0861 247 328

Are You Suffering From Initiative Overload?

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Most likely, yes! Companies here in South Africa and around the world are routinely spending hundreds of millions (insert your currency) on initiatives that are seldom integrated and strip away valuable time and focus from your existing resources. Not only that, but the result and impact of those initiatives are often hard to quantify. What is the real value delivered?

Special projects and initiatives often put additional strain on company resources and take valuable time away from day-to-day operations. Ask any manager or leader in a business what wastes their time and you’ll be sure to get three common answers;

  1. too many initiatives and
  2. too many meetings (most of them of course about the initiatives) and
  3. slow decision making. According to Harvard Professor Robert Kaplan, companies introduce an “abundance of projects [that] compete for limited resources including: Human Capital, IT and Financial”.

Sorry guys, but you appear to be the main culprits and while your projects may provide useful support services to the group, the value of those projects remains hard to quantify in other parts of the business.

Why? According to Kaplan there is “no integrated view across business units”, what Tom Peters would call “a lack of cross functional integration”. Divisions and departments act in isolation of each other seldom coming together to prioritize their projects and activities with their peers. The net result is commonly called a “silo organisation” a way of operating divisions within the business compete with each other internally rather externally, in the market. Who wins? Generally the competition, who, to be fair, are possibly struggling with similar challenges. In short, the fight is happening on the wrong side of the fence.

The systemic consequence (a clever way of saying the knock on effect) of silo thinking impacts employee morale and organisation performance. Companies end up fat, with too many heads pulling in different directions, or internally political, with leaders and teams fighting for attention, resource and budget. Put that kind of thinking into the workforce and the net result is a plethora of headaches for which no pill can easily cure. Layer into this the challenges that come with a matrix structure, and then the real complaints come: we are pulled in too many directions, we don’t have the time, we’re in too many meetings, the goal is not clear, we don’t have the skills.

Kaplan goes on to add that there is often “[no clear] distinction between strategic and operational project efforts”. Poor prioritization and lack of integration appear to be the basis for a slew of unorganized and, at times, chaotic activity. This renders senior decision makers with an inadequate view of the real performance of the business, and leaves the implementation teams (managers, supervisors and employees) grinding hard at things without really understanding their value or impact.

Understanding how to prioritize initiatives and projects is just one of the insights Professor Kaplan will be sharing at this year’s BRG Conference on Strategy Execution co-hosted by GIBS and sponsored by STRATX. If resource optimization and project prioritization fits into your scorecard, then this is a day not to be missed. Learn how the father of the Balanced Scorecard and Activity Based Cost Accounting can shed new light on initiative management in your business.

For more information visit //www.brg.co.za/speakers/prof-robert-kaplan/ or call BRG on 0861 B GREAT

**On the 17th September 2015, Harvard Business School, Professor Kaplan, Internationally acclaimed Lifetime Contributor to the Management and Accounting Profession will present a full day programme at The BRG Progress Conference on Executing Strategy taking place at Theatre on the Track, Kyalami Johannesburg. This year’s programme will feature Leadership, Risk, Finance, People and Project priorities.

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Thought Leader on Leadership – Liz Wiseman to Visit SA

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Business Results Group (BRG) and GIBS present The 13th BRG Progress Conference on Leadership featuring Multipliers with Liz Wiseman. Liz will present a one day programme in JHB on the 06th of May 2015 at The Forum, Bryanston with contributions from leading South African organisations that have applied her thinking to their organisations

Liz is an acclaimed author, prolific speaker, consultant and former C Suite Executive where she spent almost two decades in the service of Oracle University and as the global leader on HR development. She is acknowledged by her 100 plus blue chip clients for transforming their leadership practices and performance which include Facebook, Twitter, Ideo, GAP, SAP, HP, Nike and more.

The Multipliers leadership formula is based on rigorous research consisting of 150 business leaders to determine the behaviours and characteristics of successful leaders who get the most from their people. It is positively recognised by Dave Ulrich and Warren Bennis amongst others who regard this as one of the most fundamental leadership solutions in years.

The 5 Disciplines of Multipliers- Overview:

Source: Multipliers 2010 by Liz Wiseman with Greg Mc Keown

DIMINISHER MULTIPLIER
The Empire Builder The Talent Magnet
The Tyrant The Liberator
The Know-It-All The Challenger
The Decision Maker The Debate maker
The Micro Manager The Investor

 

PROGRAMME SNAPSHOT: DEFINING THE BEHAVIOURS & CHARACTERISTICS THAT INFLUENCE THE ABILITY FOR YOU TO GET THE MOST FROM YOUR PEOPLE: What makes you a “multiplier” or “diminisher” in your organisation?

  • Understanding the traits that define the 5 disciplines of “Multipliers” and “Diminishers”.
  • Becoming a talent magnet to attract, retain and grow native genius.
  • Creating an environment where good things happen and you enlist the best thinking.
  • Enabling people to identify opportunities when you raise the bar.
  • Acquiring discretionary effort and intellectual energy to take on tough challenges.
  • Harnessing collective intelligence with commitment to execute.
  • Giving people ownership for their results to create real value.

To acquire access to more information about The BRG Progress Conference with Liz Wiseman, please contact Angela on 083 327 1593 or 0861 B GREAT (247 328) or email angela@brg.co.za

 

This is what her clients have to say,

“Liz’s storytelling, research and practical application have challenged our paradigms around effective managerial practices that will take us forward and develop our multi-generational workforce.”

Lori Emerick | Global Director, Leadership & Management Development | Nike Inc

“In a large organisation it’s natural to worry about the “energy vampires” – those who are able to drain the energy and momentum from a team. I came across her book and was fascinated by the research about multipliers and diminishers and the impact a leader can have on a team’s creativity, ideas and even light bulb moments. I have since had her present to my team and would love to have her back in the future.”

Carine Clark | Senior VP & Chief Marketing Officer | Symantec

“You have no idea how great that talk was. I have *never* been in a Tech Talk where there wasn’t a room full of open lap tops. Never. Not Obama’s CIO Vivik Kundra, not the Executive Producer of House or Adam Savage from “Myth Busters” Not even Will.i.am. Twitter is a laptop open culture and you two managed to pull off what I thought was an impossible feat! I was impressed by the level of engagement and the number of questions at the end. You two are certainly a powerhouse.”

Janet Van Huysse | Vice President of Human Resources | Twitter

“I’m a newly promoted VP and “Multipliers” has unlocked for me how I need to lead in my new role. It is a leadership approach that will take me through the next 10 years of my career.”

Allison Mast | Vice President | GAP Inc

“I hired Liz as a coach to better achieve my potential. I really enjoyed working with her, and she made a huge difference in my effectiveness – noticed by many of my colleagues. I recommend her for executive coaching, organisational effectiveness and development.”

Dennis Moore | Division GM & SVP, SAP

“Every so often a book comes along that forces us to ask important and difficult questions of ourselves. Multipliers is such a book. It challenges us to imagine a dramatically more productive future for our organisations – one that requires letting go of some of the very behaviors that helped us get to the top.”

Tim Brown | CEO | IDEO

“Liz’s approach of combining leadership training with cross-functional problem solving is winning the battle for minds and culture, which is the hardest thing to do in business today.”

Ray Lane | General Partner | Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Former President, Oracle Corporates, Chairman of the Board HP

 

From Sluggish Caterpillar to Exquisite Social Butterfly

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FROM SLUGGISH CATERPILLAR TO EXQUISITE SOCIAL BUTTERFLY REQUIRES A RADICAL LEADERSHIP METAMORPHOSIS

A social butterfly can be described as a socially dynamic, obsessive networker with gregarious flare and engaging charisma.

The BIG client question this month: How do I get people in my organisation to engage with my social media channels?

Doctor’s orders! Neuroscience and the rules for engagement.

To determine a solution and offer advice, I err towards rigorous scientific research on how people think. Currently, we’re working with Dr Tara Swart on the Neuroscience for Leadership and her findings on how to apply neuroscience in order to get the most from your people’s hearts and minds. These are a few of her insights;

  • Acknowledge that people have a deep desire to co-operate.
  • People are hard wired for risk/loss avoidance rather than opportunity seeking.
  • Leaders need to show heaps of authentic empathy to give people a safe place to fail forward and learn.
  • Creating a sense of curiosity, plus frequent moments of surprise and delight helps people to become more creative and excited.
  • Neuro-scientifically, medically, emotionally and spiritually, it always comes down to one thing: a sense of meaning.

In particular, the BTB social media space presents its own unique set of challenges. As in the case of a butterfly’s metamorphosis, the “BTB caterpillar” is a content and time hungry medium that requires deep thought, lots of time and most often, does not show up as very “social”.

Another one of BRGs great Guru thinkers, Dave Ulrich, he suggests we no longer hire hands and need to engage the hearts and minds of our people to achieve extraordinary success. Applying respect, empathy, a sense of meaning can unlock the potential and encourage the engagement of the people you work with.

Whilst we have chosen to apply these leadership insights to social media, they can be applied to any leadership or change intervention.

My 10 plus tips to get people in your organisation to use their personal channels and become fanatical, yet responsible, brand ambassadors!

  1. Take the Lead. Make sure all c-suite people use their personal channels to promote content related to your brand, products & services. @MichaelJordaan found the time to do this at a very busy time while he (CEO) was making his bank the most innovative bank in the world. As did Steve Jobs.
  2. Go to their party. Follow them, engage with them and acknowledge their contributions 24/7. As Martin Lindstrom advises, “we are living in a “me-erism’ world”. Care about their causes.
  3. “My space” is not your space. Don’t be a narcissist. A sense of entitlement is narcissistic. Respect that this is their space and acknowledge the privilege for you to access their network and the tribes they belong to.
  4. Sense of pride. Give them a sense of belonging to your organisation – so much so, they want to shout it out from the rooftops. When I embark on a new and exciting project I want to tell the world about it and I do.
  5. Whats In it For Me. Evidence how their contribution adds value to their personal career portfolio and future opportunities. At some point they are going to move on and first impressions really do count. Educate people on their CLM’s.
  6. Trial & Error. Make sure there is absolutely no fear of failure. Allow for a margin of error and even failure. Give them a very safe space to play and coach when necessary.
  7. Freedom of Choice. Recommend they select which of their social media channels they prefer to use for business purposes. My Facebook space is for family and friends… the others reflect my more serious side.
  8. Healthy behaviour is contagious. Celebrate success. Share your social media success and results. Send out your weekly analytics acknowledge the positive.
  9. 24/7 and 365. Most importantly avoid a social media crisis! Track your social media all of the time; the last thing you need is a negative, rampant and viral Domino’s Pizza experience initiated by a bunch of sad and disgruntled employees.
  10. Train, educate, retrain, retrain and retrain them. As Tara says, “learning a new cognitive skill helps build neurons which create new undiscovered pathways in your brain”. Just another plus side to developing their skills.

On the 18th March 2015, Dr Tara Swart, a medical doctor, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, MIT Faculty member and global consultant to C Suite Executives, will present her latest findings in respect of Neuroscience for Leadership at The BRG Progress Conference at The Forum, Campus in Bryanston.

For further information contact Angela Milburn on 0861 247 328 or email angela@brg.co.za

Applying Neuroscience

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APPLYING NEUROSCIENCE  TO AFFECT REAL BEHAVIOUR CHANGE IN YOUR ORGANISATION : HOW TO TRANSITION FROM A FIXED MINDSET TO A GROWTH MINDSET
| DRAWING PEOPLE TOWARDS A POSSIBLE FUTURE

January 2015

Can we harness neuroscience to embed sustainable behaviour change in existing organisations?

If you have been involved in any change intervention you will have realised that the biggest obstacle to affecting change is the ability to change people’s mindsets. Management science has introduced many techniques to address this including, incentive programmes, communication techniques, performance measurement and employee engagement techniques. Research has subsequently shown that with these traditional measures only 54% of change interventions succeed.

What do you get when you consult with a Neuroscientist, Psychiatrist, Academic and Medical Doctor to seek out an exact science to affect change? You get Dr Tara Swart. With all of the above competencies in her skill set Tara is at the forefront of applied neuroscience for business performance

Enter a new science for management. She says, “In a knowledge economy people are paid to use their brains to face constant change, so learning and adaptability have become synonymous with success.” This is where the Neuroscience comes in.

In essence she describes the two types of people typically found in organisations without much, if any, overlap.

Type 1: The fixed mind set:  The people that are fearful of making mistakes. (Probably because they know they won’t be supported when they do). To fail for them is shame inducing and painful. These are the people that are wired to avoid risk and as such resist change. They are largely concerned with fear and shame which affects their cortisol levels.

Type 2: The growth mind set: The people that are fearful of losing out on opportunities. Failure for them is not bad and can even be exciting. These people would feel ashamed if they sat on the side lines. They thrive on surprises and are largely driven by joy, excitement, love and trust which affects their oxytocin levels.

So now that we know what makes the two types of people in our organisation tick and neuroscience has evidenced that neuroplasticity can shift people from fixed mind sets to growth mind sets we need to determine how leaders can apply neuroscience to affect required behavioural change. There is little point in changing the brains if they still need to operate in an environment that doesn’t encourage risk taking and innovation.

DR TARA SWART’S ADVICE FOR LEADERS TO STEP CHANGE MINDSETS FOR NEW REQUIRED BEHAVIOUR. WINNING THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF YOUR PEOPLE.

Remember leaders are like the pre-frontal cortex of the people they serve.

  1. Engage empathy from your people for the context of a problem.
  2. Support risk taking and offer support in the face of a poor result.
  3. Cherish the “aha” moments of surprise and delight.
  4. Leverage the instinctive desire of your people to co-operate.
  5. Recognise that our brains are more acutely geared towards loss-avoidance than reward seeking.
  6. Be aware of threats perceived by people in your team and apply empathy to transform the frozen state of threat avoidance into creativity and trust building.
  7. Ensure your empathy is authentic. People can detect when your empathy lacks integrity and sincerity and will mentally and emotionally disengage.
  8. Define each person’s meaning and purpose in respect of your change intervention.
  9. Guard against transmitting your threat states. People perceive them and it destabilises your organisational culture.

On the 18th March 2015, Dr Tara Swart, a medical doctor, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, MIT Faculty member and global consultant to C Suite Executives, will present her latest findings in respect of Neuroscience for Leadership at The Progress Conference at The Forum, Campus Bryanston.

For further information visit: www.theprogressconference .com or email angela@brg.co.za

Have We Lost Our Minds?

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HAVE WE LOST OUR MINDS? Can we maximise our brain power and the brain power of the people we work with?

Ingrid Ashwin asks a psychiatrist, an academic, a medical doctor, business consultant, coach and a neuroscientist how we can maximise our brain power to perform to our best potential.

Dr Tara Swart says, “In a knowledge economy people are paid to use their brains to face constant change, so learning and adaptability have become synonymous with success.” It is her mission to spread simple, pragmatic neuro-science based messages that change the way people work and to make the world of work a happier place.

Most of our New Year’s resolutions are typically about our physical, social and financial wellbeing. These were identified as the most common personal New Year’s resolutions in 2015?

  1. Spend more time at the gym.
  2. Spend more time with family & friends.
  3. Tame the bulge.
  4. Enjoy life more.
  5. Quit smoking.
  6. Quit drinking.
  7. Get out of debt.
  8. Learn something new.
  9. Help Others
  10. Get Organised.

Similarly, we return to work with bold and altruistic ambitions that typically focus on ways to increase sales, reduce costs, improve productivity, grow our customer base and build shareholder value.

What then about our mental and emotional wellbeing? What we do know, is that we pay attention to our bodies, friends and family, career, financial and business performance.  However do we fail to consciously take care of our brain power?  To establish if we are paying enough attention to maximise our brain power, I sought the advice of a Neuroscientist, a psychiatrist, an Academic and a Medical Doctor.

  1. IA: “How do our New Year’s resolutions typically stack up when it comes to taking sufficient care of our Brain Power?”

This is what she said.

  1. TS: “By connecting your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual capital you explore the interplay between nerves, hormones and burnout.

As a psychiatrist and business coach, I believe that helping others, having positive rewarding relationships and enjoying life certainly contribute to our sense of meaning and purpose.

And then as a neuroscientist I have shown how learning something new will help you grow new neurons from embryonic nerve cells and is most likely in the case of a new skill which requires cognitive stimulation like a new language or playing a musical instrument, in particular something you don’t have a natural talent for. Getting organised and getting out of debt is about reducing your stress levels.  Whether this is financial or social as in loneliness.”

Q: IA  “What then is the missing link to develop your brain power?”

A: TS. “It boils down to consciously changing your mindsets and applying focus and attention coupled with deliberate practice to get your brain to look at the way you do things differently. It is only by changing your mindset that you can affect real change to achieve your desired behavioural change and ultimately fulfil your New Years’ Resolutions.

I use applied neuroscience to work with top teams to explore responses for stress and how to stimulate behaviour change to keep the brain agile and resilient in stressful situations. Whether I apply my knowledge of neuroscience, psychiatry or business performance it always boils down to meaning and purpose.”

DR TARA SWART’S LIST OF TOP 10 PRACTISES TO MAXIMISE YOUR BRAIN POWER AND THE BRAIN POWER OF THE PEOPLE IN YOUR ORGANISATION IN 2015.

  1. Drink green tea and take omega oils to give your neurons a boost.
  2. Get yourself and your people enrolled to learn a new skill which will create new pathways and grow new neurons from embryonic nerve cells.
  3. Find meaning and purpose in the work you and your people do.
  4. Handle failure with kid gloves to control cortisol levels. To fail is shame inducing and painful. Failure causes the prefrontal cortex to fire off all sorts of pain signals.
  5. Celebrate the small wins and achieve frequent aha moments of surprise and delight. Aha moments guide towards step changes in innovation.
  6. Empathy is free. Exhibit authentic empathy. This is the neurological basis of personal and professional engagement to build trust. It creates an emotional resonance loop between the two brains on several levels and more importantly transforms the frozen state of threat avoidance into creativity, open communication and high performance.
  7. Keep it real. Beware of the fine line between authentic interest and manipulation. The people you interact with have a gut instinct and motivation centres will alert them to the latter.
  8. Harness the instinctive tendency for people to co-operate which is deeply embedded in our brains.
  9. Pre-tox advice = Sleep + Nutrition + Hydration + Exercise + Mindfulness. To increase your brain power you need sleep. I recommend caffeine free intake from 14h00. Rooibos is a great alternative.
  10. Practice makes perfect. With each time you practice a new behaviour new links between neurons and new pathways grow stronger.

And finally advice to manage your stress in a world of cyber clutter.

On the 18th March 2015, Dr Tara Swart, a medical doctor, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, MIT Faculty member and global consultant to C Suite Executives, will present her latest findings in respect of Neuroscience for Leadership at The Progress Conference at The Forum, Campus Bryanston.

For further information visit: www.theprogressconference .com or email angela@brg.co.za