Shortcut Career Advice from The Company Doctor Surgery: Part 1 #40

After all, all art is experience. Hello and welcome to part 1 of a very special 2-part episode of The Company Doctor that we've dubbed The Doctor's Surgery. We asked you, our listeners, to submit questions via email that you would like The Company Doctor to address. You certainly didn't hold back, and we have a list of really excellent questions to put Gary through his paces over the next couple of episodes. So as Neighbours legend Karl Kennedy might say, The doctor will see you now. Gary, hello.

George, how are you?

I'm fantastic. Thank you for asking. You're not.

You've not been well, have you?

I haven't. I'm drinking a lemon sip, but I'll be fine.

The poor listeners are going to be croaky, aren't you? Sexy croaky.

Sexy croaky. That's what I'm going for. Yeah. But, um, yeah. Peep Show, one of my favorite comedies. There's a business leader in that. And here's one of his mantras is that illness is weakness. So yes, yes. So I'm not ill. I'm just— I'm strong and powerful and I'm fantastic and I'm ready and I'm excited because I have the unusual position of being in the driver's seat for this episode.

Yeah, you're in charge today.

I'm in charge.

I'm nervous.

You should be.

Tell people what we're doing.

So we, we put the call out for some questions for the company doctor, which we are positioning as sort of the doctor's surgery where you can call-in essentially, but we've had questions submitted via email and LinkedIn asking the company doctor advice for various business-related situations. Now, Gary has no idea what these questions are. He hasn't seen them. I have seen them and I've edited them ever so slightly. I've removed the names so that they're all anonymous, but they're not sort of lumped together in any sort of particular order. So they are going to be a little bit— not quickfire, but they'll be a bit random. So you're going to have to change gears rapidly.

I'm pretty nervous about this. And Yeah, it was funny actually. What's that saying? The doctor will see you now. Yes. And actually I was somewhere the other day where the receptionist said, "Mr. So-and-so will see you now." And it felt a little bit like Alan Sugar. Yeah. You can go to the boardroom. She said actually something, "You can go in the boardroom now." That's what she said. "You can go in the boardroom." Gosh.

God, it makes you feel like you're in trouble.

I was really important. Yeah. I was in trouble.

Yeah, either way. No, well that's fine. I'm gonna have to keep you. I'm under strict control here.

You are. Before you do, because I want to pretend I'm in charge of it, it's my last thing, then it's all yours. You can have the driving seat. Before this, I was trying to give people a reason to why this is important, this kind of surgery session. And the main reason it's important is that apparently happy employees, so if your employees are happy, so if you're a boss, listen carefully, happy employees lead to a 33% increase in profitability, a 43% increase in productivity. And if you're in sales, 37% increase. If you're in innovation, 300% increase. And finally, 51% lower turnover. So if you've got employees, keep them happy. If you are an employee, be happy. Otherwise you spend all your time at work. Come on, you got to be happy, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Let's see if we can solve some stuff.

This could be big bucks for bosses and future happiness for employees. Big boss bucks. Let's do it. Right, okay, well I'll kick off with one which I think is, should be a fairly easy one, it's close to your own sort of field of expertise. And this one says, I'm thinking of going it alone as a consultant. What separates an average consultant from an outstanding one?

Ooh, great question. Well, to be honest, I'm going to say something that might surprise people, but I think it is attention to detail.

Right.

And that's going to be odd for people that know me. I don't have a very good attention to detail, but as a consultant I do. And what I mean by that is there's a lot of average consultants out there. There's thousands of people that are consultants actually, and they're either in big companies or they work for themselves. But the difference between a good consultant and a bad consultant is looking for the secret sauce to make the thing work and to be curious enough to really understand before you charge in with a solution. You really understand because normally I find that the problem that people are articulating isn't actually the problem. And then having attention to detail. So if you say you're going to do something, do it, and you care about getting a result rather than just trying to get paid for the work you're doing and engaging with people so that they enjoy the experience. Because the truth is, most people's experience of consultancies, you know, what is that they're saying about, you know, give me a watch and I'll steal your watch and tell you the time kind of thing? Yeah, that's because most people think consultants are bloodsucking consultants. And yeah, don't be. Because actually a good consultant really stands out.

And I suppose that means don't take on more work than you can give enough attention to. So don't keep bringing on clients if you're getting snowed under because you're going to end up giving a poor service to more people rather than an excellent service to fewer people.

Yeah, I agree with that. And also there's a, there's a thought if you're a consultant, your job is, they call it land and expand. Your job is to kind of get in and be a ferret and find more work. And actually you should do the opposite. You should make yourself redundant. Right. If you have a mindset of I do the job and I get out, then you're not going to be a bloodsucking consultant because you're not trying to land and expand. Have you heard that saying?

I haven't. When you first said it, I thought you were saying London expand, but in a London accent. Land and expand.

Land and expand, mate.

No, I haven't heard that, but that's interesting. And I suppose it's actually up to consultants to better the reputation of consultants more widely, isn't it?

Yeah, it's like any industry. You know, we can think of loads of industries. But, you know, some big consultancy firms, and I'm not going to pick on anyone particularly, but their job is to land and expand. And, you know, it's a good business practice, but actually that's a differentiator. Hopefully answers your question succinctly enough.

I think it does. Thank you very much. On to the next. This one says, during a recent one-to-one with my boss, I outlined what I believe to be my value to the company in an attempt to secure a promotion, but it didn't get me anywhere. 'What else could I do and when do you draw the line?' Okay, this wasn't you, was it? It wasn't me, it could have been me.

I see why we're protecting people here. Yeah, look, it's a dance, you know, when you're— and it doesn't always work. I'm a strong believer in you need to show commercial value. I talk about it quite a lot. Yeah. And that you shouldn't corner people and you shouldn't— yeah, it's a journey you need to go on. But you should fight your cause. And actually, in the episode, How to Get Promoted with Nick Walker, which is one of our best downloaded episodes, actually, yeah, he talks about being on the receiving end of it. But you've got to be valuable, but in commercial terms. I don't mean that you need to be a salesperson, whatever. But if someone is, in this example, has outlined their commercial value, yeah, maybe they did catch someone by surprise and didn't take them on the journey. And I think the other thing is, you know, we've talked in the past about kind of go-to-town money. You know, if you're continually looking what's out there, you're more confident about opportunities. And, you know, it's not like if I need, I need to get this promotion, otherwise, you know, what's going to happen? Yeah, because I think the world's a different place now. Then you'll come across a bit needy. So I think, you know, my question to the person would be How did you come across? Did you corner the person? Did you come across as being a bit desperate, or did you, over time, take them on that journey to try and get that promotion?

And if it was the former of those two, if they did come across potentially needy or they took that person by surprise or whatever, is there something they can do to follow it up? Should there be any sort of follow-up to that initial—

Yeah, I mean, I don't think you should give up. I think what it is, is you almost need to take them out of the normal environment, so going for a coffee or something, or just try and be somewhere else and lay out how you're feeling. Because if you talk about how you're feeling, no one can argue with the way you feel. But don't put it— some people put it in an email and they go, I'm not a big fan of that. I mean, it has worked for people that I know, but I'm not a big fan of that. I think you should sell the meeting, not the detailed activity. So some people will outline in their email all the things they want to do and why they need it and blah, blah, blah. But that's like trying to sell over text. Yeah. So book them, get the meeting, get in front of them, preferably go for a coffee somewhere if you can get outside. I mean, it depends on your relationship with your boss, right? Yeah. And it's not always possible to do that. If you can't, that's fine, but revisit it. But, you know, give it a bit of time, think it through, recheck your value, think about what other options are, and then tell them how you're feeling.

Yeah.

Don't threaten, don't say if you don't give it to me, I'm going, because I don't think that would work. It will backfire. But, you know, just give— ask for advice about what you can do.— as the next steps.

Nice. And I think, as you say, that going to town money thing is— that sort of feeds into loads of the different topics that we talk about. So I think that's always a good mindset to have.

Yeah, it does. It gives you confidence, you know.

Yeah, absolutely. Great. Well, thanks very much. On to the next. I'm going to rattle through these.

You are, aren't you? You seem to have a lot of questions.

We did. We got a big response. And the next one is in response to our live episode. And it says, I listened to your live episode with interest. But I don't think we ever got your opinion on the working from home conundrum.

We didn't. And the reason we didn't is I didn't want to take anything away from the panel because I thought it was superb. And my opinion, and my opinion after the episode, did change a little bit. I know one size doesn't fit all. There isn't that kind of should they go to the office or shouldn't they? And there isn't, from the discussion, it isn't about an age thing or a Gen Z thing. Because there's a mixture of people that like going, don't like going, whatever age you are or whatever you're doing. I think the answer is the me and we time thing. So for me, I think there's certain things you can do where you don't need to go to the office as long as you've got somewhere to work. If it's me time, stuff I need to do, I need to focus on it. And actually it's better because I don't get interrupted. But I think there's certain activity that needs a we time. So if there's a team meeting, I think we need to be there. I don't think it's great to have half people in, half people out. It's actually quite hard. Sometimes people will travel into London or wherever and they're the only one there and it doesn't make any sense. And I am worried about collaboration because a lot of people have met at work as a relationship. I've got some new starters coming into my company. If they're all remote, they're not going to bond in the way— how do you get started as a new person? So my view is the me and we time, when it needs to be we, I think you need to be firmer about it. I think you do need to give people flexibility. And I'm really not a big fan of the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday thing. If it was me in the workplace and I'm unemployable now, I would go on Monday and Friday. Yeah, because I think you made a point. You started a new job and then you've got to work out who's in on Tuesday, who's in on Wednesday, and it's just ridiculous. And actually what's happening now on the trains in London, everyone's going in on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Yeah, Wednesday is massively busy. And Monday and Friday are like Sundays. Yeah. So anyway, I don't know if that helps, but that's my thoughts. We need to collaborate more.

But you reckon if there's an important meeting where everyone needs to be there, set it for whatever day it needs to be on and just say that everyone needs to be there?

Yeah, absolutely. I think if you've got a team meeting, you all need to be there. And if you're on a sales activity, you're missing out if you're not bouncing off each other. Yeah. So you need to have days where you— it's an in-the-office sales day. You know, for whatever activity you do where you need to collaborate, I think it's quite exciting to get everyone in.

Yeah, I agree.

Go out for a drink, make it interesting, sell people on the idea. But yeah, let's get back to, you know, let's be humans and get back to meeting with people again. Yeah. I give people flexibility not to be there. I think it's okay. I'm not saying they should be in the office all the time.

No, sure. No, I agree with that. I know we've got a few questions from some younger people coming up, but I do think that it sort of, it does, it reflects on them most, I think, currently anyway. I think that sort of lack of experience early on in the career.

Well, yeah, there's something else to say before we move to the next question. So at the moment, and I think it's going to stop being this way, it's a candidate's market. And what I mean by that is there's more jobs than there are people available. So, you know, people know in hospitality, there's an obvious one, but in other industries as well, you can't get people. Yeah. And I don't know why that's the case at the moment because the market, you know, we're all in much more stringent times. So I think next year is going to change. But while it's a candidate's market, people can say, I'm not coming to work for you unless I can be working from home all the time or whatever it is. Yeah, yeah. But I think next year or something in the short term, it's going to change.

That's a prediction.

That's my prediction. You heard it from the company doctor.

A quick one here. Well, maybe not a quick one, but this person asked, what is the secret to successful delegation?

Dumping and running. No, no, just kidding.

Land and expand. No, no.

Yeah, it's a good question, actually. The secret to success is actually delegating in the first place. I get surprised a lot by people that go, yeah, yeah, I mean, intellectually understand delegation and it doesn't mean dumping. If you can get through the mindset of getting more people to do the work and giving leadership to people, because half the benefit of delegation is giving leadership. I trust you. I want you to be part of this thing that we're doing, and I trust you to get it done. I'll help you with any way you need, but I trust you. I, I, you know, I respect your way of working. I know you'll do a good job. Now you want to, you know, show— make, make me proud of you. It doesn't mean I'm going to give you all the rubbish jobs because I don't want to do them. That's not what delegation means, and that's what people get confused about. Yeah, I just— if, you know, in, in our recent podcast where we were talking about multitasking, if I can get more people to do the work, A, I'm not bottleneck because I can't be that good on my own, and B, I get people involved in shaping the future and they're involved in the good, the bad, and the ugly, and they understand things more. So it doesn't make sense not to delegate to me.

So it should be seen as a reward, right? It definitely became this sort of buzzword for shirking responsibility, didn't it? I think for a long time, I think when the word first sort of emerged, It suddenly became this word that people used as a sort of slur for—

I'll give you a different word, interdependency. Okay. The art of delegation is about getting more people connected to what you're trying to do and bought in. And, you know, one and one makes five. So the power of getting more people, it kind of makes logical sense, doesn't it?

Yeah, it does to me.

Good answer.

Good answer, George. Good answer, Gary. Okay, this one was sent in via LinkedIn and it says, during a business turnaround, you'll have 100 things that need fixing. How do you identify the critical things to fix and how do you create the right type and level of momentum when fixing them?

Oh wow, that's a big question. You know, it depends, right? It depends on what is that turn— as you say, turnaround.

Business turnaround.

Yeah. Yeah. So, so, so basically the different types of change and it's either a— I'll put it this way, it's either a haircut or it's surgery and there's a different course of action depending on where you are. So for example, if a business is expiring as in it's in real trouble or if it's succeeding but it needs some change because the market's changed, it's a different course of action. One is more of a haircut and one is more surgery. If it's surgery, you need to be quicker and take action and less collaborative than if it's a haircut where you can be more collaborative and get people to come on the journey. Ideally, you want people bought in. So how do you decide what you do? I think you have to understand why are you going through the change and what is the sense of urgency required in order to make the change. For example, if it's not important enough, don't even do it. Right. It's so much pain to go through a change. But if it's a turnaround like this is suggesting, then there's a business reason something needs to happen. And therefore that will lead you to know what the things are that you've got to change first and what order. So I would start with your own thoughts and don't share your thoughts with anyone. Why is that? Because people will put you off before you've thought it through.

Right.

Okay. So here's my 3 steps. Step number 1, don't tell anyone and just think it through and think about what you're trying to do and what is the sense of urgency? What's the narrative? What's the story? And then share it with a slightly wider circle and let them influence you. But share ideas, things you haven't thought of, be open. Yeah. And adapt your thinking based on that input. And then maybe go to a few naysayers just to check you haven't missed anything. Then when you've done that, lock it in and now share it with a wider audience. Nice. And stick— try and stick to it because at some point you've got to get on with it, right? So get, get that discussion going before you get on with it.

And I guess sticking to it, that's in terms of the second part of the question, which is how do you create the right type and level of momentum when you're addressing them? I guess that is sort of centered around sticking to that initial plan, isn't it? Because if you deviate from that, then you can derail people's thoughts on it and it can lose momentum.

It actually does start with a sense of urgency. You've got what is the story? What's the story and narrative to this change? Why are you doing it? That carries you with momentum. Then you've got to get people bought into that story. They might not like it, they need to understand it. A lot of people hide away from communicating because it's a secret. That doesn't help you. You know, you're working with intelligent people, so bring them on board. And then, then the momentum is— at some point you've got to stick to it. But, you know, goals in concrete, plans in sand would be my guidance. Nice. Now you know where you're going, but you do need to adapt. You're in the real world, right? So you're going to have to adapt. But if there's a turnaround, there's an urgency to it, so you have to be quick. And you need to do it and show people quickly that we're moving forward.

Yeah. And that's the managing expectations thing as well, I suppose.

Yeah, because most people expect nothing to happen. I've heard about these changes before and here we go again and another bloody change initiative. And so they're expecting, like with consultants, that nothing's going to happen. Yeah. So you need to show people quickly that something is actually happening.

You're serious about it. Change is happening.

Change is happening.

Yeah. Nice.

Great.

Good answer to a tricky question. Great question. On to the next. What— okay, well, this is sort of, I guess, the first of the sort of the slightly young, younger skewed questions.

It's not come from you and I then. No.

What advice do you have for college graduates as they move into their first jobs?

Oh, this is a good one actually, because I do help graduates and I'm kind of tuned into this. The biggest issue for young graduates is they don't have any experience. So you'll go to a job and you feel like, well, people will tell you you don't have experience and you think, well, give us a chance because otherwise how am I going to get experience? So my most— I think the most important advice for anyone trying to get on the ladder is you've got to find something so you can have experience. And what that means is either getting, you know, doing some voluntary work, getting a job locally where whether you get paid is irrelevant really, to be able to demonstrate experience. The second thing you can do is you can create your own activity that will show that you differentiate from anyone else. What I mean by that is when I was 15, I arranged charity events to raise money for cancer research, mainly because I like to— I, I wasn't a do-gooder, but I wanted to do something good. But I also like being in charge. I like to boss people around, so I wanted to create something. Yeah. And then when I went to my first interview, I could talk about some of those things that I'd arranged, whether you're you've done it or you're starting to do it, you've got an idea about it, you'll be able to differentiate yourself. So you need that experience, you need to set yourself apart from everyone else, because if everyone else has got all the qualifications, yeah, it's not enough anymore. And if you don't have qualifications, it doesn't mean you can't get on the ladder, you just need to be different.

Yeah, and that can be anything, can't it? I mean, it doesn't have to be necessarily even related to the field that you're hoping to move into, it just needs to show that stuff. Yeah, yeah, you're not just home, school, and that's it, you know. There's, there's, uh, you have other interests.

The other thing that the advice, George, I would give this person is the best way to get on the ladder is to do it through someone you know rather than going cold. Now, I appreciate, you know, if you're a graduate, you're going through all the routines, and you should do that. I get all that, you know, you need to apply for jobs and all that stuff. Yeah, but any place you want to go and work, try and find someone in your network. And I mean, it could be through parents or relatives or friends who knows someone there, you've got a better chance. Yeah, it's not guaranteed, but you know, much better chance with a warm contact. Yeah. Than with someone cold.

And there's no, there's no stigma around that, I don't think. No, not at all. Shows you're smart. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, it's if you can do it, not everyone will be able to, but if you have that—

You don't have to be a shoo-in. I don't mean you find an uncle that's working there. Yeah. But if you find someone that knows someone, it always helps, even if it's the third party. Because if you get a third party referral, it's much stronger than trying to go cold. It's just simple facts.

Yeah. Okay, that's good. Well, I hope that has helped that person. Another one on a similar sort of note, I guess. This one says, my son is debating whether to go to university or try a business apprenticeship in London. Is higher education as important as it once was considered in the world of business?

God, I think that's a Marmite question because I think if you ask different people, you'll get different answers. Yeah. And I'm kind of biased because I don't have many qualifications. Apart from life. And I think the world is different now. Yeah. So I think the truth is, it probably is a good idea to get the right education, but it depends on what your outlook is and what you want to do. If it was my child, I would say, well, it depends, because what do you want to do? If an apprenticeship is the best route, then maybe that's the right thing to go and do. If that means that you don't get an opportunity for that apprenticeship and it's, again, a career that you want to be in where an apprenticeship is an important thing,, then maybe the apprenticeship would be more important. Yeah. Or maybe both.

Yeah, that is an option, isn't it?

I mean, a lot of people will say, look, I've gone, been successful. I have money. People will say they've been successful without qualifications, and there's loads of examples. And you can always, you can always point to very wealthy people that have never done anything. But I do think the world's a different place, and you need— it's very competitive. But the problem is everyone's getting qualifications. In my era, not many people went to uni. But now everyone goes to uni, well, not everyone, but a lot more people. Yeah. So, you know, I think you just got to map out what you want to do, what will benefit that particular career the most. It's not a great answer, is it?

But I do think it's balanced. I think it also relates to the previous answer as well. Yeah. Anyway, I don't think there's a sort of a right or wrong answer there, certainly. And there will be people, as you say, who it's about circumstance and about being often being in the right place at the right time. But if you can spend some time doing the thing which is going to set you on the right path, then do that. And that's it. Sort of set yourself apart from other people, whether you're a graduate or, you know, or someone who's looking to go to university or, you know, someone who's in that quandary. If you can set yourself apart, whether that's from peers who have qualifications. Yeah, standing out, I think, is a tricky thing. But I guess is the—

Yeah, I think you just need to navigate the route depending on where you're going and what is the best route. A good example is that someone I know who's close to me, wanted a job in journalism, took a degree but didn't take the right degree, and therefore you needed some NVQ to be a journalist, which is kind of like an apprenticeship. So therefore the NVQ was needed afterwards, so the qualification wasn't enough. Actually, if you'd done NVQ, you might have done the job anyway, actually, without going to uni. But you know, you can do both. So you've got to map out the right path, I think.

Yeah, good. And this is sort of the last in our— it's not necessarily the last in our young people questions, but—

You're so old when you say that.

I know, God, I really do feel it. Especially coughing and wheezing and holding my backpack. Got the heating blasting. This one is a great question. It says, recently I'm hearing people say that young people don't want to work anymore. What are your thoughts on this subject? And this is a hot topic right now. I looked into it briefly and I found that a recent survey published by a former employer of mine found that nearly 1 in 10 young people never intend to start working.

Yeah, I did see that. It was in the paper this week. You know what, my immediate response is nonsense. It's absolute nonsense. Now, I can show you plenty of people that old and young who want to work or don't want to work. You know, I just think it's a cop-out. It's clickbait. Yeah, this is just my view, as you can tell. But, uh, you know what, I would never generalize Anyone, actually, probably the more important thing is there's really smart, motivated people at any age. And it works the other way, by the way. Some people write off old people like me and go, yeah, they're a bit past their sell-by date. You know, I've got more energy now than I've ever had, and I think that there's a danger with doing that. You know, older people have more, more experience and more things to draw on. Younger people have energy and more creative ideas. You know what? Yeah, I think it's a cop-out. Yeah, sorry to the person that wrote that in.

I don't want to be rude to you. I don't think this person was saying that this was their opinion. They were just saying that they've heard a lot of people, that they've heard the word on the street is, yeah, uh, young people just don't, aren't prepared to work.

And it was, it was in, it was in the papers this week, all over the papers, on the news. Yeah, and I think it's complete nonsense. It's disingenuous to young people, by the way.

I agree personally. Not that this is about me, but I do agree with you.

A friend of mine, I mean.

Sorry. No, no, I agree with what you're saying. But this person goes on to say, is it fair to expect young people to work hard when so much wealth is not attainable for them? But equally, we live in an age where you can learn anything you want to online and acquire the skills to earn more.

Right. Well, let's just say there's a qualification to this, right? So I think the world of work has changed and is continuing to evolve. And so I think it depends who you are. So there is an old way of thinking, and it used to be more of a job for life mentality, and therefore people worried about either being fired or whatever. Whereas now people have different needs and might want to build a portfolio business, or what if they get fired or it doesn't work out? They can go backpacking around Europe or do something else, right? So I think, I think the world of work is changing. And actually we've got a couple of episodes coming up on that in the new year. Yeah, because I think we need to look at it and I think COVID has accelerated that thinking. And I don't think, again, it's not just young people, but people generally have got a different mindset about work. And that's why no one can get any people in hospitality right now, because during COVID people went, you know what, I wasn't being paid that much for the aggravation I was having. Maybe I'm not going to do this anymore. And do something else. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that's a good example of it. That wasn't just young people, by the way.

Yeah.

But I do. I thought I need to say that because I think that clickbait is nonsense. But we can't ignore that the world of work is changing and we need to adapt, all of us do.

Yeah, certainly. And I do agree about the clickbaity thing. And I think that it also, it's divisive in that it sort of, it will, young people read that and they will be cast down by it and be annoyed and think, well, maybe I won't in that case. And it sort of begets more Baguette.

Is that like a French baguette?

Yeah, baguettes.

With the cheese and ham in the baguette? Sorry, you had a little cough there because—

Yeah, no, I needed that. That's good. Forget about the baguettes.

More baguettes.

How am I doing so far, by the way, Gary?

How's it going?

You're amazing.

And to be honest, I'm settling into it now. I was a bit worried because I didn't know what was coming.

Yeah.

And I might not have all the— What do I do if I don't have an answer to say to you?

I don't—

Just say pass.

We need a safe word. Yeah, maybe it can be baguette.

Get me out of here. I'm not a celebrity.

Get me out of here.

Baguette. If I say baguette, it means I'm out of here.

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