The Monday Revolution is a state of mind to apply on the first day of the week. It’s a metaphor for recognising that some things need to change now. It’s an approach that relies on simple steps to achieve smart ways of getting things done, immediately.
The business world is complex and that’s not going to stop anytime soon. The ever-increasing supply of information, disruptive competition and growing demands on executive time point to a different approach to organising and running a company. Traditional ways of operating are simply no longer good enough.
Change rarely suddenly arrives. It’s a constant. The pace may vary but it never stops. Recognition and acknowledgement are the drivers of action, which is about taking control and building those challenges into your daily routine. It’s a rocky journey where you never arrive at the destination. But that’s why life is exciting. In the early part of my business career, I used to think all I needed to do was deal with the current challenges and some form of steady state would kick in. After a few years, I realised that was the steady state! Constant disruption and left-field moments to sort out are part of the way strong companies are built. They become part of the business DNA.
Changing an organisation from the middle, or even the upper, ranks is no easy task. Yet, there are steps to take which can significantly improve productivity, the working day and the satisfaction of going to work. Evolution is how the world has developed over millions of years. But we haven’t got that long. There’s a good chance your working model is broken in many places and will require a more radical approach if things are to change for the better.
And that’s The Monday Revolution.
I’ve worked at and with many businesses, big and small. Some incredibly successful, some not so and some that went bust. In what has been a long life of learning I’ve concluded that simple things done well are more rewarding and definitely more effective. Long-term planning, processes and approvals have their place, but not at the expense of immediate improvement and an ability to look forward to the working week. For me there’s a good test: it’s how you feel on Sunday evening when you think about the days in front of you.
And too often the week is a congested mess of internal and external meetings of little direct relevance. Or tasks that make a limited contribution to the company’s or your own advancement. Yet there they are, sitting in your calendar, a depressing reminder of what’s in store.
I remember that playing for the school football team meant you always escaped double physics (the teacher, not the subject, was the problem) at least twice a month. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the cut so double physics it was. And that’s how many people feel on the eve of their working week. Not enough bright spots and too many things to just get through. Not enjoying their week but enduring it. But it doesn’t have to be like that. With a positive mind and some new ideas, it’s possible to become a better, more effective person. And that means being more satisfied and happier too – which ultimately is what we all want to achieve. Life is far too short to spend it looking back wondering why we didn’t change our ways sooner.
The Monday Revolution is about changing your personal approach to work and life. It’s about taking control of time and spending it on the things that matter. There is great satisfaction in getting things done. Who wants to spend long days in pointless meetings or writing reports that never serve any real purpose?
In many senses it’s about what I call self-honesty. We have a great capacity for misleading ourselves. This is often so subtle that we believe our own deception. We procrastinate, delay or reach hypothetical conclusions that prevent us taking action. Without doubt, one of our greatest hurdles is self-doubt. That in-built fear that most of us seem to keep in reserve for difficult and challenging moments. What might have been originally designed to protect us now regularly holds us back.
Not everything we’re going to do will hit the right spot. Inevitably, there are necessary tasks that we don’t look forward to. But instead of putting them off, it’s much better to deal with them as quickly and efficiently as possible and move on to something better. Not leave them lying around taking up valuable headspace while we worry about not doing them.
We all know people who seem to crack through work at a pace that leaves others in their wake. Are they so much brighter or working longer hours? Usually not. They’re the sort of people who have their own version of The Monday Revolution and apply it within the rules and culture of their organisation. In short, they’ve worked out how to get things done.
Over the coming chapters, we’ll explore everyday tasks and topics you can apply to revolutionise your approach to work. I’ll be covering all those challenging areas that just seem to get in the way, providing real hands-on practical advice that I apply in my own Monday Revolution.
The Monday Revolution will transform how you think about the things that really matter and help you achieve your goals in a highly time-efficient way. You’ll find a summary at the end of each section, which will provide a quick reference to help solve those important daily issues.
Chapter 1
Who’s in charge around here?
Good leader, bad leader
We can all recall bosses we feared, respected or loathed. Some had a major impact on our lives, often extending beyond the workplace. True examples of the best and worst of management behaviour. No doubt we said to ourselves that should our lucky day come, we would remember these times and do our best to manage others as we would like to have been treated ourselves.
Having progressed from the shop floor in a factory making light bulbs to chief executive and director of many companies, I’ve made more than my fair share of slip-ups along the way. I can recall with horror some of the things I did, which at the time I thought were best practice.
For example, I went through a phase of telling candidates at the end of an interview they hadn’t got the job. And then I’d tell them why. Unsurprisingly, this led to anger and in some cases tears. To me it seemed expedient, but I think most people would have preferred a softer, written response to immediate outright rejection.
Many, many years later I still meet people I’ve long forgotten who can still recall an interview with me. Not necessarily because they were brutally rejected after 30 minutes but because the direct questions and challenges were unexpected. For some, this was a good experience and others found it intimidating. At that time, I probably only employed the more confident candidates and a cleverer, more thoughtful technique would have resulted in a more diverse workforce. Assembling the right evidence to support my decision would have helped no end. I realise that now.
I hope I learnt from my mistakes and over many years improved. And that when I became a leader of a large organisation, I hadn’t completely forgotten what it’s like to be on the front line and not been seduced by the so called ‘C Suite’. Never perfect, but I think I always recognised where the front line was and would readily join it myself when the situation required it.
I say this because I often find organisations where the managers and the front line seem to have a kind of ‘no man’s land’ between them. But here’s an example where the opposite is true.
This company has, over many years, created a bond between the leadership team and the people who do the practical work. In this instance, the front line is made up of highly skilled people, experts in serious illness and community care.
This is a business that operates 24/7 in a very tough environment. It’s in a sector where money and resources are tight. It needs a cohesive, pull-together approach with strong leadership. The leader and her senior team have created a really strong model of great working practice that’s really worth sharing.
Managers can go missing from the front line, leaving others to fight fires and deal with