Inspiring Your Authentic Week

15 Rules to Manage Management teams

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 7 Sep 2009 22:06:18 +0200

How does our own behaviour influence our organisations, our society and our family? Can we expect any of them to be functional if our own behaviour is not?

In her amazing speech to the UN, when she was 12 years old, Severin Suzuki challenged the delegates by asking:

“At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:

* not to fight with others, * to work things out, * to respect others, * to clean up our mess, * not to hurt other creatures * to share – not be greedy.

Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?”

Gandhi challenged us to “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

The “Golden Rule” common to all major religions demands: "do to others what you would like to be done to you"

It follows that if we want our families, our organisations and our society to be functional we must start by cultivating our own functionality.

So what is functionality - how do we know how functional or dysfunctional we are? I recognise in myself that my own functionality, moment to moment, is related to my sense of inner peace.

Do I feel a sense of inner conflict around an issue or relationship or do I feel peace? Do I have an inner conversation going on that is different to the conversation I am sharing with others?

The challenge I find is to continuously seek to bring the inner and the outer into the closest possible alignment.

If this is a challenge for us as individuals - imagine how much greater that challenge gets when we seek to collaborate with others? When we have one group taking a degree of responsibility for another group? For example, in a family, or a business, or in government.

In these cases the challenge is not just to find our own inner alignment and peace, but to create alignment and peace with others.

Just as whatever conflict we experience internally plays out in our lives, so any conflict within a couple or a team plays out in their family or organisation.

Let’s have a think about some simple guidelines that might help our teams to function more effectively and be the example we would like others to follow:

• TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves More 
• Your job is to do your job AND help your teammates do theirs 
• We are all responsible for motivating each other and creating a good atmosphere 
• Learn to say, "I don't know” 
• It is OK to make mistakes - your teammates are there to help you 
• Speak your mind, without criticizing and encourage others to do likewise 
• Discourage sycophants - we need the truth not reassurance 
• Speak up. You are here because your opinion and ideas matter 
• Be brief, clear and accurate - shorter is usually better 
• Decide quickly, act promptly - nothing goes under the carpet - ever 
• The best way for you to look good is for your teammates to look good 
• Know what level to involve each other in decisions - inform, consult or approval and apply it rigourously 
• We can never know enough, seek and share learning continuously 
• We are all responsible for enforcing these rules

If you want some help introducing change in your life or organisation give me a call.

If you are a coach or consultant and would like to be trained to deliver Neil Crofts Authentic Transformation methodology and be part of a community of like minded practitioners give me a call.

These messages are now available as a Podcast. This means you can download and listen to these messages on your iPod or iPhone. You can subscribe for free at www.neilcrofts.com

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nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
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Motivation, motivation, motivation

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:50:04 +0200

I have long argued that the big, secret advantage that authentic businesses have over regular businesses is motivation. Not just the internal motivation of staff, but the motivation of customers and other stakeholders to support the business.

I have argued that because authentic businesses generate their profits in pursuit of a profound and positive purpose they are more profitable than their regular counterparts.

So, I was thrilled to see the talk by Dan Pink recently on TED. Dan was previously a speech writer for Al Gore. You can see it via the “Be Inspired” link on www.neilcrofts.com.

Dan goes further, he says that performance on simple tasks may be enhanced through a bonus or financial reward, but on more complex tasks financial incentives actually reduce performance.

Dan puts his case as a lawyer and examines motivation forensically and scientifically. His conclusion is that:

“There is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. And here is what science knows. One: Those 20th century rewards, those motivators we think are the natural part of business, do work, but only in a surprisingly narrow band of circumstances. Two: Those if-then rewards often destroy creativity. Three: The secret to high performance isn't rewards and punishments, but that unseen intrinsic drive. The drive to do things for their own sake. The drive to do things cause they matter.”

Dan is referring here to regular businesses, not to authentic businesses. Simple motivators continue to work well in simple and repetitive operations, but if we want motivate people to care, to solve problems and to be responsible, inspiration and meaning are more effective than cash.

The reason that bonuses and financial incentives work in the banking world is because of the specific micro-culture of banking. The culture holds that those with the biggest bonuses are the winners and that everyone else is a looser.

The scale of the bonuses and the young, male culture turn it into a race, where meaning is defined by victory. Addiction is the motivator, not passion and as we have seen the model is neither healthy nor sustainable.

At the other end of the scale:

“The mid 1990s, Microsoft started an encyclopedia called Encarta. They had deployed all the right incentives. All the right incentives. They paid professionals to write and edit thousands of articles. Well compensated managers oversaw the whole thing to make sure it came in on budget and on time. A few years later another encyclopedia got started. Different model, right? Do it for fun. No one gets paid a cent, or a Euro or a Yen. Do it because you like to do it.

Now if you had, just 10 years ago, if you had gone to an economist, anywhere, And said, "Hey, I've got these two different models for creating an encyclopedia. If they went head to head, who would win?" 10 years ago you could not have found a single sober economist anywhere on planet Earth, who would have predicted the Wikipedia model.”

We have the opportunity to redesign our careers and our businesses. We can all direct our lives to doing things that matter to us. There is not a shortage of issues and challenges. And we can make our businesses more profitable by solving them. It only takes a decision.

If you want some help in making the decision or pursuing your passion in your life or business give me a call.

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nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
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The Obama approach to change

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:58:02 +0200

We have a complex relationship with change.

On the on the one hand we desperately want it, on the other we desperately resist it.

If we want to motivate change in our organisations or in our society we need to look at it with an anthropologists eye. We need to understand what has shaped our attitudes to change.

For most of our evolutionary and historical past change was definitely regarded as a bad thing. Centuries passed where the life of the one generation was not significantly different from the previous one or the next one.

When change came it tended to be imposed from the outside and it tended to signify extreme danger, in the form of famine or war. For most people change only occurred when the risks of not changing were clearly greater than the risks of change.

From an evolutionary perspective we are also programmed to prefer more modest short term certainties over more generous longer term risks. Hence “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

We tend to be tolerant of significant discomfort, before we take the plunge and decide to make a change, even when the alternative is obviously and logically better. We will even defend a compromised system or situation simply because it is the one we are used to. As Morpheus said in the Matrix “These people are so hopelessly dependent on the system that they would fight to protect it.”

At an individual level most of us were educated primarily to be obedient. We were educated out of our creativity and our confidence and into conformity and doing what we are told. However it is not always obvious who, or what, we are being obedient to.

As a result of both our evolutionary and our cultural programming many of us prefer a seemingly safe, if slightly uncomfortable, predictable life to change.

There are also times when we embrace change. We marry, change jobs, have children, move house and even move country. In many cases these changes are inspired and positive changes towards a perceived, and sometimes even long term improvement.

Even these changes can be coerced, but in many cases they are associated with a feeling of empowerment. There are also, clearly changes most of us want: Most of us want to be paid more, to feel safer and so on.

From the anthropologists evidence we can see that there are two approaches to change.

1 - The Coercive Approach.

2 - The Empowered Approach.

The coercive approach assumes that someone knows the answer. It uses fear or force to motivate people to change.

The weakness of this approach is that the change is often grudging or poorly understood by many of the participants. The change is likely to be resisted and half hearted for many.

The empowered approach requires those who are driving the change to have the confidence to trust others to be able to understand the evidence and make the right decisions based on it.

The weakness of this approach is that the evidence can be manipulated and not everyone has the wisdom to make decisions in the best interests of all involved.

The reality is that whenever we are contemplating change, in our own lives, in our organisations or in society as a whole, we probably need to use a combination of coercion and empowerment to introduce effective change. The mix we need will depend more on the nature of the audience than our own preferences.

We can demonstrate that the change has positive results, at the same time we can show the negative effects of not changing.

We can engage in a co-creative process to determine the nature of the change and at the same time create penalties for failure to change.

Those who believe in authority (Spiral Dynamics Red and Blue) will respond better, on the whole, to the strength shown by the coercive approach - even if they don’t agree with it.

Those who believe in self determination (Spiral Dynamics Orange and Green) will respond better to empowerment and involvement.

If you want some help introducing change in your life or organisation give me a call.

These messages are now available as a Podcast. This means you can download and listen to these messages on your iPod or iPhone. You can subscribe for free at www.neilcrofts.com

Also available for free at www.neilcrofts.com is a audio visual slideshow of my “10 Leadership Lessons from the Tour de France” message from a couple of weeks ago. If you want to use this with a group, let me know and I can supply a higher resolution version.

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With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
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The shape of things to come.

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:04:09 +0200

We have already bet our future on a technical fix.

There is a vague “green” vision that sees a return to a “simpler” life, but this is based on a very idealised vision of the past. The reality is that “self sufficiency” is not far removed from subsistence farming. And subsistence farming is a cripplingly hard way to live.

What climate change really threatens is our lifestyle and our population size. The planet and most species would, benefit enormously from our demise.

A return to subsistence farming wether intentional or enforced, would end our lifestyle anyway. It means back breaking physical labour, limited innovation, reduced social connections and a narrowing of world view.

For our society to flourish we need the opposite vision. We need to see the whole of humanity as a team, collaborating on the great project of learning how to live sustainably and peacefully.

Technology is key to achieving this.

One of the biggest challenges to peace and sustainability is communication. Partly the challenge is intercultural communication between cultures at vastly different levels. Partly the challenge is about language.

In Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy, Douglas Adams imagined the “Babel Fish”. It was inserted into the ear and translated speech into brain waves so that anyone could understand anything in any language.

Internet translation software from Google and Yahoo/Alta Vista is already incredibly sophisticated, fast and free. It is not perfect, but it is certainly understandable. You can try it out on my home page at www.neilcrofts.com.

It is easy to imagine that the next level of this software will be a smart phone app that will translate phone calls from one language to another in near real time.

You speak into your phone as normal, speech recognition software works out what you are saying, translation software turns it into a different language and the receiver hears it in their native tongue a few seconds later. When the other speaker talks the same process will translate back into your preferred language.

We may initially find that we are phoning people while standing right in front of them when we are on holiday, but pretty soon this software will evolve into a hearing aid like device that will do the translation face to face too.

The initially clunky translation software will quickly evolve through “crowd sourcing”. As more and more people use the software, they will rapidly correct anomalies and interpretations of colloquialisms leading to better and better translation.

Once the language barrier can be overcome, it will be far easier to overcome the cultural obstacles. The key to this is education. When translation is virtually free, accurate and easy all the great culture of civilisations can be shared.

Education needs to, and is moving from the industrial/information based model we have today to a far more personalised model based on skills and confidence.

Technology already enables instant access to virtually all knowledge. So what is important for the future is to give the next generation the skills to access the information they need and the confidence and ability to use it wisely.

Again technology will play a huge role in this. www.amentorforeverychild.com is an example of an initiative that will use technology to empower children all of over the world to become confident contributors to society.

Part of the cultural transformation required to evolve to peaceful and sustainable society requires an end to exploitation of people and the environment.

Exploitation was the fuel of the industrial age. The industrial model of education is designed for exploitation. Once the basic learning stage (literacy and numeracy) is over, it’s focus is to teach obedience and conformity.

Obedience is what makes people suitable factory and battlefield and cult fodder. For the next phase we need people to be brilliant, creative, caring and confident in themselves - not obedient. We need people to know who they are and to be it, without fear or compromise in all situations. We need people to be authentic.

One of the concerns that industrial age thinking has over truly educating people to be confident is “who will then do the shit jobs”?

The answer is either they won’t happen any longer (like fighting in trenches) or robots. Already the military are making increasing use of robots to do dangerous jobs. Military innovation has a habit of being game changing when technology developed with effectively unlimited R&D budgets finds it’s way into civilian life.

Robots that are both autonomous and remote controlled will increasingly take on the dull and unpleasant tasks and people will be freed up to learn and be creative. You can already buy domestic robots to do the vacuuming and to mow the lawn. Increasingly robotic factories and agricultural machinery will change the nature of labour.

To ensure this liberation results in peace and sustainability rather than conflict and degradation we also have to follow through with excellent education and renewable energy.

It is our choice and we make it every day when we turn on the lights, buy anything or interact with anyone?

What do you choose?

If you want some help in adapting your business to the future give me a call.

These messages are now available as a Podcast. This means you can download and listen to these messages on your iPod or iPhone. You can subscribe for free at www.neilcrofts.com

Also available for free at www.neilcrofts.com is a audio visual slideshow of my “10 Leadership Lessons from the Tour de France” message from a couple of weeks ago. If you want to use this with a group, let me know and I can supply a higher resolution version.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

The next big things

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:01:44 +0200

Society is changing fast. Economic uncertainty, technology, climate change, extremism and the internet are all accelerating the pace of change.

For many well established business models the writing is on the wall. Now more than ever constant innovation is the only route to sustained success.

Here are some predictions for the next five years I have synthesized from the evidence:

Zero Carbon Transport - It has already started with a massive growth in cycling in many developed countries. Climate concerns and government policy (as well as military investment in electric robots) are going to accelerate the development of batteries and fuel cells.

These in turn will lead to the development of truly practical electric and fuel cell cars. The state of the art are cars from independent start ups such as Riversimple, Aptera and Tesla. The more innovative of established car manufacturers will catch up quickly.

Expect to see brakes that generate energy, solar battery recharging, one electric motor per wheel, super efficient ancillaries such as air conditioning. I expect 30% of cars to be electric in 10 years.

Air travel is also under a great deal of eco-pressure and will be keen to avoid carbon taxing. Bio fuels made from waste and from algae seem to the the most obvious options.

Look for growth in cycling, electric car tech, home charging and biofuels. Look for contraction in fossil fuels.

Zero Carbon Home - Solar water heating, Solar PV (direct electricity generation), Solar Thermal and Ground Source heating/cooling are all technologies that are rapidly heading towards market readiness.

Initially the take up will be individual, but as the prices drop expect to see local collective schemes, both by communities and through local authorities. Solar Thermal and Ground Source heating and cooling in particular are relatively low tech solutions that work better at a collective scale.

Look for growth in green tech.

Tele Tech - Congestion, security and climate concerns make physical travel increasingly unattractive. Physical travel will be reserved for valuable experiences and connections rather than the mundane.

Home offices, high speed internet, sophisticated hardware and software will all make home working, shopping and virtual meetings more and more attractive. Internet telephony and video conferencing will become more reliable and easier to use making “tele-presence” and “virtual teams” much more plausible reality.

Look for growth in software and hardware and home delivery subscription services for regular products. Contraction in commuting and business travel generally.

Going Mobile - The iPhone has shown us just what mobile computing power can mean. The do anything, anywhere device is already redefining what is possible, what “at work” means, where we find our entertainment and how we interact.

As the technology develops, speeds increase and more developers get involved in creating applications for every conceivable purpose, we will find that our need to be in specific places and at specific times diminishes.

Expect growth in personal flexibility, bandwidth and software capabilities.

Going digital - When I was at Razorfish in the late 90’s we had a slogan “Everything that can be digital, will be”.

We are increasingly becoming used to the idea that digital changes the rules. Although there are still plenty of business people in denial. Only last week Rupert Murdoch responded to losses at News Corp by saying that they plan to charge for access to news web sites!

The basic rules of digital still apply, and with new devices and greater bandwidth even more so. Everything that can be digital, will be and digital will tend towards free.

Music, TV, film, books and news will all have to find business models that work with minimal or no cost to end users. In the end piracy will not be controlled in spite of the amazingly heavy handed tactics of the old guard.

A new generation of content creators will use strategies more similar to software companies, looking for long term relationships, massive and very low cost, direct distribution.

Expect internet based marketing and sales to become much more sophisticated and important. Expect direct band/author/film maker to customer relationships.

Experience Retail - A new generation of retail outlets where theme park and shop collide with authentic advice takes retail to a whole new level. The Globetrotter adventure travel stores in Germany where visitors can actually test diving equipment in a pool, climbing equipment on a wall and outdoor gear in a rain and cold chamber, all with advice from experienced adventurers, show the future of retail.

The Apple Stores, among the most successful retailers per square meter, are another example of experience based retail.

Fair Finance - Banks have managed to be one of the least innovative sectors, at least in a social and customer perspective. Right now the banks are expecting a return to business as usual, but the fundamental flaws in the system have been exposed and it won’t be long before new models emerge.

Banks have a service that can be entirely digital. Low cost, peer to peer models will emerge mainly from new players - not from among the incumbents. Zopa, Paypal and Grameen bank all point to the future.

Pensions based on passive income rather than annuity policies, that allow people to stop work as soon as their earning threshold is reached, if they want to.

Financial management software that automatically maximises passive income from credit and minimises costs from debt to the accountholder.

Zero cost fully electronic transactions using existing mobile devices (such as phones).

All based on a partnership between bank and customer aimed at maximising the customers financial security with the banks financial security coming as a by product.

What all of these developments have in common is that they require businesses to operate with a level of authenticity and transparency.

The car manufacturers, retailers, banks and computer companies that succeed in this new transparent, hi-tech, low carbon market will be the ones that seek to generate their profits BY benefitting both society AND customers.

Their staff will be passionate and motivated BECAUSE they are doing something that matters and because they care about personally.

Their profits will be higher BECAUSE they are authentic businesses

If you want some help in finding strategic and authentic innovations give me a call.

These messages are now available as a Podcast. This means you can download and listen to these messages on your iPod or iPhone. You can subscribe for free at www.neilcrofts.com

Also available for free at www.neilcrofts.com is a audio visual slideshow of my “10 Leadership Lessons from the Tour de France” message from a couple of weeks ago. If you want to use this with a group, let me know and I can supply a higher resolution version.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

Strategy - or how to get what you want

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 3 Aug 2009 15:59:53 +0200

There are three different approaches to getting what you want:

Toddler tantrum, “Realistic” and Strategic.

We have all come across the Toddler tantrum approach. When an individual or a group feel their desires are being thwarted they stamp their feet until someone else sorts it out for them.

This behaviour can be seen in actual toddlers and adult toddlers. Adult Toddlers have a spectrum too, from relatively harmless tantrum throwing divas to terrorists and certain political “leaders”.

The bomb that went off in Mallorca last week illustrates this. Just how does anyone imagine that obliterating two random, innocent, young policemen furthers the cause of independence for a region on the other side of the country?

Apparently this was done to mark the 50th anniversary of this particular Tantrum. But, if an approach fails to achieve it’s stated objective for half a century, it is time to find another approach.

Of course the Toddler does not really have or recognise any other approach, which makes dealing with them quite a challenge. Fundamentally, like all Toddlers, they need to “grow up”. Unfortunately the Toddler approach can also be successful in a selfish and limited kind of way.

The Realist goes entirely the other way. Realists approach say “we need to be realistic” which is code for “we don’t believe we can do it, so we are not even going to try.”

People using the “realistic” approach self edit their lives down to only trying what they know they can achieve.

Luke: “I don’t believe it.”
Yoda: “That - is why you fail”

Realists often feel a sense of superiority over both Toddlers and Strategists. They often see strategists as “unrealistic” which, for them, is the greatest possible insult.

The strategic approach simply asks “how?”

If a business has a target to double revenue in a single year. The Toddler will throw a hissy fit. The Realist will bury their head in their hands and claim that it is not possible. The Strategist will work out what resources will need to be deployed, in which order and how much it will cost. If it ends up costing too much they will look at the plan again and see how it can be made cheaper.

The Strategist will analyse the situation, look at it from every angle, see what resources are required and how they can be accumulated and get on with the job.

It is not a question of “if” a business can be more profitable by being fulfilling to those involved and sustainable, it is a question of “how?”

Strategists are significantly less common than Toddlers and Realists and so will need develop strategies for dealing with both.

In dealing with Toddlers, Strategists need to be strong and never give in to the tantrum, whilst engaging them positively and encouragingly in the non tantrum phases. The Strategist needs to build the Toddlers confidence in their ability to think, negotiate and develop. (In much the same way that parents need to deal with real toddlers).

In dealing with Realists, Strategists need to provide a depressing (for the Strategist) amount of reassuring evidence and detail that will give the Realist the confidence to move forwards. The ambitious Strategist can also coach the Realist into edging beyond their comfort zone and taking a few “risks”.

If you want some help in finding strategies to deal with Realists and Toddlers in your organisation give me a call.

This week I am launching a new experiment myself and making these messages available as a Podcast. This means you can download and listen to these messages on your iPod or iPhone. You can subscribe for free at www.neilcrofts.com

Also available for free at www.neilcrofts.com is a audio visual slideshow of my “10 Leadership Lessons from the Tour de France” message from a couple of weeks ago. If you want to use this with a group, let me know and I can supply a higher resolution version.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

“It’s so obvious”

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:11:55 +0200

I gave a talk to a fashion industry audience recently. I was explaining my research and work around authentic business and why authentic business is simply a better way to do business.

One of the people in the audience came to me afterwards and said “it is so obvious, and yet so few businesses do it.”

EXACTLY! and this is my mission.

Many of us have been so blinded by the pursuit of money as an end in itself that we forgot what we were doing it all for.

It is as if we got confused somewhere along the line, and believed for a time that business was somehow separate from being human.

Not only that, when we remember that business is also a human activity, the business is actually more successful, more profitable and more fulfilling.

Let me summarise quickly:

Authentic businesses generate profit through the pursuit of a profound and positive purpose. (unlike regular businesses which simply seek to redistribute wealth from the population and environment to a few senior executives and shareholders).

Because the purpose is something the people in the business believe in passionately they are more motivated, caring and committed to their work than people in regular businesses.

Because people in regular businesses are working exclusively to make someone else rich, it is much more difficult/expensive to motivate them.

Not only that but because there is a purpose beyond profit staff, customers and suppliers who feel aligned with the purpose can also align with the business and support it.

Whereas in regular businesses, the business is competing with everyone, including their own staff and customers, for profit.

It is really quite simple.

Virtually all people have, at their core, a positive sense of purpose. We all want to make the world a better place, to make our lives and those of others around us better. If we fail to do this, it is because we are confused and frightened, not because we are bad or uncaring (except for the few genuine psychopaths).

Most businesses are made up of people. Therefore - if we have the courage to uncover their personal purpose, most businesses can also be authentic.

My mission is for all businesses to be authentic. I believe it will make the world a better place. If you can work out that it is a better way to do business, a better way to live and better for the world - why wouldn’t you? It’s obvious.

If you need some further persuasion take a look at Ray Anderson speaking at TED this year. (Please bear in mind that sustainability happens to be the purpose at Interface Carpets - not every business purpose is even related to sustainability). Ray Anderson is the Founder and Chairman of Interface Carpets - the largest commercial carpet tile business in the world. The company is hugely successful, public quoted, has a petrochemical based product AND is authentic.

If they can do it, so can anyone.

Helping businesses find their authenticity and become authentic is what I do. If you would like to find out how give me a call.

Over the summer I am offering my usual “summer sale”: Three for the price of two on coaching sessions held during July and August. If you would like to find out more about how my style of authentic coaching can benefit your leadership, work and your life give me a call.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

10 Leadership lessons from the Tour

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:14:28 +0200

As many readers will know, I am passionate about cycling. I love the complex interplay of personal discipline with teamwork. I love the combination of brutal effort and chess like strategy. I love the epic scenery and the cool gadgets - I love it all.

This week the 2009 Tour de France enters it’s final, decisive week. So in a blatant bid to get more people interested in cycling - here are my 10 leadership lessons from the Tour...

1- More collaboration equals more progress:

In cycling the more people you collaborate with the faster you go. The more people who share the work at the front, offering others their slipstream, the faster and further you will go.

It is common for a group of riders to get ahead at the beginning of a stage. If this group is big enough and gets far enough ahead they might be able to stay in front. But when the “peleton” (the main group of riders) gets organised they will probably go faster.

So avoid making enemies among your competition you never know when you may need them and learn how to motivate others to work with you.

2 - Sometimes leaders have to follow:

Cycling is both a team sport and an individual sport. Team members sacrifice their individual ambition for that of the team and the team leader. However, if the leader does not have the strength to win, or if they are so far ahead that they don’t need to, they gain more credibility with their team mates for next time by helping one of them to win.

Whenever you are the leader - look for opportunities to share the glory and support your team mates in achieving it.

3 - Leadership is emergent:

Cycling is brutally meritocratic. The team may nominate a “leader” for the tour, but if that leader looses time on a team mate, leadership moves to where it is most relevant. For a leader to stay the leader they have to perform.

In hierarchies “leadership” is appointed, in teams it is emergent and dynamic. Every member is expected to take responsibility and contribute what they can - sometimes that means leading, sometimes that means following.

4 - Remember to look after yourself:

Riding a tour stage consumes about 4,000 to 6,000 calories. Riders need to be constantly eating and drinking to make sure they have enough fuel for when it matters. Running out of fuel means a slow and painful end to the stage. After the stage they need to take care to rest, make time for massage, eat the right food, hydrate, stretch and get a good nights sleep so that they can recover for the next day.

We all perform better when we are well fed and rested. If we want to lead we need to be in top condition as much of the time as possible. We need to look after our bodies and stay energised.

5 - Equipment matters - team matters more:

It is easy to get seduced into the kit and the gadgets. Carbon fibre bikes with light weight components and mini computers that can tell you every detail of your ride. But the kit will never differentiate your performance for long, the way a team works is far harder to copy and is what sets winners apart from runners up.

Getting the people issues right too often goes into the “too hard” box and gets ignored, while investment is poured into equipment or other easier to understand areas. If you want your team to flourish you will need to invest in it.

6 - Train, train, train:

A cyclist wanting to win the Tour de France will have started regular training and competition in their early teens. They will have built up their endurance base over 10 to 20 years (Tour winners in their early 20’s are rare). They will have started their specific training the previous November and will have had a tailored programme over the the spring, riding thousands of kilometers before they even get to the start line.

Riders will work with coaches, strategists, psychologists, doctors, nutritionists, physiologists and masseurs to ensure that they are in peak mental and physical condition for the race.

If we want the best from ourselves and our team we need to take responsibility for our training. In today’s world there is so much that a leader needs to know - not just about their specialist subject, but also about psychology, marketing, communication, technology, the market, finance, motivational speaking and more.

Cyclists say about recovery - when you don’t have to stand, sit, when you don’t have to sit, lie down.

Leaders might say - when you don’t have to communicate, learn, when you don’t have to learn, rest.

7 - Protect your star riders:

In cycling the star rider is usually a specialist who can climb or sprint better than the others. The team will ride to protect that rider and save their energy for the key moments of the race, when they can make the difference. The team will fetch them food and drink from the team car, pace them back to the front if they stop for a pee or a mechanical problem and spend hours riding in front of them to protect them from the wind.

Most organisational teams also have a star, the best designer, sales person, technologist or whatever. To make the most of that skill the rest of the team needs to rally around and ensure that the star player can focus time and energy on doing what they do better than the others. The team also needs to treat the stars carefully to avoid “divadom”.

8 - Energy management is more important than time management:

In the race it is the relative time to other riders that matters - not the absolute time. The rider who wins over three weeks is the one who manages their energy best. They avoid wasting energy by riding in the wind or attacking when they don’t have to.

Time pressure is often an illusion. We all know that when we are working on something we are passionate about time is rarely a problem - it is when we are working on things that bore us that we run out of time. The ideal team will have specialists who are passionate about all areas that need to be covered, so that everyone can stay as energised as possible.

9 - The last 1% makes all the difference:

In the Tour de France you might lead any of the competitions by a crushing margin right up to the last kilometer of the last stage. But it is worth nothing if you don’t finish.

Whatever we do in life, persistence is often worth as much, if not more than brilliance. Whatever we do, it is worth very little if it is incomplete. No matter how brilliant the rest of it is.

10 - You have to love it:

To be a pro cyclist takes an incredible level of dedication and commitment. Even in their teens the aspiring cyclist lives monastically in pursuit of their passion. No rider can achieve greatness if their goal is financial reward or celebrity - they have to love it, they have to have a passion for what they are doing.

Everyone who aspires to success and fulfilment in life needs to find and focus on doing what they love. It is the only way.

If you want some help in making your team perform brilliantly give me a call.

Over the summer I am offering my usual “summer sale”: Three for the price of two on coaching sessions held during July and August. If you would like to find out more about how my style of authentic coaching can benefit your leadership, work and your life give me a call.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

Love, Leadership and business

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:00:50 +0200

Love is still a deeply unfashionable expression to use in business. But I believe that it is the only thing that really leads to sustained business success.

I have delivered the “love” message to quite a few business audiences so far and the response varies from disbelieving sniggers to relieved acceptance. You won’t be surprised that sniggers still out number acceptance - at the moment.

First, lets be clear about what “love” is. We are talking about the love of an activity, a thing, a person or a place. We are not talking about romantic love, but the experience we all have when our feelings for something go far beyond the practical.

For example: there are all sorts of practical reasons why I like cycling - I like the fitness, the gadgets, the feeling of freedom and the countryside. But my feelings for cycling go way beyond these practical elements - this, the bit beyond the practical - is the “love” bit.

We also have to be careful to distinguish between this kind of love for something and addiction. To my mind the distinction is one of long term health. A loving relationship is always a healthy relationship. An addictive relationship is always unhealthy.

The jobs that will work for us are the jobs we love. The relationships with colleagues, clients and suppliers that work are the ones with love involved. The best kind of marketing is word of mouth and the products customers talk about most, and most positively, are the ones they love.

Perhaps part of the reason that so many people are afraid of love in business is that it is not something we decide on. It is not something we control. It is not predictable. Love pounces or slips in unannounced and then changes all our plans.

As Steve Jobs says: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do”. What is the point of investing our time and energy in anything less?

Marketers know this, for years they have tried to synthesise “love” for products to get us to buy them. But of course, you cannot fake love for long.

So what makes a person or a business lovable?

In a word the answer is authenticity.

Unfortunately for marketers, authenticity does not make a product, a business or a person lovable to everyone - but it does make them lovable to enough people.

It is not easy to truly love anything we feel uncomfortable about or find hard to trust. It is not easy to love anything that is shifty, insincere or manipulative.

We respect those who are honest, transparent and open. But we might love those who also align with us passionately, in some way.

It is not predictable, or controllable, but if we work with passion and love ourselves, it is likely that our work will connect with others who feel the same way and some of them will love what we do.

When love enters the relationship, suddenly we are working on a whole new level. Suspicion and doubt are replaced by support and commitment. Searching and disappointment are replaced by loyalty and contribution.

However unfashionable it may be in business, love is the answer that we are all looking for. Look for the love in your work, your business, your colleagues, your products and services and you will also find success and fulfilment.

If you want some help finding the love in your work - give me a call.

Over the summer I am offering my usual “summer sale”: Three for the price of two on coaching sessions held during July and August. If you would like to find out more about how my style of authentic coaching can benefit your leadership, work and your life give me a call.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

Team work and leadership

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Sun, 5 Jul 2009 19:46:08 +0200

Individually we can make a difference, together we can
change the world.

Sadly many of us find true collaboration and team work difficult. The need for personal recognition of ‘our’ idea or ‘our’ work gets in the way.

Our education was largely an individual pursuit, at school collaboration is known as cheating. Equally signs of leadership among the pupils are frowned upon (I was expelled from one school specifically for showing signs of leadership!).

Our culture promotes the ideas of fixed hierarchy and appointed leadership, another two things that limit the opportunities for team work. The effectiveness of hierarchical systems is limited because, by definition, they do not have the most appropriate leader most of the time.

When we truly work as a team we notice that leadership is not static, it is dynamic. Leadership flows around the team to where it is most relevant in the moment. It vests temporarily due to skills, knowledge, relationships or whatever is important in that moment. When that moment passes it moves on.

WL Gore the manufacturers of Gore Tex fabric, who perennially feature at the top of lists of most innovative companies and best places to work, have a rotating hierarchy. Managers have fixed term appointments and are voted for by their teams.

However team work is compatible with the more rigid hierarchies found in most organisations, it just requires the appointed leaders to have the self confidence to be part of the team. To recognise that the answers come from the team (not from them) and to be prepared to follow as well as lead. Their leadership space is specifically in taking responsibility for relations with the rest of the organisation, which is probably why they got the job.

In my own career I remember the shift from feeling the terrible responsibility of solving every problem, to the relief of realising that I didn’t have to.

I have worked largely solo for the last 10 years, with occasional informal partners and teams. I have been looking, unsuccessfully, for long term partners - but perhaps I was not ready.

True teamwork and partnership requires a level of trust and love most usually found in a more romantic relationship. It requires us to transcend our fears and accept that our self interest is better served by collaboration than by individual effort and control.

Today, perhaps, I am ready. I am now working in three different partnerships on three different projects: A Mentor for every child, Authenticis 2.0 and Stratum Social Value Partnership. In all cases it is wonderful to share the thinking, the responsibility, the credit and the work.

All of these projects deliver on my life purpose, “to heal the world through authenticity”, and on the life purpose of the other partners involved. We are all passionate about the success and effect of our projects.

Technology facilitates all of these partnerships brilliantly. All are based in more than one country and we use a mixture of instant messaging, Skype, e-mail, iwork.com, Ning and Powwownow to collaborate as effectively as if we were in the same office - it is remarkable.

Over the summer I am offering my usual “summer sale”: Three for the price of two on coaching sessions held during July and August. If you would like to find out more about how my style of authentic coaching can benefit your leadership, work and your life give me a call.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

Business Leadership 3.0

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:25:20 +0200

A few years ago I was discussing business leadership with an experienced business consultant and psychologist. He suggested that the next evolution of business leader would come from an HR background.

His hypothesis was that the first generation of big business leaders in the industrial revolution was the idealistic, entrepreneurial and philosophical. They created great enterprise by solving the social problems of the day. Henry Ford is perhaps the icon of this form of leadership.

This form of business leadership continues, but is no longer the dominant style.

These leaders were followed by what Robert Reich calls “Supercapitalism” and the financially focussed CEO. Here everything is reduced to the binary simplicity of “does it make more money in the next quarter or not?” As competition for shareholders and customers increased the time horizon for this attitude grew shorter and shorter until, in the autumn of 2008, it imploded.

Being cynical you might say that Kenneth Lay (Enron) or Fred Goodwin (RBS) are the icons of financially focussed leadership.

We are beginning to see the dawning of a new generation of leadership and the “HR based leadership” thinking is only part of it. Will it become the new dominant form of leadership? Was the shock of the credit crunch enough to move us on to the next era of business leadership?

This depends to some extent on whether we; as consumers, will continue to demand cheapness over value. As shareholders, will continue demand the greatest short term financial over enduring performance. And as voters will continue to allow lax regulation of business.

The reality is that for business leadership to evolve it will need to do it all. Deliver on short and long term financial objectives, be financially competitive, deliver on environmental standards and deliver on a “spiritual” level.

My view is that the new level business leaders will start from a base of brand and culture and radiate out from there.

The short term financial returns we all understand, but the new level CEO will need to think 5-10 years ahead, as well as the next quarter profits. This means planning the wider direction of the business and being far more in tune with social priorities.

The environment will be one of the greatest social priorities of the the next 10 years and also the one of the key dynamics for cost control. Using new technologies to drive down energy consumption and develop “in house” generation will be key strategies for driving cost out of business.

Technology will be another key social dynamic as internet and mobile technologies will define how social and commercial relationships are mediated. Technology will also change the cost dynamics of production, transport, communication and administration.

The “spiritual” level was not very fashionable with the “financially focussed” CEO, but it will make a comeback with the brand/culture focussed CEO. Spirituality is all about meaning and in the new era long term profitability will depend on a business being meaningful to both staff and customers.

In today’s networked, hyper-connected, media saturated marketplace attention is golden. Holding the attention of customers and media requires something considerably deeper than discounts and TV ads. Offering “meaning” to customers creates connections and long lasting loyalty that is far more valuable than discounts.

Apple are the meaning masters creating and distributing fantastic products at or below cost to make their core products more meaningful. Most Apple software is given away or sold very cheaply because it generates sales and loyalty for the hardware products. For meaning to be truly valuable it has to go beyond mere utility to create “love” for the product or brand.

Love is the bit beyond the logical reasons for any relationship, the part of our commitment that is not necessarily rational, and is therefore more powerful. Long term business success will depend on customers loving our products and our brand. Love depends on trust and delivering value over and above the rational.

Meaning for staff is the other part of the “spiritual” equation. We no longer live in an industrial world, few businesses want employees who just do what they are told. We need people to feel inspired, motivated, engaged and responsible. To do this they need to “own” the ideology of the business, to feel passionate about it’s objectives, it’s products and it’s effect on customers, community and society.

To summarise - the next generation of business leader will be brand and culture focussed with creative and excellent financial discipline. They will also be technically savvy enough to understand how to use it to innovate to reduce environmental impact and costs.

The businesses they create will be loved by customers and staff alike. They will be trusted because of their authenticity and deliver emotional as well as practical value.

Would you like to help others and organisations to be reach this level? For the first time I am ready to offer training in the Authentic Transformation methodologies I have developed. From the 1st of July (repeated on the 7th of July) and over the summer I am running a distance learning course to train consultants and coaches.

Subjects include, authentic business, life purpose articulation, team purpose articulation, Spiral Dynamics and Authentic leadership. If you would like to know more, give me a call.

The course starts with a one to one phone session which needs to take place before the 7th of July. These sessions have been so popular that I will repeat each session to make it easier for people juggling holidays, time zones and other commitments.

I am redefining my businesses - getting more clear, more authentic about who I am and what I do. www.neilcrofts.com has become the focus for my authentic business consultancy and coaching business. www.authenticis.com is evolving into a matchmaking website that will help authentic businesses and individuals find each other.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

Comfort Zones

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:56:24 +0200

“You are either learning or dying” the saying goes.

We meet some remarkable people in life. People in their 20’s and 30’s who are confident in who they are. People in their 40’s and 50’s who are alive with passion and commitment. People in their 60’s,70’s and 80’s who are fascinated, open and learning.

What these people have in common is that they are evolving. Continuously becoming more conscious, more aware of how life works and at the same time becoming more capable of influencing it.

Far more “normal” is to stop developing at some point. A big chunk of education for most us was about learning to be obedient. Many of us learn this lesson so well that if there is no one to tell us what to do, we simply do nothing. Apathy is disturbingly common.

When I first started running workshops I was surprised at the way some sessions were resisted and how the feedback on those sessions was often negative. After a time I realised that very often the reason the feedback was negative was because people were out of their comfort zone - and they didn’t like it.

The only way we expand our consciousness is by being outside our comfort zone. Learning is a process of opening up new neural pathways in the brain. Neural pathways are like pathways in a forest, the paths that are used frequently become clear and easy to navigate. Paths that are not used become overgrown.

Learning anything is like going through the forest with a machete, opening up new pathways. By definition it pushes us out side our comfort zone. By definition it is uncomfortable.

These days I start workshops by telling participants this analogy, and I ask them not to judge the workshop by the level of discomfort they feel.

It could be argued that during the industrial era,that it was the role of individuals to be obedient. To work in factories obediently, to fight in trenches obediently or to work in the public sector obediently.

Today this is emphatically not good enough. We need EVERY member of society who can to take responsibility. We need responsible politicians, we need responsible bankers, we need responsible teachers and doctors and nurses. We need responsible business people. We need responsible teenagers, community members and citizens.

Being responsible does not just mean doing what we are told, it means knowing what is right and doing it. We can only know what is right by knowing ourselves, our values, our purpose and our intuition. Morals, ethics and values do not come from further obedience to a book or dogma, but from being in touch with our inner self.

Most of us were not fortunate enough to come out of our formal education with deep self knowledge - so we need to learn it now.

Once we are willing to go outside our comfort zone and make learning and expanding our consciousness a lifelong habit and pursuit, we immediately open up our potential to being exceptional.

Do you choose to be exceptional?

Would you like to be exceptional? Would you like your colleagues and your workplace to be exceptional. It can happen, it just requires a willingness to go beyond what you already know.

Would you like to help others and organisations to be fabulous? For the first time I am ready to offer training in the Authentic Transformation methodologies I have developed. From the 1st of July and over the summer I am running a distance learning course to train consultants and coaches.

Subjects include, authentic business, life purpose articulation, team purpose articulation, Spiral Dynamics and Authentic leadership. If you would like to know more, give me a call.

The courser starts with a one to one phone session which needs to take place before the 1st of July. These sessions have been so popular that I will repeat each session to make it easier for people juggling holidays, time zones and other commitments.

I am redefining my businesses - getting more clear, more authentic about who I am and what I do. www.neilcrofts.com has become the focus for my authentic business consultancy and coaching business. www.authenticis.com is evolving into a matchmaking website that will help authentic businesses and individuals find each other.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

The only way is up

neil@authentictransformation.co.uk (Neil Crofts) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:38:21 +0200

In so many ways our society reached rock bottom over the last six months. There are clear signs now that we are no longer going down and therefore we are going up.

What I mean is that in most dimensions, environmentally, politically, economically, socially and spiritually we are on the way up.

The bottom was characterized by: The previous US administration, reckless financial speculation, baseless conflict, greedy politicians, irresponsible business and government.

The evidence of our ascent is:

The election of Barack Obama and his speech in Cairo. Barack Obama is the first global level leader

The shift in attitudes to things like corruption, cheating, environmental damage and attempts to control people (except in North Korea).

In the UK members of parliament had been abusing the expenses system forever, but in 2009 that level of petty corruption shifted from acceptable to unacceptable.

In professional cycling tacit acceptance of cheating has shifted to a widespread “clean cycling” movement.

Chinese politics has moved a long way since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The lesson that was learned was that the old fashioned violent coercion of people could no longer be relied on to control people. In the last week the Chinese government announced plans to “go green” by producing 20% of their electricity from renewables.

In my own experience there has been an amazing upsurge of interest in authentic business. I have been writing, consulting and coaching about authentic business for nearly 10 years. When I started the concept seemed very “out there”.

Today I am having conversations with bankers, fashion designers, accountants, oil companies, software companies and more, seeking to bring greater integrity and authenticity to their organisations.

I am not saying that everything is exactly as we would like it, but the progress we are seeing is very significant.

The time is right for me to step up my work to the next level. For the first time I am ready to offer training in the Authentic Transformation methodologies I have developed. From the 1st of July and over the summer I am running a distance learning course to train consultants and coaches.

Subjects include, authentic business, life purpose articulation, team purpose articulation, Spiral Dynamics and Authentic leadership. If you would like to know more, give me a call.

The courser starts with a one to one phone session which needs to take place before the 1st of July.

I am redefining my businesses - getting more clear, more authentic about who I am and what I do. www.neilcrofts.com has become the focus for my authentic business consultancy and coaching business. www.authenticis.com is evolving into a matchmaking website that will help authentic businesses and individuals find each other.

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts