The Four Secrets of Choosing Management Development Programmes

Have you been tasked with choosing a management or leadership development programme for your people? Are you uncertain about what to look for? What are the pros and cons of sending your people to a hotel for a five day residential or a back to business school?

Follow these four simple steps to ensure you make the right choice:

1. Choose a programme that produces business results. Why do you want your people to become better leaders and managers? So that they create stronger business results. A course that does not produce results will not justify the expenditure. Choose a course that produces tangible results in your business from the very first seminar – after all, why wait to see the ROI?

The material covered in Governing Change can be turned into results quickly. This is why my interest remained for days 1-6. The theory can be put into practice and, to paraphrase my own presentation, I have the results to prove it.
Tim Palin, The Metal Centre

2. Look for robust, proven content. If your people are going to create real results, they’ll need practical input which they can implement quickly and effectively. It will be hard for your people to call complex models and abstract theories to mind when they are under pressure – and when they are under pressure is precisely when they’ll need to use what they’ve learned from the course they’re attending.

For any manager it bears relevance to their principal objectives for success. Every session had content that I could relate to my everyday working environment and equipped me with the tools to improve myself and my team between each session.
Jane Bradshaw, Gould Alloys

3. Insist on a structure which demands that delegates implement what they are learning back in the workplace, and supports them in doing so. The best structure for this is a day a month. That way delegates can experiment in modifying their approach, create results, report their progress back to their group, and build their understanding over five or six months, rather than attending a three day event and then not implementing half of it and forgetting the rest.

Anyone in management, no matter what level of experience they have, will learn from this course. This is not a course where you go away feeling inspired but then never apply what you’ve learned. The course forces you and supports you in developing your skills.
Sophie Davies, Victim Support

4. Ensure that the programme is run by people who are expert in developing the leadership and management capabilities of others, rather than experts from your particular industry, who may have little to impart other than a dressed up version of their autobiography.

A 6 month Mitchell Phoenix management programme that, frankly, changed my life. It broadened my outlook and since completing it my enthusiasm soared and the techniques he showed us to deal with difficult or sensitive management challenges have been invaluable to me, and of course my business.
Ian Ford, Watts Group

Finally, if you are looking to develop not only a group of individuals, but the whole culture of your organisation, choose a development initiative which is robust enough to scale up to produce an organisation-wide effect.

The Governing Change training course has equipped our managers with the necessary tools to manage their teams and achieve a high level of success. It enables all of us to take a consistent approach when managing our people
Andy Howitt, Regional Director, Aalco

And of course, treat any tangential approach with caution. A programme which seeks to achieve improvements in the business environment through participation in an unrelated activity, such as outward-bound sessions or actor’s trust games, is unlikely to create lasting results.

Having been on numerous training courses I have no hesitation in recommending the Mitchell Phoenix Course as the best yet. There is no management-speak or pointless exercises - instead the course is tailored to each and every delegate due to the focus on practical results and making improvements in your workplace.

Mark Lowe, Midwich Ltd


When Vision does not Equal Reality, Innovate

Mitchell Phoenix believe that organisations should Govern Change, which means anticipating and responding actively and flexibly to the changing circumstances in which businesses operate. In doing so, companies create an advantageous, profitable future for themselves. Blind adherence to past processes and procedures, failure to ask searching questions about our business and the environment in which it exists, and unwillingness to really listen to those around us are all factors which can prevent us from Governing Change successfully.

In Innovation and Entrepreneurship Peter Drucker explores a number of situations where there was an incongruity between business’s vision of reality – of what they thought was happening – and the actual reality which was unfolding around them. In the following three examples, Drucker shows how certain businesses identified gaps between their vision and the true reality, and then responded creatively to effectively Govern Change.

1. Incongruity Between Reality and Assumptions About It

When erroneous assumptions are made about reality, businesspeople are not concentrating their efforts on areas which will generate results. Those who see the true reality may also see the opportunity to innovate.

For example, in the early 1950s ocean freighters were thought to be dying. They were a slow, high cost method of transport. Why was this? The shipping industry had made an incorrect assumption – they had focused their efforts on reducing the cost of running fully loaded freighters at sea, by developing smaller, faster ships which ran on less fuel and required fewer crew. But the reality was that as a piece of capital equipment a ship is most expensive when it is not working, and ships were spending significant periods of time queuing at ports waiting to load or unload. This time spent queuing was the main reason why freighters were deemed to be so slow and expensive.

So instead of focusing on reducing the already low cost of running a fully loaded ship at sea, it was decided to uncouple loading from stowing, and container and roll-on, roll-off ships were born. Queuing time at ports was reduced, and freighters became more profitable. Crucially, the techniques for doing this were already in use in the railroad and trucking industries; they simply had to be applied to shipping.

2. Incongruity Between Perceived and Actual Customer Values and Expectations

No customer is as immersed in or committed to the product as the supplier, and therefore often what the customer buys is not what the supplier thinks the customer is buying.

Drucker argues that the prime motivation of those who work in the large financial institutions on Wall Street is to get rich, and that they therefore assume that this is the prime motivation of all their customers. He then charts the rise of a securities firm which appealed not to customers who wanted to become rich, but to customers who wanted to protect their money. These customers included local professionals, small businesspeople and substantial farmers. The firm’s strategy was based on protecting its clients’ money, and because of this only one eighth of its business was stock exchange business.

Drucker goes on to underline the power of those who see a mismatch between what suppliers think customers want and what they actually want:

“The big Wall Street houses cannot even imagine such customers [who want to protect their money rather than get rich] exist because they defy everything the houses believe in and hold true.”

If your competition cannot even imagine your customers exist, it will be difficult for them to steal your market share.

3. Incongruity Between the Rhythm or Logic of a Process

A manufacturer of lawn care products had a similar catalogue to its competitors, composed of fertilisers, pesticides and the like. All the competition promised ‘scientific’ products which had been extensively tested and would make your lawn look fantastic. Precise instructions were given on how much of each product should be applied to your lawn, depending on soil conditions and the desired effect.

Customers bought the products because of the promised benefits, and were receptive to the idea that each fertiliser had been scientifically developed to deliver those benefits. But when it came to actually applying the products, the logic of the process fell down. Customers found it difficult to be as scientific as they felt they should be in putting the correct amounts onto their lawns. Then one particular manufacturer produced a ‘Spreader’. This was a lightweight wheelbarrow with adjustable holes which would deliver exactly the right amount of product as the customer walked over the lawn. The ‘Spreader’ boosted sales significantly.


What can we learn from Drucker’s examples? Asking open questions about the environment in which we operate, listening, and remaining open to new ideas and approaches will all help us to capitalise on situations where the vision of what is happening around us does not match the reality. How close is the relationship between your vision of what is happening in your business environment and the reality? Which of your past processes and procedures are holding your organisation back? What can you change tomorrow in order to take advantage?

Securing the Future - Essential Development for Senior Managers

Mitchell Phoenix are pleased to announce the next public dates for their sought-after senior management programme Securing the Future. The course will start in London from September 22nd and continue through October 20th, November 17th and December 15th.

What areas does the programme cover? Securing the Future develops managers’ abilities to respond effectively to meet the demands of the future business environment. The long-term goals of the organization are linked to day-to-day activity in a way that makes planning and decision-making a predictable and enhancing process. Each manager’s inseparable relationship with decision-making, responsibility, creativity and time usage is explored in the context of organizational responsiveness.

What gains can executives expect to make? Securing the Future focuses on the essential management activities of the Implementation of Strategy and Tactical Decision-Making. Since the decisions we make largely define our future (both long- and short-term), this essential and crucial skill lies at the heart of all business success and failure. As managers, our daily lives are a continuum of constant decision-making – the better these decisions are, the better the business future will be.

As businesspeople, we understand how critical it is to devote time to the important and essential tasks that we carry out. But how can we defend our time against the intrusions, interruptions and wastage caused by inefficient practices, processes and the poor behavior of others? Effective people know that time-usage is an attitude not a system. To gain strength and skill in applying correct principles to the use of your time requires future orientation, discipline and understanding. Securing the Future will provide the necessary input to help managers make gains in all three of the essential components of effective time usage.

Who should apply? All those who sit at the head of an organization, division or department and who face the challenge of growth and change; individuals who seek inspiration from ideas and have a bias for action; managers who wish to gain clarity on the potential they have and the potential they can release from their people and their organization.

The Real Secret of Time Management

What is the true value of time?

For businesspeople, the adage “time is money” rings as true as coins clinking into the till. Consultants, accountants and lawyers bill their time. If the time taken to manufacture a product is halved, profit margins increase. If a new product is brought to market quicker than a competitor, businesses gobble up market share. In business, wasting time means wasting a resource which could be spent more profitably.

But businesspeople who see time simply as money are missing half the picture. Anyone who gets frustrated sitting through endless unproductive meetings will know that poor time usage is highly demotivating. Anyone who has offered their staff the incentive of an extra day’s annual leave will know that time can be a reward. Anyone approaching retirement can appreciate that there is no difference between your time and your life – one is simply a measure of the other.

How highly is time valued in your organisation? Most businesspeople are diligent in guarding their time from external threats – we quickly cut off cold callers, throw junk mail straight in the bin, and duck invitations to conferences and events which will be unprofitable for us.

What about internally? How easy is it to encourage our colleagues to run meetings effectively, so that a group of expensive executives are not sat in their chairs for long hours making little progress? Who has had experience of others arriving late, being unprepared, and taking decisions without proper consultation, which then have to be amended, courses of action changed, whole project days lost, and so on? These are just some of the unprofitable behaviours which can eat away at arguably our most precious resource.

“It’s not enough for senior managers to improve their decision-making about their personal time usage,” says Kevin Yates, managing director of Mitchell Phoenix, “they also have to make decisions about what the attitude to time will be in their part of the business. Only if they create a culture in which time is valued will they truly reap the rewards. In other words, the real secret of effective time management is that it can’t only be an individual initiative – it has to be a group effort. You can be as decisive and creative about your personal time usage as you like, but as soon as you are forced to participate in a directionless two-hour meeting, all your good intentions have been scuppered.”

Phoenix or Leopard?

This morning the New York Times made the most promising noises yet, that the recession may be about to end. Unemployment is down, house prices are rising, productivity is up; all positive indications that things are improving. President Obama gave a stirring speech in Cairo committing to greater efforts for peace. GM’s Chief has told Congress “it’s our obligation to be open and transparent in all we do to reinvent G.M.”

It seems that we are on the brink of a new era. New thinking, new goals, new plans….change. A chance for us all to make that ‘New Year’s resolution”. Who of us has consistently stuck to their resolutions?

So there is the rub. What has business learned over the last 18 months and what will be the commitment to be different in the future?

The meaning of the phoenix in Mitchell Phoenix is derived from ancient mythology; the sacred firebird. The phoenix is a bird with beautiful gold and red plumage. At the end of its life-cycle the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises. The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible. The phoenix is a symbol of rebirth, regeneration and renewal.

If we view the recent past as a cathartic experience, emerging purged and refreshed, we have tremendous opportunities to be even stronger as a business. We can seize the moment to Govern Change, pro-actively operating in different ways at higher levels. It is also possible to let out a huge sigh of relief as we emerge from the bunker into watery sunlight, hand shielding the eyes, squinting at the sky. “Right! Where were we?” is the first phrase spoken on the road ahead.

What is the old saying about a leopard and spots? Be a phoenix instead.

Off Track: How Many of the Tech 100 Will Survive?

When the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 was published in September last year, Lehman Brothers had just collapsed, $85 billion had been spent bailing out AIG, and the UK government was just over a week away from announcing their £400 billion rescue plan for the British banking system.

Against an economic background like this the unspoken question was: which of these companies will still be in the top 100 next time around?

Many of these businesses are growing fast because they have a powerful idea which they have made into a profitable business. To maintain their momentum, especially in a recession, they will need more ideas – about both their core business and also about how they run the rapidly growing organization which has built up around it.

“When companies grow to a certain size,” says Kevin Yates, Managing Director of Mitchell Phoenix, “they can no longer rely on a handful of individuals at the top of the company for all of their innovative thinking. They need to create a culture of innovation and the capability to implement those new ideas throughout the whole business.”

Yates argues this is even more important during a recession. “In difficult times the quality of ideas can make or break a business,” he explains, “after all, ideas and the ability to put them into practice is all that separates companies from their competition. Now is the time to ensure that your business is set up to foster and implement innovative thinking.”

When faced with recession in the early 1990s Microsoft, which now sponsors the Tech Track 100, invested in developing the culture and the people within the organization.

“Mitchell Phoenix did extensive work on individual and team capability and performance development,” comments David Burrows, Managing Director in Government Industry at Microsoft. “There was a good focus on delivering usable value to the business, and a willingness to adjust to accommodate client need.”

“Microsoft understood that it was important to place innovation and the implementation of new ideas at the centre of their culture,” says Yates. “They knew that a high performance environment is only developed consciously and deliberately, and they set out to do just that. In many ways this was one of the foundation stones for their success.”