Diane, Jackie and their associates read many books in the course of their work, and it seemed a good idea to pass on their opinions on some of them here.
Books are given a star rating up to a maximum of 5
EFFECTIVE STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP by JOHN ADAIR
Published by Macmillan, 2003, price £9.99
ISBN 0-333-90644-6
This is a deceptively easy read from a writer many of us have known all our working lives. But don't be deceived. This is fresh and challenging - an excellent book that has its roots in his three-circle model and its head fill of phronesis (practical wisdom).
Now focussing on the domain of strategic leadership, using his familiar style of citing historical examples with military and business leaders' own words, Adair challenges his readers to review their own effectiveness as a strategic leader.
I find his focus on the First 100 days very motivating, as do the senior managers I work with.
('You'll never get a second chance to make a first impression').
But not just the first but also the next 100 days could make all the difference and many of my clients are now working on 100-day plans!
Adair shows us how this approach has worked in Grand Met, SmithKline Beech, Sketchley and ICI.
Looking at teamwork within the top team, he stresses the importance of disagreement within that team,
'The first rule in decision making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement.'
Emphasis is placed on the importance of good one-to-one relationships between top team members so that everyone in the organisation should
'understand clearly their part in the drama.'
Adair advocates 'One level up' thinking - identify not only the end objective in mind, but also one level up. Be clear about the means by which the objective will be achieved, because
'Planning is a process and not a destination'.
This book contains lots of 'how to...' information. You just can't help thinking about your own or your clients' organisations as you read. And this is Adair's skill - he recommends keeping it simple and writes that way himself.
He suggests exercises to try out: for example, in the section on organisational culture, that you list adjectives that you want your organisation to be characterised by in 10 years time, and then work towards them. He reminds us to turn all managers into leaders if you want to change organisational culture.
I had pretty much neglected Adair for more fashionable writers, but reading this eminently sensible and practical book, written by a man with phronesis to spare, has brought me back and offered me the encouragement to write my 'next 100 day' plan straight away!
Tracy's personal goal is 'to help people achieve their goals faster than they ever would in the absence of my help'. He speaks about becoming successful, sharing his own success story and process. (Tracy stood against Schwarzenegger in the California governorship elections with a set of goals for the state - not successful that time.)
In his preface he states: 'If I was given only five minutes to speak to you and convey only one thought that would help you to be more successful, I would tell you "write down your goals, make plans to achieve them, and work on your plans every single day ",
and that had me hooked.
Tracy's intended audience appears to be Americans in search of their first million dollars. However, his style is such and his ideas so well put that the reader can easily put that aside in persuit of their own definitions of success. There is a wealth of quotes, one of my favourites being 'if your goal is to get home at night and watch television, you will almost certainly achieve it.'
The book is full of advice:
Choose your boss with care and with your success goals in mind.
Become an expert in your field to help you achieve your goals.
'To achieve something you have never achieved before you must become someone you have never been before.'
Look for the one skill which, 'if you developed and did it in an excellent fashion would have the greatest positive impact on your career.'
Reading Tracy is like talking to a wise old but very successful uncle, full of practical wisdom.
Of course much of what Tracy says you will have read about before: how to determine goals which are consistent with your beliefs and values, and how to state them and measure progress. But he adds some neuro-linguistic programming extras: review your goals daily; visualise your goals continually; do something towards your goals every day; and persist until you succeed.
His final message is to be crystal clear about your goals but flexible in achieving them. Three magic statements can help you stay flexible he says, they are:
I was wrong,
I made a mistake, and
I changed my mind.
Tracy argues that goals give meaning, purpose, direction and bring energy. They help people to feel happier, stronger, more effective and confident. The book is action oriented and at the end of each chapter is a list of points and questions. At the end of the first chapter the 17th question is 'What one action should I take immediately?' - and because I had a goal of my own in mind as I read, I took it!
I didn't want to like this book but I did. It's got a simple message, clearly put, repeated for effect and to help the reader to take action. Perhaps I was in a suggestible frame of mind when I read it, but it did inspire me to act on one of my goals. So, inspired by Goals!, let's all set personal improvement as a goal.
Near the end of his book Tracy quotes Michael Jordan "Everyone has talent, but ability takes hard work". So, get working!
Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 2004, price £6.99
ISBN 0-340-83504-4
This may seem an odd title for a book about effective personal time management, but if you are someone who procrastinates over things you could/should be doing, you’ll get the metaphor. If the first thing you do in the morning is to eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing it’s probably the worst thing you’ll do all day.
As someone who coaches managers and runs workshops on personal effectiveness, I don’t like to recommend methods that either I or one of my colleagues haven’t found useful. Bearing that in mind, I’ve chosen to review this book using my own experience of reading it and following its main principles. And I’ll admit straight away that it worked for me!
I’m not someone that others would consider to have problems with my time management, but I am certainly capable of procrastination over an important task if I can’t immediately see a way forward with it; if I don’t feel comfortable about it; or if I lack confidence in my own abilities to succeed at it. I’m just as likely as the next person to ignore that big juicy frog (aka important task) all day and pick off a few tadpoles at the edge of the pond.
The book is short and very easy to read. Tracy describes 21 steps to achieve effective time management, with a 4 – 6 page chapter on each and a final summary of the process at the end of the book. The ideas are simple and continually reinforced throughout the book, so you do get the message loud and clear.
One of his first rules is to Think on paper. Some may prefer computers, but the important thing is to write it down. Once I’d written my Masterlist, the Monthly, Weekly and Daily lists were fairly easy to produce. The lists looked pretty long at first, but it was great crossing things off once I’d done them. Grading the tasks in terms of value was slightly more difficult, then came the hard part. Having identified my largest frog, I had to get stuck straight in first thing in the morning and not allow myself to start on easier, lower graded tasks.
Concentrating on the most important task first really paid off. The feeling of achievement was energising and at the end of the day I was still motivated to tackle a few smaller tasks. By the end of the first week I had achieved all my key tasks (or the relevant parts of them where I’d broken them down into stages) and many of the smaller ones too. (I even got around to going to the bank and changing all my new chip and PIN numbers to something I could remember.)
Personal effectiveness may start with planning, goal setting and prioritisation, but it won’t get you anywhere without some discipline and determination. Tracy deals with motivation and self-discipline in steps 13 to 15. Some of this is about being optimistic and giving yourself positive messages and some is simply telling yourself to Just do it! My challenge came in week two when a series of work and life events combined to distract me and take my energies away from work. So, I started a new weekly and daily list, reviewing my priorities, and told myself firmly to get back to work several times. It’s week three now and I’m still doing well. I’m writing this review on a train journey and deliberately avoiding reading the novel in my briefcase until I’ve finished. But then, I’ll have plenty of time to read it on the holiday I sorted out for the coming half term week, one of my accomplished week one tasks!
The focus of the book is very much about achieving your management tasks. Tracy recognises the importance of time spent on learning and improving your skills, but tends not to prioritise some of the people activities, such as, relationship building and networking. Personally, I interpreted his book in a more holistic way, and my lists also included following up on small promises made to colleagues, networking activities, exercise and organising leisure time, and I gave these a high priority.
I can’t say how long the motivation to get things done will last, but I think this is the sort of book you could easily go back to whenever you feel in need of a hand with self-discipline.
This book, written by one of the UK's foremost proponents of Action Learning (AL), both sets out the case for AL, and provides a useful 'How To' guide. Pedler defines AL as a method of problem solving and learning in groups to bring about change for individuals, teams and organisations. He has written the book for the benefit of managers and other professionals who wish to promote AL in organisations, perhaps as part of a management development programme or in pursuit of becoming a learning organisation. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive, his final advice being Don't follow all the advice in this guide!
The book is structured around nine key questions that range from What is Action Leaning? to How to evaluate it? and Where to find more information? These nine questions become nine chapters and each chapter has an explanation, a case example and a useful resource of some kind, such as a questionnaire or checklist.
Pedler tackles the really key questions in the chapters entitled Will it work in my organisation? What skills are developed in AL? and How do you evaluate AL? He sees AL as contributing to the creation of a culture of enquiry and questioning in organisations ready and willing to learn, and where the issues to be tackled have 'no right answers'. Participants develop their learning, questioning and critical analysis skills alongside improving their practical performance at work. Evaluation of AL can be complex, with qualitative data coming from a variety of sources, including, individual participants, their learning groups (or sets), the scheme sponsors, senior management and the organisation as a whole. And, of course, some of this may come over quite an extended period of time. Measuring any contribution to organisational development is quite a challenge, which may be best demonstrated by holistic systems such as the Balanced Scorecard or Performance Prism.
Action Learning for Managers is a deceptively easy read. It takes from Revans the idea that There can be no learning without action and no (sober and deliberate) action without learning, and makes the case for its importance, whilst also offering a user friendly approach to AL and encouragement to give it a go.
The case examples are practical and put flesh on the theoretical bones, and the resources give budding AL sets and their facilitators something to work on.
If you are interested in Action Learning or Organisational Development this is a quick read yet challenging in concept. It is the best thing I have read on AL and will be recommending it. I read this as part of a search for a user-friendly book to use with clients, both sponsors and participants on Management Development Programmes with an AL element. My search, if not over, is certainly temporarily suspended.
I give this book 4.5 stars (very interesting, do read if you are interested in AL or OD.)
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
Published by Jossey-Bass
ISBN 0-7879-6075-6
Having not read anything else by this author (although I have heard of his The Five Temptations of a CEO) I was surprised to find myself reading a mini saga on the trials and tribulations of new DecisionTech CEO Kathryn. I learned of her previous experience and, in the light of that experience, the efforts she made to introduce some senior management team teamwork in her organization (sic). Yes, it is an American book, but that should not put you off. The author is an experienced team builder and consultant and has used his experience to create an apocryphal tale for our edification.
I found myself getting interested in team members, in Kathryn and in the fate of the team. I also found myself trying to second-guess the next stages or how the CEO would react to each twist and turn in the story. I read the 170 pages of narrative on a train journey and then the remaining 60 pages of lessons learned and the model at a later stage, and I am glad I did so as it brought the story back and acted as a refresher and reminder.
Well, I hear you ask, 'What are these five dysfunctions?' They are generally not surprising although it is good to see 'avoidance of accountability' on the list.
1. Absence of trust - the importance of having confidence in other team members' good intentions
2. Fear of conflict - the importance of productive inter team conflict
3. Lack of commitment - caused by desire for consensus and need for certainty
4. Avoidance of accountability - caused by the unwillingness of team members to tolerate interpersonal discomfort and
5. Inattention to results - the importance of collective team goals.
Each dysfunction comes with suggested tools, for example use of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator or 360 º feedback to improve trust, or deadlines and scenarios for lack of commitment, plus tips for the leader. This is a book I would recommend for senior (and middle) managers. But it is not one I'd suggest for inexperienced managers - it might be too scary!
By Charles Handy with photographs by Elizabeth Handy
Published by William Hienemann 2006
ISBN: 0434013455
I love Charles Handy's easy style of writing, his way of spotting trends and making sense of them using metaphors and stories from his own experiences.
His latest book is the third collaboration with his wife Elizabeth. They have researched, interviewed and photographed 'entrepreneurial pioneers'. Handy's shows that philanthropy exists today but that the new way is to give to good causes and to make sure their hard won money can make a difference by being hands on with the recipients.
The Introduction says it all in the first 18 pages. Thereafter come the 24 lives (3 women, 21 men) used to 'demonstrate the broad scope of philanthropy'. Each life is illustrated with an Elizabeth Handy photographic portrait and still life made up from five chosen objects and a flower. Few of the philanthropists featured were familiar names to me. I had not heard of Jeff Skoll (eBay) who funds films to help change people's perceptions and attitudes. Or of Niall Mellon (property developer) funding vocational training and house building in poor South African communities, or of Sara Davenport who founded Breast Cancer Haven after her children's nanny had a mastectomy. They encourage us to see that entrepreneurs will be good at social enterpreneurship too. The lives, portraits and still lives show a human side that links to their giving.
Charles Handy has been a constant companion to my working life, ever since, as CEO of a not for profit, I read his 'Understanding Voluntary Organisations'. His writing has both influenced and reflected my own experiences. We now seem to be growing older together. The New Philanthropists made me wish for a younger more challenging Charles and for the slightly edgier 'photo-joiner' portraits by Elizabeth seen in an earlier collaboration.
