Upside down management

For someone who at first sight appears ‘old school’, John Timpson represents a very modern form of management – upside down in his own words.

The man behind the Timpson shoe repair chain gives an extraordinary degree of autonomy to his shop staff, enough shoe lace to hang themselves with, you might say! It’s all part of a philosophy that empowers customer-facing staff to make their own decisions, show initiative and take responsibility for their operation.

Remarkably, staff are allowed to spend up to £500 to resolve a customer complaint, a better scenario says Timpson than a protracted process of passing up the chain of command. He also places great emphasis on recruiting characters, claiming that he can teach anyone how to fix shoes, but can’t implant a personality in a dull person. It’s radical thinking but it seems to work. Too often in business we lack the leadership and vision to do something different, preferring instead to follow the herd.

Take a look at the concept of ‘fishboning’, a brainstorming technique that encourages so-called left brain thinking, the kind of ideas that would get you sacked. It’s often the best approach when you’re stuck in a rut with seemingly intractable problems.

Timpson also challenges us as consumers to visit his stores and haggle for a price. His staff are, he says, empowered to set their own prices – official price lists are only guides and employees are encouraged to use their initiative and do deals. Maybe it’s time to adopt some left-side thinking in your business?

Making it easy to buy

Last week I attended a fascinating presentation by Jo Leah from Weber Shandwick, one of the the world's foremost PR agencies. She was talking about how to get your press releases used by journalists, and it essentially boils down to what is one of the most fundamental of all business principles - make it easy for the buyer to buy.

And of course that means having a good understanding of how the buyer thinks, what would make him/her choose you over anyone else. Journalists like press releases in just the right form - no more than 250 words in length, e-mail does just fine, and they're looking for quite specific things - are you the first, best, longest, shortest, unique in any way?

If you can think like your target audience, find the things they like to buy and why, and adapt your proposition accordingly, you're well on the way to becoming a successful marketeer.

Open and shut case

I love the quote by Thomas Dewar of the whisky distilling family, it goes...

"Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open." Shades of the Zen interpretation of learning types (the 4 cups) mentioned in the earlier entry on 25th May 2009. We have a responsibility to teach well, but equally we should all aim to be good learners - cup upright, clean inside and ready to receive the input of wisdom.

Soft skills for hard people

Interesting article in The Times Careers Section by Mark Hunter (17 June 2009). He talks about a broadening of the criteria required to land a job in IT, which has resulted in an increase in applicants. Traditionally the preserve of the geek, employers are now asking for more rounded skills. He quotes Andy Moverly, UK Graduate Recruitment Manager for IBM, “What we are finding more and more is that the breadth of applications is growing. It’s no longer just those from computer sciences courses but from those with a background in the arts, psychology, history, philosophy, right across the board. We think that is good because they key thing is not the technical skills – we can provide those once you get here – it’s often the softer skills such as adaptability, team working and communication.”

As Anthony Bowden, a support analyst for Cubit Technology puts it, “My job involves meeting clients face to face so I need to be able to communicate well with them. Obviously you need to know what you’re talking about but if you can’t explain it to the person standing next to you, it’s useless.”

Time and again we see companies place great emphasis on ‘hard’ skills while either ignoring or playing lip service to the soft areas of interpersonal skills. As Tom Peters once put it, “Hard is soft, and soft is hard!”

Body language in politicians

In the Times 'Ideas at Work' section (17/6/09), Carol Lewis interviews best-selling business author James Borg, a communication skills expert. According to Borg, Obama and Clinton beat Gordon Brown 'hands down' on the presentation stakes, a reference to the importance of body language in effective communication. Apparently, Obama speaks in threes, addressing those in front, then those to either side (the human brain likes things in threes, understanding the concept of a beginning, a middle and an end). The President's hand gestures are open, he smiles frequently and the impact is 'charming and powerful'. A master networker, Clinton would make everyone he met feel important, listening intently and, as he walked away, looking back with a wave and a smile.

In Borg's opinion, Brown is 'quite ineffective' with his presentation skills. He appears to have had some coaching, but the way he applies it appears unnatural. He'll often make a chopping action with his hands, symbolising the cutting off of opposing views. Tony Blair used to point a lot, but this conveys a kind of school master-ish telling off. By simply joining his thumb with the pointed finger, he changed that impression to one of emphasising an insightful point.

"Body language is the closest you'll ever get to genuine mind-reading," claims Borg. He warns us not to draw simplistic conclusions from individual gestures - we should instead look for 'clusters' of movements and use body language as just one of the many things that help us form what he describes as 'gut feeling'.

Read Borg on body language and look up Alan Pease too.

Cantona's wisdom

From footballer-to-philosopher-to-actor...Eric Cantona never fails to impress. This is the man who managed to use the words 'seagulls, trawler and sardines' all in the same sentence, and that was in a football press conference!

I was reading an interview with him in the Manchester Metro today (feature by Ben East), promoting the new Ken Loach film Looking for Eric, and was drawn to comments he made about football mirroring life. "When you pass the ball you have to trust them and it's the same in life. Passing is like communication. But it also gives great confidence to someone else, a pass. We all need this, I think."

It got me thinking about how passing is, in this respect, a form of delegation. To give the ball to someone else means you're trusting them with a job. All teams have to function this way. You can't do it all yourself. The best business managers know this and aren't afraid to trust others with the ball.

We might have been scratching our heads over the fishing metaphor but St Eric's footballing reference in today's press made perfect sense to me!

You can't bore people into buying

Poor Gordon Brown is plastered over the newspapers again today. A cartoon in the Times shows an aide, holding the phone and saying to a cross-looking PM, "Balls on the line." They are indeed.

What is it about Brown that just doesn't seem to work? Why does he struggle to lead? I think a lot of it stems from his communication style. Thoughtful, fiercely intelligent and committed he may be, but his outwardly dour style simply fails to wow the audience. He says the right words (no doubt prepared for him by skilled speech writers) but they simply don't hear what he says. I'm not sure if I could really tell if he was excited or bored when he talks. It's always dry, monotone and frankly sleep-inducing. Where Obama is dazzling sunshine, Brown is steely grey drizzle.

Speakers have to transfer emotion, to make people feel what they feel. Their words and style of delivery must resonate and demonstrate an empathy for those in the audience. A speech has to move people to a different place, to give them hope, to inspire them to act or to change the way they think. Great speakers are believable and authentic and admired in some way so the audience looks to them for something they themsleves haven't (yet) got.

But that's a tough call if you sound bored when you speak and, crucially, if you don't look as if you want to be there. Brown may have been an iron chancellor but his flawed communication style makes him a paper-thin leader.

Out of the comfort zone

I enjoyed watching the BBC's Mary Queen of Shops, charting the attempts of retail consultant Mary Portas to revitalise a poorly performing charity shop. The idea was to do for the Save the Children shop in Orpington what she did for Harvey Nicols - and it made fascinating viewing.

The volunteer staff, nearly all elderly ladies with a social conscience, were rather bemused by Mary's attempts to turn them into salespeople. A stint on the market stalls selling cakes revealed how reticent the ladies were to sell - one shrinking violet was a quivering wreck following a flurry of transactions that saw her take more money in an hour than she normally took in a day.

What is it that makes us so fearful of selling? It's a classic case of coming out of our comfort zone, but once there it doesn't seem so bad after all. In fact, it's nothing more than simply having a chat with an outcome in mind. Did the people want cakes? Well, a few of them obviously did. Did they feel better for having eaten one? Very likely - they looked yummy. So if, in the course of a conversation, you can uncover a need and convert it into a want, you've helped someone and won a sale - and that's fun! And if you can't...well what's the worst thing that can happen?

When you settle for the warm waters of your comfort zone you deny yourself so many opportunities. Sometimes you've just got to see what it's like out there - you might surprise yourself.

Lesson from America

With a nod to the so-called special relationship with our cousins across the pond, it seemed appropriate to invite a Californian to be the guest speaker at our recent Business Skills Forum. Dawn Roberts heads the UK division of First Tee, a charity whose purpose is to teach kids life skills through the medium of golf.

A former diplomat in the US Embassy, Dawn gave us some fascinating insights into relationship building and effective networking. I enjoyed her story (I hope I recall it accurately) about her early days as a diplomat in Romania.

Invited to her first official cocktail party, she got chatting to a charming man and found some common interests, including farming and how to pick out a first rate water melon - turns out he was the Finance Minister! Fast forward a few months and the same minister spotted her across the room at another function, pushing past the American Ambassador to greet her with an enthusiastic, "Dawn, Dawn, so nice to see you again!"

A couple of points here: first, your willingness to chat to strangers (contary to what your mother told you when you were young), your ability to build rapport, tell stories and listen well are all incredibly important business skills. People like doing business with people they like.

Second, the Finance Minister's recognition of Dawn (a junior diplomat encountered months earlier) made her feel special. Great networkers have a 'mental filing system' which enables them to recall names and previous conversations, leaving a favourable impression.

Recognise the importance of these interactions, develop these interpersonal skills and join the ranks of the Master Networkers.

Start a Library

I’m talking about two types of library here, a real one and a metaphorical one.

Sports writer Simon Barnes (a regular contributor to The Times) is often asked by youngsters what they can do to prepare themselves for a career in journalism – perhaps a media studies course, or a journalism degree. His reply: read, read, read and read some more.

In an age when it’s vital to up-skill and work smarter, it’s a good idea to learn new stuff and indeed shake up your existing opinions by reading the work of others. Writers and speakers like Tom Peters, Seth Godin and Edward de Bono challenge us to question the status quo and their work helps to ward off stagnation. Human beings are instinctively risk-averse and herd-following and, as Godin reminds us, we spend a lot of time in fear of the quick death at the guillotine, opting instead for a long slow demise on the rack!

Build up a personal library of business literature and, to encourage a culture of innovation and self-development, start one up at work.

But what about the metaphorical library? People love stories and it’s a great idea to build up a mental library of anecdotes, things that have happened to you, things you’ve heard. Good stories have a point and it’s a fantastic way to inspire, enlighten or entertain.