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Emma Birchall is Head of Research - Future of Work at the Hot Spots Movement. Here she has the opportunity to convert leading research into practical insights for clients who are looking to find new ways of using technology to drive human capital performance. She will be a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference on 8 October 2015.   IMI: Based on your current work – if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business - what would they be?

EB: Bring back the trust. They’re human.

IMI: What does this mean? EB: From collaboration to performance to employee engagement, everything we know about work is changing – but our businesses are seemingly slow to respond. People are more attuned to sharing posts, writing blogs, and providing instant feedback through ‘likes’ and ‘favourites’ than they are to completing surveys, so why does our approach to employee engagement still centre on a set of fixed statements and a rating scale? In their personal lives people collaborate naturally with those around them and have an amazing propensity to share even when there is no immediate benefit to them, hence the success of crowdsourcing sites like Wikipedia. So, why do we spend so much time and energy in organisations on encouraging people to practice these seemingly natural behaviours at work? The challenge for businesses is to disrupt every process and practice in the organisation by asking: Why does it exist? What are we trying to achieve? If we were to start the organisation from scratch, would we choose to create this? And perhaps most tellingly of all, would this practice exist if we trusted our employees? IMI: Where should we look for further information? EB: For further information, take a look at the Future of Work website or follow us on Twitter @HspotM: http://www.hotspotsmovement.com/research-institute.html engagement Source: www.abcgreatpix.com Emma Birchall is a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference taking place on Thursday 8 October. This event has now reached maximum capacity however if you would like to be added to the waiting list, please email your contact details and company name to conference@imi.ie. [post_title] => "Bring back the trust. They’re human" Six Word Wisdom from Emma Birchall [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => bring-back-trust-theyre-human-six-word-wisdom-emma-birchall [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-05-11 20:45:55 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-05-11 20:45:55 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.imi.ie/?p=11578 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [1] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 8010 [post_author] => 7 [post_date] => 2014-09-04 14:33:32 [post_date_gmt] => 2014-09-04 14:33:32 [post_content] => Due to a number of factors such as technology and globalisation our day to day lives - whether business or personal increasingly involve broader international networks.  And while in the IMI blog we often consider our "effectiveness" in how we interact with and manage others but all too often we do not discuss the critical factors of nationality and culture. How do cultural differences impact on your ability to do business? And how can we make sure we are maximising our relationships with those in our network who may be operating with cultural differences to our own.   Erin Meyer is a professor at INSEAD, one of the world's leading international business schools. Her work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Singapore Business Times and Forbes.com. In 2013 the Thinkers 50 named her as one of 30 up-and-coming thinkers and in October 2013 British Airways Business Life magazine on their list of 'Ten Dons to Watch'. Her work focuses on how the world's most successful global leaders navigate the complexities of cultural differences in an international environment.   Erin-Meyer IMI: Based on your current work - if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business - what would they be? EM: Succeed Globally with a Culture Map IMI: What does this mean? EM: Today, whether we work with colleagues in Dusseldorf or Dubai, Brasilia or Beijing, New York or New Delhi, we are all part of a global network (real or virtual, physical or electronic) where success requires navigating through wildly different cultural realities. Unless we know how to decode other cultures and avoid easy-to-fall-into cultural traps, we are easy prey to misunderstanding, needless conflict, and ultimate failure. Yet most managers have little understanding of how local culture impacts global interaction. Even those who are culturally informed, travel extensively, and have lived abroad often have few strategies for dealing with the cross-cultural complexity that affects their team's day-to-day effectiveness. To help people improve their ability to decode the cultural differences impacting their work and to enhance their effectiveness in dealing with these differences, I have built on the work of many in my field to develop a tool called the Culture Map. It is made up of eight scales representing the management behaviours where cultural gaps are most common. The eight scales are based on decades of academic research into culture from multiple perspectives. To this foundation I have added my own work, which has been validated by extensive interviews with thousands of executives who have confirmed or corrected my findings.   The scales are:
  • Communicating: explicit vs. implicit
  • Evaluating: direct criticism vs. indirect criticism
  • Leading: egalitarian vs. hierarchical
  • Deciding: consensual vs. top down
  • Trusting: task vs. relationship
  • Disagreeing: confrontational vs. avoidance
  • Scheduling: linear-time vs. flexible-time
  • Persuading: applications-first vs. principles-first
By analyzing the relative positioning of one nationality to another on each scale, managers learn to decode how culture influences day-to-day international collaboration and therefor avoid the common pitfalls. Managers have always needed to understand human nature and personality differences – that’s nothing new. What is new is that twenty-first century managers must understand a wider, richer array of work styles than ever before. They have to be able to determine which aspects of their interactions are simply a result of personality and which are a result of differences in cultural perspective. IMI: Where should we look for further information? EM: Read The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business.  Or my HBR article:  Navigating the Cultural Minefield www.erinmeyer.com. Erin Meyer will be holding a Masterclass at IMI on September 30th.  If you are interested in attending click here to register. [post_title] => "Decode cultural differences to suceed globally" Six Word Wisdom from Erin Meyer [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => six-word-wisdom-erin-mayer [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-05-11 21:04:07 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-05-11 21:04:07 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.imi.ie/?p=8010 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 16066 [post_author] => 7 [post_date] => 2016-09-13 12:24:52 [post_date_gmt] => 2016-09-13 12:24:52 [post_content] => Adrian Funham photo2Previously a lecturer in Psychology at Pembroke College, Oxford, he has been Professor of Psychology at University College London since 1992. He has lectured widely abroad and held scholarships and visiting professorships at, amongst others, the University of New South Wales, the University of the West Indies, the University of Hong Kong and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has also been a Visiting Professor of Management at Henley Management College. He has recently been made Adjunct Professor of Management at the Norwegian School of Management. Since 2007 he has been nominated by HR magazine as one of the 20 Most Influential People in HR. IMI: Based on your current work – if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business – what would they be?

AF: Every Disruption involves threat and opportunity.

IMI: What does that mean? AF: We live in turbulent times: times of both threat and opportunity that really test managers. So what are the fundamental principles of good management to ensure staff are happy, motivated and productive? Can you teach experts to become good people managers and if so, how? What is the role of money in motivation? And how can we engage rather than disenchant our staff? We know from futurologists that the world of work is changing fast, even though many predictions have not come true. But where we work, for whom we work and with whom we work are all in flux. How do you manage the older worker? What are young people really like in the work-place? What is the work-place and organisation of the (near) future going to look like? Finally, I address the (continual) management of change. Which strategies work best and why? No one ever said managing people was easy: but we can learn to do it better and ensure our organisation thrives and survives in an uncertain world. Adrian Furnham is a keynote speaker at the IMI National Management Conference taking place on Thursday 29th  of September. To register please click here.   [post_title] => "Every Disruption involves threat and opportunity" Six Word Wisdom from Adrian Furnham [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => every-disruption-involves-threat-opportunity-six-word-wisdom-adrian-furnham [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-05-11 19:56:20 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-05-11 19:56:20 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.imi.ie/?p=16066 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) )
Dymphna Ormond

Dymphna Ormond

21st Aug 2017

Dymphna Ormond is an IMI associate who teaches on  Front Line Management and Essential Skills of Management programmes.

Related Articles

"Bring back the trust. They’re human" Six Word Wisdom from Emma Birchall
"Decode cultural differences to suceed globally" Six Word Wisdom from Erin Meyer
"Every Disruption involves threat and opportunity" Six Word Wisdom from Adrian Furnham

Time Management Thoughts for Leaders

“Time once lost, can never be recovered.” Geoffrey Chaucer en-route to Canterbury

Time is a resource. According to Peter Drucker “Time is the scarcest resource. Unless it is managed, nothing can be managed.”  An effective manager make decisions everyday on how to use their time to achieve results that matter. This involves goal setting, planning, prioritisation, saying “no”, effective communication and delegation and managing time wasting activities.

Time management (Photo source)

Goal Setting and Planning

Follow Stephen Covey’s advice and “Begin with the end in mind” (Covey, 1999). If you don’t know where you are going, you may be busy all day however you won’t achieve very much.   Determine what you want to achieve by the end of the year, quarter, month and why.   This will give you direction and focus your attention on the important things rather than reacting to what lands on your desk and other people’s request. If you fail to plan your time, then expect that someone else will plan and fill it for you.

  • Know what you must achieve by the end of every month and why it is important to achieve it.
  • Plan steps to get you there. For example, what must be completed/in place by end of week 3, end of week 2, end of week 1 to deliver the desired results?
  • Schedule in the tasks and activities into your diary system and allocate a time. Mark it as a MUST Do task for that day.  Build in contingency time as tasks may take longer to complete than expected.
  • Identify tasks that you can delegate and to whom. Plan time to delegate the task effectively.

Create and follow a prioritised To-Do-List

To-do-lists are an essential time management tool if they are used well. Write a prioritised to-do-list at the end of every day. This way you get to review what you have achieved during the day and can go home with a free mind i.e. not trying to remember things you need to do the following day. Prioritise your list.  I like using MUST DO’s, SHOULD DO’s and MAYBE’s. The Must Do items are those tasks that no matter what other unplanned or unexpected items crop up you MUST DO. The next items on the list to be completed are the Should’s and then the Maybe’s. If you can’t get them completed due to unplanned, unexpected tasks that must be done then they will move to the next day – and moved up a priority level.

  • Review where you are against your goals for the month/quarter end.
  • Determine what must be done the next day and write it in your prioritised list as a MUST DO task. Failure to do this will mean that other people’s priorities will fill up your time.
  • Complete your MUST DO’S first.
  • Group similar items together, including reviewing and replying to emails, calls, certain queries, admin tasks.
  • Some tasks may not be urgent but are important. For example, one-to-one meeting with your team members, team briefings, planning and thinking time, training/coaching time for yourself or with a team member. Schedule these tasks in.  If they are never completed you will possibly create a crisis or emergency for yourself or someone else.
  • Your prioritised To-Do-List will help you a) say no to certain requests and b) reduce some time wasting activities e.g. manage interruptions and procrastination.

Communication and Delegation

Communication and delegation are two essential skills of managers and effective time management. Delegation empowers your team, giving them opportunities to learn and develop their skills and knowledge. Poor communication and delegation skills wastes your time and that of others and steals our energy. Take the time to plan your communications effectively to clarify your message, listen and understand feedback received and you will reap the rewards.

Review  

At the end of every day, week, month, quarter review what you have achieved, look ahead to the following day, weeks, months, quarter and refine your plans as needed.

Time management is about self-management:  In the words of Gandalf, Lord of the Rings “All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us.”


Dymphna Ormond is an IMI associate who teaches on  Front Line Management and Essential Skills of Management programmes.  Dymphna has over 14 years of experience designing and delivering training that engages, challenges and stimulates the thinking of participants. Her areas of expertise and interest are in employee engagement, leadership and management skills, presenting and communicating with impact.