Day 4: How do these Characteristics affect FullEmploy?

Today's characteristics are Confidence and Decisiveness.

Confidence is description of the quality of communication, one that shows that you know what you're taking about. FullEmploy expects all staff to know how the whole business model works in general and how the specific parts of it they're working on in detail. This should be demonstrated to the people they're communicating with (see Day 3).

Confidence depends on how much you know about the subject matter. Hence staff must learn about the business they're dealing with before, during and after negotiations. FullEmploy has set aside time for this study and put under the discretion of the Ward Managers.

Staff must also inspire confidence in others and be perceptive to the confident outlook of other members of staff. If you're confident others become inspired by you.

Client Managers have to communicate confidently with the Employers and Candidates they're responsible for; the Training Providers and the Funding Agencies when reporting progress. The truth helps even when results are negative in which case the Client Managers and Ward Manager must get together to identify where the problems lies. If it lies within FullEmploy, they must assess it and formulate an action plan to deal with it and include that as part of the progress report. If the problem lies with the Training Provider, again the team must assess the circumstances and create a response that they would put to the Providers stating explicitly what's expected of them even as far as holding a joint meeting to resolve the problem.

Decisiveness. All members staff need to make decisions in almost everything they do. The business model determines what needs to be done already. However, there are times when the pre-determined activities don't achieve all what the customers want. Flexibility is required here but not at the expense of core values.

When an unplanned request for change is made, a decision to accept the change must NOT be made nor a discussion be entered into. The only decision to be made is to accept the REQUEST and explain the Change Management procedure and the Acceptance Criteria. Naturally, all members of staff will be working to a remit which gives them a certain amount of flexibility.

Customers will ask for bespoke work if possible which tend to be time-consuming and hence are expensive. These must be resisted and the customer sign-posted to the higher Manager for acceptance or otherwise. Staff must act decisively even at the risk of sounding inflexible. If the request is reasonable, the staff member can easily accommodate it but not if it takes them outside their remit.

Decisiveness is the opposite of Flexibility. Although you'll try to accommodate a customer's request, you cannot or rather must not compromise core values. You can make customers aware of FullEmploy's values and why you cannot compromise them. Remember FullEmploy is solving problems not just making money.

Day 3: How do these Characteristics affect FullEmploy?

Today's characteristic is Communication.

Communication is about communicating the objectives of your duties clearly and confidently and to ensure that your audience understand what you're communicating. One way for doing this is to ask questions that elicit whether they understood it. It's also important to understand the feedback from your audience and one way of doing is to repeat your understanding of what's being said.

Client Managers ----> Employers, Training Providers, Funding Agencies, Unemployed, General Public
Ward Managers ----> Employers, Training Providers, Funding Agencies, Unemployed, Councillors
Area Managers -----> MPs, LA Managers, Employer & Employee Associations at local level
County Managers ---> MPs, LA Managers, Employer & Employee Associations at regional level
Regional Directors --> Regional Cabinet Ministers, Employer & Employee Associations at regional level

The above shows the default communications of the staff. This is in addition to them communicating with each other.

Client Managers communicate with Employers to identify jobs and skills. They would sell the solution to the Employers and use the findings to report them to the Ward Manager and build the skills database. They would communicate with the Training Providers to establish training provision and create roadmap for the Unemployed to complete the training. The Client Managers would then monitor the progress of the training and report progress to the Employer and the Training Provider.

Client Managers would also communicate with the General Public to gauge the effect of unemployment on their lives. They would write news articles and sell them on to mainstream media at Local, Regional and National levels.

Ward Managers would negotiate contracts with Employers to hire the candidate based on a training contract negotiated with the Training Providers and a funding agreement negotiated with the Funding Agencies. They would also aggregate the data collected by the Client Managers and use it to paint an economic picture of the ward and communicate this with the Area Manager and Councillors as well as the Client Managers.

The Area Manager would aggregate the data aggregated by the Ward Managers in their area and use it to paint an economic picture of the area and communicate it back to the Ward Managers, local MPs, LA Managers, Employer and Employee Organisations at local level and onto the County Manager. The objectives of FullEmploy and the Trade Unions would have a lot in common e.g. safeguarding jobs.

The County Manager would aggregate the data aggregated by the Area Managers in their county and use it to paint an economic picture of the county and communicate it back to the Area Managers, local MPs, LA Managers, and Employer and Employee Organisations at regional level.

The Regional Director would aggregate the data aggregated by the Area Managers in their county and use it to paint an economic picture of the region and communicate it back to the County Managers, Regional Cabinet Ministers, Employer and Employee Organisations at regional level and onto the CEO at National HQ.

Day 2: How do these Characteristics affect FullEmploy?

Today, I'd like to discuss how Clarity affects FullEmploy.

Clarity is needed when communicating anything. FullEmploy communicates with its customers, consumers, and partners. Today I learnt that there's a difference between customer and consumer. In the past, I didn't think about, I just used them interchangeably. For what it's worth, a customer is one who purchases goods and services and a consumer is one who makes use of them. They can be one and the same. Clarity is also needed when you're defining your vision, aims and objectives.

The vision, aims and objectives of FullEmploy couldn't be clearer:

Aims
          - reduce unemployment and maintain it at low levels
          - reduce the skills shortage and maintain it at low levels
          - get the Government to pay for the training to create a level playing field for the employers
          - create income streams to replace unemployment and skill shortage reduction schemes
          - find accommodation for the homeless and then treat them as for the unemployed

Objectives
          - Build a geographical hierarchy of offices
          - Hire office managers one for each office
          - Hire 5 Client Managers for each of the 9,523 offices
          - Build relationships with Employers to identify jobs and skills required to do them
          - Use the identified skills to build a skills database
          - Build relationships with the unemployed to identify capabilities and shortfalls
          - Where there are shortfalls, arrange training on the identified skills
          - Build relationships with Training Providers to identify if they can provide skills
          - If not, we'll work together to build capacity
          - Build relationships with the funding agencies to pay for the training
          - Build relationships with the politicians to help us get the Government to pay for the training
          - Monitor the progress the candidates are making in attaining the skills and/or qualifications

The above will be communicated to all our partners in the solution to the unemployment and skills shortage problems namely the Employers; Training Providers; Funding Agencies; the Unemployed; and the Politicians.

Day 1: How do these Characteristics affect FullEmploy?

In the next few days, I will describe how the Characteristics of an entrepreneur affect FullEmploy. Some will be short and will be discussed in one article while others will be one article per characteristic.

     1. Being Organised

There are 3 types of organisation
a) the physical structure
b) the busness model

c) personal organisation

a) FullEmploy's physical structure is that it's organised as wards within Areas within Counties within Regions. The legwork is done by the wards who employ Client Managers to do the work. Each office will be managed by an office manager and they'll communicate with each other up and down the hierarchy.

b) FullEmploy's business model is to build relationships with Employer's to identify jobs and skills to populate a Skills Database; build relationships with  the Unemployed people to identify their capabilities and shortfalls with regards to the identified skills; build relationships with Training Providers to deliver the identified skills; build relationships with Funding Agencies who will pay for the training.

Externally, FullEmploy would build relationships with Politicians who would help us get leverage in industry and get Central Government to accept responsibility for training to create a level playing field for Employers who can then gain access to a skilled workforce. One of the Structural Imbalances is Low Productivity which led to the UK losing market share of the global economy thus increasing the balance of payments deficit. So, it's in the Government's interest to pay for the training in order reduce the skills shortage.

c) Personal organisation is how a person organises the work which implies use of Project Management techniques such as Prince 2 the UK standard. However, when you implement a task, you need to organise your thoughts which is akin to preparation and rehearsal. It's this sort of preparation that can make you look confident and that you know what you're doing. Implementing a task should be treated as a mini-project in it's own right. This is where you consider 'what' needs to be done; 'how' you're going to achieve it or present it; and 'what actually' happened i.e. did things go according to plan? Were your expectations accurate? Can you learn from what worked and what didn't? This can form your Continuing Performance Development.

Characteristics of an Entrepreneur - Day 4

I've so far described the first 12 characteristics in the past 3 days; here are the last 4:

      13. Optimism

Flexibility is to open-mindedness as Optimism is to Confidence. Optimism is descriptive. Hence, when delegating work, the strategies you describe must be optimistic i.e. they must at least sound achievable. Presenting it with confidence bolsters that notion. People tend to ask questions for clarification. These are the easy ones. Others ask "what if" questions. If you involved them in the planning process, they would've asked them then; and contingency plans would've been drafted to cover them.

Optimism reminds me of positive thinking - if you think positively, positive things would happen. However, experience has shown that even if you do think positive, there's still a chance to fail. That's why a proverb was coined to warn about this: "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again". This implies that you have to know when to stop "flogging a dead horse", and pick another one.

      14. Perceptiveness

Under communications we said you not only need to ensure that your audience understand what you're presenting but also that you understand their feedback. To do this, you need to be perceptive so that you can accurately perceive body language as well as words which would enhance your understanding.

I don't relish reading but from articles about communications that talk about non-word methods people tend to concentrate on these methods that they don't listen to what's being said. If you accidentally cross your arms, for instance, your counterpart will take offence because that's how people have been taught communications. Some unscrupulous negotiators use this to great effect i.e. they give the other side the impression that they'll get what they want even if it isn't in the contract.

So, perceptiveness goes beyond understanding what's being said or the body language but also the implications of these nuances. Also, you need to perceive future events so that your forward planning can deal with such events by creating appropriate contingency plans.

      15. Persistence

Although Drive is the energy to see things through to completion; the will and the discipline to see them through, usually in the face of adversity, is persistence. Under optimism, we discussed a few proverbs such as "if at first you don't succeed, ..." and that you have to know when to stop "flogging a dead horse". You need to be optimistic if you want to continue doing something persistently.

It's said that if you think negatively, you'll fail 100% because you won't even try. However, if you think positively and optimistically, there's no guarantee you won't fail. For example, James Caan, the entrepreneur, bought a chain of sandwich shops that were losing £100,000 per week. 6 months later he cut his losses and used the savings for other projects. In this example, it's fatal to persist with the undertaking. Napoleon Hill said "a quitter never wins; and a winner never quits". It should read "a quitter doesn't always lose and a winner knows when to quit".

      16. Risk Taking

This is what defines an entrepreneur. Some entrepreneurs say that you don't have to take any risks. For example, an East End entrepreneur started with only £200 capital and used it to run a business from his bedroom. His business model was to double his capital every so often. That way he doesn't become dependent on lenders. Richard Branson sold Virgin Music for £1bn to pay off Virgin Atlantic's debts so that he doesn't become dependent on lenders.

You only need to take a calculated risk when you face obstacles that stop you from launching a new business or expanding an existing one. You also take risks when an obstacle threatens the viability of your business. Some entrepreneurs think that the higher the risk, the greater the reward will be and take high risks on that basis.

The big banks of America and Europe took unacceptable risks and became bankrupt as a result. But, with the exception of Lehman Brothers, they were rescued by their Governments. However, the minnows were allowed to go bust - a great injustice. We had warnings that this can happen - remember Nick Leeson, the Rouge Trader? He bankrupted Barings Bank with illicit derivative trading - the same mechanism that bankrupted American and European banks.

You'd think that derivative trading would be made illegal in return for bailing out the failures. But no; these bankers are having their cake AND eating it too. When Goldman Sachs say they made a profit, they don't mean they made an economic profit; they mean they made a profit on derivative trading. What's worse is that the tax authorities didn't receive a penny from those "profits" because derivative profits are not taxable. However, the tax payers pay for their losses.

If you want to make profits tax free, become a banker. What's more, your losses are covered by the taxpayers. Not really, ordinary derivative traders go bankrupt when they lose - look at what happened to the small banks. Talk about false profits. Doesn't that remind you of false "prophets"?

Tomorrow, I'll start describing how these characteristics affect FullEmploy. Some characteristics are so vital that they'll be one article.

Characteristics of an Entrepreneur - Day 3

I've so far described the first 8 characteristics in the past 2 days; here are the next 4:


      9. Focus

This is an obvious one as if you have too many tasks to do at the same time, you won't do any of them any justice. Yet people don't deliberately lose focus; they're distracted by other people. So if somebody tries to distract you from your task, follow Brian Tracy's advice: point to somebody else and say "go and waste his time".

      10. Health & Fitness

Not many people associate Health & Fitness as a characteristic of entrepreneurs yet people will happily talk about entrepreneurs needing to work long hours and do most of the task themselves - the proverbial wearing of many hats. If that doesn't knock the stuffing out of you, nothing will. All this implies that you need to be Fit & Healthy.

However, if you're working long hours, there's a chance that you're not taking adequate rest or sleep. This will harm you in the long run. Another characteristic of entrepreneurs is Delegation. By delegating tasks, you'll free up time to plan strategically and rest adequately. Remember to work on your business not in your business.

      11. Leadership

Not many people associate Leadership with entrepreneurs. Some of them are known to be serial entrepreneurs - Richard Branson being the best example with over 400 companies in the Virgin Group. Such entrepreneurs become leaders because of their proven track record; they don't need to look important or confident - they can look fake. Branson's contributions to the economy make him important. With all that success behind him, he's naturally confident. In interviews Branson looks and sounds ordinary. That's because we all are from the PM to the shopfloor worker. The difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful one is opportunity. Most successful people create their own opportunities. Branson must have exercised leadership early on as soon as he hired people to work for him. This is because all levels of management require leadership skills. This means that Branson is not the only leader in the Virgin Group.

      12. Open-Mindedness

This is like Flexibility - there are limits to how many tasks you'll take on or how many ways to do the same thing. If you operate an open-door policy, the amount of work you'll end up with will drive you to distraction, and you'll lose focus. I suppose open-mindedness comes in when considering possible solutions; and flexibility when considering other people's contributions. Remember that these must take into account the organisation's core values which cannot be compromised.

Open-mindedness implies that you need to tolerate many points of view. This is legitimate for long-term planning. Some people are not aware of the long-term objectives and they see the diverse viewpoints as a distraction which contributes to the loss of focus; and they ditch most of them. They achieve short-term success but fail in the long term. Sentences like "So that's this is for" can be heard when describing some of the things that they ditched.

See you tomorrow for the 4th instalment.

Characteristics of an Entrepreneur - Day 2

Yesterday I introduced what I learnt from my research i.e. the 16 characteristics of an entrepreneur. I also published my understanding of the first 4 characteristics. So, below are the next 4:

      5. Decisiveness

This is the true mark of leadership especially when done with flexibility but a leader must lay down the law for everyone else to follow and this necessitates decisiveness. Again the central theme is knowing your vision; aims & Objectives; and the strategies to achieve them. This enables you to make decisions with confidence but decisiveness comes into its own when the decision maker is under pressure.

You need to be decisive when
a) Negotiating
b) Delegating
c) Communicating
d) Being Flexible
e) Leading
f) Risk Taking

      6. Delegation

All levels of management need to delegate work. The ultimate responsibility remains with the manager. In the past, managers used to delegate authority to do work according to a set remit with the ability to make decisions within certain limits known as tolerances. Nowadays, although this practice still exists, delegation has shifted a gear and responsibility, within stated tolerances, is also delegated but control is retained by the manager.

In order to achieve that control, the manager sets milestones with clear targets and monitors progress independently of the people doing the work e.g. by interviewing the recipients of the products/services as well as asking for progress reports. In other words managers are taking a strategic view and allow the people, to whom work is delegated, to take care of the operational issues.

Most managers are operational managers in that they're responsible for implementing strategic plans. However, when they delegate work to lower levels, they create strategic plans for this to be controlled. These are called "operational strategies" and can be created at all levels. This is reminiscent of functional decomposition where a large problem is broken into smaller problems which themselves are broken into even smaller problems or problemettes. This gave rise to the top-down approach which is difficult to accept - it's still waiting for wider acceptance. The solutions of these problemettes has to be communicated up the hierarchy using a bottom-up method.

      7. Drive

My research found that what this implies is that you've got to have the energy to see tasks / projects through to completion. You need to be fit and healthy in order to have that energy.

      8. Flexibility

Managers at all levels need to be flexible and seriously consider other people's input to solutions. This implies that such people need to be involved in the planning phase so that their input can be used in the right context. Shopfloor workers have experience of what works and what doesn't and this is very valuable info for the planners as it can result in more realistic estimates and the shopfloor workers would feel involved which means there's no more them and us. This is not just about flexibility but also common sense.

See you tomorrow for the 3rd instalment.