Why everybody wants you around

June 5, 2020

Please stay with this one, even if you’re not a football fan – there’s a really interesting point here, honest!

Yesterday Southampton Football Club annouced that striker Shane Long has signed a two-year contract extention. All very normal. Except it isn’t.

He’s 33 years old. Very much at the end of his career. Most don’t get a two-year contract at a Premier League club at that age.

Shane Long is a striker. In the last four seasons (including this one) he’s scored twelve goals in the Premier League. Three per season. At one point last year he had scored each of his last four goals under four different managers. These are terrible stats by any standard.

And yet when the announcement was made I, a Southampton fan, was delighted and, judging by social media response, I was not alone.

It seems we love Shane Long.

Not just fans though. Watch/read any interview with his team-mates. They love him too. They love working with him. They love what he brings to the team. His efforts make others’ jobs easier. He helps his collegues excel.

Why is this?

Attitude. Character.

Unselfish, positive, humble, tireless, kind, helpful, caring, good fun.

These are just some of the words used to describe the way he is on a football pitch or generally around the club and, importantly, in the community.

He’s also an absolute nightmare for the opposition because he never stops running!

It’s clear the contract extension is not just about what he brings on the pitch but also his all-round contribution, his influence on younger players, his positive contribution to the whole environment.

Of course we’d love it if he scored more goals, but we would absolutely hate it if he wasn’t around.

I’m sure you have some people like that where you work. Maybe it’s you?

 

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Posted by nick howes

What a waste.

April 6, 2020

I’m writing with a fairly heavy heart today as someone who cares about leadership and really wants our leaders to do well. Everything works better when leaders lead well and now, perhaps more than ever, we need things to be done well. We certainly can’t afford to waste time, effort, money and resources in the global fight against Covid-19.

There were two situations that arose over the weekend that saddened me. The first was the announcment by (the hugely profitable) Liverpool FC that they would furlough certain non-playing staff and claim the assistance from the government for 80% of their wages.

The criticism of this has been widespread and well-covered so no need for me to rehash the detail. I do feel extremely sorry for those who have an afiiation with that club. People want to believe in the organisation they work for, the team they support and the people they follow.

In taking this decision the leaders (owners) have caused untold damage in ways which are hard to repair. Trust, integrity, shared values, connection and community are not easily built but are quickly lost. Such a waste.

I know that other football clubs have done the same by the waym though I think that Liverpool has grated more due to its famously integral place at the heart of that community, a fondness founded in togetherness, belonging and shared values.

The second situation was that of the Scottish Chief Medical Officer, Catherine Calderwood, who was forced to resign after flouting the non-essential travel rules that she herself was the media face of. She was clearly doing an important and seemingly  good job and it’s such a waste of ability, as well as the time and effort of those left picking up the pieces to deal with the fall-out and organise a replacement.

I make no harsh judgement of Calderwood for who hasn’t at times facesd their own hypocrisy? This is such a stark reminder though of the imperative for leadership integrity when there is so much more at stake than just that invididual’s reputation.

Neither of these scenarious have anything to do with competence in the job. It’s all about character. Personal Leadership. The most important aspect of all leadership.

Where leaders fail the character test, there’s just so much waste. Invest in your own personal leadership. Invest in others anywhere you have influence.

 

 

 

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Posted by nick howes

Personal or Professional Development?

May 17, 2018

Most are familiar with the concept of CPD – continuous professional development – the practice of continually improving your knowledge and skills in your field of work.

I was with some colleagues yesterday and one shared the thought that whilst we mostly talk about our LMI programmes as professional development tools, the greatest impact for anyone who has the privilege of going through one or more of these programmes is always personal.

Having coached many people through LMI programmes in the last decade, I absolutely agree.

It’s how people change in attitude, confidence, motivation etc that makes the biggest difference. It’s these personal growth factors which then cause someone to implement the management and leadership behaviours that are taught within the programmes with purpose and consistency. Personal growth leads to professional impact.

This is why Personal Leadership is the foundation element of LMI’s ‘Total Leader’® Concept and the starting point of all effective leadership development initiatives.

If you want to lead, begin with leading yourself.

“Personal leadership is the most important element of institutional transformation.”   Lou Gerstner, Former CEO – IBM

“If you seek to lead, invest at least 50% of your time leading yourself – your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct.”  Dee Hock, Founder – Visa International

Download your own Personal Leadership Self-Evaluation here and do something significant about your own professional (personal!) development.

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Posted by nick howes

It’s all built on trust

March 11, 2014

Personal Leadership demands that trust be present and that’s not always easy. Trust can easily be broken or undermined when things don’t go as we’d hoped they would or the person / people we trusted in don’t act as we’d expected.

This gets right to the heart of the leadership challenge – do I trust my people enough to let them take responsibility for the success and performance of our team / company / organisation?

Many leaders find this really hard and as a consequence are working all hours and handling all the big decisions themselves….and it’s slowing killing them!

The solution then when it comes to developing a culture of personal leadership is setting a course by which trust is gradually given, and earned, in ever-increasing measure. In my experience, most people prove far more trustworthy and capable than was expected. Of course there will be negative experiences and those who let you down, but that risk is definitely worth taking in return for the fantastic rewards of an empowered, creative team of leaders who are daily solving problems, creating solutions, developing new ideas and growing the capacity of the whole organisation through their own personal leadership.

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The start of something big!

October 29, 2013

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Today I am starting to blog a series of reflections about confidence because over the last couple of years I’ve formed the opinion that its probably the single biggest factor in how much of what we are capable of achieving, we actually do go on and accomplish.
 
Whether you agree with this or not, I hope you find my musings helpful.
 
I’ve watched my kids doing homework and noticed that the same tasks can either drag for seemingly hours of hard, slow, painful effort, or be whizzed through in no time…and largely this has been down not to their ability to do the tasks, but their confidence in their ability to do the tasks.
 
I’ve watched people in business not achieve due to massive lack of confidence in their ability to go out and make the right things happen. I’ve then watched others with less obvious talent and ability, but with much higher confidence levels, set about massively outperforming their less confident counterparts.
 
I also notice this in myself too. I notice it in sport, in TV talent shows and in social situations.
 
It’s huge, and I thought I’d write about it! More tomorrow.
 
 

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