Resources

Citation

(2013), "Resources", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 12 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2013.37212daa.011

Resources

Article Type: Resources From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 4

Event reviews

QA, Leadership Summit: Scanning the Leadership Horizon, London, UK, 20 February 2013

QA’s Leadership Summit, held at International House, St Katharine Docks, London, looked at how by focusing on the themes of trust, collaboration and communication as central to the leadership development agenda, HR professionals can unlock the potential for organizational growth.

The following three sessions were held throughout the morning;

1. 1.

   Charles Elvin – CEO, Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).

2. 2.

   Nuala Forsey – head of Leadership. QA.

3. 3.

   Nick Kemsley – owner of Org-onomic Ltd, and co-director of Henley Business School Centre for HR Excellence.

The summit was attended by over 50 delegates from a wide range of organizations and sectors. Our delegates, HR professionals, thought leaders and learning design professionals identified the following areas to be the biggest issues that they are facing with regards to effective leadership and management within their organizations:

1. 1.

   Expert novices. These are individuals promoted based solely on their technical capability and needing support and training prior to taking up their new role to maximize their opportunity to succeed. This mitigates the risk of failure whilst building the individual’s confidence and ensuring the new team delivers under the guidance of a skilled manager. The discussion also centered on the importance of appropriate selection processes to ensure that technical experts are ready and willing to move away from the “doing” to being managers and enablers of others.

2. 2.

   Focus on how to build trust. Teamwork remains the ultimate competitive advantage and at the heart of functioning cohesive teams is trust. What levels of trust do we believe we are experiencing in our organizations and what can we do to build that trust? Case studies were shared to illustrate how working in an environment of low trust has a huge impact on the development agenda and the engagement of employees.

3. 3.

   The importance and value of accepting feedback. To be effective, feedback needs to be a real and living element of everyday conversations within our organizations. If trust within a team or organization is strong, then the ability to give and accept feedback can have a really positive impact on performance. What is being done in organizations to develop emotionally intelligent teams? It was identified that leaders at all levels would benefit from developing EQ skills such as self -awareness and relationship building.

4. 4.

   Business strategy is often not balanced by the appropriate organizational capability. HR should be identifying the critical risks to the strategy posed by people and the organizational structure. Will the organizational capability be in place at the right time and can the strategy be delivered with the existing capability?

The Leadership Summit is a series of complimentary networking events held exclusively for senior level HR professionals. For more information call QA on +44 845 757 3888, e-mail info@qa.com or visit www.qa.com

Louise Croft

Recommended reading

Making the Matrix Work – How Matrix Managers Engage People and Cut through ComplexityKevan HallNicholas Brealey PublishingISBN: 978-1-904838-42-5

Kevan Hall is founder and CEO of the consulting and training company Global Integration, www.global-integration.com. He has worked with big global companies like PepsiCo and Morgan Stanley, helping managers cope with virtual teams and complex organization structures.

Kevan’s greatest strength, unlike many of his competitors, is that he is not in love with teams and team working. He recognizes that team working is expensive and time consuming. Managers in complex structures are short of time and are usually expected to achieve more with less. Making the Matrix Work grapples with these contradictions and gives the reader plenty of practical tools and advice.

The book has three main parts. Each part focuses on a dimension of matrix working that most managers find difficult.

The clarity problem

Part 1 addresses the clarity problem: who is responsible and who do I need to involve on which decisions? Kevan points out that full clarity is never possible. Matrix structures intentionally trade clarity for flexibility. Yes, tools, like “vertical and horizontal goal alignment” and “team alignment grids,” help improve clarity, but don’t try to solve the problem with more detailed job descriptions. There will always be difficult decisions and dilemmas and Kevan suggests ways for managers to address these.

Coordination overload

Part 2 addresses the problem of coordination overload. Because matrix managers are members of at least two and often three or four teams, they have too many team meetings that take up too much of their time. The solution is to dissect the content of these meetings and single out the 10 percent of activities that really demand a team approach. The rest should be managed with one of three other approaches – groups, communities or networks. These three alternatives to team working are more efficient ways of coordinating.

Accountability without control

Part 3 addresses the problem of accountability without control. Kevan explains that it is only when accountability is greater than control that managers are motivated to collaborate and work together. Hence, in a matrix structure, a control mind set is not helpful. The alternative is a trust mind set, and Kevan shows managers how to build trust and how to use influence in place of control.

Making the Matrix Work is a deeply practical book that should be at the side of every manager working in a complex organization. It is the sort of book you will come back to again and again for tips and tools to help you with your work. It is easy to read and short, as is common for books from Nicholas Brealey. Making the Matrix Work is written by a professional communicator who spends most of his time with managers who need help with the complexity of today’s organizations.

Andrew CampbellDirector, Ashridge Business School and author of Designing Effective Organizations. He leads three courses on organization design – Advanced Organization Design, Matrix Organizations and the Special Practitioner Workshop (www.ashridge.org.uk/aod)