Leaders with collaborative skills?

By Fiona Colquhoun, Non Executive Director at Mannaz

The Sunday Times publishes an annual survey of the Best Companies to Work for in the United Kingdom, which is compiled from the opinions of the companies’ own employees. One interesting fact is that those Best Companies, which are publicly quoted consistently outperform the FTSE All share index. These companies all have a number of things in common, but most of all they have strong ‘inspirational’ leaders. What is interesting though is that there is a very great difference in the leaders themselves.

Inspirational leaders
According to the Department of Trade and Industry’s publication ‘Achieving Best Practice in your business’ such leaders are not always the extrovert and charismatic types, we tend to automatically think about. Many of them are quiet and reflective. Of course they share many of the same qualities – for example strong strategic focus and have clear vision of where the business should be going, together with a great customer insight. The quieter ones are, however, creative lateral thinkers, able listeners with the ability to get to the core of issues and the wisdom and skills to ask the right questions.

War and peace
History illustrates time and time again, that when the war is over the peace is more difficult to achieve. Is business any different? In organisations these days, during major change, it is the often the softer issues that are more difficult to manage, than the hard issues. It is the way and manner in which such changes are implemented which can turn general sound and balanced employees, into insurgents or organisational terrorists. The Best Companies do not have such situations.

The cost of conflict
On the 27 October 2004 the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development issued a full report, following its survey of some 1,200 organisations on Conflict at Work. Conflict costs employers a great deal of management time each year and according to the survey, too many employers are still relying and often putting pressure, on HR to manage conflict at work. Conflict costs the average employer 450 days a year, without including the costs of mismanaging conflict i.e. lost productivity, sickness absence and high employee turnover. On the other hand, the UK’s Best Companies to Work consistently perform impressively and positively in these areas.

So why is this of interest? In my career as a Human Resources Director I saw a great deal of conflict amongst some of the leaders of the organisations in which I worked. This did not come about because they were bad people, but arose because of confused accountabilities, different business visions, priorities and miscommunication. There were no winners in these corporate war zones. In these circumstances, whilst the organisation prospered with some good people, other talents, reputations and opportunities were wasted. It was because of dealing with these situations that I decided to embark on a new career as a mediator.

Mediation means winning
Mediation has a very strong framework and process to support the resolution of disagreements and disputes between people. Most importantly any such agreement or resolution is within the ‘parties’ control. As such this can be very useful for problem solving and working on issues collaboratively. There are generally no losers in mediation work as the emphasis and focus is on winning outcomes and progress.

The ‘mediation or conflict management skill set’ is even more significant, as these are communication skills plus. In the first place there has to be rapport, absolute integrity, empathy and complete trust. The listening, questioning and negotiating skills are immensely valuable in any business situation. The ability to move opposing parties into a new space, where sharing and working together may often be a new and challenging experience. One of my well-respected colleagues describes mediation as not for wimps- it is a hard and energising process- often breaking through boundaries.

Interestingly, the CIPD survey suggests that not only should more Human Resource managers be trained in conflict management skills, but also many more line managers. Only through this, the survey states, more productive relationships at work will develop.

The Scandinavian approach
Whilst UK business culture may stand as being more civilised than that of the US – it is also in many instances the bridge between the dynamics of US and European business environments. Scandinavian business culture has something extra special to offer. It is more consensual, but tough. It is a culture, which listens – to clients and employees and thrives on quality and innovation. Mannaz, itself a recent winner of the Best Place to Work in Denmark award, develops leaders with the ‘Scandinavian Touch’. Most of all, as an organisation it works collaboratively and in partnership with its clients to take them to new horizons.

Many leaders have great communications skills and the extraordinary ability to be trusted. These are the people who work to create motivated people and successful workplaces. They respect what their people tell them, and provide the resources to ensure that solutions are delivered. These are also the leaders who deal and manage conflict every day, where their business life can often be a ‘continuous’ negotiation. Most of all getting the best outcomes out of all their stakeholder relationships is key to their business success.

‘Achieving Best Practice’ from the DTI suggests that such leaders, often quieter and more reflective, than their forbearers are on the increase. Perhaps models of modern business leadership will be blends of hard and collaborative skills? Mannaz, with its ‘Scandinavian Touch’ is a fitting organisation to promote such.

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About the Author
Fiona Colquhoun is a Non Executive Director of Mannaz. In her work with Mannaz, Fiona has been instrumental in expanding our International Leadership Development business in the United Kingdom. She is also an accredited Mediator and Director of Employment Initiative with CEDR Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution

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