Agents2Change - Smart Business Thinking

Myers Briggs – which type are you?

In our previous blog we explored the four temperaments, perhaps one of the oldest personality type models on the planet.  But to this, we now add a good all-rounder that has proved a helpful framework in which to consider why you work the way you do. 

No psychometric model predicts behaviour, but they can go a long way to explaining the motives behind our actions.  The Myers Briggs model is particularly robust, since it has been developed through over 60 years of research and has shown a high degree of reliability.

Where does the model come from?

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers Briggs, building on the work of Carl Jung.  It was Jung that first coined the Psychological Types in 1921, and his work was taken up by Katherine Brigg and her daughter post World War II to develop into a model of psychological preferences. 

Jung based his original theory on observations of many hundreds of patients and colleagues, whom he found displayed distinct differences in how they responded to the demands of everyday life and arrived at decisions.

 

What are the Types?

The MBTI is based on four opposing pairs, or dichotomies, that are related to how we interact with the world around us and arrive at our own decisions.

A questionnaire helps to define the preferences for each individual, which are always at the heart of our psychological make-up, but may not be immediately obvious to us, as we have learnt to adapt and change our responses based on work and life experiences. 

 

The MBTI model helps to explain why some people :

• may need to talk through their decisions in detail; whilst others need time to reflect and then present their decision.
• are very good at organising and planning their work and others appear to work in chaos.
• are good at remembering fine detail from a situation and others refer to general themes and patterns.
• make decisions based on facts; whilst other will refer to the emotional impact on others.

 

How can you use MBTI?

The framework like all self-assessment tools helps to raise your awareness of how you work and think and how this may impact on your work with others.  The Type indicators can also be informative when thinking of your career and life choices, by helping you to better understand the work roles and organisational settings that will suit you. 

For teams and organisations, it provides a common framework and language from which to explore the many differences in how team members, managers and leaders operate and can lead to a better understanding of the benefits of a diverse workforce.

 

About us

Agents2change works with some of the world's largest companies on change and implementation issues.  We regularly use MBTI as a developmental framework for leadership, team and organisational development.  If you’d like to know more contact us at:  feedback@agents2change.com

 

Trouble at the Bleeding Edge – Or how the Mighty Fall

Earlier this week we talked about challenges at the Leading edge of change.  But what about at the other end of the spectrum?  It’s a salutary reminder of the unrelenting pace of change, when you hear that Eastman Kodak have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  It is a mighty fall from grace, given the near monopoly status that Kodak held in the world of photography for over 125 years.  Yet it is also a stark reminder of the dramatic changes that our digital based economy has wrought. 

Kodak was once viewed amongst the world’s most innovative companies, providing innovation not only in the camera but also in the development and print field of photography.  Yet in the last 30 years it has gradually slipped further and further from the mainstream, as smaller more agile competitors, better able to respond to the rising tide of digital technology started to take its place, alongside that of the multi-media smartphone. 

Management arrogance is one of the accusations for its demise.   Yet perhaps its biggest failing was not realizing that the moment to change had arrived and passed it by; quietly and swiflty.   It is one of life’s truisms that the moment to change, is just when everything seems to be going swimmingly.  It is at the point of our greatest successes when we have to consider its demise and therefore the need to innovate and change. 

The Danger of resting on one’s laurels

Whilst Kodak fades to black, we can see a similar struggle occurring with Research in Motion's (RIMs) Blackberry.  Once the smartphone of choice for Executives around the world, it has become more and more obscured by the rise of Apple products and the demand for tablet-based technologies. 

Blackberry like Kodak is accused of failing to read the market conditions and consumer choices.  Being unclear where its core market base lies – ‘are we the smartphone for executives, or the consumer product for young people?’.  This fuzzy marketing focus has led to inconsistent R&D (such as the disastrous launch of the Storm and Playbook and the lack of a single OS platform for software development).

Fuzzy leadership  and poor engagement are also cited for Blackberry's demise.  As we fully embed ourselves in the digital age, companies that fail to provide a figurehead to tell their story, or those that don't engage their customers through the infinite options of social media are at risk of being ignored, overlooked and eventually shunned completely by their once loyal customers.

Engagement & responsive-ness, the new watchwords

How can you ensure that you are listening to and engaging your customers as you develop your products and services?

• The world’s most innovative companies all have a strong and clear strategy, communicated by a strong and clear leader
• Using social media – twitter, facebook, youtube etc., as well as the traditional media channels ensures the widest possible circulation
• Creating closed loop marketing opportunities e.g. Once an Apple product owner, one naturally migrates to the next Apple product.
• Anticipating rather than responding to trends – this one of course is the silver bullet, but the world’s most innovate see this as their raison d’étre.  What are you doing to anticipate?

About us

Agents2change works with some of the world's largest companies on change and implementation issues.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on this blog, innovation or change in general.  Share your comments here or email us on feedback@agents2change.com

Corporate & Functions # 6 – Summing up how functions can add value

In this mini-series we have reviewed the role and value that functions can play in supporting large or global corporations.  In this final instalment we take a look back at the issues covered and how they affect functions of today and functions of tomorrow in large and global organisations.

Corporate & Functions is a term to cover all of the centralized teams and services that support a range of business areas within a group.  Typically they include activities such as IT, HR, Finance, Communications & Branding, Legal & Operations (Including Safety).  Their purpose is to provide standardized structures and processes across the various business segments within a group.  

Whilst that sounds straightforward on paper, often Functions struggle to deliver timely, consistent or appropriate support to their various groups.  We believe that there are four key areas that Functions need to address to help them to add value to their organisation:

1. Leadership – providing the right balance between technical requirements of the function and the business needs.  Functional leadership has to be both forthright and humble; adapatble and responsive.  The balance needs to be struck based on the situation and the business needs, but it should always be flexible and attentive to the situational needs.       
2. Role Clarity – Functions need to articulate where the lines of responsibility are drawn in relation to tasks under their aegis.  They have a key role in communicating and clarifying boundaries in de-centralised organisations. 
3. Operational Excellence - In order to move the Function from transactional provider to strategic partner (the ultimate goal of world-class Functions) they need to be well-above fire-fighting mode and demonstrating flawless service delivery.  It is only then that business leaders will trust Functional leaders to address longer-term problems. 
4. Creativity - Building partnerships and alliances enables Functions and Business to enter into constructive dialogue to solve compliance, safety and technology needs.    

Corporate Functions have been created to drive efficiencies and achieve the synergies of specialist groups serving generic business groups.  This has been difficult to achieve in reality due to poorly designed scope of functional teams or through a lack of investment in developing world-class operations.  This mini-series revisited some of the key areas where Functions often fall down in their effectiveness.   

We would love to hear your experiences within a Function or as a recipient of their services.  Why not leave your comments here, or contact us on feedback@agents2change.com.  Agents2Change provides specialist change and implementation support to large and global businesses across Manufacturing, Finance, Service and Energy sectors. 

Corporate & Functions # 4 – Achieving Operational Excellence

In this mini-series we are looking at the role and value that Functions can play in supporting large global corporations.  In this instalment we explore the importance of achieving operational excellence. 

Like so many things in life Operational Excellence has an intuitive aspect to it, in that it is often easier to spot what it is not, than to clearly describe what it is.  In organisations where Functions are not performing well the noise from the business segments is consierable.  However gaining agreement on what would constitute exceptional performance becomes harder to fully describe and achieve.

The modern phenomenon of shared services, outsourcing and offshoring makes this ever more difficult as the distance between service delivery and end customer increases.  The perceived loss of control for outsourced services tends to be one of the biggest issues that emerges.  One will often hear the cry “our IT support services were dreadful in-house, but at least you knew who you were talking to.  Now it is just a faceless name, in some remote office that is ignoring a request for help.”

Whether Corporate Functions are in-house or outsourced, one essential component of excellence must be a set of service standards and performance criteria that are transparent and hold consequences for non-delivery.  A Performance Dashboard similar to the example above can be developed, openly shared and visible across the organisation. Defining specifc and relevant measures can be done through a mixture of external benchmarking and internal dialogue.  Upholding those standards can be done through a mixture of leadership accountability and performance incentives. 

This requires a different kind of conversation to be held between functional leaders and business leaders within the organisation.  In order to move the Function from transactional provider to strategic partner (the ultimate goal of world-class Functions) organisations need to be well-above fire-fighting mode and demonstrate flawless service delivery.  It is only then that business leaders will trust Functional leaders to address longer-term problems. 

In our next instalment we will look at Harnessing Creativity.  If you have experiences you wish to share, please comment here or contact us at feedback@agents2change.com

 

How to Achieve Sustainable Change

To bring about radical improvements in how teams operate, it is important to focus equally on what they are doing and how they are doing it.  Focusing purely on behaviour, without linking it to business process and performance leads to poorly focused development.  Focusing on processes and systems without considering behaviours leads to unsustainable or poorly realized improvements.    It requires a number of things to occur:

Engaging Leadership

Coaching and engagement is essential to sustainable change.  Coaching allows for a frank and timely exchange of views about their leadership style and the interventions in a safe and confidential environment.  It is only by having the space and opportunity to do this, that leaders can learn how to set the right tone and follow that through in their own behaviour, to maximize impact with their team.

Developing a team identity and goal

Bringing the team together to explore how they work together and how that can be improved is a powerful exercise in galvanizing efforts and overcoming resistance.  A key output is a ‘team charter’ that articulates the goals (performance results), in-year milestones, dependencies and how individual roles will contribute to the achievement of those goals. 

Defining Individual Roles

After defining the team charter, individuals then develop their own team role.  It is defined in terms of contribution to team results, but also behaviours and team expectations of each other. 

Defining Processes & creating service standards

Part of the challenge for teams is how to get a shared picture of the end-to-end process, the hand-offs and where performance might be compromised.  By involving all team members in the process mapping and identification they buy-in to the improvements that are identified.

Creating a performance management framework

One of the big reinforcing tools to embed and then maintain new behaviours is a visual performance management framework. The team need to be engaged; not only in the data gathering, but also in understanding and responding to the data as it is reported.  Performance dashboards can lead to lively team discussions, because everyone understands what is required and their role in achieving it. 

Maintaining momentum

It is important, once the changes have been made, to maintain them.  Leaders play an important role here in ensuring that weekly and monthly team meetings are given the priority that they deserve and that data is regularly reviewed.  Praising good performance is just as important as highlighting and questioning poor performance. 

Who we are

Agents2Change has an unblemished track record in delivering significant improvements in key business results: profit; production; reliability; safety; to large scale process industries.    Our team of highly experienced consultants have the knowledge and skills to help you tackle the most daunting of behavioural change agendas informatively and effectively.  For more information, comment here, or email us at:  feedback@agents2change.com.

The Curse of Unsustainable Growth

One does not have to look far to see the impact of the collapse of some Euro-Zone economies.  The shock is quite palpable and is being felt at every level of society in Portugal, Greece & Ireland.  But you also do not need to look far to see the blind faith that was placed in the economic growth continuing for some time to come.

The time before the bubble burst was the most active and optimistic in business and construction industries across Europe.  Nobody  (apart from a few Economists and analysts) wanted to believe that the party was going to come to an end, and therefore continued unabated, in their belief that it would continue on – or at least until the next big deal is done.  Now we see the impact of that denial through the high unemployment, bankruptcy increases and half-finished construction sites up and down their lands. 

But none of us are unaffected by these economic collapses.  It affects the daily lives of every government around the world, in our now globalized and inter-connected economies.  We can all take lessons from this crash and learn how we might read the signs better next time around, because one thing we can predict is that there will be a next time.

In business we are also often tempted by two paths to growth.  One that will be rapid, bring quick returns and seem to be easy to achieve as it is riding on the wave of a wider growth pattern.  The other one, which can be a hard sell for shareholders, will be slow, sometimes painful, based on internal strength and a much shallower growth curve (albeit one that sustains over a much longer time line).  Real sustainable growth however is based on the latter.  It is based on sound business sense, a tangible product or service and a robust internal business model. 

Like all economic bubbles, it is easy to get carried away with the excitement of the possibilities at the time, but those firms that kept their feet on the ground and looked to a steady path for growth are now riding the wave of endurance far better than some of their larger counterparts. 

Sustainable business growth is by its nature fairly conservative.  It does not look for double-digit growth or rapid expansion to new markets.  It is about working from a position of strength and superiority in one area and gradually expanding from that, based on a realistic assessment or resources and competence capacity.    If we take a leaf out of their book, we are likely to be better equipped to face the uncertain future ahead.

Are you unconsciously incompetent or consciously competent?

Have you ever wondered why it is easy to train some people in some skills and others remain stubbornly resistant to new ideas?  The reason for this might be down to the process of learning that is applied and how well it allows the person to see their own shortcomings vis-à-vis a new skills or approach. 

Over 70 years ago Abraham Maslow coined a model called the four stages of learning and it remains the cornerstone of learning theory to this day.  It comes from the premise that our awareness of our own abilities comes from both our conscious and our unconscious mind. 

 

 
A good example of how this works would be the process of learning to drive a car.  In the initial stages that we are thinking about driving, we watch our parents and others drive cars and think of how easy it looks.  In this stage of Unconscious Incompetence, we see the task as an easy process of a few pedals and a gear stick.  We believe it to be easy because we observe it as an effortless process in others. 

Then we take the plunge and start driving lessons and suddenly we are thrown into Conscious Incompetence.  We start to realise that there is more to this than just a few gears and pedals and that we have to keep a huge amount of information in our heads to control this vehicle. 

As our confidence builds and we master the skills required we move into Conscious Competence.  We can move those gears and pedals at the right time and are able to control the many other variables that help us to drive our vehicle safely.

The final stage is the very one we were observing as the novice.  In this stage you have reached Unconscious Competence.  You no longer have to think of the actions required to drive the car, but can do so effortlessly with little conscious thought of what is required. 

This is a useful model for any learning & development program to explain the difference stages that need to be considered in learning.  Like many models its simplicity belies the depth of theory and understanding that it portrays.  For example the transition between conscious incompetence and conscious competence requires a lot of review and reflection on behalf of the learner.

The best teachers tend to be those who can hold their learning in the conscious competence level.  It is only when we understand and can break down the tasks of our learning that we can explain that to others. 

Similarly, getting someone to recognise that they may have a learning need requires their unconscious incompetence to be highlighted by showing the gap between what they think they know and what they can apply.  Quizzes or practical assessments are examples of how this can be done.

Have you got examples of how this model has helped you to shape your organisation’s development.  Do you have comments about the learning process.  Post your comments here or email us on feedback@agents2change.com

Agents2Change works with clients to achieve breakthrough results through system, process and people development interventions.

2010 - That was the year that was!

2010 may not go down in history as an outstanding year, but it will certainly go down as an eventful one.  There have been environmental disasters, both natural and man-made.  We have seen economic hardships and we have seen innovative breakthroughs.  Here's our recap of some of the big events that shaped our year.   A year that’s seen us turn the corner on the global recession only to be faced with a more gloomy perspective of widespread austerity measures facing almost every nation.

It was year of earthquakes that devastated Haiti and floods in Pakistan affecting up to 20 million people.  A hitherto unknown Volcano in Iceland bringing Europe to a standstill when ash cloud interrupted air travel.

For many countries in Europe it was the start of major public sector cutbacks, the biggest since welfare states were established.  The backlash is widespread protests and at times civil unrest in many European countries.  The Euro currency itself is under threat after some of its members needed rescue packages, the latest of these being Ireland.

The International Monetary Fund made the momentous step of ceding 6% voting rights to developing nations. Some political regimes seem to loosen their grip slightly – such as the release of political activist Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, and others tighten theirs, such as the increasing tensions in North Korea.   

For Business, it could be argued it has been a less tumultuous year, in that we have not seen the major collapses of banking corporations, finance houses and retail chains that occured in 2008, but it certainly has not been easy. 

BP stand out as having the worst year of their existence, following the disastrous spill in the Gulf of Mexico which quickly spiralled from an environmental crisis to a political and for a time a financial one. 

The use of new media and its impact on business (as well as public life) is also evolving.  We see business leaders getting more savvy in their use of new media and we see game changing protest sites such as Wikileaks which is bringing sharp transparency to government dealings.  

America whilst still having high levels of unemployment saw clear rebounds in the retail trade, allowing Walmart to knock Exxon Mobil of the no 1 slot of the Fortune 500 companies again showing the domination that retail has over lives.  It was another year for Innovation with Apple launching not one but three new must-have gadgets this year including the much anticipated iPad.

The full impact of the global recession continues to send out ripples and it is still difficult to predict the impact it will have on all of us, but the hoped for rapid recovery seems unlikely and private sector will be braced for retrenchment as the austerity measures start to hit at contracts and agreements with 3^rd party suppliers.

Regardless of how history views the year 2010,what it does tell us about business survivial is that it is based on adaptiveness, customer centricity and a  loyal and committed workforce.  Efficiency will continue to be the most important theme.  It is about doing more with less whilst still delivering excellent customer services.  Technology has always played a role in this, but staff motivation and buy-in to the company values are what will stand the test of time.  If you keep these in mind as you enter 2011, you can be sure of continued success.  

 

Set Realistic Targets – no, really realistic (Rule #5 of 10) The Rules of Management

Continuing our series, we share our top 10 rules from Richard Templar’s book:  The Rules of Management.   Rule #5 is about Target Setting.  The thing about targets, is that whilst that are now ubiquitous in Business and even the Public Sector world, they continue to be widely mis-understood, over-used or just plain unhelpful.  The reasons are many-fold, but one of the chief culprits is the lack of clarity and realism in the target-setting process.

 

 

According to Templar, “Realistic means you know what your team is capable of and what is expected of it by your bosses”.  The trick is to hit the right balance between demands for solid performance from the company and what your team can realistically deliver without feeling that they are being worked into the ground.

 

If it is a top-down driven problem – i.e. your bosses are expected you to move heaven and earth, then tell them it is not realistic and give them clear data and evidence to support this .    

 

If your problem is bottom-up in that your team do not seem to want to be pushed out of their comfort zone, then some hard talking is needed about why their performance needs to be stretched (& some evidence of other team's performance in your company or similar industries is very helpful here) and why these are realistic demands being made on them.  

 

 

If the culprit of unrealistic goal setting is you – then relfecting on what it is that drives your behaviour is perhaps what's needed.  Having high expectations is one thing, but setting unreachable targets to impress your boss, that in turn undermine your team’s efforts, is quite another; appropriate stretch is a good thing, but you don’t want to stretch to snapping point .  

 

 

Ask yourself, if all the circumstances are favourable and you honestly assess your own and your team’s capability, is the target an achievable one?  If the answer is No, then go back to the drawing board and start again.  Everyone will thank you for being realistic and reliable in the end.

Cut the crap - prioritize! (rule #4 of 10) - The rules of management

Continuing our series, we share our top 10 rules from Richard Templar’s book:  The Rules of Management.   Rule #4 is about prioritizing.  Templar is unequivocal about this; “When all is said and done, Money is what our work is about.  No money, no business.  No business, no job.  Cut the crap and dedicate yourself to one thing and one thing only – the bottom line … that’s what separates a really sharp manager from all others”

It is a strong message, but not an unreasonable one.  Too many times, managers dedicate large amounts of their time in pleasing others, or to pet projects which don't deliver anything in real benefits to the bottom line.  Our job as employees and managers is to add value to an organisation.  By that, we mean that the company has made more money by employing us than it would have lost without us.  Sometimes in the functional roles and matrixed organisations of modern day companies it is hard to see where that value lies.  If this feels like the case for you, then perhaps your first priority is working out exactly where that value is and then making sure that this is on the top of your list each and every day.