ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>Ashtead Performance Group Newsletter</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=unicode" /> <style type="text/css"> .links { font: 11px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FFFFFF; margin: 0px; padding: 2px } .links a { color: #CCCCCC; text-decoration: none } p { font: 11px/18px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #333; margin: 6px 36px; padding: 2px } p a { color:#036; text-decoration:none; border-bottom:dotted 1px #036 } em { color:#0CC; text-decoration:none } h2 { font: bolder 14px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #006666; margin: 12px 36px } .newsheadline { font: 24px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FFFFFF; margin: 6px 24px 0px 36px } li { font: 11px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000; list-style-position:outside; padding:2px 0px; margin:3px 12px } ul { padding-top: 0px; margin-left:12px } .toprule { height:4px; margin:0; padding:0; border-top: 1px solid #000000 } .forward { font: bold 14px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin:0; padding:0; background-color:#CCC; text-align:center } .forward a {color: #666 } .bodycopyRev { font: 10px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FFFFFF; margin: 12px 18px 6px; padding: 2px } .bodycopyRev a { color: #FFFF00 } .footer { font: 9px/12px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #666666; margin: 0px 36px; padding: 3px } .booktitle { font: italic bold 16px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 6px 18px; padding: 2px; color: #CCCCCC } .bookhead { font: bold 14px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 6px 18px; padding: 2px ; color: #099 } .topstrip { font: normal 11px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding:2px; color: #FFFFFF; background-color:#063; height:18px } .div1 { background-color:#ccc; padding:18px; margin:18px } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="#999999" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0"> <table width="601" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td height="18" valign="middle" class="topstrip" > &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;June 2009&nbsp;&nbsp; |&nbsp; &nbsp;Issue 9</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="100" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><a href="http://ashteadgroup.org"> <img src="http://ashteadgroup.org/Newsletters/APG%20Logo.jpg" width="450" height="80" border="0" alt="Newsletter" /></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="120" bgcolor="#000000"> <img src="http://ashteadgroup.org/newsletters/banner.jpg" width="600" height="120" border="0"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#666666" class="toprule" > <p class="newsheadline"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="3">This month's theme: </font>&nbsp;&nbsp; Telling it how it is</p> <p class="forward"><a href="http://ashteadgroup.org">www.ashteadgroup.org</a> <img src="http://ashteadgroup.org/images/spacer.gif" width="190" height="1" /> <a href="http://ashteadgroup.org/L4recruit.aspx">Forward this to a friend</a></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"> <br /><p style=" font-size:12px;color:#000">Welcome to the June edition of Sharpening the Axe.</p> <img src="http://ashteadgroup.org/Newsletters/lord_imbert.jpg" alt="Lord Imbert" hspace="15" align="left" /> <p>Imagine you have just been appointed to take on the top job in one of the largest, most high profile public service organisations in the UK. Around 44,000 people are looking to you for guidance. This organisation experiences a crisis every 45 minutes and two thirds of the public have expressed a lack of confidence in it. </p> <p>You return from your inaugural meeting with your new boss (the Home Secretary) to find a newspaper cartoon depicting a stereotype of an employee of your organisation. It s an image which is all about brute force and aggression.</p> <p>&#39;So,&#39; you ask yourself, &#39;where do I begin?&#39; </p> <p>This is precisely the scenario that faced this month s interviewee, The Lord Peter Imbert QPM. Lord Imbert was appointed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service in 1987 and served for six years in the top job until his retirement in 1993.</p> <p><b><a href="http://ashteadgroup.org/PIInterview.aspx"> > To read the full interview click here.</a></b> </p> <p>What struck me throughout my interview with him was the passion he still demonstrates, some 16 years on, for the organisation he served with such distinction. The theme of his leadership tenure was transparency. Being honest. Telling it how it is. Going public on the difficult things. It is precisely for this reason that he encountered little media criticism during his six years in the job. It seems a far cry from today s world of sleaze and MPs&#39; expenses.</p> <h2>Listen to criticism with a preparedness to change</h2> <p>Lord Imbert identifies listening, and being prepared to change, as a key leadership attribute.</p> <p>How good are you at taking on board criticism and learning from the experience?</p> <p>Take a second to consider the following scenarios:</p> <p>Someone offers their critical view about what you are doing and how you are doing it. Do you:</p> <div style="margin-left:18px"> <p>a) Fix them a cup of tea, take out your notepad and enthusiastically note down their bon mots? </p> <p>b) Fix them a cup of tea and then spend your time criticising how they drink it?</p> <p>c) Offer them a cup of tea in the hope they will refuse and quietly go away</p> <p>d) Pour the cup of tea over them</p> </div> <p>While you may not literally carry out scenario (d), I would bet most of you are closer to it than scenario (a). </p> <p>Being open is not easy. We think we know best. We have more experience and know- how than others. We don&#8217;t like to be criticised. We need to be right. Take your pick from any of the above because they all amount to denial. </p> <p>Those of you who have worked with me on feedback programmes will know all about denial. I use the mnemonic DERAC. </p> <p><b>D</b> is for denial. &#8216;That&#8217;s not how it was!&#8217; </p> <p><b>E</b> is for emotional. &#8216;You always slag me off!&#8217; </p> <p><b>R</b> is for rationalising. &#8216;You must understand that I had to do it that way&#8217; </p> <p>They are all aspects of denial. </p> <p>It is only when you: </p> <p><b>A</b> ccept the feedback of others that you can </p> <p><b>C</b> hange </p> <p>As Lord Imbert says, leadership means listening to criticism with a preparedness to change. </p> <h2>Disciples get it done </h2> <p>Question. </p> <p>An obvious logistical problem that has to be faced in any large organisation (or small one for that matter) is how do you communicate your message? </p> <p>This problem is further compounded when a sizeable part of your organisation comprises long serving, experienced employees, who are stuck in their ways and might not like what you have to say. </p> <p>Answer. </p> <p>Identify disciples to go out and spread the message. They will need to be people with significant credibility within your organisation. You&#8217;ll need to spend time with each of them to get them on board with the change programme. Lord Imbert targeted these types of people at all levels in the Met. They were empowered to carry the message through seminars, meetings, and visits. They did not preach; they engaged officers in a dialogue of change. </p> <p>The ground rule was simple. Show people that you care and that you are genuinely trying. Lord Imbert found that the officers he entrusted with this role, were more successful at carrying people with them than he alone could ever have been. </p> <p>Not surprisingly, he found that it is often the most cynical people who make the best converts. Once on board there is no stopping them. </p> <p>It requires tough, direct people with inner steel to drive the agenda in the face of these sceptics. People who will help the sceptics to see that the weight of momentum is with change. </p> <p>In the March newsletter I recommended the book Viral Change, by Leandro Herrero. The example set by Lord Imbert is true to the Herrero principle - establish the behaviours that you want to practice. For the police this meant treating everyone, both inside and outside the organisation, as individuals. </p> <p><i>Four steps towards viral change</i> </p> <p>1. Encourage your disciples to spread the change like a virus. </p> <p>2. Model the change. Key leaders need to support the change programme by showing people within the organisation that they care and are genuinely trying to change things for the better. </p> <p>3. Communicate the change regularly. Lord Imbert intervened directly to ensure that tough issues were confronted and leaders challenged. </p> <p>4. Encourage a culture of transparency. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="601" bgcolor="#666666" cellpadding="12"> <tr> <td> <p class="bodycopyRev"><strong><a name="#Opinion">Over to you</a></strong></p> <p class="bodycopyRev">Do you think appointing disciples is an effective and efficient way to spread an important message throughout an organisation? Is it something you ve done successfully in your own organisation? If it is, did it bring about a lasting change in attitudes? I d love to hear your story.</p> <p class="bodycopyRev">Please add your voice to the <a href="http://ashteadgroup.org/PIInterview.aspx"><strong><em>Comments linked to this interview</em></strong></a></p> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="600" bgcolor="#eeeeee" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td style="width:40%; vertical-align:top"> <h2>Lord Imbert&#8217;s top tips </h2> <ul> <li>Treat people in your organisation properly. If you don&#8217;t, you won&#8217;t treat people outside your organisation properly either. </li> <li>Any change will challenge people&#8217;s comfort zone. People must see momentum swell through the company, particularly from the bottom up. </li> <li>Identify disciples. Choose people with credibility, opinion leaders, and well networked people. Make sure they come from all levels. Set them to work. </li> <li>Make sure your team is really interested and on board with what you are doing. It has to be convincing. </li> <li>It takes years to build a reputation and thirty seconds to destroy it. Be careful&#8230; </li> <li>The most cynical people often make the best disciples. Be open and trust that the energy of people can be harnessed for good. </li> <li>Welcome challenge from others. See it as a gift. Listen first and then decide whether you are right or wrong. </li> <li>Live it, don&#8217;t just talk it. If respect is important then let people speak, be on time, say thank you and mean it. </li> <li>Transparency is key. Confront difficult issues and go public where you can. </li> </ul> </td> <td bgcolor="#333333"> <p class="bookhead"><a name="#Book"></a>We like this </p> <p class="booktitle">Fabled Service  Ordinary Acts, Extraordinary Outcomes</p> <img src="http://ashteadgroup.org/Newsletters/FabledService.jpg" alt="Fabled Service" hspace="10" align="right" /> <p class="bodycopyRev"><em>by Betsy Sanders (Publisher Pfeiffer & Company. ISBN 089384 270 2)</em></p> <p class="bodycopyRev">The excellent  Fabled Service by Betsy Sanders is an ideal companion book to this month s interview. Fabled Service is not about theory  it s about what works. I have used many of the book s insights and stories to help clients build a service culture in their business.</p> <p class="bodycopyRev">Sanders covers areas as diverse as moments of truth, service as a way of life, and service is everyone s job. She makes her point with stories, anecdotes, facts and perceptive insights. </p> <p class="bodycopyRev">Take one of the topics above - service is everyone s job. Sanders advocates choosing people with the right attitude rather than people whose attitude you try to train. She makes her point by quoting Paul Dickson:</p> <p class="bodycopyRev"> Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and it annoys the pig. </p> <p class="bodycopyRev">The book is punctuated with real life examples and fascinating facts. Here s one: </p> <p class="bodycopyRev">If 99.9 per cent is good enough, then& </p> <ul> <li class="bodycopyRev">22,000 cheques will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next sixty minutes</li> <li class="bodycopyRev">1,314 phone calls will be misplaced every minute </li> <li class="bodycopyRev">12 babies will be given to the wrong parents every day </li> </ul> <p class="bodycopyRev">It is a book that constantly refreshes my thinking regarding customer service as a way of life. The central theme can be summed up in the following quote from Aristotle:</p> <p class="bodycopyRev">&quot;Excellence is an act won by training and habituation.We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly.</p> <p class="bodycopyRev">We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.&quot;</p> <p class="bodycopyRev">If it s good enough for Aristotle, it&#39;s good enough for me. Happy reading! </p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" bgcolor="#014911" align="center"> <p class="bodycopyRev">Got a book you&#8217;d like to recommend? </p> <p class="bodycopyRev">A book that&#8217;s had a profound influence on your career, your attitude, and your choices? If you have, let me know and I&#8217;ll feature it in a future issue. Please email me with your choice and the reasons why you want to recommend it.</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" bgcolor="#f5f5f5"> <p class="footer">We&#8217;re sending you our newsletter because you are a client, we have worked together in the past, we&#8217;ve exchanged business cards, or you&#8217;ve asked us to send it to you. However, we don&#8217;t want to fill your inbox with things you don&#8217;t want so to unsubscribe from our mailing list <a href="mailto:subscribe@ashteadgroup.org">please click this link</a></p> <p class="footer">To make sure you continue to receive this newsletter and our bulletins, <a href="mailto:simon@ashteadgroup.org">please add this email address to your address book or safe list</a>.</p> <p class="footer">Ashtead Performance Group, Unit A, 63 Woodfield Lane. Ashtead, Surrey, KT21 2BT. Tel: 01372 275444 email info@ashteadgroup.org </p> <p class="footer">&nbsp; </p></td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>