Hi everyone,
Thank you to all our subscribers for taking the time to read our blog in 2014. In conjunction with the launch of our brand new company website, the GRA Blog is moving to the new site.
You can find the blog here: http://www.gra.uk.com/
If you have any suggestions or questions regarding the blog, please direct them to our Marketing Manager, Matthew Campbell on matthew@gra.uk.com.
All the best,
The GRA Team
New study reveals most managers think they hold their teams accountable, but in fact lack the proper skills
Three quarters of managers have to take on extra work every week to compensate for under-performing staff, according to a new study into workplace accountability conducted by Grahame Robb Associates Ltd. One in ten managers claimed they did seven hours or more per week extra because members of their team couldn’t complete specific tasks or meet targets.
Over half of the managers who took part in the study claimed they discuss the behaviour with their team member the first time a deadline or target is missed, with a further 20 percent raising concerns the second time it happens. A full fifty percent of the respondents said they spend half an hour or longer preparing for these accountability conversations.
If it is indeed the case – that managers overall are quick to hold their team accountable – it begs the question: Why are so many managers taking on additional work?
Despite their good intentions, according to the study, many do not see the behaviour change they’re expecting when they hold staff accountable. A full 80 percent of managers said they see these bad habits return within three months of a discussion regarding performance. In addition, 63 percent believe they have to raise a concern twice or more to see an improvement in behaviour. If managers have to spend over half an hour preparing for these conversations and raise concerns multiple times, then a significant amount of time is wasted trying to create sustainable behaviour change.
“Our study outlines a common problem managers face when trying to create a culture of accountability,” said Sharon Clish, Director of Learning and Development at Grahame Robb Associates Ltd. “Despite confronting issues early, many see problems re-surface. When expectations are violated it is important to consider all of the possible reasons why a member of the team hasn’t delivered against expectations; we’re often quick to identify a problem as a lack of motivation, yet this is rarely the correct diagnosis.”
“Masking the real issue by discussing other areas of success can also be a significant barrier to resolving the problem,” added Clish. “It is important to outline the expected performance and then describe the gap to what was actually delivered before inviting reasons for the missed deadline or target.”
About the study:
Who Does What By When? is a study undertaken by Grahame Robb Associates Ltd in which 134 managers, from over 100 public and private sector organisations in the UK, took part in an online survey in August 2014.
Click here to download the full results
What are your true colours?
By Sharon Clish, Director of Learning and Development at Grahame Robb Associates
Have you ever wondered if colour influences us in anyway? Whilst recently working with a team of leaders, I stumbled across a fascinating observation about colour that fuelled my curiosity. If I may, let me set the scene and share what happened.
Visualise a training room if you will. After a delicious lunch, we were settling into the “grave yard shift” as we trainers call it and energy levels were dwindling. ‘Oomph’ was the order of the day and so we assembled around a couple of flip charts to discuss the topic of “effective leadership.” As the groups rotated around the charts, with marker pens in blue, green and red in hand, discussing different leadership challenges, a theme began to emerge. One of the topics I had asked the groups to consider was “what factors determine an effective leader?” and, as we perused the list, it became evident that a link between colour and leadership was beginning to stir some relevance.
Before I continue, may I offer a quick history lesson in colour analysis? Back in the 1900s, it was Johannes Itten, a Swiss expressionist and tutor who taught at the Bauhaus German School of Art, who first observed the concept of colour psychology. When Itten asked his students to paint landscapes, he noticed that some painted in warm colours and some in cool colours. Not only did they paint in warm or cool, their clothes also reflected their colour preference. As time has progressed, the concept of colour psychology has meant many things to many people. When I witnessed my group of leaders confirming my beliefs regarding the influence of colour, I was eager to explore this further.
The human eye registers colour first, especially red, and psychologists claim that colours can impact how we are perceived because it influences the way we think, feel and even the way we look. Think about red. Red signifies confidence, influence, and power – for example the branding of Coke, Virgin or Santander. Blue is for intellect, calm, and reflection – have you ever wondered why policeman and surgeons wear blue? Green is the colour of harmony, life and growth – hospitals are often painted green to relax patients and in the middle ages brides wore green to symbolise fertility.
So, what has this colour analysis got to do with my rejuvenated leaders around a flip chart discussing the factors of effective leadership? Well, the remarkable observation was that the group using a red pen listed leadership qualities such as influencing, charisma, confidence and vision, while the group with a blue pen highlighted listening, trust, credibility. As for the green group, we saw comments such as “encouraging work life balance” and “creating an environment for individuals to flourish”.
Resonant leadership has always been of interest to me. Here at GRA, we have supported leaders at all levels for years, helping them to be the best that they can be. However, just lately we have been engaging with the colour palette and identifying where it connects in the world of business. If true leadership starts with the heart, then surely if we want others to follow, we have a duty to think, feel, and look our best? My questions to my peers are:
Maybe the next time you go to buy new business wear or even go to grab a flip chart pen, stop and think, “What message do I want to send to my receiver? Is it one of energy, calm, or harmony?” Above all, one should always strive for authenticity.
By Karen Robb, Master Trainer in Crucial Conversations and Crucial Accountability
In any given week, many of us experience a situation where a colleagues’ performance doesn’t quite match up to our expectations. The gap between what was expected and what was observed can be anything from missed deadlines to poor performance or even inappropriate behaviour. The approach you take to deal with this gap can define a relationship.
Research conducted by VitalSmarts suggests that employees waste almost £1,000 and an eight-hour work day for every accountability discussion they avoid. Imagine how much these costs sky rocket when you consider that 95% of a company’s workforce struggle to hold these conversations effectively.
Often, the perception is that negative feedback on performance, be it via a formal performance management appraisal or even a quiet word, is anything but constructive.
So, what are our options when expectations are violated?
How do we describe the gap, whilst avoiding the pitfalls of option 2?
Crucial Accountability
The key is to start by making the conversation safe – when we feel safe in a conversation, we are capable of talking to almost anyone about almost anything. It is important to hold the conversation in the right environment and when you are in the right frame of mind. It is important that your colleague is aware that your intention is to resolve the problem, not to threaten or apportion blame.
When you initiate the conversation, introduce facts about the expected behaviour and the observed behaviour and ask a question that clarifies their understanding of the two and where the gap exists. For example, “We agreed you would have the sales report to me by the end of Friday. It’s now Monday and I haven’t received it. What happened?” It is important not to jump in with opinions or offer possible excuses; allow your colleague to express their own reasoning.
If you can successfully navigate the ‘hazardous half minute’ of initiating a crucial accountability discussion, then you’re half way to solving the problem.
GRA are proud to be the exclusive UK and Republic of Ireland licensee for Crucial Accountability, one of the four VitalSmarts training programme. We are able to offer the programme as a public course and as an in-house training solution, with Train-the-Trainer Certification available. For more information about Crucial Accountability, please visit our website or contact us via: enquiries@gra.uk.com or 01962 779911.
GRA Outdoor Learning Centre Reading
By Sharon Clish, Director of Learning and Development at Grahame Robb Associates
We all have a comfort zone at work and outside of it. When we sit in that zone, we feel confident and at ease with ourselves, in control, able to deliver results and perform well. These moments in time can feel rewarding and energising and, as we snuggle up in our cosy, security blanket, life feels safe. So, when the unexpected is thrown at us or we decide to step out of the wrap-around security blanket to expand our thinking and emotions, we don’t always do our best and we can often feel like we have let ourselves or others down. What is it I wonder that helps us make the stretch? Is it a boost in self-confidence we crave for or is it about expanding competence?
Here at GRA, we watch hundreds of people face endless learning challenges when we deliver our training. Whether it’s standing up and presenting to an audience or leaping off a 30ft telegraph pole to grab a trapeze bar at our Outdoor Learning Centre, as human beings we all face the fear!
So picture this, years ago, I was a novice in the outdoor training arena so an experience called “The Trapeze” became my quest. Everyone said what fun it was to jump off the top; seriously, deep down I couldn’t think of anything worse! How will I cope if I hurt my delicate self (it’s all perfectly safe)? Plus, what about how my hair looks as I fly (a hard hat is supplied)? Week after week I avoided the challenge and yet I secretly yearned to do it …I didn’t know how and like so many of us, I felt I couldn’t admit it.
There are self-development gurus that will tell us that, all we have to do is think positively, get lots of support, believe you can do it and go for it. There are even a number of Hollywood actors who would say “if you have confidence you can pull anything off”. Well, that’s up for discussion because in this instance it was my lack of self-confidence that inspired me to expand my competence and I knew that I couldn’t go up until I had a process to break down the task and understand which arm and leg went where. For weeks, I studied people climbing the trapeze. Watching them climb with great ease, lifting their bodies so gracefully, I knew that the time invested in understanding the activity helped me to eventually reach the top myself and successfully achieve the goal that had challenged me.
What has this adventure taught me? Helping individuals to be the best that they can be is my passion, and building confidence is a challenge for all of us. In my quest to find the confidence to climb a trapeze, make a presentation or hold a high stakes conversation, I learnt that having no or low confidence gave me the determination to expand my self-competence in this task. Once I found the competence, the confidence took care of itself.
Challenge yourself in more ways than you think – come and climb our trapeze or experience another one of our courses – you will be surprised what you can achieve. Your self-esteem and even your hair will survive in more ways than you realise.
If you are interested in team or leadership development activities which incorporate fun, experiential elements at our Corporate Outdoor Learning Centre in Reading, please contact Gaynor Sorrill on 01189 332222 or via gaynor@gra.uk.com. Alternatively, our brand new Outdoor Leadership Centre, in the grounds of The FA’s St. George’s Park National Football Centre, will be opening this summer. For enquiries about this facility, please contact Rick Chattell via rick@gra.uk.com.
By Catherine Conn, Management Trainer & Certified Trainer in Influencer and Change Anything
New Year has come and gone and with it many people’s New Year’s resolutions. But, guess what’s coming for those whose challenge is still alive – oh yes the temptation of an Easter chocolate fest! Some may benefit from the Lent promise, whilst others may rely on good old willpower and we all know if we had more willpower then everything would be perfect.
How wrong could we be, there are forces out there conspiring to halt all the good work we may have done in the last three months on our efforts to eat healthier, slim down or get fit. This is not an excuse to allow us to eat more or exercise less, this is about forces we are often blind to and which outnumber our efforts.
There are ways to combat the sources that influence us and we need to get smart to fight back. My impetus came in the form of this article. “Practice what you preach” was what I heard when I was given this topic and rightly so, as I’d let it my own challenge slip somewhat.
It’s not my intention to tell you, the reader what to do, just to share some tips about how to recognise the unseen forces and use them to your advantage. If you hear yourself saying anything like the following, you’ll know that these forces are at play:
Tick off the list the ones that have been affecting you:
Have you ticked 2 or more? If you have and you’ve decided that you want to ‘get back on the horse’ as it were, have a go at this plan for getting fit and eating healthy food during the temptations of the Easter period.
First, it’s definitely worth:
Here’s the plan for Easter and I’m hoping some of it will resonate with you.
GRA are proud to be the sole UK Licensee of VitalSmarts for Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. So often we want to make big changes in our lives, but lack the resolve to see them through. It seems we just can’t summon the necessary willpower to take on these huge challenges – challenges like saving money, changing bad work habits, stopping smoking, increasing productivity, or losing weight. But here’s the secret:willpower is not the answer.
Our next Change Anything public programme is taking place on the 24th June 2014 at the Hilton Hotel, St. George’s Park, Burton-upon-Trent. For more information, please visit: http://www.gra.uk.com/Training_Programmes.asp.
Guest post by Wendy Head, Executive Director of HR and Organisational Development at Terrence Higgins Trust.
What is the traditional response in the Health sector (and most sectors to be honest!)?
All valid interventions but are they really tackling the problem? The evidence suggests not. Sickness absence in the health sector has remained fairly constant since 2010, though there was a slight increase in 2013. Despite the Boorman report, a national target of reducing absence to 3% (approximately 6.5 days per annum per employee) and a plethora of good practice guides from many quarters, significant change is being seen only in a few places and certainly not across the sector as a whole. With an ever increasing need to make savings in the health service, another recent round of restructuring of models of provision and increasing competition for provision of health services from the private sector, surely something new is needed?
A new approach – and no it’s not rocket science!
I doubt anyone would argue that it is absolutely essential to have robust policies and processes in place for managing sickness absence, that management information about absence can help managers to tackle problems in their areas, or that Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) have real value. We can never get away from the fact that there will always be a level of sickness absence in any sector. As the population ages and people continue to work longer, it is inevitable that long term health conditions will begin to have a bigger impact on long term sickness absence levels.
However, what if we were to focus on something different? Something that when implemented alongside traditional methods may just help turn a corner in reducing absence in the health sector. What if we focus our efforts not just on policy and process and information, but on employee motivation, providing managers with in the practical skills to have the difficult conversations at return to work interviews, on working with those who have influence, on creating a culture where we support the genuinely ill, looking after our employees day in day out and dealing fairly and quickly with those who abuse the system?
If you want to really have impact on sickness absence levels, to demonstrate to your Board that it is possible to buck the health sector sickness absence trend, then consider the impact of the work I have done using the VitalSmarts Influencer programme in the healthcare sector:
Influencer Training
The VitalSmarts Influencer programme introduces a six source model for creating sustainable behaviour change in teams and organisations. The course helped us to:
It meant that our strategy covered much more than policy, process and information. The organisation:
If you’d like to learn more about how we achieved this success or discuss how I can help your organisation, please contact me on wendy_polzeath@hotmail.co.uk to arrange an initial chat or meeting.
GRA are proud to be the exclusive UK Licensee of VitalSmarts for Influencer training. Influencer training offers proven strategies to remove bad habits and drive rapid and sustainable behaviour change in individuals, teams and organisations. By learning how to identify and counteract the hidden forces underlying all persistent and resistant problems, you will be equipped with the skills to make change inevitable. Our next public programme will be held on the 15th-16th July at St. George’s Park, Burton-upon-Trent.
By Karen Robb – Master Trainer in Crucial Conversations and Crucial Accountability
I have just returned home from a once in a lifetime holiday, with my mother and only sister, where we were to experience a trip down memory lane. Back in the 1960s, we spent a few years living in Australia and this was to be an exciting experience to show my younger Australian-born sister all the places we had lived and where she was brought into the world. We had a year in which to look forward to and talk about all the amazing things we would be doing.
This was to be our very first holiday as a three and naively I had images of the ‘Three Musketeers’ taking on this amazing country, laughing, celebrating, hugging and generally achieving an incredible closeness to be envied by other families. And it was, until the third day.
We were driving along, seeking out old haunts in the unexpected rain, tempers were a little frayed because we were tired and feeling slightly disappointed that the rosy glow had waned somewhat. My sister was more than a little direct to my mother and I could see that my mother was unusually hurt by some of the comments. I was uncomfortable with this situation but didn’t really say anything, just taking the role of observer and privately wondering how Crucial Conversations could be used to deal with this.
Imagine my reaction when my mother started becoming just a bit snappy with me! Surely it should be my sister she should take issue with? The button had been pressed. Old childhood memories of wrong-doings, conversations that were never really had and general history and baggage came flooding back. How dare she take it out on me, an innocent bystander?
The saying that “if you don’t talk it out, you act it out” most definitely became a reality for me, for the rest of the day. I withdrew stewed, rationalised, thought briefly about my role in the problem (although soon disregarded that), avoided eye contact, took on the role of map reader in order to stay quiet and generally did everything except deal with it. I decided that I was being too sensitive so I should just get over it and not say anything.
In a restaurant, later that evening, my mother asked me whether I was okay as I had been quiet all day. A little voice inside me said “don’t say anything, just move on”, another voice said “step up and use your skills and talk about this in dialogue” but a louder voice said “go on just tell her how she hurt you”. My reptilian brain chose the third option and this is when it went wrong. My mother became defensive and then hurt and I knew I’d handled it badly. Where was that skill when you need it most? I should have asked “what do I really want?” and I think I did. Unfortunately, the answer was “to tell her how hurt I was”. Sadly, that only felt good in the short term and I knew I was in danger of ruining our dream holiday. The smug self-justification was very short-lived and was very quickly replaced with regret and a very uncomfortable feeling that I had not only upset my mother, but I was also calling my sister’s behaviour into question, so now she was involved too.
Now I had a choice, I could back track, saying it didn’t really matter and I was being over sensitive or I could recall that powerful skill ‘Start with Heart’ and use it effectively. Fortunately, the reptile had started to move out and I found the answer to that highly effective question, “what do I really want?” For me, I wanted to be honest about the impact of the behaviour, for my mother I wanted her to be treated respectfully and for her to be honest about the impact of the behaviour. For my sister, I wanted her to be aware of the impact of her behaviour and for us (The Three Musketeers), I wanted us to have an amazing time and grow together long term. So the killer question is, “if I really do want all this, how would I be behaving?” This is where I felt a significant shift; I stopped being a sulky hurt teenager (despite being in my fifties) and really tried to engage in a conversation where we achieved long term changes. It became less about what was said or done and more about how we resolve conflicts and what ground rules could be used to help future problems. We agreed to check in daily to explore whether there were any outstanding problems and then lived by it.
Does this only apply to holidays? Absolutely not!
Top Tips for Crucial Conversations
Crucial Conversations training teaches skills for creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high stakes, emotional, or risky topics – at all levels of your organisation. By learning how to speak up and be heard (and encouraging others to do the same), your organisation will begin to surface the best ideas, make the highest quality decisions, and then act on those decisions with unity and commitment.
Guest post by Dr Bill Egginton, Senior Lecturer, Cranfield University and Director, amplexus-p3m.com.
A while back, I had the opportunity to attend an event where Marshall Goldsmith was speaking. Marshall Goldsmith’s business is to make successful people even more successful. The presentation centred on the beliefs of successful people and how those beliefs can actually prevent successful people becoming even more successful. Peppered with examples of people he has worked with, the message came home loud and clear: the way we have behaved to get to where we are, may not be appropriate behaviour if we now want to become more successful. How come? Well, the key beliefs of successful people according to Goldsmith are:
1. I want to succeed
2. I can succeed
3. I will succeed
4. I have succeeded.
These beliefs shape our behaviour. Behaving one way to become successful, may not work if we want to build on that success and become even more successful. Those very behaviours that fostered your success up until now, may in fact become actual barriers to further success. So, the key according to Goldsmith is to recognise the need to change ourselves as a way of moving onwards and upwards, however this model never really worked for me.
Very recently, I came across a similar model that based on comparable principles but instead focused in much more detail on the first two key beliefs – I want and I can. The model – ‘Change Anything’ – was presented by Sharon Clish of GRA. In introducing the model, reference was made to the ‘will power trap’ – the false belief that willpower alone is sufficient to allow us to make the changes we want to make. Let’s take losing weight as an example of how the model works.
The first step in wanting to make that change is to pick a target weight, or say, the loss of a certain amount of weight over a certain period. We then knuckle down, apply a healthy dose of willpower and wait for the magic dust to settle on the scales. No. It isn’t as simple as that – is it? Key to success (i.e. losing that stone) are certain ‘vital behaviours’. They might be eating less, or exercising more, or avoiding carbohydrates, or giving up chocolate. In actual fact, the three vital behaviours to success in losing weight are (1) eat breakfast, (2) exercise three times a week and (3) use the bathroom scales twice a day. Willpower alone is not enough. We need to create and enact those vital behaviours. Fair enough, I hear you think, so what’s the problem? Well, coupled with the need for the creation and enactment of such vital behaviours is the need to recognise (and accept) that there are potential ‘blockers’ to those behaviours. For example, you may not own a set of scales or you may not have time to eat breakfast or you may not know of a good gym, or want to go after a long day at the office. If we are to overcome these blockers, we need first to see them and then do something about them.
The three levels of the ‘Change Anything’ model – personal, social and structural – combine with the two dimensions of ‘motivation’ and ‘ability’ to make a six-source model. (As an aside – it’s interesting to note that those three levels resemble very closely the three levels I defined in my own research – individual, team and corporate – which identified barriers in the workplace to the application of project management education and training).
Where the ‘Change Anything’ model really adds value in my opinion is in the idea of making each of us the ‘scientist and the subject’. This turns the subject of ‘change’ into much more than just a matter of willpower but rather making it more of a science linking results to behaviours, and behaviours to sources of influence, in a way that enables us to materially affect the ‘blockers’ that influence our behaviours – be it individual motivation (wanting to go to the gym), social ability (knowing where there is a good gym) or not having a set of scales (structural ability). Identifying – and addressing – the six sources of influence one by one systematically removes the blockages which in turn lead to the all-important vital behaviours so essential to achieve the target we have set ourselves.
So, looking to make a change? How about starting by making yourself the subject and the scientist of your own domain and see where that takes you?
Bill Egginton is a chartered engineer, APM-P, APM-PQ, MSP and MoP qualified, an APM Accredited Assessor, a Registered Project Professional, a member of the TSO Publications Review Group, a Reviewer for IJPM and PMI and an APM Fellow. Bill is director and owner of amplexus-p3m ltd. At Cranfield, he is a module manager for the MSc Programme and Project Management, MBA (Defence), MSc Security Sector Management (Shrivenham and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) and MSc Defence Leadership. He is academic leader for SRO Induction and Defence Strategic Portfolio and Programme Management and has designed and delivered bespoke P3M courses for MOD, MBDA and NHS. He is a Visiting Lecturer at the Baltic Defence College, Bath University and Bristol University and is an External Examiner at Lancaster University.
This guest post is based on a thought-piece sponsored by Programme Recruitment.
When up against an urgent deadline, projects can seem overwhelming, unreasonable and sometimes impossible to achieve. Often, teams are put in place to quickly respond to the project’s needs, however under these stressful conditions collaboration can in fact decrease and success is undermined.
Research suggests members of complex teams trying to meet tight deadlines are actually less likely to share knowledge, learn from one another, work flexibly to break up unexpected bottlenecks and assist one another by sharing resources.
On a recent training programme held at our Outdoor Learning Centre, we were tasked with creating an event themed around ‘anything is possible’. So, how could we get participants to identify and undertake positive behaviours, such as sharing best practice and working flexibly, which would help them to successfully collaborate to achieve a seemingly impossible goal?
We designed a day which focused on developing participants’ skills in breaking down the overwhelming project into manageable, sequential steps and collaborating to achieve the overall goal despite a particularly tight deadline.
To achieve the overall goal, we set frenetic and high-energy tasks to develop engagement and create a sense of fun as well as working towards the broader aim. In addition to this bespoke event, the team attempted our ‘structures’ assignment which always provokes new and unique ways at attempting to complete the brief, but often missing the key objective – collaboration. Once we had reviewed the task and run it again, the difference in approach and success was immeasurable.
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and we’re told the momentum from the training has carried over into day-to-day work activities. We’re delighted that the team have seen that by working collaboratively, anything is possible.
By Joe Mackintosh, Senior Facilitator & Certified Trainer in Crucial Conversations and Crucial Accountability
Grahame Robb Associates’ Corporate Outdoor Learning Centre is a purpose built facility, designed specifically to support high impact, experiential learning and development programmes in the areas of leadership, teams, customers, projects and business strategy.
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