The Monday Revolution. David Mansfield

in such a way that their real potential and resourcefulness is allowed to show itself. This has, I’m sure to a great extent, become learned behaviour from the team leader. People really do follow the example of those in charge. If they engage with their teams, are notable because they are often seen and promote the challenges of their people in a positive upward manner, it gets spotted. And, would you believe it? Often their behaviour is replicated down the line.

      The company has a board of directors and an experienced chairman. They need to be on side too. Being a leader isn’t easy. There are plenty of people on the board that need to keep believing in you. This might be true of your situation. Or perhaps your company is just starting out, and hiring others to provide oversight and experience is yet to reach your to do-list. Never mind.

      Monday Revolutions come in a variety of forms, shapes and sizes. What matters is the championing of your people. The consequences of not engaging with the front line are high sickness rates, staff turnover and low morale. A tragedy, really, which could be easily put right.

      The lesson here is crystal clear. If you want to get the best from your organisation, make sure you spend time with the people who the organisation depends on for success. And you can’t do this in a token way. You’re not on a state visit. You should participate in meetings, meet customers, buy the beers in the pub, say a few words at anniversaries, birthdays and even leaving drinks. Sometimes it feels awkward, but it has to be done. There is only one way to lead and that’s from the front. Knowing when to be highly visible, when it really matters, is a demonstration of true leadership. Going missing when the chips are down is a dereliction of duty.

      During my time at Capital Radio we bought many other radio companies. In some instances, we were welcomed as the new owner. They saw increased opportunity in being part of a larger organisation, but that wasn’t always the case. I remember visiting our latest “purchase” to say hello and answer any questions. I stood there in front of a large group of people who made it very clear they weren’t very pleased to see me. Nobody asked any questions and eventually the local guy in charge said there had been a lot of historic ownership problems. They were proud people and had no wish to be owned by a London-based company that was very likely to destroy their local identity – as had happened in the past.

      The local manager said he’d been given some anonymous questions to ask me. The first of which was why could people earn more in McDonald’s flipping burgers? You get the drift.

      I wasn’t expecting this to be honest. Maybe treating them as a “purchase” in all but name had come across to them prior to my visit. Just using that one word among my colleagues had been interpreted by them and sent some early negative messages. I agreed to visit the business in the future and get involved in activities, providing they were useful, and also have some fun. It took a while to gain their trust, but over time it worked out for all of us.

      Be visible, starting next Monday. A small effort here will transform your standing and your business. Don’t be the kind of manager who only appears when mistakes are made. Celebrating the success of others is part of good practice, not a sign of weakness.

       The Monday Revolution (you can start on Monday)

      1. Leadership is about recognising when to be visible. You can’t lead an organisation unless people know who you are and what you stand for.

      2. Spend time with the front line. Get to know individuals and how they spend their day. Your direct reports may protest that this is undermining them. Make sure it isn’t, but don’t let that possibility stop you doing it.

      3. Make a commitment to being a visible, in-touch leader, by building a plan into your working week. Being too busy and not making the effort to stay in touch simply isn’t good enough. But don’t steal the limelight or all the glory either!

      Chapter 2

       The Horse’s Mouth

      Communication from you

      As a species we’re told that we’re highly sociable creatures and enjoy communicating. Isolation and loneliness are very definitely to be avoided, if possible, at all costs. We have the tools to get this right: a common language and culture. Communication rules aren’t written down, but from an early age we know roughly what they are.

      Like many things in life and business, it’s not that straightforward. My idea of good communication may not be yours. But wherever you are on this, liking more information or less, I’ve never heard anyone complain that their company or boss over-communicates. “They just tell us too much, constantly.”

      This part of The Monday Revolution is an attempt to let you know just a couple of things really. Confirmation that some of what you do is on the right track, and the possibility that there are some ideas you don’t practise that might help if you did. To win The Monday Revolution you have to get your message across, or nothing will ever change.

      I’ve worked with people whose idea of communication was simply telling. By that, I mean there was no interaction or dialogue. More like a statement you might hear a lawyer read on their behalf on the steps of a courthouse. Such occasions rarely resonate and inevitably provoke questions that remain unanswered.

      In the workplace, and elsewhere, communication seems to have become a struggle in some respects. Companies wrestle with what to say and how and when to say it. Is no communication better than poor or misleading words? Is it better to deny redundancies will happen with a fudge until they do? Or say up front they’re a possibility, and scare everyone, most of whom will not be leaving? Do you embrace best practice with a senior management consultation process only to obfuscate the answer and leave the team wondering what will happen next? Something? Anything? Nothing?

      At Capital Radio, my predecessor had a good reputation for communicating. Luckily, I could learn from him. I enjoyed the challenge of getting the message across and being questioned on what I’d just said. Many people don’t share my enthusiasm and often, unfortunately, increased seniority results in self-inflicted isolation and distance from the people they should be close to.

      As my career developed, I adopted the opposite stance to withdrawal and isolation. It’s interesting because until my twenties I was hopelessly shy. Yet as time went on, I grew in confidence and I relished letting everyone know what was going on and why. If in doubt, I said more not less. I tried to avoid surprising people by paving the way for what might be on the horizon:

      “OK everyone, it’s approaching budget time and sales have been difficult, we’re going to be prudent and assume that will continue. We need to be responsibly cautious. We’re doing everything we can to build the business, but we can’t assume the market will change. So please don’t factor in more people or increased costs because we’ll not be doing that this year. Those exciting new projects will have to wait I’m afraid.”

      That was part of a regular update I gave all 300 people at our headquarters in London. In addition to me, many others would speak giving brief updates and we all took questions.

      The problem I had was the other 1,500 people who worked in the company weren’t in the building. They were spread across the UK from the West Country to central Scotland. So, I decided to do two things. I scheduled regular visits to each of our other locations, as did my colleagues. But to ensure current information reached everyone quickly, more or less at that same time, we created The Horse’s Mouth.

      I was the Horse and if you heard it from me, you could assume it was important, true and happening. I did this by conference call with the management at each of our locations, sometimes in groups. Prior to speaking, they had each asked their teams for questions for me to respond to. Which I did. We noted all the calls so we could make sure we addressed common themes and could respond with more specific answers when needed.

      In addition, we used email and the occasional video to support our communication efforts. But anything of significance was always face to face or the closest we could get to that. We built a culture which supported not saving things up.

      I wanted to avoid being a place where all the news was