A lesson in leadership

As the recession continues, motivating staff can be a challenging prospect. However, with the right advice, dispelling staff anxiety needn’t seem like a struggle – as more than 50 retail HR managers discovered at an event hosted by Retail Week and McCarthy Recruitment last week.

Following a networking breakfast, attendees – including managers from Burberry, Argos and Marks & Spencer – were given a motivational talk by consultant Jeff Grout. An expert in people management, team building and recruitment, he focused on how to be a leader despite the economic gloom. Grout engaged his audience with anecdotes of the strategic moves made by successful leaders such as Sebastian Coe and Dame Anita Roddick, focusing on the importance of communication and staff input.

A former business adviser to World Cup-winning rugby union coach Clive Woodward, Grout revealed one of the first things Woodward did as coach of the England team: “I remember when Clive turned up for the first meeting with the team. Every player and coach was late and the majority had a mobile phone clamped to their ear. He said the England rugby team could be the best in the world, but would not be world class unless
everyone took responsibility.”

The result of the conversation was the players decided from then on they all must be 10 minutes early for meetings and mobile phones should not be permitted. “He would have lost them if he had told them what to do like children,” he added. “In a high-performance environment you need to create space for people to make decisions.”

He urged the retailers present at the event to look beyond the present financial climate. “Look to factoring in the possible opportunities that may arise in the upturn. So many organisations have adopted a siege mentality since the recession began but they need to be looking to the future and thinking about where to take their business next,” he said.

Communication and knowing your team was a strong theme and he focused on the benefits of knowing staff in each tier of a business. He said: “Do you know what makes every member of your team sad, mad and glad? You can’t motivate people you don’t know. If a member of your team feels like a human being instead of a human doing they are more likely to volunteer to do more.”

He concluded: “The biggest obstacle to continued success is continued success – you become complacent. It’s important to stay motivated and change can be necessary.”