WHAT AN EMPTY TOILET ROLL SAYS ABOUT YOUR ORGANISATION’S CULTURE

Ever been in the situation at work when, ahem, you have finished your business and look down to see that the person before you used the last of the toilet roll and left you to cope for yourself?

What’s this got to do with workplace culture?

My guess is that if this happens at your place, it’s an ‘everyone for themselves’ culture. The person before you is really saying “I’m fine, but good luck to the next person who’s in here”.

If it never happens then, clearly, your people are demonstrating concern for their fellow workers. They are thinking “I wouldn’t want to be in this situation, so I won’t put anyone else in it”.

Surprisingly, this message is not about empty toilet rolls, but more importantly, how your people consider each other. It is an important cultural element that they are thinking about and caring about each other. Their attitude to the empty toilet roll, good and bad, would apply to everything else that happens in the work place.

When a culture of leadership is present, people put their own interests behind others (I knew I couldn’t write this blog without a cringeworthy pun).

Strive for an organisational culture where people care about, and for, each other.

WHERE ARE YOU ON THE CHAOS TO CONTROL SCALE?

Ten is feeling completely chaotic and out of control. Zero is calm and in control. Five is borderline. Where are you now?

The farmer who doesn’t prepare his soil, misses the planting window and leaves fertilising too late will not reap his crop. It’s simply impossible to cheat nature.

The business leader who fails to take stock of where the business currently is, where it needs to be in the future and then put plans in place to achieve that vision, she’ll also fail.

The simple truth is that too many organisations are in chaos because their leaders have failed to plan appropriately. They say they haven’t the time to plan. They say they don’t know how. They say that they have done all right so far without planning.

A culture where chaos is normal is not a good place to be. To get back in control, embrace these three basic strategic planning questions.

1. Where are we now? Do a SWOT Analysis.

2. Where do we want to be? What do you want to look like and be like in 12 months time? Describe it.

3. How are you going to get there? Develop an action plan for your priorities based around 90 day projects.

You owe it to yourself, those around you and your organisation to get back into control, and stay there.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO

Ever feel paralysed by indecision?  Do you procrastinate and feel that your leadership suffers as a result? Leaders are expected to make the right call but sometimes we can be overwhelmed and simply don’t know what to do. Here’s a plan.

1. Take the pressure off. For just a minute, forget the big picture. Forget the enormity of the project. Take your mind off what’s at stake. There will be lots of things involved in whatever you are working on that you have no control over, but you worry about them all the same. Just for now, pretend it doesn’t matter. Chill.

2. Work out what’s next? Now that you are not overwhelmed by the big picture, focus on what is the next thing that needs to happen. Not 20 steps away, just one. What is the next action that you need to take to take this forward? You are not thinking ‘How am I going to finish this marathon?’ Rather, ‘I just need to get to the next checkpoint’.

3. Just do it! With thanks to Nike, do it. Take the action. Crack on. Stop procrastinating because you don’t have all the answers, take action because you have the next one. And, before you go back to old ways and start panicking about the big picture, refer to point 2. Just work out what is the next thing that needs to happen.

Productivity is a vital aspect to leadership. We just have to get things done. Being stuck doesn’t help and, in fact, it can harm our reputation as a leader if others think we can’t or won’t make a decision. I have been teaching this method for some years and recently I saw a blog by Michael Hyatt that added even more clarity.

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM GORDON RAMSAY

You might be surprised just where I get leadership insights from! Take for instance celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay. Here's what I see when I look past the rudeness.

1. He is passionate. He cares about what he does. He wants to help people be more successful in their businesses.
 2. He knows his stuff. He has been a successful chef, restaurateur and businessman. He knows that what he asks people to do works. He has expertise and runs on the board.
3. He builds effective teams. He knows that a group of individuals won’t get the job done, but an effective team will.
4. He has vision. He forces the business people to decide on what they want from the business, then helps them go after it.
5. He keeps things simple. The ‘nightmares’ that he sees in the struggling restaurants that he tries to help, typically, are overly complex. He strips back what they do - reduces menu choices and simplifies systems and procedures.
6. He advocates structure. Who’s in charge? What are everyone’s roles? Who relates to and answers to who?
7. He is systems focused. He encourages people to work out the most efficient ways to take the orders, run the kitchen and deliver the meals. When they have systems that work, they stick to them.
8. He has difficult conversations without delay. He often swears at, belittles and shows disrespect for the people he works with. I am not advocating this behaviour but I do support that when a tough talk needs to happen we should meet it head on.
9. He delegates. He often sees head chefs doing all the work, taking all of the responsibility. He recommends that a head chef sets up for success, delegates roles, orchestrates the operation, then steps in where necessary.
10. He knows communication is the key. Someone in the kitchen shouting “yes chef” after being given a task lets everyone know that that person has accepted responsibility for the task, and everyone wins.

Go through these ten aspects and ask yourself, “am I doing this"? It doesn’t matter if you are running a café or a car dealership, a fine dining restaurant or a florist – the basics of leadership are the same. Now, repeat after me, “Yes Chef”!

DON'T FORGET TO LAUGH!

In the last couple of weeks I have seen a few examples of where things haven't gone as well as hoped, for myself personally and for a few of my clients. I think it's important to remember that we can't win all of the time and we still need to remember to laugh. 

Occasionally as leaders we can get caught up in ourselves and think that it is all about us. If things don't go right we can moan and groan and become down in the mouth.

At the end of the day, not everything goes to plan and we need to learn to take the not so good with the good. Now, if you haven't watched the video at least three times, click here to watch it again and I'll guarantee you will laugh every time.

The story behind the video: The meany who shot the video is my 22 year old son Will, having a bit of fun with his little sisters. The poor victim is my littlest, Tully. She has the capacity to blow up deluxe when things don't go well, but in this case, she laughed off her misfortune. Madam in the pool is Madi, who has no trouble seeing the funny side!

I hope you had a laugh and feel better as a result. Next time things don't go so well, laugh it off, just like Tully.