PJ Tips for leaders to improve business, change, performance, culture, teams and commercial success

Daniel Lamarre, is the long time CEO and now Executive Vice-Chairman of the Board at Cirque du Soleil

He is widely regarded as the driver behind Cirque du Soleil's successful global strategy. He is named in books and the (Blue Ocean) case study is used in MBA programmes globally.

Originally composed of 20 street performers in 1984, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group completely reinvented circus arts and went on to become a world leader in live entertainment. Established in Montreal, the Canadian organisation has brought wonder and delight to over 180 million spectators with productions presented in 450 cities in 60 countries. Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group currently employs 4,000 people, as Daniel will explain, including 1,300 artists, who originate from nearly 50 countries. In the podcast he shares that its like 'the United Nations' in the cafeterias at Cirque.

It is worth remembering the Mission of Cirque du Soleil: to invoke the imagination, provoke the senses and evoke the emotions of people around the world.

Can you imagine running 44 shows in a dozen countries, a billion dollar show on earth, and then Covid hit? Daniel talks us through closing the business from 44 shows to zero, but more usefully perhaps, talks about the leadership behaviours during the time they were closed, and how they kept in touch with the several thousand staff and 1,000+ performers 

The Mission makes me tingle with excitement, but how do you bring that to life?  Daniel tells us about being a creative powerhouse, about creative friction and some of the elements required to develop creativity in your people, culture and at the heart of your business. 

Daniel takes the old adage that without creativity there is no innovation to a new level. He believes that without creativity there is no business. Listen in to find why he believes and what stops people and businesses being creative. Creativity extends far beyond business improvement, it needs to exist at the core of the business.

One of the problems I experience with clients is that they hold workshops with the idea that 'now we will be creative'....   Sometimes we get lucky, often we don't. Why? Because creativity is not in their DNA, its not in the Culture. The culture does encourage or enable creative thinking, conversations and ideas. 

If you are interested in creative thinking and problem solving, Richard Draisey from McLaren Formula One Team, talks about how the Budget Cap pushed creativity - particular between finance and engineers in the Podcast I recorded with him. 

You may be wondering, as was I, how a very human centric business can thrive in a largely digital world. We cover this off in the conversation, with, of course, a reference to creative thinking, developing a view of the future and being constantly open to new ideas. 

I would like to thank Daniel Lamarre most dearly for joining me on this global PJ TIPS PODCAST, Leading Business Change, focusing on Creativity and Leadership. 

#leadingbusinesschange #creativethinking #blueocean #businessimprovement #strategy #culture  

Nicole Bearne is Head of Internal Communications at Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. 

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Motorsport is the works Formula One Team of Mercedes-Benz and competes in the FIA Formula One World Championship, the pinnacle of world motorsport and the largest annual sporting series in the world. The team has a combined workforce of some 1500 people, based at two world-class technology centres in the UK. 

In this PJ Tips podcast she shares how internal communication powers performance at the globally successful Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One team, one of, if not the most winning teams of all time. Her stories and insights on the importance and power of communication includes how good comms saves time and money, drives up engagement and leads business change, performance and value.  

What do you think Internal Communications is and what makes great internal comms? It's the first question(s) I put to Nicole because I sense its not fully understood or valued in businesses. I found listening to the depth and breadth of her answers both educational and exiting. The power that internal communications can unlock in people and performance is very real. 

Internal communication informs and circulates information, it encourages collaboration between the participants in the teams and business. It links with the purpose, vision and values, it offers clear insights sharing the right amount of information in the right way.  Listening, it feels like professional internal communications is a mix of many skills, experience, resources and models including Leadership, Management, Psychology, PR, Organisational Change, Feedback, Risk Management, Relationship Awareness, Diversity & Inclusion and Social Sciences.

I assumed it would be easy to lead Internal Communications when you're winning, yet Nicole tells us how consistent the work and messaging is whether you're winning or losing. So much of the communication is about how can we improve, what the opportunities are, the goals, strategy, vision and values.  

Perhaps internal communications is the antidote to Chinese Whispers, helping reduce misunderstanding, uncertainty, moaning and misinformation across the business. Nicole has many great insights into how well structured and intentional communications adds value to the business from both informal and formal perspective. 

Does every business have or need dedicated internal communications professional? If you are an SME owner, leader or director without a well thought through internal comms process, might like to this to this chunk of the podcast. 

The purpose of my podcasts is to inform and inspire others to lead business change, more efficiently and effectively, through the practical insights and stories of credible experienced leaders in their field. Time and time again I say how privileged I feel to meet and talk with leaders, how amazing they are..... and how inspirational and valuable their insights are, and they keep on coming with Nicole Bearne. 

In closing, Nicole shares some very personal insights into personal change, brought about through Covid. She talks about decluttering your wardrobe - metaphorical and actual - and making space for joy. We both talk about the notion of decluttering your behaviours, clearing out behaviours that are no longer fit for purpose, simply don't fit or are no longer appropriate, especially given changes during and post CV. 

I have suits I may never wear in business again, should I keep them or throw them out. Is that the same with behaviours I no longer need? 

Thanks for listening to my PJ Tips Podcast with Nicole Bearne from the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 team on Leading Business Change through the power of Internal Communications.

#People #Communications #Performance #CSuite

Why HR Cannot be responsible for Organisational Culture, with Vindou Duc. 

Vindou joins us from Switzerland for this PJ Tips Podcast, where she is based and runs her Consulting business. Vindou has nearly 30 years global business experience ranging from Formula One to Pharmaceuticals with companies such PwC and Novartis. 

She left corporate life a few years ago, and set up Next Step Management Consultancy, with the mission to help you lead your organization through its business transformation, from the 'inside out'.

I invited Vindou to join us as she has both a broad Global view of Culture and in-depth practical experience of culture change in its own right, and as part of transformational programmes. I wanted to get her views on: 

HR is, in many respect, a service provider, a central support service concerned with Tupe, Pensions, policies, procedures, holiday pay, tribunals and the like....  therefore how on earth can HR be expected to lead a culture change when they don't have the time, resources or authority to do so. They need help....  

In this new world, HR needs to be developed to be a facilitator of change, becoming a partner and advisor to the board and business.

One of the challenges I see, is that HR are being rebranded as People and Culture, but that doesn’t make it so. I can rebrand myself as a Formula Driver or Play Boy tomorrow….. but I'm sorry to say I lack most of the resources to deliver anything other than disappointment

If HR is not responsible for CULTURE…. Who is?

Vindou offers answers, insights and top tips to help you on your culture journey. 

#culture #change #transformation #culturechange #organisationculture #leadingbusinesschange #pjtips #potential #businessimprovement 

Let me introduce you to my esteemed guest for this podcast, Lord Mark Price.

Lord Mark Price is the former government Minister of Trade, former Managing Director of Waitrose, and Deputy Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership. Mark was also Chairman of Business in the Community. Mark is the president of the CMI, a board member of Coca Cola European Partners and founder of WorkL. He has spent over forty years unlocking the power of people in organisations. Mark knows all about creating engaged and happy people at work who in turn create longer-term sustainable success for organisations. 

This podcast will appeal to the most senior of leaders, Board members, CEO's, C-Suite, People & Culture Directors, HR Leaders, M&A Specialists and Business owners who want to unlock the huge potential that exists in people for the all our sakes. Creating happiness for people makes common sense and great business sense. 

In this time of political challenges, stressed supply chains, recruitment costs and a potential recession looming, the happiness of staff may never have been more important. Happiness is central to recruitment and retention. 

Mark has been studying the value and impact of Happiness for many years and offers academic and leadership perspective of how happiness leads to commercial success, higher performance, productivity and customer service, and reduced defects, turnover and waste.

Mark shares with us his Six Top tips and measures for creating an environment for real happiness, and Pool Tables and Pizzas are not on the list!  

It isn't just the list that's useful, its the practical meaning, the links and combined impact of these that Mark shares that offers the real value. 

1. Pay & Recognition

2. Information Sharing

3. Empowering People

4. Wellbeing

5. Sense of Purpose and doing something Worthwhile

6. Job Satisfaction 

Happy staff stay longer, work harder, will want more training, be more productive and deliver better customer service. 

Don't waste money on surface level short term incentives or tricks to develop happiness, invest in meaningful matters such as developing managers and their ability to cultivate relationships with staff which will directly impact on retention, recruitment and engagement.

Happiness, as Mark will share, is critical to the success of your business. 

The purpose of my PJ Tips podcasts is to inform and inspire listeners to build better businesses and lead change more successfully, through the practical insights from authentic leaders. I hope you'll agree after listening to Lord Mark Price that he is a truly exceptional guest. 

If you have any questions or feedback, please DM me. 

#LordMarkPrice

#WorkL

#LeadingBusinessChange 

#StaffEngagement 

#JobSatisfaction 

#Communication 

#Purpose 

#CommercialAdvantage 

#BetterPlaceToWork 

#BrandValue 

In this PJ Tips Podcast on Leading Business Change we welcome Chris Cook, Olympic Swimmer, successful Business owner, Speaker and Coach.... who's chuckle is infectious. 

He'll tell you about the difference between self belief... and self knowing... and he shares a story about Adam Peaty and Usain Bolt to underline this. 

If you want reduce distractions and resistance, and Speed up your Performance, listen to this podcast.

Chris' over arching message is to ''simplify what you can in this world of complexity''. In his world, it was all about Swimming two lengths of a pool as fast as possible. Leading to an array of medals, records and success on the European, Commonwealth and Olympic stage.   

However Chris admits getting overwhelmed and stressed by how much distraction and 'to-dos' that he allowed to threaten his core activity, leading him to simplify his entire process. This reduced stressed and increased happiness - you can hear it in his voice and his 'chuckle'.  

According to Chris, despite what we may think, much of our world is in fact fairly constant and consistent. Consider what is more or less the same in his world for a moment:

He encourages clients to simplify and be very clear on what they can and cannot control, what their job actually is..... and then get better and better at it. 

I was amazed to hear how he has a different view of the '1% Gains' made famous through Dave Brailsford and the Sky Cycling Team. Rather than looking at lots of little things, he chose to focus on the two or three big chunks that mattered to him, and he encourages clients to do likewise. For him it was a great dive off the blocks, a fast and effective turn and then sprint back to the finish. 

Two lengths. Done.. or 'Gone in 60 seconds'. 

I sense that some clients use the '1% Gains' as an excuse not to deal with the Elephant in the Room. Sometimes 1% change just wont cut it! In addition, I wonder if clients want to over complicate matters as a cover for their ineffectiveness and poor performance.

World Record Holder Adam Peaty now Swims the dame two lengths of the pool '100M Breaststroke' c5% quicker than Chris, who is now retied. Imagine what a 5% reduction in cost or time would do for your business. Chris talks about reducing procrastination, decision making and complication, increasing the pace of change and therefore moving to value faster. As he says, its simple, but necessarily easy.

He further gives insights into how sport, in particular Swimming and the governing body FINA need to lead through changes, such as the hot topic of Transgender in Sport, particularly Transgender Women. Chris talks us through some of leadership challenges therein. 

Thanks for listening to this PJ Tips Podcast on Leading Business Change. If you have any questions or feedback, do get in touch. 

If you liked this podcast, you may like the Michael Duberry (ex Chelsea Footballer) episode on high performance or listen to Mark Preston (Team Principal of World Champion Formula E team DS Techeetah) talking about winning on and off the track.

#leadership #change #leadingbusinesschange #business #sport #performance #olympics #transition #transgender #inclusion #fairness 

Many businesses are seeking to improve performance in businesses and in teams. Businesses want more for and from their people. 

Businesses often say they feel they have reached the limit of growth and improvement through standard processes and models and are now looking more deeply into the wealth of potential, knowledge and creativity that exists in people, to help the business grow. 

With the impending doom of a recession on the horizon, perhaps businesses need to invest more in, and take more note of people performance. 

In this podcast Michael and I talk Elite Performance, Team work and Leadership. 

Top Tips and Insights you might like in this recording:

Michael Duberry is a leadership coach, speaker and mentor, specialising in elite performance, including leadership, behaviours and resilience. 

Michael has come from professional and elite sport. He was a professional football and Cup winner at a number of Clubs including Chelsea and Leeds. Michael was also an England U21 player. 

In this PJ Tips Podcast, we discuss what Elite Performance is, and what businesses and leaders can learn from sports top performers. 

We do talk about Football. Whether you like football or not, we hope you get some real insights and practical tips for you and your business. 

Some of the lessons or insights might be obvious, like excellent training facilities and player development programmes. Its obvious. Businesses know it. But do businesses invest appropriately? 

Other obvious lessons include Team work. 11 players on the pitch working together. We see Defenders supporting the Attackers - we see defenders scoring! - and Attackers coming back to Defend.... Do you ever hear some one say 'that's not my job'...?   I hear that in business. 

Some of the less obvious lessons from Elite Performance might include humility and resilience. 

What is your understanding of resilience and what it means and how to recognise it? We hear it talked about so much in business. Michael has a very specific definition and ways to identify it. And his views on the importance of resilience in the real world, linking to mental health as well as personal performance and development, is grounded and honest. 

We are not saying all professional sports people and teams are perfect. They are not. But in the conversation we examine elite performance, indicators and insights from Michael. 

If you are interested in straight talking honest insights into some of the things businesses and leaders can learn from sport, this podcast is for you. 

Hopefully, we have a laugh too?  If Michael went to a fancy dress party as a Spice Girl, which one would it be? He discusses this openly, and tells us which female character he did indeed dress up as in Oxford! Its surprising.....   But what does it tell us about the man? You'll have to listen and tell us. 

Top Tips and Insights you might like:

The difference in the same team from a winning year, to a losing year.  

How to stay humble whilst winning.

How to and why to have a conversation about your mental well being.

Top notch Leadership Traits. 

#eliteperformance #teamwork #businessimprovement #change #goals #winning #leadership #resilience #wellbeing #mentalhealth #mensmentalhealth #spicegirls #recession #

In this episode, Rita Gupta, a family lawyer who specialises in Divorce and HNWI gives us insights into the impact divorce can have on people and business, and she shares some top tips to help leaders lead through Divorce.

We have probably all seen the personal impact of divorce on family and friends; the emotional rollercoaster, financial impact and the financial trauma that people suffer. Lives can be seem like they are ripped apart. 

If some one is going through a divorce, imagine what it might do to their energy, their capacity for work or their personal time? Suddenly they may find themselves homeless, separated from their kids and trying to create a new schedule, all of which will impact on the individual, their well being and capability to work.

Divorce may affect people to a greater or lesser degree. One lady I knew started going clubbing again to 'celebrate' divorce and every other weekend she partied hard, and by her own admittance was 'probably still suffering from excess alcohol on Monday morning'

So how does this impact on business? 

Rita talks us through Divorce and Business from three perspectives: 

Staff members who are going through divorce. The issues they may have, support they may need and how it might affect their team, projects and work. 

Leaders or business owners who are going through divorce, including at times where both parties are directors/shareholders of the business. Think about what might need to be in place to support an owner through divorce and how to look after the business during such times.

Thirdly, how the business and leaders can lead through the changes that divorce brings to the work place. 

#familylaw #highnetworthindividuals #HNWI #divorce #leadership #business #leadingbusinesschange #csuite #businessowners #shareholders #divorcelawyer #wellbeing #mentalhealth

Are you wrestling with Transformation, Change or Business Improvement? Are you planning a Transformation, or are you simply interested in hearing war stories of Transformation.

In this PJ Tips podcast on Leading Business Change, my guest Karen Thomas-Bland and I talk Transformation from the Trenches. 

The purpose of these podcasts is to offer listeners practical insights and information from experienced leaders in order to help us all lead and deliver change more effectively and meaningfully. I don't believe we need more theory of change, I think leaders want to connect, share and learn from others who have done it. What do you think?

Karen is an Interim Executive Committee member, Consultant and NED with 25 years’ experience leading complex enterprise-wide Transformations and M&A integrations to $105bn turnover. As a consultant, her clients have included Accenture, Microsoft, National Grid, RELX Group and PE funds where she has successfully led major programmes of change. Karen has been on Private Equity backed Boards to drive value creation and achieve a major fundraise or exit, working alongside major investors. Prior to her interim career she was an Executive in IBM Global. During this time, she was based out of New York, Dubai and Sao Paulo and led IBM’s global transformation, integrated ten major software businesses, run a $4.5 bn top accounts full P&L, and rapidly scaled a new global consulting and data analytics business to £500m turnover.

Karen discusses Business Transformation programmes she has delivered and tells two stories - one good, one bad! Its valuable to hear her bounce around the topics of new Strategy, Markets, Client Segments, Re-orientating the Business and new Ops Models.

She goes into some detail about what is Business Transformation and what isn't it? What the difference is between Transformation, Improvement and Change? And why its important to understand these. From my perspective, a big part is expectation. It seems Transformation is more than just ERP.

I hear clients talk about Transformation, but what they mean is Change, but what they are prepared to do is make a few small Improvements. 

Transformation programmes are people led, meaning they can be emotional, difficult and unsettling. Thinking about Culture, and taking care of people, engaging and enabling them are key elements to delivering a successful transformation. As leader you have your own emotions to deal with and you need to lead both the business and the people in the business. 

There is an old SAS saying: grip Self, the Team, and then the Task. Note the first two elements are people centric. Failure to do these will almost certainly end in a failed business programme. Perhaps this a useful way of thinking that any change starts with me? 

Karen has her views on Leading Business Transformation regarding Culture and Leadership Behaviours required to lead businesses and people through any change or transformation. 

Finally she leaves us with Three Top Tips on Leading Business Transformation. 

#Business #Transformation #Change #LeadingBusinessChange #Culture #Digital #Technology #People #Leadership #BusinessTransformation

Stats tell us that Change is expensive, difficult and failure intensive, but it doesn't have to be that way. I have a Five Step Process, tried and tested at Cranfield and used in Change programmes, M&A, Projects and Transformation to c $30Billion successfully. The process will significantly tip the likelihood of success in your favour. It does this by unearthing the wealth of potential that exists in your business but remains untapped... your greatest asset... people. 

If you have any feedback on the podcast, the matters the discussed or want to chat Transformation, give in touch. 

Richard and I hope you enjoyed part 1 of our conversation exploring Boardroom behaviours, where we looked more at the poor behaviours experienced in and out of the boardroom. 

In this, part 2, we look at Boardrooms Behaving Better. Richard shares specific examples of the roles and responsibilities of Boards and together explore what good behaviours look and feel like. 

Richard Cartwright is an Enterprise Fellow at Southampton Business School, an experienced NED, chartered Accountant and enthusiastic academic! He brings diversity to life in teams and boards with clients such as the NHS and NAO. 

Its often easier to spot and comment on poor boardroom behaviours and poor governance, as these are the examples that make the headlines. Good behaviours are not simply the opposite of the bad ones, though there's a relationship of course. Good behaviours often requires better personal leadership, interpersonal skills and alignment. Diverse thinking for example can be a huge benefit to the board, but to have it, you must be open to including difference and listening to it openly. It might be easy to recruit in ones own image but it may not get your the true value you want. Employing board members with the difference of opinions, experience and back ground you think you want, may require a different set of skills than you have to fully embrace these differences. 

Companies need their boards to function effectively. Board members provide executives with a different perspective and direction, drawing on their wider external experiences. The most effective boards meet regulatory requirements, keep the company accountable and provide sound strategic counsel.

Sarah Bell from Grant Thornton notes that, ''Truly effective boards clearly define their role and purpose, and have directors who can work well as a group while fulfilling their individual roles, such as overseeing succession planning, acquisitions and capital allocation.''

What do you think makes a good board, and what are better boardroom behaviours you experience? 

Listen to Richard discuss some simple and practical ways of improving board room behaviours and effectiveness. He talks specifically about Cyber Security and Cyber Attack which is hot topic. 

As always, I welcome your feedback, insights and stories [email protected] 

If you want to discuss anything you have heard in this podcast or chat about what resources are available to help you personally as a board member, or if you want to develop the effectiveness of your board, then please get in touch. Richard and I have a set of structured sessions, facilitated workshops, group and individual coaching options to support you. 

#leadingbusinesschange #boardroom #directors #nonexecutivedirectors #change #businessimprovement #ESG #cybersecurity 

In this podcast on Boardroom Behaviours, my guest Richard Cartwright explores Bad Behaviours in the Boardroom. 

Richard is a dynamic Academic and Non-Executive trusted by the NHS, NAO, Motability, ICAEW and is an Enterprise Fellow at University of Southampton, he brings lived experience of diversity to both the classroom and into boardrooms. For his sins he is a qualified Accountant and trained within the Big 4. More importantly for me, he's a great chap, hugely knowledgeable and very able to offer listeners practical insights into bad boardroom behaviours and the cost to businesses and their communities.

You may think that all boards and board members behave well. They don't. Richard and I have experienced first hand some shocking bad boardroom behaviours, but also much more subtle yet no less destructive poor behaviours. 

So what is board? A board of directors is an executive committee that jointly supervise the activities of an organisation. The board acts as a governing body for a company or organisation. The primary goal is often said to be to protect the assets of the shareholders by ensuring an organisation's management acts on their behalf and that they get a good return on their investment in the company. Though of course these days purpose is important, as is ESG and therefore the way the ROI is created is much more important. In short there are three main areas where a board focuses attention: governance, strategic direction, and accountability. 

So given this responsibility and clarity, you might be forgiven for thinking that everyone works well together, is equally aligned, committed and so on. However,  like any team or group, their are egos, agendas, differences, personality clashes and so on that can cause problems. Poor leadership of self and others can be seen, poor decision making skills, lack of diversity and relationship skills all contribute to unhealthy environments and less than high performance in the boardroom. 

Do you remember the old adage, 'Agree or Disagree, but Commit' which I first heard from Prof Sumantra Ghoshal. In the Boardroom this might be considered key, yet too often it isn't. 

Richard may cast humour into this pot of conversation, but underlying is a very real need to improve the behaviours of boards for the sake of the businesses, stakeholders, shareholders and the wider community. 

I wonder how many people will listen to this thinking that their board - even themselves - behave well, and on reflection might find some bad behaviours that resonate. 

Richard and I have run sessions with Boards, and shown videos of board room behaviours, which has shocked participants and led to very valuable conversation and significant improvements. 

It may seem a little unfair picking on the bad behaviours but after all its poor governance that makes the headlines, rarely the great governance! 

In the second part of this two part topic, Richard and I discuss Better Boardroom Behaviours.

The aim of these podcasts is to promote thinking about the behaviours of your boards, what you do well, and not so well, and therefore what you can improve, and why. For some this might be a conversation and some simple improvements, for others you might want some help, and we'd be delighted to have a chat and offer some insights, suggestions or come and work with you to facilitate changes and improvements. 

In the meantime, have a listen to myself and Richard exploring bad boardroom behaviours. Feel free to message me with your thoughts and examples.co.uk

Look out for Part 2, Boards Behavinboardroom #boards #executive #committee #poorperformance #governance #management #shareholders #ROI #purpose #ESG #accountability

PJ Tips Podcast on Leading Business Change, with thanks to Richard Cartwright