Take one for the Team

It’s 8.55pm and I am sitting on the sofa with chocolate by my side and the TV on.... ready and waiting for the next instalment of Hell’s Kitchen. Over the past week I have found myself becoming rather drawn into this latest reality TV show. You may be thinking to yourself ‘What is she watching that rubbish for, has she nothing better to do?’, but if you look past the cameras and the glamour there are some core values being showcased which are key to any successful working environment.

Marco Pierre White sacked one celebrity from the kitchen because he wasn’t a team player. He appeared to have been doing well, working hard and cooking what was expected of him but this was not enough to survive. He built up no rapport and chose to work as an individual rather than helping and working alongside the others. He may have been creating what was required but what he was producing was not spectacular, if he had chipped in with the others and made himself a team player perhaps the results he could have achieved would not just have been acceptable but would have been outstanding.

Marco leaves the kitchen in the hands of the celebrities, how will they cope without their teacher at the helm? Step up Ade.... as soon as Marco has left the kitchen Ade has taken control, he is shouting orders, checking his colleagues are ok and getting stuck in to the task at hand. He keeps the kitchen moving, which in turn keeps the food going out to the tables and consequently makes the diners happy. If Ade hadn’t stepped up to the challenge and taken the role of leader things could have been very different. Every working environment needs a leader who will engage with the team and lead them in the right direction to achieve the desired results.

So if you take away the celebrities and the TV cameras Hell's Kitchen is very similar to any work place; people are key to its success. Whether you are working in a shop on Oxford street, an office in the city or in Hell’s kitchen, you need team players and leaders to make sure your successful in whatever you do.

Sophie Whittall

Marketing & Admin

http://www.london.dalecarnegie.com/

Natural Leadership

This is Emma and Juanci, my beautiful niece and nephew, 9 & 8 years respectively. Like many children they are spontaneous, energetic, fun loving, joyful, creative and daring souls. Their mission in life is being happy and their vision is doing the things that make them happy; simple really. They live each day to the full, content and satisfied and sleep deeply at night unless it is their Birthday, Christmas or another special event!

Recently a client of mine from the Finance sector said to me, ‘I want to be like my son. He is learning to walk. He falls down, gets back up again, succeeds a little, falls down, gets back up again and so on. He is fearless! If I did the same in my business I would achieve my dreams!'

Like Emma and Juanci and like my clients son, what if we woke up each day with a clear mission and vision in life that would have us leap out of bed with excitement and boundless enthusiasm? How many of us actually know and live the mission and vision of the companies we work for? What if we aligned our mission and visions with that of our organisation? Would we perhaps feel we were contributors and a part of a diverse leadership within our business and for our clients?

Despite the current economic situation, confidence is returning, risks are been taken, and opportunities are abound, if only we look for them. The overwhelming challenge for the UK is in leadership and management, we spend 1,100 Euros per manager on leadership and management training compared to our European counterparts who spend just under 5,000 Euros. Now is as good a time as ever whether you are an employee, a Manager, a Director or an Executive (if we are not already being this way) to be ourselves, to communicate our mission and our vision clearly with each other and to involve our customers, partners and suppliers in the challenges we face. We are all leaders after all and this collective, co-operative approach is what kids do so naturally. I know Emma and Juanci are constantly and unwittingly reminding me.

Lizzie Thomas
Consultant

http://www.london.dalecarnegie.com/

A Childs Passion

Sunday 29th March 2009 and there I was amongst musicians and artists together with my youngest son Jason (11 years) discussing the new drama, music and film studios being launched in London and Essex. Exuberance surrounded the room with high spirited people discussing the first ‘Battle of the Bands’ contest named the ‘L’ Factor, (L = Loughton).

Imagine creating new bands with different musicians and the winner having their own song recorded, produced and then released to the world. This is going to happen in the next two months. The owner of the recording studio spoke to my son and after finding out Jason played the drums, he suggested that he put a group together and enter the competition.

Well I have never seen so much excitement, energy and sheer enthusiasm from my son to want something to work. By the end of the day he had managed to phone and enlist a guitarist and vocal lead. Now it was time for him to find three songs and create a name for the band. Again by night fall three songs chosen and a name – ‘One in a Lifetime’. He is currently designing his own logo. His elder brother is already manager and me as Dad can happily sit on the sidelines and watch the intensity of what’s occurring with pride.

The event is only a few weeks away but Jason has managed to put himself in with a chance to perform in front of key music professionals and enjoy a great night. He knows the reality of the competition and is under no illusion of grandeur. It’s about “taking part, having fun and gaining more experience”. These are his words to me.

For me who admires anyone who can demonstrate passion for a hobby, career and of course their family deserves the time of day. We are in a tough climate and those who excel are those who show the right level of passion for success. If I or any of you take just 50% of what Jason has demonstrated over the last few days, you will achieve amazing things.

Dale Carnegie quoted “You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing.”

Frank Steggall

http://www.london.dalecarnegie.com/

Dare to Speak

Sitting with the leadership team of one of our clients the other day, we were discussing the impact of the changes that had occurred in the business world over the last 18 months. We also focused on the impact that there had been on the business. It had been 'devastating', a 'horrible experience' and similar expressions. There had been redundancies, cash flow problems due to non payments for work legitimately carried out. All in all the whole thing was getting a bit depressing.

Then there was a change. One of the Directors suddenly said, "I'm fed up with all this doom and gloom. It seems as though we always talk about the same depressing things when we get together". Quite taken aback the other Directors tried to pull this individual back into the pit of despondency because that's where they were. Quite voracious were they in there appetite for self pity that they almost succeeded, but he stood his ground. A champion for a different way of thinking and boy had he been giving it some thought. So now came words. His thought had drummed up courage. The courage to stand out with a different opinion, the courage to see how things were and not wrapped up in words like disastrous, depressing, awful and such like.

Well did he get going with his words. He wasn't going to take no for an answer. As his declaration of a new way of being continued there were changes in the others, almost imperceptive at first but there nonetheless. As he continued the pressure for change rose like a great geyser blowing off. Well that was enough, the others started throwing in their ideas talking about what could be and what they could do.

At the end of the meeting the team were a team unified behind the 'dare to speak', 'the odd man out'. They had even constructed the bones of an action plan where all the aspects seemed feasible and practical. Not at all pie in the sky.

Do you wish sometimes your colleagues were a bit like that, prepared to speak the courage of their convictions and beliefs rather than just trying to ride out the storm. If you do tell them this story, also tell them that there is no doom and gloom, there are no disasters, no hard times. There is just our reaction to what's happening. That reaction is the only thing we have control over. Nothing else.

Remember - thought - word - deed. Be creative with your thinking, declare to the world what you will do and then - GO AND DO IT

David Pickering
Consultant

http://www.london.dalecarnegie.com/