Managers Need Much More Than Passion To Truly Succeed

Premiership football club, Sunderland have just announced the sacking of colourful Manager, Paulo Di Canio.  No shock for many independent observers, somewhat of a relief for demanding fans who pay good money in a tough economic climate for some level of enjoyment and success, and no doubt viewed as unfair by m/any unions representing football managers.

With a dismal record of just three wins in his thirteen competitive games in charge of the team, Di Canio's record speaks for itself.  But there are several important factors to consider in this sensitive situation, such as:-

Was the Board's decision to appoint Di Canio as manager (after sacking Martin O' Neill) based on a successful track record, cultural fit, technical competence, or something else?  That something else being a passionate Italian accent, a 'Never give up' attitude, and some good PR?

Di Canio is most certainly passionate, and perhaps his Italian accent creates more impact than many of his (former) peers in the Premiership such as Tony Pulis at Stoke (who was fired as his board thought he had done all he could at the club), and Steve Bruce of Hull FC who, with his clearly north eastern accent, doesn't quite match the romance and passion, Di Canio's accent does.

Does a 'Fresh pair of eyes' really add so much value to a team who aren't 'succeeding' or achieving the success the financially driven board of directors and owner demand of them, or at least, hope for?  Not in this case at least.

Di Canio's reign at Sunderland was littered with public outbursts about his team's lack of passion, commitment and motivation.  Rather like former Hull FC's manager, Phil Brown's spat when his team were performing badly.  Brown is now famous, for all the wrong reasons, for not allowing his players to return to the dressing room at half-time.  Instead, he insisted they remain in the centre circle...to receive a right royal roasting from him!  Perhaps not the best motivator, or the best PR for a reasonably respected and successful manager. 

There is a time and a place for manager's to reprimand their team members.  My thoughts are - it's best done privately.  Why?  Because individuals make up teams and the 'one size fits all' approach to addressing poor or unacceptable performance has never worked in terms of adding value, and most likely never will.  But whether it is a football manager, call centre manager, customer service manager, or any otehr kind, the manager is paid, trusted and expected to deliver high quality results.  And this is where responsibility must be taken.

Di Canio is a fine example of a passionate, focused athlete.  But, as in business, being a great technician by no means guarantees that you will be a great manager. 








 

Spotting When You're Being Influenced To Make A Decision....NOW!

How often do people in business attempt to influence you?  Very often I expect as without influencing, nothing would get done and communication would not exist.

I absolutely love exploring how people influence each other, ethically and not so ethically too.  You've experience the charity 'chugger' who makes uses the town or city centre precinct as their stage to approach you in perhaps an overly friendly manner, in an effort to entice you to stop, listen, feel guilty about not supporting the charity s/he is 'representing', in the hope you will sign up for a monthly standing order to 'support' their charity.  What these 'chuggers' don't tell you is that they are employed by an agency which, if you sign up through their representative, take a commission of anything from 50 to 70% of your first year's 'donations'.  

OK, chuggers are an extreme case, but take a look at the content below which was an initial response from a conference exhibition sales representative following my enquiry about my company possibly exhibiting at a HR conference.

This email is by no means unethical, unprofessional or misleading.  Indeed, it is the exact opposite, and it's a pretty good effort to attract business and encourage me to make a decision to exhibit....NOW!

See for yourself what journey the sales representative takes me on.  Read through the complete email immediately below and have a think about the author's intention.  On the copy immediately below this original email, I've detailed my notes in italics so you can differentiate his and my comments.  Let's see if you and I are spotting the same things!

Many thanks for your enquiry. 

I have had a look at your website and the services that Summit offer would be ideally suited, and of interest to the senior level L&D decision makers that the exhibition delivers.

As you can imagine at this time of year the last remaining stands are being booked quite quickly now, we have approximately 5 remaining.

Price and size of stands are,

3m x 2m £2,322

4m x 2m £3,096

3m x 3m £3,483

4m x 3m £4,644

There is also two other costs that you would need to factor in,

Administration Fee £245 - This covers your for 3 main areas of insurance, Loss Damage & Theft, Cancellation & Abandonment and Public Liability Insurance to the value of £2million.

Registration Fee £270 - However this is refunded in full if the invoice is paid within 3 weeks. As we are are already within 3 weeks from the event and all invoices must be paid before the event we can literally ignore this cost.

I have attached a copy of this years brochure, media pack and floor plan. The floor plan isn't quite up to date with the bookings that have come in this week, but I can still accommodate various size stands that companies may wish to book.

Obviously I would be delighted to have you exhibit this year, but a question I would like to ask is, that bearing in mind the event is in 19 days, does that give you enough time to prepare to exhibit this year?

If you have any questions or queries don't hesitate to let me know and if you could let me know your thoughts I would really appreciate it.

Kind Regards

Copy With Scott's Comments

Many thanks for your enquiry. (not a good start as my name would have developed a more personal, less scattergun approach).

I have had a look at your website and the services that Summit offer would be ideally suited, and of interest to the senior level L&D decision makers that the exhibition delivers. (The author claims to have invested time in reviewing my web site to understand my company's offering, and yes, of course, my company's offering is 'ideally suited, and of interest' to his conference audience.  This is rather like you trying on an item of clothing in a store and the sales rep stating 'Oh, it really suits you'.  Not that they would ever state otherwise).

As you can imagine at this time of year the last remaining stands are being booked quite quickly now, we have approximately 5 remaining.  (Here, the author intends to place me in a visual thinking mode with 'As you can imagine' and then he uses the time of year and scarcity of time...time is running out, trick to understand that 'the last remaining stands are being booked quite quickly now' and 'we have approximately 5 remaining'.  Whether true, accurate or otherwise, the author is using the rule of scarcity to push me towards...NOT LOSING OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY.

Price and size of stands are,

3m x 2m £2,322

4m x 2m £3,096

3m x 3m £3,483

4m x 3m £4,644

Notice that the author has not stated that the prices are exclusive of VAT.  This serves to present the pricing as less expensive.  Bu then we go on to other costs to be factored in...

There is also two other costs that you would need to factor in,

Administration Fee £245 - This covers your for 3 main areas of insurance, Loss Damage & Theft, Cancellation & Abandonment and Public Liability Insurance to the value of £2million.  Such admin fees are similar to the charge you receive when using an ATM in some stores which charge you up to £1.99 for you benefiting from the convenience of using their service.  But my company for one has these insurances in place and this 'AdministrationFee' is perhaps being presented as a 'Compulsory Fee' rather than an optional fee.  But one question to ask if you were considering paying the fee is - just how much commission is the event organiser receiving on this income stream?  The author's hope is that exhibitors will simply pay it.

Registration Fee £270 - However this is refunded in full if the invoice is paid within 3 weeks. As we are are already within 3 weeks from the event and all invoices must be paid before the event we can literally ignore this cost.

I have attached a copy of this years brochure, media pack and floor plan. The floor plan isn't quite up to date with the bookings that have come in this week, but I can still accommodate various size stands that companies may wish to book.

Obviously I would be delighted to have you exhibit this year, but a question I would like to ask is, that bearing in mind the event is in 19 days, does that give you enough time to prepare to exhibit this year?   What a wonderfully soul searching question!  Beginning the question with 'BUT' and then accompanying it with a question to create uncertainty and again, scarcity.  The challenge the author experiences here though is that, until he asked the question about whether I was running out of time, I hadn't even considered the possibility.  As it happens, my team and I don't have enough time - so we're not exhibiting!

If you have any questions or queries don't hesitate to let me know and if you could let me know your thoughts I would really appreciate it.

Kind Regards

This email was sent to me 3 weeks ago, and just yesterday I received an email from the same author asking if I had made a decision on exhibiting.  What does this second message chasing business actually do?  it discredits the content of the author's first email which encouraged me not to lose out.

If you want to not just survive, but thrive as  a leader, business owner or entrepreneur, don't just accept what some people communicate to you as true, accurate or win-win.  Take time to dissect their communication and reflect on the consequences and implications of you choosing to make a decision based on their, perhaps self-serving communication.

When Will Jamie's Italian Learn That Bullying Customers Is Bad For Business?

What are your thoughts on tipping in restaurants?

Do you feel socially obligated to leave a tip following a decent meal which is accompanied by decent service?  Or, do you feel that you reserve the right to decide for yourself as to whether you would like to leave a few spare quid to the waiter or waitress?

Perhaps you and I are in the same boat here.  Personally, I prefer to leave a tip if a financial reward, in addition to the cost of the meal and refreshments has been earned by good food and at least 'good' service to match.  By 'good' I mean friendly, attentive and responsive service, and not 'Well it wasn't as bad as the last time' standard.

Now here's the thing for you and your organisation.  Do you really understand the impact your customer facing colleagues have on your trusting customers and/or end users?   And do you understand what impact, positive and negative, they are having on your organisation?  If you don't, it's a very precarious position to find yourself in, as you never know who will be so disappointed or frustrated by your quality of service that they never return to purchase your product or service.  And this (once again) is the challenge I experience on visits to Jamie's Italian, Leeds.

Bear in mind that Jamie Oliver is not just a chef, and a rather fantastic one at that, he is an entrepreneur.  An entrepreneur with stakeholders such as financial investors, employees and perhaps even his family.  But ultimately, Jamie Oliver is a national and international brand.  And as we've witnessed in recent years with the likes of some of the UK's biggest financial institutions and high street retailers, when a brand is damaged, sometimes it just never recovers.

Here's the challenge, the gripe, the complaint and feedback for Jamie and Jamie's Italian managers in Leeds.  

'Stop bullying diners in to leaving a tip.'

If you take a look at my previous blog post about this outlet, you will see just how abhorrent I feel the practice of underlining the wording on the bill which states that tips are not included in the price of your food and drink.  Not only is wording underlined, but some staff (who I expect have chosen to work at this outlet and not on a bare minimum wage), choose to *asterisk* the wording so as to draw the customers attention to their plight.  Their plight being extremely self-serving, unethical as well as downright unprofessional.

But as you'll notice from my previous blog post, the very same practice has been implemented by more than one member of the waiting staff.  What suspicion does this raise for you?  Is it one or two rogue waiting staff looking out for themselves, or, is this practice more of an organisational or management practice which the waiting staff are instructed to undertake?  Well, as you can see from the photo below, and the photo in the earlier post, there is a standard in place here.


The strange thing in all of this?  Even though I understand in quite some detail how (ethical) influencing works in a business and personal context, this disgraceful behaviour demonstrated by two of Jamie's Italian staff resulted in me feeling rather uncomfortable.  So uncomfortable in fact that on the first occasion I took the opportunity to express my concern and discomfort to a member of the management team in Leeds.  The strange thing about the incident this past weekend was, the lady serving us was absolutely first class.  So brilliant in fact, I mentioned her brilliance to the manager on duty.  So why does a hospitality 'professional' feel the need to get involved with trying to rip off diners?

Let's work out the maths on this activity.  You're a waiter and in one hour you look after seven tables of diners.  There are two diners on each table and each table of guests 'tips' you £2 each.  That's £14 straight in your pocket and I do wonder whether this income is declared to HMRC.  And over a seven hour shift at £14 per hour tips and excluding the hourly wage, that's a whopping £98 per shift.

If I lacked even a small amount of decency I'd pack up my running my own business and become a waiter at this outlet.  Well, just look at the income.  Wouldn't I be a fool not to?