UTurn^TV

Last week I was working with a client in her office.  We needed some information from a member of her staff and it was fascinating watching the interaction between them.  As the manager (my client) was trying to extract the required information I noticed there was a real air of irritation in the way she was speaking.  Obviously the member of staff was very uncomfortable and after they left the room I asked what it was that had irritated the manager so much that she had to let it show?

She replied that she was really frustrated because she felt that she had explained this information request ‘a million times’ but still wasn’t getting the information in the way she wanted it.

I wonder how many managers and leaders feel and even show this sort of irritation with their teams?  Probably quite a lot if my work is anything to go by!

I think it’s really easy to avoid the overly emotional reactions people have at each other by following a few simple steps:

Training – Make sure your staff have the proper training to carry out their job effectively.  If someone has been in their job for a long time, don’t assume that they are still doing it correctly.  Check in on a regular basis to ensure everyone is doing what they should and make any appropriate corrections.

Delegation – Don’t be a control freak and have the attitude ‘if I don’t do it myself it won’t get done properly’.  Take the time to show, explain and support staff in delegated tasks.  Delegation doesn’t work effectively if you don’t take the time to ensure that your staff know exactly what they are doing and that they fully understand your expectations.

Discipline – Companies put a lot of time and effort into ensuring their disciplinary procedures are fair and appropriate for the organisation.  In my experience many managers spend a lot of time and negative energy avoiding using their disciplinary procedures for fear of creating a negative atmosphere or suffering the potential repercussions.  Leadership sometimes requires having conversations with others that will make them unhappy or uncomfortable but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.  Applying the rules consistently and fairly will ensure that everyone in your team is aware of boundaries, rules of operation and the potential consequences of deliberate failure to work to the appropriate standards.

Perspective – Work is not a social club.  It’s a place where we get paid to carry out tasks and activities that contribute to the success and profitability of an organisation.  It often surprises me how often managers spend energy on being worried about lots of issues that appear in the workplace which are not strictly work related.  Try shifting your perspective away from the personal and you will feel a great deal more in control.

If you work on all of the above you will begin to feel in control.  Once you are in control there will be no need to get annoyed and damage potentially brilliant working relationships.

Let me know how you get on.

Jules x

I had intended to do a video about some of the reflections I’ve had about 2010 in working with my clients.  Unfortunately I appear to have lost the ability to speak properly!  So I thought I would write the blog instead of recording it and see if the words flow more smoothly that way.

There have been a couple of key themes that clients have raised this year which appear to be common to all businesses regardless of the industry they operate in.

Negativity is a Choice. For me negativity spreads like an infectious virus.  Many people are naturally drawn to a negative view of the world and of other people.  This helps to perpetuate the myth that “this is a crap place to work”.  However, positivity radiates like the sun but because it’s seen as false or unsustainable most people see positivity as slightly irritating.  Through the work I have done with clients I have shown them how, if you choose a positive attitude to your job, your colleagues and most importantly your business problems, your working day can be transformed into something enjoyable that doesn’t require you to go home and open a bottle of wine.

You are in Control. Many teams and individuals this year have expressed frustration at the issues that make them angry, stressed and miserable.  Yet, once identified, closer examination of the majority of these issues show that the team have complete control over resolving it.  What issues are you currently unhappy about that you feel you have no control over?  You may not be able to stop the team bitching and moaning but you can stop doing it and perhaps that different attitude will rub off on the other members of your team.

You can have Fun. When things become difficult within a team one of the first things to disappear is everyone’s sense of humour.  The culture becomes very serious and most people walk around with their own little rain cloud of doom above their heads.  It’s not obligatory that you take yourself seriously.  You can have fun.  Not at people but with them.  Try having a conversation with your colleagues about how you can inject some fun into your workplace.

I hope 2010 has had some magical moments for you and if you need some in 2011 then come and talk to me and I will do what I can to help.

If you are a client and are reading this I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to help you and making 2010 a great success for U Turn.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a spectacular 2011.

See you very soon.

Jules

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When I deliver Moments of Clarity I am often given a pencil sketch of some of the teams issues before we start the two day process but I rarely know exactly which issues are going to be raised by the team.

One theme that is regularly raised is the relationship, interaction and effect of other teams or individuals on the team.  Comments such as ‘they are rude’, ‘they don’t listen to us’, ‘they never give us enough information’, ‘they don’t trust us to do our job’ have been highlighted by teams on a regular basis.

The discussion that usually follows is often focussed on all of the negative aspects of working with this team, who is at fault, who is the worst culprit etc.  However, many teams in this situation rarely take the time to examine their own behaviour to see how it might be having an effect on the people they work with.

So, here are some tips to having better working relationships with every team in your organisation:

Consider if you are actually delivering.  Do you deliver what is required, when it is required?  When was the last time you checked that you are still doing it right?

Stop bitching and moaning about them. Ask yourselves how much time you are spending talking about how much things don’t work.  Be aware that no matter how ‘confidential’ that coffee machine conversation was – the person you were talking about will find out about it.  That’s just the law of people.  They talk.

Have a relationship with them. A good one. Why would you want to go to work every day just so that you can be miserable and unhappy all day about what’s not working and griping about who is the most rubbish in that team?  Wouldn’t it be better to have a good working relationship with them so that you can all do a good days work?  How would you feel if you were able to go home every day knowing that you and that other team are delivering consistently on that major project?

Wear someone else’s shoes. Obviously not literally but take some time out to do some creative thinking and try and look at the issues you can see from their perspective.  If you can’t manage that then…

…Ask.  Ask.  Ask. Ask.  Ask.  Ask. You will never know what someone else is thinking unless you ask them.  If you take the time to sit down and talk to a representative from another team (or better yet the whole team!) the sky will not fall in and neither will you contract a horrendously contagious disease.  Yes, you might feel a bit uncomfortable but if that is the worst that will happen in the pursuit of better working relationships then surely it would be worth it?

Work is not a social club. It’s a place where you are paid to go and achieve tasks in a given number of hours in a day.  If you meet someone that you end up socialising with or even marrying then that’s a bonus.  You are not paid to whine about someone else’s behaviour or performance.  You are not paid to stand at the coffee machine and tell anyone who will listen that the boss of that team is about as much use as a chocolate fire guard.

Be positive. Every time I work with a team I notice that the first stance on any issue is often the negative one.  Negativity is like a virus but so is positivity.  Try spreading a bit of positivity and see how quickly everyone catches the bug.

If you want to learn more about Moments of Clarity I am holding a free seminar that still has a few places left.  If you would like to attend please use this link to book your place: http://happierstaff2.eventbrite.com/

Be happy.

This week I spoke to about 40 students at my local college, Tyne met (http://www.tynemet.ac.uk/) studying a Communications module.   I was asked to touch on the recruitment process and what works in interviews and what doesn’t.  I found myself telling them some stuff that I think everyone would find useful.

….…‘How to stop staff crying in the corridors and bitching in the kitchen!’

If you’ve ever had one of those days when you get nothing done because you’re dealing with staff crises, then this is the seminar for you.

Whether their woes are justified (let’s face it times are hard) and they really need your support, or whether the tantrums and twisting are down to internal issues, there’s a way to solve them all.  In just two hours you’ll learn:

• How to spot the problems before they start
• How to deal with each issue as a team
• How to get your team working together happily

Book Online now: http://happierstaff.eventbrite.com/

You’ll hear from UTurn’s own Jules Rutherford, who used her vast experience in team management to develop the Moments of Clarity programme.    In this insightful and interactive seminar, Jules will share her real life tales – some will amuse you, some will amaze you, including:

• How a Snickers Bar improved my performance
• What happened when I hit my target to employ 72 people in just 3 months

Book Online now: http://happierstaff.eventbrite.com/

You’ll learn something from each tale to help you work in a caring and compassionate way and keep your staff happy.

Places are limited so book your place today for the chance to experience how it feels to have a MOMENT OF CLARITY LIVE in the seminar.

Book Online now: http://happierstaff.eventbrite.com/

I had a great day today at an all day business seminar.  There were some truly inspirational speakers, one of which was Mr Richard Denny.  He said something that inspired me to do this video.  I hope it inspires you too.

Check out Richard Denny’s website at www.denny.co.uk

Jules

Yesterday I had lunch with the lovely Justin Turner who is the MD of Carrot Media.  I delivered my Team Building programme to him and his team just over a year ago when they were experiencing some operational and staff challenges.  Over a year later he has done a video for me where he explains that not only did Moments of Clarity resolve their issues in the short term but has had a long lasting effect on the team and the success of the business.

Thank you Justin.

Jules

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Is your workplace plagued with petty behaviour?  Is your team culture negative and filled with too much stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with getting the job done? 

As ever I would love to hear your thoughts…

Jules

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If, like me, you are one of the 2.5 million viewers of the Channel 4 programme Undercover Boss I wonder how many of you reflect on this programme in relation to your own workplace?  I’m sure you do.  The comparisons will be really easy to make.

I love the fact that someone deserving gets something nice at the end of the programme.  I usually think  ‘oooh how lovely’ and have a bit of a cry.

However, if every CEO and Managing Director in the country really wanted to know what was happening on the ‘coal face’ in their organisation it’s extremely unlikely that they would be able to disguise themselves sufficiently with a new haircut and a pair of glasses if there were only 20 people in the company.

Good CEO’s and Managing Director’s recognise that without their people not a lot actually happens in their organisation and it’s in their interest to know how staff feel and what it’s really like to work for the company.  However, how do they find out if they can’t get an offer of a TV crew and some plastic surgery?

My experience tells me that the only sure way to know how your people are feeling is to ask them.  I don’t mean staff surveys that give people limited choices in what they’re allowed to answer or suggestion boxes that can be percieved as paying lip service to listening.  What I’m suggesting is that each person in the organisation is given the opportunity to express their views about how they feel and what they would like to see improved and what follows is an active exploration of those views with some clearly owned actions and some resulting activity.

Resulting action is critical to ensure, again, that you haven’t conducted a ‘lip service’ activity.  ‘Actions speak louder than words’ is a great maxim to live by.

There may be things that we don’t want to hear, that make us feel uncomfortable but we all know that a ‘clearing of the air’ is generally a good thing to do.  Obviously this needs to be done with respect, care and compassion but adopting this approach will pay huge dividends.  There may be issues raised where it’s just not possible to effect change but if you know about it you can at least provide an explanation of why it can’t be changed.

As your organisation expands and a few more layers of management structure become necessary it becomes even more essential that you, as the leader of your organisation, have fostered an open, honest and direct culture.

I have been working with a manager recently who told me about his team of ‘complainers and whiners’.  When I asked him to write down what they were complaining about the piece of paper I gave him stayed blank.  He explained that he didn’t know one thing they complained about because he had learned how to cut the conversation short assuming that all they were doing was complaining.  Further exploration revealed that there were actually some real, if fairly minor, business issues that needed to be addressed.  Even if the eventual outcome wasn’t what the individual was looking for they would at least be able to see that a genuine attempt at finding a resolution had been made.  This improved relationships dramatically.

One of the greatest gifts we can give another human being is to listen to them.  Really listen.  How often have you felt that you wanted to get a really important point across but you knew the person that could make a real difference wasn’t listening?  From a human perspective it’s soul destroying.  From business perspective it can build a culture of mistrust, demotivation and stress.

How does your organisation ensure that you know how your staff feel?  I would love to hear your views and hopefully you won’t have to go undercover to know how your people feel about working in your company.

Jules

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Time poor?  Not enough hours in the day?  Not enough days in the week?  This video will help.  Guaranteed.

Lots of love

Jules

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