Here we take a look back at the many discussions and conversations we had with leaders last year and offer our personal "Top 6 leadership tips for 2012".  Some of them may be new, some may fall under the 'common sense but not common practice' category.  Either way we hope they prove a useful reminder of things to help you to be successful in the coming year!

As we start the New Year we would not dare remind you of those resolutions you made on the 1^st January and which may already have slipped just a bit! However, this could be the moment to take some time to review the last year and to look forward to 2012 and how it can be Your Best Year Yet.

Jinny Ditzler's 'Your Best Year Yet'  is a short book full of practical planning tips and advice which can help you to turn some of your most challenging personal issues into a powerful action plan. But don't take our word for it...we have asked one of our clients, Joanna Day, Director of Legal Services for Santander's Commercial Corporate & Business Bank, to give her views on the book and explain how she has used it over several years to plan her year ahead.

However open minded and progressive we might be, change is always accompanied by some element of cost - whether that is financial or psychological. As humans we are programmed to protect ourselves from the unknown, to seek safety and stability-an instinct that is often at odds with the need for swift and frequent change in today's business world if we are to stay competitive. So how can we get people to willingly step into the unknown and embrace change?

How often do we sit in a meeting (obviously organised by somebody else) and think "why am I here and just what am I getting from it?" When you walk away at the end of the interaction still none the wiser, do you look forward to the next meeting organised by that person or quietly delete it from your calendar manager??

Now - we know that none of your meetings are like this, but just in case you have an occasional lapse, this article introduces a simple but hugely effective tool to make sure that every interaction you have is both a good use of your time - and also your client's, boss or colleague's time too…

We have turned to Phil Lowe - our resident poet in the Greenbank team - to offer a series of Cautionary Tales for Managers - a light hearted look at some very serious management topics. We hope they will bring a smile to your day but also get you thinking about some of the perennial problems we face as managers and leaders today. This month we focus on Samantha - who just refused to delegate with dire consequences......

For the holiday season last year we introduced you to a shopping survival guide(link to article) using Insights Discovery to suggest how different personalities might best copy with the hustle and bustle of present shopping. This year we focus on how we can best celebrate with a little tipple-a cocktail that might suit each of the 4 Insights personality types!

We are often asked by clients and bulletin readers "what else do you do?"   Now we always like to be responsive to requests like this (!) - so we've added a special article this month with some examples of where we have been working with clients in the last two months, the business needs they had and how we worked with them..

Many of us will increasingly need to work or relocate to other countries and find ways to be equally effective in those different cultures.  To help us we asked some of our clients with first-hand experience of international working to share their experiences, tips and hints with us.

This month we bring you two experiences- a report from theeconomic powerhouse of Beijing and another from one of our clients who has built a successful international HR career moving around the globe as assignments and opportunities have evolved.

During our conversations with people at work, particularly in the UK, we often come across a reluctance to let our bosses and colleagues know what we do really well and what we have achieved. There can be a modesty or reluctance to blow our own trumpet perhaps based on a belief that the results of our long hours and energy will surely speak for themselves.

In this article we want to take a fresh look at how each of us needs to make sure that we actively manage our own reputation, let others know what our skills and talents are and what we have achieved- rather than quietly and patiently waiting for others to spot our talents!

By Ashley Birchall, Head of Programme Management, Atos

When I am asked what the critical success factors are in delivering successful projects and programmes, I always start with stakeholder management.

Our projects are complex, with multiple variables, clients under their own pressures and plenty of things that can go wrong.  When things do change and (and they will!) the 'difference that makes the difference' is having a solid set of both internal and client relationships to fall back on…

By Ian Hirst, Greenbank Partner

All of our work is via referral and although we know you don't expect anything back, we really value your introductions.

So - as a 'seasonal special' we are offering bottles of vintage champagne as a thank-you for any introduction we receive over the next 4 weeks…

The world of pitching is in many ways imperfect for the simple reason than that the decision to choose one supplier over others is made by humans, affected - often in the moment - by various degrees of rational, technical and emotional pressures.

And the involvement of realpeople means, regardless of whether you are a winner or a loser, you may never know the real reason for their decision.  How many time have you heard the statement "It was a really difficult decision, everyone who lost came a close second"

When we have some tough thinking to do such as problem solving, developing project plans or building a robust and compelling business case we need to do some quality thinking. These are the times that we really need to look at all angles of the situation, play devil's advocate and be creative about alternative approaches and solutions. Whether working alone or as part of a team we need to make sure our thinking is focused and at its best. Using the 6 Hat Thinking Styles developed by Edward de Bono can help us to do this

We can almost guarantee that on every one of our programmes where we focus on influencing skills and strategies we are asked this question. It seems that even the most experienced professional struggles when they need to manage upwards. Yet it is often the most critical factor in achieving our goals and ensuring that our careers stay on track. In this article we hope to offer some practical ideas and tactics to manage your boss…..

If you are responsible for making change happen - whether on a small scale (eg changing working processes to fit in with new IT systems) or larger scale organisational change, it's therefore fairly important that you gain the full commitment of all stakeholders and 'users' - not just lip service compliance. 

In this article we introduce the Change Equation - a simple, but highly effective tool that we have found works for a wide variety of our clients, including senior directors and project managers

In the sales and leadership workshops we do with project managers and consultants a regular objective at the beginning of the programme is "I'd like to lead my offshore team more effectively" .  Given the increasing prevalence of remote teams, it's no surprise that there are plenty of books about this subject and we particularly like this article by Bas de Baar, who specialises in making 'complex things less complex' and is therefore a man after our own heart!

Extensive research has been carried out to identify what differentiates average Project Managers from those who are seen as excellent by their teams, senior management and most importantly by their customers - and communication comes out top time and time again...

Andy Crowe's research  in his book, 'Alpha Project Managers' estimated that PM's spend as much as 90% of their time communicating in one way or another so it is not surprising that effective communication makes such a difference to the success of a project. As one PM said in Crowe's study, 'Until my product is in the customer's hands, communication is my deliverable'.

We love the work of Zenger Folkmann (ZF), authors of the excellent book The Extraordinary Leader and pioneers of strengths-based management - the idea that the best leaders know what they are already pretty good at and spend time and energy on making these strengths world class…

The best leaders also of course encourage their teams to do likewise - but can performance appraisals get in the way of this? 

By Greenbank Partner Judith Hirst, inspired by Rick Brenner

So much of our time at work is spent in meetings.  So, when you attend a meeting, how do you choose your seat at the table?

Your choice of seat can have a significant impact on your ability to influence the outcome of the meeting, the status others ascribe to you both in the current meeting but also in your 'reputation' which will impact your effectiveness in future meetings. Here are some guidelines to help you to select the most appropriate seat which will help you to achieve your meeting goals.

By Ian McKechnie and Judith Hirst 

Networking - does the mere thought of it fill you with dread?  If you're the type of person who'd rather spend time in the dentist's chair than walk into a room of strangers then you are definitely not alone!  For many, networking is a nerve-wracking experience - yet we know that it is increasingly important to reach out and develop your network and contacts whether it is to develop new business opportunities, identify business partners/suppliers or to enhance your own experience and career opportunities.

By Judith Hirst, Greenbank Partner

As long ago as Confucius and Socrates, the wise have known that real learning comes through action, reflection and experimentation. Yes - there is a place for reading and lectures - to gain the knowledge we need to solve problems and make decisions. However when we face complex, new and downright difficult issues, we need to go beyond the theory and develop our own strategies and approaches

Over the last 15 years Greenbank have worked with individuals and groups in both the UK and around the world to encourage and promote learning and although we design and deliver workshops, we understand that real performance is only truly achieved when the learning is applied back at work.  So we are passionate about incorporating tools and techniques which can help people continue their learning in a direct work situation.

Fly-on-the-wall is one such tool - a refreshing new approach that participants have found easy to apply in the 'real world' and can lead to quick results.

Becoming a Trusted Business Advisor

By Ian Hirst, Greenbank Partner

Whether you are a consultant, a sales person, a project manager or a manager, there will be times when it is both commercially useful and personally rewarding to develop a 'Trusted Advisor' relationship with somebody.

If you have been fortunate enough to have had a trusted advisor yourself of course, you will know the benefits you have gained for the relationship - but turning this around, what are the tangible benefits in you becoming a Trusted Advisor to your clients or other contacts?  And what do you need to do to reap these benefits?

By Ian Hirst, Greenbank Partner

Do you sometimes find that in a negotiation - especially when you are on the 'selling' side of the deal, negotiations are all about going backwards from your initial proposal as you offer, hopefully low cost, concessions? In these negotiations, on a good day, you go backwards slowly and the customer does eventually agree to a way forward whilst you still have an acceptable margin.   On a bad day though, does the customer seem to scent blood and keep demanding more?

In this article, the latest in our series of negotiation articles from our win-win negotiations workshops, we explore perhaps the holy grail of negotiating - how by trading rather than conceding, an effective negotiator can emerge with a deal that is as good - or even better- than their initial proposal….

Have you ever heard a presentation and later realized how attracted you were to the presenter?  No, not necessarily that kind of attraction! I mean that you felt connected and uplifted while you were listening.  Maybe, you came away feeling happier, lighter, more enthusiastic and looking forward to the day.  The speaker was so eloquent that you were touched in some way....even if the presentation was about selling shoes!

That quality you experienced is often called charisma - it's an increasingly vital skill for leaders to possess - but it's not an automatic 'given' even for successful business people.

In our advanced presentation skills workshops we often come across highly intelligent senior execs who are being held back because they can't inspire their audience.   The good news is that this can be developed and we often leverage the experience of Ellen Finkelstein in our work with clients in this area -  we are delighted to include this article by Ellen in which she explains the 12 steps any speaker needs to take in order to develop the elusive  'charisma'…

Introducing real, sustainable change, whether at an organisational, team or individual level is probably the biggest pre-occupation and challenge for the vast majority of our clients. Whatever their technical background or business sector they are constantly being asked to make things work better, faster and more effectively. Their years of education and past experience has given them the skills, techniques and processes to focus on what is going wrong, how to diagnose the root cause of the problem and how to treat and resolve it.

Yet despite all of this the problems keep coming and getting people to engage in sustainable change has never been more difficult. In this article we are going to look at an approach that turns this situation on its head - which focuses on what is working well and takes what is good and finds ways to amplify it into excellence.

In this, our latest article from our Negotiation series, we showcase the work of William Ury and Roger Fisher in their popular  'Getting to YES' book.  We build on Ury and Fisher's ideas in our Advanced Negotation Master Classes and share with you here some of the key hints and tips that you can utilise in any negotiation - to get to that elusive 'win-win'

Many of you with a sales role (or at least sales targets..) will undoubtedly be focused now on your 2011 pipeline, which may - or may not - be filling you with confidence and excitement!....this article will help to usher in the new year with some thoughts on how, in the modern business climate, we can throw away those cold calling phones, leverage social networking and build on existing relationships to generate new ones.

Susan Scott, in her excellent book 'Fierce Conversations' identifies 5 common errors that managers can all too easily slip into when conducting a 'difficult' conversation. We have seen these same errors repeatedly when running training programmes where we use role plays to help managers practice their skills in managing difficult conversations. Perhaps, like us you will find it useful to read through them - and avoid making some of these errors when you next need to have challenging discussions when the stakes are high!

Before anyone truly decides to follow and be influenced by you they will ask themselves, 'Who are you and what do you stand for?'  

Think back to the last time you had a new boss and I suspect that question was not far from your mind.  If we are fortunate then our leaders will let us know the answer to these questions but all too often they do not.  What happens if they don't tell us - well we will make it up!   It is part of our human nature to fill the vacuum with our own 'reckonings' and assumptions.  So how can you make sure that the messages you put across are as powerful and persuasive as possible? Well - telling the right stories can help..

At this time of year, many of our customers are focused on closing business to hit end of year targets.  Of course your own customers are very aware of this and from our experience its the time of year when margins are squeezed most - it's almost as if your clients heard those words from your boss as you left the office "don't come back without the business...."

It's difficult in these situations to feel you are in a strong position and during our negotiation workshops "I'd like to be a strong, confident, negotiator' is the top objective for many of our participants.  So, when times are tough, how can you negotiate from a position of strength and bring back decent margins as well as closed deals?

Well it is that time of year again and many of us are facing the challenge of Christmas shopping and finding the right gifts for our loved ones. If like us that fills you with trepidation then we have a helping hand to offer. Many of you reading this will be familiar with Insights Discovery, the personality instrument which we use on many of our programmes.  Now we have taken a lighter look at Insights to see if it can help us with the challenge of Christmas Shopping! Read more....

Extensive research has shown that teams and individuals perform better when they receive regular, effective feedback about their performance. In fact the Gallup organisation found that the statement "In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for good work" was the fourth most important factor in achieving superior performance. But what is effective feedback and how can we make the greatest impact on the performance of our people both in the short and long term? Over recent years leaders on our Greenbank programmes have been applying the 3:1 ratio when giving feedback and finding that it is a great, practical rule of thumb that has helped them to manage their people more effectively.

This topic is becoming the Holy Grail for many of our clients, especially in the current competitive marketplace, where all too often it seems that the power is with their buyers.  As a result, price discussions happen all too early in the sale - before the sales person has the chance to build value.  The result? Commoditisation of their services, knee jerk discounting way before the negotiation really starts and subsequent margin erosion. 

The work of Stephen Denning on storytelling in leadership suggests you need not only to structure your message carefully, but to pay attention to the personal qualities that will make your stories successful.

Denning has studied the way that leaders - political and organisational - tell stories which 'hook' their audience. In his book The Secret Language of Leadership he suggests that there are two areas you need to get right if you are to engage others successfully in the process of change.

By Greenbank's Latin America Partner, MAPA Consulting

"Honey, please wait for me in heaven and we will build our nest around cotton clouds"

The above quote was immortalized by the great Spanish Director, Pedro Almodovar, in his movie Matador. But, what is the connection with this month newsletter?

By Ian Hirst, Greenbank Partner

All Sales Directors and indeed anybody aiming to transform their company's salesforce know how difficult it can be to achieve lasting change from new sales skills training, processes and CRM implementations.  Salespeople are after all naturally skilled at getting round procedures not following them...

This paper outlines a simple, yet challenging, 7-stage model that will work if organisations are committed to success…….and frankly there is little point doing any sales training or process implementation without this..