Total Leadership January 08

By Dennis N.T. Perkins with Margaret P. Holtman, Paul R. Kessler, Catherine McCarthy
In 1914, the intrepid explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded The Endurance with his team of seamen and scientists, intent upon crossing the unexplored Antarctic continent. What happened in the two years between their departure and their final, improbable rescue has rarely been matched in the annals of survival: a ship crushed by an expanding pack of ice....a crew stranded on the floes of the frozen Weddal Sea....two perilous journeys in open boats across a raging Southern Ocean...a team marooned on the wild forlorn Elephant Island, stretched to the limits of human endurance.

But through each phase and each day of this harrowing expedition, Shackelton led his crew with unsurpassed vigour, creativity and insight. It's a leadership story that resonates in the world of business today, where cutthroat competition, rapid change and constant demands for innovations have forced even prosperous companies to the edge of survival.

Perkins searches for the critical factors that determine the success of all leaders at The Edge. What were the core elements that made the outcome of The Endurance expedition so different from other failed expeditions? There were a number of forces that affected the outcome including weather, ice conditions and even luck. Shakleton's luck however was not limited to good fortune. He had a boatload of bad luck as well and it started at the outset of the adventure.

Perkin's suggests that Shackelton's safe return can be attributed to more that good luck. He probes the leadership strategies that enabled Shackelton's crew to beat the odds and survive the most unimaginable obstacles. The results of this analysis are 10 strategies which Perkin's suggests lead to the ultimate triumph and survival of every member of the party.

Each strategy is reviewed in detail linking it with modern examples from the world of business.

For any manager working on The Edge this book is a book full of priceless strategies which will help you turn adversities into triumphs. An excellent read -enjoy it!

Review by Martin Byrne, LMI Partner in the South East based in Kilkenny. He can be contacted on 086 813 2457.

The book is widely available from good booksellers.
ISBN 978-0-8144-0543-7

Consider for a moment who gets promoted in a sales department. Often, the top performing sales person is promoted to the sales manager. But then what happens? That sales manager gets bogged down in administrative paperwork (accurately termed "administrivia") and managing the rest of the sales staff that they don't get out on calls, they don't pick up the phone, and they don't knock on doors to build the business. Perhaps their book of business is turned over to lesser-performing staff who do not achieve the same level of sales from it.

The answer? Gift cards, increased commissions, and friendly competition between staff simply won't be nearly as effective as one thing: Get the sales manager out on calls.

The staff will see that management - often psychologically separated from doing the "real work" in the minds of the lower level employees - is out "pounding the pavement" to get business as well. This builds respect and a sense of fairness... and often serves to motivate through competitiveness as well ("Last month, I increased my selling percentage by 5% more than my sales manager!"). What's more, the sales manager can accompany all sales staff on calls, ultimately to model best sales practices and to assist in on-the-job training of sales skills.

The pitfalls to this practice are twofold... and easily solved:
The sales manager and the sales staff will no longer view the manager as a leader, but rather just as another salesperson. This can be solved when the manager accompanies the staff on sales calls and then meets with the employee afterward for a review of the call performance.
The sales manager will no longer be able to manage the office if they are out on calls and the paperwork will pile up. This can be solved by hiring an administrative assistant to handle the paperwork. In many offices, the additional business derived from a top performer re-entering the selling fray - as well as the increased sales from a highly motivated staff - will easily pay for that administrative assistant.

Have you ever seen the picture of General Douglas MacArthur stomping through the water toward the Philippines in 1944? That picture - effectively showing MacArthur as a leader who leads - was a carefully crafted shot designed to demonstrate exactly our point here: that motivational leaders are the ones who are out in the front.

Bob McCarthy (seen here with Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Micheal Martin) is the LMI partner in charge of the Cork office of LMI. He has consistently been one of the top performers in the LMI world organisation and has addressed the

LMI World Convention on several occasions. He may be contacted by clicking here.

Peter Drucker regarded in the world of business as a founding father of the study of management describes leadership as "the lifting of a person's vision to higher sites, the raising of a persons performance to a higher standard and the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."
Have you ever wondered why the best player in the team is rarely the captain? Drucker's thinking suggests and maybe rightly so, that there is a sound argument to support the theory that everybody is born with an aptitude for leadership but not all commit themselves to developing that potential. Those who back away from harnessing their leadership qualities probably, readily identify with the type of leaders who think they get targeted results simply by keeping people busy or urging them on to produce. Some of these who as it were fall short of their potential may be found in some Call Centres and wherever there is no time for self-examination, an exercise commonly undertaken by good leaders.

As an Aspiring leader you will normally begin the process of self examination by taking stock of your values. Next you will try and discover things that are important to you, things you really believe in. Now ask yourself, how are my values and beliefs impacting those around me? Answer, and then ask yourself, what can I do to help my colleagues to succeed and make a significant contribution to the success of the company. If you complete this you would have succeeded in narrowing the gap between your potential and performance. Also in keeping with the Drucker model for leadership you would be in a position to assist people around you to lift their vision to higher sites and raise their performance to higher a standard.

But let me now ask, how does your situation compare? For instance, on a scale of 1-10 in your organisation where would you put the gap between potential and performance? Psychologists reckon that on an average we use 10% of our potential. Let us assume that their calculation is correct, how would an additional 10% influence your performance and impact the company?
At LMI we believe that an organisation that seeks continuous improvement must begin by harnessing the unused potential of its people. We are also confident that an organisation can transform its results by developing the hidden potential of its people. How? Well there are several proven approaches. For starters you may wish to evaluate the impact of your own leadership style on your people.

Donal Brady is the Master Licensee for LMI in Ireland. He has over twenty years experience in people development and has written extensively on Leadership. For more information please contact Donal Brady.

Cormac Fitzgerald is the Managing Partner of Fitzgerald & Partners, an accountancy firm based in Kinsale, Co. Cork. There is a strong team ethos in the firm and Cormac is a great believer in people development. In this interview he gives his thoughts on his firm's progress and their partnership with LMI.

Q. Cormac, my understanding is that you qualified as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in 1998 and formed your own CPA practice at that stage. How has the practice developed since that date?
A. We have enjoyed good growth since that time. Fitzgerald and Partners now employ 10 staff and have expanded our range of services to develop stronger relationships with our client base. My partner Denis Crowley ACA and I have set ambitious goals for the future development of the practice in the coming months and years. One of the most gratifying aspects of our development is that the vast majority of new clients are attracted to us through word-of-mouth and this appears to compound annually. We are seen as a dynamic practice that adds significant value to our clients' businesses.

Q. During your participation in the Effective Personal Productivity Programme you set some very specific business development goals - have you been successful in achieving these goals?
A. One of the greatest benefits of my involvement with LMI has been the goal-setting and planning process. In truth, many of the goals I set during this programme seemed too ambitious at the time. We have, however, exceeded these original goals and are now aiming higher. Needless to say, we encounter business challenges all the time but the process we now use helps us overcome these challenges and take action on the steps required to achieve these objectives.

Q. A number of your team-members have taken part in LMI's programmes - what impact has your practice experienced from their development?
A. Yes, my partner Denis Crowley ACA and our managers have participated in the Effective Personal Productivity Programme over the past number of years. The single biggest impact is that we have a more motivated focussed team. I see this and, more importantly, our clients see this. Clients notice when our team is motivated to serve them - this in turn strengthens relationships and opens new opportunities.

Q. You run a very dynamic, busy practice that is continually growing - this must impact on your family and leisure interests?
A.Yes, achieving balance in all areas of life is a challenge at times. I have interests in a number of areas outside of my business and I work hard to structure my working time to actively involve myself in these interests. Spending time with my wife Valerie and daughter Sara Marie will always be on top of my priorities. I am also interested in watersports and compete in competitive sailing and keep a motor-boat in Kinsale. Additionally I sit on a number of voluntary committees and have a number of other business interests. Setting goals in all these areas is of paramount importance because the time to do these things never just happens, I have to make it happen. I myself completed the Personal Leadership programme with LMI a short time ago - without a doubt this has strengthened my hand in terms of business and personal development.

Q. Looking forward, what are your business development goals for the next number of years?
A. We are continually developing ways to serve our clients better. I can't come up with all the ideas by myself - we rely on empowering our teams to develop strong relationships with our clients and serve their needs effectively. Our goal is to continually over deliver to our clients, to go the extra mile. Without a doubt, our clients win when our staff comes first. We will expand our practice over the coming years through strengthening our team, remaining focussed on our clients' needs and exceeding our clients' expectations. We will continue to develop our staff and plan to partner with LMI in the development of our team.