Showing posts with label business psychology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business psychology. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Episode 8 - Punch and Judy
Does Debra realise that the words ‘team leader’ actually include the word ‘leader’? For her, leadership seems to mean louder-ship: like speaking louder whilst on holiday, but still in English, to hope you can be understood. What happened to providing direction and planning for the team – isn’t this a core aspect of leadership? Of course, there’s more than one way of being a leader but increasing trust and communication is so central and Debra seemed to think this was more about increasing trouble and volume of communication.
It appears that Howard actually did most of the work on the task and had the most creativity. Creativity was so central to the task but it’s not just about coming up with the bright ideas – it’s also about how you execute them, something which the IPI looks at. Howard could also do with a booster in the influencing skills department – he could have led the task if he’d only influenced Mona and James to support his leadership bid, rather than solely concentrating on Debra and her robotic ‘I am the leader. I am the leader. I am….’
So Debra’s team misunderstood the task in hand. Did they think the brief was to create something that looked like “Marketing for 5 year olds”? Had Debra ever seen a leaflet before in her life? It’s not rocket science to plan the leaflet and work out what you want on each page: and isn’t time management the class-101 of managing yourself? To leave the leaflet blank was outrageous, and surely any client of hers would have sacked her immediately. Where was her customer focus? Did she even think about who her customers were – the Margate officials and residents and the branding agency – surely customer focus is a vital competency as business gets harder for us all right now.
And in chapter 2 of the rather large volume wending its way to airport bookshelves as we speak 'What IS it about Lorraine that is so darn irritating?' we wonder whether there has ever been a better living example of the word 'sanctimonious'. Off the hook this week for having somewhat coincidentally been in the winning team, she nonetheless managed to alienate her colleagues when, on returning from a seaside jolly with Ben 'David Bailey' Clarke, she pronounced: 'I don't like them!' on a second's sight of the posters. Being 'right' (they were far too full of words) doesn't always make you right, but somehow Lorraine's 'instincts' are a justification for every sanctimonious pronouncement she makes. Yasmina thinks she has her pegged - 'She's crazy! She has issues!' - and not a business psychologist in sight. Oh for some real insight of the kind a psychometric might give us (try the FIRO-B for starters if you want to work out what someone really needs from others to bring out the best in them - and please tell Lorraine!)
At last Siralan is now concentrating on picking ‘for the future of his organisation’ – a nice aspect to work into your selection criteria. Still, if he really had been selecting on this basis, surely he would have fired both Mona and Debra. He seemed somewhat non-plussed this week, struggling to decide between which would be more of a waste-of-salary in his organisation, a Mona (boom boom) without the assertiveness to articulate her own objections to the 'Margayte' plan, or little miss bossy Debra. What a missed opportunity - we’ve not had a double-firing yet this season and it at least would have spiced things up a little.
Finally, to borrow from The Guardian, this week may have been much more fun if the task brief had a typo and it was actually about re-branding Margaret! And is it true that Nick is a secret member of the 'Alternative Rodent's Gurning Society'? Do that vole-with-a-thistle-stuck up-its-nostril impersonation for us again, please Nick...
Oh, and our muppet of the week? It just has to be Ben for the constant photo framing using his hands –did he not realise that’s what the camera is for?!
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Episode 7 - Empire Strikes Back!
Siralan says it every week: “pressure – that’s what business is all about” and it seems that Phillip cracked under it – losing his focus, his sense of urgency, and generally STILL (true to form) getting into a pickle over Lorraine and a tingle over golden girl Kate.
In the grubby café, Lorraine is aware that pressure is the key “it’s what we signed up for – a bit of pressure”…but Phillip had long since opted out – his suggestion when he couldn’t focus enough to make any more appointments “let’s go to the pub”. We all love the pub – but that’s when the work’s done, surely! Did Phillip derail due to his obsession with Kate? Was it lack of ‘privateness’ – the tendency to keep personal information to himself (or not, in the case of him and Kate)? Kate certainly knew the importance of ‘privateness’ and clearly stated it in the Boardroom – “I wouldn’t let my personal life interfere with business”. Privateness has certainly been found to be, amongst other things, a clear leadership derailer – perhaps Phillip would care to read our article on it now.
Anyway, the predictions of fellow housemates proved accurate. Kate did not let her attachment to the rambunctious Philip of The Pants stand in the way of the competition, unceremoniously dumping him right in the fire of Siralan’s wrath in the boardroom. A quick farewell peck on the cheek was all he got for his attempts to woo her with his Cat-House antics and she was dust….I don’t think we’ll be seeing a ‘Hello!’ wedding there then…clearly a girl capable of logic and detachment, key skills in business decision-making.
It all comes back to trust – so basic, but so often forgotten. Why is this so tough!? Mona takes the PM job on simply because she “can’t trust anyone to do a better job than me” – ohhh. Where’s the trust Mona? Let’s hope that’s just the context of the competition and not her usual business behaviour.
Instinct: sometimes it works in business…but surely it’s about knowing when to use it and not – Lorraine – just repeating over and over that that is the way you do things so it must be right. Instinct about products can sometimes work but if the customer quickly realised “it’s a cardboard box in the end” – why didn’t the team?! And being disparaging about your customers must be a business no-no: did I really hear someone say about the ‘northern’ pet shop “wages are a little bit lower up here” – just where did they think they were?!
Why is it that some people are just so hard to like, and by association, work with? There’s nothing really WRONG with poor Lorraine, a grafter if ever there was one, and doubtless a marvellous mother and partner to someone, although she derides herself as being ‘a slow burner’ on the intellectual front. She describes herself as ‘very instinctive’. She talks about her ‘business instincts. She defends herself as ‘the victim’…wait, am I spotting a trend here? Of course, we think psychology has a huge amount to offer business, but the endless and self-obsessed self-analysis-thinking-out-loud is precisely what makes her so DARNED IRRITATING!!!! Stop telling us who you are and just be! Letting people take you or leave you as they find you, and then just Being, is a great lesson from true self-awareness that, for example, a psychometric feedback gives you.
Ben gets this week’s award for top marks on aptitude with the glorious deduction that “Gateway suggests it’s the gate to somewhere” – 110% for that observation Ben! I’m not sure how he’d stack up in our ability tests! Again we wish we’d be able to assess the candidates on their way into the competition – such geeky fun to be had!
Whilst trying to work out who is muppet of the week, we started to think that Lorraine should get this award – just for the open-mouth jaw-dropped pose she so fondly loves. A bit like a guppy fish- does that make her gup-pet of the week?!
In the grubby café, Lorraine is aware that pressure is the key “it’s what we signed up for – a bit of pressure”…but Phillip had long since opted out – his suggestion when he couldn’t focus enough to make any more appointments “let’s go to the pub”. We all love the pub – but that’s when the work’s done, surely! Did Phillip derail due to his obsession with Kate? Was it lack of ‘privateness’ – the tendency to keep personal information to himself (or not, in the case of him and Kate)? Kate certainly knew the importance of ‘privateness’ and clearly stated it in the Boardroom – “I wouldn’t let my personal life interfere with business”. Privateness has certainly been found to be, amongst other things, a clear leadership derailer – perhaps Phillip would care to read our article on it now.
Anyway, the predictions of fellow housemates proved accurate. Kate did not let her attachment to the rambunctious Philip of The Pants stand in the way of the competition, unceremoniously dumping him right in the fire of Siralan’s wrath in the boardroom. A quick farewell peck on the cheek was all he got for his attempts to woo her with his Cat-House antics and she was dust….I don’t think we’ll be seeing a ‘Hello!’ wedding there then…clearly a girl capable of logic and detachment, key skills in business decision-making.
It all comes back to trust – so basic, but so often forgotten. Why is this so tough!? Mona takes the PM job on simply because she “can’t trust anyone to do a better job than me” – ohhh. Where’s the trust Mona? Let’s hope that’s just the context of the competition and not her usual business behaviour.
Instinct: sometimes it works in business…but surely it’s about knowing when to use it and not – Lorraine – just repeating over and over that that is the way you do things so it must be right. Instinct about products can sometimes work but if the customer quickly realised “it’s a cardboard box in the end” – why didn’t the team?! And being disparaging about your customers must be a business no-no: did I really hear someone say about the ‘northern’ pet shop “wages are a little bit lower up here” – just where did they think they were?!
Why is it that some people are just so hard to like, and by association, work with? There’s nothing really WRONG with poor Lorraine, a grafter if ever there was one, and doubtless a marvellous mother and partner to someone, although she derides herself as being ‘a slow burner’ on the intellectual front. She describes herself as ‘very instinctive’. She talks about her ‘business instincts. She defends herself as ‘the victim’…wait, am I spotting a trend here? Of course, we think psychology has a huge amount to offer business, but the endless and self-obsessed self-analysis-thinking-out-loud is precisely what makes her so DARNED IRRITATING!!!! Stop telling us who you are and just be! Letting people take you or leave you as they find you, and then just Being, is a great lesson from true self-awareness that, for example, a psychometric feedback gives you.
Ben gets this week’s award for top marks on aptitude with the glorious deduction that “Gateway suggests it’s the gate to somewhere” – 110% for that observation Ben! I’m not sure how he’d stack up in our ability tests! Again we wish we’d be able to assess the candidates on their way into the competition – such geeky fun to be had!
Whilst trying to work out who is muppet of the week, we started to think that Lorraine should get this award – just for the open-mouth jaw-dropped pose she so fondly loves. A bit like a guppy fish- does that make her gup-pet of the week?!
Thursday, 9 April 2009
week 3 - managing your own personality
Debra oh Debra. How would you feel about having Debra as your boss? On the one hand, you might know where you’re headed to as a team (which can only be a 'good thing') and on the other hand, you might feel like resigning today/tomorrow due to the abrasive, loud, and meddlesomeness which is embodied in this contender. Being dominating can be an advantage in certain circumstances, but surely it's about knowing when this is needed and when to let your team have a say (yellow or blue floats anyone?). Perhaps an MBTI Team Report would help Debra understand a bit more. As Paula said to Debra on another occasion "You can manage other personalities but it’s your own personality you’ve got to try and manage as well!’. Perhaps my favourite quote of the show yet!
One of our resident business psychologists noticed that Philip stuck up for Lorraine in the boardroom after Debra berated her pitching style. MBTI enthusiasts might be pleased to see that there is in fact room for ‘feeling’ in the boardroom, and it is not all about criticising your colleagues!
Also isn't timing crucial for any leader - to know when to say something as well as how? This takes a certain combination of intellect and personality - which takes me to the Boardroom. On going into the Boardroom, Ben knew very well that this was the place to fight for himself. It's in the boardroom where it counts. And Ben was very clear, concise, and made sure he got his point across. In contrast to James, who under pressure, can't seem to string a coherent sentence together nor stand up for himself. Margaret noted that James is a 'jekyll and hyde' character: he could be a good manager but just not under pressure. Should managers always be under a certain amount of pressure? Certainly if they're going to climb to the other side of that Boardroom table, so to speak.
Our business psychologist also felt that James also seemed to trust people a lot, which implies that he would perhaps have a low ‘vigilance’ (read: trusting, unsuspecting, or accepting) score on the 16PF. This low ‘vigilance’ meant that he didn’t micro-manage his team, and let them get on with the product development. Question is, did this lead to the failure of their task?
Like or dislike him, Sir Alan again seems to have cut to the chase with the line to James about not challenging the hideous product they came up with. Being 'afraid to upset the kids' could be the inklings of some sort of weakness or development point - call it what you will - the failure to execute when faced with rocking the boat. Don't we need more brave and decisive leaders right now who have the strength to upset the kids...but then know how to pull the family back into the fold and get the business working?
OPP
P.S. I can't believe Sir Alan has put a stop to the 110% bingo fun - the scorecard was all ready to go with the copious mentions of ever increasing percentages!!!
One of our resident business psychologists noticed that Philip stuck up for Lorraine in the boardroom after Debra berated her pitching style. MBTI enthusiasts might be pleased to see that there is in fact room for ‘feeling’ in the boardroom, and it is not all about criticising your colleagues!
Also isn't timing crucial for any leader - to know when to say something as well as how? This takes a certain combination of intellect and personality - which takes me to the Boardroom. On going into the Boardroom, Ben knew very well that this was the place to fight for himself. It's in the boardroom where it counts. And Ben was very clear, concise, and made sure he got his point across. In contrast to James, who under pressure, can't seem to string a coherent sentence together nor stand up for himself. Margaret noted that James is a 'jekyll and hyde' character: he could be a good manager but just not under pressure. Should managers always be under a certain amount of pressure? Certainly if they're going to climb to the other side of that Boardroom table, so to speak.
Our business psychologist also felt that James also seemed to trust people a lot, which implies that he would perhaps have a low ‘vigilance’ (read: trusting, unsuspecting, or accepting) score on the 16PF. This low ‘vigilance’ meant that he didn’t micro-manage his team, and let them get on with the product development. Question is, did this lead to the failure of their task?
Like or dislike him, Sir Alan again seems to have cut to the chase with the line to James about not challenging the hideous product they came up with. Being 'afraid to upset the kids' could be the inklings of some sort of weakness or development point - call it what you will - the failure to execute when faced with rocking the boat. Don't we need more brave and decisive leaders right now who have the strength to upset the kids...but then know how to pull the family back into the fold and get the business working?
OPP
P.S. I can't believe Sir Alan has put a stop to the 110% bingo fun - the scorecard was all ready to go with the copious mentions of ever increasing percentages!!!
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