Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the blog written by and for members of Human Resources UK.
I won’t give you a long winded introduction today, instead I’ll get straight to the point. I am delighted to introduce our latest Discuss HR writer, Una Doyle who has written an excellent debut post about making the most of the mavericks within an organisation, whilst also indulging her guilty pleasure! (Ed Scrivener)
Dear Kitty
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| Dress codes had relaxed in recent years |
I think you have wonderful talent and creativity – your performance this week was absolutely brilliant! I really wish you the best in the X Factor competition and in your performing career.
I also ask you to seriously consider what I say next as it really is in the best of faith. So far you’ve managed to get through the public vote, well one week in anyway. Unfortunately I don’t believe that to be the case in the future and here is why...
You see, while most will talk about business being about money – the music industry being no exception – it is also hugely about relationships. I don’t know you, so I can’t tell how much of what we have seen is you being confident and different and talented, or you overcompensating for not being confident on the inside. I suspect the latter.
You were upset this week at the booing that you had received last time. The thing is that you are walking a very thin line between being controversial and unlikeable, some may say you have crossed it (me, I don’t read the press I advise you not to either!). Like it or not, a fair amount of the X Factor is about likeability, after all the public are the ones who vote for you, or not as the case may be.
Think about you as a product Kitty and how you could market yourself better. You can be controversial in your music and your performances without alienating people. I don’t mean you have to conform or pretend to be something that you’re not. Just think about how beautifully you connect to your music and look to connect to your audience in the same way both on and off the stage.
You see even when you talked about doing it for your fans it still sounded like it was all about you. I know with your creativity you probably think a million miles a minute. Please stop. Take a breath…
As I’m sure you’re well aware, with successful people it’s never just about them, it’s always about the team. Instead of metaphorically shouting, “Hey look at me I’m over here doing this!!!’, maybe you could tell people, “Hey wow wasn’t that a great song? Didn’t the staging and choreography team and dancers do an amazing job?”
This is not about you faking sincerity. I’m sure on some level you do appreciate these people, the thing is that right now that isn’t coming across. I guarantee you that the moment you start shining your light on others, your own light will shine ever more brightly…
Think about Oprah. I reckon you both have a lot in common in terms of your strengths. Look at what happens when she shines her light on others, people go watch their films, buy their books and donate to their charities. Now think about what has happened to her while doing this. Yes absolutely, she has built a very profitable multi-million media empire. None too shabby, eh?
Then again, maybe you’re just in the wrong environment for you. I guess only you will know the truth of that.
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Hi folks, well this is my first blog here at HR UK and you’ve found me out in a guilty pleasure – X Factor! Well actually I’m not guilty at all, I love this stage where the finalists are singing their hearts out every week and boy do we have some talent this year.
I wanted to share with you what I would like to write to one of the contestants Kitty as I think there are lessons in it for all of us.
When it comes to the talent in your organisation (or the organisations you work with) what happens to the mavericks and loose cannons? Often they do have great value to bring yet if not leveraged correctly they may destroy their value instead of adding it.
Do you have a means of harnessing the diversity of talent within your company? Do people appreciate and understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses? Do people who bring in good results get rewarded no matter if relationships – internally or externally – are damaged in the process and if so what message does that send to everybody else?
Where you have talent that maybe has some issues, do they have the chance to be coached or mentored? For instance, I think part of Kitty’s behaviour is down to her personality type. Like any overdone strengths, they’ve turned into weaknesses and are coming to the fore under the extreme pressure she’s probably experiencing. With some development this could be overcome.
Are people coming from the perspective of the greater vision and an appreciation of what is required in the market, or are they just blindly doing whatever is at hand because that’s the way it was always done?
Do your teams know how to build trust with each other and in the marketplace? If they don’t then over time your place in the market will erode and it will be much easier for the competition to step in and take your place.
Balance within and between teams is a key requirement for sustainable success. E.g. Where some look after innovation, others the customers, some run the teams and others take care of the detail and systems and measure what happens.
The key point to remember is this; those that help others be more successful by giving effective value are ones that are often incredibly successful themselves.
About the author
Una Doyle is an accredited Talent Dynamics Performance Consultant and an award-winning speaker, coach and consultant. Una has worked with organisations such as Argos, Asda, Yorkshire Forward, Kodak and local authorities from a one-to-one basis, to groups as large as 2,000. She is passionate about helping to create intrapreneur teams; getting the right people, in the right place, doing the right things with ownership and commercial acumen. Una has learned how to apply many of the world’s top-thinkers’ ideas in a way that is simple, profound, gets massive bottom-line results and a more empowered, motivated and engaged workforce.
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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK. Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 27th October and will be written by HR recruitment specialist Ed Scrivener.
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