On the road

The term “road rage” implies specific incidents of anger and aggression directed intentionally at another driver, vehicle or object. All of us have been victims and witnessed incidents of road rage. We are civilized business people and naturally only witness, totally excluding ourselves from such an unacceptable behavior. We read with awe about Jack Nicholson who once got cut off and waited until both he and the other driver were stopped at a red light, then got out of his car, and hit the windshield and roof of the other car with his golf club. He returned to his car and drove away. We know that this is extreme behavior, manifested by one of the greatest actors of our times, not displayed by the average John Doe, ever. Cross your heart and hope to die; golfer or not, did you really never feel like hitting another driver with a, at least a metaphorical, club?

Let us get back to the definition of road rage; it says “driver, vehicle (or both simultaneously like in the case with our celebrity actor) or OBJECT. Cross you heart again. The object is the computer, at least for me it is. Yours?

In my humble opinion the digitalization (I am a fan and a heavy user of social media, internet et alia, so do not get me wrong; this is not blaming, just stating) has given us a new route to rage on the road of business. We can, and we totally do, channel our rage towards ICT. The computer, the printer (confession; printers, those evil creations of engineers, are my number one rage objects) or the smart phone get the frustration level up at a speed not counted in seconds but in nano fractions of it. And out comes the rage! What I am trying to say is, that road rage has entered the “office” (= where ever you access your mails, google business issues, chat with your colleagues and explore the intranet of your employer) and replaced the equivalent on the road. It might also be on the top of the rage on the road… That’s a lot of rage, so let’s at least hope that there is a “quota” of rage in each of us in order to avoid the double….J

I just had a discussion about channeling rage and frustration with a HRD professional I admire and respect immensely. It is the mutual feeling of us both that managers and leaders of today frequently channel their frustration to issues like computers and ICT in general (which, you hopefully point out, is better than on people). Of course the Computer Rage is a metaphor for our purposes here, but that, too, happens in real terms often enough. The aforementioned expert said she sees that too much in her own organization and elsewhere; frustrated managers having “fits” of some sort. This happens instead of one taking the time to recognize one’s feelings and emotions and stopping to reflect upon both the cause and the implications of them. This should lead to action to either change or suppress them and connecting back to what one really should be doing in the leadership role.

It takes concentration, focus and practice to recognize the feelings and emotions, competences and characteristics of your peers and colleagues. One should certainly start with oneself; what are the triggers of different (negative) feelings and the actions that follow. Is that what you should be doing; are both the feeling and the consequent action justified?  Recognizing is step one. An essential step as such and worth spending time on. This is the beginning of an internal discussion we all should have regularly to stop by our own feelings, actions and development.

This is the way I thought to start a series of blog posts about Leadership Competencies, especially from the point of view Emotional Capital, which is usually called Emotional Intelligence. That is just one way to look at good leadership, not the only one, not the ultimate truth. It could, however, be a game changer to some of us, and an excellent angle to look at the starting point of our own internal discussions from.  

Until next time; take care, discuss and learn!

Riitta

Kielipelejä ihmisillä

Kolumni: Pekka Mattila, Aalto EE:n toimitusjohtaja ja Aalto-yliopiston vieraileva markkinoinnin professori
FAKTA 5/2012

Downsizing-sanalla, supistamisella, on paha kaiku. Se saa työntekijät varpailleen ja sijoittajat epäröimään kehitysnäkymiä. Ei siis yllätä, että erään käytännön johtamiskokemusta hankkineen professorikollegani ammoinen työnantaja oli evästänyt häntä huolehtimaan Euroopan toimintojen rightsizing-urakasta, oikeankokoistamisesta, rivakasti ja epäröimättä.

Oikeankokoistetuista toiminnoista kilometritehtaalle joutuneista vääränmittaisista työntekijöistä tuntui sanan ansiosta paljon paremmalta. Vai tuntuiko? Kieli on johtamisen ja hallinnan tärkeimpiä työkaluja. Kenties sen arkipäiväisyyden vuoksi suhtaudumme siihen usein kevyesti, turhia ajattelematta. Annamme sanojen tulvia. Kuitenkin jopa yksittäisillä käsitteillä voi olla yllättävää rakentavaa tai tuhoavaa voimaa, kun ne vakiintuvat osaksi organisaation ja sen johtamiskulttuurin puhetapaa, diskurssia.

Erään kasvukivuista kärsineen organisaation johtamisessa panostettiin paljon avainhenkilöihin ja uramahdollisuuksiin. Näistä myös puhuttiin paljon, jotta tuoreiden työntekijöiden ja vanhojen tekijöiden sitoutumista vahvistettaisiin. Vaihtuvuus pysyi kuitenkin suurena, etenkin toimihenkilötasolla.

Yksi selityksistä oli varmasti monen kokema ristiriita: työnantaja näytti puheissaan arvostavan lähinnä kunnianhimoisia etenijöitä, ei tunnollisia puurtajia, joiden elämässä työ oli vain yksi sisällön ja merkityksen lähteistä. Epäselväksi saattoi jäädä, kelpasiko ja arvostettiinko pitkään samassa tehtävässä viihtyvää asiakaspalvelijaa, joka ei edes haaveillut nousujohteisesta urasta. Moni muukin työnantaja lankeaa samaan puheansaan. Kaikissa organisaatioissa kun pätee turhauttavasti se, että halukkaiden määrästä riippumatta johtajanposteja on tarjolla harvemmin ja harvemmille kuin rehtejä perustöitä.    

Lue lisää FAKTA-lehden 5/2012 sivulta 30.

Resilience Lies in Marathon

Resilience is the ability to work with ups and downs in such a way that one comes through it unharmed or even better for the experience. Resilience means encountering life’s difficulties with courage and patience – refusing to give up and go even further.

I find marathon running the most attracting piece of human resilience. Completing a marathon is one of the most challenging and rewarding accomplishments a person may achieve in his/her live. Almost anyone in good physical condition can complete a marathon with the proper training of both body and mind. To complete marathon event, not only person has to get body in shape, he/she has to get mind trained to be tough enough to work through any temporary lassitude he/she will face during the trip. It is said that the first 20 kilometers of a marathon are physical and the rest are mental.

Leadership is like endurance sports. It teaches you you how to pick the hard goals and even make you more hungry on the way of reaching streching limits and new goals, that have not been dreamt of. Being a leader or running a marathon demands hard work. You have to set vision, do the work with discipline and do the work no one else wants do it, either it is doing late hours or running in rain. But when the finish line and goal, are reached you feel the accomplishment in your bones (and legs) and no one can take it away from you. A pure moment you want to feel again and again.

In marathon running, fragility appears to me in many ways. As a sports doctor I am used to treating people who are suffering stress injuries. On the other hand, I have been able to run seven full marathons myself but also been in a situation where I was caught with too many kilometers and had to quit the marathon by half way.

In order to achieve a good balance in life, people should enhance energy-generating habits.

Sufficient amount of rest and sleep, adequate regimen, regular physical and mental exercise are basic stuff that everyone agrees to be the key factores for healthy life. If a person’s energy level is chronically low, it decreases resilience to manage stress, be productive, and even enjoy the positive things in life. Endurance training increase our body’s skills to adaptate to the demands of the sport, or leadership work. The resilient practise strenghtens and molds our body to higher levels of performance.

Gratitude and appreciation feed energy and happiness. I found professor Esa Saarinen’s ideas very interesting in EMBA’s Self-leadership module. I generated a idea of “Grateful board” from the course in order to emphasize the feeling of gratefulness to my family’s everyday life. Once a week, every family member states his/her own sakes for being grateful and then we discuss about the issues. For the littlest one the things to be grateful for have been like “It is candy day”, but we have also had profound talks about more serious matters and I feel it very important to my kids not to think all the good things around us self-explanatory.

-Pippa Laukka-

Iso mutta nolo johtaja

Kolumni: Pekka Mattila, Aalto EE:n toimitusjohtaja ja Aalto-yliopiston vieraileva markkinoinnin professori
FAKTA 3/2012

Tuossa se taas tulee, sekaantuu asioihin, vaikka ei mistään mitään ymmärrä. Miten ne aina osaavatkin ampua alas kaikki hyvät ideat?

Monessa organisaatiossa johtoryhmien ja niiden jäsenten panos on alempien kerrostumien näkökulmasta kaikkea muuta kuin odotettu tai arvokas.

”Minä yritän aina välttää joutumasta liian likeisiin tekemisiin johtajien kanssa, siitä ei seuraa kuin vaikeuksia”, opasti nuoruusvuosieni työpaikan eräs päällikkö. Vain muutamia kuukausia myöhemmin saman yrityksen johtoryhmän jäsen evästi, että johtajaksi pääsee, kun ”on pitkä ja osaa esiintyä”.

Ensimmäinen kommentti kiteyttää monen asiantuntijan ja esimiehen työelämänohjeen. Jälkimmäinen, itseironian höystämä letkautus, todistaa, että isot johtajat tietävät kyllä, miten moni organisaatiossa heihin suhtautuu – naureskellen, väistellen ja vähätellen. Miksi kuitenkaan aktiivisesti tyytyä narrin, linnunpelätin tai tientukkeen rooliin?

Lue lisää FAKTA-lehden 3/2012 sivulta 32.

Kokous seremoniana

Kolumni: Pekka Mattila, Aalto EE:n toimitusjohtaja ja Aalto-yliopiston vieraileva markkinoinnin professori
FAKTA 1/2012

Monet legendaariset huumorisarjat kierrättävät yhtä ja samaa sketsiä vuodesta toiseen. Miltei jokainen yli 35-vuotias suomalainen muistaa ne lukemattomat kerrat, joina häiritsevästi käyttäytynyt Vesku sai Hannele Laurin käsilaukusta. Toisteisuus oli hauskaa.

Kulttuurintutkija Vladimir Propp osasi purkaa kaikki venäläiset kansansadut 31 funktioon, alajuoneen, jotka toistuivat saduissa miltei identtisinä. Kaikki tarinat noudattivat lopulta samoja kaavoja. Proppin oivalluksia on sittemmin hyödynnetty varsinkin elokuvatutkimuksessa.

Toisteisuus ei rajoitu ikävä kyllä televisiosarjoihin ja kansansatuihin. Se on totista totta myös monissa organisaatioissa ja ryhmissä. Erityisen tavallista se on – kenties yllättäen – huipun tuntumassa, johtoryhmissä. Kaikki tekemiset on pelottavan vaivatonta palauttaa joukkoon tuttuja yhä uudelleen toistuvia kaavoja.

Ikävä totuus on, että monessa organisaatiossa tärkeimmät avainhenkilöt viettävätkin tuottamattomimmat hetkensä yhdessä. Kymmentä hyvää ja yhtätoista kaunista päämäärää palvelemaan perustettu johtoryhmä taantuu pelottavan helposti pelkäksi seremoniaksi.

Seremoniaryhmässä muoto on yhä jäljellä, ja sisältö on näennäisesti kunnossa, mutta funktio uupuu. Johtoryhmästä on tullut kyräilevä edunvalvontaelin ja välinpitämätön kumileimasin jo ennalta päätetyille asioille.

Kiusallisen usein johtoryhmät saavat eteensä päätösesityksiä, jotka kaikki tietävät kupliksi. Paavo ja Penttihän sopivat asian jo ennakolta kahdenkeskisessä tapaamisessaan, ja muilta kysytään enää kohteliaisuuden vuoksi. Toisinaan taas jahkailu on jatkunut pitkään ja jäljellä on enää yksi vaihtoehto. Ajautuminen lavastetaan kuitenkin johtoryhmätason jämäkäksi päätökseksi.

Lue lisää FAKTA-lehden 1/2012 sivulta 38.

In search of a Compass

Navigating in the complex terrain of the business - and life for that matter- of today is not a walk in the park. Not that business, decision-making and predicting the future have ever been easy. No, that is definitely not the case. Our predecessors have needed loads of reasoning, logic, compassion, wit, and guts to take the world of business to its present state, not that many of us actually are aware of the nature of that state. That change is the only permanent thing is such a cliché that I would not like to write it down here. But I do it anyway since change is not going anywhere. Only three years ago the CEOs (more than 1500 of them around the globe) who were interviewed for the survey IBM conducts and publishes regularly, were almost unanimous; change was the biggest challenge for them in the business, notwithstanding the industry. There was, according to these powerful men and women leading various sizes of businesses, a huge competence gap between what would be needed to cope with the constant change and what the CEOs and their troops felt capable of doing. But there has been a change here, too.

The latest CEO report tells us that change has become a commodity if such a term is allowed in this context. It is so prevalent that leaders at different levels in organizations take it for granted and as a pivotal part of leadership in general. Change, a commodity or not, is naturally still competing for the gold medal but has a new opponent that has pushed change aside from the highest podium. That sneaky newcomer is complexity. Spiced up by the speed of the previous master of the universe, change, it causes more anxiety than anything else today. That is, if we listen to the businesspeople and, may I say, just look around us with an open mind and an attentive eye.

Complexity causes anxiety only if you try to push it aside and try to cope with it by using the methods of linearity and past, sometimes rigid, structures. The best organizations and businesses are inspired by complexity and are ready to step out of their own field of work and activities and laws of their own market and competition. Complexity creates new links and causalities between different functions, and requires us to live in the “both and world” instead of the “either or” one. It doesn't care if we are not prepared for the ramifications of one decision somewhere, and it sticks its tongue out for those who think they can stay behind their old processes and lines of communication.

Complexity also forces us to look at our competencies in a totally new way and makes us humble in front of our own inability to prepare ourselves for tomorrow and the day after.

In view of all of the above it will be harder and harder to define what competencies we need in our organizations in the future, in the NEAR future, mind you. Who is a talent, what can she do?
By one of the definitions of a talent, he or she is someone who is willing and able to make a difference in the organization and to organizational performance. That is by far the best definition I have found anywhere, and my absolute personal favorite, too. Talent can also be divided into three categories; Skills/competencies, meta skills and attitudes. The first has to do with specific skills related to leadership and/or a specialty area (e.g. accounting), the second, the meta skills, refer to one’s ability to learn. This is in my opinion of utmost importance to understand; it is not about what you know but how you learn. And learn not only from books, lectures, training and your peers. But also from your own experiences, mistakes and successes. Also; how does one perceive the big picture and live with uncertainty (=change!) The third one is absolutely the most important since it is extremely hard to change; one’s attitude. What is the attitude of our defined talent towards herself/himself and, above all, towards working with others? How does she or he want to go about getting results? On her own or together with others?

The organization is better off if there are enough people who want to make sure through working together, that everyone’s competencies and potential is sought for, benefited from and put into use in various ways. In his book “Talent is never enough – discover the choices that will take you beyond your talent”, J.Maxwell says that working together to reach a goal will double one’s talent.

A psychologist and a brain researcher Howard Gardner puts the “minds” needed in the future into a list of five. They are: 1) The disciplined mind, meaning that all of us need a “discipline”, academic or not, where we are good and where we can aim at mastery so to say 2) The synthesizing mind; in the world of complexity and limitless information it is important to make synthesis for e.g. organizations to act upon, to define goals and communicate them to others 3) A creative mind; in the face of complexity we need to be creative, have both play and intuition intertwined with reason in the game of business 4) The respectful mind; only if we truly understand and appreciate diversity can we be respected citizens, corporate or individual, ourselves. And last but not least 5) The ethical mind. I totally agree with Gardner on all of the five.

Coming back to the compass that appears in the name of this post. And intuition that intrigues and fascinates me personally and is, by the way, one of the main topics in the latest issue of Profile magazine. Highly recommended for instant reading! A French-American consultant and author of the book The Intuitive Compass, Francis P. Cholle combines the two aforementioned things.

Cholle charts a compass that has reason in the North, instinct (intuition) in the South, results in the East and play in the West. He carefully studies the “in between areas”, NE, NW, SE, SW and explains how we in different functions use different thinking, typically one of the combinations in between ones. We have been, he claims and in this is very much walking in the footsteps of Gary Hamel, that we have been using the NE thinking until now (using reason and focusing on results) reaching powerful results. He states that that is not enough anymore in the 21st century where challenges are more complex and “a creative and agile business mindset is required to reach powerful innovative solutions”. Once again, I totally agree.

The five minds discussed above together with respecting and taking seriously also the decisions based not solely on reason but on intuition, too are some of the important factors in the brave new complex world of business. Being able to communicate and influence are in the core when discussing competencies needed in organizations. For those competencies to come about, one needs to be deeply aware of oneself and have self-confidence. I guess we would all benefit from a compass that helps us use all the power of reason, intuition, play (= creativeness) and results without losing sight of one when using the other. It all depends on where we wonder and what we want to achieve. And once again: Not either reason or intuition etc. but both and, my friends.
I finish with the words of a famous man: “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Albert Einstein.

Allow your intuition to have a say in your decisions folks, and enjoy the play!
Until next time, yours. Riitta

Happiness is a State of Mind

The fundamentals of my life have been to be able to experience joy and gratitude. I believe that happiness in me is born from two things: from having a flow and existing with a meaning. I adore statement: Positivity is more than lack of negativity- it is a hidden treasure. A person needs another person in order to be happy. That is why it is so crucial that people get along with each other and have fruitful ways to communicate.

My work is one of the most important things in my life. My aim is to become a great leader and that is one of the reasons I went to search for further training. I totally agree with the phrase that by getting the fundamentals right, you’ll do miracles. I like working with patients a lot because I get to face people, and I also feel loved and appreciated as a doctor. I have gotten some nice counterbalance for my work from confidential positions, by functioning as a doctor for the women’s national football team.

The fundamentals of my life are to aim for continuous spiritual growth. To me it means that I will preserve the curiosity to study life, get interested in new things and keep my mind open. I value honesty and responsibility over all. I am pretty organized, sometimes even too meticulous, as a person; I want things to happen in a certain way and I want them to be done 100%. I find it hard to accept other ways of doing things. I constantly run into people in work communities whose set of values differ from my own, and I find it a huge challenge to accept people who have a different working morale. My future career aim is to work in the supreme command of a health establishment. I enjoy my present work, but there are a few things I would like to get rid of. The most disturbing of these are settling relationship messes and customer feedbacks, and the compulsory pace, where a client (patient) dictates my work rhythm, feels inhibitive and slims down the possibility for creative thinking.

A few days ago I read that Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen said at the election coverage that success (menestys) comes before work (työ) only in the dictionary. I think that it is very well said and I completely agree. I feel in my own line of work that fortune is trust and respect from both clients and the employer. To earn these and to continuously improve at work is a great motivator and creates new goals.

- Pippa Laukka -