuring maximum information exchange

23. Tend to use phrases, in every day conversation, like: a)

‘Keep in touch’, ‘Grip the situation’, ‘I’ll handle that’, ‘I feel’

b)

‘I hear you’, ‘Let’s talk’, I want to discuss this’, ‘Listen’

c)

‘Imagine’, ‘It appears that’, The way I see it is’, ‘The big picture shows’

24. Describe myself as:

74

a)

Well organised and dislike being interrupted when thinning or talking

b)

Someone who prefers to discuss their work and talk things through

c)

Someone who used their hands – and body language – a good deal when talking with others


Your scores Now transfer your scores to the three columns below, as appropriate, by circling your chosen letter for each question. Make sure you select the right column for each answer.

Totals

1b

1c

1a

2c

2a

2b

3a

3b

3c

4c

4a

4b

5c

5a

5b

6c

6a

6b

7b

7c

7a

8b

8c

8a

9c

9b

9a

10b

10c

10a

11b

11c

11a

12c

12a

12b

13b

13c

13a

14a

14b

14c

15a

15b

15c

16b

16c

16a

17c

17a

17b

18b

18a

18c

19b

19c

19a

20a

20b

20c

21b

21c

21a

22a

22c

22b

23c

23b

23a

24a

24b

24c

‘V’______

‘A’______

‘K’______

75


Interpreting the scores 1. ‘V’ scores The ‘V’ factor total represents the extent to which you appear to use your VISUAL sensory channel in making sense of the world. Typically, Visual people tend to:

76

•

Be impatient – because they ‘see’ things rather than deliberate or debate them

•

Make up their minds about other people on the basis of their appearance

•

Dislike being interrupted when talking or thinking

•

Be generally well organised and take time over their personal appearance

•

Think of issues creatively and visually and build mental pictures of situations

•

Enjoy meeting new people and visiting new places

•

Use phases like:

–

Show me

–

Just imagine this

–

I see what you mean

–

Let’s look more closely at this

–

The future’s looking good

–

In my mind’s eye

–

I saw through it

–

How do things look to you

–

He’ll take a dim view of that

–

I can picture you doing that

–

First, we need a clear vision

–

This colours my view of things


2. ‘A’ scores Your ‘A’ scores indicate the degree to which you use your AUDITORY wavelength in your dealings with others. People using their auditory mode normally are inclined to: •

Enjoy debate, discussion and conversation

•

React most effectively when told what is expected of them or have a chance to talk through the implications of a role or task

•

Be employed in roles where facts and numbers play a significant part

•

Want to be told how they are doing – verbal praise, recognition and feedback are very important to them. They learn by listening

•

Hold ‘internal dialogues’ with themselves and ‘chew things over’ in their own minds

•

Like music a great deal

•

Use phases such as: –

That will be music to the ears

–

I hear you loud and clear

–

Talk to me about it

–

We’re on the same wavelength

–

Words fail me – I’m speechless

–

Sounds like Double Dutch to me

–

Just give me the facts

–

Tell me, word for word

–

Let me express this succinctly

–

That rings true with me

–

We need teamwork based upon learning

–

She speaks with such a shrill voice

77


3. ‘K’ scores Your ‘K’ factor scores represent the extent to which you most likely experience relationships – and the world in general – through your feelings and emotions. Usually referred to as the KINAESTHETIC channel, or mode. People using it typically:

78

•

Touch others and like to be touched, in order to feel reassured

•

Have a higher than average need of affection and others’ approval

•

Stand or sit close to other people

•

Gain others’ attention by physical contact, eg tapping an arm or shoulder

•

Tend to be very expressive in their body language, especially in the way they use their hands

•

Rely on their senses of smell and taste, as well as touch, in order to experience the world

•

Can be easily distracted by other stimuli, when someone is talking to them

•

Are inclined to say things like: –

Please keep in touch

–

This one is a bit of a hot potato

–

He’s a smooth operator

–

We really must grasp the nettle here

–

It just feels right to me

–

We’re on a pretty sticky wicket

–

Can you hold on a moment

–

We haven’t begun to scratch the surface yet

–

My gut reaction tells me to go

–

We must put this on a firm footing

–

I’m under a lot of pressure right now

–

She really touched our hearts


Some issues to consider from your scores 1.

Think about your scores. Are they significantly more ‘V’, ‘A’ or ‘K’ – or are they more or less equally divided, giving a generally ‘ balanced’ spread across the three communication wavelengths?

2.

What is your particular preferred mode of communicating with and relating to others?

3.

What problems, typically and regularly, arise between you and those with whom you come into frequent contact? Eg: •

If you are essentially a visual person, do you ignore what others tell you, fail to listen to what is really being said, or not really give them sufficient facts, figures and specific data Do you focus too much on obvious visible evidence and ignore the context or implications of it? Do you show enough sensitivity and consideration to others’ feelings? Do you display too much impatience with people who are trying to explain something to you?

•

As a predominantly auditory person do you tend to lecture people and so switch them off? Do you place too much emphasis upon facts, figures and detail, and not enough on visual or imaginative interpretation of situations and solutions? Do you fail to pay enough time and attention to how others may feel? Do you hear their feelings, as well as their words when they raise a concern or problem with you?

•

If you are a largely kinaesthetic person, do you give others enough attention when they are talking to you about technical, or very factual issues? Do you read things carefully and thoroughly, or do you skip over data and miss important points, detail or implications? Do you wear your heart on your sleeve too much and dump your feelings on others too often? Are you sufficiently detached, analytical and objective in your analysis of situations, or problems?

79


4.

5.

Problems can also occur between people who are of the same ‘type’, eg: •

Two visual people may argue unnecessarily over a diagram, picture or other visual evidence

•

Individuals who are both auditory may lecture one another and talk at rather than with, each other

•

People who are kinaesthetic may become over-physical with each other, or frequently flare up and end up feeling hurt with one another

Building up your weaker wavelengths and so developing wider ranging and more versatile approaches or responses to others can help to reduce some of the problems identified above. It often helps to ask questions using the other persons ‘lead’ or preferred wavelength. Eg: For visual people: •

How do you see this?

•

Can you picture the situation?

•

How do you imagine it will look?

For auditory people: •

How exactly will it work?

•

How did what he said register with you?

•

How does this sound to you?

For kinaesthetic people: •

What is your ‘gut’ reaction to this?

•

How do you really feel about his suggestion?

•

What does your heart tell you to do?

The art of ‘exquisite communication’ Being able to recognise what particular wavelength other people are operating on – and then switching on to that wavelength is essential to close and effective communication. Beyond recognising which channel or wavelength another person is working on are the preparedness – and ability – to change our mode and ‘plug into’ theirs, which is what this profile is intended to help you do. Moving towards what has been described as ‘the art of exquisite communication’, can be achieved by giving people appropriator cues and asking them questions which will help you

80


to identify with their sensory mode of the moment and work with them on the same wavelength, for example: 1.

2.

3.

To access their visual wavelength you could ask questions like these: •

What will this project look like when it has been satisfactorily completed?

•

Outline your vision of your function for me – how do you want it to look as a business unit?

•

What would be the ideal logo for this team to represent its ambitions and achievements?

•

What would the base look like if we sprayed it emerald green instead of black?

•

Visualise a completely new office layout that would give people more freedom and privacy and, at the same time, would reflect much more appropriately the nature of the business

To access auditory wavelengths, we might ask: •

What was the happiest sound you’ve ever heard in this company?

•

Can you recall the most impressive or moving things that the Chief Executive said at someone’s retirement?

•

What is the sound of voices raised in anger, in the office, like?

•

What would the sound of one of the PC monitors falling off a desk be like?

•

What is the most distracting noise you hear, when you are trying to work?

To access the kinaesthetic sensory mode, we could ask questions similar to these: •

How does it feel to have some undisturbed time completely to yourself at work?

•

What do you feel like when you’ve had a public ‘roasting’ from someone at work?

•

How do you feel when you produced work of outstanding quality, or achieved an impressive result?

•

How do you feel when you have done that and been given the public recognition for your achievements?

•

What does it feel like to put on a ‘hairy’, woolly shirt right next to your skin?

It is the quality of the thinking (recall and construction), and picking up of the other person’s cues correctly – not the answers given to the questions – that are really important.

81


The questionnaire should help you to establish your ‘lead system’, or principle preferred channel for making sense of the world. The real satisfaction comes from the synergy that can arise out of interaction where two or more people are so clearly on the same wavelength as one another, and who have learned the arts of adjusting to one another’s differing preferred channels of communication.

82

The enabling coach Coaching - a matter of learning, not teaching The coaching process (1) techniques The coaching process (2) sequence The coaching process (3) issues of ‘style’ Coaching the ‘head’ and ‘heart’ of it Turning coaching into necessary action Coaching the development plan Summary Activities: theory into action Effective coaching profile

4

chapter 4

Chapter 4 The enabling coach

‘We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom’ Michel de Montaigne (1533-92)

‘Give a person a fish and you help to feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you help him to feed himself for life’ Chinese proverb

Coaching – a matter of learning, not teaching Inevitably, some element of teaching and instruction must be involved in coaching. The very process of transferring knowledge – and ‘do how’ – from one person to another has to be achieved, in part, by telling, showing and straightforward teaching. However, in the more complex and often less clear-cut issues typical of the world of business – and management, in particular – coaching, necessarily, becomes much more a matter of:

84

1.

Stimulating reflection and crystallisation about a problem or issue

2.

Helping to trigger the formulation of ideas that are likely to improve things

3.

Exploring and experimenting in terms of cause and effects, with risk and outcome evaluation

4.

Putting evaluated ideas to the test, by the experience of direct action.

CHAPTER 4: THE ENABLING COACH

The beliefs typically associated with passive and dependent learning that effective coaching has to confront, work through and help counter, with more realistic understanding and expectations are: •

The one who teaches KNOWS the answers

•

The ‘teacher’ possesses the necessary competence

•

We will be told what we have to do

•

When we do it, we must get it right, otherwise teacher may ‘punish’ us

•

Ownership and responsibility for success (or failure) rest with the teacher.

Coaching, with learning, rather than teaching as its core activity, is by contrast, based upon the following beliefs: 1.

It is about helping people to recognise the reality of situations

2.

Much of the motivation to take initiatives, face up to challenges and commit to action comes from within the individual. Motivation is not some balm with which managers anoint and bless their ‘subordinates’ In other words, the coaching process tends to follow, quite naturally – in logic and sequence – the stages of the classical ‘adaptive-coping’ learning cycle, ie:

Action

Reflection

Experimentation

Conceptualisation Figure 15

85


At each stage of what David Kolb (1) defined as an essentially cyclical learning process, the coaching role is crucial in stimulating awareness, learning, understanding and skill development. So often, the coach’s problem is that of breaking through some residual dependency, from established, learning patterns, whereby people may still retain elements of earlier, traditional passive learning – acquired during school days. Here, much of the dependency centres around the ‘teacher’ who may be viewed as someone who possesses definitive ‘answers’ and who will, de facto, hand out such ‘gold dust’, or nuggets to the learner. The expectation, quite unrealistically, is that these answers will be the ‘correct’, or ‘right’ solutions 3.

Coaching seeks to increase people’s awareness and understanding through the conscious exploration of different perspectives, contexts and parameters

4.

It is about developing people’s sense of responsibility, ownership and, hence, personal accountability for results – and for continuing improvement

5.

Coaching is based upon the need for people to exercise choice and the necessary recognition that, in exercising choice, people may act differently and employ resourcefulness, innovation and a level of versatility different from, or alien to, the coach’s style and expectations

6.

Telling people what to do may be ‘safe’ and quick, but really tells them what the coach wants – not how to develop and implement their own answers, solutions or strategies

7.

Honest coaching – where empowerment and enabling are concerned – involves the coach in giving up some control so that others can get going – and do what they see is necessary

8.

Fundamentally, it is a process founded upon constructive feedback and dialogue – it is not a one-way street, but essentially a relationship of mutual respect, trust and support.

The coaching process (1) techniques In terms of technique, coaching depends upon:

86

•

A clear identification of people’s achievements, aspirations and job/role ambitions

•

An equally clear definition of specific training, development, and hence, coaching needs, in relation to task and role demands

•

Agreed improvement or ‘stretch’ benchmarks


•

Constant movement from the general to the specific – and back again, to create, explore and understand context, scope and potential of situations, as well as the detail

•

The unique combination of empathy which enables the coach to identify sufficiently closely with people’s needs, fears and expectations, together with the detachment to think objectively and to rise above arbitrary, subjective or selfish improvement criteria. There is no room for evangelical, over-zealous, or ignorant managers who are essentially feeding their own egos, via coaching others.

•

The quality, relevant and open format of questions designed to stimulate, provoke and explore thinking, reflection and exploration

•

The attending skills of the coach, especially: –

Positive, ‘mirroring’ body-language

–

Appropriate eye-contact

–

Creation of an absence of distraction (All of which signify approval, respect and supportive recognition)

•

•

The coach’s skills in following, eg: –

Appropriate ‘openers’, such as: ‘Tell me about…’

–

‘Encouragers’, like: ‘That sounds good, tell me more’

–

Attentive silence

The ability of the coach to stimulate focused reflection, ie: –

Skill in paraphrasing discussion

–

Skill in reflecting meaning

–

Skill in reflecting feelings

–

The ability to summarise dialogue and especially the other’s contributions

–

Skill at eliciting agreement to courses of action

•

Above all, the quality of active LISTENING.

87


The coaching process (2) sequence Specifics 7.

Follow-up, follow through – capitalise upon achievements

• • •

Monitor progress with the individual Check on target and up to standard Agree remedial/exploitive action

6.

Summarise and review

•

Ask individual to summarise points of discussion – ensure understanding and agreement Note action points and agree start date and key ‘milestones’

•

5.

Authorise and empower

• •

4.

Agree the parameters

•

Delegate

•

Give authority and responsibility to make and take decisions Ensure financial and administrative responsibility control is clear

•

Establish deadlines and agree monitoring process between you both Set aside dates and times to review progress Identify job/task or role ‘boundaries’

3.

Promote experimentation and discovery – current situations – alternative scenarios

• • • •

Listen actively Draw out consequences Share your experiences Promote learning and ‘ownership’

2.

Identify goals and objectives

• • •

Longer term goals and objectives Sessional goals and objectives Goals should be: – achievable – measurable – specific – challenging – realistic (stimulate responsibility)

1.

Agree the issues for development – establish context

•

Identify specific improvements – What can you delegate? – What do they need to know? (stimulate awareness)

88


The coaching structure Action!

Recap review Empower and authorise Delegate Agree the parameters

Personal development Promote discovery: listen-probe-share experience

Stimulate experimentation

Identify the goals and objectives

Simulate responsibility

Agree issue or task for development

Stimulate reflection and awareness

Figure 16 Enabling cannot succeed as a leadership or management process, unless appropriate learning is taking place – preferably learning which at least keeps up with the pace, rate and nature of change.

89


Coaching – like its longer-term relation mentoring – is a primary source of that learning. In ensuring learning, coaching has at least four fundamental aims: 1.

To enhance people’s awareness: Of the situation they find themselves in and their role and/or impact in it

2.

To increase their responsibility for: Results and for improving performance

3.

To stimulate a sense of discovery and experimentation

4.

To build up both their competences and their confidence.

It is thus a process which is about identifying, releasing and capitalising upon a person’s potential and so maximising their contributive competence, performance and development. Its success depends not only upon the sustained commitment of all parties involved, but also the skills of the coach. Critical, too, is the recognition that the awareness, responsibility and drive to learn of those being coached will be diminished or blocked by: •

Telling them what to do

•

Telling them how the coach sees the situation

The art of reflective, open questions, which challenge people to analyse situations, establish causal relationships and generate their own prescriptive options, does far more for their development and performance improvement than giving them the ‘answers’. Formulating their own solutions, putting them to the test, experimenting – and making mistakes – are all likely to be far more powerful sources of learning, than ‘official’, or the coach’s, personal prescriptions. Figure 17 summarises the core elements of the coaching process in terms of the related personal and organisational factors.

90


End results and outcomes

Awareness and responsibility

Tasks and projects

Competences and confidence

Personal factors


Coaching – as a basis to enabling

Figure 17

The coaching process (3) issues of ‘style’ Some years ago, a useful and practical model of interaction, based on the acronym ‘E.A.R’ was evolved, to illustrate the importance of developing wider ranges of questioning and listening skills, in leadership. The ‘EAR’ model emphasises the significance of style versatility, in order to move appropriately around and also ‘shape’ leader-colleague and manager-subordinate relationships. The range of versatility, inherent in the model, runs from ‘closed’, high autocracy, to strongly empowering, ‘open’ styles of leadership, management and interaction with others. The letter ‘E’ of the mnemonic ‘EAR’ indicates ‘executive’, or essentially autocratic and authoritarian styles in dealing with others. This is not intended to be pejorative or critical terminology, but a description of those styles which may reflect the reality of situations. Executive styles are viewed as the product, or outcome, of what are primarily mandatory conditions – as well as the natural, or adaptive responses of more tough-minded individuals. They thus are often likely to be necessary, legitimate, or fitting responses to crisis, or other urgent, dominating imperatives, as well as being a ‘natural’ predisposition towards autocracy.

91


The letter ‘A’ of ‘EAR’, represents what are really ‘advisory’ styles of leadership, or interaction, which essentially make use of what typically falls into the broad behavioural category of ‘advice’, ie: 1.

Non-mandatory prescriptions for success, or problem avoidance/resolution

2.

Suggestions for improvement, change, or remedy

3.

Recommendations (usually for action, ie – ‘why don’t you do...?’)

Much advice is likely to be based upon the coach or leaders’ personal experience, interpretations, wants, or expectations. Finally the ‘R’ summarises the ‘reflective’ styles of questioning and listening so essential to effective coaching, mentoring – and, indeed, mobilising leadership styles. Figure 18 (see opposite) shows the relationship between those three fundamentally different style categories and their varying impact upon the awareness, responsibility, sense of ownership and learning of those being managed, led and coached. Clearly, the model omits all the intermediate shades of ‘grey’ and the dynamics of style ‘switch’ or inconsistency, characteristic of so many people. Using two dimensions only, its purpose is simply to convey the idea of fundamental style difference and some of the typical, likely hallmarks of each. The quality of questioning, listening and exploration fundamental to the effective practice of the reflective style forms the interactive foundation of coaching. Using essentially – but not exclusively – ‘open’ questions, derived from Kipling’s (2) ‘Six honest serving men’ – ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’, ‘why’ and ‘who’ – the reflective style is likely to stimulate necessary investigation, exploration, conclusion and learning, far more effectively than will commands, directives, or advice.

Coaching the ‘head’ and ‘heart’ of it Using a second acronym – this time ‘C•O•A•C•H’ – coaching, as a core activity in enabling, can be viewed in the context of complementary leadership and management action points, in effect, a ‘hearts and minds’ approach. Under both management (‘head’) and leadership (‘heart’), key questions are offered as a means of giving direction, purpose and meaning to the dialogues, which lie at the root of successful coaching and thus, ultimately, effective enabling.

92


Problem/solution ownership

The coach

Those being coached

E (Executive mode)

A (Advisory mode)

R (Reflective mode)

• Coach instructs, orders, or tells

• Coach gives ‘advice’ (‘if I were you, I’d…)

• Relies on ‘open’ questions, to stimulate reflection (How would you…?) (What do you see as…?) – etc

• Largely mandatory

• Data inputs highly subjective

• Maintains others’ focus on goals and action needed to attain them

• Coach behaves in an authoritarian manner and expects compliance

• Advice or recommendations are based upon the coach’s values, perceptions, ‘models’ beliefs and personal experience

• Maintains others‘ focus on goals and action needed to attain them

• Others comply to avoid ‘punishment’ or sanctions

• Empowers and gives ownership to others

• Effective in crisis or with urgent imperatives

Figure 18 Presented as a representative – rather than exhaustive – list, which will need to be built upon and added to, to suit individual needs and circumstances, the questions that may need to be explored, at each stage in coaching, include:

93


Management (Structuring) Confirm

Collaborate

•

What do we need to discuss?

•

Who do you want/need to work with?

•

Why do we need to discuss this?

•

How will you secure their active support?

•

What do we want out of the discussion?

•

What ‘ownership’ will you give them?

•

What are the consequences of not discussing it?

•

What if you don’t get co-operation?

•

•

What’s in it for you?

What backup/support do you need from me?

Objectives

Opportunities

•

What do you need/want to achieve?

•

What opportunities do you see here?

•

What are your deadlines?

•

What is the potential for growth?

•

What are your goals short/long term?

•

What options do you have?

•

How attainable and realistic are they?

•

How best to exploit opportunity?

•

What challenge are you building in?

•

How will you sell it to people?

Actions

Aspirations

•

What actions do you want to take?

•

How does this fit in with your plans?

•

What actions do you need to take?

•

•

What happens if you take no action?

What do you see as career opportunities here?

•

What are the consequences of action?

•

What learning is there for you?

•

What must you do next?

•

Where is the ‘adrenalin’ here?

•

How will you sustain the adrenalin?

Control

Change

•

What are the key parameters?

•

What must/can you change?

•

How will your performance be measured?

•

Why change it?

•

How will you monitor progress?

•

How do you build upon change?

•

Who approves or sanctions your actions?

•

What happens if you don’t change it?

•

What is the bottom line?

•

How will you get people out of their comfort zones?

Head

94

Leadership (Building ownership)

Heart

•

Think! Is this what is really required?

•

What do you really like about this?

•

Think! Is there a better way?

•

•

Think! Are your objectives right?

Is there anything else you would rather be doing?

•

Think! Contingency plans?

•

How do you feel about this?

•

Think! Follow-up and follow through?

•

How will you fight for it?

•

Will you really achieve all this?


The questions in the left-hand column are intended to lend structure to the coaching dialogue – especially to those discussions which are about taking necessary action, ie: •

Clarifying goals and outcomes

•

Establishing ‘why’ action is necessary or unnecessary

•

Agreeing parameters, or criteria, for outcomes and results, eg deadlines, consequences and other imperatives

•

Determining priorities, sequences and monitoring and control processes

•

Reflecting upon relevance, realism and appropriateness of plans and actions

•

Confirming the key ‘what-ifs’ and necessary preventive, contingency and followup actions.

The left-hand column focuses primarily on TASK issues, in order to confirm the objectives and results required and the actions, in sequence, necessary to achieve them. By contrast, the complementary questions of the right-hand column cover largely PROCESS matters and the learning opportunities afforded by taking planned, thought-through action, ie: •

Gaining and building ownership and commitment to objectives and the actions to achieve them

•

Identifying the scope and potential for development and growth – of oneself, one’s role and contribution – and of the business

•

Linking task performance and goal achievement to personal ambitions, aspirations and career development

•

Exploring the significance of involvement in transformation, experimentation and adaptation to changing conditions and imperatives

•

Establishing the emotional alignment, motivation and sense of fulfilment, of the individual, with organisational roles and goals.

The combination of the ‘head’ and ‘heart’ questions is intended to generate coaching dialogues which create productive, stimulating synergy, between those coaching and those being coached – but also to ‘turbocharge’ the adrenalin flow in people, as they begin to see their roles and contributions through new eyes.

95


Turning coaching into necessary action Coaching is a very personal – and interpersonal – matter and there is no universally ‘right’ approach. Even within the closest and most collaborative of working relationships, people will not ‘get it right’, every time. A common blockage to effective coaching – and its intended outcomes – is what Professor Tom Bateman (3) terms ‘self-sabotage’. Somewhat in the form of a managerial self-inflicted wound, it occurs where discussion and even potentially productive dialogue take place, and where information and knowledge may be passed, exchanged and processed, but where requisite action and follow-through simply do not happen. Professor Jim Dowd of the IMD Business School, in Lausanne (4) makes the crucial point that – knowledge is not behaviour and that there is a world of difference between knowing something and doing what that knowledge confirms should be done. Rather, as we saw earlier, like the road to hell, many coaching conversations are full of good intentions – on the part of both coaches and those being coached – but unless those discussions are translated into relevant, necessary and effective action the process can become a sterile, unproductive exercise, where the main outcomes are disappointment, frustration, disillusion or anger. Obviously, there are development needs which are primarily issues of increased awareness and where the acquisition of information and knowledge is the essential coaching goal. Even in such cases, however, the requisite evolving learning outcomes frequently become matters of changed behaviours and, therefore, adaptive responses. Especially is this so in environments, where there is more or less continual transformation, with consequent ambiguity, uncertainty and emergent opportunity. More often than not, coaching is about how best to reach goals – which, as Bateman (5) says, are more than wishes, hopes, desires and dreams. Essentially, a goal represents a focused true intention, to achieve requisite outcomes – and, usually, defined in specific terms. An agreed, declared goal is a clear decision to take action, achieve and succeed. Achievement and success are not simply matters of the intellect, or analysis and talk; they are, ultimately, also the results of determination, drive and persistence – and with a high measure of courage thrown in. Achievement and success require, too, goodwill, dedication and the readiness of people to make all-important time available. Underpinning achievement is a sequential process of related activities, where the coach’s skill, commitment, courage and time are crucial factors in determining successful task and learning outcomes for those being coached. Developed empirically, by the students themselves, during coaching sessions, on a major international leadership programme (6) and subsequently

96


developed to emphasise the crucial importance of action, as a coaching outcome – the process looks like this:

Coaching for empowered action – the ‘3A’ principle

Allow

Coaching

Coaching

Act

Adapt

Coaching

Figure 19 At all three stages of the coaching cycle – allow, act and adapt – the coach’s courage, commitment, competence and availability are essential in transferring knowledge, understanding and skill to others and in helping to effect the necessary shift from dialogue to requisite action.

97


In more detail, the coach’s contribution, at each of the ‘3-A’ stages, typically, may take the following form:

Allow Within the spirit and context of ‘freedom within a framework’, the coach’s task is to: •

Confirm parameters which allow for optimal empowerment, ownership and freedom to act

•

Encourage risk-taking and experimentation and progressively develop in the person being coached, the restless creativity and constructive dissatisfaction leading to practices of – ‘If it ain’t broke – break it and re-fix it’

•

Help in creating opportunities – and arenas – where people may both challenge, and be challenged, over issues of change vs status quo

•

Create environments where:

•

–

It is safe to say ‘I don’t know, or I don’t understand’

–

Setbacks are seen as necessary forms of learning, adaptation and growth

Develop acceptance of the reality that there is usually more than one effective way to reach a goal, or produce the necessary outcomes.

Act At the action stage, the coach’s role includes: •

Helping to stimulate awareness of the scope, possibilities and potential for action

•

Encouraging exploration of the areas of productive uncertainty

•

Injecting the necessary concern for reflection, preparation, pace, timing, direction and follow through so that actions have the optimum chances of success

•

Keeping a practised hand near to the tiller, but giving maximum ownership and involvement, in the action, to others

•

Recognising that crossing the bridge, from talk to action, is a crucial source of learning for both coach and coached.

Adapt Essential coached adaptation is about finding answers, together, to the questions:

98

•

So what have we learned about ourselves, each other and how we can work better together?

•

What do you/I need to DO differently, as a consequence – of this experience and these results?


•

What development actions/inputs are going to help us to acquire the new, necessary skills, knowledge, understanding and behaviours that we need to be successful?

•

Who else do we involve in the change/development process? What other sources of valid feedback, or support, would help most here?

•

What might impede/impair adaptation and development, and how do we best deal with that?

Coaching the development plan The development plan, which emerges during coaching, is not a definitive, ‘one-off’ experience, but rather is a ‘rolling’ and constantly evolving response to continually identified needs. It is essentially a map of a learning journey, which helps the individual to: •

learn

•

develop

•

adapt

•

grow

There needs also to be, built into the development plan, continuous alignment between the needs of the individual, and what is important for the success of the business. Coaching, then, is essentially about focused and directional learning which is why specific and ‘bespoke’ learning opportunities are an essential feature of the development plan. While formal courses, if carefully selected, may be highly relevant, there is still too much widespread loose thinking about illdefined development needs, resulting in remedies and prescriptions that, even today, reflect attitudes of: ‘He needs training – send him on a course’ ‘They’ll soon sort her out – book a place for her on their next programme’. As we saw earlier, learning is different for different people. Moreover, according to the stimuli, circumstances and development need, the same individual is likely to learn in differing ways, over a period of time. At different times, learning may be a matter of: 1.

Reflection

2.

Conceptualisation

3.

Pragmatically working out ideas

4.

Direct experience of activity.

99


Accordingly, the development plan needs to reflect the richness and variety of the different learning modes, in ways which are appropriate to a particular individual’s perceived learning ‘mix’. Comparably rich, varied and relevant learning experiences need to be accompanied by review and appropriate feedback, in order to stimulate and consolidate enhanced insight, awareness, and skill development, ie:

Managing the ‘learning journey’ Undergo experience

Do, feedback, Plan next steps

review, conclude

Review experience

and plan

Draw conclusions Figure 20 Responses to the question – ‘Under what conditions was your learning at work most intense and productive?’ indicate overwhelmingly, irrespective of nationality, or culture, that the most frequent circumstances are:

100

1.

The work undertaken was challenging

2.

The work was significant to the business

3.

Considerable responsibility was involved

4.

The individual was in a leadership role

5.

Considerable cross-functional activity was involved.


Based on international Business School programmes, and both public and in-company workshops in the US, Canada and throughout Europe, the same five conditions consistently emerge as the top reasons for major personal learning, amongst directors, managers and specialist professionals. The equally consistent message to coaches is – make the learning journey relevant, challenging, stimulating, exciting – and fun – and we will learn, develop and grow in our contribution to the business. People learn, develop and grow, for example, when they: •

Switch from line to staff roles and vice-versa

•

Are given significant but achievable bottom-line responsibility

•

Set up and run project and cross-functional teams, or task forces

•

Delegate to and empower others, in key areas of activity

•

Learn to allow others to make mistakes and learn from them

•

Set up and manage internal and external networks, to progress a particular theme – for example, increasing competitive advantage, or adding value with customers

•

Consciously develop and enhance the contributive performance of the team whose effectiveness and results have been in decline for some time.

These are simply seven assignments which possess enormous potential for learning and development, but also may make substantial contributions to business performance and organisational transformation. They are typical, however, of the almost infinite learning and growth possibilities that can be formalised and set up within virtually every organisation, provided that those in the role of coach are prepared to commit energy, innovation and time to their people, as well as to next week’s figures. It was George Bernard Shaw who said that there are three types of people – those who make things happen, those who watch what is happening, and those who wonder what happened. To add learning value and to contribute effectively to its success the manager, as coach, can only be in the first of Shaw’s categories.

Summary Chapter 4 is one of four ‘core’ chapters of the book, in that it focuses on one of the cornerstones of enabling – coaching, the others being Chapters 5-7 which, respectively, are devoted to the remaining three foundations – mentoring, sponsoring and empowering.

101


Coaching is primarily a process aimed at stimulating: •

Awareness of what needs to be developed or changed

•

Learning which is seen as fundamental to effective, focused development

•

An enhanced sense of personal responsibility for improving on performance and results.

Though some degree of tutoring or instruction may, at times, be inevitable, the essential focus of coaching is upon learning. This can be difficult for both the coach and the person being coached, if one or both have really only had previous experience of what is largely passive learning, and where the key relationships have been those of ‘teacher’ and ‘pupil’. The coach’s role is to help the other person to take responsibility for their own learning, development and performance improvement – not ‘teach’ and provide the ‘answers’. The coaching process is a matter of: 1.

2.

3.

102

Techniques, which include: •

Identifying and defining areas for improvement

•

Relating the needs of the business to the individual’s development

•

Constantly moving between the general and the specific to relate detail to context and environment

•

The coach’s competence and interpersonal skills

•

The crucial issue of LISTENING.

Structure and Sequence, which range, progressively, through the following activities: •

Clarifying improvement goals

•

Establishing context and alternative scenarios

•

Agreeing parameters of requisite improvement and development

•

Delegating and setting dates for review

•

Authorising and empowering (‘freedom within a framework’)

•

Summarising and reviewing agreements about improvement, change and development

•

Follow up and follow through on action taken and results obtained.

The coach’s style, including:


•

Approach to developing dialogue

•

Questioning and listening

•

Balancing of ‘head’ and ‘heart’ approaches in order to relate and align people’s own aspirations and ambitions, more fully and appropriately, with the demands of what is so often a changing business.

The opportunities for coaching people and improving their contributive effectiveness are almost limitless, provided that managers are prepared to think in creative, expansive and opportunistic terms. For example, coaching projects for directors, managers and functional specialists taken from the author’s client organisations (7) include: 1.

Shaping new learning experiences and developing appropriate new skills, as a pair, or team, where mutual support reinforces both new competence and confidence

2.

Learning to adapt to and capitalise upon change and transformation in the way the business conducts its affairs in the marketplace

3.

Using – and enhancing – the opportunities afforded by new, emerging organisation structure and roles

4.

Bench marking the best current comparative – and competitive – business and managerial practices

5.

Learning via involvement in mergers, acquisitions, management buyouts and multistakeholder alliances

6.

Consciously ‘unlearning’ old skills and ways of doing things so as to adapt, learn, adopt and develop new, more appropriate ones

7.

Using co-coaching techniques, whereby individuals with a particular and needed expertise from one function regularly ‘shadow’ those from another department who are lacking such competence – and coach them, in the job

8.

Giving people challenging, cross-functional and multi-disciplinary assignments to lead, develop and manage

9.

Putting together a specialist task force and running it to deal with and resolve, satisfactorily, a significant organisational blockage or major process inefficiency.

Professor Jim Dowd’s dictum (8) that – knowledge is not behaviour reinforces the need for coaching to be a process which both stimulates – and ensures – necessary improvement and development action. Fundamental to coaching is the ‘learning journey’ of those being coached where the ‘destinations’ are essentially interim development and improvement goals.

103


The learning journey is, above all, a continuous process which needs constant ‘re-mapping’ and re-focusing, as businesses and people learn to develop and grow together. Crucial to the directional effectiveness and relevance of the journey and its progressive outcomes, at each stage along the way, are the competence, commitment and managerial professionalism of the coach. The ability to make doing, learning and development challenging, stimulating and compelling, is fundamental to the success of coaching, as a means of bringing about necessary change, improvement and growth – both in the individual and within the business of which he or she is an essential member.


Complete the Effective Coaching Profile, in the following pages. If possible, use it ideally as a 360-degree instrument, with those whom you coach, selected colleagues and your manager also completing it on your behalf. Work through both the ‘issues’ and the ‘action’ points contained in the instrument, again together with those with whom you work – including your boss.

2.

Using the coaching process, summarised earlier, supported by the C•0•A•C•H ‘head’ and ‘heart’ questions, conduct a detailed, planned coaching session – together with follow-up review – for one or more of your people.

3.

By way of follow-through, subsequently plan and prepare the ‘learning journey’, focusing on the requisite development and improvement action. Where relevant and appropriate, build the learning experience around the ‘3-A’ principle of – Allow, Act and Adapt and the structured, sequential model, depicted in figure 19.

4.

Widen the development action, as far as is realistic, to ensure the richest possible source of help for your people. Include, where appropriate, carefully selected people – and experiences – outside your own organisation, as well as within it.

5.

Identify at least five potentially productive and significant cross-functional projects which would: •

Add value to key aspects of the business

•

Provide important learning and development opportunities that could test, stretch and challenge those being coached.

Progressively put them to the test, as learning experiences, for the people on a planned and phased basis.

104

Effective Coaching Profile

2

Profile 2

Effective Coaching Profile Background to the Effective Coaching Profile A major factor in the impact of coaching is the quality, relevance and consistency of the learning that is taking place, as a consequence of the coach’s competence, style and techniques. For all coaches and developers, there remains, however, the question of what is the most appropriate and effective form of learning for a particular individual. The Effective Coaching Profile, developed by Michael Williams & Partners, should indicate where your style of coaching is likely to be successful – or less so – in key areas of generating learning, development and improved performance for others. Please answer the questions as objectively, accurately and realistically as you can. ‘Fudging’ the results doesn’t help anyone – least of all, you, or those whom you coach.

Now complete the profile questionnaire Under each statement, circle the score that most accurately reflects how you typically behave, in enabling others to learn and develop. 1.

When agreeing expected performance levels with someone, I deliberately start from where they are now – not from where I want them to be Rarely

2.

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

As an essential part of their learning, I am prepared to allow people to take risks by trying out new ways of doing things, although it could result in poor performance, or even failure Rarely

106

2

When I look for or create development opportunities for others, I consciously build in challenge, responsibility and some form of leadership role for them Rarely

4.

1

When selecting, or planning, assignments for people to undertake, I try to see the project, and its various aspects, from their point of view and level of experience Rarely

3.

0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

EFFECTIVE COACHING PROFILE

5.

I am prepared to devote time helping people to understand problems, or tasks, and work through possible solutions and plans, with them, in discussion Rarely

6.

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

When considering how best to meet people’s development needs, I would, jointly with the person(s) being coached, evolve personal improvement plans which consisted of at least three major learning activities (not courses) Rarely

9.

2

To ensure ownership of their own development and improvement, I actively encourage people to monitor, evaluate and review their own progress, and come up with their own ideas to improve performance and develop themselves Rarely

8.

1

I give people maximum freedom to develop their own solutions to problems, or challenges, wherever possible Rarely

7.

0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

Improvement action plans for my people involve a rich variety of development sources, including external tutors from, typically, customers, business schools, professional bodies, management consultancies Rarely

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

10. My manager (or other appropriate authority figure) and I meet, in order for my coaching to take place, to develop, my performance and contributive competence Rarely

0

1

2

3

TOTAL SCORE___________________.

4

5

6

7

Frequently

(Maximum possible: 70)

107

EFFECTIVE COACHING PROFILE

Your scores Scores of 5-7 per statement (a total score of 50-70), represent ‘good’ to ‘excellent’. Scores below 5 per statement (a total score of less than 50), indicate that some major repair work needs to be done about your: •

Coaching skills

•

‘Style’ and approach to your people

•

Techniques and perspective.

Some issues to consider from your scores •

Where are your most significant strengths as a coach?

•

What are your major development needs, in the role of coach?

•

How could you best develop – and further capitalise – upon your strengths?

•

What help do you need, and from whom, to improve upon your weaknesses?

•

What will be your first specific action steps now?

Some actions you might now take

108

1.

Talk through your scores with your boss, and ask for specific feedback from him or her, about how they see you as a coach, identifying ‘plusses’ and ‘minuses’ about your coaching ability.

2.

Discuss the results of this profile with your own people, and ask them for reactions and specific feedback. How do they look upon you as a coach? What are their views of your strengths and areas for development, as a coaching manager?

3.

Where you manage managers – give them the instrument and use the results as a basis for a review of coaching practices within your function, domain, or team.

4.

Develop coaching improvement action plans for yourself and any others in your team for whom the instrument suggests development needs and action.

5.

Give your boss a copy of the instrument, and give him specific feedback on his/her scores. Suggest how he/she might develop and improve as a coach.

The enabling mentor Mentoring - beyond coaching Mentoring potential The mentoring and coaching synergy Mentoring within the context of changing career patterns The new career and work patterns Being a mentor Summary Activities: theory into action Effective mentoring profile

5

chapter 5

Chapter 5 The enabling mentor

‘There is something that is much more scarce, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognise ability’ Robert Half

‘The future belongs to the learners – not the knowers’ Anon

Mentoring – beyond coaching The fundamentally changing nature of work and the progressive shift towards empowered, self-directed styles of working, means that traditional, old fashioned forms of management will be needed less and less. Just as business, organisations and work itself change, so too must leadership and management styles adapt, in order to keep pace – and remain relevant. The consequently emerging managerial role of ‘enabler’, reinforces the need for those leading others – at all levels – to put more energy and professionalism into stimulating learning, awareness and responsibility for success among those who operate within their particular work domains. This is one of the essential themes in Chapter 4, where the key issue is coaching. Mentoring – the area of competences discussed in this chapter – potentially goes both further and wider than coaching as a synthesis of learning processes. Primarily about developing competence, confidence and personal responsibility, within a particular task, project, or role, coaching is largely directed towards developing capability in specific assignments, or jobs. The learning journeys involved tend, therefore, to be sharply focused, relatively short-term – though they may well become additive learning experiences – and directed towards welldefined improvement, or development goals.

110

CHAPTER 5: THE ENABLING MENTOR

Mentoring, which is essentially an additive and frequently open-ended process is, by contrast: 1.

Aimed at the longer-term development and growth of the individual, within the scope and likelihood of continuity afforded by that person’s potential – rather than simply improving task or role performance.

2.

Significantly more wide-ranging in perspective and so may be progressively built up from a great variety and number of both learning and developmental experiences.

3.

Primarily an inclusive and eclectic process, rather than a highly selective or discriminating approach to learning. Because mentoring is frequently aimed at development of the ‘whole’ person, it can accommodate, relate to, or encompass other, apparently unrelated, but specific learning experiences. As Gareth Lewis (1) states in his important and practical book – The Mentoring Manager – ‘In this sense, it is an ‘added-value’ activity’.

4.

More likely to draw upon a far greater range of development sources which, in turn, may well lead to other fortuitous and previously unencountered, or unexpected openings and opportunities for extending and enhancing a person’s development.

5.

Concerned with development activities and experiences which may appear to be marginally relevant to the individual’s current circumstances and apparent needs. It requires, therefore, mentors with: •

Clear, well-defined vision of scope and possibilities

•

Long-term perceptions and awareness of people’s potential

•

Developed awareness of how the world is changing

•

Creative understanding of the way career patterns are moving

•

The courage to break through conventional wisdom

•

The ability to recognise as yet untapped potential, or previously untested talent.

Unfortunately, such people are still all too rare in business, yet they are the ones who are the very heart of real mentoring. Coaching, as we saw in Chapter 4, is about helping people to see and do things differently – and more effectively. It is therefore as much concerned with building and capitalising upon strengths and success, as it is with remedying weaknesses. So, too, is mentoring which, however, is essentially about helping people to develop, as individuals, and to grow, over a period of time. It is, perhaps above all, a conscious process of creating the opportunities and providing

111


the wherewithal and support, to enable people to recognise, build upon and put to the most appropriate use, their individual contributive potential. It is this fulfilment of personal uniqueness that invests mentoring with such significance, as a vital function of people management. Mentoring is tantamount, therefore, to helping people to manage their todays better, in order to shape their tomorrows. Figure 21 shows the core activities – both personal and organisational – which mentoring ranges over.

Career progression

Potential and personal development

Relationships and ‘politics’

Roles and ‘style’

Personal factors


Mentoring – as a basis to enabling

Figure 21

Mentoring potential Potential – the latent or unrealised, but often transferable, talent may be difficult to detect and define. With young people, especially – where the greatest period of maturation is normally between 20 and 28 years of age – ultimate potential may well be virtually impossible to give definition and ‘shape’ to.

112


In periods of major development and growth, particularly, the concept of ‘horizons’ in potential, may represent the most realistic way to look at the likely transformation of the individual. Seen as a series of successive stages of personal growth, each one representing transition from ‘me-as-I-am-right-now’ to ‘me-as-I’m-likely-to-be-in-‘X’-years’-time’ (the ‘plus me’) the process of mentoring, within the context of evolving potential, looks like this:

Identifying and mentoring potential Ultimate potential? Horizon 3 Horizon 2 Horizon 1

in potential

in potential

in potential Current

Time and growth

Me, as I am right now – (current strengths and weaknesses)

The ‘Plus me’

(attainable by horizon 1)

Process of identifying successive current strengths and weaknesses and mentoring new ‘Plus me’s’ continues over many years…

Figure 22 Mentoring, with its longer-term time frames and commitments, essentially works within the scope and context of the individual’s potential. Ultimate potential, for practical purposes, is impossible to define succinctly and definitively – particularly with younger people who, normally, can be expected to have many years development and growth ahead of them. However, it is possible to agree what might be described as ‘horizons’ (2) in the individual’s potential, and these can be set, within reason, at any sensible point in the future. Experience

113


suggests that practical timescales can vary, typically, within a span of from 18 months to a maximum of five years. Figure 22 shows the process, in outline, where the horizons are, in effect, a succession of ‘moving targets’. In a life’s working career, there could be as many as ten, or 12, successive emerging horizons, in potential. The start of the process takes the form of a dialogue between the mentor and the person being developed, and would typically follow this pattern: 1.

The individual writes up a personal ‘stocktake’ of his or her perceived current major strengths and weaknesses. (An option is that the mentor also describes the other’s strengths and weaknesses, in order to compare notes and stimulate further discussion from the feedback)

2.

Together, they agree a likely ‘horizon’ date – for example – two years

3.

Either individually, or together, they agree what the attainable ‘plus me’ of the individual being mentored would look like at the ‘horizon’ date, in terms of:

4.

•

New strengths and levels of competence acquired

•

Existing strengths necessarily further developed

•

Requisite levels of confidence developed

•

Weaknesses, similarly expressed in ‘skill and will’ terms of both competence and confidence, to be overcome within the agreed time span

Both then switch from the individual’s ‘current me’ and attainable ‘plus me’, to his or her role and how it might possibly be enriched to: •

Provide more learning and developmental opportunities

•

Enhance the scope – and contribution – of the role for the benefit of the business

Figure 23 shows the process in outline. 5.

6.

114

The individual then states what about the current role he or she: •

Excels at

•

Particularly contributes to the success of the business

•

Enjoys doing and getting a ‘buzz’ from

•

Finds particularly challenging

Together with the mentor, the individual then identifies (essentially within, or centred upon their existing role) how the four aspects identified in 5 (above) could be


enhanced or explored, through job enrichment, and developed into a wider, or deeper ‘plus role’ 7.

Both confirm and agree what coaching, training, mentoring and enabling will be required, during the period up to the horizon date, to achieve: •

The personal development goals of the individual identified in his or her ‘plus me’

•

The necessary enrichment, modification and changes secure the appropriate ‘plus role’

•

The continuity of learning between the developing person and the progressive enhancement of his or her role.

required to

Both then agree the necessary development action plan to cover the proposed ‘learning journey’ to the horizon date. First actionable steps and key milestones need to be specific but, necessarily, much of the plan will be responsive and adaptive to evolving circumstances – hence the need for: •

Regular feedback

•

Agreed review dates.

115


Mentoring – relating the ‘plus me’ to the ‘plus role’ A practical basis for long-term development and growth Time

Start

Horizon

The ‘plus me’

Me, as I am right now

Time

Start

My role, as it is, right now

Horizon

My ‘plus role’

M

Mentoring regularly

E

interrelates the two

N

moving targets of the

T

‘plus me’ and the ‘plus role’

O

as a basis for continuous

R

personal development,

I

performance improvement

N

and longer term fulfilment of

G

potential, for the individual

Each successive ‘horizon’ in the individual’s potential represents the next personal and role development likely to target date

Figure 23 Exploration of the ‘plus role’ has the added advantage of identifying: •

Just how the individual views their role and contribution

•

What they perceive to be the main thrust of their activities

•

What they consider to be the causes of ‘adrenalin-flow’ and challenge for them

•

Whether or not they are really aligned to the direction and transformation of the business – as exemplified by the issue of ‘yesterday’s job’, or ‘today’s role’ illustrated in Figure 24.

The latter point may be a significant clue as to whether the individual is developing and growing, through more or less continuous learning, or whether they are largely ‘static’ and essentially influenced by what they already know. Consultancy assignments frequently reveal this to be a considerable problem in many organisations, and unfortunately lack of learning and personal

116


development are not the sole prerogatives of older people. There are many individuals – including key players – still under 40 who have already become ‘yesterday’s men’ without apparently recognising the fact. Using the ‘plus role’ as a concept, or model can be a practical, relevant and non-threatening way of ensuring that action can be taken to begin to align and re-focus people’s thinking and activities from ‘yesterday’s job’ to the requisite ‘today’s role’.

Individual’s focus and talents – yesterday’s job, or today’s role? Directional thrust of main effort

Today’s role

Area of deceptive overlap

Yesterday’s job Overt and visible contribution, which may lead people to believe that the individua is actually doing what is really required, ie today’s role. Effective coaching will re-focus and re-direct effort.

Directional thrust of main effort

Figure 24 As Figure 24 shows, many people may appear to be fulfilling the demands of today’s role because some of the tasks that they undertake apply to both yesterday’s job and also what is currently required of them. This is indicated in the figure as the ‘area of deceptive overlap’. Sometimes only more regular in-depth contact, dialogue and exploration – such as coaching or mentoring sessions – reveal the problem for what it really is. In this way, the causes – rather than merely

117


the effects, or symptoms – of the problem can be effectively confronted and worked through as its true nature and extent are progressively uncovered by detailed discussion.

The mentoring and coaching synergy At the outset of Chapter 5, some of the distinctions between coaching and mentoring were drawn to emphasise the need for both these complementary enabling behaviours, on the part of managers. The fact that they are complementary activities and are both necessary to the effective development of people and the enhancement of their competence and performance, is itself important. Obviously they can each be undertaken without the other, but the combined effect of coaching and mentoring can generate both a continuity and synergy of learning that impacts upon both the individual’s tacit and organisational knowledge. When both activities are built into a personal development plan for the individual, with regular feedback, review and ‘upgrading’ of the learning journey, some of the best conditions possible will be set in place for:

118

•

Ensuring optimum appropriate development of the individual

•

Matching career progression (especially in ‘flatter’ organisation structures) to the progressive recognition and acknowledgement of the individual’s potential

•

Providing maximum opportunities for developing requisite core and specialist contributive competences

•

Establishing learning as a crucial determinant of organisational development

•

Ensuring that the business and its people grow together.


Mentoring and coaching synergy Mentoring (focus on ‘total person’ potential and growth

Coaching Coaching Coaching

NB. coaching activities may be

(assignment/role focus)

linked, related, unique, stand-alone, or additive

Time

Figure 25 Under the somewhat ‘umbrella-like’ function of mentoring, which may provide some ‘protection’ in order for the individual to grow, long-term, specific coaching activities can be undertaken to provide necessary discrete and discontinuous learning experiences. Thus, both particular short-term, finite learning – as well as the overall continuous growth of the individual – may take place, without one necessarily being at the expense of the other.

Mentoring within the context of changing career patterns The twin – and frequently complementary – imperatives to ‘down-size’ and ‘de-layer’ have resulted, inevitably in leaner, ‘flatter’ organisation structures. While there is much evidence to suggest that both slimming processes have been undertaken too rapidly and too drastically, with consequent corporate anorexia, the majority of experiences appear to confirm the necessity for organisations to become leaner and more efficient. Traditionally, career advancement has been primarily a matter of moving upwards – to the next rung, or level, in the organisational hierarchy. The vertical movement has, similarly, been endorsed and made visible by appropriately overt hierarchical symbols and the trappings of increased status, rank and positional power. The bigger office – or even suite on the top floor – exclusive secretarial support, personal named car park space, and even a key to the

119


executives loo, are all traditional hallmarks of having ‘arrived’, or, at least, of elevation in the right direction. With major reduction in so many hierarchical structures, and the emergence of ‘flatter’ organisations, the opportunities for vertical movement are obviously becoming fewer. Rather than promotion, career progression has become the new order of things, involving the likely succession of lateral moves and even a concurrent multiplicity of roles. In the latter case, an individual may well hold a formal job title such as, for example, Manager, Information Systems. Additionally, however, he or she may, at the same time, be fulfilling some or all of the following temporary and adjunct roles: 1.

Project Leader, ‘Project X’

2.

Member of project team ‘Y’

3.

Task Force Co-ordinator, ‘Assignment 2’

4.

Head of Systems Process Re-Engineering – ‘Project 2000’

5.

Chairperson, Steering Group ‘Best Practice’

Such proliferating and temporary roles – albeit comparatively long-term provide rich sources of opportunities for:

120

•

Formalising such experiences as crucial ‘stretch’ learning and development and also as a means of acquiring new potentially marketable skills

•

Providing a more comprehensive basis for a mid-term career development plan

•

Intelligent and responsive adjustment of the reward system (salaries, bonuses, profit sharing and other benefits) to give tangible recognition for the extra responsibilities taken on, additional to the individual’s formal hierarchical or functional role

•

New challenges, leadership responsibilities, cross-functional working and high visibility, within the organisation, for the role-holder

•

Potentially highly productive enabling – in all its forms – including, therefore, coaching, mentoring, sponsoring and empowering.


The new career and work patterns The idea of a ‘career’ as a logical succession of promotions no longer reflects the reality of so many businesses. At the moment, the trend appears likely to continue into the foreseeable future. Becoming increasingly typical are lateral moves which may, or may not, be related to what the individual’s previous or current formalised roles have been about. Already – and certainly into the next decade – people’s contributive and specialist competency will, increasingly, emerge as major determinants of their career progression and likely work roles. In addition, other key areas of competence and role behaviour that are likely to influence career progression, in the current turbulent world of business, are the marked ability to: •

View the world with what Van Lennep (3) termed ‘helicopter vision’, by rising above and beyond the obvious and immediate, in order to recognise, respond to and begin to shape the future now

•

Operate effectively across different cultures, disciplines and functions

•

Deliver, as a competent team-player and fulfil necessary collaborative responsibilities

•

Take, exploit and develop the opportunities of ownership, autonomy and personal accountability that empowerment offers

•

Keep open and develop for themselves and for others – opportunities for learning, in as many forms as is possible

•

Communicate with clarity and impact, so striking the right chords with people

•

Act with necessary courage and determination, to make sure that what should happen – does happen.

Lawrence Handy (4) working with colleagues at Ashridge Management College identifies four areas of competence ‘cluster’ which are increasingly coming to be seen as significant determinants of successful career progression, particularly in today’s flatter organisations: 1.

Specialist contributive competences which mark out the individual as unique and possessing scarce – or comparatively rare – skills and experience relevant to the business

2.

The ability to operate effectively across different functions, units, or cultures, and mediate successfully between such disciplines

3.

The informed, professional readiness to take ownership of a particular role, function or business function and assume accountability for its operation, success and development

121


4.

The capacity to operate as an effective ‘team-player’ in temporary or adjunct role relationships, as well as within more stable team or functional role sets.

Both Handy’s four competence clusters, and the skill areas identified in the seven ‘bullet points’ above, suggest that learning, development – and career progression – are now becoming more varied, more complex and experientially richer processes than hitherto. In effect, the progressive move to more challenging opportunistic and ‘bespoke’ work experiences is akin to shifting away from climbing the traditional relatively obvious career ‘ladders’ to scaling, clambering over and scrambling through a 3-D climbing frame. The holes, chutes, tunnels, slides and obstacles built into the much more complex frame present a far greater range of optional challenges, opportunities and experiences to be had, for the taking, than does any mere ladder. Mentoring, then, is about: 1.

Creating valid and relevant learning opportunities for people to help them align with the business, yet grow and fulfil their unique potential as individuals

2.

Providing regular stimulus and feedback on performance – and development – to generate necessary awareness and sense of personal responsibility, in the individual

3.

Triggering adrenalin and passion, along with the directional sense and focused aspiration that personal vision can provide as a necessary basis to motivated career pathfinding

4.

Helping people to see and do things differently – as is coaching

5.

A continuous process of helping people to develop themselves

6.

Being a way of leading and managing others that actively and expressly acknowledge the effective management, development and deployment of people as a crucial managerial responsibility.

Clare Freeman (5) defines mentoring, with acuity and insight, as – ‘A celebration of the uniqueness of an individual’. Her definition goes right to the nub – and to the context – of the process. Whereas the manager, in the role of coach, frequently needs to ask the questions – ‘what?’ and ‘how?’, the mentor is so often also concerned with the ‘why?’ of proposals, plans and decisions. This essentially reflective and purposive question is ideally directed at major personal issues of development, career and thus life’s stages and experiences. Mentoring is likely, therefore, to be a process for generating examination of and reflection upon the individual’s – or group – values, beliefs and vision. It’s focus, moreover, is more diffuse than

122


that of coaching and is primarily directed towards change and growth, rather than specific results or improvements. Something of the spirit, as well as intent, of mentoring is captured in Marcel Proust’s observation – ‘The real art of discovery is not to visit new lands, but to see existing ones through new eyes’.

Being a mentor An engineer recently appointed to the role of Technical Sales Manager, in a client company, said of his new Director: ‘Dennis has helped me to recognise that I can do almost anything I want, if I decide to do it. He has given me enormous self-confidence, because he showed confidence in me. The fact that he believes in me acts as a great source of encouragement to me, to try out the sorts of ideas that I would have been reluctant to even talk about, with my last boss’. These comments describe what the essence of mentoring is really about. The Director’s approach seems to indicate some of the essential empathic behaviours, which distinguish effective mentors from the less capable or sensitive, ie: •

An ability to recognise and work with the other person’s truth and being

•

A capacity to work with others, with commitment – intellectually, emotionally and even spiritually

•

A readiness to pose challenges – and accept possible failure, without ‘punishment’, threat or over-critical judgement

•

The ability to convey confidence, trust and belief in others

•

A mature outlook and balanced life philosophy.

Many skills and competences are involved in being an effective mentor (as they are, too, in being a successful coach). Three key areas of interactive skill are: 1.

Attending

2.

Reflecting

3.

Influencing

Attending skills essentially involve active listening and questioning to obtain more information from and about the person being helped.

123


Reflective competence involves asking ‘open’ questions to draw out the ‘why?’, ‘how?’ and ‘what?’ of the other person’s thinking, intentions, plans, wishes and decisions. Reflective questions also seek to raise the others awareness and sense of personal responsibility. Influencing skills seek to persuade, re-focus, motivate and move people – frequently to a new direction, course of action, or way of behaving. Figure 26 shows how the mentor needs to move freely – and with competence – across all three skill areas in order for the helping process to be relevant, appropriate and successful.

In

flu

en

ci

ng

The three key interactive skill areas of mentoring

Attending

Reflecting

Figure 26 Mind set, personal values, ‘natural’ preferences – as well as competence – similarly play crucial roles in the development of a director, or manager, as a likely mentor. In Figure 27 behaviours, other than competences, are significant in the emergence and development of mentoring ‘style’. They are: 1.

Preference for visionary thinking vs preference for activity

2.

Concern for personal power vs concern to care about others.

124


Mentors along with, typically, ‘missionaries’ and ‘coaches’ are most likely to be people with a highly developed visionary capacity. They are, additionally, more likely to be people who care about others – not necessarily in a purely altruistic way – but, rather, in ways which show insight, recognition of potential, and how it may best be developed and used. Generally, real mentors are unlikely to be over-preoccupied with issues of personal power – other than a recognition of the hard ‘political’ realities of organisational life which is typically where ‘sponsors’ live. Visionary ability – and the capacity to catalyse, in others, a desirable, or requisite, future state of affairs – is a fundamental strength in any effective mentor. Where conditions are both uncertain and changing rapidly, skill in helping people to conceptualise and articulate a defined future, which reflects personal goals and aspirations and which is linked to the foreseeable destiny of the organisation, represents the best of ‘path-goal’ leadership. The business which possesses a desired pathway needs individuals who have equally clear aspirational and personal goals. The mentoring manager, or leader, is the enabling influence who can help align the two. As Dr Carol O’Connor (6) says ‘Vision can take us to places that we never knew we could go’. Vision, then, is a motivating force which helps to give purpose, meaning and direction to people’s activity. It is, too, a process which allows people to see potential and imagine how this might both transform and give necessary shape to their lives. The role of the mentor, essentially, is to help individuals to make their personal visions realistic, tangible and, above all, attainable.

125


Who are the likely mentors? Vision Mentor

Entrepreneur Enabler

Missionary

Sponsor

Coach

Power

Caring Knowledge worker

Trainer

Expert

Facilitator

Custodian

Craftsman

Activity Figure 27 At the deepest level, being a mentor frequently involves working through other people’s hidden agenda, anxieties and fears, in order to elicit their true perspectives, values and wants. As the mentor progressively raises the other individual’s awareness, preparedness to respond and explore – as well as their sense of responsibility and commitment – he or she is unlikely to remain immune to the other’s learning. The sharing of learning, between mentor and mentored, can create productive synergy for both, with a consequent flow of free and directed energy, towards mutual fulfilment and growth. Mentoring, like coaching, uncovers, explores and develops talent and potential. Mentoring, especially, makes visible awareness, competence and potential – or conversely – lack of them. As Figure 28 shows, the dimension of ‘visibility’ adds scope for exploitive, developmental or remedial action which a more simple perception of ‘potential’ might not. For example, in the diagram ‘stars’ are people whom it is normally difficult to miss in most organisations. Their impact is usually both seen and felt by those around them. They are, by

126


definition, people who move things forward – including themselves and, often, other people. So-called ‘Comets’ may, like Anne Boleyn, have their ‘brief, gaudy hour’, but because the substance is far less than the packaging, they rarely sustain their initial impression, or impact and fail to grow into – and with – their requisite role. The visibility may be there, temporarily, but the real potential is not. The ‘Black holes’ exist, often in low profile, within the business, contributing minimally, but drawing or living upon other’s efforts and energies. ‘UFOs’ represent the hidden – often undiscovered and unsung strength of the organisation. Theirs, all too frequently, remains the latent talent of the business, that may come about fortuitously and haphazardly unless there is an effective, alert mentor who happens to bring out and build upon such contributive competence and potential.

People – visibility and potential High

‘Comets’

‘Stars’

(Cut the role down to their size

(Take the business, themselves

– and don’t grow into it)

and others forward)

‘Black holes’

‘UFOs’

(Absorb others’ energy

(Latent talent – waiting

and give nothing in return)

to be discovered)

Visibility

Low

Potential

High

Figure 28 Being a mentor carries with it an enormous responsibility and, at times, an awesome degree of commitment. It is not a role for the intolerant, impatient, the obsessively self-centred – nor the authoritarian, judgmental and those fixated with the bottom line. Helping people through life-stages, major transition and change calls for great awareness, insight, sensitivity – and indefatigable belief in the art of the possible. Being a successful mentor also presupposes an understanding of learning processes and patterns as well as the organisational knowledge, political ‘clout’ and talent as a networker, to open up – and sustain – appropriate mentoring opportunities.

127


Summary Mentoring – like coaching – is essentially a helping process. Whereas coaching tends to focus more on developing people and improving their performance for specific tasks, projects or roles, mentoring is primarily about ‘celebrating the individual’s uniqueness’ (7) and developing them as a ‘total’ person. Coaching is primarily concerned with finite learning, development and improvement goals over relatively short periods of time, while mentoring is aimed at fulfilling the individual’s contributive potential, on a progressive, continuing and additive basis. It is a more diffuse, much wider-ranging process than coaching since it is about raising people’s awareness, drawing out their truth, and helping them to grow through greater self-insight, evolving maturity and enhanced personal responsibility. David Megginson (8) distinguishes between the two, related, processes, by describing mentoring as the kind of help that assists people over any transition between stages, whereas coaching contributes more to a person’s development within stages. Mentoring necessarily, ranges over such key issues in a person’s development as their: 1.

Potential and personal longer term development

2.

Evolving maturity of personal and professional ‘style’ within a progression of both formal and adjunct roles

3.

Alignment – in terms of focus, relationships and ‘political’ acumen with the business and its core values and goals

4.

Career progression, including both planned and fortuitous opportunities.

In Chapter 5, the concept of the ‘plus me’ and the related ‘plus role’ are introduced to underline the long term close relationship between the individual’s ‘learning journey’ and growth as a person, and the intrinsic scope for job enrichment and role growth, that exist within the vast majority of jobs, given imagination, perseverance and informed courage on the part of both mentor and mentored. As organisations become ‘de-layered’ and thus ‘flatter’ so career patterns are changing from climbing traditional ‘promotion ladders’ to manoeuvring through the challenges and variety of outlets offered by a ‘3-D climbing frame’ form of career progression. ‘Career’ now is coming to be seen as the sum total of a working life’s experiences in a variety of lateral, adjunct, temporary and transient roles, as well as vertical moves and promotion opportunities.

128


Such conditions, typical of less hierarchical organisation structures, in the ‘information age’, create a far richer source of mentoring opportunities and interventions than did the traditional structures with their ‘silo’ managements and emphasis on vertical interaction. Because of the longer-term developmental and growth implications, mentoring relies heavily upon sustained commitment – as well as insight, know-how and professional integrity. It is about the individual as a total person and so operates, variously, at three fundamental levels of intervention, influence and help – intellectual, emotional and, sometimes, spiritual. Being a mentor is a demanding role, and experience suggests that comparatively few directors and managers possess the inclination to operate in what is a primarily helping capacity. Preoccupation with bottom-line results, personal survival, recognition and being on competitive career stakes, themselves, means that many executives are, perhaps understandably, preoccupied with themselves and their own particular lot. Effective mentoring demands a good deal of selflessness, at times, as well as long term perspective and sufficient organisational ‘savvy’ and external contacts, to create the right climate, opportunities and motivation for learning – and hence – development to take place. Many skills and competences are involved in being a successful mentor. Three key areas of interactive skill, however, are those of: 1.

Attending (active, participative listening)

2.

Reflection (making extensive use of ‘open’ questions, including ‘why?’ and ‘why not?’)

3.

Influencing (in order to stimulate, motivate, focus and trigger action and/or behavioural change)

The effective mentor, necessarily, helps to stimulate and give definition to people’s aspirational visions – to their hopes, expectations and personal goals. Helping to align those aspirations with known corporate pathways helps people to: •

Relate to and ‘feel’ their personal vision

•

Give realistic definition to their ambitions

•

Develop a succession of ‘horizons’ in their visionary thinking to which they can relate their developing talents – and their potential, as individuals.

While people’s inspiration and vision may, ultimately, be ‘internal’ and private, the effective mentor acts, variously, as stimulus, ‘trigger’ catalyst and enabler to the envisioning process that is one of the crucial contributions of mentoring. In the overall task of ‘enabling’, mentoring is a key function since it focuses on and is directed towards the developing maturity and self-sufficiency of the individual. In other words, it is, in part, a long-term process of helping others to learn how to help themselves.

129



Complete the Effective Mentoring Profile, contained in the following pages. Where practicable, use it as a 360-degree instrument, with those whom you mentor, with selected colleagues and with your manager, who should also complete it on your behalf – and then give you feedback

2.

Work through the ‘action’ points contained in the instrument, with as many of your people as possible. Include your manager and/or a human resources specialist in your discussions, where appropriate, to open up the scope of learning, and develop mental opportunities for your people.

3.

If you have not already done so, establish a mentoring process for, especially, your people of potential. Plan the opening session, considering: •

Purpose and objectives

•

Approximate scope

•

Key questions and issues to explore

•

Desirable outcomes

•

Follow-up and follow through actions

Let the others know of your intentions and invite their contributions to:

4.

i)

The process and its intended outcomes

ii)

The agenda for the first meeting

Ask your people about their most significant learning periods at work. What conditions existed at the time? What was the nature of the work they were doing. Where possible, do this as a mini team workshop involving your people. Look for any of the following, especially, as being factors conducive to high learning:

130

•

Was the work they were doing, at the time, significant, or important, to the business?

•

Did they find it personally challenging?

•

Did they feel they had considerable responsibility?

•

Were they in a leadership role, at the time?

•

Were they working cross-functionally to a large degree?


What can you learn about how they best learn, from the feedback they give you? 5.

6.

Invite your boss to work with you on setting up a mentoring process for you and your longer-term development •

How will you introduce the issue?

•

What issues will you determine and seek to safeguard?

•

How will you both ensure that development will take place?

Read, selectively, The Mentoring Manager: Lewis G, Pitman, London •

What are the key messages and learning points for you in both this chapter and Gareth Lewis’s book?

•

How do you intend to take up those messages and develop your techniques as a mentor?

•

Who is likely to be an ideal role-model for you as a mentor, and from whom else can you gain help and guidance in becoming a more effective mentor?

131

Blank page

Effective Mentoring Profile

3

profile 3

Effective Mentoring Profile Background to the Effective Mentoring Profile A major factor in the impact of mentoring is the quality and relevance of the learning that is taking place, as a consequence of the mentor’s competence, style and techniques. For all mentors and developers, there remains, however, the question of what is the most appropriate and effective form of learning for a particular individual. The Effective Mentoring Profile, developed by Michael Williams & Partners, should indicate where your style of mentoring is likely to be successful – or less so – in key areas of generating learning, development and longer term growth for others. Please answer the questions as objectively, accurately and realistically as you can. ‘Fudging’ the results doesn’t help anyone – least of all, you, or those to whom you act as a mentor.

Now complete the profile questionnaire Under each statement, circle the score that most accurately reflects how you typically behave, in actively helping others to learn, develop and realise their potential, as individuals: 1.

I devote 3/4 hours, within the working week, to helping others with their longerterm development and growth (excluding coaching on specific assignments) Rarely

2.

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

I actively encourage my people to think about their longer term development, and to come up with challenges, ideas and initiatives to help them grow as individuals Rarely

134

2

I explore ways of consciously aligning people’s medium and longer term development and growth with the foreseeable changing direction and transformation of the business Rarely

4.

1

When considering the people in my team, I consciously think of their potential and how it might be more appropriately developed, and I discuss this with them Rarely

3.

0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

EFFECTIVE MENTORING PROFILE

5.

I keep myself up-to-date with what is considered to be current best practice in mentoring, by reading and discussions with leading business school tutors, or consultants Rarely

6.

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

As a manager, I actively involve other mentors in the longer-term development of my people – especially key players. Such external sources of help include both people inside and outwith the organisation Rarely

9.

2

In mentoring people, I help them to work on issues such as development of their ‘style’, confidence and attitude to their role/profession, as well as working on their longer-term skill and competence development Rarely

8.

1

I equally keep myself au fait with organisational changes and, therefore, the changing patterns – and opportunities – for career progression and personal development, within the business Rarely

7.

0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

I develop and review, together with my people, medium-term individual personal development plans for them – with actions and activities programmed against broad, but realistic time scales Rarely

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

10. I take active steps with my boss/team leader, to ensure that my medium-term development is a ‘live’, on-going process, and meet with him to discuss my personal growth, and contribution within the business Rarely

0

1

2

TOTAL SCORE___________________

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

(Maximum possible – 70)

135

EFFECTIVE MENTORING PROFILE

Your scores Scores of 5-7 per statement, (a total score of 50-70) represents ‘good’ to ‘excellent’. Scores below 5 per statement (a total score of less than 50), indicate that some major repair work needs to be done about your: •

Mentoring skills and competence as a developer of others

•

‘Style’ and approach to your people – including your commitment to their development

•

Techniques and perspective, on the issue of mentoring, as a managerial role

Some issues to consider form your scores •

Where are your most significant strengths as a mentor?

•

What are your major development needs, in the role of mentor?

•

How could you best develop – and further capitalise upon – your strengths?

•


•

What will be your first specific action steps now, to develop as an effective mentor?


136

1.

Talk through your scores with your boss, and ask for specific feedback from him or her, about how they see you as a mentor, identifying ‘plusses’ and ‘minuses’ about your mentoring ability and commitment

2.

Discuss the results of this profile with your own people, and ask them for reactions and specific feedback. How do they look upon you as a mentor? What are their views of your strengths and areas for development in the role of mentor?

3.

Where you manage managers – give them the instrument and use the results as a basis for a review of mentoring practices within your function, domain, or team, as a whole

4.

Develop mentoring improvement action plans for yourself and any others in your team for whom the instrument suggests development needs and action

5.

Give your boss a copy of the instrument, and give him specific feedback on his/her scores. Suggest how he/she might develop and improve as a mentor towards you and your colleagues

6.

Bring in a specialist (internal, or external) to develop and run a mentoring techniques and skills programme for you, your boss, your colleagues and staff.

The enabling sponsor Sponsoring as a basis to enabling Championing Protecting Organisational know-how Gatekeeping External sponsors as ‘enabling emissaries’ Summary Activities: theory into action Effective sponsorship profile

6

chapter 6

Chapter 6 The enabling sponsor

‘Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times’ Sir Winston Churchill

‘They who cannot perform great things themselves may yet have a satisfaction in doing justice to those who can’ Horace Walpole

Sponsoring as a basis to enabling Sponsoring – within the context of publicising, pushing forward and actively supporting people of talent, in an organisation – essentially consists of four key areas of managerial activity and, hence, competence: 1.

Organisational ‘do how’

2.

Gatekeeping

3.

Championing

4.

Protecting

} }

Organisational factors Interpersonal factors

As Figure 29 is intended to show, these take the form of four complementary and frequently interdependent managerial interventions.

138

CHAPTER 6: THE ENABLING SPONSOR

Organisational ‘do-how’

Championing

Gatekeeping

Protecting

Personal factors


Sponsoring – as a basis to enabling

Figure 29 Taking the interpersonal areas of championing and protecting first, as factors for exploration, they include the following processes, activities and competences.

Championing Principally, championing, as a process of arguing on behalf of, or fighting for, due and appropriate recognition of someone, consists of such activities as: •

Recognising relevant current and likely future talent

•

Promoting and advancing such competences and attributes, within the right circles and spheres of influence, across the organisation

•

Identifying likely instances of person/role ‘fit’ within the business

•

Seeking out appropriate career-role opportunities, for the longer term within the organisation

•

Generating interest and, above all, enthusiasm amongst key players in the business about likely protégés and candidates for promotion

•

Generally providing management ‘patronage’, with its undertones of facilitative, organisational support.

139


The ‘championing’ role of a manager acting as a sponsor is essentially complementary to the encouraging tutelage of the effective mentor. Championing, like the kindred activities of protecting and gatekeeping (see below) emphasises the fundamentally necessary roles of ‘guardian’, or ‘custodian’ which, at times, are so essential within organisations to promote, deploy and manage the talent that coaching and mentoring develop.

Protecting Whereas ‘championing’ is essentially a promotional activity, involving ‘push’, patronage and the enthusing of likely ‘buyers’ of talent, within the business, protecting primarily engages the ‘guardian angel’ role that managers may need to play to advance protégés through organisational minefields. Typically, ‘protecting’, within an organisational context, is likely to involve: •

Acting as a strategic, or operational ‘umbrella’ under which people may take appropriate action, with comparative freedom, safety and impunity

•

Going ‘out on a limb’, on behalf of a protégé, in order to give support, as well as protection

•

Creating ‘safe havens’ of conducive support around the organisation, in order to reinforce influence and power bases

•

Generally creating an environment of adequate security within which protégés may contribute with optimum impact and ‘grow’ as people of talent and potential.

Both championing and protecting are – beyond sponsorship – key elements in the overall process of enabling since, jointly, they are dedicated managerial interventions aimed at:

140

1.

Taking people with requisite contributory talent forward – into roles and relationships, so that they can be more productive and optimally aligned with corporate direction, or changing pathways

2.

Increasing people’s visibility and accessibility, within the organisation – and its operational environment

3.

Providing such individuals – and teams – with sufficient legitimisation, protection and ratification, to be able to deliver effectively

4.

Creating the necessary functional, cross-functional and hierarchical support, to make things happen which, otherwise, might not occur successfully in the absence of such intervention


5.

Establishing professional patronage and sponsorship as legitimate, necessary and appropriate alternatives to nepotism, the ‘old boy network’ and mere ‘halo-effect’ in succession planning, career progression and promotion

6.

Championing and protecting help in creating teams and groups of the richest possible mixes of talent, in ways which are both more adaptive – and responsive – to the constantly changing needs of the business.

Organisational know-how ‘Do-how’ may, justifiably, have connotations of ‘facipulation’ – a term coined by Tom Cummings of Leading Ventures (1) and referred to in Chapter 3, to describe manipulative facilitation – since sponsorship may, necessarily, include finding ways through organisational minefields. Conflicting vested interests, assumed – and real – territorial ‘rights’, and issues of status, position and hence power may all work against the advancement of what is seen as threatening talent, energy and ambition. Changing the status quo, transforming the organisation and its business, ‘boundary busting’ and injecting a new order of things – however necessary – while seen as essential by the agents of change, may be viewed, variously, by the Establishment as heresy, revolution or insurrection and, therefore, activities to be resisted at all costs. Where the aim of sponsorship is to deploy transformational talent to where it is likely to be most effective, organisational know-how and do-how, of the highest order, may be vital to secure bridgeheads of change, within the business to enable the change agents to function with optimum effect and outcomes. Like so much of enabling, sponsorship seeks to replace the uncertainty of serendipity with conscious, effective strategy, while recognising that ‘adhocery’ and resourceful adaptation are also essential to the successful deployment of talent, within a transforming business.

141


Organisational ‘do-how’, then, is primarily about:

142

•

The effective use of power competence in dealing with the blockages within the organisation, ie the preparedness – and ability to use organisational ‘clout’

•

High levels of political awareness and the ability to ‘read’ situations, in terms of realpolitik, as well as moral, ethical, or ‘ideal’ standards. It is in the area of political sensitivity that women can sometimes be significantly more effective than men: as Margaret Thatcher states – ‘If you want somebody to talk in politics get a man, if you want somebody to take action get a woman’

•

Networking skills and lobbying, where ‘networking’ is defined as – ‘the ability to secure necessary goodwill and backing, from others, primarily by means of direct, and/or indirect, oral communication’. Lobbying and networking may need to take place both within and outwith the organisation

•

Well developed competence, in what Buchanan and Boddy (2) term ‘backstage activity’, where informed opportunism, developing coalitions, creating pressure groups and securing the support of influential and powerful figures are typical ‘political’ strategies to underpin the sponsoring of people, within an organisation

•

Understanding how the organisation functions, as a whole, and how the constituent ‘domains’ interact, or possess interdependence, and to whom to go for specific information, support and backing

•

Understanding the management information systems and the roles of key ‘knowledge workers’ who generate, process and transmit information which is fundamental to the functioning of the business. Figure 30 shows, in terms of ‘organisational architecture’ the increasing degree of dependence that businesses now have upon the continuous flow of essentially management information. Ignoring the growth ‘information culture’ of business by inappropriately short-circuiting the information systems could prove counter productive in organisations where: •

Information systems are essential to creative decision making and control

•

Information networks are necessary to collect, share, and disseminate the information required

•

Increasing numbers of information workers, who are skilled in IT, information analysis and screen-based visualisation, underpin the functioning of the MIS

•

Information cultures evolve, necessarily to: –

Share information and reflect upon its significance, rather than simply arguing about ‘facts’ per se

–

Add value to information, via collective and cross-functional activity.


Virtual organisation – organisational architecture of the information age

THE BUSINESS

Information systems

Information networking

Information cultures

Information workers

Figure 30 Understanding how the organisation actually works, knowing who the real influencers and power figures are, and recognising the tribal roots and imperatives of the organisations culture – as well as being familiar with its information systems – are essential to effective sponsorship in today’s businesses. Increasingly, organisations are becoming IT driven as information systems and information management becomes fundamental to the successful strategic development, execution and progression of businesses. Writing in the Financial Times of 3 December 1997, Nuala Moran reveals that Sainsburys – as one example of growing corporate commitment to IT – will spend £165 million on information systems and information management, in the period 1997 – 1998. Though among the top ten UK IT budgets, the Sainsbury spend is nevertheless indicative of the growth of information technology as a major strategic force – as well as operational tool – in business development. In developing and using the necessary organisational know-how, the common-sense, simplistic philosophy of Reg Revans (3) remains, as ever, so appropriate; establish: •

Who knows about the problem

•

Who cares about it

•

Who can do something about the problem.

143


Creating, out of these contacts, which Revans terms ‘temporary coalitions of powers’ provides the start of an effective organisational support basis for: 1.

Formulating, initiating and bringing about necessary change

2.

Generating appropriate viable solutions to problems

3.

Developing the necessary collaborative environment in which the sponsorship of capable protégés is more likely to succeed – and produce results.

Buchanan and Boddy (4) emphasise the value of strategies which involve using and managing the support offered by the so-called ‘invisible team’ (see Figure 31). Essentially, this consists of those sources of potential collaboration, support, information and backing which are so often ignored, ie: •

Other stakeholders in the business, such as suppliers and clients or customers

•

External contractors, sub-contractors and support services

•

Internal support functions whose influence, contacts and expertise may not be being effectively elicited and used.

•

Mentors, ‘fixers’ and ‘smoothers’ who, variously, by education, ‘facipulation’ or sound ‘lubrication’ smooth the way, open up possibilities and, in their ways, promote individuals or teams within, across and outside the organisation

•

‘Gatekeepers’ who have access to key players and contacts both inside and outwith the business (see below).

Such relatively ‘invisible’ sources of help may open up channels, opportunities and new contacts for those being sponsored, that the more usual, conventional, or obvious relationships may have failed to deliver.

144


Sponsorship – the ‘invisible’ support team Clients and customers An important source of information, influence, guidance and learning

Suppliers and subcontractors Useful external sources of skill, help and sponsored opportunity. (Vested interest in helping)

Internal service functions Specialist internal support functions which possess resources and expertise of use to the team

‘Godfathers and mentors’ ‘Fixers’, ‘smoothers’ and ‘lubricators’ who naturally create sponsorship openings

‘‘Gatekeepers’ ‘Pathfinders’ and people with access to key players, inside and outwith the organisation

Figure 31

Gatekeeping Within the contexts of sponsoring and enabling, ‘gatekeeping’ is essentially a process aimed at: 1.

Opening doors and making accessible to protégés key people of influence, who are capable of using their talents and contributions to the business. They may be within, or external to the organisation, but are usually central to its continuing success and development.

2.

Building necessary bridges in relationships, between protégés and key players, to facilitate growth and strengthening of appropriate productive interaction between the two.

3.

Helping to remove barriers of status, rank, distance, availability and occasion which otherwise might impede – or even make impossible – contact between those being sponsored and those who might use, develop and progress them further in their careers.

145


Gatekeeping, like so much of sponsoring and, indeed, enabling, relies heavily, at times, upon such competences as: •

Networking skills and the development of wide-ranging networks, inside and outside the business

•

High political acumen and awareness in relevant strategic, as well as operational, arenas

•

Diplomatic skills and social acuity appropriate to the spheres of actual and intended influence, which are over and above mere political ‘nous’ and ‘facipulation’

•

Sufficient personal – and professional – credibility to be accepted and respected by those whose patronage, support and backing are being solicited

•

Adequate and appropriate standing, based upon power competence derived from formal role authority, as well as from personal expertise, style and connections.

Sponsoring is primarily a matter of intelligently and perceptively applying well developed arts and carefully honed techniques to build up – and make use of – relationships which will provide, when needed, opportunities for contributive talent to succeed and flourish. Sponsoring has always been around in management and, for that matter, in most hierarchical organisation structures. In today’s world, it should not happen fortuitously, merely because an executive happens to like a particular younger, or up-and-coming employee.

External sponsors as ‘enabling emissaries’ While the so-called ‘invisible team’ can be used – and developed – as a source of help and support, to be called upon by sponsors and mentors, within the company, ‘enabling emissaries’ are somewhat different. The ‘enabling emissary’ might be an external consultant, business school or university, professor or stakeholder in the business, such as a supplier, buyer or customer. Whatever his or her formal role, in the function of external enabling emissary, their primary contribution is one of initiating the informing, publicising, sponsoring and developmental processes, by appropriate intervention on behalf of the protégé and/or internal manager. The perspective – and perceptiveness – of an external agent who is more likely to take an objective and detached view of individuals, can often generate initiatives, from without, which may lead to developmental action being taken within the business, by those most closely involved. The enabling emissary is thus someone, outside the business – but involved with

146


it – who takes appropriate catalysing action, so providing the necessary stimulus to internal management, to initiate and implement more effective use of their people’s abilities. It is a role that many business consultants have long played, as part of their official remit in their relationship with the client organisation. There are, however, many more external agents who can be effective catalysts in promoting developmental action for key people within a business, but clearly, there is a fine line between what is perceived to be a professional intervention and a ‘stranger’s’ meddling, in domestic affairs. Maintaining competitive advantage, operating as a global player and even simply surviving in current markets, means that developing, releasing and using talent effectively, are now more important than ever. The many faces of sponsoring and the arts and skills that underpin its successful implementation are likely to be seen, increasingly, as means of bringing necessary contributive competence to the point of action, in today’s world of cross-functional working, coalitions, multi-stakeholders and less hierarchical, more adaptive businesses.

147


Summary Sponsoring – like coaching, mentoring and empowering – is a fundamental managerial enabling process but one which tends to occur more ‘organically’, and often in less obviously formalised ways than the others. Frequently sponsoring may, necessarily, involve a great deal of ‘behind the scenes’ activity and personal networking. There are essentially four aspects to sponsoring – they are: 1.

Championing people and their particular talents – by promoting, publicising and pushing them, within the business

2.

Protecting them, by acting as an organisational ‘umbrella’ – by creating an environment in which they can experiment, take risks and find that it is safe to fail

3.

Organisational ‘do-how’ – which involves clearing ‘road blocks’ and creating opportunities for people to test out, enhance and widen their skills, through legitimate, necessary and often challenging activity. Primarily this means understanding:

4.

•

Who knows about the problem, issue or opportunity

•

Who cares about it

•

Who can do anything about it

Gatekeeping and making available key players to protégés of talent –

by creating useful relationships and networks with supportive, helpful key people inside and outside the business, which opens up key player accessibility to younger or more junior people of potential.

All these functions – and arts – of sponsorship are complementary activities to the processes of coaching and mentoring, in pushing forward, developing and using the talents and competences of, especially, the effective, untried, people within the organisation. Championing, for example, and its kindred managerial activity – protecting – may, variously, require a manager to act as ‘guardian angel’, or ‘custodian’ who both cultivates and also acts to safeguard people of talent. On the one hand, the manager needs to promote and push contributive competence. On the other hand, he or she may also need to act as patron and, at the same time, ensure some ‘organisational immunity’ until the protégé has acquired sufficient of the arts of self-defence and mature protectionism, within their particular business domain. Organisational ‘do-how’ and gatekeeping are dependent upon many areas of competence if they are to serve as processes of effective sponsorship, within an organisation. Political acumen

148


is often more effective in such arenas, when tempered by diplomatic skill and sensitivity. Power competence, though often essential, is likely to produce more results where the manager has developed high personal – and professional – credibility, through a combination of expertise, integrity and leadership ‘style’. Becoming increasingly important in organisational do-how is an understanding of the business, in terms of its management information systems and its inevitably growing IT culture, where value is added to information through cross-functional activity and collective interaction. What has been termed (5) the ‘invisible team’ may also provide valuable sources of support in sponsoring, developing and using people’s talents. This less immediately obvious provider of help includes: •

Clients and customers

•

Suppliers and contractors

•

Internal service and support functions

•

‘Godfathers’ and mentors, inside and outwith the business

•

‘Gatekeepers’ and ‘pathfinders’, with access to key players

}

who may have vested interests in helping

An unusual source of sponsorship support may come from what are, in effect, external ‘enabling emissaries’. These are people from many different roles and functions, outside the business, such as consultants, university and business school professors and, more obvious, stakeholders in the organisation, who initiate sponsoring and developmental activities, by direct, or indirect, intervention – often out of vested interest. In a sense, they are external catalysts whose perception, insight and concern serve to trigger necessary action within the business to ensure that appropriate talent is publicised, pushed forward and used. An important client, or customer, who says – ‘Frankly, we would much prefer to deal with Jonathan than Nigel. He’s thoroughly professional, knows what he’s about, and understands our needs perfectly. You really need to think about moving Jonathan into a customer service role. Certainly, if you want to keep us happy’ – can exercise significant influence upon the roles and structure of a keen supplier. There are thus many facets to sponsoring people of talent. In this chapter, we have considered it as an, at times, vital influencing process to help to ensure that those who can do – will do

149


– as, when and where necessary. Inevitably, much of sponsorship is likely to be based upon positive ‘hunch’, or ‘gut feel’ about others and their capabilities or potential. Intuitive perception may well provide a powerful – and realistic – basis to judgement when it is backed up by other sources of information about an individual, such as track record, psychometric data, where available and verified feedback on behaviour and performance. In Chapter 7 we shall look at empowering, but within the context of enabling, where empowerment is given support, ‘teeth’ and clear definition by coaching, mentoring, sponsorship – and, ultimately, by effective leadership and management.

150



Complete the Effective Sponsorship Profile, contained in the following pages. Where practicable, use it as a 360-degree instrument, with those whom you work. Also invite scores from people whom you believe you have sponsored, ‘championed’, or pushed forward within the organisation. Ask for feedback from those who complete the instrument on your behalf: •

What are your principal strengths – and development needs?

•

How will you actively build on these?

2.

Work through the ‘action’ points contained in the instrument, following the questions, with as many people as you can. What actions do you now need to take – other than your own development as a sponsor?

3.

Develop both strategic and tactical plans to raise the quality and further the practice of sponsorship within the domains – and arenas – for which you have responsibility:

4.

5.

•

Who has the necessary expertise to help you in your thinking and idea formulation?

•

Which external/internal sources do you need to tap for skill development as a sponsor?

Read (selectively): •

The Expertise of the Change Agent, Buchanan, D and Boddy, D Prentice Hall

•

Cultures and Organisations: Hofstede, G, Harper Collins

•

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Covey, S.R., Simon & Schuster

Consider the key messages and learning points for you from Chapter 6 and the above three books. What important learning is there for you about your own influencing skills, understanding of organisational ‘politics’, culture and ‘tribal’ roots and awareness of others? Ask for feedback about your effectiveness in these areas with someone at work who knows you, and whose judgement you would respect as credible and objective. Think about how you can best use, and develop – from the feedback you are given.

151

Blank page

Effective Sponsorship Profile

4

profile 4

Effective Sponsorship Profile Background to the Effective Sponsorship Profile Fundamental to effective sponsorship is the ability to recognise – and promote and progress – people of real talent, who can make more of an impact on the business than they are at present, given the openings and opportunities. For managers operating in the role of sponsor, there remains the question – what are likely to be the most effective strategies and tactics in sponsoring a particular individual – or group of people – within the environment and domains where they are being promoted as persons of talent and potential? The Effective Sponsorship Profile developed by Michael Williams & Partners should give you personal feedback, indicating your potential strengths, weaknesses and preferences in the different, but complementary process that make up sponsoring. Please answer the questions as objectively, accurately and realistically as you can. ‘Fudging’ the results helps no-one – least of all, you and those whom you sponsor.

Now complete the profile questionnaire Under each statement, circle the score that most accurately reflects how you typically behave, in sponsoring people within your organisation: 1.

I actively sponsor people of talent and potential, by publicising and promoting them to top people or key players in the organisation Rarely

2.

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

Generally, I am able to enthuse others about protégés. I become aware of and manage to facilitate placement, within the organisation, of people of potential and talent Rarely

154

1

I keep up to date in my knowledge of current career-role opportunities, throughout the business, so that I can recommend likely individuals when such job changes occur in the organisation Rarely

3.

0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

EFFECTIVE SPONSORSHIP PROFILE

4.

I am prepared to ‘go out on a limb’, in order to support young up-and-coming people, and help them into roles and work for which they appear eminently suitable Rarely

5.

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

In my understanding of the business I would claim, that I have a well developed and sophisticated understanding of our management information systems and the influence of IT generally upon our organisation and its working Rarely

9.

3

I am thought of as a person who possesses a high level of ‘political’ realism and acumen, and who is able to get things done within the business – including successfully sponsoring people of talent – as a result of effective ‘back stage’ activity and/or ‘facipulation’ Rarely

8.

2

People would consider me to be someone who has established professional patronage and sponsorship as necessary alternatives to the ‘old boy network’ and the ‘halo’ effect, in my area of the organisation Rarely

7.

1

I possess – and exercise – sufficient power and influence within the organisation to be able to sponsor, ‘push’ and place people of talent in roles where their competence will be appreciated, developed and used to effect Rarely

6.

0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

I make effective use of the so-called ‘Invisible Team’ and the variety of support that it has to offer – particularly in the help it can provide in sponsoring and placing talented people Rarely

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

10. I am effective as a ‘gatekeeper’ because of my range of contacts inside – and outwith – the organisation that I can call upon as sources of help and support – especially in the sponsorship and placement of people of talent and potential Rarely

0

1

2

TOTAL SCORE________________

3

4

5

6

7

Frequently

(Maximum possible: 70)

155

EFFECTIVE SPONSORSHIP PROFILE

Your scores Scores of 5-7 per statement (a total score of 50-70), represents ‘good’ to ‘excellent’. Scores below 5 per statement (a total score of less than 80), indicate that some major repair work needs to be done about your: •

Sponsoring skills, including ‘political’ awareness and diplomacy

•

‘Style’ and approach to the issue of sponsoring talent and potential

•

Techniques and perspective, in sponsoring people within the organisation

•

Organisational ‘clout’ and ‘power competence’ within the business

Some issues to consider from your scores •

Where are your most significant strengths as a sponsor of talent and potential?

•

What are your major development needs, in the role of sponsor?

•

How could you best develop – and further capitalise – upon your strengths?

•


•

What will be your first specific action steps now, in developing yourself, further, as a sponsor of capable people?


156

1.

Talk through your scores with your boss, and ask for specific feedback from him or her, about how they see you as a sponsor, identifying ‘plusses’ and ‘minuses’ about your sponsoring ability and commitment

2.

Discuss the results of this profile with your own people, and ask them for reactions and specific feedback. How do they look upon you as a sponsor? What are their views of your strengths and areas for development as a champion of others’ talents?

3.

Where you manage managers – give them the instrument and use the results as a basis for a review of sponsoring practices within your function, domain, or team, as a whole

4.

Develop sponsoring improvement action plans for yourself and any others in your team for whom the instrument suggests development needs and action

5.

Give your boss a copy of the instrument, and give him specific feedback on his/her scores. Suggest how he/she might develop and improve as a champion and sponsor of people’s talents and potential within the business.

Empowerment – the freedom to be and do more Empowering as an aspect of enabling Delegation Release of power Functional maturity Ownership The power in empowerment The ‘feel’ of empowerment Summary Activities: theory into action Power and empowerment profile

7

chapter 7

Chapter 7 Empowerment – the freedom to be and do more

‘The paradox for leaders is that as they give power away, so they become more personal...they work through example and the evident authenticity of their words and action. Their leadership becomes more compelling and the people with whom they are waking are more likely to respond because they feel more responsible, more committed and more fulfilled in their work.’ George Binney and Colin Willams, Leaning into the Future

‘Empowerment is, in essence, the transfer of power within organisations, from top management to middle management and so on, all the way to the front line employees’ Dr David Clutterbuck, The Power of Empowerment

Empowering as an aspect of enabling Just, as we saw in Chapter 3, enabling is a process of interweaving coaching, mentoring, sponsoring and empowering, so empowerment, itself, depends for success, upon the effective interplay of at least four processes, or factors, as Figure 32 suggests:

158

•

Effective delegation

•

Appropriate release of power

•

Adequate functional maturity

•

Preparedness to take ownership

} }

The Manager’s effectiveness

The job holder’s effectiveness

CHAPTER 7: EMPOWERMENT – THE FREEDOM TO BE AND DO MORE

Effective delegation (‘framework’ and parameters)

Adequate functional maturity (can do – will do)

Appropriate release of power and ownership

Readiness to take ownership

Job-holder effectiveness

Manager effectiveness

Key factors

Figure 32 Rather than differentiating between interpersonal and organisational factors, as in previous chapters, it seemed more appropriate, in considering empowerment, to distinguish between the manager’s initiatives and commitment, and those of the job-holder. Obviously, empowering, to be satisfying to both parties – and to produce the results, of which it can be capable, for the organisation – must be based upon mutual respect, trust and confidence. There are reciprocal rights and obligations – as in most relationships – but in empowerment, such mutuality is also bounded by the demands, constraints and expectations of other organisational and professional imperatives. Customers, suppliers, shareholders, functions up to and down the line, various legislative and watch-dog bodies, as well as other stakeholders all, in various ways, influence and limit the mandatory-discretionary boundaries of people at work. Thus empowerment is essentially, as described in Chapter 2, a matter of appropriate freedom, within professional, moral and legal frameworks, where autonomy, necessarily, is tempered by mature judgement, a sense of responsibility and wisdom (see Figure 5 Chapter 2). The four key elements identified, therefore, in Figure 32 are:

159


Delegation Where there is clear agreement and mutual understanding of: •

Role, task or assignment objectives (see the two acronyms – ‘S.M.A.R.T’ and ‘G.R.O.W.’ in Chapter 2)

•

Expected outcomes and results

•

Requisite, statutory and financial parameters, measures and other deterministic criteria, or imperatives

•

Organisational and managerial support and resources

•

The essential mandatory vs discretionary boundaries defining the scope of responsibility, authority, personal accountability and autonomy.

Delegation, however, means so much more than handing over well-defined areas of work and specific tasks. It may also be about surrendering spheres of influence, personal kudos and job satisfaction, and the giving up, therefore, of sources of recognition, reward and pleasure. It can involve, too – at a psychological level – giving up part of oneself and not knowing just what it will look like when it eventually comes back. On a more utilitarian plain, delegating work may also strip away excuses for not doing the jobs that really should be done, and hence there can be a measure of alibi preservation and protectionism in failing to delegate as thoroughly as reality demands. Underlying delegation may be yet another fear – ‘will he or she make a better job of it, than I did?’

Release of power Transferring power to others – ‘letting go, so that others can get going’ – even more than delegation, has major implications of loss of influence, ‘territory’, esteem, public recognition and the giving up of other forms of psychological reward. There is, too, a greater sense of surrendering, or being out of control, as power is shifted from one person, or group, to other people. Empowering and so increasing others’ freedom and autonomy inevitably may increase the potential for disagreement about the ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘with whom’ and ‘how’ of a particular role, project, or task. With a progressive shift of power – and power bases – there needs to be a commensurate increase in personal ownership and accountability on the part of those accepting the greater freedom. Enhancing the ‘will’, as well as the ‘skill’ of those being empowered is where the

160


enabling manager, necessarily, will be adopting the encouraging, supportive role of coach, mentor and/or sponsor – according to the situation and environment. In a culture, where there is not merely acceptance, but approval, of the admission – ‘I don’t understand’ there is much more likely to be the taking up of necessary responsibility for and ownership of problems, solutions and outcomes as power is increasingly conferred. An environment where, in new situations especially, or when faced with options of high uncertainty, people are actively encouraged to experiment and take risks – without unnecessary blame for resultant failure – is likely to prove more supportive and conducive to real empowerment than will typical ‘blame cultures’. Inevitably, for empowerment to become a workable practical reality, people need to feel free to: •

Question and challenge doctrinaire management

•

Put to the test traditional taboos and shibboleths (which are often sanctified by no more than prejudice, fear or the passage of time)

•

‘Bust’ some constraining and impeding boundaries – and preserve, build upon and integrate the best of established practices, past roots and hard-earned reputation along with current priorities and the setting of the future direction of the enterprise.

Functional maturity ‘Functioning’ or ‘functional maturity’ is primarily a measure of – ‘Can they do the job – and will they do it?’ The ‘can’ is an evaluation of the individual’s knowledge, understanding, skill and experience for a particular role, or assignment. The ‘will’ is an assessment of their confidence to fulfil a role or do a job successfully and also their personal commitment to and accountability for success. Thus, functional maturity is an amalgam of skill and will, of competence, confidence and commitment, and thus is both behavioural and attitudinal. Professor Jim Dowd’s (1) of IMD point that ‘knowledge is not behaviour’, is fundamental in the transfer of power. Knowing something – even understanding it – is not a guarantee that necessary action will be taken; that is essentially a matter of ‘will’, combined with ‘skill’ – a behavioural and attitudinal synthesis of capability generally termed ‘competency’. From a manager’s point of view, there has to be compatibility and balance between the extent of power transferred to the individual – and that person’s functional maturity. While the process

161


of empowering – supported by appropriate coaching – will, of itself, enhance the competence and confidence of the individual, there is significant and needless danger in playing the role of the ‘counterfeit coach’ and handing over autonomy and power irresponsibly (see Figure 9, Chapter 2). From the evidence available, it would seem that this is largely how Nick Leeson managed to get himself, his superiors – and Barings itself – into so much hot water.

Ownership Taking ownership of a role, project or task, arguably, is an aspect of functional maturity. In this chapter, it is meant to stand alone simply to underline the significance of ‘owning’ territory, autonomy and accountability for outcomes and results. It is important to emphasise, too, the need for people to ‘own’ their personal effectiveness, performance, learning – and development – if empowerment is to become a reality and deliver the outcomes of which it is potentially capable, in the right hands (and hearts). Ownership involves initiating decisions and courses of action – not merely waiting obediently, compliantly and passively for someone else to take the lead. Ownership includes, too, willingly and actively adding value, personally, to a role or task and their deliverables – not merely fulfilling statutory, or contractual, obligations. Ownership – as an expression of professionalism, excellence and personal responsibility involves behaving as both an exemplary manager and an inspirational leader by: •

Doing what is ‘above and beyond the call of duty’

•

Surpassing personal high standards of achievement

•

Actively enlisting others’ brainpower, knowledge and experience in producing results

•

Excelling – and helping others to excel – in performance and results

•

Overcoming obstacles, barriers and roadblocks that others could use as justifiable reasons for non-delivery

•

Some self-sacrifice, in the interests of others, the organisation – and end results

•

Leading and managing, by example – the most credible of all commands is ‘do as I do’.

Chapters 3 – 6, inclusive, are primarily concerned with the key factors and core competences of enabling. In particular, Chapters 3,4 and 5 – Coaching, Mentoring and Sponsoring, deal with enabling roles and behaviours which underpin and reinforce empowerment. By way of a reminder, Figure 33 shows the ‘circles of activity and capability’ which serve to enhance, strengthen and make possible effective empowering:

162


Empowerment – reinforced by enabling Sponsoring

Organisational ‘do how’

Championing

Gatekeeping

Protecting

Coaching End results and outcomes

Awareness and responsibility

Tasks and projects

Competences and confidence

Mentoring Delegation

Functional maturity

Career progression

Potential and personal development

Relationships and politics

Roles and ‘style’

EMPOWERMENT Release of power

Ownership

Figure 33 The necessary synthesis, and interweaving of coaching, sponsorship and mentoring, together with their, variously, individual and collective interaction with empowerment – in turn, substantiated by the manager’s delegation and job holder’s ownership – is represented diagrammatically, by Figure 34. Here, coaching is seen, fundamentally, as helping to improve people’s performance in a task, job or role. Mentoring is summarised as the conscious development of people, to the limits of their potential. Sponsorship – the other key enabling activity – is defined, in summary, as publicising, promoting, ‘pushing’ and protecting talent, in order to enable it to flourish with maximum impact and benefit, for the individual and for the business.

163


Underpinning empowerment with enabling

Delegation EMPOWERMENT Ownership

Coaching

Sponsorship

Mentoring

Improving

Publicising, promoting,

Developing people

performance in the

pushing and

to the limits

task, job or role

protecting talent

of their potential

Figure 34

164


The power in empowerment Being empowered – having the necessary power to do what needs to be done – has its roots in many sources, for example: 1. Positional power – that of job, role, status and the extent of authority conferred by superiors, in terms of budget, resource, headcount and decision parameter 2.

The authority of expertise

– vested in a person’s competence, specialist contributive knowledge and skills, or particular – often unique – expertise – sometimes called ‘sapiential authority’

3.

Informational power

– the possession of significant facts, data and information that enhance an individual’s influence, status and power personally and professionally

4.

Influence (‘personal – power’) – the quality of alliances, ‘sponsorship’ and committed support from others, including ‘political’ backing, gained by ‘networking’, interpersonal skill and the development of important ‘power’ relationships

5.

Commitment (‘ownership’)

– individuals support and ‘own’ what they create and the commitment that stems from a genuine sense of ‘ownership’ often gives a person power, vested in territory, territorial ‘rights’ and possession.

6.

Power of integrity

– the individual’s trustworthiness, honesty and personal credibility, in the way they conduct themselves and their business – frequently termed ‘moral authority.’

Authority and power may be bestowed, derived, ascribed, assumed, developed, or otherwise acquired, while influence is normally directly – or indirectly – attributable to personal behaviour, approach, competence and individual personality – as well as deriving from the formal and informal roles, or status, of people within an organisation.

165


Sources 1 and 3 above – positional authority and informational authority – emerge largely (though wholly) from the organisational structure, formal role set and enabling style of a manager. However, there are also initiatives that can be taken by individuals – and within hierarchical relationships – to increase and enhance both their positional and informational power by, for example: •

Influencing ‘upwards’, to secure approval and ratification of role enrichment and/or increased power base

•

Putting into practice – by taking positive initiatives, or boundary testing – the old maxim: ‘Always assume you have the authority of the Chief Executive, until proved otherwise’

•

Demonstrably developing both core and specific competences to the point of undeniable excellence

•

Building increased centrality into one’s role and increasing the relevance, legitimacy and necessity of its contributive outputs

•

Adding value, wherever practicable and appropriate to other’s contributions, and/or to outcomes likely to ensure competitive advantage or significant cost reduction.

Clearly, the various sources of executive power and empowerment can interact in many different ways, to create unique strengths in a manager’s – or director’s – ‘style’ and, consequently, operational effectiveness. However, what might be identified as the ‘3 Cs’ of empowerment and personal power are their: CREDIBILITY – as an executive, as a professional and as a leader of people Credibility stems largely from the power of a person’s: •

Expertise

•

Integrity

•

Influence

– backed up by the other three sources of power and authority. COMMITMENT – and demonstrated personal responsibility and accountability for their actions and results. Commitment has many of its roots in the power of the individual’s :

166

•

Sense of ownership

•

Expertise and ‘conscience professionelle’


•

Position and positional obligations

– reinforced by the other three sources of power and authority. COMMUNICATIONS – ie their communicative competence and the impact they make, on both events and people, as a consequence. Communications as a source of authority and influence arise out of the power of someone’s: •

Position and formal status/roles

•

Information quality and significance

•

Influence and personal ‘clout’

•

Integrity and trustworthiness

– similarly underpinned by the other sources of personal power. In an age of constant change and perpetual transformation, an increasingly relevant source of power is emerging – that of the transformed organisation. Not simply an opportunist’s charter, ‘power of the transformed organisation’ is essentially that power, authority to act, or scope for initiative which arise out of the: •

Re-structuring and re-organisation of the business

•

Disappearance, blurring or weakening of traditional role, territorial and functional boundaries

•

Emergence of new roles, alliances, coalitions and cross-functional working

•

Shifting priorities, imperatives or profit/delivery criteria – for example, added value, intrusive competitor activity, or new technology – that require new initiatives, behaviours and interactions

•

Appointment of new and departure of existing people and, hence, the creation of different visions, missions, values and goals.

Ultimately, however, it is the productive synergy of the interplay of effective leadership and management, allied to transformed organisation power, that can generate in the intelligent use of power, which is most likely to make empowerment work. Figure 35 is a diagrammatic representation of the interactive nature of leadership and management, power of the transformed organisation and the six sources of power in making empowerment a reality. By definition, ‘effective’ leadership and management, necessarily, includes the core enabling processes of coaching, monitoring and sponsorship.

167


The ‘power competence’ behind empowerment

Ef

fe

ve l cti

ship and ma eader nag em en t Positional authority

Po w int er of egr ity

f ro we e Po ertis p ex

Power and empowerment Po inf wer orm of ati on

f ro p we Po ershi n ow Personal power

Po

we

ro

f th

e t r a n s fo r m e d o r g a

n

ti isa

on

Figure 35

The ‘feel’ of empowerment So, what does it feel like to be empowered and to work in an empowering organisation? Of the many books that have appeared on empowerment, throughout the last decade, one of the most graphically exciting – and which conveys a convincing impression of what being empowered really feels like – is Valerie Stewart’s The David Solution (2). Key themes are ‘busting’ the bureaucracy and liberating talent through empowerment, and as Charles Handy has said of it ‘…a nugget of wisdom on every page’.

168


Client comments about empowerment in action – as the result of consultancy assignments – parallel, or confirm, so many of Stewart’s conclusions, eg: ‘You know it’s (empowerment) working when folks down the line start pushing us with their initiatives’ – CEO, Packaging Company. ‘One thing I’ve particularly noticed is that the noise level is now a lot higher and there’s a feeling of excitement around the place’ – Manufacturing Director, Specialist Fasteners Company ‘A lot of the old status symbols have disappeared. We’re much less conscious about rank and position than we used to be’ – Sales and Marketing Manager, Beverage Industry ‘Today, people are more self-regulating. They control the progress of things, themselves – not us’ – Plant Engineer, Engineering Company Generally, experience and ‘feel’ of empowerment in a business indicate the following changes from pre-empowering days: •

More egalitarianism and less reliance upon status differentials, with consequent greater accessibility of senior management

•

Values and principles as self regulatory processes, rather than ‘standing orders’, or rules

•

Significantly more dialogue, than previous unilateral decision making with a greater option generation before decisions are finalised

•

More direct face to face or oral communication, and less formal, protective memowriting

•

Shift from ‘who went wrong – whom do we blame?’ to – ‘what went wrong how do we best prevent it from happening again? What can we learn from this?’

•

More concentration on seeking and exploiting opportunities than solving problems

•

Less fear of failure and more preparedness to experiment and take less thoroughly calculated risks (variable experience here, however).

Empowerment is about having the necessary amount of freedom to identify, explore and put into effect, optimum solutions – be they tactical, operational or strategic – not simply being told what to do. Decisions need to be kept as close to the action as is practicable and feasible. Reality means that major decisions especially – particularly those which are mandatory and strategic – will be presented as fait accompli down through the organisation. However, as many chief executives and directors have learned – implementation is likely to be far more effective, with value added to the original decision, when the ‘what’ is clearly

169


communicated, but the ‘how’ is left to the discretionary competence and accountability of those responsible for the action. Empowerment – like many people – possesses enormous potential, but equally, as with some talented individuals, its potential can be severely restricted in the role of ‘solo player’. Empowerment comes into its own, as do many individuals of potential, when in the role of ‘team player’. In the case of empowerment, this means when operating as part of the wider, greater organisational synthesis of coaching, mentoring, sponsoring – and, above all – effective, professional leadership and management. It means, too, in practice, that empowered, self-determining teams can also be far more effective, in many circumstances, than the sum total of capability of a collection of individuals each operating with personal autonomy. Similarly, this chapter does not stand alone, and is clearly a part of the total book but, in particular, it should be read and reflected upon in conjunction with Chapter 2, Enabling – freedom within a framework. In the next chapter, we shall look more closely at the impact of organised enabling upon effective team and inter-team working. Increasingly, in ‘flatter’, less hierarchical organisation structures, effective value-added output, designed to give competitive advantage is best achieved by empowered multi-disciplined, cross-functional working, and this will be one of the core themes of Chapter 8.

170


Summary Empowerment, for all practical purposes, is about ensuring that the necessary power to act, with optimal effectiveness, is transferred to those best able to use that power in a particular role, project or task. Both the successful transfer – and exercise – of conferred power are dependent upon the competence, confidence and commitment of the giver and receiver of power. Four key factors, at least, underpin the appropriateness and transfer of power from manager, or coach, to others, ie:

Manager commitment 1.

Delegation – and the clear spelling out and agreement of roles, tasks, assignments, parameters and expected outcomes, or results.

2.

Release of power – which involves managers in relinquishing power of choice, decision and action and actively transferring it to others so that they may act with autonomy and a requisite level of freedom.

Job-holder commitment 3.

Functional maturity – which means possessing the requisite skill and will to do the job effectively, for which power is being transferred.

4.

Ownership – which includes ownership of one’s own performance, development and results, as well as taking up – and using, effectively – the transferred power and resultant freedom to act. Ownership is about taking initiatives, adding value to outcomes – not simply complying with prescriptions or fulfilling statutory obligations, however conscientiously.

Chapter 7 has sought to put empowerment into perspective as a core aspect of the process of enabling. However, it is the supportive interaction with empowerment of coaching, mentoring and sponsorship, as good leadership and management practice, that give the transfer of power the best chance of working successfully. To be effective, empowerment needs the interwoven support of: •

Coaching, aimed at improving performance in a role, task or job

•

Mentoring, focused on the development of individuals to the limits of their recognisable potential

•

Sponsorship, directed towards publicising, promoting, pushing and protecting talent so that it may flourish with optimum impact for the business and the individual.

171


The ‘power’ underlying empowerment springs from many sources – organisational and personal. Those which are extrinsic to the person are primarily: 1.

Positional power, vested in the role job status and degree of formal authority conferred by rank and or decision parameter

2.

Informational power, which stems from the importance of facts, data and information to which an individual has access.

Sources of authority and power intrinsic to the individual include: 1.

The authority of expertise and competence which resides in a person’s capability and often unique or scarce skills and expertise

2.

‘Personal power’, or influence deriving from an individual’s interpersonal skills, ‘style’ and development of significant relationships within and outwith an organisation

3.

Commitment and ‘ownership’ which is the power that stems from ‘territory’ and territorial rights, and hence the possession of a domain, role or job

4.

Power of integrity – sometimes referred to as ‘moral authority’ arises out of a person’s honesty, trustworthiness and the integrity with which they conduct business and relate to others.

People who work in an environment of genuine empowerment for example, clients engaged in developing empowered team working, state: ‘There’s a real ‘buzz’ around the place – you can feel the excitement’ – CEO, Packaging Company. ‘The two Jims and I (Manufacturing and Finance – together with Sales and Marketing) get together and talk things through regularly, and we come up with our own, joint, solutions’ – Team Leaders, High-tech fasteners. ‘We’ll often stay over, at the end of the day, and work out, ourselves, what we will do about a problem we’ve got to face tomorrow’ – Supervisor (and operatives) Electronics company. ‘It’s just so different now, from what it used to be like, even two years ago. We get so much more useful work done and waste a hell of a lot less time than we did’ – Junior engineer, REC.

172


Three important fundamentals (the ‘three Cs’) in empowerment and the use of power are: 1.

Credibility – based upon relevant expertise, integrity and personal influencing skills

2.

Commitment – which stems from an individual’s sense of ownership, expertise, ‘conscience professionelle’ and acceptance of the obligations of position and political effectiveness

3.

Communications – that is the manager’s ability to strike the right action chords with people, and so convey relevant critical understanding about expectations, requisite outcomes, results and accountability.

Empowering individuals, in order to generate greater ownership, commitment and enhanced personal performance – and especially to make more productive use of their ‘tacit knowledge’ – is recognised as essential to organisational success. However, it is the creation – and sensitively orchestrated use – of the empowered energy and dedication of a critical mass of people, within an organisation, that both initiates and sustains the committed drive so vital to collective winning performance. In the process of organisational transformation, especially, it is the productive, creative interplay and interweaving of enabling leadership and empowered ‘followership’ that appears to generate the strongest guarantee of corporate success in the longer, as well as shorter, term.

173



Coaching, mentoring and sponsoring may all be viewed as enabling processes that can make effective empowerment a reality – given appropriate delegation. Look at your scores, together with any feedback from others, for each of the instruments, from Chapters 4, 5 and 6. What do the collective results tell you about: •

Your management and leadership styles, as an ‘enabling manager’?

•

What, specifically, you need to begin to do differently, to ensure that empowerment will work in the areas you manage?

2.

Complete the Power and Empowerment Profile at the end of this chapter, and respond to the questions about the results.

3.

Following exploration and discussion of the outcomes of questions 1 and 2 (above) what is your strategy – and action plan – to develop effective, empowered working within your managerial domain? Who will lead on, or do ‘what’, ‘by when’ and in connection with whom? What are your plans for follow-up and follow through?

174

Power and Empowerment Profile

5

profile 5

Power and Empowerment Profile Background to the Power and Empowerment Profile The various sources of executive power and empowerment can interact in many different ways to generate unique strengths in a manager’s – or director’s – ‘style’ and operational effectiveness. However, three core factors in anyone’s power profile must be that person’s: Credibility – as an executive, as a professional and as a leader of people Commitment – and demonstrated personal accountability for their actions and results Communication – competences and the impact they make as a consequence. The Power and Empowerment Profile, developed by Michael Williams & Partners, provides the relevant insights into an individuals behaviour when conducting business, in a relative and comparative form. Please complete the questionnaire as objectively, accurately and realistically as you can.

Now complete the profile questionnaire Using the following rating scale, identify the extent of power and empowerment that you have in your current job. Allocate a score of ‘0’ if you have no power and a score of ‘5’ if you have total power. Use the scores ‘1’ to ‘4’ to indicate how much power you have if it is not total power. EXTENT OF POWER

Example

None

0

A

POSITIONAL AUTHORITY

1

Authority over budget and control of ‘spend’, i.e. make appropriate financial decisions.

2

Selection, promotion and appointment of staff

In this example the total score would be seven.

176

1

Total

2

3

4

✗ ✗

5

POWER AND EMPOWERMENT PROFILE

EXTENT OF POWER None

A

POSITIONAL AUTHORITY

1

Authority over budget and control of ‘spend’,

Total

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

1

2

3

4

5

i.e. make appropriate financial decisions. 2

Selection, promotion and appointment of staff.

3

Removal of staff, from role.

4

Appraisal and development of staff.

5

Reward of staff.

6

Quality and extent of empowerment from superiors generally

B

AUTHORITY OF EXPERTISE

7

Possess specialist/unique skills necessary to succeed in the job.

8

Have extensive job knowledge and broad/depth experience.

9

Possess important competences which my superiors may not have.

10

Am highly qualified vocationally and/or professionally.

11

Regarded as someone who is good in a crisis and who handles the unexpected well.

12

Seen as possessing high potential, especially creativity and conceptual competence.

177



C

INFORMATION AUTHORITY

13

Have access to information generally

Total

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

1

2

3

4

5

unavailable to others. 14

Have access to information which may be denied to my superiors.

15

Possess important organisational and ‘political’ information and knowledge.

16

Am in a privileged position for informing/ communicating to others.

17

Have access to key decision makers and/or am a focal point in decision making.

18

Possess clear vision and the ability to conceptualise the bridge between the current and the requisite state of the business.

D 19

INFLUENCE (‘PERSONAL POWER’) ‘Networking’ extensively to gain support, informally, through alliances at all levels.

20 21

Socialising with superiors and others. Degree to which people do what you want, because they like and/or respect you.

22

Practise MBWA (‘management-by-walkabout’) regularly and give recognition to people, personally, face-to-face.

23

Am a member/official of relevant influential steering groups, task forces and/or committees, or ‘in-groups’.

24

Possess perceived ‘political’ awareness and competence and handle organisational ‘politics’ effectively.

178



E

OWNERSHIP AND COMMITMENT

25

Extent to which I participate in defining the

Total

0

1

2

3

4

5

0

1

2

3

4

5

vision and goals of the department/business. 26

Degree to which I say ‘what’ will be done.

27

Extent to which I say ‘how’ it will be done.

28

Degree to which I propose, initiate and implement change.

29

Extent to which I take initiatives of real significance in my job.

30

Degree to which I feel personal ‘ownership’ of my job and its success, or failure, in results.

F 31

AUTHORITY OF INTEGRITY Extent to which people believe in me, as well as believe me.

32

Degree to which subordinates trust me and feel ‘safe’ about what I do.

33

The trust peers and colleagues put in me and what I do.

34

The extent of trust placed in me and my actions, by superiors.

35

My self-rating for integrity and ‘straight dealing’.

36

How others, at work, who really know me would rate me for trustworthiness and consistent dependability.

179


Count up your scores for each of the six principal sources of power and empowerment and write them in the appropriate boxes below. Put your overall rating in the Total Score box. A Positional Authority

your score

(max 30)

B Authority of Expertise

your score

(max 30)

C Informational Authority

your score

(max 30)

D Influence (‘Personal Power’)

your score

(max 30)

E Ownership and Commitment

your score

(max 30)

F Authority of Integrity

your score

(max 30)

Your total Power and Empowerment Score

(max 180)

To give yourself an ‘instant picture’ of the sources of authority and influence you use in order to gain empowerment and exercise power, please transfer your scores from above and plot them against the appropriate axes (A. Position Power, etc) on the Profile wheel (see opposite).

180


Team empowerment The ‘wheel profile’ will show not only your personal style in using power, but also the patterns of empowerment and power usage within a team. By producing transparencies from each ‘wheel’ and then superimposing them one upon another a team, or group, power style and likely extent of empowerment may be readily identified.

181


In The Power and Empowerment Profile Credibility stems largely from the power of an individual’s: B

Expertise

D

Influence

F

Integrity

}

Backed up by the power of their Position, Information and Ownership

(Max score 90) Your Credibility score (‘B’ + ‘D’ + ‘F’) Commitment has many of its roots in the power of a person’s: A

Position

B

Expertise

E

Ownership

}

Underpinned by the power of their Integrity, Influence and Information

(Max score 90) Your Commitment score (‘A’ + ‘B’ + ‘E’) Communication competences arise out of the power of someone’s: A

Position

C

Information

D

Influence

}

Supported by the power of their Integrity, Ownership and Expertise

(Max score 90) Your Communication score (‘A’ + ‘C’ + ‘D’).

Your credibility, commitment and communication profile (3) Transfer the scores both for the core factors: Credibility, Commitment and Communication and for the Power factors: Positional Authority, Expertise, etc and place them on the chart opposite.

182


183


Scores and score ranges High

Average

Low

A

Positional Authority

25-30

16-24

15-0

B

Authority of Expertise

26-30

20-25

19-0

C

Informational Authority

20-30

15-19

14-0

D

Influence (Personal Power)

25-30

17-24

16-0

E

Commitment and Ownership

26-30

20-25

19-0

F

Authority of Integrity

27-30

21-26

20-0

Significance of high and low scores 1. Low scores Bearing in mind the relatively high scores, representing typical ‘average’ ratings, some low scores may emerge as very low indeed, e.g. around the range 3-8. Generally this is because of the following reasons: •

Very low Positional Authority scores – even among hierarchically relatively senior people – often occur because the respondent does not actually control or directly manage other people – and so has no direct ‘say’ in other people’s rewards, promotion or work activities.

During conditions of rapid or fundamental organisational change – temporary shifts in positional authority may result in similarly low scores.

184

•

Very low scores in the Authority of Expertise – in otherwise intelligent, qualified people may be the result of a move into a very new function where the individual may not be familiar with a particular technology or specialist area of work, (but will possess high ‘general’ expertise or some other, specialist, skill).

•

Scores which are low under the heading of Informal Authority may be the result of the respondent simply not being privy to confidential data. It may also mean that everyone is party to the same information – hence no sense of uniqueness or exclusivity of knowledge.

•

Very low scores in both Influence and Commitment can mean that the individual is new to a particular role, function or organisation and so does not yet really feel part of the ‘weft and warp’, nor fully integrated into the organisational culture.


There may, however, be other more significant personal – and professional – reasons for low scores under either or both of the above headings, and these usually need to be explored with respondents and their superiors. •

Very low scores under Integrity may mean that such individuals see themselves as ‘pragmatic’, ‘expedient’, ‘direct’ and ‘political realists’ and hence believe they operate accordingly in what they may perceive to be personal survival conditions. However, there may be more fundamental personal reasons that, normally, will need to be talked through with respondents who rated themselves low under Integrity.

2. High scores High scores may simply represent a confident – but realistic – belief in one’s personal skill, commitment, professional integrity and level of application within a particular role in an organisation. They may, equally, reflect a need to portray oneself in a better than realistic light and, hence, will contain an element (significant, or otherwise) of motivational distortion. What is important is that any perceived, or felt anomalies, between actual behaviour and known track-record, on the one hand – and score ratings, on the other – are talked through with the individual, so that there is realistic congruence between self-images, ‘ego ideals’, others’ perceptions and – reality. The Power and Empowerment Profile is essentially a development tool – not a device for recruiting and selecting people. It is intended to stimulate dialogue and debate – as well as identifying development needs – in order to enhance people’s recognition and appropriate use of power, in fulfilling their roles effectively. It is also aimed at enhancing the quality of necessary empowerment within a business, where legitimate autonomy, self-direction and professional initiative are likely to contribute to the growth of people and the well-being of the business.

Authority, influence and power: the bases of empowerment Being empowered means having the necessary power to do what needs to be done, and it has its roots in many sources. Wishing to avoid ‘fadism’, but recognising the growing tendency world-wide towards empowered working, The Power and Empowerment Profile was first launched in 1993. This followed research and ‘field trials’ to validate the instrument, with some four hundred managers and professionals. Since 1993 the instrument has been used with approximately a further 2,000 respondents from the same norm group.

185


The Power and Empowerment Profile seeks to identify the degree to which people believe they have – and exercise – the power to influence events and make things happen, within their organisations. Six different dimensions of power are examined in the instrument. They are: Positional authority (organisational power) That of job, role, status and the extent of authority conferred by superiors, in terms of budget, headcount and decision parameter. Expertise (power of competence) Vested in a person’s competence, specialist knowledge and skills, or particular, often unique, expertise. Informational power The possession of facts, data and information, that enhance an individual’s influence and power personally and professionally. Influence (personal power) The quality of alliances, ‘sponsorship’ and committed support from others, including ‘political’ backing, gained by ‘networking’, interpersonal skill and relationships. Commitment (power of ownership) Individuals support and ‘own’ what they create and the commitment that stems from a real sense of ‘ownership’ gives a person power. Integrity (moral authority) The individual’s trustworthiness, honesty and personal credibility in the way they conduct themselves and their business.

186


Implications of the scores Following initial scoring of each of the six aspects of power and empowerment respondents are: 1

Invited to consider eight questions about the implications of their scores in terms of: •

Identifying strengths and weaknesses in their perception and use of power developing and using more effectively the quality of empowerment within their own operational domains

•

Personal development actions they need to take to use power and empower others – more appropriately and effectively.

2

Provided with the means for an instant ‘picture’ of their power and empowering pattern which can readily be compared with those of colleagues to produce a team profile of how power is used or not used within a particular group function or department.

3

Able to move to so called ‘second order’ behaviours and assess, via their scores of the initial six aspects of power, the strength of their: •

Power credibility. (Expertise, influence and integrity)

•

Personal commitment. (Position, expertise and ownership)

•

Quality of communication. (Position, information and influence)

Combined, first and second order scores, therefore, provide respondents – and their sponsors – with a comprehensive picture of: •

Their understanding of the realities of power in an organisation

•

The degree to which they appear able – and willing – to USE power appropriately

•

The extent to which they realistically empower others.

187


Your use of power and empowerment From your scores, please consider the following factors about your own use of power and empowerment:

188

1

Which are your strongest power bases at work?

2

Which are your weakest?

3

What should you now do to develop and capitalise upon your strongest power base(s) by enhancing your own empowerment?

4

What action will you take to improve things in your weakest areas of power, in order to increase your own empowerment?

5

What should you do, specifically, to improve the extent to which your superiors empower you? i

In yourself?

ii

With them?

6

What are the implications of your scores about how YOU empower those who report to you?

7

What specific actions should you now begin to take to increase the extent of your empowerment of our people?

8

Any other thoughts, concerns or intentions?

Empowered team working The age of the ‘infopreneur’ Learning and knowledge management in enabling Organisational learning - some key issues Summary Activities: theory into action

8

chapter 8

Chapter 8 Empowered team working

‘The perpetual questions for us are – what have we learned today? And – how we’re going to put that learning to the most effective use?’ Chief Executive, International pump manufacturer

‘Knowledge has become the capital of a developed economy’ Peter Drucker, The New Realities, Mandarin.

The age of the ‘infopreneur’ In an age when so much is uncertain yet so much is possible, intelligence – in the shape of the intelligent acquisition, processing and use of knowledge – becomes paramount. The challenges of mushrooming IT, proliferating data and consequent information overload that characterise our age, dramatically emphasise the importance of creating and synthesising contributive knowledge from a multiplicity of information sources. Already, the information age is seeing the emergence of what is now being termed the ‘infopreneur’ – a latter-day entrepreneur who understands and uses IT intelligently, and who adds necessary productive value to both information and knowledge. Such a role sees a necessary shift from the classical question – What do managers do? – to one which asks – What intelligent initiatives and contribution outcomes do we expect from the infopreneur, or ‘knowledge manager’?

190

CHAPTER 8: EMPOWERED TEAM WORKING

Inevitably, this latter question begs another one – ‘What competences, freedom and operational ‘style’ are essential for today’s knowledge managers to contribute and interact with optimum effect, within highly competitive information-driven organisations? Fundamental to both the emerging roles – and necessary competences – of infopreneurs, or knowledge managers, is the function of what Zuboff (1) has called ‘informating’ – that is, the process of: 1.

Creating and providing essential information and continually adding value to it, in the shape of meaning

2.

Giving far greater transparency, or visibility, to activities that previously appeared partially, or wholly opaque, through the provision of more information

3.

Explicitly, or implicitly, enabling necessary transactions to take place between people, more effectively, as a consequence of 1 and 2 (above).

The information revolution and its influence upon business and organisations represent some of the most significant far-reaching changes that managers have ever had to face. The full impact of IT, and the information explosion upon companies, institutions, their ways of working and the decision making processes of their managements, are still not completely understood. What is more, the pace, nature and interplay of changes – especially those of change consequent upon change – continue to outrun the rate of learning and comprehension of so many of those directly involved in the revolution. For example, the transformation, in so many companies and institutions, from traditional hierarchical organisation to the multiplicity of dynamic, interacting networks that make up so-called virtual organisation create both enormous challenges, but seemingly limitless choice and opportunity for leaders and ‘followers’, alike. Increasingly intellectual and reflective decision-making modes place greater importance upon more exploratory, creative option generation, than do traditional unilateralist, authoritarian and essentially numbers-based, expedient decisions and actions. Obviously, the bottom-line is still, ultimately, a crucial measure of people’s performance and the health of the organisation of which they are members. However, information – and derived personal knowledge – add necessary perspective, context and alternative scenarios, whereby numbers become simply one of many criteria, or indices, of effective contributive effort. Longer term objectives, integrative vision and the added conceptual value of informed reflection together lead to purpose, goals and a sense of direction way above and beyond the next end of month figures and attendant short-termism, however important those numbers might be.

191


The shift from closely managed and choreographed activities to empowered – and effectively ‘enabled’ – exploration, experimentation and knowledge-based initiative represents one of the principal, effective managerial responses to the information revolution and the intensively competitive market arenas that it continues to spawn. The message to management is a simple and unequivocal one – fail to recognise, understand and keep up with what is going on and you will be out of the race. Keep ahead of the information and knowledge game – and act accordingly – and you are likely to hold your place as a frontrunner. You certainly will have an odds-on chance of remaining in the ‘race’, better than those who rely on pious hopes, ignorance, or ‘ostrich’ tactics. In the age of the knowledge manager, the key imperative on individual and collective learning is that which applies to both IT hardware and software – upgrade, upgrade and upgrade again.

Learning and knowledge management in enabling Over recent years, some interesting and relevant parallels between TQM philosophies and practices, and those that underpin effective organisational learning and the management of knowledge, have emerged. Undoubtedly some of the connections between TQM and the functioning of a true learning organisation have their roots in Japanese management philosophy and the work of Masaaki Imai (2) on the one hand and Nonaku and Takeuchi (3) on the other. Developing the theme of Japanese quality management philosophy and its potential relevance to organisational learning – Masaaki Imai’s down-to-earth and very readable book – Kaizen – identifies several TQM ‘best practices’ that apply equally to the management of learning, knowledge and hence, intelligence, within an organisation:

192

1.

TQM (learning) is company-wide and everyone is involved – it is neither the prerogative nor responsibility of a select few. (Author’s italics)

2.

There is continuous emphasis upon related education and training

3.

Quality circles (learning) activities are continually taking place so that improvement is a conscious process involving analysis, prescription, action and follow through

4.

There are TQC (learning) audits which monitor practices, problems, changes and outcomes

5.

There is frequent promotion of TQM (learning) which keeps key issues – and commitment – alive.


The fundamental message in Kaizen – the arts and practice of continuous improvement – is equally applicable to learning and the development of knowledge and competence – ‘Do it better; make it better. Improve it even if it ain’t broke, because if we don’t, we can’t compete with those who do’. Equally, one might add – at the risk of offending the ‘numbers junkies’ and bottom line devotees – an adaptation of Masaaki’s dictum on continuous improvement: ‘learning first – not profit first’. Perhaps, however, a more realistic and apposite philosophy, in current competitive markets, where survival represents the difference between success and failure, would be: ‘first the learning – then the profit.’ Reverting to the source theme of Japanese management philosophy and practice, Taiichi Ohno’s exhortation applied to TQM in Toyota: ‘use your head – not your money’ – is even more relevant, when directed towards the creation, use and development of informational intelligence, based upon people’s knowledge, within an organisation. As Peter Senge (4) identified, the real significance of learning – especially that within an organisation – lies in the resultant logical behavioural follow through and changes in what people do. Those changes – and the follow through – derive from the processes (and skills) of reflection, mutual inquiry and discussion – including coaching, and, above all, enabling, where appropriate. Working some two decades or more before Senge, Professor Reg Revans’ (5) research produced similar conclusions about learning and behaviour modification, namely: 1.

Spontaneous and apposite questioning, personal investigation and experimentation potentially develop a high level of awareness, knowledge and skill

2.

The above investigative, experiential and discursive processes are the ones most likely to produce the greatest behavioural change. This, Revans concluded, was largely due to the interpretation of personal experience and knowledge gained by the learner

3.

Learning is frequently enhanced by feedback from fellow learners who reflect upon and discuss with each other mutual insights and learning experiences.

Revans’ well known action learning model aimed at generating experiences to confront would-be learners with what are essentially organisational challenges, problems and constraints

193


– and therefore realities of their working environment – with a view to evolving and developing creative alternative solutions to achieving their goals. Though perhaps less integrated, organisationally, than some current theories and approaches to managed learning, and the development of collective intelligence, Revans’ timeless models continue to provide an effective, invaluable contribution to our understanding of how ‘learning organisations’ need to function, in order to justify such a description. The collective ‘intelligence’ and thus ‘organisational learning’ of a business, or institution, is the developing outcome of many different inputs and disciplines. Each of these, in turn, adds its own distinctive, yet interrelated value to the continuing development of people and the organisation of which they are members. For example, there are at least five different aspects to organisational learning that need to be regularly explored, drawn upon and integrated, one with another, in order to develop and further the knowledge and intelligence of a business, ie:

1.

People •

Sociological issues: leadership, power and power structures, hierarchy, roles and role-relationships, team working and general organisation theory

•

Anthropological/morality issues: organisational culture, sub-cultures and macrocultures. Organisational traditions, values, beliefs, integrity and morality

•

Psychological issues: organisational behaviour, issues of style, competence, knowledge and learning. Development of people and their expertise.

2.

Strategy Strategic interaction between the organisation and its environment, markets, customers and competition, competitive advantage. Transformation.

3.

194

Information and Information Systems •

Management information systems as a foundation to organisational ‘architecture’

•

IT, information generation, processing and utilisation

•

Adding necessary value to information

•

The emergence of ‘virtual organisation’, based upon systems networks.


4.

Economic •

Productivity: efficiency indices and criteria, effective manufacturing management and manufacturing support services. Innovation, technology and techniques

•

Profitability: cost effective operation, contribution, profit, overheads, fixed and variable costs.

5.

Learning itself •

Conversion of personal ‘tacit’ knowledge to explicit (organisational) knowledge of individuals and then collectively, in groups

•

Development of individual and then group ‘cognitive maps’ and understanding. Integration of understanding, experience, theory and actual behaviour (‘words into necessary action’).

The above is by no means an exhaustive list. However, it should provide an indication of some of the major sources of learning for individuals and work groups to pursue consciously, in developing necessary knowledge and understanding about the organisation, its business and its future. Organisational learning is, primarily, about creating, developing and using willing contributive synergy and empowered collective intelligence, especially in the conscious transformation and progression of the organisation. Figure 36 shows the four fundamental and complementary sources of organisational imperatives – market place, information, capability and integrity – that increasingly are driving the learning, knowledge, effectiveness and development of a business or institution in today’s world.

195


The four key imperatives that drive organisational learning PERFORMANCE

1. Marketplace • vision • customers Feedback

Feedback

• competitors • technology

2. Information • info systems

3. Capability • vision • objectives

• info networking • info ‘managers’ • info cultures

4. Integrity • vision • people

• strategy/business plan

• values/commitment

• competences/delivery

• moral strategies

Figure 36 Organisations each have a past, a present and a future. A crucial aspect of organisational learning and, therefore, the development of the business, is the conscious integration of past roots with current role and vision – and transformation plans for the future. A frequently ignored aspect of the organisation – especially under the day-to-day pressures of uncertainty, achieving targets and dictates external to the business – is its tradition and the integrity of an identity and track-record that stems from previous performance and relationships.

196


As Feldman (5) rightly states: ‘Tradition makes possible the investigation of moral stability or the lack of it over time in the experience of organisation members’. (Author’s italics). In the armed forces, the powerful symbolism of regimental colours, especially when afforded an appropriate sense of occasion, by formal display, focuses present expectations of behaviour and performance upon often hard-won achievements of the past. In today’s somewhat cynical, self-seeking and not very public spirited climate, we need to draw more upon the shared moral traditions and hall marks of integrity of our organisations’ pasts. There is no doubt, too, that we can equally learn much from a recognisable lack of morality, or the amorality of an institution, or business’s previous performance and conduct. The trick, it would seem, is to create and develop a source of respect, association and identity among an organisation’s members which approximates to, yet is more objectively critical than, regimental pride – and which fits the needs of businesses in the information age. In conditions of rapid change, uncertainty and paradox, where new precedents, practices and policies may need to be quickly implemented, there is likely to be commensurate ethical confusion, or ambiguity, about what is a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ decision, unless recognisable traditional moral values serve as links between past and present conduct. Many businesses tend to be emotional and moral deserts, where there is, at best, a utilitarian fealty, but little real loyalty and sense of pride in the organisation’s traditions, past achievements and current goals. Where the opposite is the case, there is usually a noticeable ‘buzz’ around the place and more obvious energy, commitment and sense of identity. And this requires effective, credible leadership and people who – as Seamus Heaney, the great Irish poet (6) so eloquently put it – ‘…deliberately chose not to bury his head in local sand and, as a consequence faced the choices and moral challenges of his time with solitude, honesty and rare courage’. (Author’s italics). Without going back to Plato, Socrates and Aristotle – or even to Kant and Hume – there is often a great deal of previous experience and action from an organisation’s own past that parallels and can be drawn upon to cope with present and future challenges. There is also the relevant learning experience of contemporaries that may provide guidelines on ethical strategies and conduct, that are based upon moral values as well as economic criteria. Real politik and, somewhat perversely, the power of autonomy and freedom of choice, that come with empowerment, may disregard ethical (and other) imperatives in the interests of expediency, greed, gain, success and fame. Politics and vested interests undoubtedly can distort, manipulate and/or suppress information which is crucial to setting or maintaining appropriate ethical and, indeed, legal standards. Barings is, perhaps, a prime example of this. What is crucial

197


is that the professional and collective integrity of the organisation is acknowledged as a significant source of learning – individually and collectively – in developing both the current conduct of business as well as in shaping its future. Tradition – that can lend moral weight to proposed strategies and actions – may well prove to be a source of necessary reflection and guidelines in the process of enabling and providing appropriate frameworks within which freedom can safely and justifiably flourish. It can equally indicate to the enabling manager what, of the past, needs to be avoided, guarded against, or eliminated, from the present and future of the business.

Organisational learning – some key issues In their article, Strategy as Stretch and Leverage, Gary Hamel and C K Prahalad (7) make the telling point for today’s market arenas, that being a learning organisation is, in itself, not enough. To maintain competitive advantage a company must learn more efficiently than do its competitors. Thus in business, as in war, one’s ‘intelligence’ – and use of such knowledge – has to be better than that of one’s enemies. Knowing the ‘ground’ better than the competition does, having greater depth and breadth of understanding of all relevant aspects of the current situation, developments and, therefore, likely future moves, is becoming increasingly vital to success in the information age. Having, therefore, the best information available from which can be derived the necessary ‘field intelligence’, and being able to bring about the highest levels of productive synthesis between people’s tacit knowledge – and the explicit knowledge formally generated by and within the business – are now emerging as major prerequisite to effective strategy and action. This chapter has set out to indicate the principal aspects and imperatives that ‘shape’ the nature and form of organisational learning. In addition to these, however, are certain issues about learning itself – especially as a collective, integrated and ‘organisational’ process. They include – the seven factors identified in figure 37.

198


Issues in ‘organisational’ learning

Different levels of learning eg:

Differing pace of learning ie:

strategic

fast

operational

slow

Coaching eg:

Learning ‘styles’ ie:

availability/commitment

experiential

competence

cognitive

Tradition what should be retained Cultural ‘deadwood’ what should be discarded

credibility

Senge’s 5 ‘disciplines’

Organisational transformation

mental models

and the learning curve

shared vision personal mastery team learning systems thinking

Figure 37 Organisational learning is inevitably more complex than the individual acquisition of knowledge, understanding and skill, largely because of the logistics associated with the numbers of people involved and the differences between them, in terms of: •

Personal ‘cognitive mapping’ and ways of making sense of the world

•

Intelligence and perception

•

Roles and functions within the business

•

Emotional maturity

•

Values and beliefs

199


Taking the seven issues of organisational learning in Figure 37, the following represent areas for exploration and understanding for managers and specialists whose task is to catalyse and facilitate team and cross-functional learning and, therefore, the development of ‘corporate intelligence’.

1.

Different levels of learning Here, the problems are those of identifying and reconciling differences in understanding, perception and vision, between those who think and act strategically and those who operate at more tactical levels. The process of aligning people with the business – and creating a synergy of knowledge and action between people from differing hierarchical levels or functions, requires a high level of integrative competence on the part of those charged with bringing about effective organisational learning. Without integrated synergy and sufficient alignment of knowledge and understanding, the various levels/functions/units of the organisation are likely to act unilaterally, independent of one another – and often on increasingly diverging tacks.

2

Differing pace of learning Essentially, this is a matter of ensuring that sufficient pace is given to the learning to keep people at least up with – and preferably ahead of – changes and developments, that affect them within and outwith the business. In many instances, encountered on consultancy assignments, attempts at ensuring collective learning represent the classical inadequacy of – ‘too little, too infrequently and too late’. Rarely in management do the same sanctions attach to failures to develop and educate people, within business as apply to failure to meet deadlines, quality standards or numerical targets – hence the frequent lack of energy and commitment put into the conscious development of collective learning. Willing synergy and contributive competence depend upon appropriately paced and timed learning – as well as upon motivation, drive and professional, credible enabling leadership. Too often, the energy and a willingness to confront new challenges go off at half cock because of lack of appropriate prior know-how, or informed anticipation.

200


3.

Learning ‘styles’ Frequently, the task of the enabling manager is that of trying to reconcile differing styles of learning, eg: a)

The practical with the theoretical, or conceptual

b)

The experiential and action-orientated with the cognitive and reflective.

Some people want – and need – to think, reflect and evaluate, before committing to a decision and action. Others, equally naturally, prefer to act and then think, postexperience, about what they will subsequently do differently. Others are happy working at a practical, even ‘nuts-and-bolts’ level, while their counterparts can only really feel comfortable with a decision that fits a well developed theory, construct, or conceptual ‘model’. Yet again, there is the difference between people who are at their best when working with painstaking accuracy and precision, to three places of decimals. Detailed facts become – as a Chief Executive of a major electricity authority put it – ‘my emotional and intellectual teddy bear’. One of their major problems is that of working comfortably with – or even seeing as credible – people who operate by ‘gut feel’, and who are at their happiest getting things ‘about 80% right’, within the perspective and context of ‘the big picture’. Yet, if organisational learning is to flourish, all of these disparate styles need to be brought together, to achieve levels of common understanding and knowledge among people with very different approaches to interpreting what is essentially a shared work-a-day world, and where all their roles are essentially complementary, collaborative and mutually contributive.

4.

Tradition and cultural ‘deadwood’ Earlier, in this chapter, the issue of learning from an organisation’s traditions and achievements was raised and explored. Essentially, the issue is one of recognising, building on and developing the best of past practice, or conduct while using it as a guide for moving more certainly into the future. By contrast, ‘cultural deadwood’ represents the currently inappropriate, no longer valid clutter of ‘tribal roots’, customs and ‘sacred cows’ that have become (and probably always were) anachronisms. It includes, too, those protective taboos, aimed at the unrealistic preservation of a status quo long past its sell-by date, and the shibboleths and mantras of yesterday’s man.

201


Such passé heroes approach to leadership has something of the ring of Cynthia Payne’s (8) description of her own time – evolving activities – ‘In my 30s I was doing it, in my 40s I was organising it and, in my 60s, unfortunately, I’m only going to talk about it…’ The term ‘deadwood’ is used deliberately here, as an analogy, since deadwood can generally be removed, safely, by intelligent pruning without damaging the root structure or impeding new growth. Not only is effective pruning non-impeding – it actively encourages stronger, new growth. As an issue of collective, or organisational learning, the problem usually becomes one of ‘unlearning’ or discarding the clutter, emotional and judgmental ‘baggage’, of old messages, in order to learn, adopt and build on, collectively, the requisite new order of ideas, values and courses of action. Unlearning, however, may often be far harder a process to manage, than learning itself.

5.

Senge’s five ‘disciplines’ of the learning organisation Peter Senge’s cogent and well supported thesis on the ‘learning organisation’ inevitably moves into the arenas of organisational learning, as such. His five so-called ‘disciplines’ offer fruitful ground for managers and their colleagues to develop the quality of what can become enhanced, integrated collective learning within the organisation. Senge’s ideas also provide clues about how to work through the process of unlearning old habits, ie: i)

The development of coherent, recognisable ‘mental models’ that people can understand and relate to. The shared learning and development of such models, in collaborative experimentation and practice, helps to stimulate necessary collective awareness and learning.

ii)

The fostering of shared vision, based upon common expectations, aspirations and ambitions for the organisation – and people’s contributive roles within it.

iii) Personal mastery, ie the need to become highly proficient in chosen areas of work, with a measure of professional competence which consistently delivers, and against criteria which amount to current ‘best practice’. iv) Team learning. Senge acknowledges the fundamental value of collective learning within a team, so that joint working and mutual support become more possible, as a result of common understanding, common language and common goals. In facilitating and progressing team learning, enabling managers really come into their own, as coaches, catalysts and synthesisers of knowledge. v)

202

Systems thinking businesses and institutions. As businesses move from being bounded hierarchies to ‘virtual organisations’ of flexible transient networks, so ‘systems thinking’ and the ability to conceptualise interactions as information


networks, and visualise the organisation as a whole, increasingly become key competences among managers and specialists in the information age. Here, the process of ‘informating’, described earlier in Chapter 6, similarly emerges, more and more, as a necessary managerial competence.

6.

Organisational transformation and the learning curve A major issue is that of stimulating, triggering and capitalising upon learning insights as the organisation transforms. Enabling, as a catalytic or facilitating process, at such a stage, becomes one of identifying where collective knowledge – and behaviour – appear to be out of kilter with the emerging, or requisite, direction of the transforming organisation. ‘Retreats’, ‘away days’ or workshops become crucial interventions and necessary opportunities to take stock of what is happening, and to determine whether understanding and knowledge are leading the processes of change, or whether change is out of hand and events are in control of the business.

7.

Coaching Chapter 4 was largely devoted to coaching, but in the context of ‘organisational learning’ the coaching manager may also need to assume the role of catalyst within and between functions to stimulate and progress necessary collective learning. Transformation, especially, comes about when willing synergy is integrated and mobilised among a critical mass of people, who share common vision, goals and complementary contributive skills. In such conditions, the enabling role of coach becomes that of orchestrator, or conductor, as well as those of stimulator and trigger of learning. Increasingly, it would seem, these are becoming the essential functions of the coaching manager, in the information age, where change and transformation are among the main constants in business. Stimulating relevant organisational learning and fostering its continuing development are thus key functions of the enabling manager, especially within rapidly adapting and responsive businesses, where breaking new ground are the strategic and operational norms. Self-managed teams and self-managed cross-functional working where there is a high degree of networking – ‘interdependence with independence’ – increasingly represent necessary ways of operating within business. The shift from bounded, hierarchical to virtual organisation and the paramount role of information and information systems all emphasise the major importance of collective learning as a critical influence in achieving business success – and adaptive survival.

203


Effective team working and cross-functional operation are, more than ever, coming to be dependent upon: 1.

A clear sense of purpose and direction

2.

Appropriately defined end results and requisite outcomes

3.

Interdependence of roles and tasks

4.

Rich diversity of complementary contributive competences

5.

Common understanding and common language with continuity of collective learning as a team, or group

6.

Efficient information resources

7.

Effective, enabling leadership.

Research (9) suggests that among the indicators of the collective learning capacity – and ‘health’ – of a team or group are the following: 1.

The developing openness to increasing sources of feedback on performance, behaviour and effectiveness

2.

The readiness to widen contact relationships and obligations beyond existing boundaries

3.

The readiness to modify or discard established practices, customs, values and techniques, take in new information, and adopt new ways of operating, making decisions and resolving problems

4.

The capacity to generate and explore alternative goals and add new ones, and act with requisite initiative and autonomy within a ‘framework’ of interdependence

5.

The capacity to differentiate into transient or temporary sub-sections, while retaining any necessary sense of collective unity for the team or organisation, as a whole

6.

The readiness to take in and integrate new members, and both convey to them – and take from them – traditions, values and customs, and re-shape the culture of the group where appropriate

7.

The capacity to formulate the team, or group’s experience and learning, and to convey these to other groups, to facilitate necessary wider, collective learning.

The enabling manager, therefore – in the roles of coach and leader – needs to understand just what influences both the learning and the operational effectiveness of a team, group or organisation. Enabling involves, too, being able to distinguish between what the team, or

204


organisation, possesses – and lacks – in terms of its learning capacity, readiness to develop and operational effectiveness. The effective enabling leader, or coach, must be able to initiate – and follow through – appropriate remedial, exploitive and/or developmental action to fill in the ‘gaps’ and capitalise, further, upon the strengths of the team , group or organisation. Finally – and essentially – effective enabling presupposes that the leader, or coaching manager, has an adequate understanding of learning processes, and actively acknowledges the crucial importance of people taking ownership of their own learning and, ultimately, their own performance as a working group.

205


Summary This chapter concentrates on the power of collective, preferably organisation-wide, learning, whereby a critical mass of people, within a business, or institution, are all learning together and sharing experiences, perceptions and increasing awareness and skill. This is particularly crucial both in today’s highly critical and competitive markets, and in what is in effect, the ‘information age’. The process of ‘informating’ emerges as vital in increasing people’s personal – and organisational – knowledge. It is also essential in the acquisition, development and use of an organisation’s collective intelligence and understanding of its strategic – and operational – environment. The terms ‘learning organisation’ and ‘organisational learning’ are used here because they are increasingly becoming common currency among today’s informed managers and professionals. However, it is people who learn and who possess and use knowledge which results in either successful action – or failure. The role of enabling manager, or leader, is viewed here as crucial in stimulating, triggering and fostering collective (as well as individual) knowledge as a precursor to collaborative interdependent effective action. To help in this process, Chapter 8 identifies: 1.

2.

206

Five basic aspects of developing ‘collective intelligence’ and organisational learning, ie: •

People

•

Strategy

•

Information and information systems

•

Economic/financial aspects

•

Learning itself.

Seven key issues in initiating and maintaining effective organisational learning, ie: •

Different levels of learning

•

Differing paces of learning

•

Learning ‘styles’

•

Tradition and cultural ‘deadwood’

•

Senge’s five ‘disciplines’ of the learning organisation

•

Organisational transformation and a commensurate learning curve


•

3.

Coaching and the process of ‘enabling’ or ‘catalysing’ organisational (collective) learning.

Seven indicators of the collective learning capacity of a team or group, ie: •

Increasing openness to feedback

•

Readiness to widen relationships and obligations

•

Readiness to discard old values and practices and take on new ones

•

Capacity to generate and explore alternative, or new goals

•

Capacity to break up into transient sub-groups, but retain collective unity

•

Readiness to take in new members and both integrate and learn from them

•

Capacity to formulate – and convey – the group’s experience and learning.

Chapter 8 also makes reference to the value of an organisation’s (or team’s) traditions, past achievements, and typical ethical stances as guidelines/indicators of how to behave and act currently and in the future. The role of the enabling leader, or coach, within the context of ‘driving’ collective learning, is to: 1.

Understand what influences, enhances or impedes the collective learning and, ultimately, effectiveness of the team, or organisation

2.

Identify what the team/organisation currently possesses or lacks in pursuing collective knowledge and learning

3.

Take appropriate action – with follow through – to make good the ‘gaps’ and capitalise, further, upon the strengths in ‘informating’ and learning

4.

Ensure that the team or group takes ownership of its own learning – and, ultimately, its effectiveness as a working entity.

207


Activities: theory into action Organisational learning represents new, untrodden ground in most businesses and institutions. There is, however, a good deal of information readily available on ‘learning organisations’, though less on organisational learning, as such. 1.

2.

Read – and summarise – the following, and present a paper to your manager and colleagues, indicating the value adding contribution of organisational learning to your business/institution: •

Chapter 8

•

Senge, PM. (The Fifth Discipline) The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation, Century Business, 1990

•

Zuboff, S. In the Age of the Smart Machine, Heinemann, 1988. Read this one selectively, it is a very substantial text

•

Mayo, A & Lank, E. The Power of Learning. A guide to gaining competitive advantage, Institute of Personnel and Development, 1994

•

Garratt, Bob. The Learning Organisation, Fontana/Collins, 1987

•

Pearn, M Roderick, C and Mulrooney, C. Learning Organisations in Practice, McGraw-Hill, 1995

Together with the same managerial group – and anyone else whose support you need (within, or outwith, the organisation), develop a strategy for organisational learning within your business/institution. Consider, in your implementation plan -

208

•

The pressure/drive for this major change you are proposing to introduce

•

How you will ‘sell’ it – credibility, trust, sharing the vision, ‘political’ issues

•

Key areas of support and ‘sponsorship’ inside/outside the organisation

•

Intended outcomes – and consequences – to avoid/minimise

•

First actionable steps – with follow through, to ensure that what is intended, actually happens.


Remember! Fear of failure will be one of the greatest inhibitors to initiating such a programme. So, ‘small starts’ – but well planned and co-ordinated – to provide mutual support and interdependence, will probably be the effective strategy and, as someone once said: ‘If life gives you lemons – make lemonade’!

209

Blank page

Leading by enabling in the information age Interdependence with independence The new era of uncertainty The ‘heroic journey’ - a path without end Activities: theory into action

9

chapter 9

Chapter 9 Leading by enabling in the information age

‘Winning means being unafraid to lose.’ Fran Tarkenton

‘The most important message to emerge so far is the need for strategic vision. Without vision, an organisation cannot expect to make the most of the information age.’ The Intelligent Manager. Steve Morris, John Meed and Neil Svenson London: Pitman 1996

Interdependence with independence A fundamental leadership issue, in the information age, is that of leading people – and organisations – in what White, Hodgson and Crainer (1) term ‘complex, rapidly changing social systems’. The emergence of virtual organisations, deriving from successive, adaptive and, therefore, changing networks of people, make redundant so many of our traditional and conventional approaches to managing and leading relatively stable structures, or hierarchies. The growing shift from ‘corporation’ to enterprise marks a major transition in the life cycle of so many businesses and institutions, where increased autonomy within interdependent ‘frameworks’ metaphorically parallels the function of the ‘holon’ within the whole. Such frameworks, based upon the successful functioning of interdependence, with independence, require leaders – and ‘followers’ – who are capable of taking ownership and responsibility for their own immediate domain and its outputs, but who are similarly competent at mediating between other comparably, empowered and autonomous units.

212

C H A P T E R 9 : L E A D I N G B Y E N A B L I N G I N T H E I N F O R M AT I O N A G E

Networking – what Zuboff (2) (paraphrased) has defined as the gaining of necessary goodwill from others to support people, tasks or projects, by oral communication is emerging as another key competence in today’s information-driven organisations. As Roy Sheppard (3) suggests – good networkers, as opposed to ‘party pests’ tend to create and become part of ‘virtuous circles’ where they both give out and receive help and, in so doing, continue to build on their contacts. Networking involves the skills of enabling and catalysing the development and continuous improvement of working relationships – operating, as it were, according to the principles and practices of a form of ‘social kaizen’, but without the searching diagnosis! Effective networking may accept the dictum that ‘knowledge is power’, but acknowledge by their practices and actions that shared knowledge is far less excluding and much more powerful, ie – ‘I can’t; you can’t – but WE can’. Apart from helping to generate much needed goodwill, effective networking provides opportunities for: 1.

Sounding boards to explore a whole range of issues, concerns and expectations

2.

‘Informating’ and keeping one another updated on information generally, and developments in particular, by way of informal, ‘listening posts’

3.

Dialogues to enhance both self – and mutual – awareness

4.

Removing or reducing inconsistency and increasing congruence or alignment with others’ activities and contributions

5.

‘Matchmaking’ and putting in touch with one another people who might not otherwise make contact – to their mutual loss or that of the organisation

6.

Generating ‘peak communication’ (4) between people, where there is productive ‘quality synergy’ – as distinct from merely conversation

7.

Strengthening ‘centrality’ and acquiring influence within the organisation, or a particular role-set. However, there is often a fine line between networking and ‘politicking’, and what is perceived to be manipulation – or worse, so that the development of influence has to be undertaken with full awareness of the potential downside and possible loss of trust

8.

The creation of what Morris, Meed and Svensen (5) term – ‘Co-operative selfsufficiency’, where self-reliance needs to alternate, appropriately, with collaborative mutual support.

213


The new era of uncertainty Uncertainty, paradox and discontinuity – increasingly and irrevocably characteristic of our age – have been described as – ‘a celebration of paradigm shift’. A new revolutionary order of things has already replaced what many people in leadership roles could not have envisaged as disappearing, even less than a decade ago. As White, Hodgson and Crainer (6) state – ‘The new era of uncertainty, the one we label white water, will not come to an end. It is not a blip. It is here to stay’. If knowledge is power, then information may be seen as an antidote to uncertainty – it certainly has the capacity to act as a reassuring placebo. It fulfils, too, the more professional role of providing people with the necessary factual wherewithal to diagnose, prescribe and take decisions and action; by reducing ignorance, ambiguity and confusion. Because of its current and continuing paramount importance, organisations will increasingly: •

Develop their use of – and capacity to generate and process – information

•

Invest in state-of-the-art IT

•

Access information from new, wider and more varied sources

•

Rely more and more heavily upon it to achieve – and maintain – competitive advantage

•

Use it to add value, wherever practicable and, in turn, add value to it, by creating meaning

•

Generally invest it with significance – strategically and operationally – especially those organisations which regard themselves as global players and who have ‘world class’ aspirations.

More coherent routes towards – and subsequent pathways through – uncertainty are developed as the result of vision, with its aspirational, as well as inspirational elements. As Bennis, Parikh and Lessem (7) affirm in Beyond Leadership – the new paradigm manager is primarily acting in the role of transformational leader. He or she is not a developer first and foremost, but essentially a revolutionary. In such a role, the leader acts as an explorer or adventurer – not merely a traveller and less so a passenger – and, in so doing, commits to a dramatic journey of ‘truly heroic proportion’.

214


A relevant and clearly articulated vision represents, in essence, the next foreseeable destination in that heroic journey. In a world where accurate, valid prediction of future states of affairs is becoming more and more unrealistic, vision is likely to provide at least the following: 1.

Emotional and moral, as well as intellectual, sense of direction for an organisation and its people

2.

Opportunities to see – and give – sharper definition to potential

3.

Scope to imagine possible alternative transformation goals and strategies

4.

The opportunity to synthesise, disparate, complementary and even seemingly contradictory aspects of the business, by creating possible new unity, from apparent paradox

5.

Serving to crystallise purpose and direction, and so provide a source of motivation for people

6.

An accurate reflection of the realities of the time.

Much more than simply a ‘jumble of superlatives’, a vision needs to crystallise and grow out of a feel for an organisation’s roots and traditions and out of its current activities, as well as serving as the desired future state and shape of the business. As Dr Carol O’Connor (8) says: ‘Vision is the quality which allows us to see potential and imagine how this can transform everyday life’. Increasingly, it seems, the world is becoming a place where there is less certainty, little security, but almost limitless choice and opportunity. Hand in hand with most opportunity goes risk – especially in what are essentially arenas of ‘productive uncertainty’. In such conditions, particularly, opportunity may well… 1.

Emerge unexpectedly, or suddenly, calling for swift, decisive and courageous action

2.

Appear ‘in disguise’ and not be immediately recognisable

3.

Occur haphazardly, randomly or fortuitously and not in logical sequence or patterns

4.

Arrive as a ‘one-off’, or short-term aberration, so catching people off guard, or unprepared

5.

Involve considerable change and ‘hassle’.

215


Arriving in any of these forms, opportunity can so easily generate, in people: •

Fear, risk aversion and resistance to leaving comfort zones

•

Preservation and protection of the status quo

•

Anxiety and the inertia of doubt, suspicion and defensiveness.

Vision, derived from the powerful and optimistic synergy of sophisticated information, respect for knowledge and strategic competence – as well as soundly crystallised aspiration – represents one of the best ways of creating the future, in conditions of uncertainty. In the information age, revisionary competence and the ability to create, communicate and share a picture, based upon ambition and aspiration – as well as realism – of the future of an organisation, will remain one of the major strengths of effective leaders. Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus (9) emphasise the centrality of envisioning, as a core leadership competence in the following way, ‘If there is a spark of genius in the leadership function at all, it must lie in this transcending ability… to assemble out of the variety of image, signals, forecasts and alternatives – a clearly articulated vision of the future that is at once simple, easily understood, clearly desirable and energising’. Vision is more than an end in itself – it provides context and perspective for the strategies of the organisation and the endeavours of people. In times of pressure, change and uncertainty, it can also act as a rallying point, especially where it is underpinned with strong shared values and beliefs. Collaborative, often cross-functional working and amoeba-like networks are leading to more flexible, adaptive and boundaryless operational styles. To be fully effective, such organic and fluid work styles need to be linked by the reciprocal professional rights and obligations of shared ownership and interdependence within the wider organisation. At strategic and operational levels, such forms of adaptable working, perforce, are in a state of post-revolutionary evolution, where the opportunities for continuous learning and the development of knowledge are paramount. In such environments opportunities exist, too, for new counter-productive boundaries, elitism, exclusion and other dysfunctional behaviours. New identities, new, often assumed, territorial rights and new (often equally assumed) authority can create major disruptive or even destructive forces within ‘flatter’, networked and organic organisations. Hirschhorn and Gilmore (10) describe the origins, form and outcomes of many of these new boundaries which may emerge in the so-called ‘boundaryless’ company. They make the point that, though previous work roles, boundaries and rigid hierarchies – as defined by the formal

216


organisation structure – might have changed, to provide for more adaptive working, the old differences in authority, competence and talent have not necessarily just disappeared. At their most fundamental, organisations represent the interplay of people, power and politics. As people struggle to define and enact new roles, for themselves, within more flexible organisations, self-preservation, protection of territory and power-play will all continue to make their presence felt. The challenges, therefore, facing visionary leaders include not only enabling well-motivated interdependent teams to work even more effectively, but to work through – and catalyse solutions – to the psychological, political, role and identity boundaries that beg such questions as: 1.

Who is now in charge of what and in charge of whom?

2.

Who now does what and in which circumstances?

3.

Who is accountable for what?

4.

Who, exactly, are ‘we’ and who is/isn’t part of ‘us’?

5.

So what’s in it for me/us?

Dramatic re-mapping and re-positioning of traditional, or existing organisational boundaries, has taken place – and will continue to occur – in businesses and institutions. This is an inevitable outcome of continuous organisational transformation and adaptation. The processes of ‘enabling’ in such conditions become more: 1.

Complex and less readily understood

2.

Dependent upon an understanding of what transformation is about within a particular organisation and its strategic/operational arenas

3.

Reliant upon a variety – and synergy – of different disciplines

4.

The responsibility of an ‘enabling team’ – not simply that of one manager or leader

5.

One in which people, themselves, have both accountability and ownership of the enabling.

217


The ‘heroic journey’ – a path without end At a time when it has become partly an issue of fashionable political correctness to play down heroes and talk about ‘post-heroic’ leadership, it was refreshing to see a powerful attack on such doctrinaire thinking, by George MacDonald Fraser (11) who wrote – ‘Of one thing I’m sure: my country needs heroes now… and I don’t see any coming up’. It has become equally fashionable to devalue or ridicule what was worthy – as well as what was shameful – of the past, with a convenient lack of critical distinction between the two. More than ever before, it would seem, now IS the time for heroes, in business and among our professions and great institutions. If the world we are living and working in is going to become progressively tougher, more ambiguous and less certain, then not only do we need people with well developed intellects, high strategic awareness and visionary competence, as our leaders – we need them to have courage and resolve, too. As organisations function less and less as ‘corporations’ and more and more as enterprises, and embark upon ‘heroic journeys’, then it seems only fitting that they should be led by people who possess the courage and spirit of adventurers, explorers and pathfinders. Vision – with its connotations of aspiration, opportunity and thus risk taking – but without any requirement for heroism, sounds like a potential contradiction in terms. Taking two dictionary definitions (12) of the words – ‘hero’ and ‘heroine’, it would seem that there is little to quarrel about the value and relevance of such people, in terms of political correctness – except perhaps among the socially and commercially naive, ie: 1.

Man /woman of superhuman qualities

2.

Man/woman admired for achievements and noble qualities.

Managing today, in order to shape the organisation’s tomorrow involves:

218

1.

Ensuring the continuous transformation of the business, in the most appropriate directions

2.

Frequent informed scenario building, evaluation and adaptive re-building

3.

Making sense of and imposing some coherence and order upon the, at times, capricious link between speculative opportunism and uncertainty, in trying to read the future intelligently

4.

Taking major decisions about the shape, direction, positioning and profitability of the organisation, on the basis of frequently imperfect information and knowledge


5.

Continually relating the organisation to the changing, sometimes contradictory, imperatives and paradoxes of its wider environment

6.

Doing all of the above, while maintaining competitive advantage and profit, securing people’s willing commitments – and running the business, day to day, in the meantime.

– Hardly stuff for the fainthearted! With the changing shape and nature of organisations and new patterns of working, the ‘heroic journey’ involves, too, the core challenges of managing the business, while managing people’s potential – the very essence of enabling and organisational learning. Chapters 4 and 5 cover respectively, the coaching and mentoring responsibilities and competences of the manager, as a developer of talent, short – and longer – term. More importantly, they offer ideas for harnessing and using people’s talents, within the context of both the enhanced personal contribution of the individual and also the fulfilment of their potential. The tools and techniques identified in these two chapters, especially, are aimed at opening up necessary dialogues between people, to create freer-flowing exchanges of ideas, expectations and feedback. They are offered, too, as a means of not only developing people, but also of demonstrating that value is put on their knowledge – and the learning that is involved in enhancing their knowledge, skill and personal contribution. Being a hero or heroine is thus not simply a matter of always leading from the front, grabbing personal kudos, or playing the pied piper. In today’s world of empowerment, taking ownership and assuming greater degrees of autonomy, it is also about leading from behind – catalysing, facilitating and enabling, so that others may learn, succeed and take credit for success. As somebody once said – ‘The greatest danger faced by the British soldier is an enthusiastic officer with a map’! Among several famous leaders who have made more or less the same point, was the Marquis de Lafayette (13) the French General, who assisted Washington in ejecting us from North America and who said – ‘I am their leader, therefore I must follow them’. Figure 38 summarises the fundamental ‘underpinning’ role of enabling, in helping to develop skill and knowledge, create real empowerment and facilitate higher performance.

219


Enabling – developing knowledge, skill and empowered performance Performance

Empowerment

Knowledge and skill

Enabling

Sponsoring

Coaching

Mentoring

Figure 38 The heroic journey in the information age, with its often indeterminate destinations and staging posts poses many problems and challenges for more traditional thinking and deferential managers who are used to working by the rules of hierarchical propriety. High emphasis upon ‘fittingness’, rank, status and formal authority often aimed at maintaining ‘distance’ and control just won’t work in today’s more egalitarian, open climate. To increase influence and credibility, some formal authority has to be abandoned. No longer does the size of epaulets – or the number of ‘stars’ on them – necessarily equate with contributive knowledge and competence. Moreover, as Tom Cannon (14) points out – ‘Collaboration is more important than control’ and – ‘performance is more important than deference’. Organisational hierarchies are diminishing and the virtual organisation, of information-based networks, is assuming greater meaning and significance, as a more effective vehicle for decision-

220


making competitive advantage and profitability. Where this is the case, leadership styles which persist in reflecting structures that no longer exist, are seen as an anachronism and come to be viewed with derision, contempt or resentment. Authoritarianism is being replaced by authoritative expertise, knowledge and competence, and at a time when the radical is coming to be viewed as the norm, innovative, creative and well informed knowledge workers are coming into their own. What is more, they expect to be led by people who value, respect and know how to release and use their knowledge. Probably, never before, has the leadership competence of so many managers been so critically put to the test, as it is in the information age. In strongly interdependent organisations, enabling is no longer the prerogative of the individual leader or manager – although personal enabling will continue to be an essential set of competences for leaders, as individuals. Now, enabling strategies are essential to catalyse and facilitate organisational learning, the development and use of collective knowledge and the effective interaction of multifunctional networks. Managing and using information effectively has already emerged as a hallmark of effective leadership and management, and enabling is likely to take the form of informating and adding value (meaning) to information. People in organisations give of their best, and collaborate, when they have confidence in leadership which values their contribution – by actions, not merely the ‘right’ words. In times of change, especially, winning hearts and minds is a matter of trust, credibility and mutual respect. None of these are gained by ‘quick fixes’ nor necessarily ‘on the cheap’. Commitment is a process based upon reciprocal rights – and obligations – and while the styles of leadership need to adapt to the changing norms of society, as well as business, the credibility of leaders remains rooted in the example they set. That is – and will remain – the essence of the leader’s heroic journey. Good luck – enjoy the journey!

221



Consider your own organisation, in the context of the ‘information age’: •

What significant changes have occurred, in the way it operates, over the last five years?

•

What are the major changes in its market place?

•

What does it need to DO, differently, to respond more effectively to these changes: –

operationally?

–

strategically?

Develop – and run – in conjunction with senior colleagues, a team building workshop, with action plans, covering the above issues. Build in, review and follow-through dates to the action plans 2.

How effective is the use of information – and IT – in your organisation? How well is information converted into effective, usable knowledge among, especially, key roles – and used? How well is ‘informating’ developed and used, ie – how effective are people – particularly ‘key players’ – in adding value, in the form of meaning, to information within the organisation? Develop, in conjunction with senior colleagues and management information professionals, a seminar/‘teach-in’ to explore these issues, and come up with improvement strategies and practices.

3.

Consider the process of ‘collective enabling’ and its effect upon cross-functional working, information networking, as well as upon collective learning and development. How would you and your colleagues develop and begin to implement a process of collective enabling whereby management, generally, becomes a more effective and integrated coaching/enabling and empowering resource to the organisation?

222

•

Jointly, develop a strategy and plan to do this

•

Implement, monitor, review and follow through.


4.

Together with your colleagues, develop an effective, motivating vision that fulfils the functions of visions, identified in Chapter 9. Consider: •

How you will create it – from what sources?

•

How you will keep it ‘live’ and meaningful?

•

How you will review and adapt it as conditions change?

Consider ethical and emotional issues as well as aspirational and organisational factors, in its development. 5.

Consider your own personal development over the next 2/3 years, in terms of equipping yourself for the next stage(s) in your ‘heroic journey’. •

What key competences do you need to hone up, develop, acquire?

•

Any skills/knowledge that you need to discard or update?

Prepare your own Personal Development Plan, identifying the form – and sources – of necessary: •

Training

•

Development

•

New learning

•

Shared learning.

Consider – courses, coaching, mentoring, collective learning, and specify the resources/enablers you will need from within and outwith your organisation. Talk it through with boss/colleagues, with a view to setting up opportunities to discuss and share your development and growing knowledge, regularly, with other, similar ‘learners’, within the organisation, and from other businesses/companies, ie – create ‘learning groups’, within the organisation to discuss, share and continually build on knowledge.

223

Bibliography Chapter 1 1.

Plant, R. Managing Change and Making it Stick, Fontana/Collins, 1987

2.

Author interview with Client Board of Directors

3.

Gellerman, S.W. Why ‘good’ managers make bad ethical choices, in Chryssides, G.F. and Kaler, J.H, An Introduction to Business Ethics, Chapman & Hall, 1993

4.

Ibid

5.

Peters, Tom, Liberation Management, Knopf, 1992

6.

Kanter, R.M. When giants learn to dance, Simon & Schuster, 1989

7.

McCaskey quoted in proceedings, Theseus Institute Programme, Sofia Antipolis

Chapter 2 1.

White, R.P., Hodgson, P & Crainer, S. The Future of Leadership: A White Water Revolution, Pitman, 1996

2.

Consultancy assignments on ‘action learning,’ conducted by Michael Williams & Partners in the UK, US and Europe

3.

Goffee, R. and Hunt J. Research project conducted at London Business School

4.

Stewart, V. The David Solution. How to reclaim power and liberate your organisation, Gower, 1990

5.

Brown, M. model quoted in Thomas M, Mastering People Management, Thorogood 1997

Chapter 3

224

1.

Nonaka, I & Takeuchi H, The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation, OUP, 1995

2.

Ibid

3.

Aykac, Ahmet, Director of the Theseus Institute, Sophia Antipolis Policy Statement

4.

Neeson, E. The Civil War in Ireland 1922-1923, The Mercier Press, 1966

BIBLIOGRAPHY

5.

Cummings, T. Proceedings, Leading Ventures programme for ABN-AMRO, Heemskerk. November 1996

6.

Motto of the Royal Marines Special Boat Squadron, currently part of the British Special Forces Group (1998) and attributed to ‘Sticks’ Dodds, one time OC, 6 SBS

7.

Jeffers, S. Feel the fear and do it anyway, London Century Hutchinson, 1987

8.

Pedler, M and Boydell T. Managing Yourself, Fontana/Collins, 1985

9.

Adair, John. Effective Leadership, Gower 1983

10. Covey, S.R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Simon & Schuster, 1989 11. Smiles, S. Self-Help, Penguin Books, 1986 12. Quoted in proceedings, Personal Effectiveness programme run by client company 13. Mayo A, & Lank, E. The Power of Learning – A Guide to Gaining Competitive Advantage, Institute of Personnel and Development, 1994 14. Zuboff, S. In the Age of the Smart Machine, Heinemann 1988 15. Burns, T & Stalker, G.M. The Management of Innovation ,Tavistock 1961 16. Robert Frost, American Poet, 1875 – 1963

Chapter 4 1.

Kolb D.A., et al, Organizational Psychology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1979

2.

Kipling, Rudyartd, Six honest serving men, a short poem

3.

Bateman, T. Professor, Organisational Behaviour, Perspectives for Managers, IMO Lausanne, July 1997

4.

Dowd, J. Professor Organisational Behjaviour, IMD, Lausanne: Proceedings – Mobilizing People Program October 1997

5.

Bateman, T. Ibid

6.

Students model developed empirically (adopted) on Mobilizing People Program, IMD., Lausanne, October 1997

7.

Coaching Projects: – clients of Michael Williams & Partners, 1980 – 1998

8.

Dowd, J. Ibid

225

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chapter 5 1.

Lewis, G. The Mentoring Manager, London: Institute of Personnel Management/Pitman, 1996

2.

Williams, M. Mastering Leadership., Thorogood, 1998

3.

Van Lennep, a psycholoigst at Utrecht University 1960s/1970s

4.

Handy, L. Proceedings, Programme, Ashridge College, 1995

5.

Freeman, C. Mentoring for Personal Growth, Organisations and People 1:4, quarterly journal AMED, October 1994

6.

O’Connor, C, Proceedings, Hawksmere Adair Leadership Programme, November 1997

7.

Freeman, C. Ibid

8.

Megginson, D. Planned and Emergent Learning, David Megginson Associates, 1994

Chapter 6 1.

Ibid

2.

Buchanan, D., & Boddy, D. The Expertise of the Change Agent, Prentice-Hall, 1992

3.

Revans, R. The ABC of Action Learning, Chartwell-Bratt, 1983

4.

Buchanan & Boddy, Ibid

Chapter 7 1.

Dowd, J Ibid

2.

Stewart, V., Ibid

Chapter 8

226

1.

Ibid

2.

Imai, M

3.

Ibid

4.

Senge, P.M. The Fifth Discipline, Random Century, 1992

5.

Revans, R. Action Learning, London, Blond & Briggs, 1979

BIBLIOGRAPHY

6.

Feldman, quoted in proceedings Senior Management Program, IMD Business School, Lausanne, May 1995

7.

Heany, S. quoted, during author’s client interview

8.

Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C.K. Article, Strategy as Stretch and Leverage

9.

Payne, C. Daily Telegraph, Weekend Review, February 1998

10. Various sources including: i.

Mills, T.M. The Sociology of Small Groups, Prentice-Hall, 1967

ii.

Bales, R.F. & Shils, E. A. Working papers in the Theory of Action, The Free Press, 1953

Chapter 9 1.

Ibid

2.

Ibid

3.

Sheppard, R. Standing Out From the Crowd, The Director, January 1998, Institute of Directors, London

4.

Williams, M. R. Mastering Leadership, Thorogood, 1998

5.

Morris, S. Meed, J & Svensen, N. The Knowledge Manager, Pitman, 1996

6.

Ibid

7.

Bennis, W., Parikh, J & Lessem, R. Beyond Leadership. Blackwell, 1994

8.

O’Connor, C. Proceedings, Hawksmere, Adair Leadership Programme, October 1997

9.

Bennis, W & Nanus, B. Leaders, Harper & Row, 1985

10. Hirschorn, L & Gilmore, T. The New Boundaries of the ‘Boundaryless’ Company. Harvard Business Review, May-June 1992 11. Macdonald Fraser, G. Where have all the Heroes gone? The Daily Telegraph Weekend, 3 January 1998 12. Extrapolated from The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Oxford: OUP 1976 13. Marquis de Lafayette, 1757-1834. Major General, continental army, America, 1777-81.

227

Enabling Beyond Empowerment (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Successful Graduate Recruitment (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Practical Techniques for Effective Lobbying (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Implementing an Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Power Over Stress at Work (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Techniques for Ensuring PR Coverage in the Regional Media: An Insiders View (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

The Financial Consequences of Marriage Breakdown: A Practitioner's View (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Corporate Community Investment: How to Make Your Business Profitably Popular (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Successful Competitive Tendering (Thorogood Special Briefing)

Empowerment

The Tango Briefing

Renegade Fighter Briefing 5302

Litigation Costs (Hawksmere Report)

The Tango Briefing

Career Empowerment

The tango briefing

The Tango Briefing

Better Construction Briefing

The Tango Briefing

Beyond Women's Empowerment in Africa: Exploring Dislocation and Agency

Public Liability Insurance (Hawksmere Report)

European Lobbying Guide (Hawksmere Report)

Enabling Social Europe

Unlocking Shareholder Value (Hawksmere Report)

Journey to Empowerment

Empowerment and Atiyoga

Quiller 05 - The Tango Briefing

Enabling Social Europe

Disabling Barriers, Enabling Environments

Empowerment and Ati Yoga

Enabling Beyond Empowerment (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Successful Graduate Recruitment (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Practical Techniques for Effective Lobbying (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Implementing an Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Power Over Stress at Work (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Techniques for Ensuring PR Coverage in the Regional Media: An Insiders View (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

The Financial Consequences of Marriage Breakdown: A Practitioner's View (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Corporate Community Investment: How to Make Your Business Profitably Popular (Hawksmere Special Briefing)

Successful Competitive Tendering (Thorogood Special Briefing)

Empowerment

The Tango Briefing

Renegade Fighter Briefing 5302

Litigation Costs (Hawksmere Report)

The Tango Briefing

Career Empowerment

The tango briefing

The Tango Briefing

Better Construction Briefing

The Tango Briefing

Beyond Women's Empowerment in Africa: Exploring Dislocation and Agency

Public Liability Insurance (Hawksmere Report)

European Lobbying Guide (Hawksmere Report)

Enabling Social Europe

Unlocking Shareholder Value (Hawksmere Report)

Journey to Empowerment

Empowerment and Atiyoga

Quiller 05 - The Tango Briefing

Enabling Social Europe

Disabling Barriers, Enabling Environments

Empowerment and Ati Yoga

Recommend Documents