Author Archives: Michelle

  1. Don’t expect feedback from internally referenced people

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    The feedback black hole

    You’ve just completed a great project, met the deadlines and brought it in on budget. You are feeling good but nobody says a word? As days go by nothing comes back and you start to doubt your success. The internal dialogue ramps up to a point where you become totally focused on whether or not you did indeed complete a successful project. You venture to ask a couple of questions of the people from whom you may have expected some positive feedback but the bemused looks set you back even further so what’s going on?

    What’s happening?

    Unconscious behaviour patterns are playing out here. You may have a high need for recognition and appreciation because your external reference system means you value other peoples opinions, external qualifications etc in order to measure your own success. Internally referenced people, on the other hand, measure their success against their own internal measures. They include the word ‘I’ to a large degree in their conversation and don’t need others to tell them they have done a good job. They will be bemused when externally referenced people ask for feedback and unconsciously view it as ‘needy’.

    No feedback needed, thanks

    Internally referenced people don’t take kindly to feedback because unconsciously they have a high degree of certainty that they are right (they are not always of course!). The unconscious thinking is that ‘if I don’t need feedback then nor does anyone else’. Consequently they don’t give it out and if they do it can sounds contrived and awkward. This type of behaviour can often come across as ‘confidence’ and will invariably help the internally reference person up the promotion ladder. They can also be very hard to give feedback to so here is a tip for you –

    If you want to give feedback to an internally referenced person start with ‘Of course you probably already know this ……..’

     

     

    If you would like to know more please get in touch with us 07768 92224 or  pat@quadrant1.com. Sign up to our newsletter

  2. Where do your leaders need most support?

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    A common thread often found in organisations is where managers and leaders have been promoted after demonstrating skill and success in operational roles. Unfortunately, many then appear to struggle to get to grips with the new role, and seem to lack some of the necessary skills and competencies required to make the step to becoming a successful leader for their teams.

    The behaviours and resulting ramifications can often be seen and felt in the day to day workplace. Despite this, it can be difficult to pinpoint where to focus to help these people to develop more effective behaviours and strategies to improve these skills and bring better success in their role.

    What could that focus look like?

    This is a group overview of 40 managers, who have been objectively measured against 10 Leadership competencies.

    If you were to look at the 9 areas of leadership competency in the graph below… which areas in particular would you say need some focus?

    If you just look at the red areas then ‘Impact and Influence‘, ‘Leading People‘ and ‘Communication‘, in the first instance, perhaps? And then maybe ‘Achievement Orientation‘ and ‘Resilience and Perseverance‘. There doesn’t really seem to be any issues with ‘Problem Solving‘ skills or ‘Learning Agility‘. There’s a lot that could be improved across the amber areas as well to bring those skills up.

    What could that look like and feel like in this organisation?

    Perhaps a group of managers who are great at resolving issues, fighting fires, and taking learnings from experiences, success and mistakes and applying it to new situations.

    However, perhaps some of them may not be so great at taking the lead in achieving the company’s mission and objectives, influencing and engaging their teams to contribute towards the company’s goals or communicating effectively with their teams to let them know what is expected of them.

    Maybe a group of managers where some may have been promoted because they are good at their job – but haven’t yet been able to develop the leadership skills they need in their more strategic and influencing role.

    And so if you look at the individual list view of those 40 managers below, who would you say could really benefit from some development and support to be able to better succeed in their role? 

    Clearly, everyone can always benefit from development and support. In this case, it would probably be helpful to get a better understanding of what is going on with Tuan Nyugen. And it would be worth looking at what additional development would be helpful for Adela Olga, Annalisa Elba, Shelby May and Minerva Dixon to improve their leadership skills.

    It’s also quite easy to see who could make up a cohort for some skills development around ‘Impact and Influence‘ (last column), or Communications skills (2nd to last column).

    And maybe it is apparent which managers could be considered for a benchmarking success exercise to support succession planning and recruitment plans. leaders skills and competencies

    Visualise your Group Data

    This is just a snapshot of the high-level Organisational Analytics data available just across these 10 Leadership competencies. You can also get data for your people and your organisation on:

    • Culture of your organisation
    • Individual’s alignment with your organisation’s core values
    • Individual and collective engagement factors and fulfilment levels of those engagement factors
    • Collaboration and Team competencies
    • Team Dynamics
    • Emotional Intelligence competencies
    • Remote Working competencies

    How helpful would this data be for informing your people development plans, culture and engagement programmes and succession plans?

    You can find out more about Organisational Analytics here. leaders skills and competencies

    If you would like to discuss how Organisational Analytics can help support your business objectives and people plans please contact Pat Hutchinson: pat@quadrant1.com or on 07768 922244

  3. Special Post: Quadrant 1 supports growth mindset development in young people

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    Quadrant 1 supports growth mindset development in young people

    Scoot Theatre’s Scoot Youth exists to empower young people: a youth theatre that gives teenagers the space to tell the stories important to them – to have their voices heard and understood.

    Scoot Youth is an open, inclusive environment for all young people between the ages of 11-19. There is no requirement for any previous acting experience – members must simply be willing to engage with the company’s three rules: Be Kind, Be Bold and Be Yourself.

    The company meets once a week and devise work led by their members. The company explores not only the practical skills needed to be an honest, open communicator but also the importance of mindset. They practice grit and resilience and celebrate the value of a “growth mindset” through their devising work.

    Not only do they train excellent performers, but they also help nurture confident, resilient young people, committed to making a positive impact on the world around them. They hope that their young people will stay up to age 19 and then beyond, when they can provide them with opportunities on and off stage with the ‘adult’ company.

     

    How can you support Scoot Theatre?

    It’s very simple! The company have lots of plans, including Scoot Youth, but currently are not receiving any funding. They’ve set up a Crowdfunder to raise funds for their upcoming projects. These funds to will be making an enormous difference to their ability to engage and inspire young people in the South East as they grow over the next few years.  Scoot want to tour shows to exciting, unexpected spaces and give young people positive, inspiring experiences of theatre because they believe that engagement with culture can contribute towards cohesive, empathetic, happier and safer communities. And they are places we all want to live in.

    To find out more, visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/scoot-theatre-supporting-our-future or download the Scoot Sponsor Pack here

    You can find out more about Scoot Theatre here: https://www.scoottheatre.com

    Thank you in advance for your kind support,

    Pat

  4. All Procedure should increase choice – the ultimate paradox!

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    Life is a paradox! Nothing is ever absolute as Yin Yang tells us. Flexibility is the name of the game and those who demonstrate it are generally more able to succeed in the world. Living by rules alone creates barriers and structures and limited thinking. Rules are often maintained long after they are obsolete. Living with constant choice, on the other hand, can create chaos for those involved not knowing what is likely to happen next and often paralysed into inaction because of it.

    In an ideal world ‘All Procedure Should Increase Choice’. In other words the rules are there to create a platform of understanding from which to launch new, creative ideas. Take the rules of the road for example – without them chaos would reign and travelling from A to B or even C, D or E would become chaotic and traumatic.

    "Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist" - Pablo PicassoAre your rules helping or hindering?

    So next time you have a minute take a note of the rules (written and unwritten) that you abide by within your working environment. Are they helping or hindering creativity and progress. Equally are there some areas where rules might give people the confidence to break out of their comfort zones and make progress? Food for thought. Enjoy!

    If you would like to know more about paradoxical success please get in touch with us

    07768 92224 or  pat@quadrant1.com

  5. 5 Tips For Improving Your Communication

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    Communication is one of the most important skills a successful leader can develop. Effective communication is the tool to inspire, align a team around common goals, build trust and negotiate delicate situations.

    Ineffective communication can leave teams feeling out of the loop and lacking in confidence and motivation. It can even result in a complete breakdown in trust between leader and employee/team. This in turn has a huge impact on productivity and can result in absenteeism, raised levels of sickness and staff churn.  If you happen to work for a visionary company who recognize the importance of effective communication you will have been on the receiving end as well as seen the benefits of training in such skills.

    Here are 5 areas you could consider if you want to do a bit of work on your own communication skills and style.

    What do you feel you do well? Where could you do a bit better? And what could you put in place to help with that?

    Infographic explaining 5 ways of improving your communication skills

    5 tips to improve your communication skills

    How our communication is received will depend on the perception and viewpoint of the person receiving it. This means that it can be open to interpretation.  However, the intention and the interpretation can often be miles apart. It is important to remember that it is the interpretation and not the intention that triggers action.  So, if we want that action to be positive and progressive, we must take the utmost care with our communication.

    You can read more on what effective communication can look like in this blog.

    Are you interested in how we can help with developing this and other leadership skills for yourself or your team? Please get in touch at pat@quadrant1.com or on 07768 922244

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