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“It’s okay to have a life”

PERFORMANCE

“Stay mentally, physically,

emotionally fit”

STRATEGY

“Repeat, repeat, repeat”

CUSTOMERS

“Think through

their eyes”

CULTURE “A work in progress”

PURPOSE

“Give people something to believe in” SHAREHOLDERS

“What’s the progress against strategy?”

GAVIN PATTERSON

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF BT

THE CHARTERED MANAGEMENT

INSTITUTE MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2017 £4.50 FREE TO MEMBERS

PROFESSIONAL

MANAGER

Inside the Summer 2017 issue

IN DEPTH

28 When you hit a turning point in your career, it pays to have a serious qualification behind you. Five stories of Chartered Managers and change

40 When Ann met Gavin. CMI’s chief executive gets rare access to a standout modern CEO, BT’s Gavin Patterson

47 When big companies and small companies collaborate well, a special magic can happen. Here are three bold case studies

54 Why the ‘chief of staff’ role is making a comeback in business

59 Our annual automotive special looks at dieselgate; three quality fleet cars; and must-have safety features

MASTERCLASS

67 It’s not women that need fixing, say Anglia Ruskin’s Dr Theresa Simpkin and Dr Stephanie Russell

68 How I’ve changed: Gillian Wilmot CCMI of UK Coaching

69 New CMI events70 The Talent Delusion reviewed 71 Svend Brinkmann on the

benefits of saying ‘no’72 Communication tips

for new managers74 Finance has seeped into

every corner of life and breeds inequality

INSIGHTS

5 The whole country needs the steady leadership shown by BT’s Gavin Patterson and our professional Chartered Managers

6 CMI launches its Management Manifesto

8 Karen Dillon on the future of work

12 The regions are the UK’s untapped source of productivity

14 Never use bullet points in a presentation: discuss

16 CMI’s LinkedIn channel has been buzzing with feedback

19 Lunch with Dalton Leong CCMI, CEO of The Children’s Trust

21 Don’t overlook these questions when recruiting, says CMI Companion Joëlle Warren MBE

23 Why the National Management Salary Survey is being revamped

25 Brexit requires exceptional leadership, says Baroness Prosser

27 Petra Wilton: what’s in and out of the Queen’s speech

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This is not plain sailing Ann Francke, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CMI

FOR THIS ISSUE’S cover story, I interviewed Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT and my former colleague at P&G.

Gavin has been going through turbulent times: BT Italia’s accounting fraud; devolving Openreach in response to an Ofcom review; and the uncertain impact of Brexit. And that’s before you talk pension deficit.

But he’s also led a huge transformation of BT from a telecoms provider to a multimedia content powerhouse. He spearheaded BT’s move into sports and content and, indeed, led the EE takeover.

Yet, as we spoke, what struck me most was how normal he is: admitting mistakes; taking responsibility for the cock-ups at BT, saying it was his job to acknowledge and fix them; praising the enduring importance of culture, purpose and diversity in building sustainable success, but admitting BT had some way to go on all those fronts; saying how friends, family and balance are vital to performing well as CEO; and nodding to the notion of being objectified for his looks in the way so many women are.

Gavin’s concerns are the same as those that many of us face at work. It’s just that he lives them out amid far greater scrutiny. I give him huge credit for having the guts not to be grand, but to be human. And I know BT’s many stakeholders benefit from that too.

Uncharted watersGavin’s style of professional leadership is needed more than ever. With 97% of organisations going through some form of change every year, managing change and ambiguity is now a must-

have skill. And this, of course, is when professionalism comes into its own.

A friend of mine is sailing with a group of 10 in the Whitsunday Islands, off Australia’s coast. Although they’ve planned the itinerary of a lifetime, they aren’t so foolish as to navigate themselves. They are relying on highly trained professionals to steer the ship safely through the uncharted waters.

Why then, in business, do we leave so many vital leadership tasks to the untrained and expect them to somehow navigate well? You don’t need to be Sir Ben Ainslie – indeed, leadership is not a competition – but you do need skills and training. Many a brilliant enterprise has foundered on the rocks of executional uncertainty. It takes an experienced skipper to navigate through the inevitable rough seas and keep chaos at bay.

Chartered Managers are a cut above the rest – they’ve proven their ability to handle change, communicate well and get results. Like an experienced crew, they make sure the voyage is as smooth as possible. Indeed, with more than 70% exceeding targets, and 80% leading people and change better, they are real productivity-boosters for their teams and organisations.

In this issue, we celebrate some of the best and brightest Chartered Managers. Read the interviews on page 28, or watch the videos at managers.org.uk/CMgr.

Why not join them? Politically and economically, we live in stormy times. We need management and leadership professionals. To help you navigate your uncharted waters, get Chartered.

For all things CMI: managers.org.uk

Insights: daily news and expert opinions at managers.org.uk/insights

Meet brilliant colleagues at one of our networking events: managers.org.uk/events

ManagementDirect is the essential online resource for managers at all levels: bit.ly/managersupport

Boost your credentials: select from over 110 qualifications at bit.ly/managersquals

To join, visit managers.org.uk or call 01536 207307

Keep the conversation going:

facebook.com/bettermanagers

@cmi_managers

bit.ly/cmilinkedinnetwork

GET MORE FROM CMI

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SET AN EXAMPLE

“It’s okay to have a life”

PERFORMANCE

“Stay mentally, physically,

emotionally fit”

STRATEGY

“Repeat, repeat, repeat”

CUSTOMERS

“Think through

their eyes”

CULTURE “A work in progress”

PURPOSE

“Give people something to believe in” SHAREHOLDERS

“What’s the progress against strategy?”

GAVIN PATTERSON

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF BT

THE CHARTERED MANAGEMENT

INSTITUTE MAGAZINE

SUMMER 2017 £4.50 FREE TO MEMBERS

PROFESSIONAL

MANAGER

OFC_CMI_Summer17_COVER_fin.indd All Pages 28/06/2017 14:46

6 INSIGHTS AT A GLANCE

£75bn The estimated loss of annual

income until 2030 if the UK leaves the European single market

(Source: Institute for Fiscal Studies)

1 in 5The proportion of graduates

who leave within a year of completing a graduate development programme,

rising to 46% after five years (Source: Association of

Graduate Recruiters)

95%The percentage of soldiers who take part in the British

Army’s apprenticeship scheme(Source: CMI Insights)

13The number of seats lost by the Conservative Party after Theresa May’s snap

general election

66%The percentage of UK managers who think securing trade deals

with non-EU countries should be a priority for the government

(Source: CMI Insights)

98% The approval rating on

Glassdoor for Anglian Water’s CEO, Peter Simpson

MANAGEMENT MANIFESTO FOR PROSPEROUS UKCMI has launched its Management Manifesto – a roadmap for government and business leaders, as well as public, education and professional bodies, to work together to safeguard the future economic prosperity of the UK.

CMI CEO Ann Francke said: “Improving management and leadership across the UK and closing the productivity gap could provide a bigger financial reward for the UK than maintaining access to the EU’s single market.

“Closing that gap will be impossible if so many companies remain choked by outdated management cultures. We need to overhaul business cultures and work in ways that blend better with people’s lives, give people more power to perform, and make flexibility a reality on both sides of the employment relationship.”

CMI’s Management Manifesto (bit.ly/cmimanifesto) cites five areas that need addressing.

1. Improving productivityClosing the productivity gap means recognising the role of management and leadership skills in improving productivity, and a national focus on replacing ‘accidental managers’ with confident, competent, qualified ones.

2. Building trustTrust in leaders is at rock bottom, fuelled by outdated management cultures, secrecy and runaway executive pay. Transparency is a powerful lever for change, so businesses should be required to publish pay ratios that are linked to customer and employee engagement, as well as increase employees’ voice in management decision-making. 3. Inclusive leadershipGreater diversity in the workplace could add £150bn a year to the UK economy. The government needs to continue to engage with employers to ensure that gender pay gap reporting is fully adopted. CMI also backs better reporting on pay and progression by race and ethnic background.4. Improving employabilityThe UK needs 1.9 million new managers by 2024, so it needs to strengthen routes into management. As such, CMI believes schools should be measured on students’ employability. 5. The age of apprenticeshipsA radical change in the perception of apprenticeships is a must. New Trailblazer degree apprenticeships not only meet employer needs, but also offer real opportunities both to young people and those already in work, supporting lifelong learning.

IN NUMBERS

THE BIG STORY

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AT A GLANCE INSIGHTS 7

PEP TALK Gavin Patterson, BT chief executive

Great delegationBe consistent so that staff understand what to expect. And consider if the activity to be delegated is a one-off, or can become part of a trend for assigning activities to others and developing their skills.

Delegate whole activities, rather than parts. This will better motivate the person carrying it out, enable them to develop their knowledge and skills, and help them fully understand the task.

Find out more about being an effective delegator at: bit.ly/mddelegate

Understand non-verbal communicationUnderstanding and interpreting body language can be helpful in a range of situations, whether it’s an informal discussion with a colleague; a team meeting; a presentation;

a difficult negotiation; or a performance appraisal.

Here are 10 tips for being a better interpreter of the non-verbal side of communication:1. Observe the listener’s

posture to assess engagement.

2. Master the art of reading facial expressions.

3. Use gestures to good effect.

4. Read body movements, big and small.

5. Think about the impression your own behaviour creates.

6. Be receptive to audio clues.

7. Take care with any physical contact.

8. Watch your physical appearance.

9. Think about what your workspace says about you.

10. Act on your observations.

Discover more tips on how to read body language at bit.ly/mdbodylanguage

BRAINWAVESLEADERSHIP TREASURES FROM MANAGEMENTDIRECT

“Culture is the true source of competitive advantage in any company. When we’ve got it right, you’ll be able to take any individual out of the overall company, but it will still feel the same”

The Equality Trust @equalitytrust Jun 2

Great to see @cmi_managers call for #payratio reporting & strengthened employee voice (workers on boards...?)

Follow @cmi_managers on Twitter to keep up with the latest management

thinking from the world’s great leaders

RETWEETED

Nine steps for using 360-degree feedback1. Decide which

behaviours you want to measure and whom to assess.

2. Design a feedback questionnaire.

3. Communicate the scheme and prepare participants.

4. Train all appraisers in giving, and all appraisees in receiving, feedback.

5. Allow appraisees to choose their appraisers.

6. Decide how feedback is presented.

7. Provide assistance through coaching and mentoring.

8. Set action plans for improvement.

9. Evaluate the use of 360-degree feedback.

Read the full checklist, including the potential pitfalls and a link to additional resources, at bit.ly/md360feedback

Body language is thought

to account for 60% of all

communication

8 INSIGHTS NEWS AND VIEWS

Innovation: we’re doing it wrongThe theory of ‘Jobs to Be Done’ tells us that we’ve been looking in all the wrong places for innovation. In spite of all the millions and millions of dollars being poured into traditional – and much vaunted – ways of identifying innovation opportunities, such as data-mining and focus groups, the vast majority of companies are deeply disappointed with their innovation efforts.

That’s because these traditional methods don’t help us understand why people make the choices they make – the causal mechanism. If you don’t have that understanding at the core of your innovation, you’ll have to settle for hit-or-miss success. You might get it right – you might see a compelling pattern in the data or stumble upon insights in a focus group. But you might not. You might just create something that’s okay for everyone, but great for no-one.

By contrast, with Jobs to Be Done, you’re not looking for ‘averages’ or ‘personas’ that represent everybody. You’re looking for the struggles that people are having when trying to make progress in their lives. They’re very different perspectives.

The Intuit example A good example of Jobs to Be Done comes from technology company Intuit. For four years, Intuit observed that some of its customers bought its Quicken personal financial software but then rigged it to handle their small-business accounting needs. It wasn’t an ideal solution and Intuit didn’t understand, at first, why those customers wouldn’t just buy the small-business software already on the market.

Jobs to Be DoneFORMER EDITOR OF HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW KAREN DILLON ON WHY THE BEST BUSINESSES ARE SO SENSITIVE TO EMOTIONAL NEEDS; THE WORLD’S MOST WATCHABLE COMPANIES; AND BIDDING FAREWELL TO THE CELEBRITY CEO

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Eventually, Intuit realised the available small-business software wasn’t solving those customers’ Jobs to Be Done well enough. That software was complicated and full of intricate accounting details. Those customers who were forcing Quicken to work for them were looking for something that would help them get their books done much more simply.

Finally, Intuit took the hint and QuickBooks was born. It was launched at twice the price, with half the functionality, of existing competitors. But it quickly became the market leader because it solved a Job to Be Done.

The lesson here is that, when a customer is settling for deeply imperfect or going to great lengths to try to get something done, you’ve identified a rich vein for innovation. If they care enough to craft an elaborate but still unsatisfactory workaround, that means there clearly is nothing out there that would help them make the progress they seek in a better way.

When a customer is settling for

deeply imperfect or going to great

lengths to try to get something done, you’ve identified

a rich vein for innovation

QuickBooks capitalised on unmet customer demand for simpler

accounting software

BRIEFING INSIGHTS 9

EMMA TAITSITE CONTRACTS AND PLANNING MANAGER,

HUNTSMAN POLYURETHANES

How would you describe your management style?I have to change my management style to suit the situation at the time, particularly if it relates to regulation or safety, because then I may have to be more direct or dictatorial. But I like to be more flexible and it is rare that I have to use that more direct style of management.

Who have you looked up to as a management role model?My first manager at Unilever, Mike Hughes, was very good at coaching me. He challenged me to listen to feedback and accept the positive, as well as listen to what I needed to do better. He helped me look at long-term goals and develop a plan to get there.

What makes for a good manager?It needs to be someone who can give clear directions and accept responsibility. A good manager will support someone and listen to them, but will step up and make decisions when needed.

What did you learn from your CMI Level 5 course in management and leadership?It helped solidify my knowledge and correct some of the bad habits that have crept in over the last two decades of my career as a manager. The modules on understanding stakeholders and using data for informed decision-making were particularly interesting, and I have been able to implement them in the workplace.

Find out more about how CMI can help with your training needs at managers.org.uk/training

MY CMI

The world’s most watchable companiesJust about everything that Amazon does is interesting. It may not be as headline-grabbing as, say, Elon Musk and Tesla, but I think Amazon has essentially thrived by its implicit understanding of Jobs to be Done. It measures success through a customer’s eyes (speed from order to delivery, best prices and biggest selection), not through its own (speed to shipping, maximum profit margin and most profitable selection).

Watching Netflix can also be very instructive. Netflix was conceived out of a struggle the founder was having – he had forgotten to return a video to his local Blockbuster and he faced weeks’ worth of late fees. But, at its

core, Netflix identified a Job to Be Done in all our lives – helping us to relax where and when we want to. Netflix has developed from that insight.

The end of the celebrity CEOI wonder whether we’re seeing the beginning of the end of the era of the charismatic CEO. In an era of instant and constant media feedback, being a celebrity CEO can be dangerous. Quiet competence and reliable results might rule the day in 10 years – even though they make for much less interesting headlines.

Working from homeShould we all be working from home more? Yes and no. Personally, I find I can be far more productive at home in six hours than I can be in an office in 10. I think it is an important tool to have in our individual arsenals – and for managers to dole it out appropriately. On the other hand, the energy, collaboration and stimulation we all get from working around smart colleagues can’t be replicated when working from home all the time. It comes down to balance and priorities.

Karen Dillon is co-author of Wall Street Journal bestseller Competing Against Luck: the Story of Innovation and Customer Choice, and the former editor of Harvard Business Review

WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell was recently cited as likely to be the last celebrity chief executive

12 INSIGHTS MACLAREN LECTURE

Delivering this year’s MacLaren Lecture, an annual event held jointly by Aston University and CMI, CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn drew on the findings of a CBI/McKinsey study. The study analysed data from 172 regions and districts in the UK to gain a greater understanding of productivity, which she described as the “defining issue of our age”.

“There’s a sense that the Brexit vote was linked to a real gulf in opportunities between different parts of the UK. And productivity is at the heart of this,” she said.

Miles apartThe productivity gap between Britain and other major economies is well known, but the big differences in productivity between UK regions often go unnoticed.

London’s productivity, for example, is more than double that of the UK’s bottom six regions. But the researchers found there is almost as much variation within regions as between them. In the West Midlands, Solihull is a third more productive than Wolverhampton, just 20 miles away.

This has a knock-on effect on wages and living standards: someone living in Wolverhampton earns on average £5,000 less than someone in Solihull.

The CBI has published more than 250 scorecards that show how the UK’s nations, regions and local areas

Divided kingdom IF BREXIT ACHIEVES ANYTHING, IT MAY BE TO EVEN OUT THE STARK DIFFERENCES BETWEEN UK REGIONS WHEN IT COMES TO OPPORTUNITY AND PRODUCTIVITY, SAID CBI DIRECTOR-GENERAL CAROLYN FAIRBAIRN AT CMI’S MACLAREN LECTURE

are doing in terms of the four primary factors that explain the bulk of productivity differences: management practice, education and skills, transport links and exporting.

“In terms of management practices, there is much that business can do for itself,” said Fairbairn. “It’s about how we run our firms and understand the correlation between shop-floor engagement and productivity.”

The research, she said, showed that management training, benchmarking of performance and incentive programmes are proven to make a significant difference to productivity.

In terms of education and skills, Fairbairn said business had a role in inspiring young people through apprenticeship degrees and the forthcoming T-levels. She said the example of London schools, turned around largely through good leadership, needed to be spread nationally.

Greater exporting could also make a real difference to regional productivity. If each “potential exporter” became an “actual exporter”, Fairbairn estimated that the number of British exporters would rise by almost 75%. “One of the shots in the arm that Brexit gave us is to make firms think more about exporting,” she said.

DevonomicsIn her wide-ranging lecture, Fairbairn praised the government’s appetite for devolution, though she warned that Brexit could crowd out regional issues. “This is a ‘glass half full’ moment for the country. We’ve had the shock and we can go forward in a number of different ways,” she said.

“Today, there’s a real sense of excitement as regions and nations step up, lead and take charge of their own destiny. There is energy in the

Wolverhampton is a third less productive than nearby Solihull, which is home to a Jaguar Land Rover plant (below)

Fairbairn thinks Brexit could reduce the UK’s opportunity gap

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air, a greater focus on exporting, and more conversations about what’s special about each region and bringing decision-making closer to the people it affects.”

CMI chief executive Ann Francke said that the biggest boost to productivity – better managers – is often overlooked. And she observed that, with 56% of young people in the Midlands finding it difficult to get the experience they need to get a job they want, “we need to address this earlier by creating closer links between employers and education”.

“This is why we’re pleased to partner with Aston University to embed CMI accreditation in its courses and to produce some of the first Chartered Manager Degree Apprentices.”

CMI ON A HIGH

The number of people registering for a CMI qualification in management and leadership reached a record high last year, with 39,000 students enrolling on CMI courses – up 23% on the previous year.

This means that the CMI community now exceeds 140,000 members. The Institute actively engages with more than 100 universities and 500 training providers, supporting more than 20,000 young people in realising their aspirations.

The futurist Gihan Perera said in a recent CMI/GoToMeeting webinar that people shouldn’t use bullet-point lists in presentations.

“Apart from bullet points being boring, uninspiring and lazy,” he said, “the biggest problem is that they are not visual. Your slide deck is a visual aid to your presentation, so everything in it should be visual.

“People don’t turn up to read a presentation – your audience want to watch it and listen to it.”

As you can imagine, there was a flurry of reaction from the 500 or so attendees on the webinar. Many supported Perera’s view, but a few stood up for bullet points:• One said that “for engineering

presentations generally, bullet points are best for communicating the idea”.

• “They distil complicated ideas in a simple way,” said another.What’s the right answer? We’ve taken

a look at the latest thinking, and it seems to be pointing in one direction.

• YOU SAY: “YES, THEY’RE DEPRESSING”• YOU SAY: “NO, THEY’RE CONCISE”• YOU WOULD LIKE A LIST OF THE PROS AND CONS

Google says noAt Google, senior managers are being encouraged to move away from traditional slides and towards ‘storytelling’ techniques. At this year’s Google I/O conference, for example, CEO Sundar Pichai barely used any words at all on his slides. His ‘1 Billion+ Users’ slide (above) shows the effect Pichai is after. He told developers: “Since stories are best told with pictures, bullet points and text-heavy slides are increasingly avoided at Google.”

1BAN THEBULLETPOINT?

14 INSIGHTS DEBATE

Here are some other views on why you should bite the bullet :• “When you show a lot of text

on a slide, people will skim-read it and get to the end much faster than you can possibly talk through that information. Consequently there is a divorce between what you’re saying and what they’re reading.” Dr Chris Atherton, psychology lecturer.

• “When people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually

just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time there’s a cognitive cost in doing so.” Earl Miller, Picower professor of neuroscience at MIT, quoted in The Guardian.

• “A relentless sequentiality, one damn slide after another.” Professor Edward Tufte, writing in a landmark 2003 Wired article, ‘PowerPoint is Evil’.For those who fall into the anti-bullet

camp, one easy technique for avoiding

them is to use the ‘SmartArt’ tool in PowerPoint, which turns bullet lists into more attractive graphics.

Come to the table Author and former finance director Jon Moon is a fierce campaigner against bullet points. “Dots are for Dalmatians, not documents,” he argues.

One alternative, he says, is the comparison table (left). These work best if you’re weighing up pros and cons, or various options.

2

Live by your WiT Another option is Moon’s own signature dish, ‘Words in Tables’ (WiT; above). These, says Moon, are miles better than bullet points (above left). IMF boss Christine Lagarde has even been persuaded to use them in her six-monthly policy documents. “WiT helps sharpen your writing and lifts your key points visually from the page,” says Moon. “It makes your detailed points easier to read.”3

DEBATE INSIGHTS 15

To watch Gihan Perera’s original webinar, ‘How to use the secrets of great TED presenters in your online meetings’, go to bit.ly/gotomeeting-webinars For free WiT downloads and much more, check out www.jmoon.co.uk or get his excellent new book, Clarity and Impact: Inform and Impress with Your Reports and Talks

What we will do

• We will focus on products and services where we are or can be in the top three.

• We will grow organically, not by acquisition, unless we see an opportunity.

• We will only include companies in our Group if they’ve synergies with other parts of it.

• We will invest selectively to strengthen and build our business.

What we will do

Market leader We will focus on products and markets where

we are or can be in the top three

Organic growth We will grow organically, not by acquisition,

unless we see an opportunity

Synergies We will only include companies in our Group

if they’ve synergies with other parts of it

Investment We will invest selectively to strengthen and

build our businesses

16 INSIGHTS BRIEFING 16 INSIGHTS FEEDBACK

“Dame Carolyn McCall has shown great leadership by taking strategy and vision to the floor. No office or management hierarchies – just one of the team who wants to see the brand succeed. Her daily floor walks and engagement with operations at the heart of the business keep her grounded when making realistic business decisions. A fine example of leadership.”Michael Chambers

We’ve had a huge amount of reaction to Professional Manager and CMI Insights stories this past quarter…

THE CHARTERED MANAGEMENT

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ALGORITHMIC GOVERNMENT

New manager? Your first 100 days

HOW LINKEDIN WENT WRONG

5‘HALLELUJAH!’

leadership ideas

Keeping it fresh

easyJet CEO Dame Carolyn McCall on transformative leadership

001_CMI_Spring_17_COVER.indd All Pages 31/03/2017 11:40

Responding to Adrian Furnham’s article, ‘How to spot bull***t: a guide for managers’ (CMI Insights), Ed Sweeney told this story:“According to Andrew Rawnsley’s 2001 book Servants of the People: the Inside Story of New Labour, the late Mo Mowlam had a highly effective bull***t detector. Behind her office desk in London she hung a piece of modern art entitled ‘Discipline Over Desire’. She would ask visitors for an opinion on the painting (described by Rawnsley as ‘a splodge of dirty white’). Anyone who claimed to like it was not to be trusted!”

Two reactions to the article ‘Strengthen your core: eight reasons you should love your middle managers’ (Winter 2017). First, Stephen Lees via LinkedIn:“One of the best articles I’ve read on LinkedIn since setting up my account six years ago!”

Then John-Paul Fitzgibbon FCMI AFRIN AFNI: “Unless they buy into the company vision, the middle manager is often the first place it falls down... Properly trained, developed and empowered senior managers are the life or death of company vision and strategy.”

Our debate about banning phones in meetings (Winter 2017) got you talking...“Shows lack of respect as a minimum! If you’re expecting a call you must take, make it known at the start of the meeting. Otherwise, leave it alone!”Darren Jenkins MCMI ACIPD

“I agree to an extent, but the hours you are stuck in meetings can mean a big profit loss if something is managed incorrectly. I keep it on silent and text short replies so as not to distract.”Timothy Robertson MInstR

BRIEFING INSIGHTS 17 FEEDBACK INSIGHTS 17

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LINKING IN

Violence at workA reader called ‘Pauline Y’ reacted to our CMI Insights article ‘How to manage violence at work’:“I have been in this situation as a manager. My first priority was to separate the two. As it was towards the end of the day, I sent the ‘antagonist’ home and sat down in a private room with the ‘target’ of the aggression.

“It was not an easy process to resolve in the aftermath – there were disciplinary actions – but what came out of it was that the antagonist had been hiding their struggles and actually needed business support.

“Both still work for the company.”

Keep junior staff smilingJanette Thomson on ‘Be honest: are you doing enough for your junior staff’s wellbeing?’ (CMI Insights):“Junior staff are the senior staff of the future and it is here that talent starts to be nurtured – or not. We should also not forget that unhappiness

spreads fast, yet raising happiness can simply come down to timely praise.”

Time-management toolsOn the article, ‘5 tools to get your time management on track’ (CMI Insights), Nicolas Humeau wrote:“Upstream of time management is time allocation. Before jumping into any tool, perform a simple exercise: in one column, list the activities that are important to you/your job; in the next column, apportion 100% to each activity; and, in the third one, indicate the time you actually spend on it (based on your calendar, not a guesstimate). You will probably unearth big gaps that the tools can help fill!”

Work-life balanceRuben G on ‘How hobbies can make us better managers’ (CMI Insights):“I try to run every day for one hour. In September, I will run Berlin’s marathon. Nothing is more important than having the right balance between work and fun!”

INSIGHTS 19

On the day before Easter 2011, Josh was out cycling with his brother, Brandon. Josh veered into the road and was hit by a car. His father was mowing his lawn when a distraught Brandon rushed back. Dad, a policeman, was on the scene in moments. Josh wasn’t breathing.

His injuries were appalling. He was in a coma for months. Then, on 4 July 2011, he woke up and said: “Dad.”

Months of painful rehabilitation followed at The Children’s Trust, based in Tadworth, Surrey. But Josh made great progress. While his injuries are profound and life-altering, Josh has, almost incredibly, even started cycling again.

I am in Tadworth Court, the 17th-century manor house that is home to The Children’s Trust, to meet its CEO, Dalton Leong CCMI. For children with brain injuries, and their families, this is an oasis of hope, care, education and therapy.

Leong greets me warmly in his office, up a creaking staircase. He’s sprightly, talkative and fit. He loves singing and running in his spare time, and took part in a fundraising expedition to Everest Base Camp last year – “the hardest thing I’ve ever done”.

Leong grew up in south-west London, the son of Chinese-South African immigrants who ran a butcher’s shop. His father died suddenly in his forties, leaving Leong’s mother to take control. It was a difficult time. “You become worldly-wise at an early age; you have to,” he recalls.

We have lunch in The Children’s Trust’s grand

hall. It’s all very Hogwarts. Staff chat around large wooden dining tables. Lunch is tasty, unpretentious food from the subsidised staff canteen: vegetarian stroganoff, and fruit crumble.

Leong is comfortable and candid when telling his story. A successful career in banking left him close to burnout, but he won’t bad-mouth the sector: “Banking gave me invaluable training and development, and I learned so much about customer service.” It was while on a training course in the Lake District in 1983 that he was identified as “a natural leader”. That made a lasting impression.

Leong took a significant pay cut when he moved into the charity sector, but he is in his element, bringing energy, a commercial outlook and, crucially, change-management skills. In his four years as CEO, he’s replaced the entire senior leadership team at The Children’s Trust, and is now updating its outdated IT systems and launching a new strategy for the charity.

He knows he must strike a balance between commercialism and care. People come to The Children’s

Trust at times of unimaginable anguish. Many children require 24-hour care. (The lovely 24-acre site houses a residential special school for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties, specialist rehabilitation services and accommodation for families and nursing staff.)

But the charity must be run properly. Leong explains that employee inductions heavily emphasise the need for strong leadership and governance. “Our sector is under close scrutiny,” says Leong. The local authority funds places at the school and NHS England pays for rehabilitation for children with the most complex conditions under a block contract. But the charity also raises millions in donations for music therapy, play sessions, garden upkeep and day trips – all essential for helping children be children again. “If children can have fun, they start to focus on other things aside from how unwell they are, giving them hope and confidence. It’s the crucial

ingredient,” says Leong. The Children’s Trust already operates

brain-injury community services in parts of the UK – also funded by donations – and Leong wants it to

become synonymous with brain-injury care

beyond the home counties. He is ambitious for

the special spirit of The Children’s Trust to be known nationally and internationally – an inspiring prospect.

LUNCH WITH…

Dalton LeongCHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE CHILDREN’S TRUST, TADWORTH

WORDS Matthew Rock

MY WORD INSIGHTS 21

You’ve found what looks to be the perfect hire and it all seems so right, on paper and intellectually. All bases appear to have been covered – capabilities and fit assessed, references taken and colleagues consulted. You’re delighted and excited but, for some inexplicable reason, disproportionately nervous.

The head rules the heart and the paperwork is signed. After much fanfare, your new appointee gets started and all seems well…

Two weeks in and your anxiety has not been allayed; four weeks in and your worst fears are being realised. Can you really have got it so wrong? After all the time and effort you committed to the recruitment process, could you still have made a terrible mistake?

You will try to convince yourself otherwise; you might agree to some coaching input, you give feedback and you try and try to make it work. In the majority of instances, the outcome will be the same – it doesn’t work.

The reason it doesn’t work is because you have indeed made a mistake.

So what went wrong? If you have followed a robust process, the mistake has nothing to do with the experience or competence of the candidate. Rather, it is simply that you asked the wrong questions.

Much of what you assessed will have been important, but it’s likely that you didn’t incorporate values in

that assessment. Think of values as your organisation’s blood type. If a patient’s pre-op questionnaire asks 100 questions but fails to clarify blood type, the outlook could be grim.

Get values aligned and the future is bright – all the benefits of an external hire with alignment to the values that make your organisation unique.

To do this, you must start by understanding the values of your organisation – the all-encompassing ‘what matters to us and how we do things round here’. Values link the words on the website to actual behaviours and the culture of the organisation.

But you can only assess the values ‘fit’ of the candidate if you truly understand the values of your organisation. And you need to ensure that the values are embedded at every level in your organisation (in job adverts, role descriptions, shortlisting criteria, interview questions and reference-taking); that managers manage and leaders lead with the values in mind; that the values are discussed as part of appraisals; and that you regularly check that you’re living up to those values. Only then are

you ready to make them the key to successful recruitment.

You’ll be seeking to understand the candidate’s personality in action. You’ll be establishing if they will thrive in your organisation. These are questions about how they influence, their approach to collaboration, their attitude to risk and to customers, and their integrity.

Then comes the tricky part: evaluating and assessing what they say. This will be much easier now you’ve done the upfront work and defined not just your values but what behaviours lie behind them.

A final word of caution. If you subscribe to the definition of personal values as a set of enduring beliefs that a person holds about what is right and wrong, and what is good and undesirable, and which dictate how they behave, then these tend to change very little over time.

But organisational values can change. Many of our clients have in recent years recognised the benefits of greater diversity in their teams and have had to revisit their values.

But define your values, and then recruit, induct, manage and lead with them in mind. Then you’ll find you can recruit and retain the right people, who will perform better and be happier at work.

Think of values as your organisation’s blood type. If you ask a pre-op patient 100

questions but overlook blood type, the outlook could be grim

Joëlle Warren MBE CCMI is founding director of executive search consultancy Warren Partners. This article first appeared in BQ magazineLA

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You don’t ask, you don’t getYOU CAN’T HIRE THE RIGHT CANDIDATE IF YOU DON’T ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS – ABOVE ALL, ‘DO THEY SHARE OUR VALUES?’

WORDS Joëlle Warren, CMI Companion

HUMAN CAPITAL INSIGHTS 23

The rise and fall of Salary ManGOODBYE, CHAUFFEUR-DRIVEN COMPANY CARS; HELLO, SHARE OPTIONS AND FEMALE BOSSES

WORDS Mark Crail

“I didn’t get where I am today by being a good chap,” declared Sunshine Desserts’ managing director, CJ, in one episode of 1970s sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. He may not have been unique in the beige boardrooms and tobacco-stained offices of the era. If you think women get a poor deal in management today, look back 40 years or so.

Back in 1974, the British Institute of Management (now CMI) got together with a small consultancy called Remuneration Economics Ltd (the forerunner of today’s XpertHR) to launch the National Management Salary Survey, which would provide reliable information on salaries and fringe benefits.

Salaries could not have been higher on the national agenda. With inflation in double figures, some 250,000 coal miners went on strike in pursuit of their claim for a 35% pay rise, prompting the introduction of a fuel-conserving three-day week and the fall of Ted Heath’s Conservative government. In the months that followed, the miners won the rise they had demanded in full, while nurses got an average 30%

increase and the TUC agreed a “social contract” on voluntary wage restraint.

But unionised workers were not the only ones getting in on the act. A report from the National Board for Prices and Incomes, set up in the mid-1960s in a futile bid to combat inflation, reported that executive salaries in the private sector had increased by 76% in the five years leading up to the end of 1973.

No wonder employers felt they needed reliable pay benchmarks.

That first salary survey report was quite an achievement. From a standing start, it reported on the remuneration of 21,749 managers. The highest salary in the survey was £65,000 – shocking for the time – with 31 others coming in at £30,000 or more. Across the survey, the median salary for a CEO was reported as £13,398, though in the public sector, which then included a large swathe of industry, no-one earned over £11,410.

These were not insignificant sums. Even after their 35% pay rise, miners working underground for 40 hours a week still got just £1,872, while a staff nurse in the NHS earned £2,202.

It was a whole different world. In 1974, two out of three managers had been with their present company for more than a decade, while one in three had put in 20 years or more. Nearly nine out of 10 directors got a company car, while one in seven had prime use of a chauffeur-driven vehicle. But just one in five CEOs had a share option scheme, while four weeks’ holiday was still the norm at even the highest levels.

I have been engrossed in these reports for a reason. After more than 40 years, the National Management Salary Survey is being relaunched this year as the Managers and Professionals Salary Survey. This small change in name encompasses a considerable rethink of how we collect, analyse and publish data.

The first report back in 1974 made the proud boast that just three months had elapsed from the close of data collection to publication. At the time, that meant converting hundreds of handwritten data submissions to punchcards, renting time on a mainframe computer to crunch the numbers, and then typing out hundreds of salary tables for the report. Today, less than a fortnight passes from close to publication. And, while in 1974 we reported on pay rates for about 20,000 managers, in 2017 the number stood at 119,707, with women making up 54% of the sample.

That brings me to the single most shocking statistic from the early days: of the 20,000 managers or so whose pay was captured by that first report, all but 338 were men. Good chaps indeed.

Mark Crail is content director at XpertHR. Tweet him: @Payintelligence

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AVERAGE SALARIES FOR MEN AND WOMEN (£) 1974 2017 Men Women Men WomenChief executive 15,863 na* 190,642 145,799

Director 11,206 8,131 130,843 118,575

Function head 7,111 4,654 83,946 73,934

Department manager 6,277 4,019 67,413 61,014

Section manager 5,793 3,939 55,692 52,522

Team leader 4,869 3,984 46,303 43,055* NOT ENOUGH DATA: ONLY ONE FEMALE CEO FOUND

THE VIEW FROM WESTMINSTER INSIGHTS 25

Brexit means leadership POST-BREXIT PROSPERITY DEPENDS ON GREAT MANAGEMENT, RIGHT ACROSS BRITAIN

As the new government sits down at the Brexit negotiating table, questions are brought into focus about our economy, productivity, education and skills that urgently need answering. And there is one issue that underpins all of this – management and leadership.

The UK still lags behind its G7 competitors in productivity levels by some margin. If we are to finally close this gap, it’s imperative we address the quality of management and leadership in the UK – something we know to be one of the main causes.

We have too many ‘accidental managers’ – employees promoted into management jobs on the basis of excelling in their role and then left to sink or swim without the support they need to thrive. It’s vital that people have the right opportunities to learn.

To do this, the government needs to get serious about training. The need to focus on skills becomes ever more apparent as we prepare for a post-Brexit world of reliance on home-grown talent. Where once organisations could rely on a vast pool of talent from abroad to plug skills gaps, the focus will now have to shift to developing our own.

The solution is twofold. It’s vital that the government does more to encourage employers to train and upskill their existing workforce; equally, the focus must also shift to how we can better prepare the next generation of managers and leaders. We need almost two million new managers in the UK by

2024, so the solution can’t come from the existing workforce alone.

We need better engagement between employers and educators to do more for young people as they transition from education to work. The Apprenticeship Levy is an important step, with new higher and degree-level apprenticeships providing a vital role in improving productivity and developing our young people. Working with employers, apprenticeships such as the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship are providing exciting new pathways into the professions, opening up new opportunities for young people beyond the traditional.

We also need a new way of measuring schools’ performance, beyond the focus

on how many of their students go to university. It is important to look at how schools are helping young people to progress to a variety of destinations – higher education, apprenticeships or employment – to make sure they are given the best chance of choosing the best route for them.

In doing all of this, we will also help tackle the glaring lack of diversity present in so much of UK management. The government must make sure the management pipeline is as diverse and as rich in talent as possible. Business is waking up to the need to improve ethnic diversity within this pipeline too, with the Parker and McGregor-Smith reviews putting a spotlight on business’s track record.

But there is work to do. CMI has recently partnered with the British Academy of Management on new research into race and ethnic diversity in the FTSE 100, exploring how they are building diversity in their management pipeline. Work like this is vital if we are to make sure that, moving forwards, more organisations are looking seriously at their talent pipeline.

Whatever changes and obstacles present themselves in the months and years ahead, it is clear that we need highly qualified managers and leaders to overcome them and develop a competitive UK economy. The time to start is now.

Baroness Prosser OBE is a Labour life peerLAUR

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In the February 2017 House of Lords debate on the UK’s industrial strategy, Baroness Prosser observed: “There is a well-established link between employee engagement and productivity, which in this country lags behind that of France, Germany and the United States. What is the government’s plan to ensure that companies have in place appropriate training for all levels of management, so that inclusion and employee voice are present?”

POLICY WATCH INSIGHTS 27LA

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In office, but not in powerTHIS GOVERNMENT HAS ONLY ONE THEME: BREXIT

WORDS Petra Wilton

Following an election that deprived Theresa May of a parliamentary majority, the Queen’s Speech marking the plans of the new government clearly reflected the impact of May’s diminished political authority.

The government’s legislative agenda announced 27 bills and draft bills that the government will seek to implement over the next two years. The headline bill, The Repeal Bill, is focused on delivering Brexit, and the rest are grouped around building a stronger economy, making our country fairer, and making the UK safer and more united.

The speech itself reflected a change of tone from the government in its approach to Brexit, with a commitment to “working with Parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus on the country’s future outside the European Union”.

The speech was watered down following the election, and the more conciliatory tone on Brexit was accompanied by the expected scrapping of several controversial commitments in the Conservative manifesto. The proposed energy price cap was jettisoned and new funding of social care sidelined; grammar schools were absent; commitments to remove the triple lock on pensions and to means-test winter fuel allowance were

gone; and measures on executive pay and corporate governance reform were not mentioned. Some of those omissions may stem from the negotiations with the DUP, but many were also demanded by Tory backbenchers.

Looking at what else was included in the Queen’s Speech, there was a clear commitment to technical education: “My ministers will work to ensure people have the skills they need for the high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future, including through a major reform of technical education.” Indeed, to achieve this, CMI has been focusing on supporting the development of apprenticeships, and sees a clear need to build technical education that provides pathways into these new professional apprenticeships.

It was also a relief to see the promise to tackle gender and diversity issues front and centre in the Queen’s Speech. The evidence is increasingly clear: diversity in the workplace delivers results. After the progress we’ve seen recently in tackling the gender pay gap, it’s encouraging to see the focus extend to addressing racial and other inequalities at work. New CMI research being published in mid-July suggests that most businesses lack data about their employees’ ethnicity, and for many it’s a more complex area to navigate than gender equality. The government will need to identify how employers can accelerate efforts to increase diversity and inclusivity within their organisations, which will be crucial if we are to close the ethnicity pay gap.

While a number of other domestic bills were referenced in the speech – notably on HS2, data privacy, tenancy rights, consumer protection, motor insurance premiums, modernisation of the courts, mental health and domestic violence – several of these are draft bills and none will be prioritised ahead of the central theme of the government’s agenda: Brexit.

As we look ahead to a period of significant political uncertainty, the only aspect of the government that seems strong and stable is its determination to deliver Brexit.

A number of other domestic bills were

referenced in the Queen’s Speech but none will be

prioritised ahead of the central theme

of the government’s agenda: Brexit

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SPIRITSOF

ADVENTUREWORDS Matt Scott PHOTOGRAPHY Sam Peach

IT’S NOW ACCEPTED THAT MOST OF US WILL HAVE MULTIPLE CAREERS. IN OUR WORKING LIFE, WE’LL SWITCH

EMPLOYERS, INDUSTRIES AND EVEN COUNTRIES. WE’LL CONSTANTLY NEED NEW SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS.

WE’LL HAVE TO UPDATE OURSELVES REGULARLY TO MAKE PROGRESS IN THIS NON-LINEAR LIFE...

... THE BIGGEST THEME emerging from this year’s special Chartered Manager report is that this level of change is already the norm. One of this year’s Chartered Managers moved from medicine into management; another swapped life as an adventurer for a senior position in education; and another left the army and now holds a top-tier role in the energy sector.

In making these dramatic career shifts, Chartered Manager status has been vital. The accreditation has acted as the passport between new careers; it’s the evidence of competence that has allowed this group of dynamic managers to jump across very different professions.

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KIM CARTER KNEW early on in her career that she wanted to be a manager, after taking on responsibility for a team based in Chennai when she became an offshore process manager at Barclays.

Carter now works as a team leader for one of Barclays’ UK-based teams, and she is using her knowledge and experience to make her way to the top of the ladder.

To help her, Carter has solidified her expertise by becoming a Chartered Manager, something, she says, that has really helped her gain credibility and recognition for her managerial skills.

“While I’m fortunate enough to be at a company where the people I work with appreciate the effort I put in, the Chartered Manager accreditation felt like a way I could be recognised independently and professionally by being assessed on my ability as a manager,” she says.

“It was a really enjoyable experience, but it wasn’t easy. It took a lot of motivation and dedication to complete, but it was very rewarding, and the sense of achievement on completing the process outweighed the work I had to put in.”

Carter says that the process of becoming Chartered was testing, but that it was essential to prepare her for being a Chartered Manager.

“Reflecting back on my experiences and pushing my own development, to take myself out of my comfort zone, was really challenging,” she says. “But it helped me to prepare for taking on the responsibility of becoming a Chartered Manager. I find that having that title is a great responsibility, and I wanted to

The high achieverYoung leader Kim Carter has seen a profound change in herself since becoming Chartered – and her colleagues have recognised it too

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make sure that I was ready for that and deserving of the accreditation.”

When Carter applied to become a Chartered Manager, she knew she was applying to represent a title. “As part of that, you have to keep up with your professional development and display the right behaviours. Becoming Chartered has focused me more on that and reminded me of my responsibilities as a manager.”

To help her in her application to become Chartered, Carter first took 12 months to complete a Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership with CMI. She is now reaping the benefits of her hard work and dedication.

She has just completed a 12-month secondment, covering for her manager while she was on maternity leave, and was presented with a reward for high achievement at Barclays, becoming one of only 27 people to receive the award out of 50,000 eligible staff members.

Carter isn’t resting on her laurels, however. She constantly pushes her team, and herself, to strive for more.

She makes great use of CMI’s webinar and ManagementDirect resources, and has introduced a number of initiatives to her team, such as improved personal development plans and new processes to reduce the impact of non-value-adding tasks.

All of this hasn’t gone unnoticed. “The team has seen the change in me and noticed that I’ve had that boost in confidence, and that my energy and focus have improved,” she says. “I talk to them about Chartered Manager a lot, and I’ve tried to encourage them to become Chartered as well, because, like me, they maybe lack confidence. Going through the process has definitely helped me gain self-belief.”

Her team is developing and everyone is feeling more motivated, says Carter. “We are getting much more out of the team in terms of productivity as a result.”

“Going through the Chartered Manager process has definitely helped me gain self-belief”

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BASEL HAMMODA STARTED his working life as a GP in his native Egypt. He was following in the family tradition by pursuing a career in medicine.

But Hammoda longed for something extra – he also craved a career in management. When, as part of that frontline medical experience, he began to witness serious management flaws, he knew it was time to act.

“The problems we are facing in the healthcare sector are mainly around poor management and system design,” says Hammoda. “We have a lot of well-qualified doctors, but the problem with the healthcare sector is that we don’t have enough professionally qualified managers, and that is what we are seeing in the NHS – a management problem rather than a lack of medical expertise.

“I have always had a passion to become a manager, and I wanted to help solve that problem in the healthcare sector.”

Hammoda enlisted for a master’s degree in healthcare management before travelling to the UK to study for an MBA, at which time he also joined CMI. It was the beginning of a fruitful partnership for the young doctor turned healthcare manager.

“I have always been interested in organisations like CMI,” he says. “I was a student member while doing my MBA, and once I finished that I explored other options that could boost my profile. I found the Chartered Manager accreditation and knew that was what I wanted to do next.”

The process of becoming Chartered was relatively simple, requiring around

The medicine manBasel Hammoda made the unconventional switch from medicine to management because he diagnosed a serious flaw in how the healthcare sector is run

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three months of preparation before an interview with a CMI assessor.

“It was a very good reflective experience, and I learned a lot,” says Hammoda. “The good thing about the Chartered Manager accreditation is that it is not a quantitative process. It is more about exploring your qualities as a manager and what you bring to the table.”

Managers are almost always target-focused, Hammoda observes – they’re looking to increase revenue, improve work processes or make cost savings. The Chartered Manager process made him reflect on a wider set of concerns: how he interacts with other people; how he could get them to work better for him and the company; how to get the best out of them; how to lead by example; and how to understand the importance of different stakeholders.

Having completed the Chartered Manager process, Hammoda works as a manager for Capgemini’s public services team. He sees his accreditation as an ongoing responsibility.

“Chartered Manager is a badge of honour,” he says. “It puts a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to act in a way that makes CMI proud. The code of ethics, code of conduct, the

way you behave and interact with other people, and even how you compete in the market, are all important aspects of being a Chartered Manager. They all combine to make you a more ethical and competent manager.”

The biggest lesson he’s learned from the process is that professional development is a continuous process. “You have to continually improve your skills and capabilities,” he says. Hammoda is now starting a PhD.

What would he say to others who are considering becoming a Chartered Manager? “Anyone can become a manager, but not everyone can become an effective manager, and very few can become Chartered Managers and leaders.”

“Chartered Manager is a badge of honour. It puts a lot of responsibility

on my shoulders to act in a way that makes CMI proud”

AGED 21, JENNY McCONNELL became the youngest person to have crossed the globe by land.

The journey involved driving east from London to New York as part of an international team of 40, going through Siberia and across the Bering Strait.

The adventure was life-changing, helping McConnell find new respect for the strength of the human spirit.

“The generosity of the people we met on our journey was amazing,” she says. “When you do an expedition of that scale, it changes your outlook – it makes you understand the human spirit more, and shows you just how important achieving a good work-life balance is.

“It has made me more empathetic as a manager and leader, and, hopefully, more emotionally intelligent, which is a critical aspect of leadership.”

She continued her adventures after the expedition, becoming a scuba-diving instructor and being commissioned as

an officer in the Territorial Army at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

McConnell is no less determined in her professional life. After 10 years as deputy head of South Eastern Regional College (SERC) in Bangor, Northern Ireland, she achieved Chartered Manager status. Today, she is the further education college’s lead consultant on leadership and management.

“I’ve always tried to be the best I can be in any situation, and that’s why I wanted to become a Chartered Manager,” she says. Chartered Manager status “epitomises the professional status of my career as a manager and a leader. I wanted that professional recognition, not just for myself, but also to demonstrate to others the importance of professionalism”.

Being Chartered gives you the stamp of professionalism, she says, “and, when you have that, you are automatically more professional in the work you do”.

When you professionalise a workforce, this has knock-on effects,

The explorerAfter pushing herself to the limits on an epic around-the-world expedition, Jenny McConnell felt driven to become Chartered

says McConnell: you enhance the motivation of individuals and create “an edge to your business that shows that you’re a market leader”.

This ‘edge’ has helped SERC win new business and, vitally, help other businesses in Northern Ireland reach new levels of success.

“Having a number of Chartered Managers in our management team has upped the professionalism of the organisation, and helped us to professionalise the industry and assist economic growth in Northern Ireland,” says McConnell.

SERC is now looking to further support, and work more closely with, businesses. This, in turn, should encourage sustainable growth in Northern Ireland. Much of this strategy depends on Chartered Manager status. “Having that Chartered status puts an extra stamp on that tender when pitching for new business,” McConnell says.

She hasn’t lost her adventurous streak and continues to push herself to the limits in marathons. But she admits: “Pushing yourself to be the very best at everything you do can be exhausting!”

JAMES DICKATY IS no stranger to pressure. He spent 15 years as a submariner working on the Royal Navy’s fleet of nuclear submarines, rising to the rank of chief petty officer – a role he likens to middle management. Today he is a senior commissioning manager at Sellafield, in the highly regulated nuclear industry.

Above all, the military taught him how to communicate with people openly. “Nothing prepares you for that better than going to sea in a submarine with 100 other people for three months at a time, with no television or internet.”

That experience, says Dickaty, teaches you how people tick. “You soon know how to change your communication

style to deal with different personalities and situations.” It’s something he has taken with him to his civilian career.

After leaving the military, Dickaty initially found it difficult to gauge his experience and skills as a manager. He turned to CMI for help after becoming a Chartered Engineer.

“What I found difficult was to quantify my leadership skills, and the Chartered Manager process was an excellent way of doing that,” he says. “It allowed me to demonstrate my skills to my own managers, and also to bank it for my own professional and personal development and CPD.”

Dickaty enjoyed the Chartered Manager process, which, he says, helped him make the transition from

The change-makerJames Dickaty swapped the military for civilian management, and discovered contrasting attitudes to change

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military to civilian management. “In my industry, it’s difficult to find the time to take stock, consolidate and look back at what you have achieved. The Chartered Manager process allowed me to go all the way back through my career and pull out those skills that were needed for the application, and to quantify and recognise them as part of my skillset.”

In industry, in contrast to the military, managers are very much seen as agents of change. “In a process-driven industry like mine, which is highly regulated because of safety, the hardest thing is delivering positive change quickly and safely,” he says.

That change involves engaging with, and getting approval from, large numbers of nuclear-industry

stakeholders. Becoming a Chartered Manager gave Dickaty the confidence to go out into the workplace and do that. “It also gives me a credibility that I didn’t have before going through the accreditation process,” he says.

Sellafield is employing increasing numbers of Chartered Managers, as part of a drive to professionalise the workforce. As he’s one of the pioneers, Dickaty’s reputation has grown with both his employer and external stakeholders.

“We are seeing more and more people going through the accreditation process. That’s been good for me in terms of raising my own profile, and the accreditation gives you the credibility that you do have the necessary

management skills and you are a good leader,” he says.

The Chartered Manager process is focused on leadership skills, as well as core management skills, says Dickaty. “Chartered Manager gives you that credibility that you are a business leader, and that makes people more receptive to what you have to say.”

What advice does he have for aspiring Chartered Managers who want to follow in his footsteps?

“The important thing to do if you want to be a Chartered Manager is to start now,” he says. “You will probably have some gaps in your experience against the competency framework, so get your mentor sorted early.”

“The Chartered Manager process let me demonstrate my skills to my own managers”M

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“This is something that you can apply in your job and

that helps you believe you can be an effective manager”

FOR SANDRA OSSENBRINK, being a manager is about more than leading a team to success – it’s about getting the best out of people and pushing them to be better versions of themselves.

Ossenbrink grew up in Grambergen, in north-west Germany. As a young woman, she studied at a catering college, where she acquired various qualifications, before moving to Northern Ireland. But all the time she knew that her low self-confidence was holding her back.

“I used to be insecure as a person. I didn’t feel able to challenge people and would just agree with what they said,” she recalls.

The turning point was becoming a Chartered Manager.

The skills Ossenbrink learned on her path to becoming Chartered (by way of CMI’s Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership and Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership) have been invaluable in securing new roles that otherwise might have seemed out of reach.

When she applied for her current role as a process consultant at HSBC, the job description required a ‘black belt’ accreditation in Lean Six Sigma; Ossenbrink only had a green belt. Her Chartered Manager accreditation was key. “It demonstrated that I had the necessary skills, and meant I was successful in getting the job.” She’s now working towards that black belt.

The Chartered Manager accreditation is far more than a piece of paper to hang on the wall, says Ossenbrink. “This is something you can apply in your job and something that helps you believe you can be an effective manager.”

The research required as part of the Chartered Manager process will help you develop an array of management skills, she says. “People should not underestimate the impact it can have on them.”

Becoming Chartered also shaped Ossenbrink’s leadership style and made her a more rounded manager.

“It is really important as a manager to help other people and coach them to be better managers,” she says. “I want to be a role model. If I work with someone, I want to show them that I behave in the right way and have the skills needed to do the job, because that will bring out the best in them.”

“If I can help other people develop their skills, then I know I have done a good job,” she adds.

As part of becoming a Chartered Manager, Ossenbrink did a lot of research around change management, teamwork, and how to make change actually work in practice. These are transferable skills, and she now applies them all the time, with different people and targets.

Ossenbrink admits her approach used to be “very black and white”, but she now appreciates the “shades of grey” in between – that there are other ways and means to achieve particular goals.

“You have to listen to other people more, and I am now much better at integrating the team into what I am doing, and getting them to think in an aligned way,” she says.

That nervous young apprentice seems to have gone forever; today, Ossenbrink is a confident, assured professional. “Being a Chartered Manager gives you credibility and provides you with the reassurance that you have the tools and skills to be a manager,” she says.

“Lots of people call themselves managers, but they haven’t been taught how to manage and they lack the necessary skills. Chartered Manager status has given me that belief, and confirms that I am on the right track.”

The confidence-builderChartered Manager status transformed the self-belief of process consultant Sandra Ossenbrink, opening the door to a new career

ANOTHERREASON TO

BECOMEA CMGR

Thousands of leaders at all levels and across all sectors have become Chartered Managers. We want you to join them, so, until the end of August 2017, we are offering a 20% discount for all new registrations.

In as little as two weeks, you could have the highest professional status that can be achieved in management and leadership. Not only that but your employability will immediately soar as you demonstrate your managerial competence and prove that you possess the transferable managerial skills needed to make a real impact.

To start your journey and take advantage of a 20% discount, visit managers.org.uk/getchartered or call us on 01536 207429

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Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT

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WHAT’S IT LIKE TO LEAD AN ICONIC COMPANY THROUGH A PERIOD OF DRAMATIC CHANGE? HOW DOES ONE OF BRITAIN’S MOST INFLUENTIAL CEOs APPROACH THE DAY-TO-DAY TASK OF MANAGEMENT? AND WHAT’S HIS STRATEGY FOR COPING WITH THE INEVITABLE SETBACKS?

INTERVIEW BY Ann Francke PHOTOGRAPHY BY Alun Callender

THE MAN WHO MAKES THE BIG CALLS

understand the pressures, priorities and demands that swirl around the modern CEO, CMI’s chief executive, Ann Francke, and Professional Manager arranged to meet BT’s Gavin Patterson at the telecoms giant’s London offices. Roll the tape…

CHANGESince you’ve been CEO, you’ve built upon a business and cultural transformation. What, for you, have been the main elements?We are part way through a transformation across the business as a whole. We’ve taken the business from one that was seen as backward-looking to one that’s increasingly seen as looking to the future: investing in fibre and next-gen networks; investing in media through sports rights; and beginning to think about mobile again through the acquisition of EE. So it’s a journey and it’s only partly done, but at its heart it’s about creating a forward-looking BT.

CULTUREHow important has cultural transformation been in that business transformation?In many ways, culture is the true source of competitive advantage in any company. It’s more important than the physical assets, IP and technology – particularly in our industry, because all of those give you a temporary

source of competitive advantage but ultimately can be copied.

To turn us into a truly world-class company, culture is the key. When we’ve got it right, you’ll be able to take any individual out of the overall company, but it will still feel the same. Yes, it’s built on strong characters, but ultimately there’s no one individual who defines it; it’s much bigger than that.

How would you describe BT’s culture?It is a work in progress. At its heart [BT’s culture] has a strong sense of social purpose, wanting to play a role in society and being embedded right in the fabric of society, particularly in the UK. That’s one of things that makes it quite difficult.

There is a desire to serve that is part of what people do here. Can we more consistently deliver? Of course, but that ability to think like a customer is one of the areas we’re trying to work on.

Gone are the days when you started in the company, did your apprenticeship, and then effectively didn’t learn – you just did that job for the next 40 or 50 years. The culture we’re trying to make is one that is trying to learn, to adapt.

Everybody who joins the company now will go through many different careers, regardless of whether they join at 16 or later in their career. That focus around self-development and willingness to take on new roles is key to a 21st-century career.

TRUSTCMI research shows a trust gap between senior leadership and middle management. How do you ensure BT’s culture and vision – using the power of communications to make a better world – are brought to life throughout the company, especially in middle management?At a fundamental level, by having a purpose, a vision, a strategy that is in everyday language and that can be communicated, understood and remembered by everybody in the company. Great strategy is about few, good choices and simple language that allows people to make decisions on a day-to-day basis.

Having a strategy, communicating it consistently and having it on one visual is key for all stakeholders – internal and external. Having a purpose right at the centre – why are we here besides making money for shareholders; what are we trying to do in the world?

If it’s only about the money, you don’t get people’s best work. Putting the purpose front and centre is key and then it’s about communication, having a cadence, a pattern throughout the year that allows [the strategy] to cascade throughout the business.

I communicate directly with all levels of the organisation. We do monthly podcasts, and tens of thousands of people download them. Twice a year we do live video to everybody in the organisation.

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That’s life. You have to step forward and take it for the company and be an agent of change, ultimately.

In terms of resilience, to really function at the highest level as a CEO, you have to have balance in your life. You have to recognise that just working more and more hours doesn’t necessarily bring a better result. You have to ensure you’re mentally, physically and emotionally fit. Relationships outside of work are key. You need to make sure everything is in equilibrium. That’s key to resilience.

GENDERIn what ways are you a role model for the women in your organisation, and what do you do to encourage other men to be role models?[Laughs.] Am I a role model? It’s for others to judge. What I try to do is manage my day and live my life in a way that is relevant to both men and women. [It’s about] recognising that those of us with children all want to be good parents and raise flourishing children – ensuring that, when you need time off to go to things that are part of that, you can manage life accordingly. I try to be an exemplar to both men and women because, ultimately, if you’ve got a happy life at home, you’ll perform better at work.

[In terms of gender balance,] I haven’t come across an organisation that has got this absolutely correct. It’s an important issue at BT, so I would say it’s a work in progress for us. Nobody, in my experience, now questions the importance of getting gender balance right at the top and at all levels of the organisation – you get a better result in terms of the quality of thinking and the quality of execution.

[It’s about] ensuring that those career pathways are very clear throughout the business and the

In many ways, its about constant repetition, using every single opportunity to draw communication back to the strategy and take feedback to make sure that it is being properly understood.

PURPOSEDo you measure how well you and your managers deliver against your purpose, in terms both of financial outputs and behaviours?Yes, in many different ways. We run an employee engagement survey, ‘Your Say’, two times a year; questions about purpose, strategic understanding and pride are very much part of the things that we track through the business. This ensures that we can see that colleagues across the business not only understand but also believe in what we’re saying.

And then, ultimately, in terms of how we pay people and the variable part of their compensation, a significant chunk is based on not just financial measures but also social and customer measures.

SETBACKSEvery leader has setbacks. The BT Italia situation was one. What’s your view about how to bounce back from a situation like that?You’re absolutely right. If you’re a CEO for a number of years, it’s highly unusual not to come across a setback on the way. One of the things you have to accept is that you may inherit a business with many good things, but there’ll always be things you have to clean up that don’t relate to things you did yourself.

“You have to recognise that working more and more hours doesn’t

necessarily bring a better result”

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right support is put in place to ensure that women can see that actually it is possible to get through – particularly in line roles, when often the pathway to the C-suite is most challenging.

We’ve done a number of things to try to remove unconscious bias. We’ve got unconscious bias training through the company, and we support a gender-equality network.

Ann, I’ll be perfectly honest with you – I’m not satisfied with the progress we’re making. I feel that we’re doing a number of the right things, but it’s taking too long to get to the outcome that we really need to flourish as a really great company.

Do you think that the requirement to report on gender pay rates will help to drive change?It will help expose companies where there’s a really significant difference, no question, but in itself I don’t think it will make the difference. It needs to go much deeper than that: we need to create a pipeline that demonstrates to women that actually they will be supported; that they don’t need to change who they are; that you can deliver results and be an effective leader in many different ways.

Great leaders come in many different forms. Great leadership does not tilt by gender.

LONG TERM VS SHORT TERMYou’ve come from a marketing background, which is unusual in the FTSE 100, and this has allowed you to be more customer-centric. Do you feel that British business generally should be more customer-centric, with less focus on short-term financials?I don’t know any CEO who doesn’t feel that focusing on longer-term, sustainable metrics around business would be a better thing.

Why doesn’t it happen? The quarterly reporting cycle. The challenge always is to make sure you don’t do things on a quarterly basis that you wouldn’t do on an annual or multi-year basis. It’s a balance. The shareholders own the company and they want to understand you’re making progress against your strategy and you can show that on a quarterly basis.

When you get it right, it’s part of a pattern; you make sure that the machine on a quarterly basis does not distract you from doing the right things over the long term. But great businesses are based ultimately on really having a strong relationship with your customers: your customers really valuing what you do, feeling as though it’s critical and important to their lives; that they’re

“Great leaders come in many different forms. Great leadership

does not tilt by gender”

getting good value for money; that they are proud about the brand and the company itself. That’s what we’re striving to do. We’ve got more to do to get there, but that’s the type of business we want to be.

OPENREACHYou separated off Openreach and said that leaves it free to develop its own culture. To what degree do you think that culture will change?We should keep it in context. [Openreach] continues to be a wholly owned subsidiary of the BT Group; we will consolidate it within the BT Group balance sheet and reporting. We will continue to set the budgets and, ultimately, have the final say on the key appointments, including the Openreach board.

They’ll have more independence. Through the Openreach board, it’ll be enshrined that they must serve all internal and external customers in an equivalent manner and really focus on investment in service.

The culture will still stem from the BT values, ultimately – personal, simple and brilliant.

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There will undoubtedly be some aspects of the [Openreach] culture that will be different but, at its heart, it’ll need to come through to those values. That’s good for customers, it’ll be good for shareholders, and it’ll be good for people who work here.

APPRENTICESHIPSBT has long had huge numbers of apprentices. What’s your view on the Apprenticeship Levy? Is it a tax? Is channelling even more money into skills a good thing?If I look at it for the country as a whole, if it’s properly directed and focused on accredited learning and development, I think it will be a good thing.

Creating career pathways for 16- to 18-year-olds – that’s got to be a good way forwards. University isn’t for everybody. By creating more accredited learning for those years, that’ll ensure employers help people develop as individuals and build skills – this, ultimately, is something they’ll have to do throughout their lives. So, if it’s well managed, I think it’ll be a good thing.

NEGOTIATIONSThe Openreach negotiation took two years. Then there were the sports rights deals. You have a reputation for being a pretty good negotiator. What’s your top tip?Always be prepared to walk away! [Laughs.] It’s finding the point of indifference. By that, I mean ensuring you’ve always got more than one outcome that you can live with. You may have a favoured one – and your aim is to get that at a certain price – but ultimately there will be a point where the difference between that and one or more alternatives is zero.

If you’re able to do that, it means you can go into any negotiation knowing you can live with any of the outcomes. It’s up to you to try to get something better than that, but it gives you confidence that you’ll never be in a complete cul de sac.

LEADERSHIPAny final views on management and leadership?Leadership, ultimately, is the key to making change happen. It’s the most difficult of attributes to find – especially finding people who’ve consistently been able to show it over time and, crucially, have learned to evolve their leadership style during their career.

Yes, you can be born with certain characteristics, but you must be prepared to work on, develop and hone them over time – to acknowledge where you’ve got blind spots and areas that need development.

Ultimately, you should see leadership as an attribute that needs constant nourishing, in order for it to be an effective skill.

PRIME PATTERSON

A handsome, bearded face stares into the middle distance. Weather-worn, the man’s rugged features speak of many struggles.

The epic TV adaptation of the life of Eli McCullough, The Son, starring Pierce Brosnan, has been one of the biggest TV events of 2017. In the UK, the series, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, was available exclusively to BT customers.

That was classic Gavin Patterson: a landmark TV event, bundled up with the more mundane matter of domestic broadband and phone connections, and then promoted via a huge national marketing campaign. Patterson, a marketing guru who became BT’s CEO in 2013, has made quite an impression with similar high-profile broadcast deals, such as buying the rights to 126 Premiership football matches over three seasons for £960m.

Patterson’s tenure as CEO hasn’t all been about grand gestures. In early 2017, he concluded complex two-year negotiations with Ofcom over the future of BT’s infrastructure arm, Openreach; many felt the outcome was favourable for both the consumer and BT. At around the same time, an inherited financial scandal in Italy hit BT’s share price hard and led to the departure of its European boss, Corrado Sciolla. And, of course, the company is under relentless, 24/7 customer scrutiny.

VAN

REDI

N/AM

C

Patterson is leading cultural

change at BT – no mean feat in a company that employs over

102,000 people in around

180 countries

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A SPECIAL MAGIC CAN HAPPEN WHEN LARGE AND SMALL

COMPANIES WORK TOGETHER. HERE’S HOW TO SPARK THE FIRE

OF TRUE COLLABORATION

WORDS Stuart Rock ILLUSTRATIONS The Project Twins

WHEN THE JOHN Lewis Partnership announced the launch of JLAB in 2014, it was a curious novelty. Termed a ‘corporate accelerator’, the concept was to fast-track the growth of promising young retail technology companies. Through a competitive pitching process, the JLAB programme would give startups access to John Lewis’s resources and know-how, as well as hold out the juicy prospect of the retailer becoming an equity investor.

John Lewis has just embarked on its fourth year of the JLAB programme. This year it includes its grocery business, Waitrose, for the first time. The chosen startups will be ‘embedded’ for 12 weeks,

SYMBIOTIC INNOVATIONTHE SECRETS

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receiving support from senior-level mentors, and free workspace in John Lewis’s head office in Victoria and Waitrose’s head office in Bracknell. The finalists will have access to a ‘microfund’ of up to £200,000.

John Lewis’s partner on the development of this programme was innovation consultancy L Marks, itself the creation of serial entrepreneur Stuart Marks. He started the venture in 2012 with the intention of creating partnerships between large companies struggling to innovate and small, young companies fizzing with ideas but struggling to find a route to market.

L Marks turns out to have been a fizzingly good idea itself. It is helping to run similar accelerator schemes for companies including BMW, IAG (BA’s parent company), distribution giant Wincanton and hedge fund Winton Capital. It’s not just working with large corporates: one partnership is HouseMark Evolve, which offers support to startups looking to break into the social housing market.

What was a novelty has become a rage. According to innovation foundation Nesta, more than half of the 163 accelerators on its database are currently funded by corporates. “The increased corporate interest in accelerators is one of the key factors that have driven the rapid growth of such programmes in recent years,” it notes in its new report on the sector for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

What’s driving this? Corporates are setting up or investing in accelerators to solve business problems more quickly, to access new capabilities and channels, to refresh their corporate culture, and to create attractive brands. “There is huge potential and genuine benefit in collaboration, as corporations struggle to innovate,” says Dr Chris Haley (below), executive director of policy and research at Nesta, and co-author of the recent report. “The ability to collaborate speedily and effectively with an organisation that is very different to your own is a real source of competitive advantage.”

HYPERDRIVE AND NISSAN UK

CASE STUDY 1

The more dynamic industry becomes, the greater the premium on collaboration. Sunderland-based Hyperdrive Innovation, which over the

past five years has grown revenues year-on-year by 180%, is currently a customer of, supplier to and collaborator with Nissan UK in the field of battery and energy-storage technologies.

“Collaboration is in our DNA,” says Stephen Irish, commercial managing director of Hyperdrive. The company has recently signed a global supply agreement to incorporate Nissan’s lithium-ion battery cell technology into Hyperdrive’s new universal battery packs; this provides the giant Japanese corporation with a route into new markets. The Nissan-developed, UK-made systems can now be deployed not just in Nissan’s own vehicles but also by other manufacturers, to power everything from street sweepers to excavators.

“Technology evolves quickly in this space so, if you don’t work together, you can’t achieve your goals,” says Irish. “We work with a number of very large corporations and always contribute beyond the normal supplier relationship; we embed ourselves into their

“Effective collaboration is a long game. Some relationships can take years to develop”

customer programmes. We help them from a technical and project management perspective, while maintaining our entrepreneurial drive. We aim to help our customers get the best value, often in ways that they had not anticipated at the start.”

But success can take time. “Effective collaboration is a long game,” says Irish. “Some relationships can take years to develop.”

Innovation isn’t the only area for imaginative collaboration between corporations and SMEs. There is scope for much closer collaboration in the field of training and skills too.

In recent years, BAE Systems has been working closely with companies in its supply chain to build up the smaller companies’ skills base. “It’s absolutely crucial for BAE to have small and medium-sized companies that are strong and resilient for the future,” says Richard Hamer, education director and head of early career programmes at BAE Systems. “For every person we employ, the supply chain employs three. If our supply chain has got problems, we have got problems. If we can help them get the skills they require and successful apprenticeship programmes, it is a mitigation of risk for us.”

One scheme, funded under the old Employer Ownership of Skills project, whereby BAE made available its capacity, resources and expertise to deliver ‘over-training’ for apprentices in companies in its supply chain, was very successful, Hamer says. High levels of course completions, along with positive feedback from employers and apprentices alike, all indicated that it was a successful and productive initiative.

The introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy means that there is currently a hiatus in this form of collaboration. There are restrictions on the use of the first-year funding from the Apprenticeship Levy but thereafter Hamer is hopeful that it will be possible to provide 10% on top that can be focused on the supply chain. “We take on 600 apprentices annually ourselves,” he says. “We need to do the maths and look at the contracting model, and our supply chain would need to be happy with it, but covering 50 or so apprentices could be credible and achievable.”

It is hard to tell just whether these deep levels of collaboration are taking root across corporate Britain. But a couple of things are clear: not everyone is doing it, and the ability to collaborate can be learned and improved. Nesta’s report, Scaling Together, which studies the barriers to corporate-startup collaboration, notes that many firms “have no collaborative programmes

Stephen Irish’s long-term, deep approach to collaboration pays off handsomely for both parties

at all with startups, while others are struggling to implement their own initiatives”.

Attitudes to risk and an institutional fear of opening up to external innovation also play their part. “Our national psyche is wary of sharing,” observes Stephen Irish, commercial managing director of battery-technology firm Hyperdrive Innovation, “and UK companies err on the side of caution.” (He cites German companies as the benchmark for best practice in collaboration.)

Conversely, fast-growing entrepreneurial businesses will experience frustrations and challenges when collaborating with large corporates – the different speed of decision-making, say. As one founder of a fast-growing company – mindful of the protocols surrounding his company’s partnership with a FTSE 100 enterprise – puts it: “There are always trade-offs. There are brand guidelines to observe. You have to run everything past them. You have to be absolutely on note all the time, and you just have to get used to it.”

These are often hard lessons to learn for an entrepreneurial business. “Entrepreneurs have

TUTORA AND PEARSON

CASE STUDY 2

Creating new routes to market is the reason that international education publishing giant Pearson is working with Tutora, a two-year-old

‘edtech’ business in Sheffield co-founded by former teacher Scott Woodley (below).

Tutora’s platform connects students with tutors. Via Tutora, students can select, book, pay and recommend tutors, while tutors can market themselves and have a tool to manage and grow their tuition business.

Pearson UK publishes Tutors’ Guild, a series that provides curriculum-aligned lesson plans and assessment packs to private tutors. Working in collaboration, Tutora helps to develop the content of the Tutors’ Guild packs, getting feedback and input from the 8,000 tutors on its database. Whenever a new pack is published, Tutora tells its tutors. So it provides Pearson with product development and testing, as well as a route to market. The co-branded packs provide huge marketing exposure and a stamp of approval for the still young business.

“It shows that we are not just about providing a great student-tutor matching service, but that we care about this market,” says Woodley.

“Entrepreneurs have to know when to compromise. They need to be teachable, as well as driven”

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Stuart Rock is founding editor of Real Business, the UK’s first magazine for entrepreneurs,

and the ‘Business is Great’ campaign

to know when to compromise,” observes Nesta’s Haley. “They need to be teachable, as well as driven.”

“It’s all about forging good personal relationships and understanding the context,” says Scott Woodley, co-founder of Tutora, an ‘edtech’ business. “You must be very open about what you need. We are learning as we go along.”

However, the growth in corporate accelerators has not slowed in recent years. Nesta estimates that 45 new accelerators were created in 2016 alone. “Judging from the current rate of growth, we are not yet at ‘peak accelerator,’’ says Haley. He predicts that there will be more outside of London and more in highly specific niches – there are already 12 specialist fintech programmes, including the Bank of England’s FinTech Accelerator.

Of course, some of this activity may just be an example of the latest corporate fashion. Some corporate accelerators will be mere me-too exercises, driven by the PR agenda rather than intrinsically linked to the needs of business units. Perhaps big corporations will always underestimate the risk of not innovating ( just ask Xerox). But Brexit provides a powerful business imperative for large British companies to seek out and make the most of working closely with the brightest and best. We must all get better at collaboration.

BAE is putting its might behind the high-speed,

fuel-efficient SABRE engine

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BAE SYSTEMS AND ITS SUPPLY CHAIN

CASE STUDY 3

For a large enterprise, being more open and collaborative requires a cultural shift and new strategic directives, notes Andy Wright, strategic technology

director at BAE Systems. “We had to look at how we could integrate technology and work with others outside our organisation.”

Encompassing around 7,500 SMEs, the style and type of BAE’s partnerships vary widely. At one end, it invested approximately £20m for a 20% stake in Reaction Engines to help the Oxfordshire-based company build its SABRE hypersonic aerospace engine. “It could change the face of air transport,” says Wright, “and there is a significant benefit for BAE Systems. We have been providing technology and management advice, in addition to funding.”

At the other end of the spectrum, BAE is backing CyLon, an incubator for cybersecurity startups. “We want to identify companies whose technology can sit within the overall framework of our systems,” says Wright, “so success here is about creating novel capabilities.”

Wright is also clear that effective collaboration depends on the certainty and security of the relationship. “A lot of what we do is about giving longevity to the relationship with the smaller business,” he says.

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CONSIGLIERE. FIXER. WINGMAN. BEHIND THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE THERE IS OFTEN A WOMAN OR MAN WHO MAKES THE OPERATION TICK. THE ROLE OF CHIEF OF STAFF USED TO BE CONFINED TO POLITICS AND THE MILITARY, BUT NOW IT’S ENTERING THE BUSINESS MAINSTREAM

WORDS Alex Benady

“Don’t emote.” That was the instruction given to the American actor Michael Kelly when he was preparing for his role in acclaimed political thriller House of Cards. Kelly went on to give a bewitching, memorable performance as loyal, brooding presidential chief of staff Doug Stamper.

The chief of staff has long been a fixture in political life. As prime minister Margaret Thatcher once famously remarked: “Everyone needs a Willie” – a reference to her own trusted adviser, enforcer and facilitator, Willie Whitelaw.

It’s taken a couple of decades for the role to start migrating to business. Just 15 years ago, there were hardly any chiefs of staff in commerce. But, today, more and more business leaders have grasped the wisdom of Thatcher’s words and appointed their own fixer. Here’s why.

NINE REASONS

YOU NEED A CHIEF

OF STAFF

Doug Stamper (left), right-hand man to Kevin Spacey’s President Underwood

DAVI

D GI

ESBR

ECHT

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FLIX

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THEY UNSCRAMBLE A NOISY WORLD

2 There are many theories as to why the chief of staff role has exploded. Tanya Khakbaz, head of growth

and product marketing at US digital startup Accompany, suggests it is no coincidence that the role has mushroomed at the same time as digital media. “There’s so much noise in the world – there’s so much information coming at us – that we are overloaded. People are looking for solutions to improve the signal-to-noise ratio,” she says.

Much of the growth is fuelled by the tech sector, partly since it tends to have less hierarchical structures. “Where things are flatter, you need extra glue, extra connectedness,” says Richard Hytner (above), adjunct professor at London Business School and author of the book Consiglieri. Tech firms also tend to be much more aggressive and ambitious than firms in conventional industries, seeking faster growth from the off. Some argue a chief of staff can help them operate more leanly and keenly.

“Chiefs of staff have gained momentum among tech companies large and small as the pace of growth quickens and... efficiency and structure become a necessity among a leadership team,” observed Scott Amenta, chief of staff at mobile-shopping app Spring Inc, in a recent blog.

EVERYONE ELSE HAS ONE, AND SO SHOULD WE

1 While the growth of the role has not been authoritatively documented, you only need to look

at LinkedIn, which lists no fewer than 140,000 chiefs of staff, to see how pervasive the title is becoming. According to research by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, the professional body for the UK recruitment industry, the number of online postings for chief of staff roles grew by 13% in the past year alone.

But the supply of chief of staff jobs is dwarfed by the growing demand. Searches for these roles were up by nearly 30% between the first quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017.

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THEY BRING MILITARY DISCIPLINE

4 One of the intriguing aspects of the role is defining it. A head of marketing or finance would have pretty much the same job description wherever they worked. That is not the case with chiefs of staff. The role, says Ian Beckett, honorary professor in

the School of History at the University of Kent, is essentially about plugging organisational gaps wherever they appear.

“The chief of staff role first appeared in European armies in the 19th century in response to the increasing size and complexity of military organisation and conflict,” he says. “It freed up the commander to think. In the Prussian army, the chief of staff had total authority in the field, whereas the British chief of staff was effectively head of the entire army.”

Moltke the Elder, the Prussian army’s chief of staff, was a brilliant strategist,

and forerunner of those with the

same title in today’s corporate ranks

WHISPER IT – THE JOB TITLE IS GOOD FOR THE EGO

3 So there are powerful organisational reasons for CEOs to employ a chief of staff. But are we

also just rebranding what were once more prosaic admin roles?

Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, thinks so: “The chief of staff role is gaining traction, but what’s really interesting is that the increase in searches for it dwarfs the increase in job ads. At a time when candidates are scarce, this popular job title could work to the advantage of employers, who have to work harder than ever to attract people to fill roles. Thinking creatively about how to attract candidates and meet what people want out of a role is key, whether that’s a step up in title, a better salary package, or opportunities for training and progression.”

Then there is the reflected glory of having a chief of staff, which makes the CEO of even the humblest enterprise feel just a tad more presidential.

GETT

Y IM

AGES

THEY’RE THE ULTIMATE FIXER

5 There are very different ideas about what a chief of staff should be. “I think the role is shaped by the organisation.

You could be a COO, a bag carrier or a fixer,” says Lucy Findlay (left), chief of staff at Crossrail. She describes her brief as, firstly, to support the CEO and chairman, and, secondly, to be the first point of contact between Crossrail and its sponsors (Transport for London and the Department for Transport). She describes her position as a high-level internal comms role, “condensing information across the business and translating the output of an organisation manned by engineers into something ordinary people understand”.

Others might be generalists who step in wherever needed. Sophie Harrison, chief of staff at data-management

startup Panaseer, says her job is to “do everything that isn’t technical”. That includes dealing with accountants, logistics, marketing and the day-to-day running of the office. “At our size, there’s a lot of value in having oversight of different functions. As we grow, I expect to lose a lot of those responsibilities. The role will wither but may come back in different guises as we grow,” she says.

In creative industries such as PR, talent is a company’s major asset. Sarah Robinson, chief of staff at global PR agency Lewis, uses her HR experience to support growth by integrating international acquisitions into the Lewis network. “I look at regional structures to see if people are in the best roles for their skillsets. It’s about the strategic development of the business and looking at the bigger picture,” she says.

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THEY’RE SO USEFUL YOU CAN EVEN DOWNLOAD ONE

9 The idea of having a high-functioning factotum to lighten your load has become so entrenched that now

everybody – not just leaders – wants a chief of staff of their own.

In a sure sign that the chief of staff is a meme whose time has come, Accompany has invested $40m in

developing what’s been described as a chief-of-staff app. Strictly speaking, it’s relationship-management software that automatically collects data, news and images, and provides comprehensive briefing notes for every meeting you put in your diary. But, really, it performs one of the key functions of a chief of staff – it keeps the boss in the loop.

... OR A ROLE FOR THE EXPERIENCED

7 Sarah Robinson (below) takes a different view. She doesn’t see the role as a stepping stone but as the

summation of her career. She says she can only do her job because she has deep experience to draw on, including having run her own business. “This is the best job I’ve ever had. But you have to have gravitas that comes from experience,” she says, “as you need credibility with senior stakeholders.”

For all the different job descriptions, everyone we spoke to agreed on one thing: it’s not enough to be well trained with a wide understanding of business. To succeed as a chief of staff, you need to be a certain type of person. “This is somebody who is a lodestone, who attracts all the muck and dirt. You have to have bags of IQ and enough knowledge of how business works, but you also need emotional intelligence,” says Hytner. Findlay agrees: “You need very strong communication skills as you have to be able to deal with people at all levels, and you have to have good judgement, knowing when to intervene yourself and when to escalate.”

THEY’RE THE CEO’S CONFIDANT

8 Of course, a chief of staff has to be trustworthy. Not only do you have to be utterly reliable and competent, but, like Willie Whitelaw, you have to be able to do it without coveting your boss’s job – in the short term at least. “CEOs have a deep need to be able to trust

someone. That won’t be someone whose next move is CEO,” says Hytner.So, while CEOs may bask in the position of leadership, the chief of staff

needs to be the sort of person who gets their satisfactions privately. “I don’t need the glory of the spotlight, and I don’t like doing the jazz hands but I do enjoy helping and supporting the CEO,” says Robinson. It’s not that people who suit the role aren’t ambitious or capable enough to be top dog. It’s just that they’re less concerned about power and control, and more concerned with getting the job done.

IT’S A PATHWAY FOR TALENT...

6 The role evidently has huge scope and patchy definition. Even so, it is possible to identify the attributes that

make for a good chief of staff. Paula Dowdy (above) is senior VP and general manager EMEA of US biotech giant Illumina, and is currently advertising for a chief of staff. “They’ll have to be a jack of all trades but I want someone with an MBA, industry experience and the ability to work across the gamut of what I need to do as a leader,” she says.

Will such a role be attractive to an ambitious, well-qualified young

heavyweight? Dowdy says that applicants should view it as an opportunity for some intense but extended one-on-one coaching: “It’s an opportunity to work across various business and management roles, in return for which they’ll get a two-year rotation that’s a fast track into getting closer to the business.”

Hytner also thinks the role can be a great stepping stone: “It’s a way of getting the best coaching that money can buy. You shovel dirt for 18 months, at the end of which you are well placed for a much better job.”

FLEET SPECIAL HOT METAL 59

FLEET SPECIAL 2017

WORDS Robin Brown

Emissions possible: what you need to know about diesel

A thought occurred to me recently as I stood at the pumps, filling my car with unleaded. Was it such a good idea to make the diesel pump black? Sure, it’s clearly different from the charming green of unleaded petrol, but black? The colour of coal, oil, dirt...

Maybe it was a subliminal message all along. For all the past decade’s PR around ‘clean diesel’, it’s becoming clear that diesel was a miscalculation on a par with cigarettes and lead soldiers. Diesel fumes are killing us, say scientists; diesel cars are cheating us, say governments.

How did we get here? Here are the eight facts that you need to understand about the diesel saga.

1 WE WERE WRONG TO INCENTIVISE THE MARKET...

In the mid-1990s, my diesel Ford Fiesta chugged like a generator at a music festival and emitted a sinister-looking soot from the exhaust pipe whenever I pushed the accelerator. Diesel smelled, it was expensive, and the engineering and refinement were basic.

Fast-forward 10 years, and diesels had become quiet, incredibly economical and, most importantly, ‘clean’. They neared parity with petrol-engined cars in terms of sales and popularity.

Smitten, the Labour government under Tony Blair intervened to promote sales of diesel. They

CITIES ARE LEGISLATING TO BAN THEM. GOVERNMENTS ARE UNDER PRESSURE TO DISINCENTIVISE THEM. BUT CONSUMERS STILL LAP THEM UP. TIME TO CLEAR THE AIR ABOUT DIESELS

APPS FOR A SATISFYING DRIVE P60, CAR REVIEWS P62, FIVE SAFETY FEATURES YOU NEED P65

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believed that burning the fuel resulted in far lower carbon-dioxide emissions than petrol did – and that new diesel technology was cleaner than earlier iterations, with significantly lower NOx and particulate pollution. Incentivising uptake through variable fuel duty and tax was a no-brainer. With similar schemes being rolled out across Europe, carmakers and buyers, particularly fleet buyers, had a clear reason to move to the black pump.

2 … BECAUSE WE WERE ALL DECEIVED

The problem was that not only had the CO2 advantages of diesel been overstated in real-world conditions – despite diesels using on average 20% less fuel than like-for-like petrol models – but the amount of harmful NOx emissions had been seriously underestimated. Unable to realise both low CO2 and low atmospheric pollutants in diesel-engined vehicles, some in the car industry had simply cheated the system with software designed to fool emissions tests.

3 VOLKSWAGEN WASN’T THE ONLY CULPRIT

Volkswagen has been the whipping boy for ‘dieselgate’; Fiat Chrysler and Renault are currently under investigation. But the drip, drip of revelations suggests that several other global manufacturers might have manipulated emissions data in testing. Even cars from manufacturers not accused of deliberately cheating emissions tests have been discovered to have emissions of nitrogen oxides up to 40 times higher than the regulatory limit and several times the legal limit.

4 THERE’S A RISK OF A HEALTH CRISIS

It’s now feared that NOx emissions are responsible for a growing public health crisis.

The World Health Organization says that diesel emissions can cause lung cancer, and has recently placed them in the same category as asbestos, arsenic and mustard gas in terms of danger to human health.

In response to concerns over NOx emissions, the government has been forced to publish a draft clean-air plan designed to curb emissions and bring down air pollution.

In reality the paper is vague and weak, passing on responsibility to local councils. A diesel scrappage scheme, expected to be the cornerstone of

the policy, is mooted, with proposals suggesting owners of the most polluting petrol and diesel models could receive up to £8,000 to switch to an electric car.

The other main proposal is a large-scale expansion of clean air zones in larger cities, with cars banned from, or their owners fined for, entering such areas. In all likelihood, that would include older vehicles and probably hit diesel cars more than petrol models.

Either of these schemes could be introduced by 2019, but the plans seem vague and non-committal. While the car industry has broadly welcomed elements of these schemes, they will please neither those who bought diesel cars based on incentives and encouragement from the government and carmakers,

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APPS TO SMOOTH YOUR DRIVETRACKING YOUR FLEETManufacturers, insurance and breakdown companies offer lots of their own apps to people managing a big fleet. But there are also free apps, such as MyCarTracks, that follow your fleet, reimburse drivers, optimise journeys and understand how your fleet operates. MyCarTracks is Android-only but there are similar iPhone apps. There’s a free option and more features on paid monthly plans.

ACCIDENT MONITORINGYou’ve had a shunt and, despite the distress of the moment, you need to log the accident, write down details and take photographs of any damage. Several accident-management apps prompt you to do all this. Manufacturers and insurers may have their own, but CrashBook is a good, free option.

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may be in doubt due to advances in petrol technology that have narrowed the cost gap with diesel. Alternatively fuelled vehicles are also becoming genuinely competitive. The chancellor has suggested that the 2017 Autumn Statement will bring a reorganisation of fuel duties that removes the diesel incentive. Some big public and private fleets in the capital have already moved to divest themselves of diesel models.

8 FLEET BUYERS FACE BIG QUESTIONS

The combination of ultra-low-emission zones and greater scrutiny of diesel fumes in relation to public health will lead fleet buyers to consider diversification. Indeed, for any vehicles doing fewer than 15,000 miles a year, the cost benefits are becoming debatable anyway. Given the current climate, it would be a brave buyer who bets on resale values for a diesel model in 2020.

Recent precedents from the rest of the industry bear some scrutiny: the 2017 ExpertEye Fleet Industry Review survey of 200 fleet operators suggests more fleets are putting petrol back on their lists, along with more hybrids and electric vehicles, which is unsurprising given the current landscape and the chancellor’s Spring Budget move to incentivise ultra-low-emission vehicles.

The overall picture suggests many respondents expect to reduce diesel purchases over the next two years. With strong alternatives and the outlook for diesel looking hazier than a smoggy day in London, that feels like a sensible response. Fleets would be wise to avoid the mistake that European governments made 20 years ago of putting all their eggs in one basket.

nor those who believe air quality is a developing public health emergency.

5 CITIES ARE LEADING THE ANTI-DIESEL FIGHT

While national governments fret about the impact on their native car industries, city and regional mayors show no such meekness in imposing stiff levies on diesel-engined vehicles to drive down emissions.

A number of cities are working to outlaw diesel vehicles as early as 2025; London will introduce an Ultra Low Emission Zone by 2020 that will force cars with poor emissions standards to pay a charge to access the centre of the capital. Realistically, that will hit many more diesel models than petrol. With 75,000 premature deaths per year attributed to diesel fumes across the continent (almost 10,000 in London alone), many European cities are likely to follow suit.

6 DESPITE CONCERNS, SALES ARE UP

Understandably, there’s much anger among people who were incentivised to turn their backs on petrol. Through fuel duty breaks and apparent advantages in fuel economy, the fleet sector has been a significant driver of diesel sales across Europe, where up to three-quarters of the world’s diesel cars are sold and where sales still outpace those of petrol models. In 2016, a record 1.3 million new diesel cars were registered in the UK; in March 2017, 250,000 left the showrooms.

7 IN THE LONG TERM, PETROL TECHNOLOGY MAY WIN

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association believes the future of diesel

APPS TO SMOOTH YOUR DRIVEREAL-TIME TRAFFICWaze’s millions of users send back constant, real-time updates when driving, which means the app can build a complex, live picture of congestion. This people-powered app is free, offers voice guidance, learns your favoured routes and can even send ETAs to your contacts.

PREDICTIVE PARKINGWe now take navigation for granted, but even your satnav can’t help with finding a parking space. Enter free apps such as Parkopedia. With 40 million parking spots logged, you can find a spot by location or chosen destination, see availability in real time and get directions to your parking place. Advice on timings, capacity, charges and more is included.

Given the current climate, it would be a brave buyer

who bets on resale values for a diesel

model in 2020

Fiat TipoSECTOR: HATCHBACKPRICE: £13,485–£19,485FUEL: 45–76MPGCO 2: 98–147G/KMFiat has returned to the traditional family car segment with the Tipo. It’s a spacious and affordable small car based on the same platform as the Fiat 500L, Vauxhall Corsa and Alfa Romeo MiTo. This makes sense for the Italian carmaker: with existing underpinnings, Fiat needed only to rebrand the car to have a new model for the family and budget fleet sectors.

The Tipo has an obvious fleet powertrain option in the 120bhp, 1.6-litre MultiJet diesel, which returns an improved notional 83.1mpg, emits 89g/km and retails at £17,330. The Tipo’s

specific Elite fleet trim boasts satnav, a safety pack that includes an auto emergency brake, and adaptive cruise control – a favoured gadget of mine for long motorway trips. There’s also an estate version with a 550-litre boot.

It’s a refined car that’s good for motorways and chugging around town, but it’s not really set up for more spirited driving. Still, there’s plenty of space and bang for your buck – particularly among the entry-level petrol models, where prices are very competitive.

Fleet of fancyONE FLEET STALWART GOES UP AGAINST TWO MORE UNCONVENTIONAL OPTIONS, WITH MUCH TO RECOMMEND THEM ALL

Mazda CX-5SECTOR: CROSSOVERPRICE: £23,495–£31,295FUEL: 47–61MPGCO 2: 119–144G/KM

It’s not easy to stand out in a packed ‘me too’ market, but Mazda seems to manage it. Even if its cars aren’t to everyone’s taste, they’re instantly recognisable and generally handle better than most rivals. In the mid-market pack, that’s not easy.

The CX-5 is an all-new, rethought, mid-size crossover SUV that will face

off against the Nissan Qashqai. The only engines to consider are 148bhp and 173bhp variants of a SkyActiv 2.2-litre diesel unit. The former manages 280lb-ft of low-down torque, which makes it driveable around town and swift while overtaking. It offers a combined 61.4mpg and low CO2 emissions of 119g/km. For a car of its size, these are attractive numbers.

The CX-5 offers sharp design, strong refinement and excellent driving manners – it’s a car for business users who want something a little more dynamic. No car can offer everything, but the Mazda SUV has a damn good crack at it. Only the lack of interior space (relatively speaking) and a seven-seat option might prove disappointing.

Hyundai i30SECTOR: HATCHBACKPRICE: £16,995–£24,885FUEL: 51–74MPGCO 2: 99–125G/KM

Hyundai makes reassuringly dull cars that are competitive on price and specification. Since the advent of the i30 10 years ago, the Korean manufacturer has made steady strides. Its cars don’t set pulses racing, but they’ve got better and better.

The i30 is now in its third iteration, and half will go to fleet buyers – a good indication of a car that’s hitting the right notes. It is available with CO2 emissions from 99g/km and fuel economy as high as 74mpg from a 109bhp, 1.6-litre diesel engine. That should set business-user senses tingling.

There’s also a three-cylinder, 188bhp, turbocharged, 1.0-litre petrol engine that offers mileage of 56.5mpg and carbon emissions of 115g/km. For more power and torque, consider a new 140bhp, 1.4-litre, turbo petrol engine, returning 52.3mpg and 124g/km on the manual version. An automatic is available, too. It’s to Hyundai’s credit that all the engines make sense from a fleet perspective in terms of running costs, refinement and motorway performance.

The SE Nav is the fleet option, with an integrated satnav that includes five years of mapping updates, alongside DAB and Bluetooth, alloy wheels and a rear camera. It adds up to a strong proposition. In a rapidly changing world, it’s reassuring that Hyundai remains steadfastly Hyundai.

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This year marks the 20th anniversary of Euro NCAP, the continent-wide programme that’s driven a quantum leap in car safety. Despite the industry’s initial opposition, Euro NCAP has been a huge success. Britain was a founding member – there are now 12 countries in the programme – and deaths on UK roads have halved over the past two decades.

The results from the first tests were grisly: cars were simply not able to protect occupants in relatively low-speed crashes – grimly captivating videos on YouTube show the horrendous damage that can be wrought on cars still on our roads. By testing every new car with a battery of procedures, Euro NCAP has ensured car safety is now seen as a strong selling point by manufacturers.

Safety is a major consideration for fleet managers, user-choosers and private buyers too. Buying a new car with a 5-star Euro NCAP rating is the best way to ensure you have the safest vehicle.

Although the UK is leaving the EU, the safety programme will remain in place, meaning one less headache for the Brexit negotiating team.

Here are just five safety aids that we take for granted but that save hundreds of lives every day across Europe.

1 STABILITY CONTROLIn 1997, stability control was

rare indeed. As of 2014, it has been compulsory on all cars sold in Britain, and it’s thought that vehicles equipped with the active safety aid are 25% less likely to be involved in a fatal accident. Stability control works by sensing when a driver is losing control of the car and braking individual wheels to prevent an accident.

2 CURTAIN AIRBAGSIn 1997, many cars were equipped

with just one airbag, and it was often inadequate to protect the driver. Today, new cars come stuffed with airbags all around the car, with curtain airbags to protect against the window, individual front airbags for passengers, dual-stage devices to prevent injury from the airbag violently deploying at low speed, and even knee airbags for the driver. As a result, it’s become possible to walk away from a motorway-speed crash.

3 PEDESTRIAN SAFETY ADVANCESFor years, manufacturers neglected

this aspect of testing, but the rejigging of ratings in 2009 led to rapid improvements. By 2015, to receive

the maximum 5-star safety rating, any new car had to be fitted with an automatic emergency braking system that could detect and avoid pedestrians and vehicles. The benefit to companies that operate fleets should be evident.

4 AUTO EMERGENCY BRAKINGBy the start of this decade, car

manufacturers were introducing technology not just to mitigate the effects of crashes but to avoid them altogether. Today, most new cars are able to predict and prevent a collision in a variety of road conditions. It’s this raft of safety kit that has led Volvo to state that no-one will be killed or seriously injured by one of its new cars by 2020.

5 BLIND-SPOT AWARENESSEven the best drivers can be

blindsided on a motorway, especially by cars undertaking or travelling at unsafe speeds. Blind-spot monitoring systems may be among the simpler advances in car safety technology but they’re incredibly useful if you spend a lot of time on motorways driving at high speeds, especially as many modern cars have poor rear visibility.

Safe from harmFIVE SAFETY FEATURES YOU NEED IN YOUR NEW CAR

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TAKE CMI’S 2017 READER SURVEY AND WIN £150 IN AMAZON VOUCHERS

MANAGERS.ORG.UK/READERSURVEY

FIRST-HAND INSIGHT MASTERCLASS 67

HOW I’VE CHANGED P68, EVENTS P69, BOOKS P70, TIPS FOR NEW MANAGERS P72

masterclassTHE BEST MANAGEMENT INSIGHT

CONTRIBUTORS Stephanie Russell, Theresa Simpkin, Gillian Wilmot, Svend Brinkmann

StephanieRussell andTheresaSimpkinon whetherwomen need‘fixing’…A lack of women in leadership roles has variously been attributed to an inherent lack of confidence, an inability to display traditional managerial or leadership competencies, and a simple failure to aspire to senior roles.

Women aren’t making it to the C-suite because they’re wrongly

expected to conform to male stereotypes,

says Theresa Simpkin

68 MASTERCLASS FIRST-HAND INSIGHT

The assumption is that, if we could just fix the women and have them better display competencies and behaviours associated with a traditional managerial profile, organisations would be flooded with women rushing into the boardrooms and C-suites. Books such as Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In also suggest ways that women can better play the organisational game for their own gain.

But this argument fails to recognise that the rules of the game are biased and dysfunctional. While organisations strive to become more agile, diverse and inclusive, the inherent mechanisms of bureaucracy and organisational control deliver the opposite result. Our organisations maintain a veneer of modernity but, in truth, fundamental internal management structures have changed little since the post-industrial era. They are implicitly gendered because of it.

Sadly, the inherent barriers in organisations continue to negate the performance of women as women in managerial and leadership roles. Instead, women are expected to display characteristics more associated with a masculine managerial persona. Here are three examples.

First, performance management. Performance-measurement tools expect women to subscribe to a socially constructed, Western, masculine, probably middle-class behavioural approach. This, in turn, puts the onus on the woman to fit in, at the expense of a sense of authenticity and personal style. The premise is that women either change their style to fit a traditional management expectation or they fail to make it as a manager. It’s a classic double bind.

Second, promotion and advancement. Organisations are breeding grounds for implicit knowledge about how to succeed; many of these rules exclude women and minority groups. They pressurise people to perform

to a traditional organisational stereotype of progression and advancement. Such rituals define a set of behaviours such as a drinking culture, presenteeism and rampant competitiveness. These practices not only exclude women, but also others who may prefer not to conform to expectations that have no real connection to their role or work.

Third, board representation. Why women are lacking on boards and in the C-suite is the subject of ongoing conjecture. The narrower career trajectories often available to women limit the breadth of experience and evidence that a woman might bring to the traditional notion of a board member. Fundamentally, there is a disconnect between what is afforded women by way of organisational experience and what is traditionally expected of individuals seeking executive appointments. For example, women who have deep experience in HR but not across other operational areas are thought of as less competent than someone who may have more rounded experience. However, many management competencies are generic. In short, board or C-suite appointments should not be about expansive ‘wish lists’ but representative of an innovative, diverse set of opinions and views.

The fundamental assumption here is that women who do not endeavour or manage to ‘fix themselves’ have their competence challenged or diminished, as their talents are perceived differently to those of the prevailing managerial stereotype. It then becomes their problem that they are not promoted or advanced. Simply put, women who do not exhibit the gender-bound characteristics implicit in organisational bureaucracies are unlikely to climb the corporate ladder.

And we’re all worse off for it.

HOW I’VE CHANGED:

Gillian WilmotI started my career in retail, which is a very demanding leadership environment – speed of thought and action is essential. There’s a premium on making things happen fast.

My epiphany came in 2008 when, in transitioning from being a CEO into mentoring and chairman roles, I learned that leadership is an art that requires much more than just making things happen.

Now I adopt a wider perspective, to better understand the different lenses people use to come to their viewpoints, and to take a more holistic approach to decision-making alongside CEOs and colleagues.

It’s not simply about showing a clear vision, mission and purpose. Effective leadership needs to focus on shared values and beliefs. Understanding and discussing these provide the bedrock of decisive action at all levels within an organisation, helping to more easily resolve conflicting positions.

I have learned to listen carefully, gather feedback from all directions, analyse individual behavioural traits and habits, help to build a more strategic picture, and challenge leaders to refocus and push themselves further.

The privilege lies not just in chairing the board but in setting its tone, empowering decision-making and propelling the CEO to greater success.

Gillian Wilmot CCMI is a CMI Companion, chair of UK Coaching and founder of Board Mentoring: www.boardmentoring.com

Dr Theresa Simpkin is head of the leadership and management department at Anglia Ruskin University: theresa.simpkin@anglia.ac.uk Dr Stephanie Russell is acting head of the human resource management and organisational behaviour department at Anglia Ruskin University: stephanie.russell@anglia.ac.uk

Women As Role Models

12SEPTEMBER

A seminar looking at how to progress professionally, whether that’s by gaining a management qualification and professional recognition through Chartered Manager status or addressing some of the constraining edges of the ‘glass box’, such as gender, ethnicity or age.1.30pm–7pm CMI, 77 Kingsway, London WC2B 6SR

The Crystal Lecture

26OCTOBER

An opportunity to hear from influential role models and influencers. Attendees will be able to explore how these leaders have championed themselves and succeeded in their chosen careers (some in male-dominated environments). Presentations will be followed by a panel discussion. Speakers include:• Kathryn Jacob OBE, CEO, Pearl & Dean;• Sally Clark, chief internal auditor, Barclays; and• Timothy Wade, director of student services,

University of London.6.00pm–8.45pmCMI, 77 Kingsway, London WC2B 6SR

Join us for the 24th annual Crystal Lecture, in association with the University of Wolverhampton.6pm–8.30pmUniversity of Wolverhampton Business School,Molineux Street,WolverhamptonWV1 1SG

CMI Scotland 2017

25OCTOBER

FEEL INSPIRED

FOR ALL CMI EVENTS, GO ONLINE TO MANAGERS.ORG.UK/EVENTS

CMI EVENTS

Alison McGregor, Jennifer Thomas and Neil Pickering

Professional Development Mini-Conference

5OCTOBER

This year’s conference is all about the art and practice of management. Speakers include: Alison McGregor, CEO of HSBC Scotland; Neil Pickering, vice president assurance at Wood Group; Jennifer Thomas, head of internal communications and experience at Direct Line Group; and Jacqui Low, director at Partick Thistle Football Club.9am–5pmAssembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2LR

Timothy Wade and Kathryn Jacob

70 MASTERCLASS BOOK REVIEWS

Brandfather: the Man Who Invented BrandingJohn MurphyThe Book Guild£11.99HHHHH

John Murphy founded Interbrand in London, in 1974. The company started as a name-creation business, dealing with international projects. Eventually, he realised it was not just about words but ‘brands’. When helping the victim of a hostile takeover, Murphy pioneered the idea of ‘brand valuation’.

To say fortune smiled on Murphy several times would be to oversimplify things. He described his business life as going from one disaster to another, with odd successes in between. He was naive at first, but learned from his experiences. Murphy made his luck by doing things properly, keeping his wits about him and reading the runes well.

I enjoyed his sense of humour enormously. Like him, I don’t understand how auditors are able to offer non-audit services to clients, nor the fact that firms are not required by law to change auditors after a set number of years. The author is clearly creative, hard-working and great company. Required reading.ANN KELLY

The Talent Delusion: Why Data, Not Intuition, Is the Key to Unlocking Human PotentialTomas Chamorro-Premuzic Piatkus £12.99 HHHH

CEOs routinely say their employees are their most important asset but, in the main, are content to wing it when it comes to selecting, developing and managing their principal business resource.

In a deeply researched book, the author explains why this is, and shows that better approaches are to hand.

The book starts by defining talent and how to assess it. Gaining an understanding of how talent relates to job performance is the first step in appointing individuals with high potential for success. Next, the question arises of how to engage talented individuals so that their abilities are combined with effort to produce a sparkling performance.

The book concludes with a review of the future of talent, which is changing due to the sense of entitlement among upcoming generations.

This a notable, thoughtful work about a subject that no senior manager should ignore.ANDREW MAY

BULL***T, RACISM AND TURNAROUNDS: WHAT’S HOT ONLINE

A few evergreen articles (on business failure, change management and employee engagement) tend to dominate on CMI’s Insights blog.

But, this past quarter, a new contender emerged. Professor Adrian Furnham’s ‘How to spot bull***t: a guide for managers’ roared in at number one. He argues that, as a manager, it is vitally important to be able to spot claptrap: “Whether it’s someone exaggerating their prowess in an interview or a potential trading partner over-egging the benefits of a deal, bulls***t can have dire consequences when left undetected.”

Jermaine Haughton’s ‘4 signs that racism may be an issue in your workplace’ continues to draw traffic. Stereotyping, over-criticism, hostility and overlooking people are the four main signs of workplace racism. Quoting the author IQ Mtungwa, Haughton observes that it’s often hard to pinpoint: “The treatment is such that they are constantly reminded that they are black, among a white crowd… you just pick up ‘the vibe’.”

Matt Scott’s ‘Inside a turnaround: the Direct Line story’ also scored big. Here’s one great quote from CEO Paul Geddes: “You can’t have a business on a war footing all the time... but it does overcome some of these obstacles to change – complacency [and the sense that] everything is fine.”

managers.org.uk/insights

TRENDING

Motivation and Performance: a Guide to Motivating a Diverse WorkforceAdrian Furnham and Ian MacRaeKogan Page£19.99HHHH

A well-motivated workforce is often the key to success for any enterprise. So being able to motivate and enthuse employees is the holy grail for any manager.

This book provides a clear and concise guide on how to do so. The authors acknowledge that not everyone is motivated by the same issues, and provide guidance on the application of the standard theories in the workplace. They outline how stereotyping can lead to inappropriate, counter - productive motivational interventions. Of particular importance is the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors: true motivation comes from within; management must tap directly into what is important to the individual.

The book is written for HR professionals but its value goes far beyond: any manager seeking to improve their departmental performance will find useful information and ideas in this work. DAVID STEPHENS

Enter a book for the 2018 CMI Management Book of the Year awards at yearbook.managers.org.uk

BOOK EXTRACT MASTERCLASS 7170 MASTERCLASS BOOK REVIEWS

THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD lauds certainty as never before. Certainty is good – doubt is bad. The paradox is, of course, that of worshipping certainty while claiming everything constantly needs to develop and change. Maybe we worship certainty precisely because of the lack of it in our non-stop modern world?

From primary school to university, we learn to ‘know’. But we also need to learn to doubt. We need to learn to hesitate. We need to learn to reconsider.

If you are not in doubt, try thinking whether you should be. The point is not that you should always say no, or always be in doubt, but that, if you are, then it is an entirely legitimate state to be in.

Virtually all political outrages are committed by high-powered males, confident that they know the truth. ‘We know there are weapons of mass destruction!’; ‘We know Jews are inferior!’; ‘We know that the dictatorship of the proletariat is a necessity!’ When it comes to the important issues in politics, ethics and the art of living, it is human in itself to be hesitant and have doubts. This is actually worth standing firm on in a risk society, where the answers – and even sometimes the problems – are unknown.

Ideally, workplaces should have hat racks with equal numbers of both No and Yes hats. By that, I mean that it should be just as legitimate to point out why something won’t work as to meekly

acquiesce. Initiatives are regularly pushed ahead in the name of progress, often leading to a considerable waste of time and effort. Once you have finally upskilled to cope with the new systems and routines, restructuring comes along (again!). To allow the dust to settle, it should be standard organisational practice to reject a certain number of initiatives every month. Managers shouldn’t just get all excited and present staff with ‘new visions’ to be given the nod. They should also pose the question: what unnecessary stuff can we cut out?

There are things to which it actually makes sense to say no. It makes sense to say no to other projects until you’ve met all your prior commitments – no matter how exciting a new one might sound. It may be difficult because you don’t want to miss out. I recommend that you turn down at least five things every day. This is perhaps a bit steep, especially if the Yes hat has been wielded in place for a long, long time. So try saying no to something you’ve long thought barking

The answer is ‘no’ Why negativity, doubt and hesitation are the signs of a leader with integrityWORDS Svend Brinkmann

or unnecessary but kept doing anyway. For example, lots of workplaces insist on seemingly interminable meetings, which many of us fear – and with good cause. Try saying no to a meeting, and explain that you want to get on with your work. Say no with a smile.

If regularly saying no proves too much, try deploying doubt and hesitation to ensure that reflection and reconsideration are incorporated into your daily practice. Instead of immediately saying yes, try saying: ‘I’ll have to think about that.’

Saying ‘I don’t want to do that’ conveys strength and integrity. Only robots always say yes. There is good reason to stand firm and resist the coercive positivity that permeates modern society and tries to convince you that negativity is undesirable and dangerous.

This is an edited extract from Stand Firm: Resisting the Self-improvement Craze by Svend Brinkmann (Polity, 2017)

SVEND’S SEVEN: HOW TO SURVIVEIN AN ACCELERATING CULTURE

1. Cut out the navel-gazing2. Focus on the negative in your life3. Put on the No hat4. Suppress your feelings5. Sack your coach6. Read a novel – not a self-help book or biography7. Dwell on the past

Less certainty and positivity can only be a good thing, argues Svend Brinkmann

72 MASTERCLASS TIPS FOR NEW MANAGERS

DAN WAGNER IS an uber-successful entrepreneur who’s made millions from a string of technology ventures, but he didn’t make a great impression on his first major business outing.

Just before he took his first company, MAID, public on the stockmarket, Wagner turned up for a photo shoot dressed in an extravagant Donald Duck waistcoat. The analysts were appalled, and it’s said that the young chief executive’s behaviour knocked one-tenth off the company’s share price.

As a new boss, you should think hard about how to make the right first impression. You only have a short window in which to convey who you are, what you stand for, what you’ll tolerate and what standards you expect. If you strike the right notes in that crucial first period, you could foster a sense of shared values that’ll endure the inevitable rocky patches.

New leaders arrive in many different circumstances: some will be internal promotions; others will come from outside the organisation. For some, this will be their first foray into line management; others will have had experience and may wish to impose their own style. Others will want to observe the team’s dynamics and personalities before they begin to stamp their mark.

Whether you like it or not, your new team will be analysing your every word, assessing your attitude, and hunting for clues even in your throwaway remarks. It is absolutely essential that you get this early communication right; otherwise you may never be able to retrieve the situation.

David Dumeresque, a partner at executive search firm Tyzack, says that a new leader needs to take time to understand the organisation. This can happen before they even take up the role.

“They need to understand what makes the organisation tick and how to bring together disparate parts to make a strong whole,” he says.

Too often, however, managers use methods and modes of behaviour that have been successful previously, imposing them on their new organisation, warns Dumeresque, who has written about the challenges facing new leaders on CMI Insights (managers.org.uk/insights). “Experienced leaders know that, in order to succeed, they need to draw on the successes of the past but adjust them for the new environment.”

Kelly Odell, author of The Human Way: The Ten Commandments for (Im)Perfect Leaders, says there’s a tendency for incoming managers to believe that they’ve suddenly acquired

superhuman powers. Those around them can encourage power to go to their heads. “Where once they would have been greeted with lukewarm enthusiasm at best, now your ideas are good, even brilliant,” she says. Overconfidence can quickly become an issue.

“As a manager and leader, you must remind yourself frequently that you are exactly the same as everyone else, neither better nor worse,” says Odell.

How to succeed as a new manager is a popular query at CMI’s ManagementDirect, and one of the best resources is The New Manager’s Handbook: 24 Lessons for Mastering Your New Role. Here are a few choice extracts about how to get those early communications right.

Time to listen (and talk)Taking up a management position for the first time is a whole new ball game. The expectations are heightened – all eyes are on you. Above all, you’ll need to get the communication right WORDS Matthew Rock

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72 MASTERCLASS TIPS FOR NEW MANAGERS TIPS FOR NEW MANAGERS MASTERCLASS 73

The best managers don’t say much, says the author, Morey Stettner. “Silence enhances your power. By keeping quiet, listening well, and expressing your points in the fewest words possible, you gain a persuasive edge. Your employees will know that every word counts – and they’ll give you their undivided attention as a result.”

Unfortunately, too many new managers nervously babble out words, instructions and orders. As a result, your team may miss the important bit in what you said or, just as bad, become bored.

This advice, to “muzzle your mouth”, is also helpful when you’re posing a question or when things get fraught. As Stettner puts it, don’t rush to

answer your own question and, “when someone’s angry or agitated and needs to blow off steam, keep quiet”.

Finally, speak with power and purpose. You have earned this new position, so don’t throw it away with a wishy-washy manner. “Even if you’re bashful or self-effacing, speak in bold, unambiguous terms,” advises Stettner. “Don’t drop subtle hints when the situation calls for you to speak up and be specific.”

TOP PRIORITIES

The New Manager’s Handbook highlights the priorities for new managers:

1. Give feedback2. Make the best

of bad news3. Delegate4. Pick the brains of

departing workers5. Review performance

regularly6. Decide and deliver7. Exert “praise

motivation”8. Plan your meetings9. Listen more10. Think strategically11. Build alliances12. Get feedback13. Give great

instructions14. Speak with power15. Win over cynics16. Prepare for change17. Muzzle your mouth18. Pose penetrating

questions19. Lift poor

and mediocre performers

20. Regale your audience

21. Criticise without criticism

22. Beat the clock23. Impress your boss

For much more on how to be a successful new manager, check out: ManagementDirect at managers.org.uk; The New Manager’s Handbook, by Morey Stettner (McGraw-Hill Education, 2002); and The Human Way, by Kelly Odell (LID Publishing, 2016)

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Take, take, takeTHE IMPERATIVE OF FINANCE IS TO FIND LOW-COST WAYS TO APPROPRIATE EXISTING VALUE, RATHER THAN CREATE NEW

WORDS Simon Caulkin

For the first time in nearly half a century, the US is flirting with industrial policy. President Trump is, of course, a law unto himself. But, taken with Theresa May’s similar conversion, this is perhaps the most striking sign yet that, even in the Anglosphere, the long run of the neo-liberal, leave-it-to-the-market financial order has hit the political buffers.

It’s impossible to know how far, or in what direction, Trump and May might take economic intervention. But there’s plenty to go for in economies that over the past 40 years have been so corrupted that, in slavish pursuit of abstract numbers (GDP, profits, share prices and league tables), both the business and political classes have forgotten the realities those numbers represent in Pittsburgh and Sheffield, as opposed to Davos. Trump and Brexit (and Le Pen and Wilders) remind us that an economy that doesn’t provide jobs, wages and basic welfare for local, as opposed to global, citizens will blow up in the latter’s face.

The irony is that Trump and May’s remedies are unlikely to do much for angry voters, attacking symptoms, rather than causes. It’s not just industry that’s sick – the economy as a whole is eating itself from within. As Rana Foroohar puts it in Makers and Takers, the business of business, especially but not exclusively in the US and UK, is no longer business – it’s finance. That’s true not just of banks: non-financials make five times more money from financial operations than 50 years ago, according to Foroohar. Beginning in the 1980s, this shift in economic priorities – demand side to supply side, managed economy to laissez-faire, retain and

reinvest to downsize and distribute in corporate capital allocation – has had consequences for our economies that only now are becoming clear.

Foroohar subtitles her book The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business. The two are indeed linked. Where once the function of finance was to grease the wheels of the real economy, now the positions are reversed. The economy is no longer an exercise in cooperation but a tug of war – a “zero-sum game between financial wealth-holders and the rest of the American economy”, as one ex-Goldman Sachs executive told the author.

The same is true at the level of the firm. It used to be that, when companies prospered, ordinary citizens did too.

That link is broken. The terrible truth is that companies driven by shareholder value are as much ‘takers’ as banks, prospering at the expense of ordinary citizens. They create jobs only as a last resort, and mostly at the lowest wage rates. Their innovation takes the form of finding low-cost ways to appropriate existing value, rather than creating new. The emblematic company of the age is Uber, a firm that chews up well-paid, regular jobs and spits them out as gigs.

It’s worth emphasising that Foroohar, an ex-editor at Time and now columnist with the Financial Times, is no wild-haired Marxist, but part of the mainstream media. Her book is the best account yet of how finance has infiltrated every cranny of economic life, correlating closely with “the growth of inequality, the fall in new businesses, wage stagnation and political dysfunction”, not to mention financial failures that have become far more frequent and damaging than ever. The last one wiped out $16tn in household assets.

So, yes, there’s quite a lot on Trump and May’s industrial policy ‘to-do’ list. A non-exhaustive agenda would include deleveraging finance and breaking up the banks, striking down shareholder primacy and building a growth model that really does empower the makers. Above all, to avert much worse political shocks, we need to restate clearly who and what companies and the economy are for. “Free enterprise can’t be justified because it is good for business,” Peter Drucker said once. “It can only be justified as being good for society.” He was right.

Simon tweets @nikluac

Uber chews up well-paid, regular jobs and spits out gigs