The MacLeod Survey

Not many managers would deny that a workforce of fully engaged, highly motivated staff who consistently give of their best is the management equivalent of the holy grail. How to get there is less cut and dried. Enter the MacLeod Review of employee engagement, a long-awaited report published this summer, which aimed to – in the words of former business secretary, John Hutton – ‘better understand what drives some businesses to engage with their workforce… and look at how we can urge others to do the same’.

The Review was asked to examine whether wider take-up of employee engagement practices could improve UK productivity and meet the challenges of increased global competition. So does the report provide the answers? And what are
its implications for managers?

The Review team explored the role, benefits and drivers of employee engagement by taking views and soundings from a range of employers and stakeholders. The evidence it presents makes a compelling case for the impact of employee engagement on business success. It contains an extensive range of statistics and case studies that demonstrate how engaged employees make a major difference to the bottom line in areas such as productivity, voluntary turnover, absence rates, innovation and competitiveness.

To quote just a couple of examples: a Gallup survey of 89 organisations found that the earnings-per-share growth rate of those with top quartile engagement scores was 2.6 times that of employers with below-average scores. Taking another approach, evidence from Nationwide shows that, in areas of the business with high engagement, sales of banking products were 14% higher and sales
of general insurance were 34% higher than in areas with low engagement.

A highly engaged workforce is valuable at the best of times, but in a downturn it really comes into its own. Galvanising support and commitment from employees is even more important in challenging times, says the report, by strengthening the trust and common purpose that can help organisations navigate the storm.

Failing to create that engagement, however, can undermine employee confidence, dilute teamwork and hinder productivity. And the report contains evidence suggesting that many businesses haven’t quite grasped this. It quotes research by the Corporate Leadership Council suggesting that ‘the number of highly disengaged employees has increased from one in 10 to one in five from the first half of 2007 to the second half of 2008’, along with analysis from Gallup suggesting that in 2008 the cost of disengagement to the UK economy was between £59.4 billion and £64.7 billion. Addressing the ‘engagement deficit’, as the authors put it, will benefit individual businesses but also the productivity and performance of the UK as a whole.

A convincing case

In light of such evidence, even the most sceptical employers can’t deny the difference that employee engagement can make. The report goes on to examine the core drivers for achieving that difference, identifying four key components: leadership – based around a ‘strong strategic narrative’; engaging managers; an effective and empowered employee voice; and organisational integrity, so that behaviour in all areas is consistent with stated values.

The MacLeod Review could not have been clearer about the importance of managers in creating effective employee engagement. Managers are a real driver for embedding strong, productive relationships with staff, playing a pivotal role in equipping, communicating with and supporting their teams to give their best: ‘Employees’ most important relationship at work is with their line manager; people join organisations, but they leave managers’.

But the report also warns that poorly trained or uncommitted managers can really undermine those relationships. Many organisations highlighted the current scarcity of training on leadership and management as a significant barrier to effective engagement in the workplace.

Managers matter

These findings are not particularly new. Many previous studies have highlighted the impact that managers have on employee engagement and business success and the way that managers treat staff is, self-evidently, an important factor in gaining what you need from them. The report’s use of terms such as ‘respect’, ‘trust’, ‘courtesy’ and ‘integrity’ simply reinforces the importance of good management practice.  

The report doesn’t go into detail on practical steps that organisations, and the individual managers within them, can take to enhance employee engagement. The authors make the point that the Review is not a ‘How to’ guide, but the lack of advice does leave managers wanting more, and waiting for guidance on what to do. The report calls for the provision of practical guidelines by March 2010, but this may be a little late for some managers who have been convinced by the case for employee engagement and want to take action now. The delay in ideas could also hinder the role that enhanced employee engagement could play in bringing Britain out of recession.

However, the MacLeod Review has undoubtedly drawn attention to an issue with which leaders and managers are constantly wrestling. With its convincing case for improving employee engagement, it’s a powerful tool for promoting the business benefits of a fully engaged workforce. By wholeheartedly banging the drum for better employee engagement, it’s the first step on the road to that management holy grail.

Legendary Leadership Lessons

Admiral Lord Nelson, Gandhi, and JFK. All “leadership legends” who are looked up to, quoted, and studied but are they really legends or leadership myths? Simon Hollington looks at the lessons to be learned from these great leaders.

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Admiral Lord Nelson
Nelson was courageous, determined, a demanding task-master, a visionary and, of course, successful. For me though, the real skill he had was combining a focus on the task, management, visionary leadership and attention to the welfare of his men.

At Trafalgar, the British fleet was able to fire its guns twice as fast as the combined French and Spanish fleet, the result of months of practice. So lesson one is that he got the basics of the business right, and made sure that everyone did likewise.

What Nelson is not so well-known for is his management. He spent hours every day in correspondence, understood the pulse of his organisation and studied modern methods of warfare. He planned, thought, organised, communicated, delegated and controlled. Nelson was a micro-manager until he was sure his team (his “Band of Brothers” as he called them) was capable, and then he gave them great autonomy. lesson two – get your team right, develop them and then get out of their way!

Nelson is perhaps best known for his visionary leadership and his panache at sea. But a study of him reveals that he was not always so capable. It has been suggested by some that he only got into the Royal Navy because of patronage from his uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling, who took Nelson at 12 to sea. Captain Suckling also sat on Nelson’s Lieutenant’s examination panel. However, the one thing that Nelson did above all others in his early years was to learn. He constantly sought different experiences even spending a year on a merchant ship. He also constantly challenged perceived wisdom and himself. It was this early challenge that developed into the visionary and unorthodox approach for which he is so well known. Lesson three – put time and effort into your own learning. Challenge yourself to be and do better.

Nelson really did look after his men. Hard task-master he might have been but he spent considerable time and resources ensuring that they were well fed. In those days it was typical for some 10% of any ship’s crew to be ill. When Victory went into battle at Trafalgar, only one man out of the ship’s complement of 840 was ill. Fresh meat, lemons and vegetables had been brought from Sardinia to ensure that everyone was looked after. That after Trafalgar men who had never met him wrote home to say that they wished they had died rather than Nelson is testament to his status. So lesson four look after your staff. After all they produce the goods and services that make your business successful.

Mohondras Gandhi
While Nelson gained his reputation from war fighting, Gandhi gained his from peaceful protest. Shy, awkward and nervous as a boy, he failed at college, eventually took up law but then failed again as a lawyer in Bombay where the robust interactions were beyond him. Moving to South Africa he had a seminal experience that was to transform his life. On 7 June 1893 he was thrown off a train for sitting in the same carriage as a white lady despite having bought a first class ticket. That sense of injustice fuelled his life thereafter. But as a leader, Gandhi can be considered to be a failure. He set out with three objectives in mind: independence, a united sub-continent, and the removal of the caste system. Only the first has come about, and that’s not a success rate associated with leaders.

Gandhi was, however, a master of communication: he was prepared to talk to those who opposed him, and he was also prepared to lead by example. Recognising that the rulers (in South Africa and in the Indian Empire) had the upper hand when it came to guns and power, he sought an alternative weapon – Satyagraha – or steadfastness in truth that came to symbolise non-violent resistance. What he never fully took into account was that it relied upon a positive and continuous interaction between parties with the aim of reconciliation. He practised that – others didn’t. A great example of his approach was that even during the troubles in South Africa, when he was continually harassed and jailed by the authorities, he kept up a steady correspondence with Jan Smuts the Prime Minister and met him readily. He did not see Smuts as an opponent, just another player on the field. Lesson one – make sure you are playing on the same playing field as your partners.

Once Gandhi embarked on his Satyagraha movement, it became his answer to everything. He called several national strikes in India that failed (there was almost no disruption to normal life) and he regularly used fasts as a way of bringing pressure to bear. He became a politician but was unsuccessful in his attempts to sway Congress, so he reverted to living a simple life. What he failed to realise is that he could afford to do so because of the amount of support that he had and because of his back up team. Others were less fortunate. Gandhi was also horrified at what he saw as the moral degradation in Indian Society and really could not see what caused others to have less perseverance and vision than he did. Here was another example of being unable to put himself in others shoes. Lesson Two – put yourself in others shoes. Just because you are able to see the need doesn’t mean others can. What might be right from where you sit may be viewed in a very different light from elsewhere.

Perhaps the most revealing insight into Gandhi comes from a study of his aims. While he was able, eventually – and with the assistance of a World War that transformed the old world order – to see the day when British rule gave way, he had set his sights on two other aims that were well beyond his control. He wanted desperately to get rid of the caste system but that remains a deeply ingrained aspect of Indian Society. The same is true of his desire to keep India whole. Both aims were outside his area of influence. Lesson Three – make sure your aims are achievable. Don’t set out to limit yourself but at the same time make sure your goals are attainable. In Gandhi’s case, he simply wasn’t able to influence the millions needed to achieve his aims.

J F Kennedy
The death of JFK is one of those events that I remember vividly – I was standing in our front garden at the time and my elder brother told me that he’d been shot. Even at the age of 11, I was shocked. A war hero, modest, charming, intelligent, determined and an optimist, he was the first young leader of modern history and was in stark contrast to his counterparts: MacMillan, De Gaulle and Khrushchev – who were leaders from the age of war.

Kennedy had studied assiduously the dilemmas of democratic leaders who often had to choose between right and right and he had significant self- awareness. A study of his campaign plans first to get elected to congress and then to win the presidency is a fascinating study of strategy. As a white, liberal, northern Catholic, there were significant barriers for him to overcome, but overcome them he did. Choosing the southern Lyndon Johnson as his running mate he put together a pairing that, together with his stance on civil liberties, unified votes across the political spectrum. So Lesson One – be self aware. Don’t pretend that you can be all things to all men, but instead form a team that together covers all your bases, and Lesson Two – if you want to institute great change or tackle a great project, plan your campaign carefully.

If there was one thing that JFK was a master at, it was the long game. What is often forgotten when looking at US politics is the balance of power. Unlike the UK where the Prime Minister comes from the party with the most MPs, power is shared by the President and the two houses. While the Democrats held power in the Senate that did not mean that JFK had an easy ride. Many would say that his greatest skill was influencing Congress and in 1963 he was finally confident enough to say that his major reforms – tax, civil rights and medical care for the aged – would finally be enacted in 1964 and 1965. Lesson Three – change takes time. Make sure you know what you want, why you want it, work out how to get it, and then be prepared to play the long game to get it.

JFK was a leader who was courageous. Nowhere is this more ably demonstrated than during his handling of the Cuba Missile Crisis. At the height of the Cold War, with nuclear missiles on America’s doorstep, there was considerable pressure from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff for military action, and the expectation was that this young war hero would bow to pressure from his senior and older military advisers. Instead he listened carefully to arguments from both sides, spent a great deal of time considering options and looking for ways to avoid escalation. The temptation to go for the apparently easy route – a Cuban invasion – was immense, but he stuck to his beliefs and diplomacy won the day. Lesson Four – make sure you know what you stand for as a leader and don’t compromise on that no matter what the pressures. It is your values that will mark you out as a leader so don’t play fast and loose with them!

Finally (although there is much more to JFK’s leadership than can be covered in this short note) I ought to point out that JFK was no paragon of virtues. Much has been made since his death of his affairs and he did have failings as a leader. JFK had considerable intellect and was widely read – a legacy from his time laid up with a bad back throughout his life. As a result he had a tendency to look down and dismiss those who were not as quick as he was. He relied heavily on his brother Bobby and some would say that his team – good though it was – was too incestuous. So Lesson Five beware of having too close a team. Be prepared to have people in it that aren’t your natural first choice. Naysayers (as Shakespeare called them) are a great strength to you – provided you listen to them. They present an opposite view that can balance your own bias.

We shall of course never know whether these leaders would have stood the test of time had their lives not been cut short. History is replete with leaders who did not manage to maintain their status over time. Studies of past leaders provide a fascinating insight into the past but we must remember that decisions taken and lessons learned are based on the situation at the time. What every aspiring leader must do is to translate them into their own situation and use the principles that underlie the history. That, above all, is what we can learn from the great and the good of the past.

About the author: Simon Hollington is Chairman of Values Based Leadership Ltd, a company that works with organisations from all sectors to create and run development programmes that improve business performance.

ExtraOrdinary gains extraordinary success

The recently developed self leadership programme has been greeted with some extraordinary success. Through one of our learning partners we provided assistance at a conference for the contract catering company, Charlton House. Over 200 chefs and managers gathered at Beaumont House near Runnymede on a sunny Saturday, to celebrate their previous 12 months and to refocus for the future. Despite the challenging environment they have had a succesful year, but as Tim Jones, the Company Chairman reminded everyone, these are now different times needing different approaches. We were approached through the client manager, Leapfrog International, to act as MC throughout the conference and to run a two and a half hour personal development session for the 230 delegates. The result was quite fantastic with a unanimous positive response to the powerful messages delivered. The energy in the room was amazing and all delegates committed to three very clearly defined actions to take away from the conference.

 

This was the first time that ExtraOrdinary has been  rolled out to an audience and as Keith Stanton, our Managing Partner said afterwards, it will certainly not be the last. “It is without doubt a programme for the times. If a company is looking to develop engagement, personal leadership, the taking of responsibility and innovation within their staff, then this programme must be considered.”

ExtraOrdinary Times – ExtraOrdinary People

I recently attended a seminar on personal development which got me thinking about the phrase “ExtraOrdinary”. We hear it mentioned so many times in the market place and in the media; “these are extraordinary times!”
And indeed they are, and they need extraordinary people to step up and take the reins. So who are these extraordinary people? We believe they all have a few common shared characteristics which we have incorporated into all our new programmes. Below is a quick summary:

Energy: Extraordinary people have loads of energy and as such they are infectious to be around.

Positive: For them the glass is always half full. Where others see difficulty they see opportunity. They understand that adversity makes you stronger.
Futurists: Vision is such a core component of leadership and yet is still remains the most under used tool of the self leader. Visions are not the sole responsibility of the board room, but are a key component for us all. Extraordinary people look to the future and set themselves powerful, scary goals.
State Management: Extraordinary people spend time developing their emotional intelligence allowing them to access their best, more of the time.

Authentic: People who excel tend to have a strong vein of authenticity running through all their actions. You know where you stand with them, there is no role playing going on and they are thus able to communicate in a powerful, authentic manner.

Personal Development: “Leaders are readers” is a phrase from the past but still tends the test of time. Extraordinary people are constantly looking at ways in which they can “sharpen the saw” (to quote Covey). They understand the need for constant improvement in all they do.

 

This list is obviously not exhaustive, but it is the basis of an exciting nesw programme Votive Leadership is developing, simply entitled ….

ExtraOrdinary

Authenticity: Why should I be led by you?

 This is a much talked about facet of Leadership Development, however when you look at the vast array of development programmes which exist out in the market place, you will find very few that focus on authenticity. The reason is that it does not conform with the standard competency based approach to leadership development; develop your areas of weakness and hey presto you have a good leader! No.

Of course the opposite is true. Develop an individual’s weakness you end up with a demotivated average employee with nothing to distinguish them to potential followers.

Read the full post

Employee Engagement: The Challenge of Today

Employee engagement is something we hear a lot of at the moment from Human Resources directors. Companies are continually looking for ways to engage their employees and to achieve higher scores in employee satisfaction surveys.

At Votive Leadership we believe that engagement is part of each of us learning how to Self-Lead. Self-leadership is something that we believe is a key element of a happy and successful work life and yet is a topic that is rarely taught. From our experience of working in many different organisations, in different sectors, we find many unhappy, disgruntled, disengaged, disenfranchised employees. These tend to be those who are not yet in leadership positions – the “followers” in an organisation; those who are carrying out immensely valuable pieces of work for their organisation.

During October and November 2007, we ran a series of self-leadership programmes for the operations/clerical function of a FTSE top 100 financial institution. Up to 15 people per time were invited to a 3-hour session and overall we worked with around 200 people. Comments that we heard at the start of each of these sessions are typical of those we hear in many organisations:

“We’re just a number these days”
“Management only care about costs”
“It never used to be like this”
“We’re understaffed”

Read the full post

An Exploration of Followership

Over the years there has been much talk about “leadership”, and indeed LySB is a good example of the highlighted status this topic receives. However there has been much less talk about the important topic of “Followership”. Leaders need followers and followers can behave in a variety of differing ways, some more effective than others. Their behaviour in turn is usually a combination of the consequence of the culture generated by the leader and the capability and capacity of the individual follower. But all have their roots in Leadership.

Leadership is apparent at different levels within an organisation, but key to the release of potential is the effectiveness of “Personal Leadership”. This is ensuring that you as an individual are able to self lead in a variety of situations. For example, consider you’re coming in to work and you discover that a report you have asked for has not been completed. Although there is a huge temptation in letting the individual know, in no uncertain terms how you are feeling about their lack of respect, would this be the most effective way of dealing with the situation? Successfully coaching the individual (raising their awareness and creating ownership) may generate a better response from them, especially over the longer term. In order to do this you have to keep very tight control over your own emotions and choose your response carefully; self lead. Another example may be you find yourself in the canteen having lunch when a colleague sits with you and begins to complain bitterly about the process found within the company. The easy approach is to join in the moaning and get a few of your own complaints off your chest. Of course this may not be the most resourceful thing to do. The resourceful response needs self leadership.

This article aims to briefly explain the five different categories of “Followership” and to highlight some of the core traits found therein. Read the full post

Votive Leadership New Website Launch

Welcome to the launch of the all new Votive Leadership web site. Thank you for finding us!!

Our aim was to create a new site which was easy to use and more relevant to what we actually do. Hopefully the pages will give you a better insight into our activity, and the exciting addition of this blog will greatly enhance our visitors’ experience. We intend to keep you all informed and up to date with what Votive Leadership is doing, where we are working and more importantly to publish via this blog a series of articles which will tackle some of the major leadership issues facing us today. The first article “Difficult market or Different market?” challenges the mindset needed for 2009.

For us the year has started extremely brightly; fully prepared for a challenging year we have found that 2009 has started where 2008 had left off! We are engaged in some fantastic work in Prague with one of Europe’s largest banks, are preparing a major programme for Best Western Hotels, developing our relationship with Cap Gemini, are engaged in developing the next stage of “Taking the Lead” for Mouchel and are busy in the tender market.

To cap it all Votive Leadership are preparing to become a centre for the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM). This exciting development will see Votive Leadership LLP being able to design bespoke programmes for our clients which will carry formal endorsed / development status or accredited status at Award, Certificate or Diploma level. More news on this will follow shortly.

We would welcome any feedback on the site so feel free to contact us.

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