I’ve spent time working with a company where there is some conflict over strategy. Senior managers are arguing over strategy and each side writs off the others as being obnoxious and unreasonable. In reality the each side is making the other angry because people aren’t getting their way.

Right or wrong recipe
Over the past twelve years I’ve dealt with conflict within teams and between teams, conflict with subordinates and the boss so often that I know that the recipe is less a matter of right or wrong ingredients and much more likely to be a clash of styles seasoned with a pinch of insensitivity and a couple of drops of emotion.

The first thing I try to get people to understand is that conflict, in itself, is not always bad. A business where everyone agrees with the management and each other has a natural barrier created for its own potential and growth and possibly a poor culture if employees are afraid of reprisals when making challenges.

Ten keys to dealing with conflict
There are lots of systems to understanding and handling conflict such as the Drama Triangle developed by Dr Stephen Karpman in 1968 but my ten keys which I discussed with the combatants are these:

1. Listen to what’s being said. Be logical and observe body language as well the words
2. How important is this on a scale of 1-10. If it’s unimportant why argue?
3. Make efforts to understand the other persons position
4. Empathise with the other person’s argument and ask what the other person expects to happen and what the results will be for them
5. Avoid emotion
6. Clarify or set boundaries for behaviour and outcomes. This can be done by asking all parties to write down the boundaries and expectations, roles and outcomes.
7. Ask the other party to explore issues and alternatives (Use facts) and use open ended questions, “How would that…” “what would be the effect if…”
8. Don’t attack the person. Attack the issues
9. Say something positive about the person. This has the effect of often defusing emotions and says that you aren’t attacking the other’s character and that you have respect for them
10. Ask if my approach is appropriate and effective and be prepared to change tack if the conflict continues

How do you deal with conflict?

The report showing serious concerns raised by the NHS care regulator about the way some hospitals in England look after elderly patients highlights a problem in the management of health care for the elderly. But is this a general problem of management in the UK?

The Care Quality Commission said three had failed to meet
legal standards for giving patients enough food and drink and treating
them in a dignified way. Not surprising then that people are puffing out their cheeks and saying that it’s disgusting and that things must change.

Rules, rules  and Regulations
The problem is, how? The UK and much of Europe is weighed down and being murdered with regulations on this and directives on that. Indeed one of the explanations we all understand for people prevented from doing something quickly is “Health and Safety mate”. We shrug our shoulders and accept the inconvenience.

This was demonstrated to me twice yesterday when, funnily enough, I was visiting a hospital to talk to some executives and offered a cup of tea. I picked up the pot from the counter to pour the cup for myself to be told that I had to allow my host to pour it in case I spilt hot water over myself, “Health and Safety”. After being handed the cup of hot liquid to hold I marvelled that I was allowed to drink the dangerous liquid on my own!

The second situation I came across was the location of a lead free electric kettle. “Which shouldn’t be too close a sink in case the water from the sink caused an electric shock”. Again Health and Safety was quoted!

Statistics before customers
I agree that business needs to record information, particularly for those in hospital that will aid recovery but this shouldn’t be at the expense of providing the service that the customer or patient expects? Would it not be possible to design a system that allowed nurses more time to administer care as opposed to filling out forms?

But hospitals aren’t the only area where this question could be applicable. Too often in business we record statistics, create and follow procedures and are constrained from giving a good service because the rules don’t allow the time to allocate towards giving the customer what the customer wants.

Sign above the door
It reminds me of the time when a company wanted to increase customer handling and I asked a Director about the policy for making customers feel welcome. The answer was, “We have a sign above the door “Welcome to the store” and every receipt has “Thank You” printed on it”.

You would think that the topics of talent shortage and managing employees productivity were two business issues. I’ve had a few conversations with senior Directors bemoaning the shortage of talent, particularly in IT, banking and technology and both have been linked to how to manage employee productivity.

The Talent Crunch
Most people would think that with the financial crisis that finding good talent would be easy, but in fact this isn’t the case for many specialist areas. Indeed the Manpower Group report that a third of companies report difficulties in finding good talent. There is a talent crunch in India, where it’s reported that sixty seven percent of companies are unable to find the people they need. In Brazil the figure is thirty four percent and the shortage is pushing up wages and inflation.

The skills shortages in these countries is likely to have an affect on our own talent pool and attract our own talent towards high salaries and a better style of living than can be gained within Europe or the USA. This will be true even of bankers who see career progression in terms of London and New York.

Managing Employee productivity
If most businesses can’t find all the talent that it requires, or afford it when it can, then it needs to invest some time and money to improve the productivity of its existing talent. That’s the reason that people have been asking me how to measure, manage and improve their people’s performance and productivity.

It’s been interesting that in the mind of the Directors I’ve spoken to that they seem to have a vision of a “One size fits all” solution. The problem is that there isn’t a one size fits all nor is there an immediate solution to making internal talent more productive. Different strategies need to be employed for salespeople as opposed to IT,  Senior staff as opposed to Non-Executive Directors and so on. In the long-run, however, it might be the only viable and affordable solution. 

A couple of days ago I was telephoned by Barclays Bank call-centre. The caller was enquiring if the business was “happy with the service I was receiving from the bank”.

Happy with my bank?
Now moving bank is a tedious and time consuming operation and something only done if one is very upset with the level of service or to make substantial savings. I will say that I’m not unhappy with my bank, HSBC, and I told her this. Nevertheless, after discussing the business history and some of our future plans she persuaded me that a visit to the branch of Barclays could highlight some useful benefits. A convenient appointment with the branch Business Manager was made.

When I sat down with the “Business Manager” to discuss how Barclays could help my business it became apparent that he thought I was to “open a new account”. He didn’t “sell” Barclays as an alternative banking possibility and was confused as I sat there expecting to hear some “good news” that would encourage me to move my account.

Intrigued by the lack of awareness of my visit I questioned him and he confirmed that he had not spoken to the person who generated the appointment. As a result he knew nothing about me nor my business other than my name and the time of my appointment.

We agreed that by arranging the appointment for me the operator had simply fulfilled her objective of getting appointments with him. So, despite being told to the contrary, it was now obvious that the Bank’s staff were no more interested in me or my business…simply fulfilling their quota and meeting targets.

A costly lost opportunity?
The problem was that in fulfilling their individual targets the bank’s team had completely missed the larger target, which was to persuade me to to move my money to their bank.
As a possible customer my resulting view of Barclays is that it’s inefficient and doesn’t even to communicate between cross functional teams. Good for my business?…probably not!

It was a wasted opportunity for the bank, wasted time and money in contacting me and via this blog some avoidable adverse publicity.
Was it a waste of time to me… absolutely not…I had the topic for another blog post!

It will come as little surprise to many employees to be told that managers are often obsessed with correcting what’s wrong with processes, systems and in particular people. I’ve just spent time talking with a group of managers about strengths and weaknesses.

Identifying people’s weaknesses a priority
Many companies put systems in place to identify people’s weaknesses, weaknesses in the sales process and so on in the belief that if management can identify the weaknesses and remove them then the result will be to end up with “strengths”.

The problem with this process is that it assumes that strengths can be ignored because they will remain constant. But this just isn’t true. I often get asked to solve a problem of good talent leaving a company. One of the first questions I ask is, “Why do people join and stay in the business?”.

Blinded by weaknesses
I’ve found that most senior “new hires” are greeted like saviours and are seen as ideal fits into the organisation. In time, too often, this opinion changes. Now I can hear loads of people say that if you point out weaknesses and then fix them that everything will be all right. But could this be missing an opportunity to concentrate on strengths so that they become greater. Time spent on just improving minor weaknesses doesn’t leave much time to increase strengths.

A few weeks ago someone sent out a very informative newsletter with a couple of minor spelling errors. When I visited a business the small errors were pointed out to me by a manager. When I asked what they thought of the content I was told that they had only noticed the mistakes. Later on that day the same individual was complaining that her boss “only ever found fault” in her work.

Some weeks ago I was speaking to a group of Directors about to undertake interviews for a senior sales position within their business. They had collected a great list of candidates to interview.

Don’t lose the ideal candidate to the competition
After reviewing the characteristics of the ideal candidate they were looking for, the competencies that were needed to meet the job and the results expected I asked, “And what questions do you expect to be asked by the candidates and how have you planned to respond”.

I was met with a stony silence. The interviewers considered that they were in a prime position as having a job to offer with jobs being so difficult to find. That was until I observed that they might be upset if they found the ideal candidate, who then chose to join their competitor’s business because they did a better job at “selling” the attractions of working for their firm, it’s career path, benefits and culture to their ideal candidate.

To help I shared the video on the questions a candidate should ask the interviewer that we made a few month ago and it’s shared here. There followed a review of the information being given to the candidates to make the company more attractive to the “ideal candidate” they hoped to attract to them.

“This firm sounded much more attractive”
Yesterday, I heard that their ideal candidate had confessed to his new boss that he had been interviewed by their competitor and had been offered a similar job. The reason for not taking the competitor’s offer was “because this firm sounded so much more attractive to work for”.

Questions you should ask the interviewer

I’m drawn to watching the apprentice because the producers of the show seem to have brought together the usual group that will inevitably make good television!
Billed as the “cream of UK’s entrepreneurial management” one can only cringe at how some behave and the delusions that they have of themselves. The best line of the night was when one of the men described himself as “good looking too”.

Sympathy for the contestants
However, perhaps I have more sympathy with the contestants this time than in earlier contests. In the past the prize on offer was a job working for Alan, sorry Lord Sugar. Now the prize is £250,000 investment into a business partnership on a 50/50 basis. Thus ensuring Lord Sugar’s continual presence.

On the basis that one chooses ones business partner more carefully than one’s life partner the process seems very one sided when Lord Sugar does all the choosing and ends each edition with…”You’re fired!”

Will the last contestant be brave enough?
When the last contestant is revealed will they, having considered the tedious selection process, Sugar’s knit picking and criticisms and the defence of their own ineptitude in the boardroom week after week, be brave enough to say something like, “Over the past weeks I’ve seen you in action and on reflection I think I’ll find someone else to invest in me”

Now if that were on the cards wouldn’t that make watching the series more fun?

I’m drawn to watching the apprentice because the producers of the show seem to have brought together the usual group that will inevitably make good television!
Billed as the “cream of UK’s entrepreneurial management” one can only cringe at how some behave and the delusions that they have of themselves. The best line of the night was when one of the men described himself as “good looking too”.

Sympathy for the contestants
However, perhaps I have more sympathy with the contestants this time than in earlier contests. In the past the prize on offer was a job working for Alan, sorry Lord Sugar. Now the prize is £250,000 investment into a business partnership on a 50/50 basis. Thus ensuring Lord Sugar’s continual presence.

On the basis that one chooses ones business partner more carefully than one’s life partner the process seems very one sided when Lord Sugar does all the choosing and ends each edition with…”You’re fired!”

Will the last contestant be brave enough?
When the last contestant is revealed will they, having considered the tedious selection process, Sugar’s knit picking and criticisms and the defence of their own ineptitude in the boardroom week after week, be brave enough to say something like, “Over the past weeks I’ve seen you in action and on reflection I think I’ll find someone else to invest in me”

Now if that were on the cards wouldn’t that make watching the series more fun?

The UK’s proposals for change in welfare reforms and the Armed Forces is underway but business change hasn’t been too noticeable for many. However that is about to change. Large companies have begun to implement significant structural change and much more is on the way, starting with HSBC on 11th May.

HSBC to reduce size of branch network

HSBC is announcing changes to its retail operations in the UK in order to lower their cost to income ratio. According to reports the options being considered include:

1. Sale of a significant number of branches.
2. Relocation of the UK retail Head Office from Canary Wharf to a less expensive location in London
3. Removal of layers of middle management
4. The creation of a new ethos where all sections of the bank must contribute profits or be restructured or sold

It’s likely that the changes will follow a similar pattern adopted by other banks and particularly by Bob Diamond at Barclays Bank where each individual business must contribute to profitability or risk being shut down.

Research determined strategy

A great deal of research has been undertaken by banks to determine the strategy that will be most beneficial. Interestingly TSB telephoned me last week to survey my attitude to service levels within my local bank in St Albans.

Too much change can be destructive

It would seem that wholesale change is likely to be implemented by Stuart Gulliver at HSBC. However, in my experience, too much change all at once can cause unforeseen problems. These include:

1. Change instability. Where one part of the organisation is unable to perform properly because of the change happening further upstream or downstream of the product flow.
2. Change fatigue. where individual teams suffer so much change that it stalls whilst they take a breather to collect their shared breath.
3. Time differences. This is where the people that have designed the change are impatient to implement the change and therefore find themselves in a future time frame where they have a vision of the desired results whilst those affected by the change are still firmly set in the past and will cling onto what they know best. To overcome this time difference there needs time for teams to express concerns without being considered disruptive or anti-sponsors of the change strategy.

Complex and all embracing change warrents Directors and managers to be meeting with teams, regularly and consistently with a similar message and reassurance, even when bad news is being delivered.  

I was very interested to hear an item on the BBC World service last week on a proposal that the West should try to replicate the culture of Chinese Business within our own work environment in order to increase competitiveness.

Japanese “customer care“

It struck me that similar proposals had been made some twelve to fifteen years ago when so many businesses tried to copy the “Demming Productivity and Customer Care System” used in Japan immediately after the war in 1945. Certainly the Japanese business community thrived on the process and became one of the worlds economic powerhouses but improving “customer care” be emulating the Japanese method became a management fad.  

Companies spent huge resources trying to identify what worked in Japan and trying to implement similar systems and on on training courses. However, in most cases, the process was costly and produced marginal success. Partly because the West didn’t have to start a manufacturing processes from scratch, as did Japan in 1945. Secondly, because our business management is different. Over the last few years the Japanese economy has stagnated and emulating the “Japanese way of doing things” has become unfashionable.  

Lessons should be learned to avoid falling into another management fad. Trying to understand and emulate 2000 years of the Chinese way of doing things would be likely to follow a similat pattern to the Japanese and with similar results.  

Chinese Growth can’t be replicated

The West doesn’t follow, nor understand the teachings of Confucious or of Shen Dao,(mentioned in the BBC programme) who proposed that authority arises and is sustained due to the nature of actual circumstances and even Zhang Zai who said that facts can explain everything and more lately Deng Xiaoping who set the current Chinese economic growth and expansion in motion.

Business needs to understand how to sell into China

I accept that to work and sell into China it’s vital that western business studies culture, etiquette and even how Chinese business functions work but to try, as proposed by the BBC, to emulate and become more “like the Chinese” is bound to fail simply because the West has a different business culture.  

Certainly the Chinese and other Dragon Economies have begun to succeed because they understand how Western Business works but they have done this without taking on its methodology.