Leadership and Management

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3 Critical Interpersonal Skills Of Successful Leaders

By Christina Lattimer • July 18, 2013 - 1:06 pm Miscellaneous

The effectiveness or not of some leaders Interpersonal skills often seem to be intrinsically linked to their personality or character.

I often wonder if it’s because people think these skills are an unchangeable character trait that they aren’t given the priority they should in organisations. A question I see again and again is: Are soft skills really hard skills?

Less than effective personality, or character traits, of leaders, can be viewed as an irrevocable package deal, where changing is difficult, if not impossible, if the belief is that the leader was born with them and cannot be helped.

Less than effective traits, are particularly damaging when they affect the leader or manager’s interpersonal skills. If an alien was coming from outer space, surely they would ask us why we put leaders and managers in positions of leading people when they don’t have well-honed interpersonal skills.

Seems mad doesn’t it? But it is exactly what we do in many cases. Sometimes it’s because the leader was good at their specialism, or it’s because there’s been a re-organisation and there was nowhere else to go; or perhaps they’ve been in the position for a long time and it’s easier to do nothing, because of the old chestnut “that’s how we do things around here”.

It’s not an ideal world and sometimes people are appointed into roles other than for the only reason they should be there, which is because they have all of the skills needed to do the job and therefore are able to make a difference. Recruiting or maintaining roles where leaders or managers don’t have the right interpersonal skills isn’t inherently wrong. Doing nothing about it though is simply neglectful.

In Research reported by John Tierney in the New York Times in January, it was shown that generally people don’t believe they will change. Apparently, much of this belief is adopted because of either a lack of vision of what the future might hold, or from an over-optimistic self-concept that they are the best they are right now.

If your organisation has leaders who have character traits which limit their effectiveness, credibility or relationships at work, then perhaps the road less travelled, that soft (hard) skills route, is what is needed.

In my own journey from junior manager many years ago, I have changed so much its scary. I look back at those early days and it’s hard to believe it’s the same life. What I did learn on the way though is that interpersonal skills can and should be developed and prioritised in any organisation.

The most significant changes came for me when I learned and was able to use the following three interpersonal skills. These were hard lessons for me, and one’s which I had to learn because frankly my default position simply didn’t get the results I wanted, which was a happy, motivated and inspired team.

Anticipating How People Might Feel.

I see it all around me, and I still am guilty of lacking in this particular interpersonal skill sometimes. Awareness is no guarantee of change, you have to practice hard to change long formed habits.

As leaders, we can be so busy getting things done, as people; we get so caught up in our own story that we forget the impact we are having on others, as parents, we are so busy protecting our children, we forget we can inadvertently invoke feelings of “wrongness”. When we feel justified communicating with a lack of concern for others who are on the receiving end of what we say, we have lost this skill, when we react with anger to someone who has said something in all innocence, we have lost this skill. When we are fearful, impatient, annoyed, or just being thoughtless, we can communicate in a way which dishonours others.

Although some of the characteristics of what we commonly call empathy are in play here, empathy tends to be responsive to others and how they feel already. This interpersonal skill is about our impact on others.

Owning Your Own Truth

We make all sorts of stories and assumptions in our minds about what we see out there. I remember a manager in my team, when describing a woman who was borderline in terms of her performance, said she was lazy. I asked him how he had come to that conclusion and he told me it was because she didn’t put as much effort in as others. Well factually that might have been true, but it didn’t necessarily follow that the employee was lazy. Recently, a teacher who didn’t know my son’s background concluded he was lazy because he hadn’t done the work he needed to do in a particular subject, she had drawn her own conclusion about him because she hadn’t actually asked him what the problem was.

If the employee doesn’t come into work, is unhappy, doesn’t work hard enough, works 24/7 or always volunteers. We make judgments about them. “They don’t care”, “aren’t engaged”, or they are our “life-savers”, or “paragons of virtue”.

The truth is, and the truth we need to own, is we are gathering information constantly, and when we interpret the information it becomes our next instalment.

Owning your truth starts with saying. “I can see that this is/isn’t being done. Why is that?” or “I feel really angry, and I need to understand why I can’t deal with this poor performance in an emotionally free, assertive way”.

Seeing through Multi-faceted Perceptions

Everyone sees things differently. Even when you think you have reached the most watertight and consensual decision, there will be somewhere a slight difference in perception.

Developing the skills to see things from many different perspectives can be powerful and effective. In order to do this easily, an understanding of personality types and the characteristics of each type is useful. Once you get good at this, the first two interpersonal skills mentioned above become clearer and difficult to avoid.

The truth is, we never know what anyone else is thinking, their reasons for doing (or not doing) anything, what their preferences are, or why we might not agree. All we can do is try to see a situation from as many perspectives as possible. Of course De Bono’s “6 thinking hats” is a version of this although often the concept can be confined to the boardroom, when the skill is useful in most situations.

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Christina has managed people for twenty seven years and led hugely successful teams. She has worked with people at all levels in various organisations to help them achieve their potential, and she has been actively involved in the learning and development field in a number of different roles.People Discovery is a Leadership Development coaching consultancy, based in North East England, working globally. The MILE Community is a networking, sharing and business directory for people who know “there must be a better way”By Christina LattimerFollow us on

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6 Practical Ways Managers Can Motivate Their Team

By Christina Lattimer • July 11, 2013 - 9:20 am Miscellaneous

6 Practical Ways Managers Can Motivate Their Team

As a young and inexperienced manager, one of my earliest recollections was a challenge by an equally young and inexperienced member of staff. He was popular and influential and he decided that he was going to make life as difficult as he could for me.With little support from anyone experienced, I pondered my options, and worried that day by day my effectiveness as a manager was being diminished by what felt like, his sabotage. One day my dithering was over when after taking an overly extended and extremely inconvenient lunch break he swanned back into office and when I asked to have a quick word, he swore at me in front of the team.

It was a defining moment for me on a number of fronts, the most vital being the consequences of putting off taking decisive action on a team members behaviour well before it reached critical point. Secondly the subsequent events determined a path I was to tread and refine over the years.

What happened in that moment was I realised I wasn’t going to get anywhere if I didn’t harness the commitment and respect of my team. Nor would they work well unless I demanded and expected the best of who they were.

Once we got over the formality of the strong warning he received, I decided to be wholly frank and I explained the effect his behaviour was having, and at the same time I also expressed my disappointment that he was selling himself short. I managed to get him to talk about his future and what he wanted and most importantly painted a vivid picture of where his behaviour was headed and asked him if that was what he wanted. Of course he didn’t. His behaviour changed from that day, and we never looked back. It took him about 5 years, and we had long since lost touch, but when I read he had been appointed to the role he had at that time told me he would love to do, I had to smile.

Whenever I have interviewed managers and asked what they do to motivate their team, the answer to this question displays a manager’s level of self-awareness and confidence about what makes people tick. Often, great motivators are unconscious of the gifts they have as they are natural people managers, or conversely they have made a conscious decision to develop a good understanding of people, and be open and willing to learn what they have to do to get the best out of their team.

If you are a manager and are not sure how to motivate your people, here are 6 practical ways you can improve levels of engagement and increase the commitment and enthusiasm of your team.

People are either “towards” or “away” motivated. “Towards” motivated people need to have their own vision for themselves (hopefully linked to the company vision, but not always), and once they have a picture of what they want then they will work hard to achieve that vision. For these people, your job is to help them develop a personal vision within the company.
With “away” motivated people, you need to be able to help them articulate what they don’t want, so necessary actions can be taken to move away from these possibilities. These people fear the consequences of not taking appropriate action or making much needed changes. Your job is to help them develop the necessary drivers for change. For example, they may feel motivated because they don’t want to get left behind or their jobs may disappear.
People thrive on being able to make decisions and feeling in control. As a manager you can support people by allowing them as much autonomy as you can. The best way is to agree outcome based objectives or goals, without being too prescriptive about “how” outcomes will be achieved. Give your team permission to try different ways and allow them to “fail and learn”.
Instead of having team meetings, hold team “problem solving sessions”, or “driving up performance sessions”. Encourage your team members to have a say in how collective issues, problems or challenges are approached and solved.
Celebrate success. There is no doubt, what you focus on is what you get. If you continually focus on what goes wrong, then you will encounter more of what goes wrong. By celebrating success both as a team and with individuals, you will find more and more to celebrate. Successes can be a range of things. Encourage team members to note when things are going well and when they feel good about something they have achieved, no matter how small, it may seem.
Think, say and act as if you believe the best in your team. Develop a mind-set whereby you believe that people are doing their best and will do better when they know better. Tell people what you appreciate about their contribution, and find ways to internally and externally communicate your belief in them. If things go wrong, then focus on the lessons to be learned, and don’t personalise behaviour.

Never expect less than the best, and eventually that is precisely what you will get with your team. When you expect and respond positively to great contribution and good outcomes; mediocre and lack lustre performance, or performers will slowly but surely fade away.

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How to Make Managing Poor Performance Easy

By Christina Lattimer • June 6, 2013 - 1:46 pm Miscellaneous

Managing poor performance can be one of the most stressful parts of managing a team.

The problem is of course; good managers know that the vast majority of employees want to come to work to do a good job. When an employee is not performing, more often than not it is either because:a) They are in the wrong job) They have problems outside of work) They simply need more knowledge or information or understanding.

It takes a skilled and experienced manager to be expert and slick when it comes to raising poor performance. Often teams become less than enchanted with their manager when the manager fails to address poor performance, even when the impact isn’t extreme. One of the most frustrating experiences for a team is when they feel they are carrying a member who is not pulling their weight, frustration can turn to stress when the manager simply does nothing about it

Poor performance can appear at any stage in the employment life-cycle. Managers need to be extra vigilant in any trial period. I have seen managers give new employees the benefit of the doubt and live to rue the day they confirmed a permanent appointment, when they had experienced niggling doubts during that time and failed to listen to their intuition.

What follows are some simple ways to help both prevent problems and when they do occur, what to do about them.

Don’t

Miss the telling signs in the trial period. Follow up on any issues which arise during that time.
Wait until the next performance review. Deal with any emerging problems as soon as they become apparent.
Develop an attitude or fixed view of the employee, there may be many reasons for under-performance
Ignore what other people are saying about someone’s under-performance; subtly check it out, if you don’t at first agree
Wait until a major incident or disaster occurs
Wait until everyone else in the workplace is totally fed up because of the under-performance.
Confuse a performance issue with a conduct problem. Misconduct of course impacts on performance, but they are two totally different issues.
Wait until the under-performer goes off on sick leave.

Have a fair and equitable way of measuring performance for all employees
Use your internal policies and procedures for managing under-performance. Your policies should be designed to assist you to get it right. If your policies hinder the process, they need to be rewritten.
Identify the precise areas of under-performance. Exactly what element of performance is the employee not achieving? Performance can be lack of productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, or an under developed skill set for example.
Gather clear examples and facts which demonstrate the level of performance. Do not rely on hearsay, because your boss told you to do it, or niggling doubts.
Keep an open mind about the reasons for under-performance. You do not know what is going on in the employee’s life. Don’t assume they are under-performing and they just can’t hack it.
Talk to the under-performer as soon as possible, and listen to what they have to say. Let them know you are concerned, not accusing.
Ask them about external factors, their own views about their performance, and what they think the expectations of them are. Ask them about training and skill sets.
Develop a clear and SMART action plan. The outcomes of the action plan must actually prove to you that the employee is capable and willing to bridge the performance gap, and be able to sustain it without constant supervision.
Be clear about the time-scale in which you require the performance to improve and for how long before you relax monitoring.
Meet regularly and give honest accurate feedback about their progress. Listen to them and amend the action plan if there are credible reasons for lack of progress, but stick to your agreed time-scale except if there are exceptional circumstances.
Give them every support in terms of training, mentoring, materials and guidance they might need.
Be kind. The majority of people want to do well at work and it can be a nightmare experience for them if for some reason their performance isn’t up to scratch. Genuinely wish them well and hope that they succeed.
Be confident. You know how you want your team to work. Don’t settle for anything less, and expect great not mediocre results for your team.

If you manage poor performance well and manage to raise performance, then this not only instils a sense of achievement for the employee, but also gives a great message out to other staff that you are fair and tuned in to what is happening. Your team might not know when poor performance is being tackled. But they certainly do know if it is not being addressed at all.

End The Struggle – 5 Ways To Get In Touch With Your Intuition

By Christina Lattimer • April 17, 2013 - 10:13 am Miscellaneous

If you’ve ever been confused, stuck or overwhelmed, when your life has presented you with a critical decision, then you are not alone. Many of my clients come to me because they are grappling with major decisions.One of the reasons we get stuck is because we look from different perspectives and this can result in a range of options with no real insight into what is best for us or others.Much of my work is based on Carl Jung’s personality types, deriving from which the Myers Briggs Personality Type (MBTI) tool was developed. Although I use MBTI, it is Carl Jung’s enlightened understanding about how our personality works, which enables me to help my clients to make better choices, as they align with their heart and mind.Part of the decision making process is gathering information. In simple terms, you usually gather information in two ways:

The first and most common way is through your senses. What you see, hear, touch, smell and taste. Predominately you are gathering information through the first three, although sometimes all five senses, depending on the situation. If you prefer gathering information through your senses, then you tend to like evidence, facts, and data. You are often described as a “down to earth” person and you like to analyse the information you are receiving to inform your decision making.

The second way you may gather information is through your intuition. Your intuition can work in two ways, it takes the information it sees through the senses, and forms patterns and possibilities, which can be creative and involves using your imagination. The second way is to tap into insights, ideas and guidance which can be described as coming from your unconscious part of your mind. When your intuition is tapping into your unconscious it can give you illogical insights and wise guidance. This can sometimes be known as your “gut instincts” or “higher self”, or “collective unconscious”.

We all have the ability to tap into both types of information, but as Jung and the Myers Briggs team have demonstrated we have a preference for one or the other. Sometimes this can be a very strong preference and sometimes it can be border line.

You also have a preference about how you make decisions. The two decision making functions are “thinking” and “feeling”. Some of us prefer to make decisions based on our feelings about the information, and others through our logical conclusions about the information. Often when we are confused, we are alternating between the information we receive through our senses, and that which we are receiving through our intuition. For example, “I have a strong gut instinct to take that job, but the salary is less and there seems to be no promotion prospects”.

For me the best decisions are made when you feel good about the decision, and the logic about the information which informs your decision aligns with your beliefs. Part of the formula for doing that is to get in touch with your intuition and trust it. If you have a strong preference for sensing, then this can be uncomfortable, but do-able. Over the years, I have found the following 5 ways help people get in touch with their intuition.

There are many definitions of some of the descriptors used, the following describes the context and meaning in the way I use them, rather than referring to any universal definition.

Meditation is giving you a holiday from the clamour of your daily thoughts and stream of information. It is finding the gap between your thoughts and staying there. Silent and observant, you can watch your thoughts without attaching yourself to them. It is allowing your intuition or your unconscious wisdom, space. Through mediation, your intuition may come to you in different ways, either through thoughts, ideas, or an encounter with someone or something. Use meditation to be open to whatever comes up.

Contemplation is also about clearing your mind, but for me it is more purposeful. You may have a problem or a situation where you’re not sure what to do, or don’t know what the solution is. Ask clearly what the problem is, and then simply observe the problem from different angles and instead of actively thinking about the information, let thoughts come up. Often, you can be inspired with a solution, although sometimes the emerging solution isn’t immediate. It can pop up at any time.

Writing is extremely powerful if you are disturbed or upset, even if you aren’t sure why. Writing down how you are feeling, why you are feeling that way and then ask your intuition how you can look at the situation differently. Then write down different ideas, until you find a perspective which feels good and you can believe. Writing is about telling the story of what is going on in your mind and giving you an opportunity to see it from a better perspective. The true trick is to ask your intuition how to perceive the situation so that you can be at peace with it. It’s not about repressing feelings though. Feelings are a great emotional guidance system, and it’s important to let them come up and help to inform the writing process.

Listen to Music – You are better aligned with your intuition or higher self when you are feeling good. You know you are feeling good when you are in touch with appreciation, gratitude, love and laughter. Listening to music you love can quickly help you get into those places which feel so good. A daily dose of music you love can definitely align you with your intuition.

Going outside - Whether it’s fresh winter air or warm summer sunshine, getting away from the clutter of a busy workplace, or a demanding home can clear your mind and give you a space which you might not otherwise give yourself. Staying in the present moment and clearing your mind while you are outside is a must. It’s no good getting out into the open and taking all your clamorous thoughts with you.

Are you a sensor or an intuitive? Or do you flex between the two? What do you think? If you’d like to undertake the MBTI type tool and find out about your preferences, contact me at

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The Single Daily Choice which will Change Your Life for Good

By Christina Lattimer • April 10, 2013 - 9:48 am Miscellaneous

Yesterday, I had some news which made me want to cry with frustration. This problem had come up a couple of times before, and I had, with much annoyance, sorted it out, and here it was again. I won’t bore you with the problem because problems are two a penny, and the real issue is what I did about it.I had always thought of myself as “A cup half full” person until about 15 years ago. I had an ability to identify and solve problems, and therefore make (what I thought) was a positive contribution to whichever world or organisation I was impacting upon at the time.It was in a session with a coach I had hired to help me make a particular transition in my life who brought that self-concept sharply into question. We had been talking about a situation in my life where I was explaining what was wrong and how I thought I had done all I could to make changes, when she looked me straight in the eye and said “You have a slightly negative outlook on the world don’t you think?”

The silence must have only lasted about 30 seconds but it felt like about an hour while I contemplated with horror what she had just said. In one fell swoop she uncovered one of the biggest blind spots in my life.

In the moments that followed, I didn’t even try to deny it, the only words I could muster were “Do you really think so?” And she nodded. I felt like I had been punched. The horror I think was more acute, because I actually woke up in that moment and realised it was true.

The pattern of my thinking and my self-concept had been mismatched for the majority of my working life up until that point and I’d had no idea until that moment. It was a defining moment for me because it made me look within, and thus the journey to uncover the largely unconscious and negative thoughts and beliefs in my mind began.

For the next few years I worked at becoming conscious of my beliefs and thought patterns and it was amazing how judgmental I had been, not only of myself but others. During the journey, I uncovered many patterns I had acquired.

For me ingrained beliefs and patterns of thinking are like well learned habits, which like tying shoelaces or riding a bike, you have learned so well they’ve become unconscious. When you try to go back to identify the sequence of the beliefs and thoughts it takes some effort to uncover them, and then some real practice to change the way you’ve habitually become used to believing and thinking.

The journey has been painful and liberating and in the end totally empowering. I would love to say that I no longer participate in negative thinking but it’s a lifetime’s work I think for me. I now have strategies in place which can almost instantaneously change my thinking for the better, and some of my limiting beliefs at the same time.

The barometer which measures my progress is my feelings. When I am feeling positive and peaceful emotions, I know my thinking is aligned with who I really am at my core. puts forward the idea that your emotions are a result of your intentions, unconscious or not.

So when I started feeling anxious and fearful as a result of the problem. I realised that my intention in that moment was flawed. I was about to let my beliefs ideas and thoughts turn towards a victim mentality. “Why did this happen to me again?, it must be karma” Helplessness, “What if I can’t solve it?” When you see this pattern in black and white, it seems quite silly. But much of our suffering in life is because of the habitual default to our mostly unconscious negative fears, beliefs and thoughts about us.

You may well have heard the quote “Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional,” By the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. If you put this with the quote by the Greek playwright, Aeschylus, “Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.” In those two quotes you have the single choice, which can, if practised habitually, transform your life.

It is making the choice to be happy, no matter what.

So this is what I did about the problem yesterday.

When I began to feel anxious and worried, I stopped thinking about the problem and let my feelings come up. It took a few moments for the feelings to pass through.
I contemplated for a few minutes, and then decided to look at the problem through a different lens. I realised I had solved the problem twice before and I could very well do it again. The fact I had this problem again, didn’t make me a bad person. In fact, the problem was a real gift because it allowed me to release some of the unconscious worry and further reinforce liberating beliefs, ideas and thoughts which I knew to be true.
Despite the problem, I decided to be happy, and I began to think about and feel grateful for the good things and people in my life. I thought about how blessed I was because I could actually choose to think empowering, and peaceful thoughts, which then translated into positive feelings.

I have this now down to a fine art. The whole process took about 5 minutes in all. All those years ago, it could have taken me 3 days to feel positive again after encountering such a problem. Progress indeed.

If you’d like to read more about some of my methods I have learned over the years, sign up for my weekly blog and download your free e-book: The 6 Secrets of Great Emotional Intelligence”

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7 Common Qualities of Inspirational People, Leaders Should Know

By Christina Lattimer • March 7, 2013 - 9:26 pm Miscellaneous

Leaders can learn from inspirational people

I’d read about Philippe Petit some years ago, and while being amazed at his death defying tightrope walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City, I was either was too young, too busy, in the wrong country or too focussed on other things to truly absorb his story. That changed last weekend when I happened upon an old documentary in which Philippe was recounting his experience on that day, 7^thAugust 1974, and the events leading up to it.

I realise as I write this, I am almost 40 years behind, but I also know there is a right time for everything, and I needed this story now, because it clicked into place a piece of jigsaw I was toying with, but not quite knowing where it fit.

I have always admired people who have made a significant impact, and have been inspirational people. People who particularly inspire me are Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, Viktor Frankl, Sir Winston Churchill, Carl Jung, Abraham Lincoln , and latterly Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, and Steve Jobs, to name but a few. I am now adding Philippe Petit to my list.

These inspirational people on my list are famous for very different achievements. Some didn’t particularly set out to be “world” leaders in their field. But to me and many others of course, they are leaders, because by virtue of their achievements they have led a way, which has helped many people, and so been inspirational. Their stories and work have certainly changed my world.

Simon Sinek in his brilliant book “Start with Why” concludes the reason some inspirational people and their dreams (like Jobs and King for example) are globally successful is that they act from the inside out, they don’t sell their products, they sell their beliefs. It is these beliefs that other people relate to which harnesses their commitment, support, and buy in.

I was blown away when I heard Simon speaking about this phenomenon, because I know it to be true, certainly about me. I finally realised the reason I was so enamoured by these inspirational people was my interpretation of their beliefs and qualities embodied my own beliefs and value systems which I aspire to.

When I examined my own list of inspirational people, I discovered several qualities they displayed which I aspire to, and therefore inspire me.

They owned a deeply held vision
Inner and self- directed, they listened to their intuition and the world around them became secondary if it didn’t accord with their inner guidance.
What they did/shared benefitted the greater good, even if they didn’t realise it at the time.
They were committed and dedicated; in fact most, if not all, view their achievements as their life’s purpose.
They weren’t deterred by popular opinion,
They acted fearlessly, even if inside they felt fearful

And finally, what Philippe Petit made me see so clearly:

7. They are aspirational, they dare to attempt “the impossible,” feats and successes which any rationale mind may have said weren’t possible.

Inspirational people lead others by letting them see that their hopes, dreams, aspirations, and values are not only desirable, but are possible, by demonstrating they can be done. Once you have seen impossible being achieved, then the world has changed.

So how can this help our everyday leaders, who aren’t out to change the world, but who grapple with the day to day reality of where they are right now?

I asked this question of a very dear mentor of mine. “How can I lead in my small way, when all my inspiration comes from people who have changed the world, it seems overwhelming?” What he said to me can also be true for leaders in every field. He said, “Don’t concentrate on the world; apply your beliefs, principles and values to your world and the rest will take care of itself.” Although I agreed I still felt apprehensive. That was until I witnessed Philippe’s mad impossible mission and suddenly the impossible was possible, and the final piece of the jigsaw slotted into place.

You don’t have to walk a tightrope across tall buildings or ravines to inspire your employees and customers; all you need is a clear vision, faith, commitment and courage. Together with the knowledge you are making a real difference for the greater good. For me this is the real formula for success.

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Leaders: Should Employee Happiness be on Your Agenda?

By Christina Lattimer • February 28, 2013 - 9:19 pm Miscellaneous

International Day of Happiness

In April last year, the United Nations held its first conference on happiness and wellbeing in New York City. The conference introduced the concept of “Gross National Happiness” which I have to say made me very …Happy!

One of the announcements made was there will be an International Day of Happiness on 20^th March each year.

I am a big believer in happiness, and the benefits happiness can bring. I have had many discussions with peers and colleagues and I rather believe I may be in a minority. Not that many people disagree that happiness is a good state in which to be; mostly they just think it’s unrealistic. Certainly in the workplace many people think it’s not even a consideration.

Happiness is An Inside Job

Now I know that employers and leaders cannot be responsible for employees’ happiness. Happiness is an inside job. If any of you have been in a relationship with the intention of “making someone happy” and that person is not intrinsically happy, you know how impossible it is.

The truth is, people choose to be happy or not. Self-aware people understand that external “things” may help you get in touch with happy feelings, but rarely do they last. In fact really happy people understand that due to the temporary nature of anything in the world, happiness is an internal state largely consisting of acceptance, interpretation and choice.

As a Leader, all you can do is increase the odds of people being happy

As you can’t control how people choose to feel, act and think; all you can do is create the right environment which increases the odds for people to happy. You might be asking why on earth you should even consider taking such steps when you are financially strapped, your employees are revolting and daily your problems seem to be increasing. Haven’t you enough on your plate? And why help people to be happy when there is no guarantee of success?

With the right direction, the benefits of people being happy at work are: They

get more work done
will be more committed to the task and the company
will be physically, mentally and emotionally more healthy
will infect your customers with their happiness
have more productive relationships with other employees
have fewer conflicts
be more resilient

Develop a Happiness Quadrant

If any of you are battling with poor employee feedback, performance issues, high absence rates, conflicts and complaints, then you might want to take some positive measures to change things.

Alright I know if you go along to the board meeting and suggest a “happiness quadrant” your fellow board members might be checking your temperature and looking for signs of addiction, but the following suggestions can be combined with your organisational development or strategic activities.

Create respect and admiration at the organisation identity level

Commit and demonstrate company values
Develop and maintain a meaningful purpose
Identify and communicate a worthy contribution

Celebrate and engage employees and teams

Monitor and put in place measures to help people meet 4 basic needs, of feeling valued, safe, in control and being a contributor
Help people be responsible and gain autonomy to deliver their contribution
Celebrate success, internally and externally
Tell great and meaningful organisational and individual stories which engage emotions

Develop a Community Culture

Have a defined social structure – even if it’s just the annual Christmas party
Accept that people aren’t perfect, create environments where people can let off steam, solve problems, or deal with frustrations and fears – safely
Develop sensible work/life balance
Develop an ethos of internal as well as external customer service.
Encourage and allow people to care about each other

Create a Learning Ethos

Help employees gain mastery and transferable skills
Introduce learning which helps people to understand themselves and engenders personal growth
Turn mistakes into learning opportunities
Help people to learn and take responsibility for their own wellbeing, whether physical, emotional or mental

I know some people will think putting happiness on the agenda is not a strategic move. My challenge for those people would be my favourite mantra “Would you rather be right or happy?” So go on I urge you to choose “happy” and celebrate the World Happiness Day on 20^th March, with some strategic thinking about creating a happy environment at work.

In the spirit of the World Happiness Day, I hope this article made you smile as well as giving some ideas about creating a happier culture at work.

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Dealing with the Negativity Epidemic

By Christina Lattimer • February 14, 2013 - 10:14 pm Miscellaneous

You can do something positive about negativity

As a result of an internal transfer, a client recently took over a new team. But he quickly realised that some of its members had a negative and unhelpful attitude.

This negativity manifested itself in a small clique complaining about customer expectations, some of their working conditions and the amount of work that they had to do (for which they believed that they got little thanks).

Although my client knew that he couldn’t let the situation continue, he felt that he didn’t have much of a lever with which to tackle it because, not only was the work being done, but fellow colleagues seemed to have a fairly neutral stance towards the others’ negativity. It seemed to have become the cultural norm.

Negativity is a badly acquired habit

Unfortunately, negativity can become an insidious habit within organisations. If such behaviour falls short of misconduct or appears not to have a detrimental effect on outcomes, however, it can seem easier to simply let it go.

Many teams that show a mixture of positivity and negativity muddle along without too much drama. Unfortunately though, even though performance may not appear to be hit, habitual negativity will inevitably prevent them from reaching standards of excellence or exceeding goals and targets.

For this reason, if you want your team to be outstanding, you need to tackle the negativity issue and, paradoxically, introduce a change of focus. Here are some tips for how to it:

Pay attention to negativity, but only with a view to moving the attention towards positivity
Don’t take the complaints personally
Be kind and don’t react to negativity with negativity – it simply perpetuates the habit
Remember that complaining is simply a form of communication, but you can teach people to communicate in more empowering ways
Talk to complainers on a regular basis and challenge their negative views. Do this on a one-to-one basis, if possible, as it is far more effective that way
Describe the impact that negativity has on the rest of the team
Help complainers reframe how they communicate their dissatisfaction
Where possible, help complainers to get what they want, but also show them possible means of communicating that will get better results
Be clear about the consequences of unacceptable negativity, which amounts to either attacking other people or having a detrimental impact on performance.

If you simply focus on the negativity, quite often the focus as with most things creates more of it. You have to be able to swivel the focus from negativity to any positives, and there always are some. Here are some ideas about how you can make sure the attention returns to the positive.

There are tactics you can use to replace negativity with positivity:

Reward positive behaviour and communication
Tell positive stories
Celebrate success regularly
Start meetings with positives. Be prepared to bring out the negatives, but ensure that you move back to the positives, ending with an upbeat summary
Set challenging targets and objectives that bring out the best in the team
Help the team to connect emotionally to its purpose and meaning and ensure that you get positive buy-in
Treat others on an adult-to-adult basis – and remember that negative complaining is a sign of immaturity.

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7 Principles To Get An Immediate Return On Your Learning Investment

By Christina Lattimer • February 1, 2013 - 7:28 am Miscellaneous

There are many evaluation models and cost/benefit frameworks which attempt to determine the “worth” of learning and development in the workplace. Depending on the type of learning required, some models and frameworks are easier to apply than others. Sometimes even when applied, the expected outcomes and improvements have either not materialised or they have taken far longer than expected.

Even when the learning programme is excellent, it doesn’t always deliver results

A number of years ago, I worked with an organisation who had invested a great deal of employee time and financial resource into a learning and development programme, with frustratingly little result. A professional business consultancy had evaluated before and after, calculated a ROI which was a persuasive driver to buy in the proposed programme, but 18 months later, the expected benefits had simply not accrued.

The MD was totally frustrated; as the learning programme was polished, expert and inspirational. Employees were enthused, and bought into the concepts and the benefits of working in a different way. The formalised feedback on the training event was excellent. The business consultancy had done an amazing job. So what had gone wrong?

Improving knowledge, skills and behaviours doesn’t always mean better results

In another example, lack of effective leadership skills and behaviours had been identified as a big problem for this national organisation. It was decided to re-design the leadership skills framework and to develop a programme for all senior leaders. A set of behavioural standards were developed, and a methodology to measure changes was put in place. A coaching and mentoring framework was agreed along with monthly action learning meetings.

There was a new spring in the step of leaders across the organisation. They gave positive and enthusiastic feedback for the coaching and development programme.

When the 2^nd annual employee feedback survey showed less than a 1% improvement in perceptions of employees, alongside results with marginal improvements, they were dumbfounded.

Great learning programmes don’t always result in improvements, but they should

Those examples are simply two of hundreds I have seen, when learning and development has been brought into an organisation; the learning has been evaluated and the content and application has been faultless. The organisation is absolutely clear about the improvements they want to see. But yet, still, the expected results did not materialise.

Why is this? As you know there are many factors which impel or motivate people to change the way they do things, and learning new skills, behaviours, knowledge or even raising awareness is just one part of the equation.

When your business is buying in development interventions, you want to be able to see a real return on investment, otherwise why would you use precious financial resources on it? No one can completely guarantee a return on investment, but the chances of a return can be greatly improved, and more importantly you can pinpoint exactly why the return hasn’t been realised by introducing the following principles.

When I was asked to do some work for the organisation in the first example, the MD was frustrated that the learning he had bought in had not realised the outcomes he required, even though the learning providers had delivered the learning they had promised.

Seven simple principles

My first step was to establish the following 7 principles if I were going to take on the task of getting results:

A learning and development provider will facilitate a real return on investment in partnership with the commissioning organisation.
Learning must enable a measurable improvement or change by the learner.
The improvement or change must contribute to the overall outcomes for the organisation.
Each learner must develop a “call to action, or objective” where they are accountable for achieving the measurable improvement or change.
The organisation must enforce accountability, usually through their performance management system.
The achievement collectively of “calls to action, or objectives” will result in a measured outcome for the organisation.
“If it is not possible to set individuals a call to action or objective which aligns with overall business objectives, following learning then the commissioning organisation should consider whether development is actually needed.

I agreed to deliver a short refresher programme, with a pragmatic design. I explained unless the training included an accountable call to action for each employee, it would likely be unsuccessful once more, and so secured his agreement to establish accountability for achievement within the organisation.

We agreed at the end of the event, each employee would identify a work based objective to improve, abandon or shorten a process and to quantify the savings.

Improve customer service or increase customer satisfaction, with a measurable difference
Reduce the number and type of complaints
Create a measurable increase in quality

In a 6 month period, 95% of employees met objectives, outcomes were recorded and collectively it was calculated that almost £1 million had been saved up to that point as a direct result of achievement of the outcomes or objectives.

Not only were amazing results achieved, employees felt an increased sense of ownership of the success of the initiative. They had tangible evidence of their contribution and saw a real difference.

Incidentally, these principles will also work for individuals if you are thinking of buying in your own self-development programme. For the majority of learning, unless it translates into accountable action, then it might be a “nice to have” but not necessarily an activity which will create significant change

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7 Uncommon Ways to be a Positive Influence on You and Your Team

By Christina Lattimer • January 18, 2013 - 8:05 pm Miscellaneous

The psychology of leadership simply fascinates me, and no more so than when leaders have a positive influence on their team. You may not class yourself as a leader, but you are a leader, whether you’re leading a team, a family or even yourself. In your role, as a leader, the energy you emit is vital, and cannot fail to affect yourself and others.

Positive psychology sounds like another fad or for those of us chronic doomsayers, just plain “Pollyanna”. We all know the world we see has positive and negative energy. The question I have been asked on occasions is “By being positive, aren’t we just lying to ourselves?” Another concern centres on being authentic. ”Surely being positive constantly can’t be authentic, because bad things happen”.

Be a positive force

Well actually I do believe you can be a positive force, in all types of situations. If you want to lead people in the right direction, here are 7 uncommon ways you can be a positive influence on yourself and others.

7 ways to be a positive influence

Someone says something negative about you or something you value. Immediately you want to give a stinging reply, rush to your own defence or complain to others. Worse, you actually take the criticism on board. Haven’t we all been in that situation? Pausing to regain your composure and objectivity in such situations is vital before you reply. Pausing to think gives you an opportunity to respond instead. Response instead of reaction means you take the emotional charge out of the situation, incident or problem. It is a great opportunity to turn towards positivity and win/win.
Life is indeed difficult. There are good times and bad. Leading with positive influence means you navigate your way through the peaks and troughs, with hope and optimism. When the facts, which present themselves, seem to daunt, then you will command a positive influence if you remain neutral and objective as opposed to blaming, emotional and subjective.
Being a positive force doesn’t mean you have to deny your own negative emotions, in fact, it means you get in touch with them with a view to healing them. Too often people will blame other people for how they are feeling, but everyone’s emotions are their own. No one can make anyone else feel anything. Owning your emotions means you do not make anyone else responsible for you. It also means the power is in your hands, to take any situation, look on the bright side and change how you feel.
Being glad for others for most of us is quite easy. It’s great to see people doing well. Showing you’re glad means actively helping them to celebrate their successes. When someone gets that qualification or loses that 6lb, find a way to help them celebrate. Buy a bunch of flowers or send that card, or take the time to drop an email, pop your head round the door and tell them “Well done”. Too often in our fast paced lives, even though we may be glad for others, we fall short of showing we are.
When people’s lives are in the troughs rather than the peaks then, it’s time to concentrate on their strengths, and everyone has some strength. The trick here is to feel compassion for how they feel, and to be there for them, but not to join in with blaming others, cultivating a victim mentality or disempowering them from their own inner coping mechanism.
It is through painful situations people have an opportunity to find their strength and a positive influencer knows and gently encourages this.
Happiness is a choice. Every piece of information you process can be interpreted in a million ways. If you choose to interpret the information in a way which makes you sad, then it’s simply a choice you have made. Things happening around you do not determine your state, only you do. You have the choice, why not choose happiness instead.

People who choose to be happy are a joy to be around. They raise energy and raise spirits, which can only positively influence all around them

When you know you have a tricky meeting, or a difficult time coming up; then it’s time to begin intending your day. Intending your day or meeting or event, is extremely powerful. Instead of worrying about the content, think about the outcome. So, for example, you have a difficult meeting with your boss. Imagine it will be positive despite the difficulties, and imagine yourself feeling really pleased that you handled it so well. You will be amazed at the difference intending positive outcomes can make. When you intend great and positive outcomes day to day, then your energy impacts greatly on everyone around you.

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