48 solent 250 roundtable


... continued from previous page Buckingham moved his office from a quiet corner of the building into the centre of the main operations floor. “The key is flexibility and accessibility.” Good communications are essential too, “because talking and returning customer calls matters, and texts are not acceptable contract documents.


“The modern ways of communication are useful additions to the traditional methods, but nine times out of 10 in our world you need to talk to someone.


“The most important thing is that you communicate well externally and internally.”


Supply chains and sub-contractor use need to be carefully monitored. “As far as customers are concerned they are our market face, so they need to understand our culture too.


“What our customers experience is what we are, in their minds.


“We have invested more and more in our people who actually make things work for our customers, because they can leave the site, the owner, the customer with a positive outcome.”


Hawkeswood: “You have no choice but to lead by example in an open-plan office. It is authenticity writ large, but provides a powerful ability to communicate.”


Eynon: “The solution for us is to involve those doing the work with development of our systems. If they buy into it, they'll make it work. Don't impose things. The best way to work out how to do something more efficiently is to ask the guy who is doing the job.”


introduced without sufficient upskilling and understanding of the managers who would be using them. Tick-in-the-box processes could easily become perceived as imposed, inconvenient and unrewarding.


Buckingham said internal controls were necessary to avoid costly inefficiency, but they should not become impersonal regulation. He always talks talked to employees about issues to fully understand their point of view.


“Be careful about being overly brutal with someone tripping over the line at certain points. If you want a culture where people can, and are capable, of making informed decisions, you need to be well balanced about implementing ‘rules and regulations.'


“People invariably do things through naivety. If you can help coach them back in line, rather than putting them on a warning, you have a better chance of them making future right choices.” They also usually appreciate your help and become supportive.


Went: “It's about clarity of purpose: them understanding the necessary regulation of business, alongside their desire to bring process improvement.”


Anyone for 360-degree personnel appraisals?


Not yet in the public sector said Moxon: “Obviously, we are in an environment where personal feedback is key to students, and vice versa. It's how you give feedback that matters. Most people have some resistance to it, but then sleep on it, and see something constructive in it. That's the concept you have to get over to the recipient.”


Hawkeswood: “There's an honesty play about 360-degree feedback because the response email is always going to be tailored in some way. But if you have the right company culture, individuals can acknowledge areas in which they need to improve or upskill, which can be incredibly empowering. It comes back to fear. And, there's no point expecting others to take feedback from you, if you are not prepared to take it from them.”


Went: “Leaders need to have the maturity to accept feedback when people want to give it; not necessarily in a formal process.”


Buckingham exampled a large US corporation that invested extensively in introducing peer- group 360-degree candour, only to see the process removed within 2-3 years.


James Hawkeswood


Tolerance, control and feedback


Gawthorne highlighted tolerance and feedback. Too often, he felt, HR appraisal systems or operational standards were


businessmag.co.uk


“For us, feedback needs to be a day-to-day thing. You don't let something go, and then tell someone about it a year later. Feedback should be a natural process. That way there are no surprises and you can build trust.”


Gawthorne: “If anyone has a surprise in an appraisal, then there's probably a problem in the company's management style. The appraisal should merely reflect ‘the way we do things around here'.”


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JULY/AUGUST 2016 David Murray


What one thing will improve a culture?


Stevenson: “Write it down. Make sure people understand the culture. Personally consult, meet in small groups, and gain consistency of message.”


Stembridge: “Improve internal communications, especially with millenials, and across generational gaps. For me ‘Making every guest want to return' is a priority, but maybe it's not yet with the people who can make it happen.”


Moxon: “Where are the communication blockages? Changes to the built environment will help change organisational culture? And feeding back on the feedback you receive.”


Armstrong: “Step back. Think. What's our purpose and how do I articulate that to the workforce?”


Hawkeswood suggested ditching bureaucratic process-driven annual appraisals. “If people are giving and receiving feedback on a regular basis, you should be able to move away from the formulaic and rather rigid structure of annual appraisals. Collectively you should know whether things are working or not, and be able to deal with things as and when they arise.”


Buckingham: “Culture is not a fad. It has longevity and you'll need to give some quality organisational time to it.”


Armstrong: “There is a really big difference between purpose and visionary goals or mission statements. Goals and statements are internal; purpose is an external frame of reference. It's customer-focused.”


Stevenson: “Know what you are, and what you are not. People need to understand what is expected of them.”


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