Grammar – a barometer of quality?

This morning the grammar nerd in me was revitalised with a passion, thanks to @dougshaw1. I’m not planning to leave CIPD membership, but I shared his irritation about the ‘small point’ of how it feels to receive official information, surveys or requests for information containing several grammatical errors.

I am not talking about blogs, texts, quick e-mails or simple messages, where I believe it is up to the writer to decide how formal and ‘correct’ to be. After all, lots of communication is informal and maybe not everybody enjoyed Eats, Shoots and Leaves as much as me.

Nor am I criticising anyone who can’t spell, for whatever reason. I do think though that in formal communications, it is really important to make sure the grammar and spelling is correct. If you, as the author of an official communication, know that grammar is not one of your strengths, please get it checked before publishing.

Otherwise the risk is the perception by the recipient of a lazy, sloppy or rushed approach. Worse, is the risk that your audience will think you’re not bothered enough to make sure that your communication with them is correct. In my view, this is especially critical at times of change, when those receiving formal communications have a heightened awareness of the way this is undertaken.

Errors and this lack of attention lead me to suspect that if this can’t be done correctly, what else will be wrong? Can the author be trusted to get other, bigger things right? Will this lack of attention permeate into everything else they do? Does a poorly drafted HR policy, for example, indicate that the organisation will treat its staff with the same sloppiness?

In other words, is the quality of the formal communication a good barometer for the overall quality of approach?

My dad, the most determined person I know, and Wizard Oscar

When I was a little girl I thought all dads made up bedtime stories for their children. My dad didn't ever read to us - he didn't need to - his imagination and ability to describe wonderful worlds of adventure and fantasy to my brother and I was enough to have us rapt and excited ready for the next installment the following night. He made up some characters such as Wizard Oscar (a late 1960s Dumbledore, who lived in a magical cave), and borrowed some others, such as Sinbad the Sailor, but made up new adventures for him. So from my earliest years, I found imagination, new ideas, building on existing ideas, adapting them and creating something special to be absolutely normal. I have tried to keep true to that, but inevitably life, responsibilities and particularly certain times in my career have got in the way. Sometimes this has been connected to working in environments where the culture and values did not accord with some of mine. I admit I have allowed certain events and negative work relationships to impact on my confidence at times, but I continue to work on that confidence (legs paddling furiously beneath the surface) and seem to have inherited my dad’s natural resilience.

To return to my dad – the most resilient and determined person I know. He grew up in a rented terraced house, got into lots of scrapes (including allegedly falling out of a tree, breaking both arms then walking home) and left school with no qualifications - this was because he could not see the board, his eyesight being damaged by measles as a boy. He went on to do an apprenticeship and took up racing cycling, at which he was very successful. Retiring from cycling following a detached retina, which in those days meant weeks lying on his back in Moorfields Eye Hospital to recover, he took it up again briefly in his 40s, until a detached retina foiled him again. Did this deter him from going on to have a 3^rd attempt? No… the 3^rd attempt was in his early 50s and he continues to this day. He also does competitive indoor rowing to a high level and in 2011, he set a new world record for the 70-74 age group heavyweight men's marathon of 3.01.14½. Yes, that is rowing for 26.2 miles! For fun (and to raise money for charity) he has also, for example, challenged the local village pub’s football team - working in relay! - to race him on indoor rowers for the equivalent of a cross channel row. It hardly needs saying, but this sustained lifelong example of triumph over adversity is a major inspiration. I have bad days, I have times when it all seems overwhelming, particularly in a leadership role in a public service. My dad’s example is to try and try again, and if things go wrong, rest up for a while then try again. None of my hurdles and setbacks have been as significant as his, and he has not let these deter him.

I should probably say now that he is also almost completely deaf, and has a cochlea implant. He has also had various accidents, operations and has a new hip. In fact my dad is 2^nd only to the Bionic Man. Despite his deafness, my dad also had a successful career, in technical sales, ending as a Company Director. How did he cope with phone calls and delicate negotiations? By learning to lip read, to pick up other communication signals, to make sure he always places himself where he can properly see who is speaking to him and by teaching himself how to use IT, so he can use e-mail. (He’s not really got into Twitter but is very active on lots of online communities connected to his many interests, and regularly buys various small fishing boats and lawn mowers on E-Bay.) The example of success despite a disability that could have impacted very negatively on his life had he allowed it, is yet more evidence of his resilience. It also spurs me to approach possible obstacles positively and to be solution focused. Working in organisations where constant change is the norm and there are repeated savings to be made has also provided plenty of opportunity to find different ways to do things. To use in house skills. To question processes and remove parts that add no value. To resolve issues as close to source as possible. To have a realistic and risk management approach to HR and OD. To plan around possible setbacks or negatives by finding other solutions. Never to be the policy police. Never to be the department who always says no.

My dad also always talked to us (so did my mum) properly. I remember many, many evenings sitting around the kitchen table talking about our days, the news, and allsorts really. If, as a teenager, I wanted to do something my parents did not really think was the best idea, they rarely said no outright. They would talk me through the options and probable outcomes until I made the decision for myself. Of course I had a few stroppy teenage outbursts about some of this. It would have been abnormal not to. I had no idea at the time that this was teaching me the skills of diplomacy and mediation. Again, it hardly needs saying, but these skills have also been and remain invaluable to me as an HR professional in a leadership role, working in a service where outcomes are wholly dependent on dedicated, competent, capable and skilful staff.

I have only touched the surface about my dad and I haven’t mentioned my mum much in all of this. She has also been a great inspiration to me, but in very different ways – encouraging me to do well intellectually, to think about politics and also how to behave with humility and consideration in the workplace. She was a scary, ‘old school’ medical secretary - perhaps something to ponder on in a future blog? Anyway, what a powerful combination they are and gosh, have I been lucky?

Post Script.

I e-mailed my dad, kind of mentioning I was writing something and asking what he could recall about Wizard Oscar. Here’s his reply:

“Hey! Wizard Oscar!! ....Well, I made them up as I went along. I can vaguely remember the characters associated with him. His friend Wizard Willow Wand, the Blue Dog and CawCaw his crow spy. The Lord of the Land was also sometimes mentioned and I recall a recurring thing that baffled him. CawCaw often brought a message from the Lord of the Land and WO would fly down to see what the problem was at his castle. When the meeting had concluded WO flew out of the castle still seated on one of the Lords finest armchairs, leaving the Lord staring at an empty space. Soon after the chair would fly back by itself. This left the Lord looking at the empty chair and wondering if it had really happened at all? The Blue Dog story was something to do with a dog falling into a vat of paint and being caught by the Bad Boss of the Circus and kept in captivity as an exhibit. CawCaw reported this to WO who cast a powerful spell and all the circus animals were released and guided back to their original homes. The blue dog was given magical powers to turn blue at any time and to do good magical deeds. Wizard Willow Wand was invisible most of the time and he lived by rivers and lakes. WO did indeed reside in a cave high up a mountain face that only he and birds could reach.”

Drive and Determination (or 10 Top Tips x 3)

Years ago, when I was a regional manager for the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme, one of the 4 competencies that we assessed candidates for was ‘Drive and Determination’. Despite reading many accounts of Duke of Edinburgh treks gone wrong, where our valiant applicant overcome all odds of the broken ankle/foraging for food/wrong map/no compass variety to lead the winning team, this was the competency that stood out for me.
 
A few years later, I wrote a Masters dissertation on what it took senior NHS leaders to get to the positions they had achieved. I loved it and what came out of a qualitative melange of career development (mostly self directed), management development and leadership development was, again, drive and determination. Many leaders I interviewed had successfully dealt with quite significant career set backs and become stronger as a result.
 
I think that today, we would call this ‘emotional resilience’ and Ian Pettigrew @KingfisherCoach recently tweeted an article from the Telegraph by Sarah Rainey, where it was suggested this is the ‘armour you need for modern life.’ http://kfcoa.ch/1n06mKj  

Top tips ending the article are:
 
Ten ways to build your emotional resilience
-       See crises as challenges to overcome; not insurmountable problems
-       Surround yourself with a supportive network of friends and family
-       Accept that change is part of life, not a disaster
-       Take control and be decisive in difficult situations
-       Nurture a positive view of yourself - don’t talk yourself down or focus on flaws
-       Look for opportunities to improve yourself: a new challenge, social situation or           interest outside work. Set goals and plan ways to reach them
-       Keep things in perspective: learn from your mistakes and think long-term
-       Practise optimism and actively seek the good side of a bad situation
-       Practise emotional awareness: can you identify what you are feeling and why?
-       Look after yourself, through healthy eating, exercise, sleep and relaxation.
 
I have to say that that these are fabulous tips in my view, but I am not sure they are new, and I think the current concept of ‘emotional resilience’ is a new badge for having the determination to succeed, self belief and the ability to keep learning from experience. Or simply the ability to bounce back…
 
I have also been very struck recently by the excellent advice given by Angela O’Connor at @TheHRLounge, written for International Women’s Day last week, but with advice that everybody who may feel that they face insurmountable challenges, should find useful.http://thehrlounge.co.uk/women-like-us  Again there are 10 tips, that even though I am a woman who holds a leadership position, I have favourited this and will return to it again and again. The summary of these is:
 
Believe in yourself
Leadership always take vision, courage and determination. It means being resilient, it means doing the right thing and being brave and it sometimes means walking away. You need to know when to fight and when to concede.
 
Finally, for this blog, I was lucky to be invited recently to a guest lecture by Sara Thornton, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police. She also gave us 10 top tips. As I was busy actively listening, I didn’t write them down, but a number overlap with those above, and those I have retained are below (my words and order):
 
·      Toughen up, but don’t lose sensitivity
·      Don’t take it personally
·      Work hard and practise, practise (I think she mentioned the 10,000 hours…)
·      Don’t use self limiting language
·      When you need to, disagree well and positively, in a constructive way
·      Be brave and keep trying
·      Career ladders aren’t linear
·      If every day you have to eat a live, slimy frog, eat it for breakfast
 
The reason I have written this blog, recommended the article and blog above and noted some tips from the guest lecture is that, as people who know me at work will understand, colleagues and I are facing an exceptionally challenging time at the moment, have been for some months, and this will continue for several months to come. Events beyond our control take place every day and situations regularly change within a few days, if not hours. It would be easy to succumb to all sorts of self detrimental feelings and behaviour. Some days it is hard not to, and we are all human. I am however, going to keep working on my own drive and determination – after all it has got me this far - and keep referring back to the advice above whenever I am tempted to feel negative.

Passion, Pain and (Politics)

The sub title of my blog seems very appropriate at the moment – Passion, Pain and Politics. When I chose it a couple of years ago I liked the alliteration, but it was also a title very much from the heart. All of these ‘P’s run very deep for me – choosing to work in public services.

I am just back from the Probation Chiefs’ (PCA) Annual Conference, which has given me a lot of food for thought. It was always going to be a very delicate balancing act for the organisers and speakers. They attempted to pull this off with the first half dedicated to celebrating the significant, if not enviable successes of probation, the first public sector service to achieve the British Quality Foundation’s Gold medal for Excellence award. The overriding sentiment for me, expressed well by Heather Munro, was of a terrific legacy, not as nostalgia for what went before, but as a foundation on which to build. This brings me onto the second half, which looked towards the future and the possibilities following major reorganisation. Much more difficult…

Now, just to pause for a moment. I have only worked for a Probation Trust for 3 years, so you might say, what do I know? Well, I spent the first half of my career in the NHS, so I am no stranger to major structural change in complex organisations with lots of stakeholders and shifting emphasis depending on the government of the day. I have also found major similarities of culture and the type of people who choose to spend a career ‘making a difference’ for others, often against many odds, but with lots of personal satisfaction as well. Also, being in HR is, I think, different from other corporate functions, in that I work closely with operational managers and leaders and to be effective I have to have a good understanding of what is going on for staff and teams. I also work very closely with Trade Union reps, which I find invaluable. When everything is stripped back to the basics, we are all in the service for the same fundamental reasons and can always find more to work on together rather than on which to disagree. So, not surprisingly I have many personal and professional views about this change, and I am circumspect about how, when, where or if I express these, to whom, and what I put into the public domain.

The views and ideas of my current organisation are well known, thanks to the blogs of my Chair, Joe Kuipers. This blog is not about re-airing those, and anyway it would not be my place to do that. However, I fully recognise that Passion and Pain are felt by many people working in probation, particularly at the moment as staff across the country find out which of the two new organisations they are assigned to. I read the tweets and I know that lots of probation staff and Trade Union reps read mine too.

At the conference, Catherine Holland used a very simple and useful diagram to describe the need to be conscious of personal leadership challenges. She has given me permission to use this here. This diagram recognises that we will inevitably have various responses to the challenges of leadership, more poignant perhaps in our case, as the changes are unpopular with many (my emphasis.) The change has been required to a very tight timetable, and I state openly that the kind of transactional HR work I am required to lead at the moment is not the reason I chose HR as a profession.  

However, I have a responsibility to lead the elements for which I am responsible with as much professionalism, integrity and empathy as the situation allows. Of course this change has a potentially life changing personal impact for me personally, and for my team. The challenge is to be conscious of this, to acknowledge it and to seek support appropriately when it all feels too difficult and unfair, and not to let it impact on getting on with the job to the best of our ability. Secondly, it is important to respect the decisions and responses of others – we all have personal reasons that influence what we choose to do about the options open to us.

I am also very conscious of my response to this as a professional. As I said just now, I don’t particularly enjoy the transactional side of HR work, and I especially don’t like having to organise work in ‘batch’ processes. In this instance, we are having to communicate with very large groups of staff to tight deadlines and if any of our staff reading this feel that they have not been treated as an individual because of this, then I empathise, but hope that you understand why. My aspiration is to treat everyone with dignity and respect, and I have gone back to read my own Code of Professional Conduct a couple of times in order to reframe and rebalance.

Next comes my response as a leader. Well that is such a balancing act and that goes back to the start of this blog and the tone that that PCA Conference aimed to achieve. I find that I am more effective when I focus on the positive and think about possibilities. I know that this is a personal response as well, but I now feel that we have been uncertain for quite a while and need to look ahead and think about what can be taken forward from a very rich legacy and adopted, adapted or refined for the future. Staff going to one of the new organisations in particular may be feeling very despondent and I fully appreciate that we will need to work hard together to build back up to a shared sense of vision, purpose and enthusiasm. Jo Mead covered this well in her very heartfelt session, emphasising the need for qualified probation professionals in all parts of the new system.

Finally, the organisational outer circle. This is also difficult as many leaders are working for one organisation with all of the responsibility and accountability that goes with that, but also looking towards the new role they will have in one of the new organisations. There are also some fabulous leaders who are leaving. In our case, Sally Lewis our CEO, who is extremely well regarded and highly respected, has chosen not to stay on. It has taken me some time to come to terms with that – going round the circles of my personal reaction (deep sense of loss), what it means for me as a professional (Sally values and ‘gets’ the difference integrated corporate functions such as HR make to business success) and for Sally’s professional leadership of the skills and knowledge of probation. Then my response as a leader; I believe Sally will be a consummate professional leader up to and beyond the dissolution of our organisation and those that our staff move into will be all the stronger for the legacy carried forwards from her leadership.

I didn’t set out to write this to include an early tribute to Sally, but on reading through, I am glad that I have. I want to finish however, by saying again that I do understand and appreciate the feelings (the Passion and Pain) felt by so many, myself included, and hope that by sharing my responses using Catherine’s diagram, others may feel able to acknowledge their different types of response as the first step forward on what is sure to be a new set of challenges.

What I want to see less of in 2014.

It was her…

He started it…

It wasn’t me…

Yes but, if it hadn’t been for (insert name of sibling, colleague, other silo department, your nemesis) it would have been OK…

Yes, but we didn’t ask for that…

Yes, but we didn’t set the timetable…

It’s the (government’s/our neighbour’s/our partner’s/another organisation’s/the budget holder’s) fault…

Well I would agree to this, but (HR/Finance/my boss/the handbook/the computer) says no…

Blame! So easy, so pervasive, can be so entrenched… as any of us who explained a childhood argument with a sibling to a parent who wished to brook no nonsense, will recall.

Increased marketisation, longer and more complex supply chains, more contracts, more clauses, more frequent ‘hand offs’. These are all blamed if public services decline in quality. I expect to hear more of that in 2014, but I hope not to. We can all play a part in reducing this by our attitudes, responses and how we choose to channel our energy, as we go into a new year. I am going to try my best on this. I hope you will join me.

To conclude, I had fun looking up famous quotes about blame. Here are two I particularly loved, and simple to remember if you get tempted into the blame trap:

“Stop blaming and start aiming.”

― Rob Liano

“Blame has no purpose, and it is a lousy teacher.”

― John Yokoyama

And for New Year’s Eve only:

“Don't blame it on the sunshine

Don't blame it on the moonlight

Don't blame it on the good times

Blame it on the boogie”

- The Jacksons

Little things (and the need to avoid turning them into big things)

-        A bit of a rant about employee engagement.

I contend that every job, no matter how much you love it, and how great your team is, contains some ‘little things’ that drive you up the wall. If yours doesn’t, then you are very lucky, and maybe you can stop reading now and feel very satisfied, or to use current HR/management speak, feel very ‘engaged’ with your job and your employer.

I love my job, I love my profession, I am honoured to be part of a great leadership team and to manage a dedicated and very capable team. Even with massive structural change almost upon us, we are still maintaining a strong sense of local employee engagement and dedication to the vital service we deliver.

But…I still find there are frustrating and annoying little things I have to do, or that I am not allowed to do, that have the potential to upset the balance I strive to maintain. Most I am happy to say, not down to local strategy and direction, but as a result of being part of a commissioned public service. Those who work with me, will know which ‘little things’ I am thinking about. This blog is not about those; it is about the need to find ways to avoid or minimise these for everyone. And if that can be achieved, it may just be the key to maintaining an engaged and motivated workforce.

Muda

Muda is a Japanese word for waste that anyone who has read Womak and Jones’ book, Lean Thinking (1996) will know they apply to work of no value. Specifically ‘any human activity which absorbs resources but creates no value.’ To cut a long theory short, they link this to value streams, flow, pull and perfection. They say that lean systems ‘can only flourish if everyone along the value stream believes the new system being created (or ‘the system’ – my addition) treats everyone fairly and goes the extra mile to deal with human dilemmas…’ Without re reading a book I first read over 10 years ago (font size 8 or 9 closely spaced), I am not sure they particularly applied their theory to ‘employee engagement’ and I don’t think the term was coined back then anyway. But I do think their lean processes both lend themselves to engaged employees and are likely to lead in turn to improved employee engagement, by removing pointless ‘little things’ and through being treated fairly etc. The word ‘muda’ has stuck in my brain and is something I muse on when doing work of no value or at least where the ‘value’ is so far removed (if it exists) that I can’t see what it is.

Maslow

Other ‘little things’ can be Maslow’s basic needs, (or hygiene factors), and this is something I have blogged about previously, when aiming to demonstrate the value to operational teams of high quality and efficient corporate services. See here  http://familyhrguru.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/basic-needs-security-needs-and-back.html. I am firmly of the view that getting these factors right is the foundation block for employee engagement. Being paid correctly, having systems that are easy to use, having policies and frameworks that make it easier to do your job and don’t dis enable/restrict etc. etc. What is the point of an all singing all dancing ‘Employee Engagement Strategy’ if there are too many payroll errors, system crashes, and policies that don’t make sense? Little things…that can all too easily become big things, if organisations get them wrong. Getting them right gives a strong message that the organisation’s leaders think that work, work systems and reward processes matter so much that employees should not have to worry about them so they can get on with their jobs, in fact go the extra mile and enjoy their jobs.

Control

Then there is the amount of discretion you have over your priorities, workload and the way you do your work; control according to the HSE’s 6 stress management standards. I could list all 6, but I think this one is the most relevant to the impact ‘little things’ can have, and also the way change is managed (a subject for a later blog?) Transparency and balance are critical factors affecting discretion. Is the amount of work, the nature of the work, the deadlines, and the amount of freedom over how it is done clear? Is it easy to see and to understand the reasons why, when the work you are required to do is set by somebody else, and over which you have no discretion? If you do have to do work where you have no control, how does this balance with work that you can control? If the balance is wrong (meaning wrong for you as related to your role expectations, your skills and capability), then the ‘little things’ have probably already become ‘big things’.

All of the above, I contend can go a very long way to achieving or reducing Employee Engagement, all within a transparent and enabling leadership style and organisational form where there are strong working relationships. As I have already said, much simpler and more effective than a gold plated strategy that nobody reads, never mind takes seriously and commits to.

TLC - New meanings for a well-loved acronym

 How using Twitter has enhanced our leadership and made our communication more accessible.

Twitter. Almost all of our leadership team, our Board Chair and many of our managers use Twitter frequently. I was first persuaded by my Chief Executive 2 years ago, and could not have imagined fully the wider benefits. Advice on Twitter etiquette, its appropriate professional/private content, the accessibility of information and news articles for learning etc. is now well documented. I’ve only recently been realising and appreciating its wider value and benefit to leadership and engagement with staff.

Leadership. We tweet regularly in addition to using more traditional and internal ways of being in touch with staff (as Twitter is not for everyone and is a public platform). We are timely and responsive and this has made a huge difference during the current very sensitive change process we are experiencing. Our Chair tweets every detail that it is possible to put into a public domain, we all interact and we are highly visible as a united and transparent leadership team. We receive lots of feedback on this from our staff, our managers, TU colleagues and from similarly affected staff from other Probation Trusts. (I do not of course mean to criticise the way they are leading and communicating as every organisation is different– my focus is on how we do this.)

Communication. Our workforce is geographically dispersed, so we need to use accessible and immediate communication. They are also very busy (who isn’t?) So finding out what is going on in real time ‘bite size pieces’ is very effective. We also use Twitter to showcase widely our successful work in our community, which of course also keeps staff in other parts of the service up to date.

So what has the successful use of Twitter achieved? Another TLC acronym:

Trust and Loyalty at a time of huge Change.