5-Star Accolade at National Award for The Colour Works

Nick Fewings, Director of The Colour Works, was delighted to receive a national award on behalf of his company, The Colour Works, who have once again beaten off the national   competition and been recognised for their successes in working with businesses, improving performance through better understanding of effective team-working.

Nick Fewings collecting The Colour Works fifth national award.

This is the fifth time out of the last six years that The Colour Works has received the award, presented by Insights Learning and Development Ltd, and Nick is thrilled that The Colour Works has come out on top yet again. “It’s really encouraging to see that, even in times of recession, inspirational leaders and managers recognise that business performance can be improved through a relatively small investment in their people” he said. “At The Colour Works we meet a wide variety of businesses in the private, public and third-party sectors, and they all have a similar problem; how to get the best out of their staff and maximise the potential of the workforce. That’s where The Colour Works comes in.”

The Colour Works specialises in a colourful model of human behaviours that enables individuals to recognise their own preferred style and understand how styles differ and can cause friction and under-performance in the work-place. “Through recognising our own gifts and weaknesses and adapting our behaviours to accommodate others, we create a much more powerful working relationship that fosters improved team-working and collective dynamism” said Nick. “It’s really about getting more for less, and in these times that’s even more important”.

“Our success was all down to teamwork!”

Hi Nick here, or if you are a Tweeter, @ColourfulNick here!

How often have you heard that phrase trotted out by a colleague, line-manager or Director?  It may well be true. However do we ever take a step back and ask ourselves, “Actually, what is teamwork?”  I have asked hundreds of individuals who have been on The Colour Works Personal Impact programme this very question and lo and behold get many many different answers back.  Why? Well quite simply, we are all unique individuals with different, needs, motivations and indeed values.  To some, teamwork is meeting team objectives, to others it is trusting colleagues.  To others it is about clarity of purpose and others meeting the needs of their customer. An internet search suggested it was “An action taken by a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” At the end of the day we must appreciate it means different things to different people and the power is in harnessing and working with those differences to the mutual benefit of all.

So, I think you will agree that teamwork is very important, whilst developing and harnessing it is a different matter! How often have you shuddered when you have been told you are going on a “team-building” event that consists of climbing trees, crossing an imaginary stream with planks – being careful of the crocodiles of course, or building a giant pagoda out of Jenga pieces so that you can all crawl into it to find your inner team-spirit and purpose?  Yes, like you, I have experienced these and thought, “What’s the point?”.  If the point is clear and understandable and links back to what needs to be achieved in the business then great, but far too often it isn’t and individuals feel frustrated for time not well spent out of the office.

The development of effective teamwork in business is very powerful, it brings results in terms of objectives being achieved, profits being generated and in some organisations a return on investment for shareholders.  However, as mentioned, far too often companies either invest in the wrong type of team development or indeed shy away from it completely or pay scant regard to the benefits it can realise.  Why? Well quite simply, the impact that effective teamwork has is hard to measure and, in terms of the return on investment, it  is almost impossible to isolate benefits as a single variable.

Research suggests that it is the one sustainable competitive advantage that remains largely untapped.  Do it effectively and it can be very powerful to experience people coming together,  setting aside their individual needs for the good of the whole and on occasions accomplishing what might have looked impossible on paper.  In addition, it gets more done in less time with less cost and helps people find fulfilment in their work – a sense of connection and belonging.

Team Performance Indicator (TPI)

At The Colour Works we know the power of effective teamwork and the results it can produce at individual, team and organisational level and the dilemma organisations face in terms of how to measure it and prove their investment was worthwhile. However we and those of our clients who have experienced our Team Performance Indicator believe we have developed a solution that works, is focussed and importantly is able to tangibly measure the perception individuals have of their team performance.

Team members complete an anonymous questionnaire, made up of 48 questions that relate to 16 key elements that are important in developing an effective team.  The resulting TPI Report enables the results to be aggregated and for a focused workshop to be run that celebrates the strengths that the team perceives it has and also discuss and create action plans to move forward in those areas of perceived weakness. And that’s not all.  If the team members have been profiled, then the results can be broken down to look at the perceptions of the dominant colour energies and whether some are feeling more bullish than others or vice versa.

When working with a larger group made up of smaller sub-teams, the results can be viewed against each sub-team to see if there are any trends across the group.

Finally, the questionnaire and report is re-run in 3-6 months’ time to then be able to measure the distance travelled by the team.

So if you are looking for a tangible, measureable, highly-effective way to improve your team’s performance, please consider The Colour Works TPI Programme and drop me an email for a free  report.  My email is nick@thecolourworks.com

All the best

Enjoy the journey, Nick

Twitter: @ColourfulNick

Team Development Programme on the Olympic Sailing Course

Sailing To Success Leadership & Team Development Programme on the Olympic Sailing Course

Weymouth Charters have joined forces with Sunsail , International  yacht operators and team development experts The Colour Works  to deliver  their “Great Team-Working” Programme  with the classroom being fabulous high-performance Sunsail F40 yachts and the open sea.

Racing yachts provide a unique platform to help teams improve their performance.  They require everyone to pull their weight, at times under great pressure.  It needs clear leadership and communication where trust and collaboration are a must when forced to make split – second decisions.

Andy Wallace, Business Development Manager for Sunsail Racing said “We are delighted to be working in conjunction with The Colour Works and Weymouth Charters, sailing is such a team sport and is a great platform for really developing and enhancing team relationships, productivity and bonding. Working with The Colour Works is a natural partnership, which enable us both to deliver a superior Team Development programme “

The “Great Team-Working” Programme improves team performance through a better understanding of different working styles – it’s as simple as that!  By understanding why we find some colleagues really irritating (and they us!) yet still finding that others are totally on our wavelength, we can learn to value the differences and play to each other’s strengths and to unleash the true power of team dynamics.

Giles Miskin, Managing Director The Colour Works, comments “After a “Great Team-Working” Workshop your team will be buzzing, talking in colours and keen to translate the learning into better ways of working.  And with the training venue being these modern, high-performance yachts and the excitement of the open sea, your team will feel especially rewarded and motivated to make a difference.”

Roy Griffiths, Principal of Weymouth Charters, says ”Having been through the Colour Works programme myself I know how transformational it is and am very excited about being able to facilitate it onboard the Sunsail yachts in the sailing waters of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games sailing events.”

With the Olympics just around the corner, what better way to improve your team’s performance than with this unique opportunity – email james@thecolourworks.com  or telephone 0845 045 0933 for more information

Can I Give You Some Feedback…?

“Feedback” is a scientific term from the field of Physics and it’s critical to how we learn  to do things. We learned to walk by getting feedback from our body on what helped us  stand and what made us fall. When we learn a new sport, learn to paint, or learn to  dance we get feedback from coaches and tutors and friends about how we’re doing.  Sometimes that feedback is constructive and helps us progress. At other times that  feedback is destructive and inhibits our progress.

The ability to give and receive feedback is something of an art, in that it can be done crudely or with finesse. Think back to a time when someone gave you feedback in a  shoddy way. No, honestly, stop and think about it. How did it make you feel? Not  good, huh? Now think back to a time when someone gave you really good feedback  and how it made you feel; the glow, the pleasure, the good feeling inside that said  you’d done well, that you were appreciated. We could all do with more of that in our  lives.

Feedback – business as usual

What do we hope to achieve by giving feedback? Essentially, we want to influence  events. When we give feedback on past performance or behaviour we hope to  influence future performance or behaviour. Besides shouting at people, ridiculing them  and threatening them, there are many ways we might try to do that:

• a chat over a cup of coffee
• a formal one-to-one meeting
• an informal, spur of the moment one-to-one meeting
• ‘chewing the fat’ with colleagues
• stop-start-continue forms
• 360 degree feedback
• appraisals
• coaching
• leaving a “Thank you” post-it note on someone’s desk
• recommending them for an ‘Employee of the Month’ award
• leaving a note on their file
• giving them a bunch of flowers or a book token
• giving them a raise or a promotion
• thanking or praising them in person, discretely or in front of the whole department
• reprimanding
• giving out productivity reports

There’s a reason for listing all of these different forms of giving feedback. Most articles  and books tend to focus on the idea that giving feedback is a tough business,  something you have to prepare for like an Olympic athlete. Well, it certainly can be stern test, but that shouldn’t be the norm. The list above tells another story – that giving feedback can be so much a part of everyday business that it’s woven into the very fabric of the buildings that we work in. Why? Because that’s how to make it  work. That’s how to embed it into the culture of your company.

Preparing the ground

Feedback shouldn’t be a trial, a nervy, scheduled, bi-monthly face-down with your  boss, it should be something that happens day in and day out for every employee in the company – top down, bottom up and side to side.

If feedback is commonplace and effective, people tend not to get phased by it. They know it’s coming, there’s no shock to the system – in fact they welcome it. The more people are exposed to giving and receiving feedback the more self-aware they are.  They’re more aware of others, too; they become more articulate at assessing  performance and more comfortable with praising and critiquing themselves and  others.

So how do we prepare the ground for this?

1) Buy-in

Ideally employees at all levels in the company will be bought in to the notion of  giving and receiving feedback to one another. If bosses have an ‘open door’  policy then so much the better, but at the very least they should be seen to  practise what they preach.

2) If you can’t take it, don’t give it

There’s no better way to encourage staff to accept feedback than to ask them for  it yourself. Let them see that you’re bought in to it. Not sure about that? Well  grit your teeth and get on with it – you’ll learn a lot about yourself and if you act  on what you learn, your staff will love you for it.

3) Training

There is a skill and an art to giving and receiving feedback and employees need  to be given formal training to help them develop the skills they need – managers  especially, since they will be doing the bulk of the giving, much of the receiving,  and they’ll need to coach their teams in the skills of the game.

4) Coaching

After training comes coaching – an essential step if you don’t want people to just  revert to type and do what they did before. Use an external coach for a few team  meetings to get things under way, then coach in-house. Bring the external coach  in again 4 months later to see how things are going.

5) Know who you’re giving feedback to

Whether feedback is formal or informal, takes a minute or an hour, you have to know the person you’re giving it to well enough to get it right. Even a simple  “thank you” can be delivered wrongly depending on the personality type of the  person you’re thanking. What Colour type are they? Are they more Extroverted  or more Introverted? Thinking or Feeling? Knowing this will help you take the  right approach.  If it’s a performance problem, can you use the Situational Leadership model to  figure out whether their skill level or will level is the key issue? Is it a case of  ’Can’t do it’ or ‘Won’t do it’? Have you got statistics or other reports to work  from? Is there a pattern?  The more comprehensively feedback is embedded into the way your team or  company operates, the more likely you are to have all the data you require to  work from.

Feedback

People write books about the dos and don’ts of giving and receiving feedback; the  language to use, tone of voice, body posture, affirming, repeating back and so on. But  what are the key issues, the qualities at the core of great feedback that we can’t do  without?

1. Give feedback with respect and for the sake of the recipient

Why are you giving this feedback? Whatever the issue and however you feel  about it, you have to deliver feedback for the benefit of the recipient if you want  to influence their behaviour or performance.

Having someone stomp up to you, tell you your attitude stinks and then stomp  off again probably makes them feel better and certainly makes an impact, but  it’s unlikely to produce lasting change and harmony.

Personalising bad behaviour or performance shortfalls are also not on, and nor  is delivering a tough message in front of others. Respect from and for everyone  involved is crucial if trust is to be maintained and progress made.

2. Consequences

What are the consequences, if any, of the feedback session? Without  consequences – good or bad – why should anything change? Do you want to  motivate the person to achieve greater things? How? With a carrot or a stick?  Some people love to chase a target, others will run from a threat, so try to  gauge which approach will work for a particular person, agree the way forward  and follow up after an appropriate length of time.

3. Praise

Praise works wonders for morale and self-esteem, even when it’s delivered  along with a reprimand or a call for improvement. Most feedback is given when  things go wrong – a consequence of busyness in the workplace, perhaps, but  there’s always a need for praise.

If people are hurt, anxious or angry, it’s important they realise they’re  appreciated and that their contribution is valued on the whole. Let them see the  contrast between what’s valued and what isn’t. Give plenty of time over to what  they do well, their strengths, and let them build on those things.

4. Defensiveness is to be expected

Be prepared for defensiveness – denial, blaming, upset, aggression. If you’re  sure of your ground, persevere. Try to help the coachee face the reality of the  situation. Probe, ask questions, present facts. Allow silences to sit rather than  fill them to ease your own anxiety. Above all, maintain respect and concern for  the coachee – the aim is to help them improve.  Watch out, also, for constructive disagreement from the coachee; this is fair  play. Listen, discuss and check your facts.

5. Listen

Whether you’re giving or receiving feedback – positive or negative – the ability  to actively listen to what’s being said is crucial.

Strangely enough, many people find it harder to listen to praise than they do to listen to criticism; it embarrasses them and often taps into a sense of not being  worthy. The ability to actively listen – preferably without prejudice – is possibly  the single most important quality we can develop to assist us in both giving and  receiving feedback. In fact any form of interpersonal communication demands  that we open our ears more and our mouths less.

If it’s praise that you’re receiving – shut up and listen. If it’s criticism that  you’re receiving – pay attention and learn what you can. If it’s feedback that  you’re delivering, say what you must and then listen to the response, because  within that response will lie all manner of clues as to how to proceed.

Following Up

Employees don’t just want feedback, they want help! It’s great to receive praise and  it’s fine to receive well-delivered constructive criticism, but employees also need help;  help to improve, help to remove obstacles, help to progress in their careers. There  also may be a need for consequences, and this means that feedback must often  incorporate some element of follow-up.

1. Now what…?

You’ve done the feedback, delivered the praise, assessment or reprimand,  agreed the way forward…now what? Is there a need for more training,
mentoring or coaching?

Maybe you need to help remove some obstacles that are inhibiting good  performance.

Perhaps you’ll need to monitor performance or behaviour. It can take time and  energy, but regular sessions with someone will be way more powerful and effective than one-off interventions.

Whatever you do, build on the feedback you’ve given, don’t leave things where  they are.

2. Perseverance
It takes time to change behaviour. Sometimes just a few days, but often weeks  or even months. The strength of regular feedback is that it builds its own  rewards – the longer and more often you do it, the more material you have to  work with and the more skilled you become.

3. Develop your talents

If people are to work effectively together, they need to have a high state of self-awareness and awareness of others. They’ll get this from having a shared view  of human behaviour – the Colour Model being one such view – and from  practising interpersonal skills in a training and live environment.

And so many other qualities will spin off from that – perceptions of openness,  trust, mutual respect, teamwork, co-operation, collaboration – all of these  things depend on and benefit from people being able to relate to one another  with honesty and ease.

If we learn to give and receive feedback effectively, everything else follows.

Have a very good week

James

Just Say “No” – The Power of Taking Control

It’s a familiar feeling. You have way too much going on already and – for some inexplicable  reason – as fast as you clear one job, another two take its place. Deadlines come thick and  fast…and pass…the mail room keep filling up your in-tray when you’re not looking, your  inbox is out of control and absolutely everybody seems to want a piece of you today. You  can’t go on like this…but you do…

Well here’s an instant time-saving tip for you – say “No” more often.

As easy as it sounds, so many people have a hard time saying “no”. They don’t want to  cause offence, they feel they have a duty to say “yes”. Whatever your reason for not  saying “no”, get over it – it’s doing your head in!

We take a wry look at 10 reasons why people can’t say no – and offer some advice.

1) I don’t want to cause offence.

That’s very sweet of you, but everyone knows you’re a lovely person and that you’re  really, really helpful, so don’t worry, they won’t think badly of you for turning work  down now and again. In fact, it’s because you’re so helpful that people keep shoving  work your way – be mean!

2) I get a buzz when something new comes in!

Some people just love beginnings. And that’s it. Middles are so-so, ends are a great  big dud. Beginnings is what they like – the thrill of starting something new. No  wonder they’re sinking under the weight of unfinished business! But what to do?  Resist temptation – there’s no other way! Don’t pick up the phone when it rings.  Same with your emails – they’re nothing but triggers that spring you into action –  access them twice a day and with caution!

3) I may miss something!

This one’s a friend and an ally of the thrill of the new – the desire to be in the thick  of it all. This is such a Sunshine Yellow trait. That desire to connect with everyone  and everything, to be at the hub of the wheel. The problem is, you can’t possibly do  everything you want to do. All those possibilities you store up, you know they just  sit there, gathering dust! So decide – decide on what’s important and focus 80% of  your time on those things. The rest of the time, play!

4) I can do it better myself

Control freak. Can’t delegate, doesn’t trust people to do things properly. Think their  way is the best way – maybe even the one and only way in the whole wide world  that’s going to work. Actually, they often have a point. People don’t always do things  right, but they have to be taught, coached and encouraged to do things right. This  one’s about saying “no” to yourself. Develop your people and trust them to find their  own way – you did.

5) I need more information!

This one, too, is about saying “no” to yourself. Know when enough is enough. Try as  we might, we simply can’t afford to go over and over a thing, time after time, until  we’re absolutely, positively 100% certain. Trust yourself, calm your Cool Blue, and  make a decision.

6) My team needs me!

They do indeed. But what for? Do they need you to check this and agree to that,  sort this out and take control of that? If you want to be wanted, chances are you’re  going to make a rod for your own back. First, you’ll give out a loud signal that  everything should come through you first. Second, your team will dump on you,  anything that bugs them. Wise up – be a manager, a conduit, not a filter or a  dumping ground.

7) I just have so many plans and ideas!

A Director I worked for once said she always knew how to get rid of troublesome  projects – interesting ideas she didn’t have the time, energy or budget for – she  gave them to me. Why? Because I was the one who came up with 90% of them in  the first place. And she knew that if she batted my ideas back at me, that would  usually be the last she’d hear of them, because I’d get bogged down in all the things  I had on the go. Eventually, I learned to be more selective and focus on what could be done, not on what might be done. Big difference!

8) I’ll get back to you about that…

Sometimes we’re feeling so frazzled and caught up in the rush of it all that we can’t  even spare the time to think straight. Pressed for an opinion, a decision or a
contribution, we buy ourselves time, take whatever it is to look at later, and that’s it –  we’re stuck with it. Take time to make time – if it’s a choice between saying “no” or  keeping your options open, say “no”.

9) I know I should be doing that, but I’d rather be doing this…

This is a tough one. We know what we should be doing but we do the other thing  instead. Reason, logic, promises, commitments – all go flying out the window in the  face of “I want candy!”. Chances are you can’t solve this one yourself – get help.  Ask your boss, a mentor or a coach to help you break the pattern – it can work  wonders for you!

10) Oooh, that looks interesting… 

Distractions, distractions! Life’s full of them. This article is one. Ok, it’s learning and  development, which has got to be a good thing, but is that what you should be doing  right now or is there a pile of more urgent stuff steaming away on your desk? Next  time, read it after you’ve cleared two or three hot items, then you’ll know you’ve got time.

Have a great week

Going For Team Gold In 2012

“Great Team-Working” Programme with The Colour Works on the Olympic sailing course

Racing yachts provides a unique platform to help your team improve its performance.  It requires everyone to pull their weight, at times under great pressure.  It needs clear leadership and communication.  Trust and collaboration are a must when forced to make split–second decisions.

The Colour Works “Great Team-Working” Programme is delivered around your business objectives, allowing you to take lessons learned and apply them straight back into workplace reality. The itinerary will develop skills and content relevant to your people’s needs, leaving everyone involved with lasting knowledge.

Weymouth Charters lists the most desirable yachts and power boats available in the area, along with RIBs, tall ships and superyachts. As booking agents for a whole host of vessels and watersports activities. They specialise in creating a very special experience for groups or individuals who want to enjoy a great time on the water.

Weymouth Charters specialises in corporate events including team building, client and staff reward days and a whole array of special days for private celebrations. Event management comes as second nature to them. They live by a motto of “we take the strain and you take the gain”.

After a “Great Team-Working” Workshop your team will be buzzing, talking in colours and keen to translate the learning into better ways of working.  And with the training venue being these modern, high-performance yachts and the excitement of the open sea, your team will feel especially rewarded and motivated to make a difference.

With the Olympics just around the corner, what better way to improve your team’s performance than with this unique opportunity.

To receive more information or to book your teams place – telephone 0845 045 0933 or email james@thecolourworks.com

The Art of Delegation

“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.” It’s a familiar phrase and one we’ve probably all  used at one time or another, exasperated at how hard it can be to get people to do the  simplest things sometimes. But think about it – this is a phrase which, if true, makes idiots and egomaniacs of us all. In effect, what it says is I won’t delegate to you because you won’t  do it properly, and it stands to reason that you won’t delegate to me because I won’t do it properly. How crazy is that?! Does each of us really believe we’re the only competent people  on the planet? Probably not, so what’s going wrong?

1) Whenever I delegate something they just don’t do it right, so I end up wishing  I’d done it myself.

Not to add insult to injury or anything, but the chances are you’re not delegating properly.  Delegation isn’t called an art for nothing – it takes finesse, planning, thought, and care. The  Situational Leadership model tells us we should delegate only to people who have the skill and  the will needed to do that particular task. If you don’t like the end result then it’s a fair bet  something is missing from that equation.

• a) Lack of skill. If people haven’t got the skill to do the task pretty much  unaided then you need to be directing, coaching, or supporting them to do the  task, not delegating it to them. Click on this link to learn more about the Situational Leadership Model:
• b) Lack of will. Similarly, if people don’t have the will – the desire – to do the  task, you need to be using a different approach. You can lead a horse to water…
• c) Lack of communication. So many managers fail to clearly set out their  requirements and leave yawning gaps between their expectations and the other  person’s understanding. This can be down to simple haste – dumping stuff on  other people is another way of putting it – but often it’s a desire not to be  controlling or patronising. Think about this: if we spent 90% of the time it would  take us to do the job communicating with the person we delegated it to, we’d  still save 10% of the time. In reality we probably only need to spend less than  5% of the time communicating what we want to achieve and checking on progress – time well spent indeed.
• d) Control Freakery. This one’s a killer. Do you find it hard – impossible, even –  to trust people to do things as well as you do? If you’re going to delegate  successfully you need to have a real desire to develop people and trust in their  ability to respond and deliver. Let go!

2) It takes too much time and effort – it’s easier for me to do it than it is to show
someone else how to do it.

True – if you’re not at the delegating stage. This comes back to the issue of skill and will  again. If people are at the required level then delegating should be relatively straightforward.  If not, you need to coach and support them until they are. The question which then arises is –  “why bother?”

• a) Long-term win. If the time and effort you’ll save in the long run is significantly  greater than the time and effort needed to delegate tasks on a regular basis  then it’s undoubtedly a worthwhile investment. The point is you have to spend  time to make time, and “there just isn’t time” is a major false-economy. Do  yourself a favour – make the time.
• b) Short-term win. A stitch in time saves nine. We’ve all been there – we’re up  to our necks in work, meetings, projects, and problems. Post-it notes and  emails keep flying in from all directions, making new demands on our time.  Know your limits – if it’s a hot item and you can’t sort it out now, delegate at  least some of the responsibility for getting it done. Your staff can gather data,  do preliminary assessments, and report back, saving you valuable time, giving them some stretch, keeping everyone on the ball, and avoiding “stagnant in- tray” syndrome.
• c) Employee Development. Delegation is a critical element of Employee  Development – it’s a fabulous opportunity for you, as a manager, to make a  direct show of faith in someone. Years back my new boss gave me £20,000 and  asked me to organise a Christmas party for 700 staff – venue, bands, DJs, sound  system, lighting, food, funfair games, decorations. I’d never done anything like  that in my life, but it was great fun, nerve-wracking, and a huge success! We  both learned a lot about me and what I was capable of, and my confidence took  a big leap. The same things applied when he gave me more routine things to do  – the trust, faith and nurturing elements inherent in delegation are enormously  powerful tools for developing people and relationships.

3) My team say they’re already too busy as it is, without me giving them extra  work, but I feel some of them just use this as a way to avoid extra work or  explain away shortfalls in their productivity.

Delegated tasks shouldn’t be thought of as extra tasks – they’re a key part of anyone’s job.  Your boss should be delegating to you, and you should be delegating to your team, it’s as  simple as that. So the first thing you need to do is to create a strategic, meaningful context  within which the act of delegation can sit – one in which everyone understands why it’s done  and how it fits into the team’s modus operandi.  Some appropriate contexts are:

a) Employee development. We’ve already touched on this in point 2. People  need to stretch and grow, for their own benefit and for the company’s benefit.  Delegating higher-level tasks to lower-level staff is one sure way of doing that.
b) Teamwork. Teams exist to share the load – that’s what they’re for. Tasks that  fall within the manager’s remit shouldn’t be thought of as the manager’s sole responsibility any more than team members should expect to solely do their own  work. More than ever before, teams need to be flexible, multi-tasking and  mutually-supportive.
c) Special Projects. It’s a cast iron certainty that both team and manager will get  tasks routed to them from a variety of miscellaneous sources – things that often  don’t fall within the remit of anyone in particular’s job. These are prime  opportunities for growth, use of initiative, creativity, and any number of other  benefits that delegation can bring.
d) Cross-training. Your staff would go ape if they went on holiday for two weeks  and came back to find all their work waiting for them on their return – never  mind the impact this would have on internal or external customers. By the same  measure, they shouldn’t expect you to face a full in-tray, so it’s vital that some  degree of cross training takes place where key tasks of yours are concerned.

4) You’re the only person who knows how to do certain tasks and that leaves you  in a position of strength.

Tempting as it may be to make yourself indispensable, as a manager you’re making a rod for  your own back if key tasks can’t be done by someone else when you’re off sick, on holiday or  snowed under with other things. Get over yourself!

5) Who’s the best person for this particular task?

As well as the Situational Leadership model, use the Colour model to help you decide: if you need detail and reliable research, go to someone who has plenty of Blue energy. If you need a fast, direct response look for someone high in Red energy. Matching the task to the person is critical, in terms of behavioural preferences, skill level and will level. Do your homework!

6) How much rope do I give people?

Enough to swing on, but not enough to hang themselves with. Delegate plenty of ‘what’ and  ’when’ but not too much ‘how’ – people need to be very clear about what needs doing and  when by but if they’re ready and willing to be delegated to, they’ll figure out how to do things  on their own.

Co-partner of this maxim is “Delegate authority as well as responsibility.” People have to know  you trust them. They’re acting on your behalf – you have to empower them to do that.

7) What if something goes wrong?

The buck should always stop with you, so delegate well! Accidents, to coin a phrase, will  happen. Despite the best preparations, things will go wrong, people will screw up, lessons will  need to be learned. It’s all part of the process. Like riding a bike, we learn how to balance by  losing our balance at first. Back your people up when everything goes pear-shaped – you’d
expect the same from your boss.

8) Is there anything I should avoid delegating?

I’ve known managers who delegated disciplinary issues, appraisals, pay rises and other sensitive matters to their subordinates – never a good idea, in my opinion. These are careercritical issues and your team needs to know that matters such as these will be dealt with by the head of the team, not a senior rep.

It’s also not fair to delegate dull, uninteresting work that you don’t like doing! If it doesn’t  appeal to you, it probably doesn’t appeal to anyone else.  There are exceptions to this, though. If you really, really struggle with certain aspects of your  role – maybe you’re phobic when it comes to dealing with systems issues, for example – then  by all means delegate those things to other people if that lets you play to your strengths in  other areas of your role. But keep in touch with what’s going on – you turn your back on  delegated tasks at your peril.

9) Stay in touch

Once delegated, don’t walk away from the task, whether it be a regular procedure or a one-off  event. Work with the people you delegate to; keep up to speed with progress, be there for  them when they need to bounce ideas off you or check you’re happy with progress. And learn  from them! The cross-fertilisation of ideas and working methods that comes from different  people doing one another’s work can produce fabulous results!

10) Feedback – Praise – Reward

Always important – let your people know how they’re doing and reward them for their efforts.  It’s so easy to forget this step when everyone’s in the flow and delegation is a well-established  means of doing business. But like any learning process, feedback, praise, and reward are  critical motivators that reinforce the process and keep people reaching for ever-higher levels of  achievement.

On that note, have an excellent week!

James

Emotion at Work

“I think you have to work with people, and when I talk about managing  relationships…it’s a question of sharing emotion and feelings. The common  denominator of everything can’t be money, and it should not be money.”

Anil Ambani, businessman and entrepreneur.

But is there really room for emotion and feeling at work? We say a  resounding “Yes!” and here’s why…  

Remember when “Casual Friday” was a big deal? When people revealed their true  selves by taking their tie off once a week, or wearing a nice new pair of jeans and  trainers instead of the regulation suit and shiny black shoes. At first it was a step in  the dark, a bold attempt to humanise the workplace. But after the initial awkward  phase people embraced it and it was fun – a chance to be yourself and see your  colleagues as they truly were. All well and good, you might say, but before too long  things got out of control. People turned up for work in Death Metal t-shirts and lurid  surfing shorts and even the most demure ladies in the office had “FCUK” stamped on  their chests in letters so large they screamed at you from 300 yards away.  Maybe all that “being yourself” and “getting to know you” wasn’t such a good idea
after all…

And isn’t this also the big worry about people expressing emotions and feelings in the  workplace? Do we really want to go there? And what are the consequences if we do?

Research by Michael Kramer and John Hess of the University of Missouri revealed that  most employees don’t like strong displays of emotion in the workplace – positive or negative. People are expected to mask their emotions and behave in a professional  and appropriate manner – no screaming fits when someone screws up, no lap of  honour when someone gets promoted. By and large, that’s not so much to ask and  not so hard for most of us to comply with, but what about the emotions that arise  when you feel your ideas or concerns aren’t being taken seriously, when your boss  doesn’t keep her promises, when someone is rude to you in a meeting?

In a previous issue of Colour Working we referred to Saratoga Institute research, which suggested that up to 80% of staff turnover is related to unsatisfactory relationships  with one’s boss. How much of that turnover could have been avoided with better  communication, honest exchanges and, most important of all, skilful exchanges? But  back in 2002 Kramer and Hess found that, on the whole, emotion management wasn’t  taught at work. People were trained to use the photocopier, to use key systems, to make a presentation without rattling the change in their pockets, but there wasn’t so  much training and coaching people to relate to one another effectively. Thankfully,  recent years have seen a big change in attitudes, and training in interpersonal skills is  riding high on most companies’ agendas. Why? Because whichever way you look at it,  it makes abundant sense. First, let’s look at the basic biology of human emotions,  because it gives some fascinating insights into what can go wrong and how we can set  it right.

 Simple Science

When information streams into our minds and bodies, the brain’s limbic system – the amygdala in particular – places an emotional response onto it, depending on the level  of threat it perceives. In this way, our “fight or flight” responses are triggered by the  amygdala and the emotional memories it stores. So, too, are our feelings of affection,  joy, passion, competition, co-operation and empathy. Even our facial expressions,  heart rate and blood pressure are affected by impulses from the amygdala.

Interestingly, though, the limbic system doesn’t mature as we get older, so when our  emotional buttons are pushed we retain the ability to react like a 2 year old, even  when we’re adults. What stops us from flipping out at every little pleasure and provocation is the neocortex – our thinking brain – which applies rationality to our  emotional impulses and gives us the ability to act in a reasoned way – professionally  and appropriately, you might say. The trouble is, impulses get to the amygdala  fractionally before they reach the neocortex. So when someone makes a crass  comment about the way you’re dressed today, while one part of your brain is mulling  over what they said and how you should best respond, your amygdala has already  been triggered and is urging you to run and hide or blow your top and whack the guy.  Fortunately, the prefrontal cortex of the brain usually acts to dampen impulses from  the amygdala, giving us time to produce a rational response and this interplay  between the emotional and rational aspects of our brain is critical as we’re socialised  as infants and children and learn to behave appropriately.

So, let’s apply this to the world of work.

Provocation

If the amygdala’s primary job is to assess the level of safety of events and information  we experience then it follows that the less threatening experiences are, the less likely  they will be to trigger a defensive or aggressive response. But there are many times  at work when people simply fail to take this into account and cause offence for no  other reason than that they didn’t empathise well enough with someone else.

Nowhere is this more true than in the delicate art of giving and receiving feedback.  Robert Barron, a research psychologist, found that inept criticism (feedback) was  ahead of mistrust, personality struggles, and disputes over power and pay as a reason  for conflict at work. Worse still, he found that delays in giving feedback compounded  the problem because it resulted in people delivering feedback out of the blue and with  high emotion when they were having an off day or had finally had enough.

Clearly, then, if people are to work successfully together it is critical that they develop  an awareness of the effects their behaviour has on other people and that they learn  how to deal with any problems that do arise in a constructive way.

Empathy

Yale psychologist Robert Stenberg found that “The single most important factor in  maximising the excellence of a group’s product was the degree to which they were  able to create a state of internal harmony, which let them take advantage of the full  talent of their members.” At the core of this internal harmony was empathy; in  particular, the ability to share information and feelings with one another sensitively, to  see others’ points of view, exchange information, read moods, perceive needs, and  give and take feedback without causing or taking offence.

Process-based transactions simply cannot function as they should without the  lubrication of efficient and effective emotional transactions between the people who  carry them out. And like any other skill, empathy – emotional intelligence, if you like  – is a skill that has to be taught, learned and practised. The mere fact that we’re  human is not enough to guarantee that we do it well.

With dress-down policies, what made them work in the end is that managers talked  with staff, colleagues spoke with one another, and what was and wasn’t acceptable  behaviour was thrashed out until people broadly agreed and offensive clothing largely  became a thing of the past. In many ways, the same thing applies with empathy; if  you don’t want your workplace to suffer from the emotional equivalent of Death Metal t-shirts, you’d better get talking to one another.

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will  never forget how you made them feel.”
Bonnie Jean Wasmund.

Well, that’s all for another week.   Good luck in all that you do!

James

Going Somewhere? Career Development Tips

If you really want to shine in your career it’s critical that you truly understand how your strengths can work for you and your weaknesses can work against you.
In a nutshell, how well do you manage your talents, flaws and all?

Here are 12 tips to help you on your way!

1. Take responsibility for your own career

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. Your career is your responsibility. Your manager and  your employer should ensure career development is given a major focus, but no-one can make  it happen except you – you have to actually do something!If you’re the kind of person who hides her light under a bushel don’t expect someone higher up to spot and reward your talent – you have to make a case for yourself, however much it makes you squirm.

2. Play to your strengths

The No.1 most important factor – is it the right job for you? Whether it’s the job you’re in or  the job you’re aiming for, if it doesn’t play to your strengths it’s probably not where you should  be.

Do you know what you do best? What do people tell you are your greatest talents? And here’s another key question to ask yourself: what do you bring to this role? It’s a question of differentiation. Many people may have similar skills and knowledge to you, so you need to be  able to articulate what happens as a result of you being who you are and in this position.

If you don’t know the answer to this, how do you know what your stand-out features are, and  how does anyone else?

There’s a Part B to this, too – beware of ‘growth’ roles. Stretch, by all means, but don’t  overreach yourself; if a new role or responsibility doesn’t map well against your existing skills,  leave it to someone else.

3. Work around your weaknesses

Don’t waste time and energy trying to eradicate weaknesses that aren’t show-stoppers; where  possible, find a way to work around them. If spreadsheets or routine tasks aren’t your thing but they’re a key part of the job, delegate or  buddy up with someone who can help you. If you simply have to do it yourself, get some  training, but don’t be distracted from what you do best.

Major flaws are another matter. If you smile like Gordon Brown, and you can’t be trained to do  otherwise, don’t smile.

4. Act on feedback

Feedback is the life-blood of career development, yet so many people fail to make the most of  this fabulous resource. If you’re open to constructive criticism – and especially if you’re not –  get as much feedback as you can from other people, figure out what it’s telling you, and act on  it. There’s a wealth of information out there to help you know what you do and don’t do best;  your Colour Works profile, day-to-day feedback, your annual appraisal, 360 degree feedback,  Team Climate Surveys, Stop-Start-Continue. Don’t ignore it or dismiss it – use it!

5. Focus on your goals – don’t get distracted

This sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how many people get caught up in the events of the day  and find themselves way off track when it comes time to head home. Multiply that tendency  by 5 days of the week and 48 weeks in the year and that’s a lot of ground to make up.

Do you get pulled from pillar to post or are you resolute in sticking to your guns?

For every major task you undertake, if it’s not related to your goals, ask yourself why you’re  doing it. On a regular basis, ask yourself: am I achieving what I’m supposed to achieve? If  not, identify what you’re doing instead and stop doing it.

7. Be a team player

There are no islands unto themselves in today”s workplace. Whether you’re a team manager,  a team member or someone who would rather lose themselves in the system, you’ve got to be  a team player if you want to get ahead. And to be a team player, you need to know what role  you’re best suited to play.

Are you a leader or a follower? If you’re a leader, are you a good one? Do you have the  emotional intelligence – the social skills – to allow other members in the team to thrive or are  you a domineering “my way” kind of a guy? Shine, by all means, but bathe in the reflected  glories of your team mates, too.

8. Be positive!

People like positive people. Not suck-up-to-you people, or perpetually-high-as-a-kite people,  but people who give off a good vibe and prefer half-full to half-empty.

Many people would argue that there’s a place for the pessimists of the world. In fact some of  the best defensive sportsmen and women in the world are born pessimists, always on the lookout for trouble, and it serves them very well. But there’s an art to sounding the alarm, and if  you’re a “trouble ahead” kind of a person you’d do well to find the good in something before  you start pointing out the flaws.

9. Move with the times

Standing still in a fast-moving world is a great way of falling behind the pack, and it’s essential  you stay interested and hungry in your chosen field, especially if you hope to rise through the  ranks.

Learn, explore, keep abreast of new technology and new events, read journals and attend  conferences. In short, don’t be a fossil – evolve.

10. Build on your knowledge and skills – but be diverse too

Career development and job-hopping are not the same thing.

Be wary of moving from job to job and function to function, thinking you’re gaining valuable experience of the business along the way. It’s not easy to move from Customer Servicing to Finance to Systems to Marketing and pull it off, so be sure you can excel in the roles you  choose.

Transferable skills – leading people, managing change, budgeting – will serve you well in  almost any role, but much of your job-specific skills and knowledge can be lost if you jump  around too much.

A safer bet is to stay within the same functional area, add to and leverage the skills and  knowledge you acquire, diversify through well-chosen project work, and differentiate yourself  on the basis of solid performance.

11. Build up a solid network of contacts

The old adage “It’s not what you know but who you know” is as true now as it ever was. If  you want to get something done in areas outside of your jurisdiction, there’s nothing like  having a well-placed contact on the inside to make things happen for you. The same applies  to getting a new job; you have to be an excellent unknown quantity to get a job over a very  good known quantity.

Many people create networks of contacts easily. Extraverts, in particular, love to get face-toface with people and explore ways of doing business together. But if you prefer to keep  yourself to yourself, don’t let this stop you from reverse-networking – being of service to  people who come looking. Nokia invest heavily in this and send new recruits on international networking missions with the explicit purpose of creating new pathways through the business.

12. Get a mentor

Apart from being excellent business practice for wise heads to share what they know, having a  mentor who’s senior to you and not your boss is a very smart move.

Pick someone who’s well-respected, been around a bit, knows the business, and is very good  at what they do. They’ll be flattered to be asked for advice and you can be sure you’ll get  valuable help and insight that would be hard to get from people who work with you day after  day.

Good luck in all that you choose to do!

James@thecolourworks.com

Is Your Team Dysfunctional Or Functional?

Hi, Nick here,

Recently I had the privilege to work with a client in Worcester who decided to use the Morgan Car Factory as the venue for the workshop.

As a bit of background, The Morgan Company was established in 1906 by H.F.S. Morgan after leaving the locomotive industry and setting up a garage in Malvern, Worcestershire.  Morgan is a niche market car manufacturer to the global market and is unique in a number of ways, one of which is that each car is hand built, each having a shell made from hand-crafted ash wood. In 2010, 1,000 cars rolled off the production line with each car taking a week to complete from start to finish. The company’s whole business model is based on longevity and brand reinforcement. This is not a get rich quick business but a business built on quality and customisation to meet the needs of the client.

Morgan retains a highly skilled workforce of around 160 people, most of whom have learnt their trade at the factory. With the average length of service at the factory standing at 27 years!

After the workshop we had the opportunity to tour the factory which I found fascinating in terms of a number of things that are crucial in terms of achieving business success.  I hope you enjoy my observations and they get you to think about you and your team and organisation. I have linked my observations to the book ‘The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team’, written by Patrick Lencioni.  He studied teams to find out what made some teams great and stand out above others and he highlighted 5 key elements being Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability and Results.

Trust

The foundation and most important thing upon which he said great teams were built was Trust.  He said that without trust then a team wouldn’t function effectively.  He summed up trust saying Members of great teams trust one another on a fundamental, emotional level and are comfortable being vulnerable with each other about their weaknesses, mistakes, fears and behaviours.

Colleagues that I observed on the production line demonstrated this in many ways, they each knew the part they played in the process and the skills and behaviours they needed to demonstrate.  This was further reinforced in the camaraderie that I observed and the close bond that had developed.  This was enhanced by the fact that both tea breaks and lunch breaks were all taken at the same time so that production down-time was minimised but also to increase the bonding time between individuals and teams.

Lencioni mentions that one of the best ways to build trust is by each member of the team having and sharing their own personal profile.  As you may be aware, this is at the heart of all the learning we undertake with teams at The Colour Works.

Conflict

Having a strong trusting relationship between individuals enables conflict to occur within teams.  Whilst you may initially think conflict is a bad thing, it is actually very positive if done in an adult way as it enables individuals to share their thoughts and ideas with other team members and discussions to occur to better understand someone’s thoughts and ideas to ascertain whether the suggestion or idea will benefit the team or organisation.

Team members were actively encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas on how to enhance the effectiveness of processes and procedures with a lot of discussion on whether the suggestion would have a positive impact on either quality, reducing costs or time without compromising on the high standards of craftsmanship or impacting on another part in the production chain.  At The Colour Works, we utilise our Team Performance Indicator to get to the nub of the strengths of the team and what the team challenges are to facilitate these discussions.

Commitment

A common goal or vision is always required in a team or organisation.  As individuals, we always want to know ‘what’s our purpose as this will enable us to understand how our role adds value to the team and organisation.

Being able to discuss ideas and suggestions openly with colleagues to agree the best way forward assists in individuals being committed to the team and organisational goals as it creates clarity around direction and priorities.

At Morgan there was a culture had been developed where individuals were encouraged to put their suggestions and ideas forward to enhance the effectiveness and performance of the organisation and each team member had clarity around what their role was and also the vision of the organisation overall.

Accountability

Patrick Lencioni suggests that accountability in the context of teamwork refers specifically to the willingness of team members to challenge their colleagues on behaviour or performance that may harm the team or organisation.

At Morgan, team members said they were happy to have those sometimes difficult adult conversations with their colleagues where they perceived their colleague was behaving or performing in a way which would cause damage.  A difficult thing to do, as often, especially where there are long-standing personal relationships, we will tend to shy away from these conversations as it may harm a personal relationship.  The key is to focus on the behaviour or performance as opposed to being critical of the person themselves.  It is always important to have evidence to support what you say.

Results

Finally, Lencioni mentions that if all the 4 areas mentioned before are in place, results can be achieved at team and organisational level with team members being committed to the common goal over and above their own personal results.

As can be seen by the final product that Morgan produce, I think they have got it right on that score.

I hope you’ve found this blog of value and maybe it has given you food for thought in terms of you and your team.  If this is the case and you wish to learn more about The Colour Works and how we work with organisations to make individuals and teams more effective or you want to know more about the colourful personal profile we use, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Enjoy the journey.

Nick

Twitter: @ColourfulNick

LinkedIn: Nick Fewings