Leadership Happy Families

Happy Families is possibly one of the most popular games of the last 200 years. A simple concept invented in the 1850's - players started with a deck of 44 playing cards - each card featuring the picture and name of a family member and their job types -e "Bun the Baker", "Bones the Butcher and "Pot - the Painters Wife".


Now - jump forward to today and think about you own Executive Board, Management Team or the group / team in which YOU work.  Clearly they each have names and job titles too but what they also have are common characteristics - common to every company and every organisation.

Do you recognise any of them?...


DISTRACTER
Does things that takes attention away from the team's problems and finds distractions or 'other things' on which the team should focus
REBEL
Independent soul - doesn't ever quite fit in and happiest when not following rules. Makes a point of behaving differently to others but get's away with it because they are often good at what they do and often also they are good communicators. Can be high maintenance and hard to manage
MASCOT
Nice to have around so treated as good for the team but certainly not essential - with often questionable contribution to team performance.
FAVOURED SON
Perceived to get special treatment or extra attention or benefits that others may not get but is expected to be more responsible. Often very loyal and trusted by management.
HERO
This is the team member that saves the day - often repeatedly - whenever the team or organisation is in trouble. Need a big sale - in steps the Hero - need to
SCEPTIC
The doubter of the team- always keen to point out why things won't work. Tries to position themselves as the voice of reason - especially when confronted by new / creative / different.
JUDGE
It's never their fault - especially when things go wrong. Happy to point the finger at others - be the judge and jury and tell tales - not a desirable attribute but one that is sadly all too common.
SICKLY
Often ill, sick or impaired in some way  or has a 'problem' which is the excuse they always have for not participating in difficult or less popular tasks.
CHEERLEADER
Happy to shout encouragement but not so keen to stray onto the 'pitch' and get stuck in. Risk averse and likes to keep their hands clean
STAR
High performer and treated as such. Performance achievements means that mistakes and inadequacies are often ignored (sometimes to the annoyance of mortals). Generally good to have around as they often inspire.
SAINT
Never seem to do anything wrong. Can be pompous and righteous but usually highly moralistic and strong values - rarely challenged
SCAPEGOAT
Used by the team to bear the brunt when things go wrong - accepts their position as team whipping-boy and accepts responsibility for failure even when not directly their fault
JOKER
Fun to have around  but compulsive use of humour can be inappropriate and tiring.Often have issues facing difficulties themselves but equally can sometimes be a useful distraction.
PEACEKEEPER
Always there to keep the peace when the going gets tense. Tries to maintain harmony at any cost and in every situation. Never confronts things - always backs down.
MARTYR
Endures suffering on behalf of others - Takes blame for failures - usually works stupid hours and displays abnormally high loyalty to get attention and recognition - struggles with the concept of balance.  

To create true empathy, interdependence, trust and balance within a team - team members must be clear about exactly who they think they are, who other people think they are and who they think other people are....they can then have meaningful and truly progressive conversations about how to work together to best advantage.

Managing Time is a Big Undertaking

Douglas Adams famously once said -"I love deadlines - I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by"

Managing Time is a very big undertaking! - on one level it's a bit like trying to learn how to command ocean waves or trying to master switching the sun on and off!

Yet there are a plethora of time management courses out there offering to make you better and more efficient human beings.

Time management is as much a philosophy as a learned skill. Most ‘courses’ focus on concepts we all already know but fail to implement on a daily basis.

In essence time management is about the art of avoiding distraction, the ability to prioritise, the importance of planning and goal setting, managing deadlines and the art of saying NO.

Above all else time management is about the need to do what’s important NOT what’s urgent.

For time management to be really effective as a learned discipline - delegates need to accept, identify and personalise their own time management issues in order to create a unique tactical plan for themselves that will be different to those of their colleagues.

Some simple time management techniques that we find particularly effective and that we include on our Time Challenge - time management courses are:

- Switch off your emails for two hours every day
- Write your to do list every morning - then rank tasks from 10-1( ie from "absolutely must do now" to "would be nice to get to
this as and when)"
- Spend at least half an hour a day not at your desk
- Have formal "me time" breaks at least twice a day and for at least 15 minutes each. You have permission to relax
- Have a weekly meeting with team colleagues - see who's got bandwidth to help if you are snowed under
- Log everything you do for a week and put the time used against each entry - then review it. Be warned it's frightening!
- Stay relaxed.
- If tasks are very big - break them down into 'bite-sized' blocks
- Plan each day - the day before
- Be realistic
- Buy a watch!

VENUE REVUE

Does the following scenario sound familiar..?

You are planning a team day for your team. It's an offsite / away day and you want it to be memorable, exciting, motivational, fun and at the same time serve as an important business process.

As it is rare to get the entire team together in one place you have also decided that the first hour or two of the day will be a quick 'state of the nation' catch up - a look at plans going forward and a canter through the recent sales figures.

Now you have managed to secure a budget but times are still hard - after all our illustrious new government keeps telling us that now is the age of austerity - and so you decide that for the sake of prudence you'll take advantage of the training rooms on the 5th floor.

BIG MISTAKE

The point is this - you have to engage and excite people in order to motivate and inspire them and you wont do this at work!

When people literally get to go -offsite they change. They can no longer nip to their desks or feel inclined just to do a couple of things at lunch time. What's more - we all like a nice venue - a good lunch - a chance to wander around some beautiful gardens or at least hang out in a funky venue

At Poisson Rouge we place a HUGE amount of importance on being able to find and contract venues that are ideal for your business needs and a really great venue can make the difference between an offsite being a phenomenal success and merely - yet another training day.

For this reason we have a dedicated venue resource. We have a vast database and working knowledge of venues all over the world. We visit at least two new ones every week of the year. We work with venues - we hold showcases in them - we get to know their marketing teams, and we share feedback and client experiences.

Our venue team will find you venues wherever you need to be and we do this FREE of charge. Whilst if course we love all our clients and would happily work for nothing anyway - we are fortunate that venues pay us a commission of between 8% and 10% for bringing business to them whilst still ensuring that we get the best possible rates so there is no detriment and only advantage to you in letting us help you.

So - please please please - don't ignore the importance of the venue - there some really cool venues out there to match every budget.

Showcase Showtime

There's a wonderful quote which says that "the role of Marketing is simply to make people unhappy with what they have"

Well for us it's more about making them aware of what they don't have YET but could have - in our case fantastic, unique and creative team building ideas.

To this end therefore we regularly hold 'showcase' events in partnership with luxury training and hotel venues.

The thinking is simple - we invite you to come along FREE OF CHARGE to a stunning hotel - where we give you a hearty breakfast, a damn fine lunch and the opportunity to take part in one of several of our teambuilding or people development activities.

For those who so desire - we also offer very highly discounted rates to those who wish to stay on for the night, the week-end etc

It's not rocket science but its very popular and it's a win - win - win. We get to demo our exciting products, the venues get to market their wares to exactly the right audience and you get to network with industry peers whilst enjoying a legitimate and throughly innovative team experience

So - Hoping w enow have your undivided attention - here are the details of our next 'Showcase adventure.

Poisson Rouge in conjunction with Hand Picked Hotels are delighted to invite you to attend a FREE Team Building Showcase. Not only will you get to see what is out there at the forefront of creative team building ideas, but you will also get to experience first hand one of Hand Picked's fantastic venues, Nutfield Priory Hotel & Spa in Surrey.

WHAT:

FREE Breakfast
FREE Teambuilding Showcase with a chance to experience and participate in several unique teambuilding ideas for yourself
FREE Networking opportunity to exchange ideas and information about how you build your teams
FREE Lunch
FREE Hotel showround
FREE Goodie Bag

WHEN:

Thursday 5th August 2010, 0800 - 1330.

WHERE:



Nutfield Priory Hotel & Spa
Nutfield
Surrey, RH1 4EL
http://www.handpickedhotels.co.uk/hotels/Nutfield-Priory/

CONTACT:

hannah@poissonrouge.co.uk– 0207 267 3646.

Places will be limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis so BOOK NOW*

* COURTESY REQUEST
We understand that in these challenging times, schedules and diaries change rapidly and client interactions always take priority. However, we would respectfully request that if you have managed to secure a place and your plans then change, that you kindly let us know as early as possible so that we can offer your place to someone else. THANK YOU.

TASTY TEAM BUILDING FOR THE SUMMER

Ok - So it's hot outside and the business is heading for summer slow down as clients and suppliers take off for their annual holidays.

So now is the perfect time to think about teambuilding and what better way to build a team than with ICE CREAM...Yum!

Yet another of Poisson Rouge's uniquely creative team building activities is the ICE CREAM CHALLENGE http://bit.ly/cqRXpd

The Ice Cream Challenge combines product R&D, brand strategy, communications, creativity and team dynamics to create optimum team performance (and you get to eat some ice cream!!)

In this activity - Teams essentially have to develop, manufacture, brand and promote a new product - an Ice Cream.

The event starts with a briefing at which teams are informed that they have just been taken over and that the new owners have changed their line of business to become an ice cream manufacturing company. They must now develop a new product for the World Food Fair - an ice cream!

Teams have a limited amount of time to create a new recipe, actually make real ice cream using specialist equipment provided – then package and promote it.

Judging is based on taste, packaging, the commerciality of the teams’ marketing plans and a TV commercial with jingle that they will have filmed and / or performed live.

As mentioned already - many aspects of team performance are touched on here including: communication, customer centricity, resource management, leadership, teamwork, empathy, interdependence, trust, creativity, problem solving, discovery (i.e. getting to know your colleagues) and having fun.

This can be delivered just about anywhere and although we hate to admit is - is very, very good value

Mind you - having tasted some of the concoctions such as pork and broccoli ice cream - it's not always the nuts!

Unique Talent Management Process

Talent Management is dark art at the best of times

Here at Poisson Rouge we have developed a unique process that we call ‘Navigator’.
This is our generic name for this process although when we embed it into a company culture we often develop a unique ‘brand’ name for the process that matches the style and lingua franca of the client.

So what is Navigator?

Navigator is an innovative assessment methodology used in Talent Management and Identification. It is a diagnostic technology used for exploring and contrasting current performance levels whilst simultaneously assessing future potential. It departs from current assessment methodologies by focusing on the ability to handle and manage complexity at all managerial / seniority levels within an organisation.

In particular, it examines:

* The headroom between applied capability (current) and potential capability (future)
* The capacity to deliver against role specific competencies (current) to mastery of supra-leadership competencies (future) that
cut-cross all leadership roles, and across all political, economic, technological, and change climates
* The likelihood that temperament (current) will fuel the emergence of a dark side of personality leading to derailment /
disruption.
* The contrast between motivation and personality (current) and aspirations (future) that support progress to higher level roles.

A Navigator candidate’s development and achievement potential is expressed in three ways:

* The ability to perform a higher level role – e.g., can / could the candidate in their (current) role successfully take on the
complexity demands of a next level or more senior position (future)
* Future potential – the maximum level of complexity that the candidate is likely to be able to master in the future – i.e., what is
the cap on performance (current and future)
* Time span – what is the time related progress curve of realising potential – e.g., in a Law firm when will a Senior Associate
(current) be ready to take on a Partner role (Future)

Navigator is based on an 8-level model of complexity, where each level is conceptually and significantly different than the previous level. Below is an overview.

A typical example of how we use Navigator is to look at the difference between say - our level 3 (Convergent Thinking) and our level 4 (Divergent Thinking).

Convergent Thinking typifies the technical professional roles (e.g. a practicing lawyer). Here the emphasis is on pure logic and linear thinking e.g. if London is bigger than Birmingham, and Birmingham is bigger than Sheffield, then the logical conclusion is that London is bigger than Sheffield.

Divergent Thinking typifies roles that go beyond technical delivery on its own and involve a degree of ambiguity (e.g. managerial role). Divergent thinkers are able to manage contrasting views and are able to manage two or more lines of thinking in parallel. Divergent thinking goes beyond pure logic. E.g., If Holland’s football team is far superior to Switzerland’s football team, the fact that Spain beat Holland in football, does not necessarily guarantee that they will beat the Swiss team (they actually lost 1:0).

As part of the set up we map the complexity of roles within your organisation against the navigator 8-level model. Then for each candidate we map their capability both current and future / aspirational.



HOW NAVIGATOR IS EMBEDDED IN AN ORGANISATION

Stage 1:
One-off diagnostic research of the organisation and its roles to map the roles into the 8-level model and profile existing good, bad and ugly!
Stage 2:
Candidates are filtered and selected by the client (in consultation with us)
Stage 3:
Candidates are invited to complete some pre-work (questionnaires incorporating psychometric, personal and career-focus instruments).
Stage 4:
Each delegate spends a min of half a day (4-5 hours normally) with a Poisson Rouge Navigator assessor to explore with them their career, personal profile, aspirations, and the findings from the pre-work.
Stage 5:
Complexity handling exercise
Stage 6:
Analysis and reporting

Less is More

The government keep telling us - this is now the time of austerity...well Ok but do stop banging in about it.

We - like most companies had to put our hard hats on in 2009 and adapt in order to survive and prosper.One of the positive outcomes of those hard times (they do say every cloud has a silver lining!) is that we are now delivering hard hitting , high impact team building and people development activities for a truly diverse cross section of clients - but with less than a third of the in house resource we had in 2008 meaning we can remain much more cost effective than many of our competitors.

So what's changed?

Well for a start we have really focussed on the way we use associates - making sure they are qualified, insured as appropriate, available and have experience and track record within the relevant sector.

We also make sure that there is a best fit. We consider carefully which associates we are going to put forward for any job taking on board not just qualification and experience but also the less scientific but supremely important other factors such as shared interests, geographical proximity, psychometric profile, empathy, communication style etc....

We work very hard to get to know and understand our clients and we vigourously support these relationships to build partnership status with our clients.

So far so good as 2010 is proving to be a great year for us and our clients ..... see below the feedback we just received from our most recent team-building event last week

"The aeroplane challenge was brilliant, as you know we did ours outside the room and the intensity and concentration of people when I went in the room was amazing and you could tell by the presentations how well the teams were involved and committed to the challenge.

I was going to email you today and thank you for everything, including you help throughout the day, couldn’t have asked for more and it was massively appreciated – Thank You

Would definitely use you again if/when we do this type of thing"