Such an event happened to me this week! Now, I’m a massive fan of the systems that allow you to pause and record ‘live’ TV programmes as I don’t watch much telly (apart from GMTV of course! (see blog from August 10th!)). I never, ever, ever watch adverts as I work in linguistics and if you’ve ever studied on our Conversational Decoding course you’ll never fall for them again either!!!! But this week I happened on the BBC News channel and there was a programme just beginning called ‘On the road with.. an Entrepreneur.’

This programme featured Richard Reed one of the 3 co-founders of Innocent , the drinks company famous for their fantastic smoothies and now for a range of healthy products.

I’ve long been a massive fan of Innocent, I’ve purchased their products for years but more so a fan of their ethical corporate model. I’m not talking about the obvious environmental responsibilities that the company champions but the way that the organisation is ran with integrity to its staff, suppliers and customers.

A few years ago I was sat with a Chief Executive of an organisation that we’d been invited into to discuss a challenge that they had with staff empowerment. The organisation worked to the ‘Service Excellence’ model, were a Times Top 100 employer and the internal staff satisfaction score was at an all time high. Staff were given a budget of £500 so if anything did go wrong then they good nip it in the bud with the customer by way of a refund before a complaint was born. It was a mystery to the Directorate and Management Team why the staff were so reliant on their Managers when it came to making decisions on refunding customers or giving ‘goodwill gestures’ etc but the answer became clear when the CEO said the following words; ‘We don’t operate a blame culture here’.

Straight away my mind wandered to the office walls where the values were displayed to look for integrity and sure enough it was missing. I told the CEO that the framework that was put into place, all the models they ran and all the gestures that they give the staff would always be gestures until EVERYONE approaches their work with integrity.

If you promote a ‘no blame culture’ you’re not advocating people to take responsibility for their decisions or their actions and can pretty soon find yourself in a Tuckman ‘Group Think’ environment.

If you empower people to make decisions based on their integrity then yes, there probably will be some decisions that didn’t quite hit the mark but some of the greatest discoveries of our time were found by mistakes!

Richard Reed had me jumping off my sofa and virtually high fiving him as he went into meet the new Innocent employees during their induction on the first day of their employment. He said to them that if they were asked to make a decision and they were 70% sure then do it. He trusted them to do the necessary research and fact finding and if they were still only 70% sure then do it. He then went on to say that if they were in a meeting and someone else had an idea and they were less than 70% sure or had a ‘bad feeling’ about the idea then speak up, even if it was him that was coming out with the idea as he’s only human and can come out with some bad ideas!

Now it’s not for me to give a company like Innocent ideas on how to run their business but if they could bottle that into one of their smoothies there would be CEO’s, Directors and Managers all over the country/world buying that flavour!

It comes back to one of the fundamental and basic things that we share with the organisations who we work with……

If you want your staff to feel empowered, to stand up and make decisions then lead by example and you’ll be surprised how quickly your people will follow…

The BBC only have their programme available for 7 days, click here to go to the programme that I saw. It’s only available until Monday 16 August 2010 so if you’re reading this after that date I’ve found a 10 minute presentation by Richard Reed which will give you an idea of the man and the company. Enjoy!

You said ‘it takes at least six months to make sure that you’ve got the right person for the job’ and it occurred to me that maybe you’ve not heard of or are not using the MITA IWAM system.

(Inventory of work attitudes and motivators)

I’ve noticed that it takes at least 10 weeks for you to hire a new Apprentice and from what I’ve seen you’ve hired 5 people so far and your search is still ongoing.

I’m a massive fan of watching your recruitment process. I especially like the part where the candidates go on and on and on and on about how they are the best thing since Amstrad Video Phones; are competent to the highest degree and they’re definitely your next Apprentice. It gets even better when the pressure starts and their true motivators and attitudes start to show and the inevitable cracks begin to appear!

Now, time is money to use a cliché so why go through the whole rigmarole 5 times when you can hire the right person when you need them, knowing that the whole person has shown up.

Have you considered that there could be a member of staff in one of your many organisations who you would consider to be a ‘model’ employee? An employee who you would love to have a mould of or take a snapshot of?

Do you know that there’s an online, user friendly system that can identify the attitudes and motivators of your employees and can create a ‘model of excellence’ for you to recruit to? Instead of taking 10 weeks to make sure the person is competent, then another 16 weeks to make sure they have the right attitude, we can help you to make sure you’ve got the person you’re looking for sitting in front of you at the first interview stage.

I understand that this might not make compelling viewing when you shout ‘You’re Hired’ and Nick and Margaret may be a little put out when they’ve got 9 weeks on their hands but I’m sure I’ve already mentioned that time is money….

Anyway, there are a team of professionals waiting for your call so please don’t wait until the next time you come to Newcastle. We operate throughout Europe so we can pop in for a cup of tea at any time.

The MITA Team

1. Cancel the meeting, seriously. Ask yourself: Can the information I intend to present be disseminated using one-way communications, such as a memo or email? If so, cancel the meeting. If you actually want input and interactivity, then schedule a meeting.

2. Set a positive tone. Starting off on the right foot: pay attention to the meeting time (do not schedule a meeting just before lunch or quitting time), invite only those people that truly need to be there, and start the meeting with introductions. Asking everyone to add personal facts, such as favorite hobby or cartoon character, provides an opportunity for laughs and gets everyone interacting.

3. Plot a course. Once you have everyone engaged, the quickest way to lose them is to slow down. Prepare a complete agenda, including objectives and time allotments. Display it in the meeting, crossing off items as they are completed so everyone can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

4. Stop and feed the animals. Most people have a pretty brief attention span, usually around 45 to 60 minutes. Schedule breaks every 45 minutes. Also, rather than providing food at the beginning of a meeting, provide food on the breaks, when a boost is needed. Provide a variety of snacks, healthful and more indulgent, to satisfy every taste.

5. Divide and conquer. One great way to ensure engagement is to divide the meeting into groups; in a small group, it is easier for everyone to be active. Break a meeting of 20 people into four tables. Ask each table to ponder certain issues, then to present their thoughts to the larger group for discussion.

Be positive, let everyone get to know each other, let them rest, let them eat and keep them engaged and you will have the most effective meeting of your career.