Best Recipes Ever

Category: Executive Leadership

  • A Celebration of International Women

    On the 8th March to celebrate International Women’s day it is appropriate to give credit to the many female Heads of State, CEO’s, Founders, Mothers and Grandmothers. How interesting that the world has a strong representation of female leaders, 22 countries in total including New Zealand, Denmark, Bangladesh, Lithuania, Taiwan and Norway are all led by inspirational women. This is quite a sizeable representation of women in top leadership positions, some in countries that are culturally showing more masculine than feminine qualities according to the Hofstede model of Intercultural sensitivity. It is irrelevant what you think about them, but the fact is these female and other female leaders are running governments, countries and businesses in what can only be termed troubled and challenging times.  In all fairness our male leaders are not exempt from the turbulence affecting everyone across the globe.

    Erna Solberg of Norway has been Prime Minister since 2013. Greece’s President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou has been in office since March 2020, and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in office since October 2017.  These and many other women are demonstrating both success at achieving the position as well as longevity in the position.

    WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLE CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE LEADERSHIP? 

    A Celebration of International WomenCan we characterize these principles and definitively separate them from the principles of male leadership? Unlikely, because styles of leadership differ amongst men and women equally depending on education, experience, courage, individuality, stamina and so on.  However, when looking at women andLet us celebrate the female leaders around the world on International Women’s Day. men, there are differences and when women bring these differences into play, we might see a broader range of characteristics, showing feminine power. Many of which come naturally to women.  Again, I don’t want to say that men do not display some or all these characteristics and vice versa, but men usually display a more masculine power through male characteristics and therefore the following are more common in women, especially in female leaders.

    Common female characteristics:

    • Intuitive and sensitive, demonstrating fluid emotional intelligence
    • Ability to sense the emotion as well as see the facts in order to make decisions on both factual/logical and emotional levels
    • Goal achievement through perseverance and vision, but not at the cost of others
    • Patience and tolerance, promoting harmony and understanding
    • The ability to encourage and nurture to reveal hidden potential of those who are unable to stand up for themselves
    • Ability to forgive, let go, learn and grow
    • Fosters an environment of trust, cooperation and harmony
    • Quiet drive, courage and resilience, as opposed to power and strength
    • Ability to release own emotions to relieve tension and break stress often through crying, which in men is seen as a weakness 
    • Ability to relieve tension in a situation through empathy and understanding
    • Happy to be out of the limelight and just get on with the job 

    CONCLUSIONS OR QUESTIONS?

    Are we moving into a time when female leadership is more appropriate for the global and work-related challenges we face in today’s world – starvation, homelessness, loneliness, escalation in chronic mental and physical diseases, environmental damage on a huge scale and the ever widening gap between the exceedingly wealthy and those who earn under the minimum wage?

    I don’t know the answer to this, but I do know the questions:  How much longer can we, as human beings go on living in an environment that is under more and more control due to the poor, ignorant choices of our leadership and our own inaction?  One that we are determined to destroy through industrial farming methods, fracking that pollutes and destroys the very integrity of the earth and the finely balanced ecosystem on which we live as well as wasteful habits, all of which combined are removing the right to a heritage for generations to come?

    How long can we go on not seeing, or deliberately covering up the detrimental impact of processed, sugar laden foods on our health and the health of our children, which has manifested in serious escalation in chronic disease, obesity and stress, all of which we see in most of the English speaking world, with other countries not far behind, having adopted a Western diet?

    How long are we going to allow escalation in mental health issues to continue to rise, before taking a close look at our company cultures, leadership approach and work environments?  What might this have to do with the current pandemic?  Could there be a correlation between the number of Covid cases and deaths in countries with the highest levels of diabetes, obesity and other chronic disease?

    LET’S CELEBRATE FEMALE LEADERSHIP

    As we move into the Age of Aquarius with the spring equinox, let’s celebrate all our female leaders and leadership, not only on International Women’s day, but everyday whether Heads of State, Heads of Companies, Entrepreneurs or Mothers. The arrival of the Aquarian age is associated with harmony, understanding, sympathy and trust.  All female characteristics. It is perhaps the female leaders that will turn the ship to restore balance in life, becoming more caring, nurturing, and responsible in how and what we live for?  Fostering a global economy and community that sees nations support each other rather than competing and striving to be the first with the strong, fit and healthy and remembering the rest as an afterthought?

    In the words of Marilyn Munroe, “One of the best things that ever happened to me, is that I am a woman.  That is the way all females should feel.” 

     

    Happy International Women’s Day.

     

    To find out more about how Green Key can help you and your leadership journey, contact Rachel directly.

  • Active Leadership – The Benefits of Combining Movement & Leadership

    When I was a young manager, my first General Manager at the time was a very special man, sadly no longer with us. He was general manager of the Elangeni Hotel in Durban, South Africa and he taught me many things about managing and leading people in what is a demanding, but rewarding industry. He was inquisitive, asked questions not only to satisfy his own interest, but also to check your understanding of what you might have been doing at that point in time, as well as the bigger picture of why I was doing whatever it is I was doing. He was always immaculately dressed, irrelevant of time of day or night in full suit with waistcoat and a red rose in his buttonhole. I don’t think I ever saw him in any other clothing during the 4 years I worked with him. He was respectful of everyone, no matter your position, male or female, senior or younger. I never heard him raise his voice in all that time, even when annoyed. He was a fair man, I suppose strict in some ways. He gave out autonomy to his team members expecting performance as agreed, and these characteristics shone through his leadership approach. On top of this, he led by walking about. He is what I would call an “active” leader. Of course, there were times when he was in his office, but in general once the paperwork, meetings and discussions had been completed, he was out and about. His “finger was totally on the pulse”. Nothing passed him by.

    Much of my leadership approach is based on my learning from this person as well as the variety of people working in the hotel with their vast array of backgrounds, experiences, cultures and education, all doing an honest day’s work in the hotel industry while providing me a fantastic foundation on which to learn. Perhaps they did not feel the same way!

    We often read posts on LinkedIn, X or the like on how important it is to move, to be active whether a manager or not. Personally, I’m a great advocate for this. Managers and leaders generally spend too much time at the computer or other electronic device and not enough time moving, talking to employees and clients. At the same time many managers have ideal job roles that allow them to be active not only before or after work, but also during by combining movement with going around the operations and different departments. Being visible in this way enables managers to see how things are running and to check in with team members, giving individual employees an opportunity to talk, share information, difficulties and so on while also understanding if they have any challenges, what is going well, how they are etc. Being active also provides opportunities to listen to and talk to guests and customers addressing their concerns, hearing their comments and receiving feedback. All while being active and moving around. 

    What is so important about moving? It is not necessary to run a marathon, climb the tallest mountain, or cycle 10 kilometres a day to be active to enjoy the benefits, such as:

    •    Consistent focus, clarity and balanced mental health 

    •    Consistent energy levels throughout the day

    •    Positive outlook 

    •    Reduction in stress, anxiety and mood swings 

    •    Good cardiovascular health 

    •    Easier weight management 

    •    Stronger immune system to combat seasonal bugs and viruses

    •    Better sleep

    If that’s not enough, to this list can also be added building stable and healthy relationships with others, providing the social aspects of life that are so important. Humans are herd animals and to be healthy we need social connections and relationships. A perfect link to the essence of good leadership. Leadership is only possible if followers choose to follow. This requires building relations and consequently trust, understanding employees, strong skills of emotional intelligence and the ability to listen. Showing personal vulnerability, courage, integrity and honesty. A leader cannot demonstrate these characteristics from an office by email or other internal communication system. These tools support face to face communication, but do not replace them. The lessons I learned over 30 years ago from my first general manager are still the same today!

    £340 billion was lost in the UK economy due to employees’ disengagement and 0.8 million workers in 2023/24 were suffering from work-related stress, anxiety and depression according to Perkbox and Vivup. According to HSE Safety, £14.5 billion annual costs in new cases of work-related ill health in 2022/23. How much of this is due to losing contact with employees, just expecting them to perform in accordance with the job description? A recent blog on “Engage Employee” website listed the top five reasons employees go to work and which can be summarised by saying the majority of our employees come to work for the social contact and that sense of belonging. “Engage Employee” survey results with 2,000 employees ranked reasons for coming to work as:

    1.    The People 

    2.    Feeling like I am good at it 

    3.    The hours 

    4.    It’s fulfilling 

    5.    Working as a team 

    Salary was ranked in 6th place.   

    Quite clearly social connection and interaction is rated as extremely important with 3 out of the top 5 reflecting this fact. How can you encourage your managers and leaders to be more active in the workplace, not only to get their “steps in”, and improve their overall well-being and that of their employees, but also to build trust through regular and open communication, stronger teamwork, improve problem solving, and build and manage relations with customers and guests? Being an active leader, costs nothing, but there is much to gain.

    References 

    https://www.engageemployee.com/blog/top-20-reasons-we-go-to-work

    https://hcssafety.co.uk/news/hse-statistics-2024/#:~:text=The%20annual%20cost%20of%20new,22%20to%20%C2%A37.1%20billion.

  • Addressing uncertainty and morale at the start of the new year

    The start of a New year is a time of excitement for many as we embrace the new year coming in and let go of the old year and whatever that encompassed. For most organisations the new year is a time for goal setting and budget planning. After the initial shock of the first week back at work, most of us are inspired, our batteries are full and we feel ready to face the year ahead and what that has in store. The end of 2021 left many feeling exhausted, demotivated and perhaps even lost. Morale was low as dedicated and loyal employees tried to hold it together up to the Christmas break. For many organisations, the final straw that broke the camel’s back, so to say was the cancellation of company Christmas parties, which was until that point been seen as a chance to build morale and set the tone for the coming year, whether to be held in an office, restaurant of other location in line with new government guidance.

    Once again, we find ourselves in a degree of uncertainty around what is and what might be. For some the prospect of redundancy or losing their job due to coerced  personal choice around the actuality of “no jab, no job.” Uncertainty is very draining for all involved and leads to the constant questioning and worry through circulating thoughts and conversation with self and whether things will ever get back to normal.

    Living with change is an important element of doing business. Change does create uncertainty for many, but it usually has a clear end in sight. The current global situation does not share this characteristic. Leaders contradict each other, apply varying degrees of mandated behaviours for it’s citizens and constantly monitor results whilst changing the goalposts with regular aplomb deepening the levels of uncertainty and creating fear.

    On a human physiological level, this translates into fear which is very draining. Fear as an emotion is extremely damaging to health, increasing the potential for burnout. We might not realise that we are fearful of the current situation, but somewhere in our subconscious our brains are looking for ways to protect us from what might be perceived as danger. Hence it is no surprise that having a background alert switched on all the time means we are less happy, less engaged, less creative and hence unproductive and more prone to sickness and absenteeism.

    How can leaders turn uncertainty into certainty?

    For most leaders, it is not possible to predict a certain outcome in circumstances that are beyond our control. Therefore, looking at the circle of influence and control by Stephen Covey in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, leaders are advised to focus on the areas that they can influence. The first circle is the “Circle of Concern” and includes all the challenges and concerns you have in your life including your working life. The trick with this circle is to understand in the list of items the things that are inside your Circle of Control and not to worry about those that are outside your Circle of Control. The Pandemic is out of your control, and therefore spending time on worrying about it, will not bring any productive or beneficial results.

    As leaders, we need to consider how our team members are feeling in response to the pandemic, and while we cannot control the pandemic and government reactions to changing circumstances, we can influence morale and consequently work performance by focusing on the Circle of Concern and to a certain degree Circle of Influence.

    Can you influence someone’s morale through your leadership? Can you take time to listen to your team members concerns about job security, feelings of anxiety and fear? Truly listening to someone by taking time in a space where devices are switched off the environment safe and “being” with them is one of the greatest gifts you can give. Finding a solution for them is not necessarily required as they will find their own solution to whatever is causing their unrest. Being proactive, instead of waiting for something to happen to encourage these one to one conversations will expand your Circle of Influence while having a positive impact on levels of fear and anxiety.

    Drawing feelings out of your team members either individually or with your department as a team can be very enlightening as well as productive when done using the model of Circle of Influence and Control, as it provides a structure to share safely and openly. Try the following exercise:

    1. Draw the Circle of Concern on a large sheet of paper or interactive whiteboard.
    2. Ask all team members to write their areas of concern on stick-its and then add them to the circle.
    3. When complete, draw another circle that is smaller and in the middle of the first circle. This is the Circle of Control.
    4. Ask them to move any of their stick-its that they have direct control over from the Circle of Concern into the Circle of Control.
    5. Discuss those items that they feel they have no control over and ask the question: What influence can you have over this point/situation?
    6. Draw another circle between the first 2 circles of Concern and Control. This is the Circle of Influence.
    7. Ask them to explore ways they could influence issues in the Circle of Concern. In doing so you might discover solutions and suggestions coming from different group members that are useful for all to structure a way forward despite the fact that there is no possibility to control how the pandemic unfolds.

    When working in times of uncertainty, it is important to realise what you can control, what you can influence and what to avoid wasting time on. Doing this exercise helps visualise and verbalise through constructive discussion aspects of a situation that are causing uncertainty, anxiety and perhaps even fear. Transparency as a leader is critical to enabling constructive discussion, openness and a way to positively ease feelings of uncertainty and anxiety that are being exacerbated by worry and trying to control the uncontrollable. Overall through lightening the load and improving morale we improve productivity and performance and decrease absenteeism and sickness.

    The Christmas party might have been cancelled through factors beyond the control of department and company leaders, but we can still positively influence employee morale, motivation and performance.

    References:

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/368994

    Stephen Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

  • Are Leaders Born or Made?

    “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one that does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”  Ronald Reagan

    The question of whether leaders are born or can be made through learning and development is a question that is very often asked. This blog will explore the relationship between being a natural born leader, which certainly many people are, as well as learning the skills of an effective leader.

    Working on the premise that leadership is influencing others to want to do their job while management, also very important is getting the job done through others, the differentiating factor we could argue is how we influence those who work with us to want to do their job, to love doing their job, and to do it well on a consistent basis.

    What makes an individual want to do and love their job? Initial motivation to get out of bed in the morning has to be the responsibility of the individual, as does the positivity and excitement to turn up for work. The question then is what makes the experience between someone who turns up for work because they need the money and someone who wants to be there, enjoy the daily challenges as well as the regular tasks and duties that are a part of all roles. The answer lies in looking at the importance of colleagues who we associate with and enjoy working with as well as the person that we report to and who guides us while bringing out the best in each person. That manager and leader builds motivation and commitment in each unique individual to inspire them to want to as well as to love, coming to work. The person that builds a positive, fun climate in order to deliver peak performance.

    Characteristics and skills of an effective leader include, but may not be limited to:

    Honesty and integrity saying what you will do and doing it, being true to and keeping to your word, being consistent with those you lead and not treating one person more favourably than the other. As well as being consistent in all your actions and behaviours. Operating with high levels of personal integrity.

    Openness – being open to share feedback, both positive and constructive negative feedback while also showing vulnerabilities and encouraging and allowing others to also be open to share, to provide their feedback to you as well as other team members.

    Positivity – irrelevant of what is happening to find the upsides without being unrealistic. Remaining upbeat despite challenges and difficulties, not pulling yourself and others down.

    Ability to listen – perhaps the most critical of all the characteristics and skills of a leader. Taking time to hear others, being fully present and not necessarily finding a solution for that person’s plight, but simply listening and showing that you care. Listening is also important when it comes to listening to oneself. Knowing how you feel and acknowledging that. Addressing issues without taking them out on those you lead. Giving out the message that you are here, present and available while being able to show self-compassion and compassion for others.

    Humility – not being afraid to show your humble side. Just because you have been given the role and the job description, does not mean that you have to have all the answers. It is fine to say, “I don’t know what to do in this situation, does anyone else have any ideas?”

    Desire to see others grow and develop – Wanting to keep everything within your control only serves to stifle growth and development of both yourself and others. Trusting colleagues to deliver gives freedom to make decisions, freedom to experiment and try without fear of reprisal if it all goes wrong. Using these opportunities for assisting learning and development builds trust.

    Learning mentality – Leaders who do not have a learning mentality for themselves as well as others, will soon reach their ceiling of growth and be left behind.

    Trust – trusting yourself and trusting others creates an atmosphere of positivity, wanting to learn, confidence to take on something new and address challenges, ultimately leading to positive and constructive feedback and delegation of authority to create autonomy within the workforce. It takes time to earn trust which is an accumulation of all the little things that you do and say.

    Purpose and vision – Has a clear vision and knows their own purpose, why he or she is in the position of a leader, while also being clear about the purpose and direction of the organisation or department and is able to share that purpose and vision with others in order to build commitment.

    Self-care – Each one of us has a responsibility to ourselves firstly to ensure we are full of wellness and vitality through respect for mind, body and soul. Vitality is not just about regularly going to a gym, jogging, swimming or playing tennis it is much broader than that. Focusing only on the physical aspects of ourselves, failing to address the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects that are often the foundation to wellness and who we are, what we are experiencing and how we show up and contribute to this the world means we are addressing 25% of what contributes to wellness, vitality and general wellbing.

    Looking around the world at our “global” leaders, those nominated to lead a country, I struggle to find many of these skills and characteristics. Is it a surprise that governments are in disarray? I won’t take your time or energy to pick those apart that regularly feature in our media, sadly for the wrong reasons, I’ll leave you to do that using the above points. What went wrong in our systems? At this time, I cannot find a reasonable answer. Is it a reflection of our education system, upbringing, life experiences or culture? Probably a bit of each.

    Returning to the main question of can you learn to be an effective leader?  Do you learn integrity, honesty, how to trust and how to listen, are these characteristics and skills acquired somehow, or are you simply born with them? Integrity and honesty come from one’s upbringing while the ability to listen effectively and provide feedback are skills that can be learned if a person is interested while being given the experience of a wonderful role model in one or several job roles, through a family member or other role model who is closely followed.

    Developing your managers to become effective leaders is never too late. Giving them the skills to perform well, nurture individuals and teams to build commitment, encourage growth and development of others, while developing themselves is critical not only to the individual, but to the business as a whole. Without an effective leadership team, your ship is sailing without a rudder. It is like setting sail with all the bells and whistles, latest technology, fantastic systems, luxurious interior design, as did the Titanic when she set sail on April 10, 1912. Investing in development of your leadership team, irrelevant of seniority, makes sound, financial sense.

    If you want to optimise your leadership skills or develop the leadership skills of a manager then please drop me an email to rachel@greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com or book a zoom call.

  • Are You Engaging Your Employees?

    The human body is a complex structure with many integrated systems that work in harmony. The heart is the conductor of the orchestra connecting organs and systems with the arteries and the veins. Taking this analogy and applying it to an organisation, is there any difference? The heart of the organisation is the culture, the values and the conductor the CEO, General Director or senior board. The arteries and veins, the life blood of the organisation – the employees. Extending this thought, would you cut your own artery or vein or deliberately block or fur up the system?

    Why then do we so often “cut” off or “block” our employees the very arteries and veins of any business through inadequate leadership practices, lack of direction, training, empowerment and engagement?

    How often do you hear someone say or read a phrase with the term “engage employees”? We need to engage our employees, increase engagement, measure the engagement of our employees and so on. Clearly something in these phrases is very important to business performance. Anne M. Mulcahy, former chairperson and CEO of Xerox, once said, “Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.”

    Truly engaging employees results in creating the right atmosphere, conditions, and morale for all members of an organisation to give of their best each day, not because they have to but because they want to.  It means employees are committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute in building customer loyalty and to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their personal wellbeing. 

    How come then the 2022 Gallup poll found that 69% of employees are disengaged? Is this a coincidence or is there something reflecting how employees are truly feeling having been “forced” to work from home irrelevant of space, conditions and family environment and in many instances feeling pressurized to return to the workplace? Is it about the lack of human contact, lack of input from leadership on a human level, turning calls and virtual meetings into a “business-only” platform which is the equivalent of only having blood flow through the arteries with no return to the heart via the veins.

    Engagement, as Anne Mulcahy said is about the whole person, we cannot expect full and complete performance if an employee is engaged with only the left brain. We might use the analogy of looking at employee engagement like looking at a person who has a disease. If you only treat the symptoms by looking at that condition you may relieve the pain, the feelings of indigestion, drowsiness, blood-sugar dysregulation or other, but once you stop with the intervention, whatever that may be, the pain returns. Why therefore with employee engagement do our systems look at measuring performance without measuring wellbeing of each person? The all-too-common KPI’s, objectives and quantative and qualitative goals. How about using the system you already have to support holistic wellbeing as well as to engage your employees? Achievement of a KPI does not necessarily mean employees are engaged.

    Wellbeing is measured in so many ways – mental, physical, social, emotional and spiritual. Should you only measure wellbeing with one of two of these dimensions, you are cutting off several systems that work in tandem. In other words, if one system is out of whack, just as in the body, it will affect other systems either through over-compensation or under-performance. Wellbeing is holistic for each individual as well as for the organisation. If you only recognise and reward achievement, you are limiting overall performance. An easy way of putting that is if you are happy that goals and objectives are achieved according to the KPI’s how do you know what you are missing if everyone in your team would feel secure, valued, nurtured and is able to embrace opportunities for development, what would the result be? The synergy it would create, the outstanding performance, happy, loyal employees and customers, motivation to want to be at work and inspiration to be the best version of what each one can be. Engagement is the arteries and veins that feed the rest of the organisation.

    Engaging employees in their work, the company culture and values is the responsibility of leaders within each organisation. In other words – creating the right environment, genuinely valuing contributions from each employee, building trust, nurturing relationships, and being authentic and transparent.  Leadership behaviour is itself driven by the organisation culture and company values.  The old saying of “the fish stinks from the head down” adequately sums up the need to ensure all levels of management lead by example and roll down wellbeing which drives performance.

    Engagement can be measured in different ways.  However, to be effective it is likely that the process is continuous and uses a combination of ways, such as:

    • Anonymous wellbeing surveys to get credible feedback that leads to relevant changes.
    • Exit interviews – taking the time to really find out why an employee is leaving is critical to reflecting on what can be done better. However, note conducting an exit interview when an employee who has been “used” to achieve KPI’s may not get the result you are looking for.
    • One-to-ones with managers work very well when there is an atmosphere of trust.  Without trust, it will bring limited results at best.
    • Customer satisfaction ratings – The customer is the one who truly bears the brunt of poor employee engagement, experiencing service performance with a “don’t care” attitude. Hearing about customer experiences is a very important gauge whilst also providing pointers for improvement. Asking for customer feedback via surveys has become the norm in many companies. I often wonder how the information is used, especially when nothing changes? Perhaps picking up the phone to gain verbal feedback would be more valuable?

    How can management influence engagement levels? 

    Again, there is no one answer, there are several answers and in reality a combination of different actions are needed to positively influence engagement of each and every employee. First begin with the management team to ensure they are confident and able to lead others effectively. Then:

    • Give employees the chance to do quality work.
    • Maintain a positive work culture.
    • Get employee “buy-in”.
    • Invite and listen carefully to employee feedback.
    • Communicate expectations clearly to employees.
    • Encourage employee collaboration and teamwork.
    • Build an open environment through authenticity, fairness and trust.
    • Give positive feedback and praise employees for their performance.
    • Train and coach to develop potential in each employee.
    • Praise for showing up as their best self.

    It makes sense that employee engagement is part of the core business strategy. Engagement on a consistent basis will pay dividends in increasing productivity, and profitability.  The workplace will be a happier place to be and consequently increase pride and enjoyment in doing quality work, serving customers, as well as succeeding in achieving department and company goals. At that point it is unlikely that you will need to be concerned about the life-blood of your organisation as “blood” will be flowing freely without blockages or obstacles.

    Green Key Personal Development is able to provide you with all the tools necessary to optimise your employee engagement. It’s important that you don’t wait for something to break before investing a few pounds per employee. The time to act is now. Book a no obligation discovery call today. https://calendly.com/greenkey/pd-consultation-meeting?