You wouldn’t normally put the actor Robert Redford at the top of your pile of management advisors, but he has a surprising literacy when it comes to identifying system improvements and corporate power politics.

Harvard Business Review commented that ‘Redford’s multi-faceted approach to change includes developing grass-roots initiatives, earning credibility and success leverage, practicing the art of persuasion in order to get projects completed, gathering support along the way and demonstrating persistence’.

Redford is quoted as saying, ‘A better way to change a system is to work through it bottom-up, quietly chipping away at standard procedures, creating small opportunities to do what you really want to do, until you achieve real success. Then you can break out your agenda in a larger way.’

‘ I learned that the corporate powers that be aren’t going to be interested in the fruits of your labour and passion unless you are able to understand their agenda and speak their language. You can’t be forceful, loud or confrontational. You have to sell what you have on their terms. Once you have earned credibility and are in a position to get what you want, you need to strike a series of bargains. I concluded that if you want to crack the system, you have to work behind the scenes.’

Interesting words from someone who has seen a lot of the world. Can we identify what that means for us in the business world?

Well, as he says, others are not going to be interested in you, your labours and passions if they don’t see it working to their agendas. Everyone is going to have their own ideas of how things should work and that isn’t going to change unless you speak their language and identify what’s in it for them.

Hollywood might be a strange place to gain management ideas, but sometimes golden nuggets leap out and impress you. You can’t deny the value of Redford’s words. Good on you, Sundance!

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

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The death of the British Newspaper, the News of the World, this week, opens not only a debate on ethics, but also a deeper one regarding the whole social media of news and news gathering.

Fewer people today than ever actually read a newspaper. Most people I associate with get their news via Sky, the Internet, or iPad. Yet, for many the actual feel of a newspaper is still the one that gives them that kinaesthetic buzz. You can see that whenever you are in an airport lounge or on a train.

Yet, for a long time now, newspapers have not been serving their two key customers very well either: Firstly, advertisers; What have they done in the past 30 years to improve the advertiser’s ability to reach its target market and track the results of that interaction? For a long time, advertisers have been paying more than their fair share for unclear results.

Secondly, the actual readers themselves. For 30 years, the process for creating content hasn’t changed (assigning journalists to write specific stories, and allowing limited space for letters to the editor from readers). But readers today want to choose which journalists to follow, comment on articles they read, add their own bits to articles and receive content most relevant to them.

The first on-line paper that allows instant reaction to news by their readers and shares those comments with other readers instantaneously is going to reap up-time rewards.

Newspapers have some of the greatest journalists and social commentators on their payroll. In the main, they have strong brand awareness and loyal customers. And yet, bit by bit, they seem to be destroying these assets, by not changing with the times.

This pool of knowledge is being undermined and slowly strangling the way that news is disseminated. Even internet-based news channels are failing to take advantage of this growth in consumer power, not understanding the real needs of us readers, who can find out information at the touch of a button, seconds after it becomes reality, leaving conventional newspapers anything up to 24 hours behind.

Peter Druker once said that the biggest challenge for executives is that they focus on today’s problems instead of tomorrow’s opportunities. If the newspaper world doesn’t wake up to this fact, they will quickly wither and die.

As managers, we need to assess what we’re doing with our teams and identify if we are keeping up with the times and the opportunities that exist. If not, we will be left behind as surely as the world of the newspaper is going to be.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

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Is your boss sometimes wrong? Do you know it and they don’t? Does confronting your boss make you quiver with fear and make you want to ‘just get on with your job and not rock the boat’?

I know what you mean. You’re worried that you might be seen as negative, or the boss might trigger a defensive reaction and you’ll suffer in the short and long-term.
However, my discussions with top managers and senior directors tell me that they would welcome some new perspectives, and most tell me they don’t get nearly enough.

Remember, the boss isn’t some fabulous guru, gaining all their knowledge through osmosis and making sensational, well-informed decisions every moment of the day. They need information, feedback and advice just like anyone else. Knowing the methods of how to give that feedback will give you the confidence to approach them and drive change forward.

Here are my tips on how to do it:

Relate your feedback or new ideas back into your manager’s and company’s goals and objectives: For example “I think the customer care feedback system could be improved, as we are losing a lot of valuable information with the current one”

Bring up actionable suggestions rather than just objections: For example “What if I talk to other companies who use different systems and identify if any of them provide better results than what we get at the moment?”

Explain how your ideas help protect against possible risks or challenges: For example “A new system will help us gain better feedback and prevent us from losing potential customers. If we try a new, more robust way of getting information, we could improve our customer loyalty”

Offer more choices to your manager: For example “Either I could do the analysis myself, or we could get IT to support the new mechanism and find out if new systems could give us more valuable information”

Reflect their concerns in your conversation: For example “I know you’ll be concerned about the extra costs, so I’ve done some research on developing new systems and in the long-run it would be more cost-effective to maintain loyalty rather than marketing for new customers all the time”

Remember to always share the same goals as your manager…that way, you won’t get bogged down with methodologies or minutia, and disagreements will be less likely.

Identify your boss’s main motivations and present them in such a way as to encourage positive discussion and make your boss look good. That way, you’ll get a hearing ear and potential agreement to your ideas.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

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We go through life sometimes with our heads spinning, and often feel like a hamster on one of the wheels in a cage. We climb the ladder of success, rung by rung, step by step, only to find when we reach the top that it’s been leaning against the wrong wall.

When you look back over your managerial career, what will you say? What will you see? I often discuss this question with managers I meet and am surprised by the similarities in thought.

Most say they never think how their career is going until they are in a crisis, or something dramatic happens to change their perspective.

Just for fun, I’ve listed here 15 things a manager won’t say when they come to the end of their career. See if any resonate with you, and see if you can add to the list.

• I wish I’d spent more time at the office

• I’m glad I spend $97 on that e-book so I could get the $497 worth of freebies

• Setting for average performance made me feel better and less stressed

• Surfing the net was much more productive than reading about leadership

• Personal goals are for people who need guidance and support. Strong leaders go their own way one step at a time

I’m sure you can add to the list, so send me your ideas and I’ll collate them for a future post.

Remember, you’re the only one in charge of your career. Don’t allow your boss or the company to dictate where you take your career. Create your own future, then you won’t look back with regret or disappointment.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

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I’m delighted to let you know that we now have our own channel on youtube!

We’ve currently got 20 short training tips on the channel, with more being uploaded every week.

So when you need a quick dose of training in specific subjects, hop over to our MTD channel and download one of our programmes.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mtdtraining

With subjects like The Seven Deadly Sins of Emails, Running Effective Meetings, Effective Listening Skills, How to use the 7S Model, and many more, it’s a goldmine of bite-sized information that can be viewed whenever you have a few spare moments.

Watch out for new titles every week!

That’s
http://www.youtube.com/user/mtdtraining

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Follow us here on Twitter