Measurement has arguably be the topic of social media discussions and blogs this year.  Whilst more and more comment is aimed in the right direction looking at job adverts and the like suggests that for many, measurement still means counting your followers and trying to judge ‘engagement’. Now of course there are going to be some out there that...

Earlier this year a study revealed just how few senior executives have any kind of active profile on social media.  Whether this matters or not depends on the purpose of your social media work.  For instance, if you\’re currently just using social media to push out marketing messages then it probably isn\’t all that important that your CEO...

There was an interesting article in the Economist this week bemoaning the lack of flair amongst leading managers, citing several British bosses as good examples of dour leaders with little creativity or originality, and it got me thinking whether this is somehow a British trait.

This weekend was also a big one for sport, with the English team in action on the football, rugby and cricket fields. The script was similar in each, the doughty English outplayed by their technically superior opponents. The English football team have long played a brand of football that rarely quickens the pulse and against Brazil it was men against boys. In the rugby league the English team played manfully for the first 50 minutes before the inevitable Australian onslaught came and the thrashing duly delivered. The cricket team were equally crushed in todays 20/20 game against South Africa with few Englishmen showing any of the flair and verve on display by the South Africans. The rugby union team did at least manage a victory against Argentina but again the display lacked any flair or imagination with the team relying, as seems to be the case so often, on dull ten man rugby.

Amongst the various post mortems of these failures many possible explanations were given, but by far the most common was an overwhelming fear of failure, a fear of trying something different only to be ridiculed should it go wrong. And I wonder if its a part of the British spirit? Americans have the ‘American dream’ that seems to bestow a can do spirit amongst its people. Australians also seem to lack any of the insecurities that inflict us Brits.

It seems the same in the business world. I recently read a book about the incredible startup culture in Israel. I struggle to see anything remotely similar in Britain. Where are all the startups? Where are the people putting things on the line to craft something new and original? It’s surely not for a lack of brains or talent. Our universities are amongst the finest in the world yet there seems an almost embarrassment about success, a disdain for those that want to make the most of their lives.

Is it a forlorn hope that Britain unleashes the creativity within or are we a lost cause?

There have been some interesting approaches taken to managing talent this week.  Firstly BA announced that they wanted staff to perform up to 1 months work for free.  The plan was designed to avoid redundancies whilst helping the company weather the financial storm.  It predictably created a lot of controversy as clearly ceo Willie Walsh can afford such an action a lot more easily than some of his lower paid staff.

Then this morning BT announced that they will be loaning out staff to competitors for a short period to help reduce their wage bill whilst retaining staff over the longer term.

Certainly interesting to see how companies are dealing with this crisis.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Big projects can yield great things but managing them through to fruition is a complicated process, as evidenced by the sheer number of projects that fail to meet cost, quality or deadline goals.  Recent research by Linda Houser-Marko and Kennon Sheldon perhaps provides the answer.  Clearly any project will consist of various sub-tasks, and they suggest that at various stages of the project it pays to focus on these sub-tasks, whilst at other times it is better to focus on the end goal.

Maintaining focus whilst performing each sub-task

The research indicated that whilst people were performing each task, they perform best when they keep the overall goal in mind.  Self-control is increased by global processing, abstract thinking and high-level categorisation. Taking the first step on the long road to your goal may require a greater focus on the destination.

Evaluating difficult tasks

By contrast if you or your team are evaluating a sub task that is particularly difficult it is much better to focus on that particular task.  At the start of your journey, when evaluating progress, it’s often better to focus on the individual steps. Comparing recent failure with the ultimate goal destroys motivation – instead narrow focus to succeeding on the individual task.

With the end in sight

Once tasks are easier or the end is in sight, a goal focus is once again the psychological approach to choose. It increases positive emotion, decreases negative emotion and increases perceived performance.