What is required of you as a leader in hard times ?

What is expected of you as a start up leader ?

When you get into running your own enterprise you find out very quickly that it is not an easy task, or you can be a hard ass manager bottom line driven with a flack jacket for skin and the adventure will pass you by and will have missed one of life's greatest challenges. on the other hand you can be a leader who gets involved with the grass roots of your enterprise and engages with your employees, as you engage there will be greater requirements and demands laid on to you. The key thing to remember is that you are responsible for your employees, and as relationships develop you will find yourself being involved in more and more of there life's events. The leader needs to have empathy but also be able to step away at times and look at the overall picture, businesses can go badly wrong when there is too much concern given to individuals, leaders don't take the corrective actions necessary to fix performance or behavioural issues because they are too close to the individuals concerned. This seems to be a mixed message be a "people person" on one hand and the other be remote, I do not think these are at odds if the leader follows a few guidelines.

• Be honest with people, tell them how things are, if they are performing bad tell them if they are doing well then tell them.
• Set demanding goals and objectives for the organization, people will measure themselves against them and most will correct there own performance.
• Look at issues with the "360" approach and apply the helicopter analysis to put fixes in place.
• Be loyal to your employees where loyalty is returned, dump those who are not.
• Be consistent in all your decisions.

When there is a strong prevailing wind blowing and no safe harbour

So how do we need to behave in times of trouble, we need to show a calm, steady resolve that you will fix what is wrong if you can, and if not, you will communicate the worst in the same manor. If you have been honest and developed trust with the employees they will appreciate the openness, even when the news is personally bad.

I will close this post with this statement, yes!! your employees have a choice to work for you or not, but if they have chosen to work for you, that means you have sold them on the enterprise vision and they have put there trust in you, the least you can do as a leader is honour that.

See you all tonight

Slainte

Gordon

Plastic Logic and the UK Govt.

Shock at U.K. government's plastic fab failure

By Richard Wilson -- Electronics Weekly, 1/17/2007

The industry has been stunned by the U.K. government’s failure to support the building of Plastic Logic’s $100 million semiconductor production facility in the U.K. rather than Germany.
Despite investing more than $2.9 million (1.5 million pounds) of public money in the Cambridge, England-based company’s R&D activities, the necessary support was not available in the U.K. when Plastic Logic planned its first production facility.
“This is a great concern to us and should be for others too,” Derek Boyd, chief executive of the NMI told Electronics Weekly. “Where the U.K. can compete on R&D, skills and clusters it cannot compete on the level of subsidies that other regions have,” said Boyd.
Electronics Weekly understands that Plastic Logic considered the U.K. when looking for the best European location to carry out their high-tech manufacturing. Wales made it on to Plastic Logic’s top five list, but was disadvantaged because it could not provide a competitive greenfield site and attractive grant.

“Are we doing enough to support, grow and retain them beyond the early stages? … It appears not,” said Boyd.
Boyd plans to question the government on the issue. “It is unclear to us how the U.K. will effectively compete in the long-term if we do not fully support businesses in a holistic sense, ie. R&D, design and manufacturing,” said Boyd.
“The case of Plastic Logic is especially interesting as it has the potential to be truly disruptive and has the potential to create a schism in electronics manufacturing. It is on this basis that we will be contacting government to help us understand their considered strategy for the U.K. more fully,” said Boyd.
Boyd believes that European policy has created a playing field that is not level and U.K. appears to be at a significant disadvantage. “We believe the U.K. government should be encouraging and supporting high-tech manufacturing; the cases of Plastic Logic and MED are two excellent examples where the U.K. is leading the field in new, high-tech areas but policy out forces further deployment,” said Boyd.