Are you neglecting the Hidden Spot??

When you’re thinking about leadership style I’m a big fan of the theory known as situational leadership.?

There is always lots of focus on what to do about new people who are motivated but not yet competent, and there is also lots of focus on people have been with the organisation a long time that are competent but maybe not as motivated as they once were.?

And of course there’s always plenty of focus on people who are neither competent nor motivated: do we coach them or get rid of them, or what??

But I think the forgotten quadrant is people who are both competent and motivated. We often take them for granted and leave them alone as they’re doing a good job, but the risk is that after a while they start to become bored and therefore demotivated, and once that has happened it might be too late to turn them around.?

So I think this is the hidden spot of the diagram, and these people deserve more attention than they get, in fact maybe?more?attention than the other three, because these are our most valuable people.

What can we do for someone who is a bit of a star, in order to stop them getting bored? Here are my 10 suggestions for how to deal with this forgotten, H.I.D.D.E.N. S.P.O.T that is so easy to miss:

1.?????Harder:??Give them harder jobs than the ones they’re doing at the moment? This will allow them to get a constant feeling of learning and moving forward and achieving challenges

2.?????Involve?them with your thoughts about the future vision and direction, they are good enough to deserve a say

3.?????Delegate?more to them. Even if you enjoy it, even if you think your best at it, give more to your good people

4.?????Difficult:?give them one of your more difficult problems to solve. What can you find for them that’s difficult?

5.?????Empower?them more. Empowerment means delegating without checking on them at all, but just trusting them to do the job well

6.?????Needs:??think about?their?needs. What did they want to do or learn next? Not just focusing on the needs of the business or your own particular objectives but their personal needs.

7.?????Share:?if you can’t delegate then at least share the planning of big important things that are coming up

8.?????Projects:?give them some projects to be in charge off, to plan and implement

9.?????Ownership:??give them ownership of more things and bigger things. Ownership means they are completely accountable for the results, and they can decide how they do it and what direction it goes in

10.??Train others:??get them to train some other people in what they know so they are then free to move on up even further. Training feels good and proves that you really do know what you’re talking about, so they will feel complimented that you are asking him to train the next generation.?

Can you choose at least one of the above and put it into action - maybe several, or even ALL?

PS if you’d like more tips from me than this fortnightly series, why not get my free monthly email tips as well????They don’t overlap at all with these, they are completely new, additional ideas and techniques.???Just add your email to the list at?www.free-management-tips.co.uk?and enjoy!

PPS?Ten things that are on my desk:

This is a photo of my desk, the most important 2 sq.m. of real estate in the world to me – I admit it’s not amazingly tidy (I didn’t move a thing before taking the photo for you) but I like to think it’s creative, and everything on there has a function.??There are no ‘dead areas’, like piles of paper that have been neglected for weeks, or obsolete items.

What can you see that’s of interest?

Let’s have a look at ten of the things that I think might be amusing and useful to consider:

1.?????Lump of blutak to squidge while talking – I don’t feel nervous when I run zoom sessions but maybe I am – or maybe it’s impatience that needs to be soaked up, but whatever, I love a good squidge while talking over zoom.

2.?????Home made pen organiser – much better than a jar of mixed up half-dead pens and broken pencils, it’s important to have the tools of the trade easy to access, so I have one pen of each colour, and they are thick market pens,?Uniball Micro?biros (surely the king of pens!),?Frixion?eraseable pens (amazing things, if you haven’t discovered them then check them out), and Sharpies.??Write everything down, never store anything in your head or try to remember stuff, it clogs your creativity.

3.?????Headset – customer made for lightness, ensuring perfect sound even when turning away to write on the whiteboard, ears free to hear myself and you, high quality mic (Rode SmartLav) attached with?self-amalgamating tape?(isn’t sticky).

4.?????Home-made mic stand – if I’m only talking occasionally, to rest my ears from the headset I take off my headset (it’s light but you still feel it) and put it on the stand, just below view, so I can talk freely and still use a good mic that’s very close to me.

5.?????3 spare pairs of glasses – one isn’t enough, and if you’re going to have two you might as well have two.??I often go to another room with glasses on and then take them off for some reason, so they gradually leave my office, so I try to have three, or at least two, definitely one pair always on my desk.

6.?????Suspended?Logitech 1080p webcam?– hanging off the wall so if I jog the desk the picture you see stays rock solid motionless.??And it’s forward, in front of the screen, for closer view of the whiteboard (zooming with the software is too much of a pain as Zoom and Teams seem to always re-set themselves).??Also positioned so it looks as if I’m looking at the camera as I look at the top part of the centre screen.

7.?????Four screens – yes I know, it’s ridiculous!??But then they only cost?￡120?each and they increase productivity massively.??I have docs ready queued up and when Zooming I can drag them in from the sides.??And when not zooming I have Evernote and Slack on one screen, email on the next, main word doc on the next, and file structure and Spotify on the 4th.

8.?????Board squirter – a dilute solution of board cleaner and water – there’s nothing worse than smudges on your whiteboard!

9.?????Bright light – a full spectrum?daylight bulb?for natural-looking daytime illumination on Zoom, at an angle so it doesn’t reflect off the whiteboard, and it also helps with SAD.

10.??Box of SD cards and memory sticks (under screen 2) – you can never have enough. Also some business cards: yes I do think they still have a place in business today.??Very occasionally I think “Now who was that person who…..?” and I trawl back through the cards.??And also I find them beautiful and fascinating, the designs people choose to express who they are.

That’s it for this fortnight – I hope you were amused, interested, and got some practical ideas you can use.??See you next time, and pleaes do spread the word about this newsletter to any friends who you think might benefit

Onwards and upwards!

CC