Change Directors - Execellence

The Importance of Timing

What an amazing world we live in today, I am sitting in my living room in Pretoria watching the 5th One day International between England and Australia in Nottingham ! There is a light breeze coming from the garden carrying the amazing fragrances of a highveld spring. Well I have waited a while to blog after the Ashes Victory and for the rejoicing to die down after Andrew Strauss and the England side did indeed hold their nerve. Congratulations on an emphatic last test victory to the England set up, it is amazing though where victory can come from. The otherwise unsung and obscure Stuart Broad swung the final test England’s way with a spell of bowling that quite literally turned the game on its head. It opened up the opportunity for England to take the game away from Australia and then close it out for victory. Broad up until then had been under pressure to hold his place because of his under performance with the ball, so how does he then go and turn the game upside down?
His selection had been based on potential rather than performance, flattering to deceive wouldn’t be far from the mark. He would chip in with small contributions but nothing that would markedly move the game England’s way. There was no doubt though about the intensity and passion in his play, looking like an angelic choir boy and playing with a healthy streak of mongrel. Now I would think that that there is many a CEO that wonders what they really want in their key staff, what are they looking for and who will make the difference in the short, medium and long term.
As a coach and manager at the sharp end of sport, this is what makes the difference in the composition of the team ……. some thoughts for your own talent identification process.
1. Sign the best players, full stop.
2. Passion, Intensity and Attitude go a long, long way.
3. Do your key players still want to challenge themselves, if not it is time for them to go.
4. Sign players who are driven by a desire for excellence.
5. Build the team around one cast of characters, core players who lead and set the benchmarks for the other younger players.
6. Your core leaders need integrity, courage, determination and the skills to close the deal when it really matters.
7. Sign the best players, full stop.

The selectors didn’t know that Stuart Broad was going to break the game open at that critical moment, but they sat with him as he developed and trusted what they believed they saw in him. As it happens with those who begin to learn to write their own script, they find the right moment to make their entrance.

Richard Pybus

Positive Mental Attitude

In my last blog I briefly discussed authentic leadership based upon ‘example’ rather personality ‘techniques’. I am a great believer that people intuitively see through the hot air and bluster of managers and CEO’s that get by on rhetoric rather than substance. They can enjoy the respect and privilege that the position commands for a while, then as time moves on, staff begin to see if they can back up their position with leadership that deals with the challenges that todays business environment demands.
On the 20th of August England will take on Australia in the final Ashes test of this series, for those of you not particuarly interested in cricket, bear with me, this isn’t really about cricket, cricket is our metaphor. Its actually about a multi million pound business that is going to have to lean on its new fledgling leadership in a time of ‘perceptual’ crisis. Englands leadership duo of Captain Andrew Strauss and Coach Andy Flower are both new to their roles at this level. I say perceptual ‘crisis’ because England got beaten into submission in the last match, in real terms though, England are level pegging with Australia, they are tied on one test each in the series, so with the last test looming there is everything to play for.

Captain Strauss is pleading for calm and for the public, and perhaps his own players, not to panic. Now Andrew is a strong character, principled and intelligent, this will be the biggest test of his leadership so far. In my own experience of these ‘perceptual’ crises, both at first class and international level, it is paramount to make sure that your focus, your actions and your speech are creating a positive reality for your team. If you communicate with absolute faith your belief that you will perform well and that the team have the capacity to excel in these challenging circumstances, then the positive focus, energy and commitment will bring you through. You stayed focused in the present and allow your game plan and skills to look after your performance. If the leadership doubts, then the team sense this and they play accordingly, defeat has already been created before the act has begun.
Hold your nerve Andrew.

Richard Pybus

The new CO2 emissions trading scheme – are you aware..?

Having been getting involved recently in Green IT I was amazed to discover how little awareness there is of the Government’s new Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) which is a mandatory emissions trading scheme being introduced from April 2010 under which companies will have to purchase ‘allowances’ from the Government to offset their CO2 emissions.

The more CO2 an organisation emits, the more ‘allowances’ it has to purchase. Making a direct incentive for organisations to reduce emissions by increasing energy efficiency. In addition, organisations will appear on a league table showing their comparative performance and will receive revenue back from the Government from the that raised by selling ‘allowances’ in proportion to their position on the table. If this league table is made public then I envisage many image concious high-street brands will be competing vigorously for position.

Government estimates indicate that around 20,000 public and private sector organisations will be required to participate in CRC in some way. Around 5,000 organisations will be required to record and monitor their CO2 emissions and purchase allowances equivalent to their emissions each year. The rest will be required to tell the administrator about their electricity usage.

Qualification for CRC is based on half hourly electricity consumption during the qualification period. For the introductory phase, this is the 2008 calendar year. An organisation qualifies as a full participant in CRC if, during the qualification period, it had at least one half hourly meter (HHM) settled on the half hourly market, and its annual electricity consumption through all HHMs was at least 6,000 MWh.

Looking forward to some potential changes and affects that may arise:

New initiatives no longer being judged on ROI but having an added criteria of “Impact on CO2 footprint”
A secondary trading market arising around the ‘allowances’
As over 10% of a typical electrcity bill results from ICT - a raft of specific CO2 based ICT initiatives
Smart(er) buildings – more insulation and recycling to reduce energy consumption
Smart(er) working practices – switch-off policies, minimal printing

Home Delivery – a postscript..

There was an article in the Sunday Times this weekend (here) which reminded me of the home delivery ‘trap’ I wrote of a couple of weeks ago. Ocado has been going for ten years, has never turned a profit (though makes £10m of underlying ‘ebita’), and the owners of the business hope to float the business on the Stock Exchange before it actually makes a profit.

What has clearly kept the business going has been the 3 founders capacity to raise the ever increasing sums of money to keep the business going – were it not for their backgrounds as Goldmans Sachs Bankers, I doubt the business would have survived.

The economics of home delivery are rubbish – even via the dedicated Ocada network. The only way to keep the business going is to know how to raise the cash the business continually demands.

Maybe I am just jealous – if they do get the business to float, they net a cool £130m..

Jon Nicholas

The Three Rules of Leadership

The first time I came across the concept of ‘Character’ versus ‘Personality techniques’ was in Stephen Coveys the ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. He stressed the depth of the concept of ‘Character’ versus the increasingly popular concept of personality techniques. Now as an unashamed fan of NLP ( Neurolinguistic Programming) I can see a huge difference between trying to effect change with individuals and groups through leadership based upon time honoured concepts such as Integrity, Honesty, Patience, Self – Discipline, Courage etc and influencing through linguistic tools and modelling behaviour which are ‘acts’ rather than the thoughts, speech and actions of ‘real’ leaders based upon who they are deep down, deep in the fabric of ‘their’ character.
A man whom I respected greatly for his ‘Character’ said to me of ‘real’ Leadership, there are three rules…….. Example, Example,Example .
I have seen many Coaches of professional sports sides come and go, the ones that last and who effect meaningful change …… and win along the way, are those who stay true unto the lasting principles of ‘character’. No matter how bad the storm and how dark the night, they can always come back to the ‘compass’ of Character and ride out the storms that will inevitably blow in for all leaders, in all fields.

How to Kill Innovation: Keep Asking Questions - Scott Anthony - Harvard Business Review: http://bit.ly/aDHqJ2 via @addthis

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The Importance of Timing

Positive Mental Attitude

The new CO2 emissions trading scheme – are you aware..?

Home Delivery – a postscript..

The Three Rules of Leadership

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