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, 01 Sep 2010 13:34:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 FrankUncoversExcellenceInLeadershiphttp://feedburner.google.com Let Them Do Their Job For Crying Out Loud! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FrankUncoversExcellenceInLeadership/~3/LlVndVsq8bI/ http://geniusone.com/blog/let-them-do-their-job-for-crying-out-loud/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:34:55 +0000 Frank Kanu http://geniusone.com/blog/?p=2894 Copyright © 2010 Frank Kanu Visit the original article at Let Them Do Their Job For Crying Out Loud!

Is this a typical day in your middle managers’ lives?
  • arrive in office
  • spend one hour updating employee’s sick absence record (used to be done by HR but that department has been downsized)
  • spend one hour processing invoices (used to be done by Finance but that department has been downsized)
  • spend one and a half hours resolving laptop issue (used to be done by on-site IT people but that department has been downsized)
  • lunch
  • spend one and a half hours resolving air-conditioning issue (used to be done by Facilities but that department has been downsized)
  • spend one and a half hours on emails (used to be done by Assistant but role had to be cut following recent budget round)
  • spend half an hour on job they were recruited for before leaving for home.

In a seven hour day (of course, they’re all working a lot longer than that to make up time) half an hour represents just over 7% efficiency.

And working longer hours to make up time represents an even less efficient approach, particularly as morale starts to get affected.

Now I’m not saying that they’re aren’t good reasons for rationalization of business functions. Dead wood, archaic processes, over-staffed departments… they all exist and leaders need to tackle them.

But if this is at the expense of important middle-ranking Executive efficiency… then you need a different approach.

In other words, can you let your managers manage please?
That’s what you pay them for.



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]]> http://geniusone.com/blog/let-them-do-their-job-for-crying-out-loud/feed/ http://geniusone.com/blog/let-them-do-their-job-for-crying-out-loud/ Can You Change people? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FrankUncoversExcellenceInLeadership/~3/NeoaBlFWelI/ http://geniusone.com/blog/can-you-change-people/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:55:34 +0000 Frank Kanu http://geniusone.com/blog/?p=2893 Copyright © 2010 Frank Kanu Visit the original article at Can You Change people?

Well, it depends on how old they are. If they are aged 6 or below, then the answer’s probably yes.

And if they’re above, then the answer’s probably disappointing.

Which means that the HR/appraisal/discipline industry is wasting its time. At least, it’s wasting its time trying to change people.

Let me try another tack. One of the latest corporate mantras is that ‘we need to embrace diversity’. Now, if that’s the case, why are so many leaders trying to get everyone to be the same?

The answer is all about control. If everyone in an organization is broadly similar in personality, outlook and thinking then the perception is that directing them will be easier.

The trouble is, with everyone the same, there is no internal challenge and teams suffer because they usually thrive on the differences among their constituent parts.

So, what I’m coming to, in a roundabout way, is that difference is good. And that what the HR/appraisal/discipline industry needs to do is harness differences and apply them for the corporate good. The customer facing guy who’s over assertive and should never have been let near customers in the first place should be allowed to move and apply his talents in, say, procurement (where his assertiveness may strike better purchasing deals). And the procurement guy who likes to please people can take his place in Customer Service.

It’s called horses for courses. And it’s common sense.

And where you cannot change someone and there’s no other course for the horse? Well… that’s one for the non-culpable inefficiency route, I’m afraid. And a mental note to look at recruitment procedures.

Can you change people?


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]]> http://geniusone.com/blog/can-you-change-people/feed/ http://geniusone.com/blog/can-you-change-people/ Telling How It Is http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FrankUncoversExcellenceInLeadership/~3/Eh7POSVu8e4/ http://geniusone.com/blog/telling-how-it-is/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:29:58 +0000 Frank Kanu http://geniusone.com/blog/?p=2892 Copyright © 2010 Frank Kanu Visit the original article at Telling How It Is

Bringing in outsiders is an interesting step for a Chief Executive or Managing Director to take.

Before I continue I have to declare an interest, of course. I am an ‘outsider’ for those companies who employ my consultancy. I will return to that point at the end of this blog entry.

Bringing in outsiders is an interesting step to take because it’s often expensive financially… and in terms of morale.

The first bit’s self-evident… but I should explain the morale bit. There resides in your workforce a collective knowledge about your business that you cannot replicate. No amount of briefing will ever bring outsiders up to the same point of knowledge of your business and marketplace that your employees have.

Why then ask someone outside your business to consider an issue when you’ve probably already got the answer on your doorstep?

I think the answer lies in the ‘t’ word… ‘trust’. Many business leaders have a psychological mistrust about what their employees might tell them about their business and a massive willingness to believe an outsider. Employees therefore see a consultant brought in and morale dips because they feel their own standing in their business undermined. This usually happens when the business is in the cost-cutting part of the ‘investment/cost-cutting cycle’… so the expenditure on outsiders sits uneasily alongside internal budget cuts, further undermining morale.

And the morale of this story (sorry… puns are a weakness!). Look inside your business before you look outside.

Oh… and why am I different?

Because I work with you as the leader… and am prepared to tell you how it is, as I’ve done in this article. That’s something you really might not get from your employees.

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