Frank Uncovers Excellence in Leadership

Frank Uncovers Excellence in Leadership http://geniusone.com/blog Since two decades author and leadership consultant Frank Kanu helps top managers and executives to improve success ratios and productivity. Wed, 15 May 2013 11:02:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 FrankUncoversExcellenceInLeadershiphttp://feedburner.google.com Go Home And Work http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FrankUncoversExcellenceInLeadership/~3/cKeoCKcZarY/ http://geniusone.com/blog/go-home-and-work/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 11:02:02 +0000 Frank Kanu http://geniusone.com/blog/?p=2996 Copyright © 2013 Frank Kanu Visit the original article at Go Home And Work

While some of my blogs have been quite critical of the quality of modern leadership in corporate and other walks of life, my general view is that leadership is a generally improving skill. In other words, people are largely as well if not better led now than they have ever been.

That said, my confidence still gets dented from time to time… and most recently by the new Chief Executive of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer.

Now Ms. Mayer is a former Google Executive… so let’s start with Google and a quote from their Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette. Mr Pichette has said that the answer to anyone asking how many Google staff telecommute (telework, remote work, work from home, call it what you will) was ‘as few as possible’. He went on to say that, “There is something magical about spending the time together, about noodling on ideas, about asking at the computer ‘What do you think of this?’”.

Now that’s got to be one for the sick-bucket… but back to Marissa Mayer. She has issued a memo banning Yahoo staff from working from home. An extract from the memo reads, “Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings.” Another says… “Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.”

Given all that I have said on the subject of modern life’s pressure on working people and the effect this has on families and society, I am disappointed by these attitudes. I am particularly disappointed that they are present in ‘Tech’ companies given theirs is an industry that has shouted the advantages of modern technology from the rooftops… ease of communication, virtual office environments, more efficient use of time, lower carbon emissions and so on.

People don’t need to be permanently together to be a team. Nor does your team need to be together and visible to be led.

Unless you’re lacking in leadership confidence, that is.

]]> http://geniusone.com/blog/go-home-and-work/feed/ http://geniusone.com/blog/go-home-and-work/ Whistleblowers http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FrankUncoversExcellenceInLeadership/~3/d9Po-zTJNBQ/ http://geniusone.com/blog/whistleblowers/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 12:00:03 +0000 Frank Kanu http://geniusone.com/blog/?p=2995 Copyright © 2013 Frank Kanu Visit the original article at Whistleblowers

‘Whistleblower’ reports often catch my eye. I often read these tales of life within organizations with a mixture of fascination (they reflect what the organization is really like rather than how it appears on the outside) and horror (what is revealed invariably takes your breath away).
And so it is with the comments being made by a constable (a police officer of the lowest rank in the UK). He has said that:

every single reported theft of a mobile phone is recorded as lost property
attempted burglaries get reported as criminal damage
figures are manipulated. For example, a good month’s detection rates are ‘carried over’ into a poorer month to smooth out the numbers
shoplifting is an ‘easy detection’ so that gets priority treatment
there are not enough people so crime isn’t properly investigated.

Four thoughts strike me:

organizations that operate on behalf of the Government will have the usually negative effect of politics acting on them. I pity the leaders, caught as they are between a rock and a hard place
companies should be more transparent. It should not have to take a whistleblower to reveal true performance
once again, here’s the effect within organizations of poorly constructed targets adversely influencing behavior
and… once again, folks… lies, damned lies and statistics.

A final sobering thought for leaders. What practices might an employee or former employee blow the whistle on in your business?

Tags: blow the whistle burglaries constable damage figures fascination horror lost property mixture mobile phone performance police officer priority treatment reported theft rock and a hard place shoplifting sobering thought statistics targets true performance whistle whistleblower

Copyright © 2013 Frank Uncovers Excellence in Leadership
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]]> http://geniusone.com/blog/whistleblowers/feed/ http://geniusone.com/blog/whistleblowers/ Break or No Break http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FrankUncoversExcellenceInLeadership/~3/Pjgu4yPbmJo/ http://geniusone.com/blog/break-or-no-break/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:15:52 +0000 Frank Kanu http://geniusone.com/blog/?p=2994 Copyright © 2013 Frank Kanu Visit the original article at Break or No Break

Sorry… I can’t quite get off my soapbox yet regarding the poor impact of modern corporate and working life culture on health and quality of life.

I say this having just read online in a UK newspaper that UK workers now take just 29 minutes for lunch on average. This is four minutes less than it was 12 months ago.

60% of workers don’t even have a break for lunch but eat it at their desks.

When asked why they were doing this two thirds said they had too much work to do to leave their work stations and 14% (I thought it would be more) said they did it to impress their boss.

The survey has drawn both medical and political comment.

Ron Cutler, a micro-biologist at Queen Mary University of London, is concerned about the crumbs left on desks and keyboards. Diarrhea and vomiting causing bacteria find these crumbs a great place to breed and do so readily at the 20°C temperature maintained in most offices.

And Health Minister Anna Soubry says workers should take a proper lunch break and enjoy their food. She says that workers eating lunch at their desk is disgusting.

These comments are fair enough. But I wonder whether Dr Cutler or Minister Soubry have ever been inadvertently impressed by the commitment of their short-lunch break staff over and above those who take a whole hour.

I say that because I believe few leaders fail to fall into the trap of preferring staff who ‘work through’ or work late over those who stick to their hours.

There’s a deeply embedded cultural issue at play here. It will take a lot to shift it.

Tags: 12 months bacteria biologist boss break crumbs desk desks diarrhea four minutes health minister keyboards life culture proper lunch quality of life queen mary university queen mary university of london ron cutler soapbox two thirds work

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