realisedevelopment.net

Just another WordPress site

Why Should We Learn with the Third Sector?

by

We try to attract managers to PMN events from a wide range of organisations and sectors. I am often asked by managers from ‘for profit’ organisations ‘Why should we ask our managers to learn alongside managers from the third sector?’ The implication is that it might ‘set them back’ or ‘slow them down’, or ‘develop skills and knowledge that are not relevant to ‘for profit’ managers’.

Some facts

  • The total turnover of social enterprises is estimated at £27 billion, or 1.3% of the total turnover of all businesses with employees. Their contribution to GDP is estimated to be £8.4 billion.
  • There are around 55,000 social enterprises, and numbers are rising.
  • Since 2004, the Government has invested more than £350 million in the capacity of the third sector.
  • Over £18 million has been allocated to support and develop the social enterprise sector over the next few years.
  • Total public funding (from local and central government) reported by the voluntary and community sector has doubled from less than £5 billion in 1996/97 to more than £10 billion in 2004/05.
  • It is a growing sector.
  • It has cash to spend and demands high quality professional services.
  • It will choose to work wherever possible with partners that share its values and vision. With people that it knows, likes and trusts.
  • It delivers work of great social value. The best staff  demand more than just a good pay packet. They find the sector challenging and rewarding to work with. They meet remarkable people and organisations.
  • Working effectively with the ‘third sector’ – as well as with the ‘for profit’ and ‘public sector’ should be a key part of your strategic thinking.

Jim Collins (of ‘Good to Great’ and ‘Built to Last’ fame) urged the third sector not to ape the practices of the ‘for profits’. Instead he urged the ‘for profits’ to learn lessons from the third sector – about managing people with passion for real social purpose. If you do that well, then profits follow. Both ‘first sector’ and ‘third’ then have to decide the level at which surpluses should be re-invested to pursue the aims of the business and what should be distributed to stakeholders.

Managers face similar challenges whether they are managing in the ‘for profit’, ‘not for profit’ or ‘public’ sectors. Learning alongside colleagues from other sectors enriches the experience and the increases the possibility of doing good business for all.

Who is the Entrepreneur?

by

Rob Greenland has just had a harrowing experience. A couple of on-line tests designed to find out whether or not he has what it takes to be an entrepreneur have come back in the negative. Apparently he ‘may benefit from the security of a permanent job’.  Welcome to the human race Rob!

Most questionnaires designed to elicit whether or not you are an entrepreneur are based on the notion that entrepreneurs conform to a personality type.

  • They do not.

They also assume that all entrepreneurs are interested primarily in financial wealth creation.

  • They are not.

They also assume that entrepreneurs work in isolation.

  • They do not.

The best entrepreneurs work as part of team that they have recruited with care and humility. They concentrate on doing beautifully what they love to do – and surround themselves by people who love to do what they hate. Successful entrepreneurs recognise their own strengths and weaknesses and are able to recruit people to work with them.

It is the skills and passion of the ‘entrepreneurial team’ that are the key determinant in the success of the enterprise.

Not the personal characteristics of the entrepreneur.

If we could just get people to understand the importance of ‘enterprising teams’ rather than the lone heroic entrepreneur then I think we could make a big step forward in the quality of enterprise in the UK.

The death of the entrepreneur – and the enterprise – is solitude.

Changing the Game

by

I love it when I hear of a manager who does something simple and easy that shifts organisational culture immediately.

A recent example of this is the CEO of ING Direct in the USA.  He has recently moved his office to the floor of their telephone banking call centre.

He is now much closer to his staff and to his customers both physically and psychologically.

He is able to experience the company and its work with customers directly, as opposed to through a balanced scorecard or some other set of metrics. He is able to listen to the conversations and make a real difference in appreciating the good stuff and providing a touch on the tiller when it is needed. This first hand experience of how things are working ensures a tightness in execution that is bound to pay off.

My guess is that this one game-changing move will have more impact more quickly than most ‘strategic change efforts’.

  • What simple game-changing moves have you seen work?
  • What simple game-changing moves have you made?

Going from Good Manager to Great: Part 1

by

This is the first of a series of posts looking at what most managers need to work on if they are to go from being an OK manager to being a great one.

Understand the Maps

Part 1 – Learn to Read (and Shape) the Maps

Most managers have a pretty good idea of what they need to get done. They have their own map of ‘organisational’ priorities. Their management consists of allocating tasks and shaping work according to this map. It is the only map that matters!

Great managers understand that every employee carries around in his or her head their own ‘map’ of their priorities. Every one of those maps is different. And they all differ from the manager’s organisational map. Great managers know that it is these personal maps that really decide what gets done. It is these that hold the key to performance. Understanding personal ‘maps’ is crucial as they drive decision making and motivation. They provide the directions in which their owners channel their energy, skill and drive.

Each person’s map differs because of the beliefs that each person holds. For people who are confident and self-assured the maps are full of shallow gradients and interesting looking paths. For those who are less confident they are full of rocky precipices and ‘dead end’ canyons. Each persons map is dynamic an dis being continually shaped. Great managers play a full part in the shaping process.
For some people work is a place of stability and security where they want routine and fixed hours. These are the loyal soldiers who get things done. Others are innovators, mavericks and change-makers who are always looking for ways to change the world. For ‘loyal soldiers’ the maps are relatively gentle and serene – for the change monkeys they are a series of first ascents, usually with frequent falls and patches of white water. For most of us the maps cover mixed ground.

Great managers know that it is not enough to simply publish the organisational map – and hope for the best. They spend time in conversation with each employee helping them to explore the organisational map and to shape their own personal map appropriately.

The best way to improve your map-reading skill is simply to do it. Spend more time 121 with your people – looking for clues to their own peronal maps. Are they looking for a serene stroll or a wild adventure? Are they fired up by the thought or increasing margins or fearful of the consequences?

Spending just 30 minutes a week 121 with each person will be enough understand their maps and enable them to give their very best to work.

Improve your management map-reading skills here!

Why Do More Women Resign than Men?

by

Gender Gap

In the UK, now,

  • More women resign than men. More women are resigning now than ever.
  • Women get promoted younger than men.
  • Women are paid significantly less than men – and last year the gap widened.

These findings are from the Chartered Management Institute and Remuneration Economics.

What explains the high rate of resignations?

Is it the sense of injustice at the widening pay differentials as women take on more responsibility – younger – for less money than men?

Do women have more choices that they can exercise? They are more likely to take up self-employment than men. They may also be more ‘in-demand’ than men as their skill sets leave them better equipped to work in a modern economy. The ‘skill sets’ in which women generally outperform men include

  • better improvisational skills,
  • more relationship-focussed,
  • less rank-conscious,
  • more trust sensitive,
  • more intuitive,
  • more collaborative,
  • more comfortable with ambiguity,
  • better sharers of information
  • more able to balance rational thought with intuition and belief,
  • more articulate,
  • better at reading non-verbal clues,
  • better at multi-tasking, networking and negotiating to win/wins,
  • a preference to take the long view,
  • an ability to promote egalitarian team working and a
  • more naturally empowering management style

Or is it because many management hierarchies are still male dominated cultures in which more feminine values linked to the enhanced skill-sets listed above are under valued?

One trend is very clear. Women’s power in a modern economy is increasing. This is driven by their generally superior leadership skills and their influence over just about every major purchasing decision.

This means that organisations that cannot recruit and retain women will be at a significant disadvantage in the marketplace.

“When land was the productive asset, nations battled over it. The same is happening now for talented people.”

Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer, futureWEALTH