The TT race is an opportunity for man and machine to conquer the toughest environment, which shows no mercy. Keith Amor came off his bike in the wet the other day, and managed to hang on to the bike long enough not to be flung in to a wall, instead he spun on his back down the road. Last year Conor Cummins came off over the mountain part of the track and bounced like a rag doll down the hill. Amongst his injuries he broke his back in several places – and is back this year to race. Not every one is so lucky and every year riders die doing what they love. They are passionate about what they’re doing, they know the risk and the thrill you get from successfully testing yourself in such extreme circumstances is the prize.

So what have I noticed amongst the best:-

Focus, clarity, determination, passion – They know what they want and why, they also live and breath their sport.

Commitment – this isn’t just to the sport, this is commitment when on the track, every corner is taken on the edge. They know they’re not going to win if they are tentative, or back off half way through. Commit to the corner and if it doesn’t work out, learn from it. Make a decision, follow it through.

Sacrifice – some of the guys there are part funding themselves. And some of those winning now started off part funding themselves.

Faith, self belief, confidence, skill & experience, as well as the ability to take feedback and respond quickly. The bike is always talking to them about the road, it’s their ability to listen and respond that let’s them lead the field. The minute they start ignoring it and thinking they know best, or are invincible, yes you can see where I’m going with this.

Teamwork – races can be won or lost on the pit stops, and of course in setting the bike up in the first place, or repairing it in time for the next race.

Resilience – Both Guy Martin and Connor Cummins had serious injuries from their crashes last year. They’re both back this year. That say’s a lot about their bodies, as well as their minds. I don’t know that I could get back on a bike and go full out again, then again that’s due to racing not being my ‘passion’. Business and specifically leadership are, and I’ve lost count of the knocks and set backs and I just dust myself down, learn from it and get back in the game.

Preparation – they’re all out there beforehand, reacquainting themselves with the course, fine tuning the bikes, and their self talk is positive.

Razor’s edge – the difference between 1st and 2nd place, can be point something of a second. Yet it’s only the winners that get remembered, and talked about.

The leaders in the TT all demonstrate the above. The followers are working on being able to do the above.

Steve McQueen once said “Racing is life – anything before or after is just waiting”. Well I’d change it to “Leadership is life – anything before or after is just faffing about.”

Great leaders in business also demonstrate the above qualities, taking up the challenge of conquering todays tough business environment. One that is also unforgiving, poor leadership can easily take a business under.

The question to ask yourself is – “are you playing to win, or playing not to lose?”

So if you’re wondering what to do about the impact your current culture is having on the performance of your business you could drop us a line and we can suggest some specific sources that will help you.

Alternatively here is a presentation from Netflix.  OK it’s 128 slides long, but if you’re interested in the what and some how around others companies embracing and working with their culture and values, then get clicking, it’s worth it.

Rosalynn Carter

Our life is a learning process. Learning does not come to an abrupt halt after the completion of school or college, but it continues throughout our lives.  Leadership should provide everybody the scope to learn. Most of the time, staff are worried to reinvent or innovate themselves as they are afraid of the fact that they might make mistakes in the process and it will not be appreciated by their leaders.  The leaders on the other hand, should not criticize the workers for their mistakes but use this person’s willingness to continuously improve.  Constructive feedback done well points out the areas where further improvement can be made but doesn’t have any negative impact on the morale of the worker.

A good leader is conscious about all the quintessential ingredients which make a great leader.  This means they invest not only in the development of their staff but also themselves.  This allows the leader to provide proper guidance at every stage to all employees so that they do not lose their focus or direction.  Leadership isn’t just about striving for the growth of the organization but it also exerts equal preference for the growth of people.  It doesn’t have to be training courses, in somecases an active mentoring or coaching role (yes they are different) can provide the framework for the growth and development required.

If your staff are not asking for development then look to the culture of your organisation.  Is continous learning and improvement important?  Perhaps it’s important to the product or service you provide but you’ve never made the link to staff development explicit.  Where do you and your employees need to be in order for your business to grow and thrive?  And if growth is a stretch then where do you need to be in order to handle the uncertain business market?

Often in the overwhelm of staying a float and finding new business leaders can overlook the importance of communicating the vision.

The power to guide your people towards achieving your vision for the business includes responsibilities like making sure they’re on the right direction, being mindful of each and everyone’s tasks and mistakes, and putting them back on the right track when they get lost.  Nobody said leadership was easy or intuitive.  In fact as a small business owner you can be fulfilling so many roles it can become overwhelming.  It’s like juggling plates, but if you’ve got an IKEA plate, a denby plate and a ming plate (OK not sure ming made plates, it might just have been vases), which one do you let drop.  Your leadership of the business is the ming.  Let that one go and you’ve let your business go – well the results that were possible for you anyway.

Business leadership is one responsibility after another – the buck really does stop with us.  There are times where occasionally it makes us feel better to blame someone or something else when things goes wrong, but this shouldn’t be a habit.  It should be the rare slip up.

Instead of blame and excuses good leaders accept that something went wrong, and look for the learning instead.  As the leader of the business or team what can they personally learn as well helping the individual who made the mistake find their learnings.

You may not have full control over other people and aren’t expected to have full control over their actions, but you have total control of your own reactions.  Understanding what to do over sudden and unpredictable circumstances will make you responsible, give you greater flexibility and ironically give you a greater sense of control.

There is a very simple equation:-

High Trust = High Speed + Low Cost

Low Trust = Slow Speed + High Costs

Look at the performance of your business, team, a specific relationship. Do things happen quickly or is everyone second guessing, double checking, re-doing and in the worst case preparing to cover and protect themselves should something go wrong?

Trust is a multiplier effect.  High trust people get the significant projects; you wouldn’t leave your child with someone you didn’t trust and a business makes no different decisions.

• High trust people get promoted and receive more of the company’s resources.
• Collaboration, engagement, innovation, job fulfilment all increase when there is trust.
• The ability to attract and retain talent increases where there is trust.
• Revenue, customer loyalty and referrals also increase if there is trust.

In fact research shows that high trust organisations out perform low trust ones by 278%

On April 15th at 4pm I’ll be interviewing Sue Swanborough, HR Director at General Mills UK, a company that yearly features in the Fortune Top 100 companies to work for.  Sue is an expert in trust and its impact and application throughout the business, from board level to shop floor.  The results of this have been evident in the business results achieved.

In the past Sue, a science graduate has worked in a number of fmcg businesses including Boots, Mars and most recently General Mills. She has moved cross functionally through R&D, supply chain, logistics and manufacturing before joining HR. She has held a number of generalist and specialist roles covering the full spectrum of HR. Her passion and expertise lies in cultural and leadership development through building trust to deliver excellent business results.

On this 75 minute tele conference call we’ll be discussing:-

• The impact trust has on the performance of a business
• What leaders need to pay attention to
• The top 3 mistakes leaders make and how this endangers the levels of trust they have
• Key strategies to build trust – whatever the size of your business
• Plus we’ll open the lines so you can ask your questions direct, as well as giving you the opportunity to send in your questions beforehand.

To secure your place and get a hard copy of the call, including transcript, follow this link – building trust

Jester seeks Creator to get right outside the box

Damsel in distress seeks knight, must have own horse.

The examples at the beginning may seem like strange lonely heart ads, but they’re universal patterns that we function around.

Take great movies like ET, Harry Potter, Pretty Woman, Cinderella, and those up for Oscars this year like Avatar.  Each is so powerful and successful because the characters embody a clear archetype and the story line is one we’re familiar with.  King Arthur needs his Merlin for Camelot to be healthy

An Archetype then is a root word that encodes a complete pattern.  If I said his leadership style is little Hitler you know exactly what I mean.

A picture may paint a thousand words, but archetypes convey everything in the word.  Archetypes carry the seed and energy in a universal language.  What’s so powerful is that you respond at a deep unconscious level and either the archetype draws you in or you pull away quickly.

Within business we’re also running our personal archetypal patterns.

The thing about archetypes is that over time we develop our favourites, and we have those that we out and out reject.  Yet all have their place and purpose.  I remember when I first worked with my archetypes.  My destroyer had in the past done just that, destroyed, so when I really needed to let go of things that no longer served a purpose I didn’t, I hung on, and hung on, and then experienced situations where ‘the baby went out with the bath water’.  My experiences with that archetype hadn’t been pleasant, so when it was required, it ran me rather than me using it.  Not good, and even less so as a leader.  We can do all the Emotional Intelligence stuff in the world, but trust me when I say that Archetypes run much deeper, so if you haven’t got a handle on them then you can only go so far.  Now of course things are different, I can sense when the destroyer is required, so I pay attention, what do I need to let go of  – it could be something physical, like a good office tidy up, it could be mental, like a belief, it could be emotional, maybe I’m not being true to how I feel and I’ve been ignoring myself.  When I know what it is I can work with it, and the destroyer is an Allie.  I also appear way more Emotionally Intelligent – and I am, because I’m paying attention to signals from the core of who am I.

Archetypes then are free powerful resources with a specific purpose, if you’re not aware of them, then they run you, when you are aware of them then you can use them.

As a leader your success – and ability to run a productive business with a  highly engaged workforce – is determined by your level of self awareness.  If you’re ready to take huge leaps forward then join me in April where I’ll be helping 12 leaders understand their archetypal patterns, access these phenomenally powerful resources and use them productively.  You can find more information here on our Archetypal leadership development course or contact us to secure your place.