A Question of Style

In the wake of yesterdays 'Bigotgate' affair I find some of what I wrote last month oddly prophetic 'You can't lead if you aren't seen around the business so for goodness sake, forget about the e-mail inbox and get your walking shoes on. If your not used to it this will be uncomfortable at first both for you and your staff but discipline yourself to do it at least once a week and you'll soon get the hang of it.' What happened to Mr Brown showed, regardless of your political affiliations, that here was a man who was not used to the fundamental leadership practice of 'walking the job' . Last month I talked specifically about Leadership. Those few moments of Gordon Brown talking to Gillian Duffy and immediately afterwards in the Jaguar give a fascinating insight into Leadership's less glamorous but equally important cousin, Management Style. What are we to make of Mr Brown's management style in those telling few moments?
Well, for a start, what struck me was a man who, because it was unfamiliar to him, was going through the motions of listening (look at the speaker, nod, make encouraging noises) but whose mind was elsewhere. Focusing on the next task rather than the current one Mr Brown's tried to protect his thoughts with a mental armour plate every bit as solid as that encasing his Prime Ministerial Jaguar. Only certain linguistic missiles managed to penetrate this dogged defence, tragically for him one of those words was 'immigration'. Because his mind was elsewhere it saved him the trouble of listening to the rest of what was being said and filled in the blanks for him, the 'Bigot' comment was almost inevitable from this point on. When you talk to your staff it must, for you, be the most important thing you are going to do that day not least because that will very probably be the way they feel about it. Respect them and their time and they will respect you. A good manager is a good listener.
What happened next, I have no doubt, is already being incorporated into sessions on management technique, what did Mr Brown then do? Quite simply he got into his car, over reacted and promptly looked for someone to blame for setting up the discussion. Oh dear! I don't need to bash on about how bad this is or how Mr Brown compounded it by trying to find more people to blame in his subsequent radio interview with Jeremy Vine.
One of the most frequent complaints of employees is that 'We work in a blame culture' with managements retort often being 'No you don't' Well there is an easy way to settle that one. Ask yourself, when did one of your employees last come to you with a genuinely radical idea about how you could make more money or cut costs? If your answer was 'all the time' then you are running a business where the staff know they can put something forward, receive your backing, and not be frightened of what you'll do if it doesn't pay off. If, on the other hand, you are wondering why that open door policy you started 5 years ago still hasn't encouraged a single random visitor maybe your management style is just too controlling. Gordon Brown's irritation at yesterdays encounter with Mrs Duffy stemmed I think from a feeling that he wasn't running it. I am always encouraging managers to understand that other people have opinions and ideas too and that running everything yourself is a management style that can lead to disaster, after yesterday maybe even Mr Brown would agree with me.