Never fear, the Six Nations are here!

Slightly off topic this week. My other passion in life, apart from being a MAMIL, started on Saturday last - the RBS Six Nations. The annual rugby festival of our four Home Nations, France and Italy, all slugging it out to win the Grand Slam, Championship or Triple Crown. So much at stake, great sporting rivalries and a sense of camaraderie that defines this sport, on and off the field of play.

After a wet, cold, rainy and sleety cycle on Saturday morning I returned home, eventually warmed up, showered, a quick bite to eat and I switched on the old BBC to watch the pre-match build up. A match that would define both Scotland’s and Ireland’s Six Nations’ campaign. A loss for either side would mean an end to Grand Slam and Triple Crown hopes. There was so much at stake for both sides this would be a cracker of a game.

My family have learned, over many years, that it is best to leave Dad alone in the living room, to shout and scream obscenities at the television, when my beloved Scotland are playing rugby. This year would be different – so they said. But would the start to 2017 be any different to any other year?

We Scottish rugby fans, always start the Six Nations with enthusiasm and bucket loads of hope. Hope that this will be our year and maybe, we will get the bounce of that odd shaped ball and one or two refereeing decisions going our way. Because, when it comes to referees, we have had our fair share of many an odd whistlers’ errors.

It is the norm for all that enthusiasm to be extinguished after around 20 minutes of the first half, when we realise that once again this will not be our year. But last Saturday things appeared to be very different.

The singing of the National Anthem took on an extra edge. Vern Cotter off to pastures new and the players looking to have that steely stare of “This will be our day!” when traditionally singing, an out of tune Flower of Scotland.

So, at around 14:30, Mr Poite peeped his sifflet and we were off and mauling.
 

Now, in the past I would have watched the television and that would be it! But in this modern age of electrical gadgetry, in addition to the television being on, I had the laptop on, tablet on for social media, Facebooking and messaging, mobile on for texting and Vibering – multi-tasking at Olympic levels!

Come half time we were implausibly 21 points to 8 up! I had to pinch myself, as I have never seen us play so well in the first 40 minutes of a Six Nations’ match. There was a time when Scottish rugby tries were as rare as unicorn horns. Yet on this day we managed three in the first half of rugby!

The social media banter was ALL one way traffic and my Irish friends remained steadfastly quiet and subdued. But Mr Schmidt must have thrown a whole plethora of hair driers during his half time team talk. Ireland waltzed through the next 30 minutes. The social media lit up and the revenge slagging started in earnest.

Surely, NOT this year!

Had I been too premature in calling this – a common Scottish rugby trait? I know that my blood pressure was reaching critical and that I could not shout any louder at the television. My wife, Oonagh, tells me that screaming at the television does not help. But I, like all true male sports fans, secretly know, that the boys can actually hear us!

As we drew ever nearer to the final whistle, having absorbed an Irish battering, there was “One chance, just one chance....” to win the game and kill the clock at the same time. Up stepped Captain Dependable. One final kick and it was all over. We’d won our first opening Six Nations match since 2006. Joy!

What made this win even more special, was the fact that our winning penalty kick went over the very posts where my Father’s ashes were actually scattered.

Time to find out who has the “Biggest Cojones!”

At the time of writing this wee column, Monday 5^th December, our Councillors had rejected the CEO’s proposed 2017 budget for Waterford Council. A budget which was presented to our 32 Councillors, at a plenary session, on Tuesday 29^th November. The basis of this overwhelming rejection, was due to the proposed Commercial Rates increase, to fill the now perennial black hole in the budget of around €1.3 million.

The meeting last week was watched by a “Packed” public gallery and press core. In reality, there were 5 members of the public in attendance. Only two stayed the course, for the three hour marathon meeting. In the end the members of the local press outnumbered the public by one!

Not really a great turnout for such an important meeting and the most essential function of our 32 Councillors.

The Pact, made up of our Fianna Fail, Fianna Gael and Labour Councillors, to a man and one woman, rejected unequivocally, the proposed budget. Based on the fact, that it was not the right time to be seen to be increasing Commercial Rates across Waterford City and County.

We even had Councillors Cummins (FG) and Quinlan (FF), who were both across the start line before any gun was fired! Reaffirming their position on the local airwaves, immediately after the budget meeting. Stating the position of their respective parties that a budget cannot be passed if it contains any Commercial Rates increases for 2017.

Now, I have no doubt that in the last seven days since the budget meeting, there has been an awful lot of shuttle diplomacy, Council Executive pressure cooker meetings with various Councillors, threats, counter threats and probably even the odd personal text message. Each side has been jockeying for position to try to see how a balanced budget can be passed.

The Pact laid down a very sizeable marker last week, when they rejected the CEO’s budget proposal. This was history in the making and a first for Waterford. Whilst, they did not show their hand there and then, or come up with an alternative budget, they did ask for two adjournments and another seven days of grace, in order to align their ducks. Seeking alternatives for the proposed budgetary increases in insurance, payroll and Irish Waterford fallout, to name but a few.

Now, the question must be, “Do the Pact have the Big Cajones to stick to their promise of a no rates increase?”

Seven days is a long time in politics and pressure influences people in many different ways. Many see pressure as a challenge and some just simply fold under it. With previous battle hardened cries simply turning into whispered whimpers, by those who don’t have big enough testes, to follow through with their promises.

So, if your are reading today’s newspaper and the headline news is a Commercial Rates increase for 2017, then we have Councillors who are frightened and are scared to carry out their one of their primary functions. Their spin after last week’s initial budget meeting was all for nothing and the dirty face of local politics has once again blighted Waterford’s progression.

However, ‘tis the season to be jolly and I for one, as a Scottish rugby fan and therefore an eternal optimist, hope that the Pact stand by their promise, to deliver an alternative budget with NO Commercial rates increase for 2017.

Waterford has yet to see significant green shoots and we need to get the message out that we are open for business. What we don’t need is yet another political charade. Bear in mind our competitors are slowly but surely sneaking ahead of us on many fronts. A wee trip to Wexford for example and you will see a significant amount of building, construction, cheaper car parking, heavy footfall....all done on the Q.T. They are not the only ones forging ahead of Waterford!

In many ways, having now aged several years, by being in attendance at last week’s landmark budget meeting, my appetite has only been whetted, as I await to see which of our Pact members delivers on their promise.

“I was there!”

Throughout our individual journey on this wee Island of green there will be many, many events that you will look back on in your own life’s history and remember fondly and then there are those seminal events that you might just have been lucky enough to be part of to be able to say to your family, children, grandchildren and friends that “I was there!”

Max Boyce, the Welsh comedian, entertainer and singer, would reminisce about being in the old Cardiff Arms Park watching his beloved Welsh rugby team sweeping all before them and creating many a rugby legend in the process. Max would recall these days in his shows, on television, and retell the associated stories around him being at such great matches that are now part of rugby folklore.

Luckily, in my short life I have been extremely fortunate to have been at a number of events that I too can proudly say “I was there!”

1990 Grand Slam

On the 17^th March 1990 a brilliantly dogged Scottish rugby team walked very slowly onto “God’s Golden Acre”, in Murrayfield, lead by the brilliant Captain that was David Sole. This was also the very first occasion that we sang “Flower of Scotland” as our own rugby anthem. Despite not being given one iota of a chance, by any of the national media and rugby pundits, a certain boyish Tony Stanger scampered down the right wing to score the games only try and by the end of the 80 minutes Scotland were Grand Slam Champions and “I was there!”

To mark this, our only third ever Grand Slam, I commemorated the occasion with a tattoo so that I could, every weekend and at every training session thereafter, annoy all my English rugby playing teammates, at the various clubs I played for in and around London.

I was also very lucky to have been invited to take part in the historic occasion that was the visit of Elizabeth II Regina to Ireland. Better still I was invited to meet and greet her in the Dublin Convention Centre along with other members of Irish business and various sporting stars. I duly travelled to Dublin, suitably dressed in my beloved kilt, and was part of this momentous occasion that befitted this modern day Ireland that we now live in. Who would have thought that this was at all possible when I first came to Ireland in the year 2001.

This was perhaps one of those one off events that truly deserved the phrase “I was there!”

Only a few years on from this event I was once again counting my blessings to be invited to travel to Dublin to take part in the 1916 Centenary Commemorations, this time as a member of the hard working voluntary group that is the 1848 Tricolour Celebration Committee.

In many ways being asked to be outside the GPO on such a significant occasion was very humbling. To be part of my adopted Nation’s remembrance of the 1916 Rising and the events that ultimately created the Ireland we now live in was to say the very least a great honour and something I will never ever forget.

GPO Dublin 27 March 2016

There are very few opportunities to be a part of an historic event and there are even fewer opportunities to attend such an event as a guest of the State. I am sure that every member of the Tricolour Committee felt the same way as I did as we sat outside the GPO. We would also attend all the events in Dublin Castle later that evening.

A substantial Waterford contingent was representing the City on Sunday the 27^th March. As we travelled back down the motorway I have no doubt that everyone who attended the historic event last Sunday will in future years be saying loudly and proudly “I was there!”

As a footnote, I always wanted to add to and refresh my Grand Slam tattoo but after 26 years I have failed miserably to do so. Maybe next year?

Rise and Rise again, Until the Lambs have become Lions.

“Rise and Rise again,

Like the Phoenix from the ashes,

Until the Lambs have become Lions,

And the Rule of Darkness is no more.”

This seems to be a very apt poem for Waterford at the moment. We have been for far too long “down and out” and yet can we now see the real signs of positivity beginning to return to this wonderful City and County.

I have over the last number of weeks touched upon and written about the many, many positive business stories that have come our way and this week is no different.

We now have confirmation that Bausch and Lomb are to invest significantly in Waterford City and expand the plant that manufactures products for a truly worldwide market. I am sure that we can all remember the not too distant announcement from the new owners of Bausch and Lomb, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, that they were either to cut pay and resize the workforce or close the plant. This in hindsight, though a very tough decision to take for the workforce, has in the end been played out positively for all concerned.

Valeant have been true to their word that short term pain would lead to long term gain and we can see the fruits of this promise with a multi-million Euro investment in Waterford City and the South East region. There can be absolutely no doubt that the very tough business decisions made and taken not even 12 months ago will see long term benefit for Waterford City and the employees of B & L.

This news, in addition to the announcement of the Portlaw development by Agora Incorporated, will, I am sure, deliver much needed additional jobs across the region and more importantly help to reduce our unemployment rate back towards the national average target.

I also believe that there will be further positive job announcements in the near future and this to must be welcomed by ALL and celebrated. As collectively we are beginning to put Waterford back on the jobs market and that can only be viewed as encouraging news.

Whilst the jobs news is great the sporting success of the Senior Hurling Team must also be applauded and will in time help to create a more positive attitude from the people of Waterford.

I have asked the question many times over as to why our nearest neighbours are more positive about business and business opportunities. And I do believe that due to the county’s phenomenal hurling successes the business community and the people of Kilkenny are just not quite so shy when it comes to “beating their own drums!”

But perhaps now Waterford is on a sporting success journey that will allow the people of Waterford to once again believe that they have something to shout positively about in terms of GAA Hurling.

Thanks to Noel Browne for the picture.

I must confess that having come from Scotland to Waterford City, some fifteen years ago, I am not familiar with Hurling and all the finer points of the game. The Garland household was brought up on rugby and my Father was so respected in the game that his ashes are actually sprinkled on the pitch at Murrayfield, on the try line, under the goalposts, at what used to be the old clock terracing end of the stadium. We sprinkled my Father’s ashes in 1999 and Scotland did in fact win the last Five Nations that year, but since then our Nations rugby prowess has diminished and we seem to now be collecting more wooden spoons than championships. I suppose I must take heart from the fact that we are reigning Five Nations Champions and yet I attended the WLR FM Big Rugby Breakfast last week and Ronan O’Gara did suggest that I start supporting another sport – I wonder why? 

I have watched Waterford play hurling on many occasions and whilst I still do not fully understand the sophistication of the game it did seem to me that the team did not fully believe in their own ability to win. They seemed to play the first half extremely well and fade or falter in the second half. But the team of young guns that I now see on the field of play seem to have absolutely no fear of their opposition and they simply go out believing that they are better than the foe they will face on the pitch on any given Sunday. The players chase and chase again and never seem to give up. They are simply prepared to leave it all on the pitch and I am sure that after the game last Sunday there were many, many aching joints and sore muscles.

The self belief we have will determine how our business functions and operates and this in turn will determine just how successful we are in business. Self belief is something we ALL have to learn and accommodate in our everyday lives and the more we believe in our own abilities the better we will ultimately perform. We must also expel the self-doubt that lingers in us all if we are to face adversity in the face and travel the hardest road to our destination. As without testing oneself in our everyday and business lives we are clearly not trying hard enough.

The joy of our Waterford Hurlers will lift the City and the County and quite rightly create expectation for the coming Championship games. We must all harness the drive, determination and positivity of the team, the squad and the backroom staff and shout, without shame, about the wonderful Waterford City and County we all live, work and play in.

It is time for ALL our Lambs to become Lions once more and as the City and County rises from the ashes we must embrace the recent multi-million Euro investment success and we must celebrate our sporting success.

 “Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools,” Napoleon Bonaparte.  

Communication is the key to our success.

Over the weekend I watched in awe as the RBS Six Nations climax unfolded on the BBC and RTE over the course of Saturday afternoon. One dramatic turn after another and at the end of a marathon session of rugby indulgence Ireland were quite rightly crowned the 2015 Six Nations Rugby Champions and my beloved Scotland were once again to receive that much coveted Wooden Spoon Award. I now have enough of those blasted Wooden Spoons to build a log cabin in my back garden!

Then to add insult to injury and just 24 hours after the slaughter at Murrayfield the Irish Women’s Rugby team humiliated their Scottish counterparts and ooh joy of joys I was to receive my second Wooden Spoon of the weekend courtesy of Irish Rugby. The second award was of course made all the more palatable by the fact that the Women’s Captain is of course Niamh Briggs from Waterford, my adopted home.

It really was a great weekend of sport when on Sunday the Waterford hurlers secured promotion back to the top division and the lift that this will give the City and County cannot be under estimated.

I have always said that our various sporting achievements, locally, regionally and national do reflect our mood and to a larger extent our outlook. If we regularly celebrate sporting success then we are more likely to have a positive outlook for our place of residence and we are also more likely to celebrate commercial business success as well. If we have been hard wired to celebrate on a regular or annual basis then we will be more akin to beating that “drum of positivity”.

We only have to look across the recently named Thomas Francis Meagher Bridge to see that Kilkenny City (Town) and County oozes positivity. This is in no small part due to the phenomenal recent success of the hurling team and it is this positive aura that permeates right down through every citizen of Kilkenny. No matter how business is actually operating, good or bad, the business people and businesses of Kilkenny will always give the impression that they are doing exceptional well. This constant positive outlook certainly brings it own success and own additionality to Kilkenny and the City (Town) is a tourist trap for a huge percentage of overseas visitors. And remember that it was only in the late seventies that Kilkenny really decided that it would become the “Medieval City of Ireland” and as such would draw hundreds of thousands of annual visitors from around the world to visit its Castle and bustling retail sector.

The success of Kilkenny as a destination has mirrored the sporting success of the County and the many smaller club hurling teams that annual compete in GAA fixtures. Their own sports stars are seen as the envy of many and they are elevated to superstar status, and boys and girls throughout this County want to be the very sport stars they see week in week out on the playing fields. 

In business you need staff to fulfil roles and positions that best suit their individual talents and skill set. These must all be cohesively combined by the CEO, General Manager, etc into a “well oiled machine” with everyone knowing their place and function.

However, just how many staff members are communicated to effectively so that they know what is expected of them? How do they know if they are performing correctly? How do they know if they are contributing to the company’s profitability and therefore the company’s future stability? These questions are often left unanswered in many businesses.

Perhaps businesses that are clearly underperforming need to take a lesson from the likes of Schmidt and Cody. Both of these Managers are completely different people yet they both get the absolute maximum out of the players at their disposal. They evidently have two completely contrasting management styles yet both are achieving astonishing results on an regular basis.

What links the two men is their ability to communicate with those around them.

They both have an uncanny ability to get their message across, get their instruction out on to the field of play, get their game plan embedded into every player’s mindset and they always seem to have a plan B that can be turned on at the bark of an instruction. These two men are some of the very best communicators you will ever come across and there are many lessons to be learned from them.

Many businesses assume that their staff are fully aware of the function of the business, the role they play within that business and the contribution they make to that business. But the stark reality is that many businesses are very poor at internal communication. There is often no clear messaging route for staff members and there is more often than not no communication strategy for staff whatsoever. When a business is not communicating with its staff how can they expect that business to perform in the market place?

It therefore follows that if a business is not communicating properly with its own staff members then how can they be communicating correctly with their very own customers? Remember that every staff member is a band ambassador for their place of work and if they do not know what a company’s communication messaging is, then how can they be expected to interact on a one to one with a customer?

Many businesses spend literally thousands of Euros a year on PR and communicating strategies and yet forget to communicate these very messages with their own staff members. The result is a lost opportunity and more often than not confusion of messaging.

 

To get the very best out of our people we need to take a leaf out of the Schmidt and Cody book of management and put communication at the very top of our priority list when dealing with staff members.

A winning team requires clarity and communication of messaging and as Waterford looks to a more positive future we need to see a better communication of the positive messages from around our wonderful City and County.

Maybe I should ask Joe Schmidt if he would like to move to Edinburgh for a wee while, as the last thing I will require in 2016 is another bloody wooden spoon.

Sometimes a simple word of thanks can be the best bonus.

We see many businesses and organisations put in place reward structures that focus predominantly around a receipt of a cash reward. And we hear periodically about groups of individuals from specific industry sectors, particularly investment bankers and banking in general, earning huge cash bonus rewards. In some cases these can be referred to as “balloon payments” and these are more often than not measured in the hundreds of thousands of Euro.

When I worked in London one of my friends was employed by one of the world’s largest merchant banks and to this day he is still employed in this industry sector. I recall one year, in the late 1990’s, whilst driving to Cardiff for a Wales versus England rugby match, we started talking about the how well each of us were doing in our respective areas of employment. Three of us in the car thought we were being gainfully employed until we heard of the yearend “balloon payment” our banking friend was about to earn.

It was an unbelievable £250,000!

Well to say the car went quiet was an understatement. We were simply dumbfounded and yet the amount was such a regular payment in this industry that our banking buddy stated the amount with such little excitement and enthusiasm that we had to ask again just to make sure we heard the figure correctly.

When asked how he could justify such a large bonus payment and how he could have earned such a vast payment, the story I was told was trapped in my memory forever.

As a Senior Fund Manager he would gamble, his words not mine, people’s pension funds on the open market and was given leeway of plus or minus £5,000,000 a week! If a profit was being made then the company rewarded his gambling with massive end of year bonus payments.

I ask if he had any concerns that he was gambling people’s retirement funds and his answer was simply “No”. He told us that he was so far removed from the source of the money that it was just a process to him and the money was therefore not “real”. As he worked away on several computer screens he never actually saw any of the money transactions he made or lost, and as a consequence it was just like a computer game to him and I suppose a bit like online gambling today, but with absolutely none of the obvious risks.

Initially, I would have been more than a wee bit jealous. As would the other two friends in the top of the range BMW paid for on the back of balloon payments. It had started to rain, as it always does when you drive towards Wales. And as the westbound carriage of M4 motorway was heaving in a sea of George Cross clad English rugby fans, and we crawled ever nearer the Severn Bridge (the old one and not today’s shiny new bridge), I was so glad not to be involved in an industry that rewarded such high risk strategies and created a culture of greed, dishonesty and a breed of sales people that in my mind had no scruples and or ethics whatsoever.

That journey was almost 20 years ago and yet we regularly read and hear about the very same over inflated bonus culture that still exists within the banking industry. Despite the collapse of banks, such as Barings, bailouts and many other financial scandals these International institutions facilitate. We just do not seem to have learned the lesson that over rewarding staff based on large monetary bonuses can be counterproductive and in fact can often be incredibly destructive.

There are so many other ways to reward your staff other than simply taking the easy option by making additional monetary payments to them.

I would always be concerned that monetary payments, over time, not only become expected, but to a certain extent become rather meaningless. And by meaningless I am implying that the staff member or members in receipt of regular bonus payments more often than not forget the “Why” and the “What” are the core values of the company or business they work for. They merely do what is necessary to earn that yearend bonus payment no matter what the consequences are.

It sometimes does quite evidently become a race to the bottom with no real vision as to what a bonus culture is doing to a company’s brand image. And remember every single employee is a brand ambassador for the company and business they work for. So by creating a bonus grabbing culture within a company or business this can be very much counterproductive.

You would think that it would be relatively easy to set up a sales function within a company or business. But getting the right structures in place and getting that sales function working smoothly, is one of the core fundamentals that so very often is incorrectly planned and more often than not not set up at all.

Many businesses focus on rewarding their sales staff based on achieving, meeting and surpassing targets. Targets that are often set without applying any real thought and science to the process.

There is far more to motivating staff to sell correctly than just a monetary reward. Clever companies put a great deal of consideration and energy into coming up with creative strategies on just how to reward their staff and when to reward their staff. I have even come across some reward schemes that acknowledge and reward an employee’s wife or husband and their family. These schemes build a unique relationship with their staff and make sure that employees see a bigger picture when working for the company. They are more likely to go that extra mile if they know that their employer is taking an active interest in what goes on “outside the factory fence”.

In many instances there does not even have to be a monetary reward to motivate and encourage staff members. We are social animals and in general we like the one to one human interaction we have been designed to receive. And we have been blessed with two ears and one mouth; I always say that we should be listening twice as much as we speak. Communicating messages of encouragement is something that must happen more regularly in our day to day business lives. A simple acknowledgement of good work and a verbal “Thank You” is often all that is needed to bring the very best out of many staff members.

Unfortunately, this is missed on far too many senior managers and business owner and those who cannot even be bothered verbally thank their staff will see this indifference seep into and trickle down to ultimately affect how customers are dealt with.

And finally, remember that a balloon always bursts when it comes into contact with just one little prick. 

ENDS