31st January was my final day as a Trustee and co-chair of the Arnolfini Gallery and it really is bittersweet to step down at this precise moment. The curtain falls on 6 years as a Trustee.

On the upside, I have enjoyed working with a very committed, passionate team that have always done their best for the gallery: I have not seen any self-promotion antics or questionable decision making done by anybody on the Board and that has been really refreshing and hasn’t been true of other leadership teams I have been involved with. The staff team have had to deal with some really difficult circumstances and uncertainty over the years and their commitment to opening the doors every day to enable the public to engage with the great art in the gallery has been humbling to see. As has their willingness to engage with different communities in different parts of the city to spread the message and show what art can do and potentially what they could be involved in.

On the downside, Arnolfini is at a crossroads in terms of defining what it wants to be and for who for the next 10+ years. Starting the project off has been one of the most exciting things I have done as it will define how Arnolfini fits in the city and the region for a good number of years – it is a proper “define the future project”. So why am I not staying? The last 18 months have been properly bumpy and have taken a huge amount of effort, time, brain bandwidth and stress, to the detriment of my family and professional lives. This means that I don’t have the enthusiasm and drive needed to really make the project a success. I know that and I don’t want to be involved at only an 80% commitment level when the gallery needs 100% to do the transformation that it needs.

What lessons have I learned:

It is trite but diversity is really important for organisational success. An art-philistine like me really does have a place on a Board running a gallery because of the value that the difference in perspective brings. Likewise, someone from an arts background will add value to Boards of engineering companies, law firms etc etc. And I mean diversity in all its forms, including socio-economic.

Horizon scanning is a key role of a Board member: what is going on in the world that could impact on what you are doing in your organisation. We didn’t get this right and it cost us. Which also leads on to:

Small decisions can have outsized impacts, both financially and operationally.

Be brave – sometimes decisions aren’t easy, you don’t have the full data you would want, you might have to do something uncomfortable or unpalatable, there might be risk. But if it is the right thing to do, then do it.

Listen to everyone – really listen. I have spent a good few Board meetings where the discussions were about stuff that I have no clue about. So take the opportunity to learn and try to understand why they feel those issue are important.

Give people time and space to consider their responses to challenges. Some people need more time to process and consider the ramifications than others. Don’t exclude them from the conversation as you will be missing out on real value.

I have enjoyed my time being part of Arnolfini and I wish the team working there, my fellow Trustees and gallery well for the future as it is a really exciting time to be involved.

As Storm Eowyn batters the north of the UK, I was remembering the impacts that I have seen of massive natural events. The images of the devastation from the tsunami in Japan around the Fukushima from the relief convoy that I was part of will stay with me forever. Likewise the key lessons I learned about resilience and disaster recovery planning as I discussed with my wife how her organisation was dealing with watching offices being eradicated in real time on the network monitoring panel. After she listened to her colleagues crying in fear when they were crouched under their desks as Tokyo was shaken by a massive earthquake. And then the challenges posed by moving their operations 1000km south to avoid any potential radiation risk from the damaged nuclear power plant.

The one key lesson: no prewritten plan is perfect but having one is better than not having anything. Having a structure to your thinking helps make sense of the chaos, allowing you to make better decisions under pressure.

That is the scenario that is facing organisations in the UK – literally in the north but also across the country for other reasons. Organisations that employ people are facing uncertainty from the changing regulatory environment on top of the recent changes to the tax rates. If they operate internationally, then there are real uncertainties in the political space – and particularly if you trade with the US in any meaningful way. In the UK, consumer confidence appears to be falling, the ICAEW’s recent survey shows that business confidence certainly is. All these changes mean that organisations are reluctant to hire new employees or replace the ones that leave.

The questions then become: how good do you think your plans are? Do they exist at all? How resilient do you think your organisation is? Can you do more with what you have got? Potentially, how could you do more with less?

These questions are blindingly obvious but very few people put the effort in to thinking about the answers before the burning platform gets really hot – and the crisis is upon you.

If this resonates, contact me: I am always happy to give a bit of time for free.

Someone asked me “so you sort out the constipation in organisations?” After I had got my smirk under control, I realised that this was actually a really good metaphor for what we do.

Work never flows smoothly through an organisation for lots of reasons. As examples: there are peaks and troughs in demand, some teams have more capacity or capability than others; there are pinch points, handovers don’t go to plan, key people take time off, priorities change, commercial realities change.

And all of those before we start considering the people issues that can negatively impact throughput: arguments, lack of understanding of priorities, misconceptions and miscommunication, historic baggage from previous processes etc as well as old favourites like inter-team rivalries, personal animosities and “we don’t do it that way round here”.

All of these factors mean that the work doesn’t flow as smoothly or as quickly as it could through the organisation. The problem with that is effectiveness and profitability are directly related to throughput. These disruptions to the flow are directly costing your organisation. There are indirect costs too: the amount of leadership time it takes to keep things moving along as needed.

What can you do about it? Firstly, go through the process end to end because it is likely that things aren’t happening the way you thought they were. Where are the pinch points, the holes that work falls in to and doesn’t emerge from? Do you have any tools to help you monitor these specific areas? Have you recorded how things really happen? You never need that information until it really is too late! Have you talked to the teams or people involved to see what they think? Asked them how they think things could be improved? Everyone working in the process will be able to give you good feedback about where the hold ups are.

All of this takes time and focus but the effort is worthwhile: what would you do with an extra 5+% throughput? What difference would it make to your profitability? Even if you can’t find the time to do it yourself, engage someone who will deliver you the benefit – it will be an investment that repays many times over.

And, no, I am not going to use any of the obvious images for this post…!

It is always nice to have a little public acclaim, so I am grateful to TheBusinessDesk.com for this article .

It has been an odyssey to get here, starting with helping businesses reintegrate their workforces after the first lockdown, remember that.

Through the development of flexible working, sadly something that many organisations have yet to get a grip on because they have copied the pack rather than working out their own bespoke solution.

Next came our support to middle managers who are the undervalued heroes of the British workforce. They just need to be given some development to move them from “accidental managers“ to competent managers.

We have now arrived at our sweet spot which is helping business, particularly professional service SMEs, to become more effective. Improved quality drives revenue and we all want some of that. Do stuff better by focussing on planning, processes, practice and people.

So what?

We have been through a 2 year development process in a very difficult and uncertain time. Agility and a sense of the markets has helped us evolve while retaining the capacity for doing what has gone before. Are we ready to go firm? Probably not…we are just having too much fun.

If you want to know anymore about the above topics just contact us through our website springboardttf.com

I read this article from HR Grapevine with some frustration, and here is a quote from it:

“A survey has revealed that 77% of workers have said they’ve done ‘something they shouldn’t have’ during work hours, including one in ten respondents who said they have sex when they should be working.”

And? Providing the required outcomes are achieved for the employer when they are needed, what does it matter?

I fully take the point that in a lot of areas, time is critical: opening or service hours have to be maintained, there needs to be sufficient capacity available in certain hours, workflows with differing teams and locations need to be co-ordinated etc etc.

But there are lots and lots of jobs which aren’t time critical: an amount of output needs to be achieved in a particular period. If that is the case, who cares when the work is done, providing it gets done? If that gives flexibility for doing other things such as shopping, childcare, housework, errands or even having sex, then everyone is happier – and probably more loyal and productive as a result.

From a middle management and team’s point of view, this all should be agreed up front: what work needs to be done by when, what is acceptable behaviour, how much flexibility we are giving our teams and people, core hours, how processes can work in a flexible working environment etc etc.

If it hasn’t been and you are finding getting it implemented smoothly a challenge, then please contact me or take a look at www.springboardttf.com for more information.

#flexibleworking #teamwork #middlemanagement #futureofwork #futureleadership

Some big companies are forcing people back to the office

We are watching a battle for hearts and minds happening in real time. Some companies such as Meta (Facebook), Amazon, JP Morgan and Salesforce are mandating a return to the office for a fixed portion of the week – and incentivising their managers to achieve it. Others are taking a different path, promoting more flexibility. The jobs marketplace and the battle for talent is going to decide the best approach.

What hasn’t changed

As usual, the middle management bears the brunt in challenging times as they juggle the C suite directions and directives against the expectations of their team members to find workable solutions. Leadership and management has changed as a result of market forces and changes to work and middle management need more support than ever before. Please book a call or email us to find out how we can help you help them to be more successful.

What have we been up to?

We have taken our strapline out on the road and delivered a very well received presentation at UWE Business School – with a record attendance for a breakfast networking meeting – covering why traditional management is dead, what killed it and what organisation need to do now.

We got some great attendee feedback: “Thanks for today, I got real value out of the conversations.”

Can you help us?

Have you got anyone in your network that we could talk to who has good experience of taking teams remote and developing them after that transition? Particularly teams that struggled with the move to remote/hybrid working. Or building teams with hybrid/remote elements?

We would love to have a conversation with them to get lessons out of their experiences. Real-world information is gold dust for us. Obviously, we will be very happy to share relevant information and examples from our research with them in return.

Download your copy of our analysis of the current news about productivity and teams here.

2023 has arrived with a bang and Felix and I are determined to do things differently this year.

More outreach, more marketing and a new-found clarity of purpose around what we actually DO. What problem do we actually solve for our customers.

We help leaders tune mis-firing teams.

The problems being experienced by the “squeezed middle” managers and leaders haven’t gone away. In fact, the challenges they face have got worse as the tug-of-war over where work gets done continues – different parts of the organisation are pulling in different directions.

Take a look at our analysis of the situation here and please feel free to share it.

We are always happy to have a conversation as relationships are key and they always add value.

By Felix Spender

Think back to June 2007.

You would have had a perfectly good mobile phone. Most probably a Nokia 3310 or for the more up market a Blackberry. You were content. Then came the iPhone, heralding the start of the smartphone revolution, and your world was changed. You witnessed a communications revolution.

The same is now going on in the workplace. For years businesses struggled to achieve a balance between the needs of the organisation and those of the individual. Flexible working and working from home were found on the periphery but the majority commuted to a central hub for fixed hours.  

COVID-19 blew all that out of the water when businesses dispersed to survive. Remote and flexible working became the norm and a Deloitte’s survey found that 61% of desk based workers would prefer to work from home more often. The question now is, what model do you adopt for the future? Do you go backwards to how it was before the pandemic, your old comfort zone, or do you go forward to something new? Stick with the Nokia 3310 or get a smartphone.  

There are 3 basic models on the shelf which you can customise to suit your business needs.

A centralised model, with synchronised working patterns, will still exist but there will be much greater flexibility built into the system.

A remote model that is completely distributed, operating asynchronously with an output-based culture. 

Hybrid model that combines elements of the other 2 models. It provides a physical central hub for key services while allowing employees greater flexibility and autonomy as to how they manage their work.

Your current operating model is most probably the one you went to in survival mode. Now you need to create a sustainable and resilient model that will enable you to power up and out of the trough. Which model is best for you? That depends on how you want to balance the needs of the leader, the task, the team and the individuals.  

Visit our website and download our 10 Keys to Organisational Success.

Contact us through the website to arrange a free consultation.

Well done, you have survived the Covid crisis, distributed your team to work from home and now you want to go fully remote. That is a good call but the question you have to ask yourself is “am I fit to run a remote organisation?”.

Before you answer that, let me tell you my story.

I left the Army and set up Northlight as a small boutique consultancy to help enhance collaboration within businesses and organisations. My vision was that it would be able to challenge larger consultancies on both value and quality, which meant that overheads had to be low and the pool of talent great. I needed to go remote from the start.

I had no difficulty finding the talent and things went swimmingly for a bit but then problems started. Some of the team became difficult to work with and appeared to be less than committed. Cracks appeared that split the network into core and peripheral elements, eventually leading to fragmentation. It was a disaster and I had to face up to the reality that I had alienated some remarkable people.

Many conversations and long walks later, I worked it out. I had spent my entire working life in a centralised, if at times distributed environment, and I had attempted to impose a centralised culture on remote freelancers. I was accustomed to running organisations that worked to a central system with central regulation and was unfit to run a remote, network-based organisation that needed to function in a much looser fashion.

My second attempt built on the lessons gleaned from the first. I had to change my operational style dramatically and embrace asynchronous working, something which was entirely alien to me. I engaged with the team and between us we worked out and codified how we would operate. We set up the right channels of communication to enable formal, informal and social chat. We created a culture, based on our shared values, rather than just my values, that is right for the organisation.

The result has been to produce a highly efficient organisation that delivers top quality products. Now we have set up Springboard to the future in collaboration with Glen Maxwell-Heron to help other organisations do the same.

So, if you are thinking about moving from your current organisational model to a remote or hybrid one, just ask yourself “am I fit to run a remote organisation?”. You may find that you need to change yourself before you change the organisation.

Visit our website and download our 10 Keys to Organisational Success.

Contact us through the website to arrange a free consultation.

#remoteworkforce #futureofwork #leadership #flexibleworking #springboardttf