DEFY EXPECTATIONS

Are you focused on being right or doing right? What does it really take to be a leader? Learn more in our latest episode with Scott Miller Listen here : https://bit.ly/3YJiGcl 🎙️ ✨ #DefyExpectations #Accountability #Wisdom #leadership #transformation #learningjourney #purpose #action #leadershipdevelopment #capabilitybuilding #Accountability #Wisdom

If you are a leader, one of the toughest parts of the job is giving bad news. Often this is to do with something happening within the company, downsizing, redundancy, a sale, a take-over. It is one of those things that every leader dreads doing. But there is a strange thing about bad news. People generally cope with it surprisingly well. Why? Because it delivers certainty, and dealing with certainty is something humans are fairly good at. If you can deliver the bad news and help people to start to plan a way out of it then the atmosphere will be surprisingly positive. What we are very bad at is dealing with uncertainty. It provokes a threat state, and in a threat state people stop working and start speculating. The rumour mill starts to grind, work is shelved while people watch for the signs in the economy or the company that things are going wrong. Not knowing what or when or if the blow will fall is far harder than dealing with reality. So, if you are a leader, work very hard to diminish uncertainty. Do not announce “we will be having to downsize but we are not sure when". At that point most people will start to look for new jobs. Stay quiet until you have a plan, if you can’t do that then be clear of when you will have a plan and stick to the date. Facts are the best antidote to the fantasies of the rumour mill. This is when you discover your real leadership qualities. ✨ To read more from our blog, please visit https://bit.ly/3ytMi2O #DefyExpectations #Accountability #Wisdom #leadership #transformation #learningjourney #purpose #action #leadershipdevelopment #capabilitybuilding #Accountability #Wisdom

Continuing on from Part 1 of this conversation with Pat Chapman-Pincher, we look at the additional 3 skills that leaders will need now and in the future. ⚡ To listen, visit: https://bit.ly/3ysc3k3 Missed Part 1? Catch up here: https://bit.ly/3AiAili #DefyExpectations #Accountability #Wisdom #leadership #transformation #learningjourney #purpose #action #leadershipdevelopment #capabilitybuilding #Accountability #Wisdom

We are all encouraged to 'bring our whole self to work'. How about taking it home too? I know people who are recognised as great strategic planners and great project managers at work. People pay them for those skills. But when you talk to them about their personal life, they don’t seem to think that they can use the same skills to plan their own futures. “I’ve got the to-do list from hell at home, and I can’t find any time for myself”, said someone I know who can manage multiple complex projects without breaking a sweat... When we talked about why he didn’t feel right using those skills at home: “It all seems a bit too contrived”. “ How would it feel”, I asked, “if you turned yourself into a project?” “A bit odd” was the answer. We talked it through. Why are the skills that you use in the office not useful at home? Where do you start? Get all the facts, including that to-do list, down on paper or into whatever project management software you use if you are feeling brave, (full disclosure – I use https://bit.ly/3yGUqfR) then go through the process you would at work. 📌 Who are your stakeholders? 📌 What are your priorities? 📌 What can you delegate (find a painter rather than doing it yourself)? 📌 What really needs to be on that list at all? 📌 What is it that you (personally) need to do.? 📌What needs to be done by when? ❗Make sure you also leave adequate time for the family things that don’t appear in your to-do list. In short, create a project plan and start managing it. #DefyExpectations #Accountability #Wisdom #leadership #transformation #learningjourney #purpose #action #leadershipdevelopment #capabilitybuilding #Accountability #Wisdom To read more from our blog, please visit https://bit.ly/3ytMi2O #DefyExpectations #Accountability #Wisdom #leadership #transformation #learningjourney #purpose #action #leadershipdevelopment #capabilitybuilding #Accountability #Wisdom

The cost of NOT training is substantial! Learn how to unleash unrealised revenue with Jake Stahl. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3WVanc3 ✨🎙️ #DefyExpectations #Accountability #Wisdom #leadership #transformation #learningjourney #purpose #action #leadershipdevelopment #capabilitybuilding #Accountability #Wisdom

There’s a saying in the UK – “It’s like painting the Forth Bridge”. For those not familiar with it the Forth Bridge it is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in Scotland. It’s 2.4 kilometres long and is now a World Heritage site. "Painting the Forth Bridge" became a colloquial expression for a never-ending task. I keep being reminded of this every time a company announces a new strategy, a new focus, a change that needs new behaviours, new co-operations, or new priorities. The hard thing for the CEO and the senior team to understand is that just because the changes have been announced, often at a major company event, they have not been understood by the workforce. This is because people are not very good at hearing things the first, second or third time. They are often thinking about other things, they don’t think it applies to them, and they would rather be doing something else than sitting here and listening to yet another new strategy. Research differs on how many times you need to say something but it’s always more than 3. If you want your message to sink in, then the message has to be repeated again and again. It’s not just straightforward repetition but the message in different contexts that resonate with a particular section of the audience that is needed. The benefits to the audience need to be spelled out to help the message to land. It can seem a long and laborious process but it’s necessary if you want to make the changes effective. Anything less and you will find that your new strategy or culture is not really successful. Change takes time patience., it is like painting the Forth Bridge. In the end it is worth it. #DefyExpectations #Accountability #Wisdom #leadership #transformation #learningjourney #purpose #action #leadershipdevelopment #capabilitybuilding #Accountability #Wisdom

Day spent with a crowd of others helping to clean up the mountain. Start at the top and work down collecting rubbish as we go. Very satisfying way to spend the day, though I am not sure my knees agree after 17,000 steps on rocky ground.

When clouds have hard centres Last night we had one of the fiercest storms I have ever seen in the Alps. Sheet lightening and thunder rumbling up and down the valley for hours. The rain was torrential. This morning there is a blue sky and a few fluffy white clouds. Last night they went from white to grey to black in the space of an hour. If you’ve worked in technology for as long as I have then you can remember the time when there was no “cloud”. Now everything is in. “The Cloud”. Nice, safe, comfortable, run by other people who assure us there is no need to worry about our data, it’s all fine in “The Cloud”. Step back and take a look at that Cloud. It is neither safe nor comfortable. It’s based on good old-fashioned hard stuff: cables, pipes., boxes, wires. Things that can be broken, accidentally, or on purpose as terrorists have realised. Our world is dependent on the old-fashioned hard stuff continuing to work.  So stop relying on that comfortable cloud that allows you to do business and ask questions about its hard centre. Make sure there is diversity, make sure that what is in the Cloud does not just evaporate when the weather gets bad. #Accountability#Wisdom If you are interested in this Post please follow us on LinkedIn @defyexpectations.co.uk

The King is dead, long live the King. I wrote yesterday about how difficult it was for some CEOs to ever leave their job, even when their energy and passion is very low. Keith Mitchell commented “Having lived this reality for the past few years and recently successfully exited from it, I strongly identify with the truths in this post.” When I asked Keith how he had managed to escape his response was “Much as you describe, working with a supportive non-exec Board, staff, and external recruiters, on succession planning, sticking to and (eventually) executing on the plan.” One of the problems with succession planning is that is generally too little too late. Most companies go through an administrative process each year that looks at every job but doesn’t really push hard on the senior roles. Boards need to decide how long they think a CEOs tenure should be, what sort of CEO they will need for the future of the company and then start planning. They do this for Chairman and non-Execs but rarely for CEOs. Succession should not be a sudden process. Monarchies, who have been around for a long time, have succession processes in place.  Successors are trained in the role they will move into and generally move seamlessly into the new role. It’s not a perfect analogy but there is something there that companies can learn from. #Accountability#Wisdom If you are interested in this Post please follow us on LinkedIn @defyexpectations.co.uk

We believe leaders are MADE, and that you can LEARN to be a leader. ✨ Listen as we discuss What works, what doesn’t, and why we need to shift our ideas of measuring impact Listen now, here: https://bit.ly/4cWzJMq #DefyExpectations #Accountability #Wisdom #leadership #transformation #learningjourney #purpose #action #leadershipdevelopment #capabilitybuilding #Accountability #Wisdom