Micro-management and backing executives into a corner

The difference between micromanaging, intrusion and appropriate questioning is not well defined and can vary from person to person, organisations to organisations.

What really defines micromanaging is not whether a manager is digging into small details. It’s really a question of which details and for what purpose. Is the manager scoring points, making a small point, nit-picking on minutinae and expenses? Clearly, the manager believes they are drilling down into the details, where the devil lives and that will help reveal a higher-level issue; detecting risk or a structural change, getting to the real root cause of a problem, or questioning the overall effectiveness of a specific process?

Asking questions of an operational nature, is not in itself micromanaging, as long as the questions lead to pertinent insights about issues like strategy, performance, major investment decisions, key personnel, the choice of goals, or risk assessment.

Probing a decline in gross margins, or rise in expenses, etc., can easily be seen as trivial but in industries like office supplies or personal computers, where gross margins have taken a beating over the last ten years, managers may be correct in trying to discern whether the decline is symptomatic of a fundamental shift in the industry and whether the strategy has become obsolete.

The key lies in the analytics of working backwards, to link the operating details directly with strategic issues. For a mobile phone service provider and ISP, subscriber churn rate is an operating detail with very strategic importance.

The board of a telecommunications company that approves a multibillion-dollar project to lay new cable has a stake in knowing how the implementation is going. The project’s success might depend heavily on assumptions management made about attracting and retaining targeted high-revenue customers.

The board will want to dig into details about how many customers are willing to pay a premium for voice, video, and text combined. Are a sufficient number of customers coming on line on schedule? What percentage is staying with the company? What is the monthly churn, or turnover, in customers and what is the average customer bill?

In these cases, operational details are an important microscope for tracking the effective execution of the strategy and gauging how well it is working. These items materially affect the business going forward.

When a manager picks up on a small point and challenges it simply to demonstrate their power and ego; for the sake of showing who is right or what could have been done differently, or when a manager attempts to make a decision about operations, or individual people, then you can raise the alarm and accuse that person of micromanaging.

This typically happens in the area of the manager’s previous expertise and can be driven by a personal need to demonstrate superior subject knowledge or that they 'still have it.'

The way in which a question is worded can also indicate or reveal whether a manager is micromanaging. The difference lies in how the executive could respond. Does the inquiry put paint the executive into a corner, instead of shedding more light on a subject and opening the door for a broader discussion?

In Q2/Q3 2007, most boards across the globe were keen to learn how management was responding to the steep rise in commodity prices and the impact on margins. Many boards debated the potential impact on margins and what could or could not be passed on to customers. That was a very vital discussion to have.

A micromanager will initiate the discussion of pricing by lecturing long and hard on their personal experience in dealing with a price increase, implying that the executive in question lacks the courage to address the issue. This implies that management can do it if it has the will or the guts and is more of a challenging ultimatum than a discussion point.

Another more constructive approach, is to say, “I’m curious about several aspects of inflation and our pricing strategy. What is our process of adjusting prices as inflationary conditions change? How are decisions initiated? Who gets involved and with what tools? What training is being given to people who are looking at pricing and to the sales force that brings it all home? Are the regional sales managers buying into it?”

This lets management explain what the company is doing and what alternatives it has considered, an explanation that is likely to include topics and issues that the manager had not known of.

The manager's comeback, “What benchmarking are you doing to improve pricing processes and reduce our exposure to margin compression? Are there any strategic implications that the board needs to learn about?” In that way, the manager opens a door to several possibilities without insisting on his own chosen course of action. It also opens the door for other managers to join the discussion.

This open style of questioning becomes an imperative when the company is highly leveraged and commodities prices increase several times in a year. It gives managers flexibility and an insight into whether the company has the organisational mechanisms to move and is not awaiting orders from the top.

The difference in approach has a profound impact on the boardroom dynamic. Asking questions at the right altitude, with the right tone, and about the right things refocuses management’s attention while respecting the executive’s decision-making authority.

It is, after all, management’s job to deal with the margin compression and decide on its pricing practices, not the board’s. The board is there to make sure management has a plan and that it is executing that plan.

It Takes the 'Right Stuff' to be a Good Leader. Do you have it?

You see here the Fantasy character Buzz Lightyear, recently returned from a tour of duty in the ISS. Carried there and back by one of the NASA astronauts, in the Shuttle Discovery. Science Fiction Fantasy meets Science Reality. The one a parody of the other.

We all know that there are many paths to follow that lead from Fantasy to Reality. The story of science fiction evolving into science fact can only happen when dedicated visionaries lead the way.

What do we look for in our leaders and how often do we find the 'right stuff'.

In depth knowledge, self confident and self-awareness has always been necessary to build good leaders but it was never enough. You also had to have the 'right stuff'. You need the ability and character to inspire, support and motivate before you can ultimately lead.

It may not be fashionable and it may not be 'the new, new thing' but the adage that the Leadership Model follows a hierarchy similar to that of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is still relevant and very pertinent today.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs starts at the lowest level, with meeting basic neeeds before moving on to addressing issues with Safety and Security. Once that has been achieved, you can take into consideration the higher goal of finding and sharing Love, Affection and the sense of Belonging. The next step is to achieve Status and Esteem before finally climbing up to and sitting on the top of the world, brim full of Self Awareness, sometimes known as Actualisation.

Organisations still need Self-Aware leaders but there are no shortcuts. We need leaders who are able to progress through all the stages and completely fulfill the lower level needs. It's not acceptable to be a self confessed leader if you do not fully understand and accept the 3 dimensional nature of leadership and the voyage to the top that took you there.

Let's look back at the precipitous journey you are on or possibly, you have already completed.

1) Basic Wants/ Physiological Needs
At the base root of all organisation some core wants have to be addressed. They include the tools needed to survive and thrive. This is the core technical skills, in the leadership model. Clearly, if you want to be a Finance Manager, you need to know how to perform accounting tasks and understand the associated practices. Many skills are needed to sel but the main one will be the ability to be erudite.

All one needs to demonstrate, to future employers is that you have the core skills to do the job. Most leaders get promoted to successive levels of leadership through technical mastery but by being technically competent alone does not give them the skills or ability to be exceptional and charismatic leaders.

2) Safety & Security
Leaders need to provide their organisational units with structure and a competent framework to operate in. They need to develop the hierarchy, roles and responsibilities and, most importantly they need to provide the organisational employees with the criteria and opportunity to be successful.

To clamber up to the second level of leadership, a good leader must provide his team with the precise operational model that will make them not only feel secure but also instil a philosophy of positive attitude and how to approach success.

Poor leaders rely heavily on their ego to direct them. They believe that they can be the all powerful king in the midst of disarray and chaos. They think they are controlling and directing the masses but in reality they are burning valuable resources, whilst lurching from crisis to crisis.

A good leader creates the framework where every employee not only feels secure operating in and focusing on his job but also has a repeatable chance of being creative and successful. They have the chance to stretch themselves and not fear the consequences of loss or failure because their leader is there to guide and support them, throughout. They do their job well and the organisation benefits.

3) Love, Affection and Belonging
This builds on from the creation of a safe and secure environment and leads us into the need and ability to foster cohesive teamwork. The basic requirements here is that the leader needs to ensure that his team players are working well together but he also has to ensure that his team plays well within the whole organisation and can work well with 'others'.

You are not provided with the chance to model a team from a single piece of clay. you have to build this team from the wide assortment of characters and personalities that this world provides. Even after the skilled HR department has carefully filtered,selected and processed the candidates.

You have a team of disparate (or desperate) people from different backgrounds, brought together for a common purpose and it is your challenge to make them interact in a positive, productive and interactive way by building good, strong relationships.

Poor or weak leadership can easily create divisions, within and without your locality. It is so easy to create a self-protective silo mentality that spends too much energy and time defending itself from outside 'influences' and gets caught up in 'power' struggles. What you don't want is to be a stressed out head of a dysfunctional family unit that is feuding with it's neighbours. You need to actively create a common sense of purpose that transcends boundaries and divisions.

4) Esteem
As we mature in our organisational interactions with others, professional respect and appropriate response, may be all that really matters. For a leader to be considered a good leader, this respect has to be born of an independent outlook and a strong vision. Discard fear and intrepidation, actively and sincerely appreciate what every person is bringing to the table.

A good leader will not give respect lightly. You will need to prove your worth through your commitment and your actions. Talk alone does not do it. A good leader looks at the role you play in the organisation and will treat you with the respect the role commands, unless or until, you prove unworthy of it.

5) Self-Awareness
Do you consider yourself to be a 'good well balanced, human being'. Self Awareness is 'presence', 'authority', 'charisma', 'qudos', etc. The ability a leader possess, by the sheer power of his positive presence. One in which he is able to hold a clear vision, taking a higher road that puts the interests of his organisation to the fore.

The self-aware leader never takes credit for the actions of their team, there is no 'gray area of interpretation' on morals or ethics. A self-aware leader is in the spotlight 24x7, laid bare before the organisation, always on call for their people.

A good leader is inspiring and consistent in their judgement. They are fair, balanced and trustworthy. People are driven and motivated by a good leader. They respect them but are not diminished or intimidated by them.

If you know a good organisations that is looking for good leaders. Tell them to clearly and honestly, examine their true requirements and goals. The 3 dimensional levels of needs that they want to meet and satisfy.

Remember that truly successful organisations must be led by thoroughly 'good human beings', people of good character. These are the only people who will lead us from deception and fantasy into the harsh reality of the future, and they will deal with it appropriately, when we get there.

Play the Right Person in the Right Position; No strikers in goal!

Aye! Aye! Sir! The face of Experience but not the Voice.

One of the most common mistakes that I see in organisations is that they promote or recruit great technical experts to be poor project managers and excellent sales representatives to be ineffective commercial or business managers.

I am not a big fan of the highly commercialised football business, but the strategy mentioned here is the same as taking your best goal scorer off the field and puting him in as the club manager. The skills needed to perform one job function are rarely suitable to perform the other.

Someone who is a highly accomplished technical expert in the organisation is not the same person to lead, control and focus the efforts of others.

I am not saying that this person is not capable of being re-trained into a new role but has the appropriate assessments and interviews taken place to ascertain, not only elligibility but motivation and focused commitment.

You originally hired them or trained them to perform a very specific task or fullfil a series of objectives. They have consistently delivered high quality results and have bailed the organisation out of many problems. Everyone knows that they can rely on this person.

Suddenly and after due thought, the organisation decides to implement strict project management methodologies to support the company's forecasted growth. They decide to use this chosen technical expert to lead a major implementation.

It makes sense, doesn't it? This is the person that always delivers and therefore they must be the best candidate. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily the correct criteria and so often this person quickly falls into difficulties and ends up on their face. The real victim can be the organisation and it's new found belief that project management doesn’t work for them.

At the core of this issue is not the person chosen to be the project manager, it is the organisation that put them into an untenable position. Although the chosen person is very focussed and motivated by their technnical expertise, they were not truly suitable to organise the resources and coordinate the project.

The majority of technical gurus, would prefer to get their hands on the toys and start fixing the problems themselves. They are used to working in chaotic situation and they are happy to live in that environment. Therefore, they do not always see the true value of running a well controlled project in an organised and structured way.

A second issue that I have seen is with the governance controls inside organisations. These are intended to be established to support project management in an organisation. Often these organisations are stuffed to the roof tops, with theoretical and process people that have never successfully run a project themselves.

So often, processes and policies are developed for the rest of the organisation, that are far removed from the reality of everyday projects. What is developed is something theoretically sound, state-of-the-art approved and slick but, unfortunately, it does not meet the organisation's cultural requirements. "Looks great Bob! but we can't use it!"

At this point one of two things can occur.
1) Stakeholders and senior management sponsors will continue to insist that the PMs, running the projects, use these processes and policies, or else! The risk here is that the projects will all bog down and start to fail, despite the determination of all concerned.

2) In the absence of a strong directive from above, the more experienced PMs will simply ignore the processes and policies and fall back into their own tried and tested 'ways' to run the projects. This can also spell disaster for the organisation and by association, project management methodologies.

Another common issue I have seen, is that most organisation think they can perform project management cheaply, using more junior level people. They hire people that have less than five years experience and they call them Project Managers. They tell these people to take control and drive the projects towards implementation.

Without real, hard-won, experience about how to deal with and communicate positively with senior level functional and business managers, these poor people will very quickly lose their authority. They will be stripped of their implied status and will simply become the subordinates, and compliant 'yes-sirs', to the functional and business managers involved.

The functional and business managers have now gained control of your critical projects and the project managers becomes the note-takers, expeditors and coordinators. The project is now moving in another direction and with prioritised goals that were never required or intended. Again the organisation sees project management as the failure.

To have a successful project management environment you need to hire the right people. Just as you do not hire a goalscorer to manage a team, nor should you hire a technical expert to lead your project management effort. Find a seasoned, well weathered business management professional with the right experience and commitment to lead the organisation.

In conclusion, if you want to succeed, with the development and implementation of project management within your organisation, you must not skimp or stray from the path. You must hire a seasoned project manager with the correct skills and true experience to perform their duties and sometimes that means saying 'No sir!', with all due respect.

Headhunters Sniff Positive Change in the Air

Headhunters Sniff a Positive Change in the Stagnant Corporate Air.

Are you Ready to Catch a Wave?

Recruiters show a spike in confidence for the job market over the next few months but a dramatic improvement may be a lot further down the rocky road to recovery.

To gauge a headhunter's mood, look no further than the economy's health. They are closely linked. With prospects for financial fortunes improving, recruiters are growing more confident that companies will soon resume hiring.

The surge in optimism is sudden. ExecuNet, a networking forum for executives that conducts a monthly poll of executive recruiters, found in its just-released May survey that 57% of 143 respondents were confident or very confident that the executive employment market will improve in the next six months.

That was 16 points higher than in the April survey, and the second-highest monthly gain since ExecuNet launched the survey in May 2003. The biggest increase? That came way back in the survey's second month, coinciding with the easing of the previous economic downturn, when the confidence index shot up 20 points.

"Responses are similar to what we saw coming out of the last recession in the second quarter of 2003," said Mark Anderson, ExecuNet's president and chief economist, in a statement.

Word of Caution: Although headhunters' confidence is increasing, hiring levels are not moving, yet.

Leadership; more skills needed in recession

Trust me! I'm a Leader!

The only way out of a difficult situation is through good positive leadership. It has been a long time since I met a leading figure that I respected. Now I would be satisfied with meeting one that I liked and can spend more than 5 minutes in their company. What qualities do you look for in a good leader in these challenging times? Intelligence, foresight, sobriety, etc.

Re-Introducing
You have heard this introduction before in many guises; money is tight, employee layoffs loom and spirits are dwindling, we're in a recession. So where are the great leaders and orators that will lift us out of this or are we those great leaders, playing out of position. Maybe you should stop looking out for help and start looking inwards. You, as an IT consultant, subject matter expert or executive have the insight and determination to develop and expand your powers to take on the qualities of a good leader. Why do you not take it to the next level?

Same old same old
You have spent all those years keeping your staff engaged and motivated through numerous spirit breaking projects; company mergers, legacy systems upgrades, application server integrations, etc you are well used to meeting the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune seekers. Managing changing expectations in uncertain times is what you do as a day job. Why do you expect others to do it for you? They are far too busy with more important things, like growing their egos, cubicles and their expense accounts.

You, as the leader
Find within you and develop further, the ability to lead and inspire. In times where fear and instability raise their scary heads, people need someone they can feel confident in. Someone who knows in what direction they should be going, in what direction they are actually going and the potential impact of this delta.

All is questions
You don't have all the answers, no-one has but you have a team of experts around you that do. If not then expand your points of reference. There is a vast array of knowledge resources out there. Use them.

When all around are losing theirs
Make yourself the go-to guy, the point of contact and voice of reason. A safe haven where people can go and talk freely. Somewhere they can brainstorm without being rained on. Somewhere they can workshop with sharp tools and smart products. It is your job to make them feel good and go away feeling better about who they are, what they're doing and how they are contributing. People want leaders (strange but true). Look around you and then take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself 'Who else is going to do it?

Develop your listening skills
Be consistent, be effective, be a frequent communicator, but most important of all, be an intelligent listener. Ask good questions, absorb what's being said and appreciate the issue that's being passed to you with the same level of attentiveness and concern as you expect from them.

Short Term benefits
Find the quick wins and short-term benefits to help the team and the organisation. You also need to communicate upwards with the entire leadership team, ensuring that the whole organisation is in agreement and aligned.

Develop your voice
The leadership team as a whole needs to be very committed to the new roadmap. Ask for their buy-in and a demonstration of their unity. After all, you're asking everybody else to do more with less, why not include the management team. There is no room for passengers and overweight expense accounts on this voyage.

Is there real credibility in the operational results you're striving for. Be honest, set achievable expectations and execute on promises, if you want to be taken seriously. You can easily declare 'We pay on results and performance' but don't say it if you can't deliver on it yourself.

Be Captain credible or Rupert realistic
This means striving to deliver better results on projects, more quickly than you may have been accustomed to in the past. How is this possible? No long term projects or milestones allowed. Two- and three-year projects in these recessive times are doomed to fail. The impact on the bottom line has to be shown within 6 - 12 months, for their credibility to be sustained.

Caution, do not pull in the delivery dates too drastically but look at the credible re-structuring of them. Break them into smaller modules, more agile projects, with regular, smaller deliverables that add up to a realistic whole. If you do it right then the sum of the parts will exceed the original whole. It should help you get through the tighter change management and more stringent implementation criteria. You will have witnessed the rapid construction of these recently, safety barriers thrown up by the business to protect themselves from criticism.

Prioritise your priorities
The ability to prioritise is key in these situations, but you have been doing that as a routine anyway. Now think about priorities differently, more like the leader you are. Leadership in a recession requires strong prioritisation skills. Look differently at the expense and capital side and what can get done, as a priority. Look differently at the organisation as a whole and find the core functions that will deliver the short-term results but provide a platform for growth in the future.

The Pareto Principle
Using Pareto's 80-20 principle, closely examine your IT portfolio and determine which 20% of your investments will give you the 80% benefits.

Innovation re-invented
Innovation, creativity, flexibility and the ability to embrace change, isn't that where we have been for the last decade. Unfortunately it was aimed at technological solutions but now its concentrated on finding ways to cut expenses without layoffs. If you let people go now when the financial pictures gets murky, where is the rapid growth and steady recovery going to come from? So, for now, you have to be extra creative in trimming your budget, again.

Jettison excess cargo
Big fat overweight expense accounts are underoing a slimming program. Creative scheduling and cutting executives' perks and pay need to be considered before contemplating employee layoffs. The most agile and productive companies, are completely opposed to layoffs but this is delaying the decision not fixing it. It may lead to having to chew their own limbs off, at a later date.

Layoffs unplugged
Although they believe that layoffs are damaging to motivation i.e. the worst things you could possibly do, and the last tool in the arsenal to pull out, it may become inevitable. A company who begins laying people off, believ that the rest of the people stop worrying about their work and start worrying about themselves and their future. Thus there is a noted drop in productivity in those who remain with the company. Unfortunately they seemed to have accepted the example of a badly handled layoff and I am afraid to say that this may be the norm.

Knowledge losses grow
In past recessions companies laid off workers to please the banks and Wall Street, but when the economy rebounded the costs of finding new hires; recruiting, training and getting them up to speed, was more than the savings that were realised during the layoffs. They also lose the "tribal knowledge" of how things are done in the organization and are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Leadership qualities
The conventional model of a leader is rather dictatorial. One where they believe themselves to be omnipotent; all powerful, larger than life and always sure and definite in their manly stance. They are defensive, secretive and avoid any signs of weakness or criticism. Doors are locked, blame is dished out and examples are made to 'motivate' the others.

A good leader, is humble, self-effacive and expresses positive self-doubt when appropriate. He is honest in his praise and criticism alike. They admit to their faults when necessary, but if they do this when it is not appropriate, then it will be interpreted as a weakness.

Tigers caged
You may have read recently, if you were not on a tour of another galaxy, that many conventional business executives have been found out to be no more then paper sabre-toothed tigers and have been easily captured in the news; as willing players in long term corporate scandals, requiring mammoth bailouts. Given those negative headlines we are all dearly wishing that our new 'leaders' will aim to provide us with something different.

Teach a man to swim
"'Fish swimming upstream' is a good way to describe people who buck conventional wisdom and don't just go along. The ability to position yourself and your organisation as a sanctuary for good talent. You can spend a lot of time, money and effort seeking out the good people but it is much better if they come to you. Develop the ability to attract, develop and retain top talent.

Networking, networking, networking
Develop a world-class network of your top peers from the IT world, as well as providers and others you've encountered in your business dealings. Get the most out of the resource pools that surround you, whether it's your team, a potential hire, an executive, etc and do not neglect the greater technology community. This is the source of your new promising land.

Don't go overboard
Moderation in all things! Remember that the knowledge, wisdom and resources at our disposal are far bigger and greater than we ever let ourselves imagine. Just scratch the surface and stand back. These are dangerous waters full of monsters and pirates but having jettisoned excess cargo and found all the stowaways, shored up the leaks and established a true course, be prepared to accept eager boarders on this voyage of discovery. Captain, my captain!

Is Blind faith the best approach when not seeing good results?

Finding another executive position

If you talk to recruiters and headhunters that are specialising in executive searches, you will discover taht they are all saying the same thing: Talent cannot hide, if you're good, we'll find you. This may or may not be simple rhetoric but for today's executives whose phones are not ringing off the hook, we thought it might be useful to ask about the dos and don'ts of raising one'sprofile and getting picked up on a recruiter's low frequency radar.

For my part I will concentrate on the IT profession. A survey of 150 enterprise executives and IT managers found that while 38% found their current job through a personal network, 30% worked with a recruiter to land a job. Leaving 32% to wander in the wilderness.

Executives not looking to move, the headhunters we interviewed said there are ways you can make yourself useful that will pay dividends down the line and mistakes that can, put you in the doghouse forever.

First, you need to establish some kudos. After years of operating on the outer rim of the C-suite fishbowl, enterprise IT managers /executives are in deep. The executive IT manager role has moved to the forefront. It's a true C-level position.

The IT manager has found a seat at the table but IT managers are expected to contribute at board level. They are not an overhead to be controlled and contained, or a back-office function to ignore until something happens. They are a business enablement function that needs to be developed and cherished.

With the status comes pressure. There is zero tolerance for anything but solid execution, benefit achievement and results. The board room and sponsor expectations are higher than ever.

"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius."

The IT manager /executive operates on a different level than several years ago, when IT was at the epicenter of the tech bust. IT managers /executives are expected to be more business focused and enabling. There isn't a job that IT doesn't support and the extent of their financial spend and budget control is often the biggest in the company.

Moreover, despite all signposts pointing to a rough road ahead, recruiters remain busy, even if they are looking over their shoulders. Good candidates have multiple options and are difficult to retain.

Here are some suggestions, from the macro to the minuscule, for managing your career, so that you have multiple options too.

1. Track record

This speaks to the cardinal rule of recruiters: Build something and they will come. IT managers /executives who are going places stay at one organisation for a long enough time to deliver.

If you haven't been through a business cycle or two, I don't care how good you are, you can't claim success or real experience. A year or 18 months usually doesn't cut it. You have to be at an organisation long enough to live with your decisions, to make adjustments, to fix you're mistakes and to build on the things you've got right.

IT manager /executive searches often begin with very specific queries from client companies. A CEO of CFO will come forward and suggest that they want to drive a massive transformation of the business and require a strong IT manager /executive who has successfully completed major systems integration. Given some more specific information, the search is then on, where that talent exists.

Companies know that you don't always have full control over how long you last in a specific position but you should have management power over your career.

You have to look at your career and ask, 'Am I continuing to progress, am I getting broader, bigger and more complex responsibilities, am I building a portfolio of experience that will be valued by the next company, or the company after the next company?" Look for good companies and good leaders from whom you can learn.

Remember, nobody is going to do that for you. If you sit back and let your career happen, you might get lucky, but you might not. I wouldn't be too comfortable in letting fickle lady luck and moody madam fortune decide where I end up or what I am able to do.

2. Visibility

About two-thirds, maybe even three-quarters, of the people that headhunters contact during executive searches, are already in the headhunters' databases. It's their job to know who is out there before they are hunted but that leaves a good chunk of good people who have slipped under the low frequency radar. This includes those who are working so hard they haven't had time to put their head up.

Leave behind the cloak of invisibility and the anonymous mantle of obscurity. All headhunters stress the importance of getting on the speaker circuit and raising your profile. When doing a search, the first place to go is to the top expert in the field who is talking about this subject. Identify a topic you know well and have a lot of experience in and tell your vendors that you're available to speak at events.

Some touch of the artist wells up within me, and calls insistently for a well staged performance. Surely our profession would be a drab and sordid one if we did not sometimes set the scene so as to glorify our results

If it has been some time since you last agve a talk to a big audience, you can first get on a panel or a forum, which may be easier than giving a direct speech. People are always hungry to get expert speakers. It is actually easier than you think to be on a panel or a forum.

If you are selected as a speaker, prepare, prepare, prepare. Word travels fast if you fail to meet expectations.

We are a big fan of LinkedIn, but it must be used strategically. Your information must be accurate and concise. Hide your connections, but do connect to as many good people as you know. It is only prudent that you should ignore any request from somebody you don't know, and do ignore it, there is no need to write back and justify your actions.

3. A trusted source to recruiters

The covenant of eternal employment was broken some time ago, hence the need for a strong professional network, which includes headhunters and recruiters.

You need to proactively build a relationship with executive recruiters in your space, so you come into their mind before insignificant others.

Good recruiters have visibility into the marketplace. Over the course of a long career, a recruiter can act as trusted advisor but good relationships are a two-way street and mutually beneficial.

Good headhunters are busy and they're going to be spending most of their time on the searches they're being paid to do, not just giving out superfluous career advice to you. You can make yourself useful to them, in ways that will repay you many times over.

If you're the IT manager of Acme and used to work at GE, the headhunter may call you and ask to talk to the best IT person in your organisation, with Six Sigma process improvement knowledge. The question is are you willing to give them that information? If they ask you for a reference for a candidate that you know from a previous position, would you provide this?

When it comes to your own career, don't exxagerate or fudge. If you're thinking of leaving but can't really move for the next eight months because you're due to come into a major stock option, you'd better say so. Be honest and good recruiters will be honest back, sometimes painfully so. They don't work with people who are lying and exaggerating. It's not worth their while because ot erodes their integrity.

4. Go best, young execs

A word to the wise for the up-and-coming executives: Ambitious professionals look for the next rung up, the job nobody thought they could do, to prove themselves but the wise investment might be a lateral move, if there is an opportunity to learn, grow and work with the best.

These can be great learning environments and worth the investment and sideways step. Clearly, it's best to make the investment early in your career, if possible, when you have a little more flexibility in the scope and scale of role you can take.

In any case, big organisations, the Microsofts, Dells, GEs and Procter & Gambles of the marketplace, tend to hire "bigger than the role."

These companies are so complex, the matrix is so difficult to get your arms around. To put you in a stretch role in an environment where you don't know the company, you don't know the political landscape, is really difficult. It's a unique individual who can take on those two variables and be successful.

Their view is to put you in a role that you can do, so you're not underwater from day one. As you progress and figure out how things get done, they will expand your role. It is an expansionist veiw, limited only by what you are capable of.

Candidate references

Who should I choose as my referees?

Almost 60% of employers claim that they have had to withdraw an offer of employment after receiving poor references about successful applicants.

So, you have managed to wow your future employer at interview stage. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and you have convinced them that you are that man i.e. the best person for the job. The last hurdle to hop over is supplying some references. This does not mean that you can get away with being sloppy and provide poorly prepared references.

References are significant and act as a third party endorsement. They are used by hiring managers as reassurance that you are who you say you are and will do for them what you claim you have done for your previous employers.

Therefore, given the high number of rejections at the reference phase, it is important to prepare your references properly. Here are some useful pointers.

Don't include any details
Don't give the names and contact details of your referees on your CV. You should simply state that ‘References are available on request'. Employers will ask you for details if and when they are ready to offer you a position. After all, you wouldn't want your current employer being asked if they would re-hire you when you haven't even told them you're leaving!

Protect your referees
Amazingly, I have had 'unprofessional' recruitment companies approaching my references without permission, to request information on not only myself but also using the approach as a prospective sales call. They started asking if the executive could provide information about other employees in the organisation who may be interested in using the services of a recruitment agency. Not to be content with this, they went on to ask if the organisation would be interested in engaging the recruitment company for its own recruitment, as an aide de HR?

Needless to say they did not get a very positive response and I was extremely embarassed when I heard what had happened. My referee was very magnanimous about the whole incident but as a very busy senior executive in an international organisation, he should have been treated with more respect. Not to mention violating my trust!

What kind of information will my referees be asked to provide?

Nowadays, hiring managers can only request;

• Length of employment
• Previous job title
• Brief details of responsibility
• Overall performance
• Time-keeping and attendance
• Reason for leaving

Employers can also ask your previous company if they would re-hire you, should you apply for a position there in the future.

Choose your referees carefully
85% of employers will check at least one of your references when offering you a position. Typically this will be your most recent employer. So it is important that you choose the most appropriate and responsive people to support your application.

Its all relatively simple

Personal references are not advisable because they are more likely to be complimentary and positive, so it is best to avoid them. Having Grandma Doris saying what ‘a lovely lad' you are isn't going to hold much weight, unless she has a connection to royalty or is married to the CEO.

Remember that it is not written in stone that you have to use a former employer as a reference. Business acquaintances, customers and organisation leaders can all make good references, too. If you don't have much in terms of work experience, you're advised to use one of your tutors.

What are they saying about you?
Under the Data Protection Act, you have the right to see what comments your old employer has made about you as part of their reference in much the same way that you can access your medical records.

If there are comments included that you don't agree with it may be too late with this particular job offer, but you may wish to find out, diplomatically why these comments were made. Simply to make sure that this particular reference doesn't harm your next application.

Believe me, it is a mistake to suggest that your Parole Officer will provide a good reference for you. No matter how true and well intended this may be.

Downsizing Checklist

The Layoff Checklist

Staff movement and layoffs are a fact of life, whether you are in a large or a small organization. The downsizing process is never simple and often unpleasant, especially if it is badly planned, managed and implemented. Your local HR department will have the most relevant experience and knowledge on how to do this, in the most professional and humane manner. The short checklist provided here is more concerned about the methodology rather than the reasons behind it. The checklist covers the main topics that every manager should know and understand prior to terminating one or more employee(s).

The CHECKLIST

□ If its possible, communicate with and prepare your staff for the possibility of layoffs in advance. No termination should come as a complete surprise to an employee under any circumstances. They need time to consider or imagine the possibility.

□ Put your rationale in writing as well as explaining your decisions to upper management if necessary. Puting it in writing provides clarity and negates ambiguity and doubt.

□ On a practical level, establish a detailed plan for handling the workload after the layoffs have occurred, given that there will often be a period of low morale and disruptions.

□ Make a list of key files any employee may have, and arrange for their transfer.

□ HR are your touchstone, so check with them often. There will be defined procedures to follow; get the paperwork right, collect keys and badges, etc. HR people can give you helpful advice on dealing with the more emotional aspects of a layoff, and often provide supportive techniques for delivering the bad news and dealing with the reaction..

□ Keep everything on a safe legal footing. There may be specific things that you must, or must not, say. It is a time when you can easily leave yourself and the company open to litigation.

□ Put in place IT & Security policies to cancel access privileges immediately (within a few seconds) after terminating anyone. Angry or disgruntled ex-employees can and will, do significant damage to your systems the moment they return to their desks. Do not underestimate the impact of this. There are many documented cases of this happening.

□ Establish, in advance with all parties concerned, what will happen before, during and after the termination interview, e.g. who will escort employees back to their work space, how long the laid-off employees will have to gather personal belongings and who will collect keys and badges, etc. Normally security will play a role here. They are less 'involved' with the staff than the management and can be very professional and objective.

□ Managing the guilt and emotional reactions of the “survivors” as early as possible, is essential. Arrange to meet with them to communicate what has happened and why. Then explain the new work plans, address their fears and answer their questions, no matter how difficult

□ Do not forget your own feelings and emotions in all this and seek some good advice from your HR department. They will be best placed to tell you how to deal with what is happening. You are also one of the 'survivors' and you will be expected to do more with less, once the downsizing operation is complete.

Stay Focused - Tough Times ahead

Budget cuts. Layoffs. Doing more with less. Sound familiar? Every manager is suddenly tasked with putting out fires on multiple fronts, as businesses struggle to survive amid the economy's smoking ruins. Don't forget your day job, little things like keeping the service levels (SLAs), servers and network availability in the greenest of green.

The mounting responsibilities and demands can be both personally distracting and professionally discouraging for some IT and business managers: The US's work-related worries jumped from 62 percent to 67 percent between April and October 2008, according to the American Psychological Association.

Now, more than ever, focus is the name of the game, especially when people and money are tight.

Finding and maintaining your office Zen isn't as easy these days. Drawing on past experiences, here's how some current and former CIOs have maintained focus in their role and within their department during a crisis.

"After the dotcom bubble burst in 2000, business was struggling and the workplace was pretty tense," recalls Les Duncan, then senior vice president and CIO at Joann Stores.

To ease staff concerns, Duncan held regular meetings where he could speak directly about business conditions and highlighted that week's or month's hot issues. His staff knew how the company planned to weather the difficult times so they could focus on their work, he says. "This transparency also helped me to stay focused on what was really important i.e. the success or failure of the business during hard times."

Get busy and stay busy. We've all worked at businesses where large numbers of employees were cut from the payroll. Most of the employees ran around huddling in small groups talking about the latest rumour, but you want to be in the group that stays busy and focused on delivering. So busy that you don't have time to whine.

Positivity and flexibility is essential in staying on target at work. "Anticipate changes by checking in frequently with business decision makers and stay on the offensive by killing projects that are going nowhere".

Try to see the opportunity in any major change. It's a good time to offer assistance to colleagues and take on tasks that might normally be outside your scope. This is not the time to hide in an IT or business silo, but the ideal time to step out of it. Create the space and opportunity to innovate. It costs very little and can result in new opportunities and growth.

Corporate Psycopaths

If you work in a corporate organisation or an office, your boss or the person sitting next to you could be a psychopath. This may not be news to you. You will probably have suspected this and singled the person out for cautious attention.

Not every psychopath is a budding Hannibal Lecter or Patrick Bateman, the Harvard Business School-educated Wall Street banker with a sadistic murderous streak who is the anti-hero of Brett Easton Ellis' brutal novel "American Psycho".

They may not be violent, but their character traits are certainly identifiable as psychopathic and this helps them climb the corporate ladder. According to Professor Robert Hare, an expert in psychopathy at the University of British Columbia, Canada, "corporate psychopaths" are ruthless, manipulative, superficially charming and impulsive, the very traits that are landing them high-powered managerial roles.

"Psychopaths are social predators and like all predators they are looking for feeding or killing grounds," he said. "Wherever you get power, prestige and money you will find them." The key characteristics shared by all psychopaths (Professor Hare estimates that as much as one percent of the population of Britain and North America are clinically psychopathic) are their lack of compassion and inability to empathize with others.

While they may thrive in the paranoid atmosphere of high pressure environments, they can also harm the companies they work for. They make life a misery for their co-workers, throwing fits of rage, blaming others when things go wrong, and taking credit for other people's work.

To combat this, Professor Hare has teamed up with corporate psychologist Dr. Paul Babiak to design a test that allows companies to detect corporate psychopaths before they can do serious damage in the workplace.

The "Business Scan 360" test is used to assess managers who may carry psychopathic traits yet come across as ideal corporate leaders. Professor Hare is also examining economic crime in the U.S., such as the Enron and WorldCom scandals, to see how corporate psychopaths operate.
"The psychopath is the kind of individual that can give you the right first impression, has a charming facade, can look and sound like the ideal leader, but behind this mask has a dark side."

"It's this dark side of the personality that lies, is deceitful, manipulative, it that bullies other people, it promotes fraud in the organization and steals or diverts the company's assets or money."

Hare believes that individual employees who suspect they are working with a psychopath should also take steps to avoid becoming their next "victim."

"The most important thing is to be aware," he says. "Once you take that position you are in a better position to deal with them."

Paul Farmer, from the mental health charity Rethink, agrees that "corporate psychopaths" pose a major threat to harmonious workplace relations. "The danger is that they build up a power base and turn everyone in the organization paranoid, everyone becomes afraid of everyone else and the work culture begins to reflect the personality of the leader," said Farmer.

"The workplace is often the most stressful place a person finds themselves in, employees and managers need to keep an eye out for signs of deteriorating mental health in fellow colleagues."