Maverick Mastery®

One of the tragedies of modern training and development programmes is that not everyone in the senior management team is given the equal opportunity to enhance their skills. In the age of equality it is often the case that HR professionals aren’t considered equally for training opportunities – however, this isn’t solely the fault of ‘unenlightened’ companies but HR professionals themselves.

Often with reducing budgets HR professionals choose to spend the diminishing training resources on other members of the team sometimes due to altruism or sometimes due to the misguided belief that they would never be able to justify the spend on themselves.

This can be a factor of HR not being seen as credible or serious by the organisation, even if the company funds the CIPD (seeing it similar to other basic skills training like CIMA), negotiation skills or conflict resolution training may be harder to source. Sometimes the senior team expect HR to somehow just ‘have’ the knowledge to succeed in their role without any significant training. In this, senior HR professionals are similar to CEOs (competency assumed, further training not required!), which although flattering can be disadvantageous to your career but even worse damaging to the organisation.

Almost all companies where the CEO or MD voice dissatisfaction with HR a common sentiment is that the HR professional is competent and good at their job, just that somehow they just don’t add value or are able to ‘step up’. What they are struggling to articulate is that they want more from HR than just transactional duties or ‘best practice’, they want to see HR as equal partners in the business – in the same way as Finance or Marketing.

No one expects the Finance Director to just put together the management accounts so why should the HR Director just ensure that employees are paid correctly?

There is more to running the company that just ensuring that the basics are done, and there is nothing wrong in seeking help to enable you and the company to succeed. If it’s acceptable that key individuals (like the CEO or the Marketing Director) are mentored to make them more effective and productive then my challenge to senior HR professionals to consider whether mentoring is an effective solution for them achieving the personal and/or organisational goals.

Senior HR professionals and a need for a HR Mentor

There are a number of reasons why a senior HR professional would consider mentoring rather than hiring an interim or consultant to come into the organisation and facilitate change for them. One of the reasons is that the task in hand requires the HR professional’s input and not a ‘stranger’ to the organisation. This could be due to credibility, culture or trust.

Another is professional development or a need to rapidly learn the key skill being transferred by the mentor whilst you are working on the project in hand. Finally executive coaching is not appropriate for the task in hand. Mentoring works well for more senior professionals who have the core competencies but just don’t have the specific knowledge for the task in hand.

Here are some examples of where HR mentoring has enabled HR professionals:

• Taking HR from a transactional, administrative department to an embedded, added value one

• Supporting HR become more credible to the business

• Embedding the HR Business Partner model into the business

• Enabling the HR professional to ‘step up’ and be seen as an equal partner in the business

• Having an objective person outside the organisation to discuss things with and if necessary seek guidance

Senior HR professionals that require an external mentor is best suited by someone who has a strong HR and operational background who is able to facilitate the transfer of knowledge with credibility and efficiency. It is important that this expert has knowledge outside of the HR arena.

Your mentor enables you to have the ability to confide in someone outside of the company, who is an objective sounding board. Often it’s lonely at the top! If you are the most senior HR professional in your organisation there is often no one to confide in. You are unable to share your concerns or frustrations fully with your team – whether that’s your own HR team or the senior management team.

You face many important strategic decisions and it can be beneficial to work with someone who has been in your position and knows the path that you need to take to secure success. Enabling your department or your team to ‘add value’ can sometimes benefit from an external mentor or consultant who not only has the ability to make this change happen, but can guide and advise you if you wish to facilitate this change yourself.

In the same way that training spend is invested in the professional development of the CEO and the other members of the senior team, HR professionals need to ask for the investment that they believe they need. It is perfectly acceptable for senior HR professionals to use external mentors to enable them to complete either specific tasks or enable them to facilitate big changes such as increasing the skill of the HR team or enabling the HR department to become more credible to the business.

After all, the future of the organisation is at stake

In this Century we are faced with a sceptical buying audience especially when our services are high end, high value. This means we are faced with some choices; we can reduce our prices, alter our business offerings or find a way to be ‘attractive’ to our potential customers – a way where they find us for our services rather than we spend our time looking for them to buy.

In this day and age these can be tough choices.

If you choose to keep your prices and business offerings the same then you need to ensure that your potential clients see you as ‘attractive’. Being ‘attractive’ to our customers begins with ensuring that you have a business proposition that is clear and understandable. If you have more than one business proposition then you need to ensure that you only describe or explain your proposition to the right audience at the right time, and increasingly on the right online network. Unless you are speaking to your inner network describing all your propositions will be seen as confusing and condemn you as a generalist. Only very few generalists with high end, high value services are bought these days. Our sceptical buyers want to buy from ‘the’ expert. It provides a comfort factor and is more likely to reduce any potential buyer’s remorse. Below I have outlined two must do things that you need to achieve to ensure that potential clients buy your services.

How to have a winning proposition

There are a number of things that you need to do to ensure that your proposition has a chance in standing out. These include the following:

v  Be sure of what it is that you have to offer. This may sound like an obvious statement but I have found that clients who start my business accelerator session (whether they have just started up in business or who have been in business for a long time) can often miss exactly what it is that makes their business special and the magic ingredient that they bring to it. This is more than having a Unique Selling Proposition, this is about knowing the deep roots of your business and what it is that you bring to your clients that no one else can.

What is it that you bring to your business that makes it sing?

v  Get back to basics or first principles. When you have been running a business for awhile it is easy for you to divert away from your core proposition or to confuse your offering with industry jargon. A lot of business people first had a career in corporate land and then unwittingly use the same language when they describe their services. This doesn’t really work unless you have a well known brand and have been able to spend the time educating your potential audience on what you have to offer.

What does your service do – in plain compelling English?

v  Ensure that your offering has a market. It is very easy to get swept up in the service that you want to deliver and miss what it is that your customers want to buy. Often your proposition is close to what the market wants and a few people buy – a slight tweak can enable you to have mass appeal.

Listen to what your customers are telling you – and fish where the fish are

v  Learn how to articulate your proposition so that others understand. This is a key crux as to why it is hard to buy your services. One of the best ways to solve this is to work with a mentor that has experience in helping people like you that can solve this conundrum. Another way is to spend time asking your previous clients what they got from your service (there are always pleasant surprises there!), breaking down the core components and then crafting a compelling story that describes your service and how you help your clients.

Ensure that what you do fits your business strategy

Leveraging your reputation

Buying high end, high value, high cost services are considered purchases and in a recession one that a buyer cannot afford to make frivolously.  In which case before they buy your service they will check out your reputation first. Last century a lot of this checking would have been offline with people that you know well and by referencing paid for advertising. This century, offline referencing is still vital but online referencing of your reputation is becoming all important and essential first steps prior to a purchasing decision being made.

The first thing someone does when they are considering buying your services is to check you out on the web. Reputation and credibility is made up of trust, character, competence and track record. It is possible to leverage your reputation but first you must decide what you want to be known for.

What you are known for is essential for people to buy your services.

To leverage your reputation online you should include (amongst other things) the following:

v  Having a Networking Strategy. Your networking strategy should include your strategy for what you are going to do online and offline to integrate your Outer, Middle and Inner networks. You will have clear goals and objectives, and understand the messages that you will be articulating to each group. Demonstrating that you are networking for advocates rather than customers is likely to endear you to your audience. Being able to have cohesive and professional conversations across a number of platforms with diverse people will enhance your reputation as an expert in your field.

v  Having a reputation management strategy. Are you aware of what people are saying about you and your brand? Do you have a strategy in dealing with both supporters and detractors of your message? Are the things that you are doing adding value to your reputation and business?  These amongst others are important questions that your strategy should be answering.

v  Dominate your niche – be the only person considered the best in your niche. Do your online profiles demonstrate your expertise in your chosen field? When you are ‘googled’, what will people find? If people are searching for your expertise are you easily found? To be able to leverage your reputation so that you are ‘attractive’ to your potential customers you need to be seen to dominate your niche. That means using the appropriate Social Media tools in your arsenal and being the only person who other people talk about when discussing your area of expertise. It is a lot easier to do this than you imagine!

v  Have a clear and consistent online/offline message. A great way to destroy reputation is to be inconsistent. People do not trust inconsistency so if you say ‘you help your clients by providing conflict training’ don’t be seen having an online argument with a group of people on an internet forum! You should never assume that something that is said negatively or ‘robustly’ in a private forum will not have an impact on your public persona. In this century your personal and business personas are explicitly linked.

Wondering why it seems so hard for potential clients to buy your services, especially in this climate is a question that is being asked constantly by business people every way. The key to solving this dilemma is to have a clear understanding of what you do and how you add value, providing a clear and consistent message and finally leveraging your reputation as an expert in your field.

There are a number of research projects that show that the more engaged employees are the bigger the productivity increase. Research also shows that there is around 20% of the workforce out performing their peers. So it can seem to be good economic sense to have the 20% as engaged as possible. Often this is the focus of succession plans and internal mentoring schemes. Many readers will have heard of the need to concentrate on ‘high potentials’ or ‘key talent’.

Whilst the intent is laudable often the implementation is not, with only a few exceptionable companies getting the results that they expected or receiving a good return on their investment. The consequence of getting this wrong is not just financial; it can also result in a lack of trust towards the company and the departure of the very people that the company wants to keep.

What is mentoring and does it differ from coaching?

Coaching begins with the premise that the answers are within the person being coached. The coach’s role is to help the individual understand that and via the use of encouraging and questioning techniques, helps elicit the solution. A coach is generally non directional and does not provide advice. Good companies with a strong empowerment culture tend to encourage its managers to have a coaching style and may even employ executive coaches for its top performers. Aspiring companies prefer to have internal coaches to improve the performance of its employees.

By contrast a mentor is an expert who provides guidance and advice within a more developmental relationship. Mentoring requires flexibility of the mentor and their ability to use a wide range of techniques to guide the mentee. Good mentors will apply coaching techniques where applicable and will be unafraid to provide detailed advice on what the mentees next steps are. Mentoring works best for senior executives and Directors – for these individuals coaching is less relevant and useful. This is especially true where it is specific ‘how to’ knowledge that is required rather than a reflective sounding board.

A lot of internal mentoring schemes subscribe to the myth that mentoring needs to be provided by an older more senior employee. This is no longer a truism, mentoring should be provided by a person that is able to provide knowledge and direction in an area that they are experts in. (Not withstanding having the right knowledge, skills, character and behavioural traits).

Often the mentor is a senior manager chosen not because of his skills or the fact that he is a role model but because he is in a senior position. This is problematic for a number of reasons:

• The senior manager does not wish to be a mentor

• The senior manager is very busy and cannot see the value of being a part of the Internal Mentoring Scheme

• The senior manager is a poor role mode

• The senior manager is not credible

Having the wrong mentor for the scheme can have a very adverse effect on the entire mentoring programme. Setting up an internal mentoring scheme without clearly defining and communicating the purpose can also be problematic. I was hired to run a workshop for a group of employees around how they felt they were treated and perceived by their managers and a discussion around why they felt they were being held back in their career. Most of the group felt that they needed an external mentor to help them learn the behaviours and skills that they needed to progress in their careers. I understood that there was an internal mentoring scheme so I queried why they were not using it. The message that came out loud and clear was that they did not trust the scheme. The perception was that it was being used to discover information to be used against them. Many employees quoted examples that they believed reinforced this idea.

The perception that internal mentoring schemes are set up for ill is more common for schemes that are devolved to all employees rather than schemes that are more ‘traditional’. This perception is however one of the reasons that corporate internal mentoring schemes or programmes does not work. There is a lack of trust in the system, especially when the organisational culture does not support the level of openness that a mentoring scheme needs to encourage.

Ill equipped mentors who have not been trained properly and who are unable to deal with the conflicts that will ensue from their role as a mentor, has the capacity not just to destroy the scheme but to irrevocably impact the trust in the organisation. It is important that mentors of internal schemes have an external supervising mentor who can provide guidance as and when appropriate.

Sometimes organisations send out mix messages about their mentoring scheme. For example not allowing the mentor and mentee sufficient time to meet to discuss issues, or by having appraisal systems that actually discourage the use of a mentor. Peer pressure can also discourage their usage as other employees see time spent with the mentor as ‘time off’ and dissuade their colleague for utilising the scheme.

Mentoring schemes are often appropriate ways to develop talented employees who need to understand the key activities that they require to achieve to complete a task, change behaviour or enhance their career. Companies need to understand the environment in which the schemes operate and ensure that there is sufficient trust engendered.

Most companies understand that enabling individuals to work in teams can be a sure fire way to improve the company’s performance. When an air of competition is allowed to permeate the culture it can become rapidly unhealthy leading to aggressive working practices that disable cooperation and productive and efficient work performance.

It is understandable, therefore, that companies want to ‘fix’ failing teams or find ways to improve the performance of teams following mergers or mass redundancies as soon as possible. Unfortunately, companies can often seek a ‘quick fix’ and by doing so determine that a team building exercise over a day or so will solve the problem.

Most people’s perception of a teambuilding day is something akin to a military intervention with either assault courses, with complex problems to solve or paintballing where you are encouraged to compete against fellow work colleagues. These type of events can pose concerns around being very male orientated, difficult for disabled employees to participate and can reinforce stereotypes.

Often these events are seen as a desperate attempt to improve motivation and morale and without good communication the event can be stalled prior to anyone’s attendance on the course. A lot of employees are fearful of what to expect at one of these events and are often reluctant to spend time with their colleagues. It is important to dispel an anxiety prior to their attendance.

Here are the most common reasons why team building events often do not work:

• There is often misunderstanding as to whether the company wants to build a team for a specific purpose or to engender a team working environment. This is an important distinction. When a company is considering teambuilding events they are usually hoping to create a lasting environment that enables employees to understand each other better and to improve their performance in the team. It is this goal that is often not factored into the team building event.

• The team building event is not aligned to the company’s objectives. For example these events concentrate on the attendees having fun and not on achieving set goals. They often do not look at the desired competences required by the company.

• The event may focus on competition over all else. Whilst in a hiring situation competition can provide a useful insight into someone’s character, within a teambuilding setting it can be divisive and destructive if appropriate care has not been taken. This is often because completion brings out the worse in people. It’s possible that having seen someone at their worse you no longer want to work with them!

• The team building event is a one off event without any changes to the company structure, mind set, culture or procedures. This is where organisations believe that a one off event (building bridges out of planks for example) will be the only solution to improving the performance of a failing team. The team becomes confused as to the purpose of the event.

• The team are very busy and would rather concentrate on clearing the outstanding work rather than ‘running through fields’ with their co-workers. They can see the team building event as another example of ‘the management’ not understanding the pressure that they are under.

Recently we were hired by a HR Director who wanted us to deliver a leadership training course that had a large team building component to it. When questioned it became clear that team building wasn’t the biggest issue that he was apprehensive about. He was concerned that the new management team, whilst technically competent were too used to working in silos and not as a consistent strategic team. The biggest issue with the management team was their inability to lead their teams and be able to consider the impact that their decisions were making on the rest of the company. The consequences that the company were facing was reducing market share, increasing employee turnover, poor morale and managers that felt uncomfortable with their enlarged management roles. This was having a significant impact on the profitability of the company and the managers’ poor leadership was having a ripple effect across the company and impacting on the once positive supplier relationship.

In order to enable the company to have more empowered, effective leaders and to reduce the downward trend and have an improved team we designed and delivered a leadership course that also had team building at its core. This meant that rather than having team building sections – we concentrated on increasing the leadership competencies of the team by ensuring that a team working atmosphere was fostered. Having an evening component as part of the course enabled the attendees to relax with each other, put into practice the behaviours that they had learnt and enabled the team to begin to grow together.

It is important to have effective and productive teams working within your organisation. Whenever you are considering running team building interventions to ‘fix’ problem or failing teams, you should consider whether your intervention will meet the strategic and operational of the business.

There are many reasons why a company decides to train their employees although it is not always because they believe it is the best way to improve the skill base of the workforce. This is often because many companies believe that generic training can solve a whole host of performance deficiencies – this is often an expensive mistake.

For example, when assessing company performance the senior team may see the following:

v A loss of market share

v Reducing customers

v Increased employee absences

v Poor customer service

v Bad morale and worker inefficiencies

The most common solution proposed to solve these things is employee training. On the face of it this appears to be an acceptable solution, after all if the employees were appropriately skilled they would enable the company to retain customers and innovate. Employees that receive training that they perceive they need are more motivated, have improved morale and are more likely to enjoy work, reducing their number of absences.

For companies that are profit or cash flow focused then they will radically cut training or cease it altogether. These types of company see training as either a luxury that they can no longer afford or a way to reward high performing employees.

The problem that I see is that businesses in difficult times appear to decide on two things when it comes to training:

v To reduce ‘non essential’ training

v To increase ‘technical’ or soft skills training

Reducing ‘non essential’ training usually means that the company does not implement the learning and development plans agreed with employees at their last performance review. Often how this is communicated to employees is by a mass message that says the company needs to reduce costs and will therefore be putting ‘non essential’ training on hold. It isn’t as common as it should be that this impersonal message is followed up by a personal conversation with the employee’s manager who can put this into context for the employee. This usually means that the employee feels undervalued by the company and is unlikely to trust the company’s future messages when they either relate to them personally (ie ‘next year we will definitely ensure that you get the training that we agreed or there is no money in the budget for a proper pay rise this year but next year we can address your performance properly’) or more generic messaging that ‘our employees are our biggest assets’.

Increasing technical training when reducing ‘employee centric’ training is often seen by the employee as another example of how poorly the company treats them. They can feel that the company is only ‘doing it for themselves’ which often means that there is reduced benefit of the employee attending as their learning isn’t maximised. When increasing soft skills training I see progressively more of a ‘sheep dip’ approach being utilised by companies. This is an expensive misstep as it often increases the costs to the business as the training is not tailored to their particular needs – but has the knock on effect of taking employees out of the business for a day or so to attend the course.

Now more than ever companies need to concentrate on the business and do the right training inventions that will work for them. Expensive gap analysis to determine training needs is often not necessary. An informed look at performance reviews, disciplinaries and grievances, customer complaints and strategic direction can be all that is necessary to determine training priorities. Competent HR practitioners can work with the Operations team to ensure that there is a good match between business need and employee fulfilment.

Training and HR practitioners should ensure that they never buy off the shelf training for their company. One size does not fit all, especially when you factor in company culture, risk awareness and industry setting. All training should be bespoked and delivered by credible trainers that who not only know their subject manner well, but are able to converse knowledgeable on the issues that the employees are facing. Attendees must be chosen carefully to ensure that the right people receive the right training for their needs.

Sometimes the best training intervention for particular employees will be either a coaching or mentoring solution, rather than attendance on a training course. Most companies initially believe that internal coaching or training programmes will deliver best value compared to using external providers. This only holds true in company cultures where the employers are trusted by the employees and that they have good systems in place that match the mentor/coach to mentee/coachee appropriately and where there is true learning and development. Often attendance onto a mentoring/coaching programme is by reward rather than need, which can affect the credibility of the scheme.

Where there are trust issues or competence issues with the company or mentor/coach then an external practitioner is a must. Often timely intervention in this way is more effective than attendance on a course. Where there is little trust the employee will not engage with their internal coach/mentor which means that a solution to their real issue is not found and that the company has wasted the valuable time of two employees.

In times of difficulty there is often a need to ensure that employees are skilled, competent and willing to learn to ensure that the company is one step ahead of the competition and are working within operational budgets. The best way to ensure that this takes place is to be innovative with training interventions ensuring that there is close alignment with the business objectives and training delivery.

Even good managers can find it difficult being effective team leaders, often their efforts can be thwarted by troublesome team members. These team members can have an adverse effect on how a team operates and performs and can present quite a challenge to overcome! Often you can divide troublesome team members into two camps, those that are wilfully independent, mavericks if you will, and those that are difficult because they enjoy causing trouble.

When your team is being affected by a troublesome team member it is important to decide which camp they belong to because how you manage them will be quite different. If the person is someone who enjoys causing trouble, perhaps because they have a grudge to settle or they just find it amusing to be the centre of attention, then you will find that ‘traditional’ management techniques will work well with them. Those that are willfully independent (mavericks), will need a different intervention because they are more likely to need more of your attention and are not motivated in the same way as the rest of the population.

One of the telling differences between these two groups of people is one of intention. Troublesome Talent®, wilfully independent mavericks, only want to do what their believe is right and will risk everything to deliver against that. Difficult people by their very nature, wishes to cause trouble regardless of whether they are right or not in their assumptions. These individuals are easier to manage!

Troublesome Talent® has a particular way in which they need to be managed to ensure that you get the best out of them and they improve the performance of the team rather than distracts and derails it. For best results you should:

• Be available. It is very important that you give Troublesome Talent® the attention that they need at the times that they want it. The worse thing that you can do is ignore them, this will just prompt them to be disruptive to the team and encourage them to undermine you at every opportunity.

• Recognise their expertise. All mavericks thrive on others recognising their expertise and their uniqueness. Do not fall into the trap of constantly praising them as they will not trust constant reinforcement of how good they are. It is more beneficial to look out for the moments when they do something particularly outstanding even for them – and then let them know that you were impressed.

• Be realistic in regards to the necessity of rules. Unlike other types of employees, they find it very difficult to work within rules that appear bureaucratic in nature and do not support the stated goal. Draw up guidelines that they work within rather than constraining rules.

• Give them a compelling reason to change. Let them know that their behaviour is unacceptable, at times when they have gone too far. Get this right and you will have their respect for ever. Remember, the way to do this is to influence them to change their behaviour – employing command and control tactics will make things worse.

• Let them create, even if that means they do this at odd times during the day. If they respect and believe in you, they will work tirelessly to ensure that your vision is implemented and is successful.

• Demonstrate belief in them. Trust is a great motivator and if your Troublesome Talent® senses that you don’t trust them they are likely to turn their talents elsewhere.

Troublesome Talent® is often your most productive member of your team and if managed properly can be a great influencer. Frequently they are described as charming or manipulative, often it is down to you on which behaviour they will exhibit!

Being more credible to the business is often the aspiration of many HR practitioners although they can frequently find this to be elusive. Often HR tends to focus on pushing best practice agendas rather than focusing on what the business actually needs. Many HR practitioners believe that the title HR Business Partner means taking a ‘centralised’ HR mindset and practices to the business rather than being seen by the business as an effective practitioner who can provide strong business advice to help them meet their objectives. HR is the practitioner’s specialism in the same way that finance or marketing is a specialism for other practitioners.

Get the basics right and practice what you preach

The business can expect you to get the HR basics right and that you have enough capability and integrity to ensure that you deliver higher competence levels than you expect from line managers. For example, a basic HR competency is ensuring that the HR Strategy is totally aligned with the business strategy. Always remain objective and holistic in your outlook, avoid group think and a silo mentality.

Spend some time outside of HR

To be credible it’s very important to have spent some time in your career working in other business areas so that you are able to understand and have experience in how business works (from a non HR perspective) and the difficulties that CEOs and the senior team face. Having solid operational experience enables you to have credibility and confidence when you proffer solutions to the business.

Learn to live in the grey – there is no black and white

Often there are no right or wrong answers only gradients of risk, so when you are advising the business be sure to recommend your preferred solution whilst notifying them of the risk or otherwise that they may be facing. Be sure to let them know that it is their decision not yours whilst being supportive and assertive if necessary. Live outside your ‘policy’ and where necessary rewrite it if it no longer suits the business.

Admit what you don’t know and pay attention

Never be afraid to admit what you don’t know and ask lots of questions to clarify the situation for you. One way to build understanding of the business is to do an ‘appreciation’ of it. This can mean spending time ‘on the shop floor’ understanding what it is like to work in that department as well as the particular components/needs of the department that is necessary for it to function well. For some functions/areas of the business you can get a good appreciation of it by asking pertinent and searching questions. Seek to find linkages so that you can build a holistic picture of how things work across the business. It is possible to see connections that are missed by ‘the line’ because they are solely focused on their on area of the business. It is here that you can add real value.

Focus on the outcome and not the process

One of the areas where credibility can be lost is when the process is being stuck to rigidly with scant regard to the achievement of the outcome that you are hoping to achieve. This can happen with any process not just HR ones, so be prepared to discuss with the business any concerns that you have that the processes in place are not designed to deliver the right outcome. A good example is bonus objectives that encourage managers to ignore good leadership principles in favour of attracting big bonuses.

Help the line achieve their objectives

Regularly ‘sit down’ with the line to understand what their objectives are, what are the drivers to their achievement and what obstacles that they face. Work together to find solutions that will enable the line to succeed in their endeavours.

Key points

v Ensure that you spend some time out of HR so that you can learn and understand business and be able to view things from a non HR perspective

v Live in the grey and understand that nothing is black or white – even HR policies!

v Focus on outcomes rather than processes

A good training course delivers its objectives, is interesting and interactive and allows for the differing learning styles of the attendees. The success of the course will require an effective trainer who can impart their knowledge whilst retaining the attention of the learners. Understanding human behaviour is often a requisite to being able to deliver a course that can exceed the expectations put upon it.

First things first

When you are delivering training it’s important to understand not only what your required outcomes are, but also what the organisational goals are, the prevailing context and what the attendees were told about the course before they arrived. You are more likely to have a higher proportion of difficult people on your course if attendance was mandatory and not seen as necessary by them, and/or an organisational environment where major change is happening (eg redundancy).

Understanding the expectations of the attendees and whether they are likely to be hostile to your training intervention is therefore vital. If this is a possibility then it’s important to design the content of the course accordingly and deal with their potential hostility upfront and immediately that the course starts. A ‘safe’ way to do this is when you ask the attendees what their objectives are for the training course. Our experience shows that at this stage the attendees often articulate any resentment to being on the course and how they feel about the organisation. This is a fantastic opportunity to discover their objections, listen to their issues and calibrate them to the need for attending the course. This is why knowledge of the organisational context is important. It is imperative that this section on understanding their objections and you addressing them should be kept very short. The last thing that you want to do is spend significant time discussing their objections as it will have a destabilising effect of the morale of the group and your ability to deliver the course well and on time.

It is very common (and to be expected) that there will be at least one member of the course who will feel the need to demonstrate their expertise and challenge your authority or credibility in running the course. A good trainer would have used the five minute introduction phase of the course to establish they credibility and to flush out the individuals who are likely to be ‘lively’.

Delivering a lively, interesting course – mindful of the attendees behaviour

Some trainers mistakenly believe that delivering training in environments where some hostility is shown means they are entering a battle zone! The problem with this theory is that within every training environment there will be some hostility! The actions of the trainer can therefore make it substantially worse.

A good trainer does the following subconsciously:

• Analyse the attendees behaviour to discover which ones fall into the subsequent categories

• The ‘know it all’

• The ‘sceptic’

• The ‘been there done it’

• The ‘enthusiastic puppy’

• The ‘maverick’

• The ‘follower’

• The ‘academic’

• The ‘life long learner’

• The ‘demotivator’

• Adjust the course delivery and perhaps content to suit the training characteristics of the attendees

• Seek interaction and ensure that all learning styles are catered for

• Deal with each attendee according to their ‘training characteristic’ (for example the ‘maverick’ needs to be treated differently to the ‘follower’

• Are able to smoothly and flexibly shift their own style to meet the needs of the group

• Deliver a course that meets the objectives of the learner and the organisation

An example of dealing with a difficult training characteristic – the ‘maverick’

I define ‘maverick’ to mean wilful independence and it is this training characteristic which is probably the one that causes trainers the most difficulty. Mavericks have a high sense of self confidence and self esteem and believe that they are more intelligent than others. This can be a heady mix when they are faced with a trainer that has not established their credibility or is delivering a course that they consider to be boring or inappropriate for them.

The following are likely indicators that you are facing a maverick:

• You are asked a number of questions that are disrupting and show that they believe they know more than you do on the subject

• You are shown disrespect by the attendee (this can be on a continuum from mild to extreme)

• They show their displeasure through body language and audio clues (eg heavy sighs and rolling of the eyes)

• You are challenged constantly and other attendees or yourself are undermined

• They refuse to participate in the course or the exercises

Interventions to use with the maverick training characteristic

• Establish credibility upfront and immediately

• Discover their objectives/objections for being on the course (and build into the course)

• Find a way to avoid making them look stupid (if you fail you are likely to make running the training course extremely difficult)

• Ensure that you do not lose control or appear uneasy

• Provide boundaries and structure (when you need to enforce your control, do it quickly and do not dwell on it – avoid trying to make the maverick lose face in front of their peers)

• Be clear on the objectives of the course, and how the course will run. What are the components of the course?

• Give them something to do – eg ensure they lead on some of the exercises

• Recognise them (whilst ensuring that they do not dominate the course) and appeal to their intellectual ability

Training courses present the trainer with an opportunity to engage with all members of team, even those who seem to be resistant to whatever you are trying to teach them. Remember that a one size fits all approach is unlikely to be successful as is approaching resistance from a defensive position! It can be easy to spend the majority of the course then fighting your corner, but by using some of the techniques mentioned above, you can be better placed to deliver a lively and interesting course which has benefit for all those in attendance.

A good training course delivers its objectives, is interesting and interactive and allows for the differing learning styles of the attendees. The success of the course will require an effective trainer who can impart their knowledge whilst retaining the attention of the learners. Understanding human behaviour is often a requisite to being able to deliver a course that can exceed the expectations put upon it.

First things first

When you are delivering training it’s important to understand not only what your required outcomes are, but also what the organisational goals are, the prevailing context and what the attendees were told about the course before they arrived. You are more likely to have a higher proportion of difficult people on your course if attendance was mandatory and not seen as necessary by them, and/or an organisational environment where major change is happening (eg redundancy).

Understanding the expectations of the attendees and whether they are likely to be hostile to your training intervention is therefore vital. If this is a possibility then it’s important to design the content of the course accordingly and deal with their potential hostility upfront and immediately that the course starts. A ‘safe’ way to do this is when you ask the attendees what their objectives are for the training course. Our experience shows that at this stage the attendees often articulate any resentment to being on the course and how they feel about the organisation. This is a fantastic opportunity to discover their objections, listen to their issues and calibrate them to the need for attending the course. This is why knowledge of the organisational context is important. It is imperative that this section on understanding their objections and you addressing them should be kept very short. The last thing that you want to do is spend significant time discussing their objections as it will have a destabilising effect of the morale of the group and your ability to deliver the course well and on time.

It is very common (and to be expected) that there will be at least one member of the course who will feel the need to demonstrate their expertise and challenge your authority or credibility in running the course. A good trainer would have used the five minute introduction phase of the course to establish they credibility and to flush out the individuals who are likely to be ‘lively’.

Delivering a lively, interesting course – mindful of the attendees behaviour

Some trainers mistakenly believe that delivering training in environments where some hostility is shown means they are entering a battle zone! The problem with this theory is that within every training environment there will be some hostility! The actions of the trainer can therefore make it substantially worse.

A good trainer does the following subconsciously:

• Analyse the attendees behaviour to discover which ones fall into the subsequent categories

• The ‘know it all’

• The ‘sceptic’

• The ‘been there done it’

• The ‘enthusiastic puppy’

• The ‘maverick’

• The ‘follower’

• The ‘academic’

• The ‘life long learner’

• The ‘demotivator’

• Adjust the course delivery and perhaps content to suit the training characteristics of the attendees

• Seek interaction and ensure that all learning styles are catered for

• Deal with each attendee according to their ‘training characteristic’ (for example the ‘maverick’ needs to be treated differently to the ‘follower’

• Are able to smoothly and flexibly shift their own style to meet the needs of the group

• Deliver a course that meets the objectives of the learner and the organisation

An example of dealing with a difficult training characteristic – the ‘maverick’

I define ‘maverick’ to mean wilful independence and it is this training characteristic which is probably the one that causes trainers the most difficulty. Mavericks have a high sense of self confidence and self esteem and believe that they are more intelligent than others. This can be a heady mix when they are faced with a trainer that has not established their credibility or is delivering a course that they consider to be boring or inappropriate for them.

The following are likely indicators that you are facing a maverick:

• You are asked a number of questions that are disrupting and show that they believe they know more than you do on the subject

• You are shown disrespect by the attendee (this can be on a continuum from mild to extreme)

• They show their displeasure through body language and audio clues (eg heavy sighs and rolling of the eyes)

• You are challenged constantly and other attendees or yourself are undermined

• They refuse to participate in the course or the exercises

Interventions to use with the maverick training characteristic

• Establish credibility upfront and immediately

• Discover their objectives/objections for being on the course (and build into the course)

• Find a way to avoid making them look stupid (if you fail you are likely to make running the training course extremely difficult)

• Ensure that you do not lose control or appear uneasy

• Provide boundaries and structure (when you need to enforce your control, do it quickly and do not dwell on it – avoid trying to make the maverick lose face in front of their peers)

• Be clear on the objectives of the course, and how the course will run. What are the components of the course?

• Give them something to do – eg ensure they lead on some of the exercises

• Recognise them (whilst ensuring that they do not dominate the course) and appeal to their intellectual ability

Training courses present the trainer with an opportunity to engage with all members of team, even those who seem to be resistant to whatever you are trying to teach them. Remember that a one size fits all approach is unlikely to be successful as is approaching resistance from a defensive position! It can be easy to spend the majority of the course then fighting your corner, but by using some of the techniques mentioned above, you can be better placed to deliver a lively and interesting course which has benefit for all those in attendance.

For centuries successful leaders have utilised the services of a mentor, who they see as their trusted advisor and sounding board. When there are important decisions to be made or opportunities to assess or realise they often turn to their mentor for guidance, support and expert knowledge.

When others are struggling, accomplished leaders seize the opportunity to access the resources of their mentor. The ability to seek advice is a key strength and differentiator from their competition and is often the real secret of their success.

Business leaders seek a mentor for the following reasons:

• Having the ability to confide in someone outside of the company

• Having an objective sounding board

• Receiving support and advice on team dynamics

• Staying ahead of the game by receiving knowledge from other industries

• Continuous CEO development

• A more successful and sustainable company

Seeking and learning from your mentor

There are a number of ways to seek a mentor; first you could approach a leadership company like Dynamic Transitions, you could ask for recommendations or you could search on the internet. Whichever method you choose it is important that the following criteria are considered as an absolute minimum:

• Your proposed mentor has the expertise that you need

• You like and trust your proposed mentor

• Your mentor ‘walks their talk’

• There is mutual respect

• Your mentor is appropriate to your style and can provide the right advice for you

• They are inspirational and motivational

Choosing the right mentor can be key to your success, which is why finding that special person is imperative. Often business owners can be seduced into picking a mentor based on superficial measures such as a good flashy website, a brochure with great pictures and flowing words and a great marketing sales page. I believe that it is vital that you spend time talking to your potential mentor, understanding their background and where their expertise and credibility lies. An appreciation of their style and preferred ways of working is essential. When choosing your mentor it’s important that you consider someone who will role model change for you. Someone that you can rely on to demonstrate the correct paths for you to take.

Mentors must be able to challenge you especially if you have a strong personality. They should be unafraid to hold you to account and question your decisions or thought process. They should compliment your skills and be able to help you strengthen your weaknesses. A business mentor should understand how to utilise social media especially if you have a service business. They should be able to help you demonstrate your reputation and expertise both online and offline. In service related businesses people buy from experts not generalists, therefore you need to ensure that your mentor can help you demonstrate your expertise.

If your marketing strategy includes networking as an important component then it’s essential that not only does your mentor understand how to help you build an effective networking strategy, but that they can demonstrate how they use their networking expertise. You will be spending significant amounts of time with your mentor so it’s important that you are compatible and that you respect and trust them. A mentoring relationship is a developmental one and it is key that your mentor can flex their own style to suit your preferred method of learning. To be able to learn from your mentor in addition to the above criteria needing to take place, you need to be:

• open to the guidance of your mentor

• willing to take risk

• prepared to be accountable

• open to change

• willing to change the status quo

When you are good at what you do it can be very difficult to take advice from someone else. When you are working with your mentor it is important to remember that you are NOT handing over executive decision making. No mentor would advocate that their mentee abdicates decision making responsibility, but that they listen to advice and base their decisions on all the available facts. We have found that a significant proportion of business owners are impulsive and therefore do not consider all their options when making major decisions for their business. This can have an adverse effect unless this impulsiveness is harnessed and utilised effectively.

Main models of mentoring

There are a number of different ways that business leaders can access mentoring from their mentors. We have found that the most effective methods are either a) Mentoring on a one to one basis or b) Peer Mentoring.

Mentoring on a one to one basis allows a developmental relationship which is quite focused and structured. The mentor can enable their mentee to achieve their objectives, be challenged in a safe environment and be held accountable. This type of mentorship facilitates a direct knowledge transfer and can significantly reduce the learning curve of the mentee.

Peer Mentoring suits business leaders that prefer to be surrounded by their peers to share learning and experiences. The advantage of this method of mentoring is that whilst the mentor facilitates interaction within the group, the mentee has access to a group of likeminded individuals with differing levels of experience and wisdom. The mentee can leverage the wisdom of this confidential group.

Should a business leader have more than one mentor?

A resourceful and ambitious business leader will ensure that he surrounds himself with the right people to develop and support him through his own growth and the success of the company. It can be beneficial to have more than one mentor as long as it is clear exactly what it is that they are mentoring you in. It is important that for one subject you only have one expert providing you with advice. This ensures that you are not overloaded or being provided with conflicting information. For example a business leader may be mentored on how he gets on with his team and improving team dynamics as well as being mentored on how to deliver a successful business strategy.

Mentoring should continue for as long as the task that the mentor was hired to help the leader achieve is incomplete. This could mean the mentoring may last from one month to a number of years. The frequency of interaction may alter depending on the task.

Does mentoring always work?

There are only two main reasons why mentoring doesn’t work. If there is a bad fit between the mentor and mentee or if the business leader is not ready to be open and honest with his mentor and be willing to move out of his comfort zone.

For example, I was working with an established business leader who had recently moved to a new company. The company was very dysfunctional; his top team was inefficient beset with personality and competency issues, poor morale issues amongst the employees and severe union issues. To add to his problems they were losing key customers, haemorrhaging money and the shareholders were not happy. They gave him a very tight timescale in which to achieve turnaround results.

The business leader was unable to confide in his team and was unclear as to where the true starting point was and whether there was a common root to the company’s issued.

By working closely together he was able to see clearly the issues that were faced by the company. To segregate the problems caused by his top team and the consequences of devalued and de-motivated employees. By tackling these key areas, he understood that these were the causes of customer dissatisfaction and poor bottom line results.

He learnt that his own leadership style was adding to the problem and how best to interact with others to ensure that he got the results that he wanted. He understood how to get the best out of his team and how to implement the best processes to deal with the technical deficiencies.

Under his tenure the company improved its fortunes, his team increased their competence and the union difficulties improved as they saw the employees being better treated. This had a positive effect on the bottom line. The business leader benefited from having a trusted advisor who was removed from the company, who could provide objective guidance and advice.

Mentoring is often much more beneficial to business leaders than traditional coaching practices as it provides senior management with an external sounding bound, someone who can practically assess and advise on the problematic issues within the organisation as a whole, and will not just sit back and wait for the answers to ‘come from within’. Mentoring works when the mentee understands the needs to be challenged and to continue his personal development to realise his achievements and to ensure the likelihood of his company’s success.