BrainDump #2: Summer School #LeadingByChoice
Last week I attended the annual Academi Wales Summer School in Lampeter. First of all — if you work in a management role within the Public Sector I’d highly recommend it! A week of being fully immersed into new ideas, networks and an opportunity to dip or dive into your negative capability.
I’m still thinking about how I can put what I’ve learnt into practice now I’m back in the office, however, here are a few snippets from the week;
- Manage the environment not the person…
Since the year 2000 the world is changing faster than we can learn (Chris Bones). As a result it’s no longer good enough to do things the way we have always done them. The problems we face within the public sector are often complex, with solutions that have to cross; team, departmental, organisational and sector boundaries in order to be successful.
Leaders can no longer be expected to know all of the answers — we can only be expected to know how to get to the answer and to create environments where people can “do their best work”. This includes rewarding questions, rather than just rewarding answers and creating spaces where; people feel safe, are able to have courageous conversations, challenge the way we have always done things and fail!
Sometimes we can add layers of complexity through our own assumptions, when we need to be finding ways of giving those at the “bottom” of organisations permission to do things and where we’re able to harness the power of collective thinking, whilst not stifling dissenters or quiet voices. As part of this, we need to consciously surround ourselves with diverse teams — removing the risk of group think and ill-founded assumptions and/or bias.
- What’s Your Panda?!
Emmanuel Gobillot’s presentation on “Disciplined Collaboration” was the highlight of my week.
One of the questions posed within his presentation was “What is your Panda?” By their very nature and the way that they have evolved the Panda should probably have been extinct some years ago, however, a very powerful narrative was created by the WWF using the Panda as their logo. Some decades later we still have a strong association with this logo and brand, and people still give them money on this basis even though the donated money maybe for a different reason/animal.
The same principles applies to the Public sector — we need to create a strong narrative to get people to invest their time, energy and emotion into who we are, what we’re trying to achieve and why we’re going there. A pertinent message for those working within social housing in particular!
- Sort out your work/life balance!
How many of us are guilty of have a wonky work/life balance and/or don’t look after ourselves as much as we should? We have the best intentions, but something always gets in the way.
We’ve all been there.. however, without investing and taking care of ourselves we simply will not have the energy or ability to lead effectively — so move away from that desk at lunch, go home on time, take that holiday and take care of yourself. Your team will thank you for it!
- It’s all in the eyes…
Dr Chia-Jung Tsay spoke about the power of visuals (particularly when they display passion) and how they outweigh all other forms of information (something to be mindful of when thinking of our bias’…)
As part of this, she spoke about customers feeling more satisfied if they could see the effort that was being put into something and that employees felt more satisfied when they could see their customers. For example; open plan kitchen/restaurants, Dominos tracker and car manufacturing videos. I wondered whether there was an opportunity to make our housing services more transparent, visible and open to tenants and whether this could have a positive impact on both staff and the tenants who experience our services.
- A few feel goods…
A bit of inspiration;
- A visual thank you wall to raise morale within teams
- Three positive affirmations per day — focus on what’s gone well!
- You’re the weather in your office — something to be mindful of when you’re having a bad day. No-one likes a rain cloud!
- “Leadership is a contact sport — Don’t just have to be present!”
- Be eternally optimistic but brutally realistic
- Offer “golden bridges” — what does a person need to get out of the situation they’re in?
- Be mindful of your drains! Radiators are much better for your mental wellbeing…
- Laughter is always meaningful!
- Don’t forget who you’re showing up for!
